Chapter Nine

Naruto sat on the couch with Shikamaru, his mother and Mia standing over him. He had changed out of his clothes from the night before and was now wearing a pair of basketball shorts, a t-shirt, hoodie and some socks and slippers.

"How could you be so stupid!"

Naruto just sat there as the three of them chewed him out.

"I taught you better than that!"

"I can't believe you let some random chick finesse you!"

Naruto had enough and stood up startling all three of them.

"Why y'all mad! It's my money gone right! My jewelry gone right! My car gone right! If anything I should be mad! But no, everybody gangs up on me like people aren't allowed to make mistakes!"

Naruto grabbed his backpack and left the apartment.

He walked nowhere in particular but just to get away from everything. He ended up at a park watching a bunch of high school kids play a game of three on three.

He watched as they played a few games and unconsciously he took off his slippers and put on a pair of sneakers from his bag. He also removed a basketball from it too and began dribbling it under his legs as he sat and watched their games.

After the second one of them left leaving only five players so they turned to him.

"Yo man you wanna join in for a game or two?"

Naruto had his hood up so they didn't recognize him.

"Sure."

He removed his hoodie and there was a collective gasp when everyone saw who he was.

"Oh my God."

"Shit!"

"..."

Naruto smirked. "What y'all don't want me to play?"

A few of them took some steps back but one of them smirked.

"Nah it's cool. And when I beat you I better get some season tickets."

Naruto laughed. "Alright bet, let's do this."

The game wasn't as lopsided as everyone thought it would be and that was only cause Naruto chose not to score. Instead he used crossovers and flashy passes to set up his two teammates.

This drew a crowd and it got even bigger when they found out who he was.

This went on for two hours and Naruto barely broke a sweat as he worked on his passing skills.

He had just finished up a game when three guys stepped on the court.

"Why don't you stop playing with the kids and step on the court with some real men."

Naruto smirked. "Alright, where they at?"

Everyone laughed and the man growled.

"You think your funny? Me and my boys will crush any squad you put together!"

Naruto looked back at the two teenagers who had been his teammates for the games, he honestly didn't think they could go up against these guys.

"What about us?"

Everyone turned to see Naruto's friends and family walk into the park. Naruto smiled when he saw everyone wearing basketball gear, even Nina had on some pink basketball shorts.

"How y'all knew I was here?"

Shikamaru smirked. "Its all over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Your actually trending."

Naruto smirked. "Sorry about early I didn't mean to yell."

"Don't worry about it. And Starr and Micey took care of everything."

Naruto was going to say something but the guy behind him interrupted.

"I don't have all day! Are we gonna play or not?"

Naruto nodded. "Alright don't get your panties in a twist."

He turned to his family. "Who balling?"

Shikamaru nodded and surprisingly so did Amanda.

"Ok Ma! Just like the old days!"

Amanda smirked as the game started.

Both Shikamaru hadn't played basketball in a minute and no matter how much she would hate to admit it, Amanda was getting old and they started the game off slow going down 4-1 almost immediately.

"Alright y'all don't worry about it! We got this!"

Naruto brought the ball up the court and looked his defender in the eyes. He started dribbling behind his back and smirked when the guy tried to reach for the ball.

"Oh, don't do that! Don't reach!"

He drove but pulled back.

"Thought I was gonna go that way?"

He drove the other way but pulled back again. But this time he spinned past him and hit a fade away jumper.

"Yeah y'all see that time to go to work! Shika show them what you got! Show em how we do it in West Philly!"

They forced a miss and Naruto gave the ball to Shikamaru.

"Come on Shika, play that music!"

His best friend nodded and brought the ball up the court before pulling up for a three.

Shikamaru nodded as it sailed through the air. "That's good!"

Then it hit the back of the rim and went in.

They forced another miss and this time Naruto brought the ball up the court. And walked slowly before sharply switching hands and stepping to the side making his defender slip and fall.

The park exploded as Naruto looked down at him and shook his head before knocking down the three.

After another missed shot Naruto gave the ball to Amanda.

"Go to work on em Ma!"

Amanda nodded and looked her defender in the eye just like Naruto does.

"Watch the ball Youngblood. Watch the ball. You ready?"

She surprised everyone when she bounced the ball off her defenders forehead and knocked down a three.

As soon as the shot went up she called it out.

"Backboard!"

Everyone cheered again as Naruto could only laugh.

