I do not own any of the Naruto or Kuroko no Basuke characters. Their ownership resides solely with Masashi Kishimoto and Tadatoshi Fujimaki.

Normal speech - "Kurama"

Flashback – kurama

Sound effects – kurama

Chapter 7

Shika and the GM were walking down the corridor towards the gym, intent on watching the first meeting between Naruto and the Lakers team. Just as they got to within reaching distance of the doors, they were stopped by a call coming from behind them.

"Shikamaru, I didn't think I would get the opportunity today but I would like to introduce you to two very important individuals in the Laker's franchise." The GM waves Shika forward and casually waves his hand towards the figures standing before them. "Please I allow me to introduce to you, Irving Johnson, co-owner of the LA Lakers, and Kobe Bryant, the current face of our franchise."

Shika, for once, is awestruck to be meeting two legends of the basketball world, one of which is still currently playing. He shakes hands with both imposing figures and the steps back thinking that they are here to talk to the GM. Those thoughts are dashed when Magic starts speaking.

"I'm glad we managed to catch you before you guys got inside. Shikamaru, there is something Kobe and myself would like to speak to you about concerning Naruto."

Hearing this Shika becomes concerned but follows them down the hallway. They stop in front of a door with plaque that states 'Mamba's Office'. Walking inside, Shika takes note of all the tapes and papers placed upon the circular conference table in the middle of the room and the huge flat screen of the wall opposite the door.

Kobe walks around the table to the TV and indicates for the other men in the room to take a seat.

"This is my room I use to study the players I feel deserve my attention. I spend hours upon hours in here watching tapes, studying players, making notes on how to get pass them or shut them down." He gestures to the big mess on table and indicates that Shika should take a look.

Shika picks up a few pages and skims through them, eyes widening in shock at what he reads upon them.

"As you can see, I have recently been studying our latest draft pick. I always make sure to study my teammates to ensure that I am able to utilize them to their full potential. I have kept an eye on Naruto for a the past two years now, after hearing about him making free throws with a dislocated shoulder, and I must say that I was impressed. So impressed that I got Magic over here to find me all available footage of his college games. I have studied his game quite intensely." Kobe picks up a stack of papers and flips through them. "He is the perfect PG, able to find teammates with ease, great court vision, great handling skills, cool and calm under pressure. He fits in perfectly with me. He can clearly take over the game if need be. But…", Kobe sets his intense stare on Shika, "… I noticed something very odd about him."

Kobe flicks a button on a remote and the flat screen lights up. All four men watch highlights of Naruto play on the screen.

"Like I said, I was impressed. But then I started noticing the slight hesitation he has every now and then, moments where I get the feeling his about to take a shot or take on an opponent 1v1. It intrigued me so I dug a little deeper."

Kobe switches to another set of highlights, highlights that Shika knows like the back of his hand due to the number of hours he himself has spent studying them.

"I managed to find a tape of the game Naruto set the high school scoring record. I can say without a doubt that the Naruto you are seeing on the screen right now is Naruto at his best." Kobe switches the screen off and takes a seat at the table. "Even though he is a PG, and a fucking good one at that, it is not his natural position. That game is the only game in which he was completely tired afterward, meaning that he was able to play all out. His position should be SG or SF. He can be a back up PG on the court but his instinct is to attack."

Shika leans back on his seat and lets out a heartfelt laugh at what he just heard. He takes a glance at the pages before him and can't help the feeling of happiness that someone other than himself finally noticed what he did.

"I couldn't agree more with you even if I tried. You are absolutely right about him. I don't think even he has noticed that about himself. The thing is, as much as all of us loved the game, there was no one around him that could ever give him that push to go all out. It happened once or twice in college but that was against a teammate. Naruto has never had someone to truly push him past his limits. I believe that over time he started to subconsciously suppress that desire to utterly dominate his opponents for fear of losing interest in the game." A nostalgic smile appears on Shika's face as he loses himself in past memories only he can see. "When we first started playing together Naruto was very different to how he is today. Once he stepped on the court you could easily feel and see the shift in him. He was our Ace, the one who always received the ball in a clutch situation. He would show no mercy even at the end of the game when we were clearly the winners, he would rush the rim and rain down 3's while the defenders just begged the ref to call the game.

