Chapter Twelve

First off since this is a basketball story allow me to (lately) congratulate my hometown Cleveland Cavaliers! I am definitely not a LeBron or Cavs fan but he fulfilled his promise and brought a title to THE LAND! And in the process he took out the Golden State Warriors who eliminated my favorite team OKC! So good lookin Bron Bron.

And Free Agency begins in just a few hours. We got KD,

Naruto smirked as he made a three ending his current drill in practice.

"Alright everyone take five we run the late game scrimmage right after."

Naruto took his jersey off as he took a seat. He shot a glance at the clock while he drunk his Gatorade. Two more hours until he was supposed to meet Scarlett for lunch.

Asking out the actress was a spur of the moment decision but he was glad that he did, especially since she said yes. He was broken out of his thoughts when someone sat down next to him.

"Sup coach."

Rick shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing much just wanted to let you know how this next drill is gonna work out."

Naruto nodded. "Alright shoot."

"Well basically we wanted to see how you all work in different lineups and spots."

"What do you mean?"

"Well me and the rest of the coaching staff have been thinking of new lineup ideas and I a few involve you and Nash on the court at the same time."

"But that's giving up way too much size."

Rick nodded. "Yeah but it puts two playmakers on the court. Both of you are capable of breaking down just about any defender and you can shoot over anybody. For this drill you'll be running the two and Jimmy is guarding you."

Naruto nodded. "Alright coach, bring it on."

The drill went well even though Butler managed to block him a couple of times.

"Alright hands in y'all let's wrap this up! We got the San Antonio Spurs tonight and they're gonna come at us hard so we gotta throw everything we got at these guys. Then we got the defending champs in two days. I won't talk much about it now but just know we're in for a rough next couple of days. Now Lakers on three. 1,2,3."

"LAKERS!"

The entire team threw their hands up and dispersed.

"Naruto hold up."

The point guard turned to his coach.

"Look tomorrow two players from the team are gonna go down to Los Angeles Air Force Base and serve dinner down at their dinning facilities. A token of appreciation for their service. Nick already volunteered since he's behind in his events. So are you so I figured you'd want this since it counts as two since its for the military."

Naruto nodded. "Alright good looking out coach."

"No problem just be here tomorrow at six. You'll take a bus with a few of the Lakers dancers and just do what y'all have to do."

Naruto nodded and headed to the back to shower and change.

He came out wearing a pair of black jeans, a black short sleeve button down shirt, a small gold chain and a black snapback hat backwards as his golden bangs poked out of the strap.

He walked into the parking lot and found his teammates around his car.

"Um, what are you guys doing?"

Nick smirked. "We making sure your ready for your date. Now arms up."

"I don't think that's ness-"

He was interrupted as Whiteside forcefully lifted his arms up allowing Young to smell his arm pits. When he was satisfied Whiteside let him go and Naruto turned to the seven footer.

"We will never mention that again."

Hassan only smirked as Nick checked over his outfit.

"Well you look ready so I guess your good. Let us know how it goes."

Naruto grumbled about an invasion of privacy as he hoped in his car and drove away.

Halfway through his drive he got a call from his mother.

"Naruto we have a problem."

"What's up Ma?"

"I'm stuck at the doctors office for a few more hours and Nina has the cooking with family members workshop after school in like twenty minutes. I was supposed to go but I can't make it, mind swinging down there for her."

Naruto shook his head. "Sorry Me I wish I could but I got a date. Ask Mia to do it."

"I could but I thought you would want to spend a little time with your daughter. She's been very understanding about the whole situation, especially for a five year old but she misses her dad and your gonna blow her off for some chick."

"Ma that's not fair."

"Yeah well life isn't fair."

She hung up and Naruto continued to drive. He stopped at a red light and ironically one road led to the restaurant while the other led to Nina's school. He stayed at the stop light for almost five minutes before sighing and hitting the gas.

Campbell Hall

Nina Uzumaki stared at the door waiting for her grandmother to show up. She had signed up for the family cooking workshop because they would be making cookies for those who were less fortunate. She had wanted to do The workshop with her father but he had been real busy running back and forth from city to city. Photo shoot to photo shoot so she asked her grandmother instead.

As her classmates parents started to file into the room she became worried that no one was coming but luckily Mia walked in.

"Where's grandma?"

Mia smirked as she began to wrap a apron around her waist.

"What not happy to see your aunt?"

Nina looked down. "No I'm just asking."

Mia smiled and ruffled the girls hair.

"She's at the doctors getting a check up."

"And daddy?"

Mia sighed. "He had something to do, but I'm here so let's make some cookies!"

