"Talking"
'Thoughts'
'Flashbacks'
Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter of the Brightest Light!
He finally made it. He look up in awe, Konoha High was impressive. The building was enormous. He looked left and right and it never ended. He saw the flag in front of the school, waving in the wind, their green and black spiraling symbol displaying itself fully.
'This was it.'
He looked back to the car that dropped him off and saw the person inside nod.
As he made his way to the stairs leading in, he sighed, he left Kuroko-chan all alone to do this. He hoped Akashi-kun took care of her. He got her on the team and left her. He swore to himself he would make it up to her, but he needed to know if it was true. He hoped that she got better by the time he got back.
He walked up to the front doors, pushed on it and went through, only to stop and frown.
'Shit, where was the gym?'
Once he found the door, he stopped, took a deep breath and stepped in.
The first thing he observed was that a basketball practice going on. He felt the guilt hit him again but pushed on, he'd go back, he promised.
Then he was impressed. This was a high school team? He thought Teiko took basketball seriously, I guess things in America were more intense.
"Oi, brat! What are you doing here?" Naruto look up, 'Scary.' This man was huge and he had piercings all over.
"I-I'm looking for someone named Jiraiya." God, he was nervous, this kid was in high school? The said kid look annoyed.
"What does a brat like you, want with our coach?"
"Hey! I'm not a brat," he took a step towards the unnamed man, an annoyed look on his face, "I'm loo-"
A voice came from behind him. "Nagato, leave the kid alone, you're scaring him."
"Waahhh! Where did you come from?" Naruto screeched.
"Itachi, you're late and you scared the kid more than I did."
A huge shadow fell over Naruto. This guy was huge! He towered over the newly named Nagato. "Nagato got you there, Itachi."
"Kisame, shut up." The monotone voice of Itachi replied.
"I'm loo-"
"So harsh."
"Oh, do we have a new Jashin member?" Is his hair grey? In highschool?
"I'm lookin-"
"Hidan, nobody is ever here to join you freakish cult." This guy looked the scariest, who wore a hood to play basketball? This was the weirdest group of people Naruto had even seen.
"Kakuzu, how dare you!"
"I'm loo-"
"What are you guys doing over there?"
"I'm! Looking! For! Jiraiya!" He had enough, all these freaks, he just wanted to meet his godfather.
"Oh, is someone looking for me, are you here to buy a book?" Naruto's eye twitch, everyone kept getting even more weird.
"Coach, nobody buys your books." Nagato said, deadpan.
"Who are you?" He really wanted to leave, screw finding his godfather. He would go back to Teiko, hang out with Kuroko, play basketball and be happy.
"Who am I?"
He saw Nagato facepalm, muttering, "Now he's done it."
"Who am I!"
Taking a deep breath, their coach shouted out, "I am the ever gallant Jiraiya, I'm not just a coach but I am a super pervert of the highest calibar. I trained some of the greatest basketball players in the world and now I'm training the best high school team in America!"
Colored smoke appeared behind and he finished with a ridiculus pose.
Naruto couldn't help himself, "You're my godfather? This lump of flesh trained my father?"
A small snicker was heard, then rest of the team burst out laughing.
A deathly silence fell after.
"Godfather?" Itachi wasn't happy.
"You have a godson?"
"Er, maybe?" Jiraiya shrugged.
"That's not something you say maybe about."
"Who are you kid?"
"My names Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."
The five of them stared, flabbergasted.
"Your Minato's son, Minato had a son?"
"Yes, they died in a plane crash-"
Jiraiya interrupted, "Eleven years ago, yes, I know, who's your mother, you're not lying to me, are you?"
A meneacing presance appeared. Naruto was scared, he felt the tears welled up in his eyes, the caretakers were never this mean and intimidating.
Where was he?
"He's not, his mother was Kushina Uzumaki." A voice rang out.
"Kakashi? My boy! I haven't seen you in forever."
Kakashi, stood behind Naruto, next to Itachi, rubbing his head, Naruto quickly embraced Kakashi, scared of his so called godfather.
"And what do you have to confirm this Kakashi? Minato never talked to me about having a wife or a child, I know he took a two year break and went to Japan. He somehow got married and had a kid with one of the greatest female basketball players?" Jiraiya sternly questioned Kakashi.
"If Minato and Kushina had a kid, do you not feel people would be out to get him? They were both incredibly famous. No, they married in secret in Japan, I was there. When they had Naruto, they had to quickly get to America. They had an emegency meeting with their teams, they were only supposed to be gone for a little more than a week. After having him, they told me to watch over him for a bit and took a flight to America. They never made it.