He was still an amazing PG but he truly outclassed everyone when it came to scoring. He could take over a game so easily that at times it felt like he didn't even need the rest of us to be on the court. It was during when training camp we all went to that he changed his style of play. During that camp is was so obvious how far ahead he was compared to everyone else that the teams playing against him started giving up as soon as they knew he was their opponent. That was a difficult time for him but it also lead to him devoting the rest of his time and skill to being a perfect team player. For those of us that truly knew him, it was easy to see during those first few years that he struggled with controlling his killer instinct."

Shika shook himself out of his turn down memory lane and looked up at the three men sitting around him, all of whom had their heads gathered together in a quiet conversation. Finally, it seemed like they came to an agreement. Magic reached inside his blazer jacket and produced a stack of papers, which he handed to Shika.

"For years now, Kobe has been the face of the Laker's. However, he is coming along in age, which is made all the more obvious by his current injury. To put it bluntly, we need a to insure that the franchise has someone to fall back onto once Kobe leaves." Magic indicates the papers in Shika's hands. "That details the plans we have for Naruto."

"I want one last shot at the title." All eyes turned towards Kobe at his proclamation. "The next season will likely be my last as a player. This season is already a bust because of my Achilles. At best I'll only be able to make it back onto the team around mid season. If Naruto manages to keep the team in a play-off position then I might even delay my return. Next season I want to make a play for the championship right from the beginning of the season." Magic takes over from Kobe.

"We need Naruto to take over the team this season. We realize that it's a lot to ask but as you can see from the papers, we are planning to build the team around him. What we need from you is to be the go between guy. As his friend and manager you know him better than almost anyone else, which allows you access to his way of thinking. If there are any players that the two of you think will be beneficial for him to play with then let us know and we shall do our best to make it happen."

Shika stares at the men before him in amazing.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to give a rookie player this amount of power of the team? I mean, he hasn't even played a single game yet!"

"I know that look in his eye." Shika stares at Kobe with clear confusion in his eyes. "Just taking a quick glance at him will tell you that his a really friendly kid with a happy-go-lucky attitude. But for those of us who played at the top level for so long, its as plain as day. We can tell just from his walk and how he interacts with those around him, he is utterly confidant in his skill. He truly believes he can keep up with the best of them and even if he can't, that intense look that flashes across his face every now and then ensures that he'll work his fucking ass off until there's no doubt in anyone's mind that he is the best."

Shika breaks out into amused chuckles as he points his finger at Kobe.

"He reminds you of yourself, doesn't he?" At Kobe's nod Shika just shakes his head in amusement before falling silent with a serious look on his face. "To be honest, I don't really know how he'll play now that's he's in the top league. He'll definitely still be a PG but I'm almost certain he'll be most comfortable as the SG or SF. So at best, the team will have a back-up PG on the court as well as someone who can shoot from distance and attack the basket." All four men sit in quiet contemplation, thinking of the best way to utilize Naruto's abilities. Eventually Kobe gets up and heads towards the door.

"Well, let's go watch the practice session. I'm interested to see how well he handles himself while around NBA level players. I don't care what the plans are for this kid. I won't just hand over the reigns to someone who's not on my level."

The four men walk into the gym to see that everyone is around there getting ready for the practice session. Glancing about the gym trying to locate Naruto, Shika spies a sight that does nothing to put his nerves at ease.

"Troublesome…" The men around him spare him a glance before following his train of sight.

Naruto was going through his warm up exercises within the gym, away from all the other players. He was in a quiet corner by himself; headphones blaring music into his ears, drowning out everything around him. He was dribbling a basketball around his body, getting into rhythm. What drew the attention of everyone watching him was the ease at which he was playing with the ball. It looked like he was barely paying attention to what he was doing but Shika knew him better than that.