Nina gave a weak smile as the instructor began giving safety instructions. Halfway through her instructions someone burst into the room.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Naruto leaned against the door frame out of breath.

"Sorry...I'm...late. Damn this school has some long hallways."

He put his hands on his hips as he approached Nina and Mia. He was going to embrace his daughter but Mia made him stop as she pointed a knife at him.

"You lucky. Thought I was gonna have to cut you."

Naruto gulped as his adoptive sister lowered the knife and handed him her apron.

"Daddy you made it."

Naruto smiled as he look down at Nina.

"You didn't think I forgot about you, did you?"

Nina looked down. "Maybe a little."

Naruto smiled as he lifted her face up. "Hey don't worry. What do we say. Me and you..."

He held his hand out and Nina smiled.

"Always, but I have an idea."

"What kind of idea?"

"Well we can't just go around doing our handshake all over the place that's for game day so follow me."

She held out her hand and they bumped wrist three times before Nina dipped her head into her elbow.

"Ayeee! That was lit! I like that it's like a little quick dab. See just dap on em!"

He dipped his head into his elbow.

"Yeah, I like that! That's all me and you."

Nina laughed and Naruto smiled.

"Alright now let's make some cupcakes!"

Mia shook her head. "Cookies."

Naruto looked down at the ingredients with a new found hunger but he quickly shook it away remembering he had a game in just a few hours.

"Ok well let's make some cookies."

Staples Center

Naruto sighed as he walked into the Staples center. He had been tortured for the past few hours by making cookies and not being able to enjoy even one. But it was worth it to see the look on Nina's face.

He walked into the first part of the players facilities where he poked his head into the trainers room.

"Yo Doc mind firing up one of the tubs for me real quick?"

The trainer nodded. "No problem give me a few minutes to finish up here."

Naruto nodded as he noticed Kobe laying on one of the tables.

"How's it looking Kobe? Ready to join us anytime soon?"

Kobe sighed. "Not yet but hopefully soon. Just don't go soft on me like that other one."

Naruto laughed and shook his head.

"Why you always gotta talk about Dwight like that. I think it would have been dope to play with him."

Kobe shook his head. "You say that now cause you've never played with him. So how'd your date go?"

"How do you know bout that?"

"The whole team knows. Staff and everything, now how'd it go?"

"It didn't. I had something else to do."

The point guard left the vet to get checked over. He entered the locker room and dropped his bag in his locker, smiling at the picture of him and Nina in his locker.

After a few minutes of waiting the rookie was relaxing in one of the team's hot tubs allowing his muscles to loosen up. One thing he loved about the NBA was all the access he had. Coming out of college he wasn't expecting there to be hot tubs and ice baths in the locker rooms. Hell the team even had their own personal masseuse.

There were five small tubs and two large ones. The small ones were in there own private rooms that were soundproof and we're all equipped with a Bluetooth sound system. The large ones were in a room together but the room was soundproof and it also had a sound system. Those were generally used after games as the team relaxed together.

Naruto was relaxing in a private tub listening to Hail Mary by Tupac when a head poked in.

"So how'd it go?"

The rookie sighed as he lowered the music.

"It didn't happen."

Nick grimaced. "Damn she stood you up, that's rough bro."

Naruto shook his head. "She didn't stand me up. I asked for a rain check so I could spend the day with my daughter."

"Oh, so how'd she take it?"

Naruto laughed. "Not well, don't think I'll be getting that rain check."

Nick nodded. "Well don't worry family first."

He closed the door leaving Naruto alone.

After his soak Naruto took a shower and then found himself staring in the mirror next to Butler who was shaving. Naruto wanted to grow his hair out a bit more down the sides similar to his father's. He had been thinking about it for awhile like a tribute to his father but he just didn't know how it would look.

After checking over his hair Naruto changed into most of his gear. Compression pants, his shorts and a Lakers t-shirt.

When he was dressed went into the players lounge. Most of the team was already there watching tv, listening to music or eating.

The rookie took a seat at a table and a trainer placed his pregame meal in front of him, grilled Salmon and Pineapple along with a bottle of his birth mother's special sports drink. It was similar to Gatorade except it contained no artificial colors or flavors. The drink tasted just like water only it was mixed with a powder that contained sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and a dash of natural organic sugar.

Kushina created so an athletes body could generate sweat as well as replace the necessary things that were lost after. This is why Naruto drunk one bottle before each game and one after.

While he was eating Nick and Jimmy took a seat at the table with him.

"So what exactly did she say?"

Naruto looked at Nick.

"She said she doesn't have time to play games with a immature little kid and hung up."

Jimmy grimaced. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

Nick nodded and Naruto sighed.