I," Kakashi paused, displeased. "I fell into depression so I-I dropped Naruto off at an orphanage, I could hardly take care of myself, much less a child. I looked up to Minato like a father and I only saw Minato when I looked at Naruto. I finally was able to face Naruto and I told him about his parents and his godfather, you. I took him here. It was all I could do to make up to him and one other thing."
A stunned silence fell over the court.
It was broken by Jiraiya, "Okay, I believe you, Minato's student wouldn't lie to me like that, what was the other thing you mentioned."
"I want you to help me train Naruto."
"And then I trained with them and Konoha High for two years before coming back here."
That's amazing.
"Naruto-kun, that's amazing." Kuroko was stunned, but two questions remained prevalent in her mind.
"How good are you?"
She felt his hand on her head again. "Don't worry about it. I'm here to train you, I don't plan on playing too much."
'Akashi-kun will pay for how he turned you into this 'shadow' instead of bringing out your talent. If you can't show him his errors, I will.'
"And how did you know I could go in The Zone?"
"That's a good question, but the real question is, how did you know it was called The Zone?"
Now that Kuroko thought about it, she didn't know know. But, she knew she went into The Zone. She was in the game having a blast and then she was just... in The Zone.
"The Zone is in an interesting thing. Not many people can go into it. You must love you game, or have a increidbly high will to win. Not only that, but, you must have inherint talent."
He paused as he thought how to word what he would say next. Kuroko listened on with interest.
"The Zone is living and breathing. If two teams faced and both had someone who could go into The Zone, one player would go into The Zone and that would bring out the other person who could go into The Zone also. It see's a challenge and reacts. It's a strange thing and I'm not quite sure what else there is to learn."
Kuroko stared at Naruto, a questioning look in her eye. 'Did he go insane in America?'
He laughed, "Don't worry, it sounds weird, I thought the same thing. If you don't believe me, you will soon."
"Fine, I'll ask again, how did you know I could do that?"
"Kakashi is one of the best analyzers I know, and I trained under him. While he is a good point guard his skills come from being able to play and analyze at the same time. A surprising demanding task. He could be a great team manager if his skills ever fell.
Since I couldn't learn his play style very well, he told me tips on being able to recognize strong players. One of the things he taught me was being able to recognize people in The Zone. I also have the ability to go into The Zone and it's easier to recognize who else can do it.
But if you can't enter The Zone," his hand traveled down to her chin bringing her eyes to his.
"It's in the eyes. There is something different in the eye's of the people who can go into the zone. You have it."
They continued to stand there. Kuroko started to get embarrassed and fidgeted, she never look into Naruto-kun's eyes for so long, she didn't realize how blue they are.
His hand dropped. "Anyway, that's good for me, not good for you. I'll help you with you basics and improve your ball handling. You're shots pretty good but if you can't get pasted anyone with the ball you won't score. To do that I'm going to train you using the method Jiraiya used on me. He calls it In-Zone Training."
He dropped his hand from her face and stepped away, picking up the ball.
Kuroko saw the deadly smirk that appeared on his face, she didn't like it. She hesitantly asked, "In-Zone Training?"
"Haha," he chuckled maniacally. "The basics of it is that I will force you into The Zone and we play basketball. Since The Zone pushes you past your normal limits, your muscles are built at an incredible rate. The downside is your will be so, so, sore. And, you still have to practice with the team."
He started to laugh evilly again, "Let's get started."
He passed the ball to her and a terrifying presence pushed down onto her, 'Is this what if feels like when Naruto unleashes his presence on someone?'
Time slowed as the ball got closer and closer. Naruto smirked.
The presence only seemed to get stronger the closer the ball got until it was inches from her face.
It was going to hit her, it was going to going to hit her. Oh god, this is going to hurt.
The ball smacked her right on the forehead.
The presence dissapeared. "Naruto-kun..." She felt some blood trickle down her forehead. Her hand wiped the blood away, wincing, she felt a small gash where the ball hit.
"What was the point of that!?"
He looked terrified. "Sorry, sorry! You were suppose to catch the ball." Her eye gain a deadly twitch and she scowled.
"How was I suppose to catch the ball!"
"Okay, I get your angry-"
"Angry? Angry?," Naruto shrunk as her voice got progressively louder. "You threw a ball at me, at an incredible speed, with no warning to me. Again, how was I suppose to catch the ball?"
She was seething. Naruto watched her, she was so intense when she was angry.
"Well, usually when a person is in The Zone, they don't freeze like that."