"That's his ritual he does before a big game. He drowns out all noise by turning the volume up on the headphones and dribbles the ball to whatever song is playing. You can tell his been at it for awhile now cause his got a little bounce to his step."

With that, all four men walk over to join the coaches on the other side of the gym to watch the practice. The team went through exercises designed to test the fitness of the players. Even though none of the players were unfit due to the off-season, it was easily seen by all that Naruto was one of the fittest members out there. When most of the players took to the side lines during break, Naruto was on the court practicing on dribbling from one side of the court to the other before doing a lay-up. Compare to what Gai and Lee put him through this practice session was like a breeze for him.

Over on the sidelines, the spectators were in awe watching the ease at which Naruto went through the session. Most couldn't believe that he was outlasting a lot of the veterans.

"That can't be right."

"Isn't he just out of college?"

"And check out the amount of muscle on him! We haven't even gotten into the weight room yet but he looks like he'll be able to breeze through that as well."

"Do you think some roids were involved?"

"It's nothing of the sort." Shikamaru finally speaks up in defense of his friend. "What you are looking at is all the blood, sweat, and tears he has put into basketball since he was a little kid. So what if he's outlasting most of them? Did you honestly think he was going to stop working his ass off just because he made it to the big league? The NBA is just another step to achieving his dream."

Most of those who made comments hung their heads in embarrassment. They eventually all turned back to the court to watch the players.

The team were now going through formations, working through game situations. In the beginning of the exercise Naruto was a bit overwhelmed. Not being used to this level of basketball, he wasn't putting on the best performance. Not to say he was playing bad, it just wasn't his best. Add on the fact that he had Nick Young in his face, taunting him for most of the practice game, Naruto was quickly becoming frustrated.

"Come on, Rookie!" Young smacks the ball out of Naruto's hands and races down the court for an easy lay-up. "You got to do better than that. Do you even want to be here?" Young jumps up and blocks a 3-pointer from Naruto. "You should have gone somewhere else. This is my team now!" He fouls Naruto with a hand to the face after making an attempt at the ball. Nick stands over Naruto and spreads his arms.

"Go home Rookie!"

Bzzzzzt

The buzzer goes off to signal a break to the game. Naruto walks over to the bench and puts a towel over his head, trying to drown out everyone else. After a short minute he feels someone standing over him but doesn't lift his head to see who it is.

"Young is nowhere no a good 1v1 defender yet you are letting him walk all over you. And those passes you were trying to make? All of them were pathetic. I watched your tapes; saw what you can do; saw the potential you have to take this team back to the top. If you are happy and content with where you are right now, with being second best, then maybe I was wrong about you. Go out there, roll over, show your stomach, and be the good little dog that most of them are starting to believe you are."

Naruto waits for the footsteps of the person fade away but they pause after a few steps.

" Is that all you got?"

Naruto glances up and witnesses his favourite player of all time walk away from him, disappointment clearly shown in his body language. Instead of making Naruto sad and depressed, the image of Kobe Bryant walking away from him like that just pisses him off.

More angry than he has been in a really long time Naruto snatches the towel off his head and throws it back on the chair before walking over to Shikamaru at the coaches bench. Shika watches his friend approach him and allows a smirk to grace his face.

"Troublesome… so you have decided then Ruto?" He reaches into his blazer pocket and hands over a pair of sweatbands. "They saw your Highschool footage."

Naruto tightens the sweatbands around his wrists while everyone watches his face fall into a casually bored look, like he doesn't find anyone them interesting.

"If you saw that footage then you know I'm no dog." He fixes Kobe Bryant with a heated glare even though the bored look remains on his face. "Second best? Don't make me laugh. You clearly don't know who you are speaking to." Naruto turns his back on the legend and walks away while calling over his shoulder. "But then again, a black mamba could ever dream of beating a kitsune!"

The sound of someone chuckling brought the attention of the coaches towards Kobe.

"You might wanna get what comes next on tape."