The other team finally managed to score and Shikamaru brought the ball up the court and passed to Naruto who posted up on his defender.

He spinned off of him before stepping back and shooting the ball.

"Knock down."

He turned around as soon as the ball left his hands and Shikamaru smirked as It went it.

They forced another miss and Amanda grabbed the rebound. Naruto quickly ran up the court.

"Outlet!"

His mother nodded and threw the ball up the court to him. The moment he got the ball Shikamaru ran up behind him.

"Right here Ruto, on your left!"

Naruto nodded and threw the ball up into the air.

"Dunk time!"

Shikamaru jumped into the air and slammed it in making everybody around the court go crazy.

The same thing happened again only instead of Shikamaru, Naruto threw down a reverse dunk.

"Oh I'm just getting started."

On their next trip down Shikamaru decided to handle the ball. He rapidly dribbled the ball between his legs as Naruto hyped him up.

"Just like the old days! Give em the magic! Show em the magic!"

Shikamaru put his hand on his defenders head holding him back while smiling. He pulled his hand away then went back to dribbling between his legs and then spinning off of his defender and driving to the basket for a dunk.

The entire park exploded as Shikamaru beat his chest. Naruto ran up to him and the two did a shoulder bump before getting back on defense.

"I'm back Ruto! I'm back! Let's go!"

Amanda laughed. "Alright so you can feed me the rock and let me go to work."

Naruto shook his head and smiled. "Got you Ma."

After another stop Naruto gave the ball to Amanda and backed away.

Amanda caught the ball and dribbled forward. Her defender backed away not knowing how to defend someone's mother.

Naruto only shook his head. "Don't do that! Don't let her get there! That's her spot!"

Amanda dribbled to the elbow and pulled up knocking down the jumper off the backboard.

"Uh-huh banks open on a Sunday!"

Naruto and Shikamaru laughed. "But it's Saturday Ma!"

The other team finally managed to score again and Amanda gave the ball to Naruto.

"Show em how we do it baby!"

Naruto nodded and put the ball on the floor while keeping his right hand in it.

"You see that? Try and take it."

His defender tried to grabbed it but Naruto quickly rolled it to his other hand. He did this a few times before rolling it under the guys legs.

"Oops."

He picked it up and did a layup."

Shikamaru ran up to him and shot his hand out towards him. Naruto did the same as their arms slid over the other. The y slid them back before hitting the back of their hands together and finally they put their hands together and bowed their heads.

"Namaste."

The other team missed another shot and Naruto gave the ball to Amanda who shot a three.

"She ain't gonna miss from there!"

And she didn't banging it from downtown.

After another miss Naruto brought the ball up.

"Do it to em son!"

Naruto dribbled between his legs, then switched to behind his back, went back to between his legs. He surprised the crowd when he started doing it with one hand.

Naruto smirked as he threw the ball behind his back and between his legs, catching it with the same hand before spinning off of his defender and doing a euro step reverse layup.

After his layup Naruto stole the ball and passed to Amanda who threw up a alley opp to Shikamaru. Shika smirked and dunked the ball, hanging from the rim with one hand.

The game ended when Amanda grabbed the rebound and took it coast to coast finishing it off with a dunk.

Everyone one ran on the court as the game ended.

"Yeah that's what I'm talking bout! Where all that noise now? Talk that hot stuff now! Exactly, bye bye!"

Naruto waved the other team off the court.

"Who got next!?"

After a long day of playing ball at the park Naruto and everyone walked home. He had gone undefeated in the day switching up his team all day.

"Look I'm sorry for yelling at y'all this morning."

Amanda shook her head.

"Its alright. We shouldn't have yelled at you. But we do have something for you."

"What?"

She pointed up the block to his apartment and Naruto's face burst into a smile as he ran up the block.

"Yo how did y'all do this!"

He slid over the hood of his beloved Mercedes. Amanda pointed to Starr, Shanna and Micey.

"Micey tracked the car's GPS to a hotel and Starr and Shanna went to pick it up."

He turned to his friends for conformation and they nodded.

"Hell yeah me and Shanna went down there and fixed home girl in her hotel room. Then we took your stuff back."

The sisters smirked and pointed into the car and Naruto saw his watch, chain and cash on the seat.

"I wasn't sure how much you had in your wallet so we took it all."

Naruto looked at them. "Thanks y'all."