"Wha-, in The Zone?"
She looked around, everything was slower, the rustle of the leaves, how fast the ball was bouncing. Then she felt it, the familiar rush that The Zone brings you. It was glorious.
All that she could say was, "How?"
He pulled a bandage out of his bag and applied it to her face.
She watched as he gently put the bandage on her face. He was so close and he looked into her eyes seeing the electric blue that emitted from being in The Zone and smiled, "I really didn't mean for the ball to hit you. It was what Jiraiya did to me, so, I did it to you. I'm sorry."
He finished with the bandage and said, "Anyway, you're not the only one in The Zone, see," He pointed to his eyes. "Normally, it's almost impossible to force yourself into The Zone but if a challenge appears, The Zone responds. Like I said, it acts as if it's alive. Ready to play?"
She finally noticed it, the blue streaks coming from his eyes. She stared, memorized.
"Play, I thought we were training." She was confused, sometimes Naruto-kun didn't make any sense.
"What do you think I would train you in The Zone? It would be impossible to maintain that. The Zone requires you to be play a strong opponent. Were going to play in The Zone, I'll push you to your limits. Let's go."
With that said, he pick up the ball and speed on by her, his hand patting her hand on the way by.
She pouted and took after him.
"Oh, and by the way, were are playing full court."
She slapped the ball out of his hands and quickly recovered it.
He stopped her, mid court. "That's pretty impressive, your speeds amazing in The Zone. What are you going to do... now?"
She vanished.
'And I thought that drive of hers was scary before hand.' He watched her score the layup. 'I didn't expect her to be this good. Oh man! I'm so excited to see when she finally uses this in a game! But, I'm worried how mad she will be when she finds out. I shouldn't hide this from her but I don't think she could overcome her own shadow if she knew how much this will change her.'
Five minutes passed and Kuroko was having the time of her life, she didn't get to really play the last time she was in the zone, she bet nobody in Teiko even noticed it. It was so exhilarating, the grin wouldn't leave her face. She pulled out moves she never thought she could do and she was confident of doing them.
She leaped to the side, her body, parallel with the ground and shot the ball, only to land on her feet. Naruto grabbed the ball and sped to her net. From an outside perspective, she disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto to halt Naruto's drive at her free throw line.
He drove left, but appeared on her right and drove the ball into the net.
'What was that? I swore he was going to the left, but, it's almost like he flashed to the right.'
She grabbed the ball and sprinted down the court. Naruto was right there, impeding her progress. She tried her Vanishing Drive again, it didn't work so she continued to push Naruto back to the middle of his three point line.
Once more she tried her Vanishing Drive, only to find the ball not in her hand anymore.
As she was getting back to her position she heard him say, "I think I'm getting the hang of your drive." He looked behind him and smirk at her. "It's not that good."
'That'll piss her off.'
Oh, and piss her off it did. She was in front of him in an instant. Her enraged eyes stared at him.
'Oh, maybe that wasn't a good idea.'
He once more drove left. Kuroko saw this and smirk, "That won't work this time!"
He appeared on her left and she lunged for the ball. She phased right though him. 'What!'
He scored the layup and looked back at her and tilted his head to the side with a grin. "What was that?" He laughed, mockingly.
She was down the court in an instant. As Naruto watched he blinked, was he going crazy. There were two Kuroko's dribbling the ball. The bounces even lined up with everytime the ball hit the ground.
He couldn't stop this, he let he through, it was time for her to stop anyways.
When Naruto finally stop right there, Kuroko was worried.
"Naruto-kun was wrong? Why'd you stop? Come on, let's go!"
"Ahh, Kuroko-chan, you're not going to be happy tomorrow."
A frowned creased her face. "What does that have anything to do with this."
"You'll see."
She saw his eyes return to normal and she felt herself slowly fall out of The Zone, then she felt her woozy.
"What are you talking about?" Then she felt it, her whole body felt like it weighed a ton.
"Oh," she started to fall. She stopped before she was even close to the ground.
"I knew there was a reason you are perfect for me."
Her face turned exploded into a bright red.
"Wha-" The events of the day and Naruto's words were to much for her.
She passed out.
"Crap, I don't even know where she lives. Well, oh well, I'm sure she'll be okay. It'll actually be better like this."
He continued to talk to Kuroko, "I'm sorry. You might hate me for a bit, but, to see you shine, there's nothing more that I want. I will make you the brightest light."
He made his way home, Kuroko in his arms.
While he was unsure if he was right, he was happy he didn't have to do what Jiraiya did to him.