Bzzzzzt

Naruto was standing in the right hand corner of the court, Nick Young once again standing in front of him. Steve Nash was dribbling the ball up the court while looking for someone to pass to. Steve tries to pass the ball to Pau Gasol but it gets tipped. One of the players on the opposing side grabs the ball and races down the court. Just as he jumps in the air for what he thinks will be an easy lay-up, Naruto appears above him in the air to slap the ball against the backboard. Naruto lands, grabs the ball, and races back down the court.

Young steps in front of him and Naruto drives left while dribbling the ball with his left hand. Just as Young takes a step to get back in front of Naruto, Naruto bounces the ball behind his back before turning on his left foot and performing a 360 spin around Young. As he completes the spin he grabs and dribbles the ball with his right hand before once again sprinting towards the basket at full sprint, leaving behind an off balance and bewildered Nick Young.

As he gets to the paint, another defender steps in his way. He turns towards his right while casually lobbing the ball over the defender for Pau Gasol to perform an ally-oop. The gym is silenced by the magnificent play Naruto just performs yet he does nothing but jogs back like he didn't just do something amazing.

When everyone gets over their shock the ball gets inbounded again. The opponent PG dribbles the ball up the court before passing it to Young, expecting him to get passed Naruto again like he has been doing the whole game. Naruto presses right up against Young as soon as the ball is in his hands, preventing him from dribbling in fear of it being stolen. Young takes a quick dribble to his left before taking a step back to behind the 3-point line to take a shot. As he releases the ball Naruto is already in the air to smack it back down. Steve Nash grabs the ball before throwing it up court to an open Naruto who comes to almost a dead stop behind the 3-point line to release a shot which catches nothing but net.

The opponents score the next basket but Naruto doesn't give them a chance to celebrate it. He calls for the inbound before driving down the court. A defender steps in front of him but he spies Gasol performing a screen on the right hand side. He gets past the defender before performing a pump fake and then throwing a bounce pass to Gasol who ran down the lane after the screen for a dunk.

As the ball is inbounded Naruto appears in front of the opponent as smacks it towards Nash who drills it in for a rare 3-pointer.

Setting up on defense again Naruto waits for the ball to land in Young's hands. As soon as it does he steps back and spreads his arms out in a clear challenge for a 1v1. What surprises Naruto is the sneer that appears on Young's face before he passes the ball, not wanting to go against Naruto.

When Gasol gets the rebound off of a bad shot Naruto runs down the court while calling for the ball. Gasol throws it and Naruto receives it just as he passes half court. Once again Young appears in front of him. Naruto drives towards Young before using his right hand to bounce the ball through his legs while leaning his body to the left. As he sees Young lean his body in to reach for the ball, Naruto quickly bounces it behind his back with his left hand before catching it with his right and driving to the hoop. As Young stumbles and lands on his hands and knees, Naruto jumps high into the air from the free-throw line. With his legs bent behind him from the force of the jump, Naruto's head reaches the height of the rim of the basket. He gets about halfway to the hoop before he twists his body to the left while throwing down his right arm, slamming the ball into the basket without his hand even touching the hoop. Naruto lands back on the court with bent knees before straightening up and shouting out with pure passion.

The players stare in shock at such a difficult dunk being performed by their newest teammate. On the sidelines, the coaches and managerial staff are shocked back into silence. Even Shikamaru has his mouth dropped open in shock. Kobe is on his feet in excitement.

'I found him! He'll get me my last ring!'

Naruto casually walks back towards Young, who is still on the floor after witnessing that dunk. Naruto crouches down on his left knee in front of Young while his right arm on his right leg and putting his left hand on his hip. He speaks in a calm tone that is laced with a dangerous tint, betraying the bored look that once again adorns his face.

"Who did you think you were thinking you could challenge me on my court? You won't ever beat me. You will never be on my level." Even though he spoke softly Naruto's voice carries throughout the silent gym. The sheer amount of confidence with which he speaks causes many in the gym to look at him very differently from the happy-go-lucky kid most of them thought him to be. "You will never challenge me on this court again. So let me tell you this now." Naruto stands and makes his way over to Kobe, who stares him down all the way. Everyone else in the gym can feel the pressure being released from the two alphas of the team increase as the intensity of the stare down becomes more and more heated.