"I don't know. I might have completely blown this but you know what it was totally worth it. Plus there are plenty of other girls out there. But enough about my failing love life. We got the San Antonio Spurs in a few hours. Let's focus on that."

Nick nodded. "Alright let's do this."

Spurs vs Lakers: 12/23/13 Game Twenty Eight

"Ladies and gentlemen we are moments away from watching the blazing hot San Antonio Spurs take on the surprisingly hot Los Angeles Lakers led by the offense from rookie Naruto Uzumaki."

"The Spurs currently hold the top spot in the western conference with a record of twenty one and six. The Lakers are holding a record of eighteen and nine and Naruto Uzumaki isn't the only player that's hot. We're talking about Jimmy Butler who went from eight points last year to twenty this year. Hassan Whiteside who is indeed the muscle of the team. At times he seems to carry the team more then Naruto when he's catching everything off of the rim and throwing it back in. Now that's just the big three let's not forget the supporting cast. Nick Young, Vince Carter, Shaun Livingston and all the rest. Each play a vital part in the team's success and they'll need a little something from everyone if they're gonna beat the Spurs tonight."

"Tonight's key points for the Lakers if they're gonna win this game. First move the ball. You can not beat the Spurs with isolation basketball. Naruto has shown he's one of the best at using a one on one matchup but the way San Antonio rotates will defiantly make it extremely difficult for even him to score."

"Second is the battle of the benches. San Antonio has one of the best bench units in the league but if any other can match up with them it's the Lakers bench led by Nick Young who has been playing extremely well so it's vital for him and the rest of the bench to get hot early."

"And finally Naruto Uzumaki has to be Naruto Uzumaki. He has to be aggressive. Find his grove early and stay hot. He is the most important key if anything cause this team needs him to be involved if they're gonna win."

"Now the keys for the Spurs, there's only one. Play Spurs basketball. They've perfected this throughout the years and when they play like that they're nearly impossible to beat."

Naruto stared up at the retired jerseys hanging up in the rafters as the national anthem was sung. He beat his chest once and pointed to the sky.

"This for y'all."

He brought his hand down and made a triangle using both hands. He held this pose for a few seconds before pulling his hands apart and and made the three symbol with both.

He quickly made a fist with both hands and beat his chest three times. Then he raised his fist to his mouth and blew into both of them three times, alternating from left to right. Then he brought his hands out and acted as if he was dumping something from them. Finally he brought his arms out and began to lightly beat the chest of two of his teammates, who just happened to be Butler and Young. He did this a few times before roaring and doing his Superman taunt as the national anthem ended.

When the game started the Lakers won the tip and Naruto dribbled up the court. When he got up there he was surprised to find Kawhi Leonard guarding him.

"And this is interesting. Gregg Popovich wants Leonard to guard Naruto."

Naruto immediately passed to Butler who had Tony Parker on him. Once the ball was in Butler's hands Naruto cut to the basket but Leonard kept his arms spread out denying Naruto any chance of getting the ball.

The rookie sighed before running back out to get the ball. Much to his surprise Leonard played uptight on him well beyond the three point line and the Lakers almost got a backcourt violation.

"And Leonard is not playing any games with Naruto tonight, forcing him to come all the way out to catch the ball as the shot clock winds down."

Naruto looked Leonard in his eyes as he began to size him up. He dribbled between his legs a few times before pulling up for a deep three.

The moment the ball left his hands Kawhi blocked it by grabbing the ball in mid air. He immediately took off down the court with Naruto hot on his heels but due to the size difference Naruto gave up his chase just as Leonard went for the dunk, which he made.

"And Leonard with the beautiful defensive play and the monster flush!"

Naruto sighed as he brought the ball up and Leonard met him at halfcout once again smothering him with his defense.

Naruto realized that he couldn't dribble past him so he passed it up to Carter who shot over Danny Green.

The shot missed and Tim Duncan secured the rebound and gave it to Tony Parker.

"Everyone get back! Get back on D!"

Naruto waved his hands behind him signalling for everyone to get back on defense. He watched as Parker walked up the court and began to dribble between his legs. He called Duncan over who set the screen. He ran Naruto over to it before switching to the opposite direction, as Naruto tried to go around Duncan, and hit a open midrange shot.

Once again on offense Naruto held up his hand as he dribbled up the court.

"Let's slow it down!"

Just like the previous plays Leonard played up on him and Naruto passed to Butler.

"Take him!"

Butler nodded and started using his shoulder to back down on Parker. This didn't last long because after a few bumps he flopped and drew the change as the home crowd booed. Naruto just shook his head and patted Jimmy on the back.

"Don't sweat it."