Micey smiled. "No problem. We friends, best friends and this is to show you that we ain't no freeloaders. While I was tracking and they were kicking ass the boys were out making sure this story stayed between us. The point is we can do things. We're all apart of team Uzumaki and we stick together."

Naruto nodded and smiled.

Two Days Later

Naruto was sitting in a office next to Shikamaru. He had finished up practice two hours ago and his body was a bit sore but this was an important meeting.

"Ok so we've gone back and forth with your manager for the past few days and here is what we came up with. A five picture deal. Three appearances guaranteed."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru in shock.

"Five!"

Before Shikamaru could say anything the man across from him spoke.

"Its just a safety net of sorts. So we don't have to end up back here after the movie. Ant-Man is a vital part of the Marvel universe and we hate having to replace a character. You see what happened to Spiderman. We're even planning on redoing the Fantastic Four with the former Human Torch being Captain America."

Naruto rubbed his temples.

"We understand your a extremely busy man and we will do everything in our power to accommodate that."

Naruto nodded. "And I thank you guys for that. I hope that I can put on a great performance that makes the Marvel company and the fans proud."

The man smiled. "I know you will. Now here's a list of dates that we scheduled your private acting classes. Some of these classes will focus on the comedy aspect of your performance. The classes are already paid for so there is no worry there, and speaking of pay."

He slid Naruto a paper that had certain sections highlighted.

"For each film you do we will pay you ten million dollars a month before the first day of filming. We are also giving you seven percent of the profits from any Ant-Man stand alone film. You will not receive this much on a feature film as things will be negotiated when we would like to bring you in."

Naruto nodded. "Alright anything else?"

The man shook his head. "Not until you sign the contract."

Naruto turned to Shikamaru for conformation and he nodded. Naruto took a deep breath.

"I can't believe I'm really doing this."

Naruto signed his name and initials on all the required documents and the man nodded.

"Excellent. Now a few things that must be discussed. First is your health. With you out there playing basketball at the highest professional level there is a large risk of injury. Don't get me wrong we love this and it can be used perfectly for promoting the movie but we are a bit nervous. We talked to your team doctors and they will perform monthly physicals on you. The moment you feel anything. Soreness, discomfort even a bloody nose let them know."

Naruto nodded. That's understandable."

"Good now we have been told you keep a perfect diet for your work and you also constantly train. Not just for basketball but also conditioning. The only thing we ask is you do it bit more weight training. Add a little bit more muscle."

Naruto nodded again. "I can talk tth one of the assitant coaches. I'm sure they can build a new training regimen."

Good. Now finally the script. It is complete and we were wondering when you would like it. Filming is set in eight months so you could get it a month or two before or I could give it to you now. The choice is yours."

Naruto thought for a moment. "I'll take it now. I can read it on the plane and bus rides."

He was handed a large booklet.

"Ok well someone will come over to your house to measure you up for your super suit and I'll try and get you a meeting with the rest of the cast as soon as possible. Would you like to announce this to the world or do you want us?"

Naruto pulled out his phone.

"I'll do it."

NaruUzu- Just signed this deal with Marvel. #regularmonday #themboysuptosomthin #Ant-Man

After leaving the meeting the world reacted instantly to Naruto's proclamation.

Marvel- Glad to welcome Naruto Uzumaki to the family #Ant-Man

NickSwaggyPYoung- So proud of the bro! Making moves after only one month, let's goooo! #Ant-Man

SportsCenter- Naruto Uzumaki is confirmed for the Marvel Ant-Man movie, release date still unreleased

Naruto could only smirk as the next day he found himself in a press conference before his game against the Clippers.

"Naruto yesterday the world learned that you would be in the new Ant-Man movie. What is your role in it?"

Naruto smirked. "I'm the star. I thought that was clear but if I have to say it I will be playing Ant-Man."

"How will that effect you on the basketball court?"

Naruto shook his head. "It won't. Filming is set for after the playoffs and if we stick to the schedule I'll be done well before training camp."

"How will you balance your responsibilities to the team and now the studio?"

"Everyone knows I give one hundred and ten percent into everything I do and that won't change. The studio has agreed that I'll be totally focused on the team and that won't change no matter what I do."

And Done!

So Naruto is officially the Ant-Man and both Shikamaru and Amanda got game. Let me know what y'all think of their little streetball game.

A few of you day you wish the chapters were longer. Describe what is long and I'll see what I can do.

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Duces!