"This is what I've got."

It was the end of the week so everyone was by Jiriaya's house for a family lunch day. Himawari was currently running around in the back yard with Kurama chasing after her. The adults were all on the back deck relaxing and catching up on what's been going on in everyone's lives. Suddenly Shikamaru comes racing out that house shouting for everyone's attention.

"Guys, you have to come see this!"

Everyone rushes back inside to see what the commotion is. They all file into the living room to see the TV showing a live conference being held by the Laker's. Sitting behind a table filled with microphones are Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and the GM, all answering questions being asked by the media before them.

"Magic, how do you feel about your new signing and what does he bring to the team?"

"Well, I think that we made the right choice in signing Naruto. I couldn't be happier. Even from just one practice its easy to see that he is capable of bringing a lot to the table in terms of offensive options for the team."

"Kobe, with your injury keeping you out until around the All-Star game, what do you think the chances are of you guys making it to the play-offs this season?"

"Well, obviously it's a huge setback to the team but I'm sure we'll be able to just scrape by. As long as the team is able to gel together effectively, I'm sure we can make the play-offs."

"Kobe, you are obviously reaching the end of your career. This currently injury to your Achilles must have given you a lot of food for thought about retiring. At this moment, do you feel okay with handing over the reigns of the team to someone else?"

"Absolutely not. I'm not saying that I don't trust any of my teammates, I just believe that there is still so much more I can do for the team. Even if that wasn't the case, the only time I will hand over the reigns is if someone forcefully takes them from me. Since no one has been able to do that yet, I'll continue leading this team."

The conference continues with more questions but none of them are important. Everyone in the room then disperses into the own little groups. Naruto puts Kurama on his head and picks Himawari up before walking to the kitchen in search of snacks. Shika and Sasuke follow him.

"Ruto, we got to talk about who you want on the team."

Sasuke looks between them in confusion.

"What team?"

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know. The high-ups in the franchise want me to pick players I wanna surround myself with. According to Shika, the want me to be the new face once Kobe retires."

"That's what they planned and its actually a very good plan. You just have to make sure that whoever you pick will be able to gel together."

"Yeah, I know. I was thinking that we don't need another Center. We got Gasol and his really good. I want someone that focuses on 3-pointers, there's not really any point in getting another ball handler once Kobe is back to full health, plus we still got Steve Nash. Other than that, maybe a PF but I'm sure we can deal without one for the time being."

Shika writes all that down before walking out to make a couple phone calls, leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone with a happily munching Himawari and Kurama.

"So how are things with Sakura going?"

Sasuke looks around nervously before leaning over the counter to whisper.

"I'm going to be a father. Sakura is 2 months pregnant."

Naruto squeals like a little girl for skipping around the kitchen in glee.

"Oh my, Sasuke this is amazing! I can't wait to see the little baby person. I do hope that it takes after Sakura in the looks department. No offence but you aren't really nice to look at." Naruto says in a feminine voice.

HImawari nods her head while giggling at her father's antics. Sasuke's voice turns red in embarrassment before he reaches into the fruit bowl to throw an apple at Naruto's head.

"Shut up Dobe!" Sasuke takes a calming breath before he continues. "We're waiting for the right moment to tell everyone else."

"Go for it Sasuke-kyoufu! You and Sakura-kyoubo will have a very beautiful baby."

"Thanks Hima-hime." Sasuke walks around to give Himawari a hug before walking out the kitchen to find Sakura.

Naruto walks into the office and closes the door behind him.

"Ah, Naruto. Thanks for coming on such short notice." The GM waves his hand to indicate that Naruto should take a seat. "Now I won't keep you long cause I know you want to get back to practice. I want to tell you about Vegas."

"Vegas? What's happening in Vegas?"

"The summer league starts soon. Naruto," the GM fixes Naruto with a serious stare down, "I want you to completely dominate it."

okay i know this isn't a proper update but i read through the previous chapters and i found something amiss with the plot. i just had to change it before anyone noticed. for those that noticed before, well done:D