On defense the Lakers allowed Danny Green to hit a three and they went down by seven. Naruto brought the ball up and gave it to Butler.

"Hold it."

Butler nodded and surveyed the court but kept a eye on Naruto who went to run to the basket but faked it catching Leonard off guard. Butler quickly passed to Naruto who pump faked it as Leonard jumped trying to contest the shot. Once Leonard flew past him he gave a side dribble before shooting shoot the three.

As soon as the ball left his hands the entire arena stood up expecting the shot to go in but the was a disappointed sigh as it rolled out and Duncan secured the rebound.

"And nothing is going his way right now."

Naruto immediately ran along the baseline coming up behind Duncan and poked the ball out from behind. The entire arena got on their feet as Naruto took a few more dribbles to get outside the three point line and quickly fired away.

He turned around just as the ball left and let the sound of the fans tell him he made the shot. The rookie quickly screamed but stopped when he heard the sound of whistles blowing and saw one of the refs waving his arms.

"And the refs are waving it off! They're saying there was a reaching foul on the steal and this place was so loud no one heard the whistle."

Naruto quickly ran to one of the refs.

"What happened!"

"You reached in when you went for the steal. A foul was called but none of the players heard the whistle. Basket does not count."

Naruto looked at him in shock. "Are you serious! There was no foul! I got all ball!"

He felt someone grab him from behind and drag him away before he could get a technical foul.

After a few seconds was added to the clock the Spurs inbounded the ball to Parker who started working on Naruto.

He gave a few hesitant dribbles before driving left. Naruto stuck with him but Parker spinned right just as the rookie went for a steal, leaving him out of position to stop Parker's floater, which went in.

Rick had enough and called timeout and sat all his starters down.

"Alright guys shake it off, shake it off. We knew it wasn't gonna be easy but we gotta start showing some fight. Naruto they got their best defender on you so if your not gonna work on him pass it up and start moving off the ball. The rest of you set screens for him and try and help him get open. We're not out of this just work together."

Everyone nodded as they headed back out onto the court and did exactly what coach told them to do only every time a screen was set the Spurs just switched his defender and even though they weren't as good defenders as Leonard they were still good enough to smother him and deny him the ball.

This went on for the majority of the first half as Naruto was literally shut down not scoring a single basket going 0-7 in the first quarter. As a team the Lakers only managed to score eleven points and were currently down by fifteen with the score 33-18. There was six minutes left in the half and Naruto came back in for Nash hoping that his struggle from the field would be over.

The Spurs missed a shot and Naruto grabbed the rebound. He caught in and spotted Young up the court and launched a quarterback pass all the way up the court, Nick's head and out of bounds.

"And today is just not Naruto's day."

The Spurs used the turnover as a opportunity and hit a three putting them up eighteen.

Naruto groaned and let Livingston bring the ball up. Parker was guarding Naruto and he had his hands on his midsection as Naruto just leaned on him trying to throw him off balance. The ball was thrown to Whiteside in the post and Naruto saw a opening and gave a light push to get away from Parker. Once he made contact with the three time nba champion he flew back and a ref blew the whistle.

"And an offensive foul on Naruto! That's his second foul of the game and now it's Spurs ball."

Naruto shook his head and just walked up the court with his mouth piece hanging out the side of his mouth clearly frustrated.

The Spurs inbounded the ball and Parker kept the ball low, basically asking Naruto to reach for it. He could hear his coach screaming at him to not reach but as Parker brought the ball up Naruto quickly stabbed at it and poked it out. Luckily there was no whistle and Naruto quickly scooped the ball up and took off down the court with Parker hot on his heels.

The rookie went up for a layup and just as the ball was leaving his hand Parker crashed into him blocking him but also whacking him over the head. The ball clanged off the backboard and Naruto hit the floor and immediately looked at the ref.

"That's a foul!"

The ref paid him no mind as he ran up the court and finally blew his whistle Parker got fouled while trying to go for a layup.

Naruto immediately jumped up and ran to the ref.

"So you call that but not what just happened down there! He hit me right on the head no call!"

The ref wasn't having it and turned to the scorers table.

"Technical foul Los Angeles number nine."

"And Naruto shared some words with the ref that ends in him getting T'd up and now he's hot!"

"You serious! I ain't even do anything!"

Young grabbed him and tried to lead him away but Naruto wouldn't stop talking.

"That's bullshit man!"

The ref blew his whistle and made a familiar 'T' with his hands.

"Oh and Naruto's just been thrown out! Two T's and Naruto is gone."

Naruto looked at the ref in shock.

"You serious!"

He put his hands on his head and pulled at his hair in frustration and screamed.

Young patted him on the back and escorted him to the bench.

"Calm down Naruto."

The rookie turned to his coach.

"Calm down! That was bullshit and you know it!"

"Yeah well acting like a child won't do anything about it! Now you went and got yourself ejected so I can't deal with you right now. Just go in the back and calm down."

Naruto sighed as he put a towel on his head and his teammates patted him on the back.

"Don't worry we got this bro!"

He nodded as security escorted him off the court.

The Spurs ended up winning the game 95-62.

Post Game Press: Rick Pitino

Rick took a seat at the table and the questions started.

"Rick did you think your team lost its composure tonight, especially with Naruto getting ejected?"

Rick nodded as he looked at the box score printout on the table.

"Well that had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. The outcome was decided but he had every right to be upset. You know he's a rising star in this league and he gets these fouls called on him all of which were absolutely ridiculous. He steals the ball from Duncan cleanly at one point and Parker flops like crazy on another. Then you get ignored calls on the other end that are way worse then what he's getting called for so he just expresses his distain and got thrown out for it."

He stopped but looked around and said one more thing.

"Let me make this clear, we did not lose because of the officiating. We lost because they outplayed us and San Antonio deserved to win. But all of those calls on him were incredibly inappropriate."

"So your okay with the way he reacted?"

"Yeah, absolutely! I coached this kid for three years going on four now and I love it when he gets fired up. Plus he should be upset, if San Antonio can grab, hold and whack these guys constantly then call these ticky tacky fouls then I want him to be upset."

Nick Young

"Nick you led the team in scscoring with twenty six off the bench but the team still couldn't get the job done, how does that make you feel?"

Nick smirked. "I mean you just said everything that needs to be said. We ain't get the job done so right now individual achievements don't mean anything."

"Nick after the two technicals you quickly got Naruto out of there. Did you talk to him at halftime or after the game?"

Nick shook his head. "Nah he was off to the side a bit so we just left him alone but when I'm done with this I'm gonna have a talk with the youngin and get him in the right mind set."

"What do you think of the fouls called on him in that first half?"

"Those calls were definitely over the top. I think Naruto dragged that last technical though but those calls definitely weren't deserved. But you know what he's gonna be just fine. He's a trooper so he's gonna shake this off. Naruto keeps a calender in his locker and he has days marked with his favorite matchups. The Spurs weren't on that calender but I can guarantee he'll add them to the calender now. But like I said he's gonna shake this off and look forward to put next game which has a bright red circle on all of our calendars."

Naruto Uzumaki

"Naruto what was going through your head as you were ejected from the game?"

Naruto shrugged as he looked at the box score printout.

"I honestly don't know. I just reacted to the craziness that was going on around me. I get whacked on the head and there's no whistle but I tap someone and there's a chorus of whistles so I just really don't even wanna talk about it."

"Well before those incidents you were completely locked down by the defense of San Antonio? How do you think they were able to stop you on offense?"

"Well they made the necessary adjustments and it honestly caught us off guard and we failed to match their adjustments and things just spiraled down from there."

"After a game like this how do you look to prepare for a game against the defending champions in just two days?"

Naruto smirked. "Trust me we'll be ready for the Heat. I just wish I was a few inches taller so I could personally guard LeBron."

"Could you elaborate?"

"Well I'm just tired of everyone making the NBA about LeBron. The best basketball player in the planet? There are dozens of other guys who work just as hard as him So it's a little bit of a moral thing for me. Plus I never believed in kings anyway."

Miami Florida

"Plus I never really believed in kings anyway."

A tall figure cut the TV off and smirked.

"Don't believe in kings huh? I'll show you just what I'm about."

In the dark room two rings gleamed.

And Done!

Hopefully this was long enough for you guys cause this chapter was long overdue. Now the big thing that you guys are gonna kill me about in the comments and messages, I'm no longer using the Scarlett Johansson pairing. When I decided to make him Ant-Man I thought about someone else in the Marvel universe too and she came to mind but the more I thought about the more I realised it wouldn't work. She's older than him and travels too much. He only travels the country but always returns to Los Angeles while she could be away for months filming one movie so I'm gonna rethink the whole pairing don't worry I have a few things in mind.

Now for some even worse news. Not too long ago I finished up my enlistment process and officially joined the Air force. I got the ship date I wanted in September but an even better opportunity opened up for me on August 2nd and I took it so I basically have one more month before I go off the grid but don't worry now is crunch time and I promise to provide you with (hopefully) at least two story (any of my stories) updates a week.

As always read, follow, favorite and review!

Duces!

Oh and if you haven't go check out 2k Naruto by the homie AizenTheGoat it's a really great read.