He couldn't get passed Nagato. He didn't know what to do, no one had ever shut him down this much.
'I can't let him stop me. I have to beat him. I need to beat him. Faster, I need to be faster! If I can't be him with skill, I'll beat him with speed.'
Naruto drove to the left side of Nagato but, Nagato was there, not even a step behind him. He took one step right, the pushed down slightly harder on the ball allowing it to bounce higher than usual. With the ball just a bit higher in the air, it allowed him to drive come back to his left side and drive once more. He was unbalanced, but Nagato was in the same boat.
Years of experience allowed Nagato to recover first and he took the ball from Naruto, stopping his drive.
Naruto fell to his knees and pounded the ground. He saw Jiraiya's face and it was the exact same as it was at the start, flat and unamused.
"Get up Naruto, if you can't beat him, I won't train you!"
He got up, he did it again, and again, and again. Itachi watch as he failed over and over.
'This kid doesn't know when to give up.'
"Arghh!" Naruto drove the ball, and for the first time that day, he saw the hoop. He finally got passed him! He drove to the net and jumped up, planning on scoring a layup.
A hand slammed the ball back at him.
'This is… I can't! I finally got by him and he still blocked the ball. I can't… did I come all this way for nothing. If I can't beat him, how can I win? I need to win.'
He got up again and yelled.
"Again!"
The ball was in his hand and he drove again, he spun, he crossed over, his hand hurt from how much he was dribbling. The ball was stolen once more.
"Again!"
'I have to win! I have to win! If I win, I can train with him.'
He tried once more to get passed Nagato, the result was still the same.
Another ten minutes passed.
Everyone besides Itachi and Jiraiya had left.
"Again!"
Itachi had enough, this wasn't fair, this was horrible, Nagato was the best point guard in high school. He was named the 'All Seeing' for a reason, no one had ever gotten passed him in a one on one match.
He watched the ball get stolen again.
"Again!" He had never seen someone look so desperate.
He took a step forward, intent on stopping this. A hand stopped him in his tracks.
"No." Jiraiya said.
"But..."
"Again!"
"Do you not see it? The desperate look on his face. The need to win? He's grown up thinking he's unstoppable. He has never lost and someone has told him he can't lose, he's been trained to win. Depending on what happens will determine if I will train him."
He looked back at the two of them.
"Again!"
Itachi's eyes narrowed. Was he going into The Zone? To do it when he was so young, he really is the son of Minato and Kushina. He said a red eclectic current, appear in his eyes.
'Red? Aren't his eyes blue?'
"I will win!" Naruto roared, shaking the court.
Naruto felt a rush of energy. He could do it now, he knew it. Nothing could stop him, he drove to his left once more, Nagato was there with him.
Naruto smirked and proceeded to crossover to his right hand, under Nagato's legs and flashed to the other side of him.
He would make this, he would slam dunk this one!
He leaped up to the net, the ball spiraling in his hand and slammed down.
The ball fell to the ground, bouncing away.
Thump! Thump! Thump, thump, thump.
A pair of knees hit the ground.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
A fist slammed in the floor.
"I can't!"
Bam! The same fist hit again.
Naruto sobbed. "I can't win. I can't do it. I'm sorry Kakashi-san, I'm sorry Jiraiya-sensei, I can't do it. I can't beat Nagato, I guess I'm heading back to Japan now."
Jiraiya stepped forward and put a hand his shoulder.
"Get up."
"I can't, I can't win. I can't move. I-"
He was on his feet but he wasn't holding himself up. He looked up and saw both Nagato and Jiraiya holding him on his feet, as they walked him to the bench.
"You did well." Nagato said.
"But I couldn't beat you, it doesn't matter if I don't win, I lost. I lost." He was placed on the bench and put his head into his red, worn hands, tears still leaking from his eyes.
"What did you learn?" Jiraiya asked, his face still stern.
"I didn't learn anything!" Naruto exploded in hysterics, head still in his head. "All I did was play and lose, I didn't learn anything. I can't go back to Teiko now. If Shirogane-sensei knows I lost, I might not be able to play anymore. I just want to play and win! Tell him to let me play! I'll do anything. I just want to play with people."
Jiraiya smiled. "You just want to play with people? Would you want to win or play with others?"
Naruto looked up.
"I want to..."
A nine year old Naruto was dribbling a ball on a run done court, alone. It was across the street from the orphanage and it was where Naruto spent most of his time.
He was sitting on the side of the court, a sad look on his face as he wait for something.
He saw Kuroko approaching and ran up to her.
"Hey Kuroko-chan, you will play basketball with me, right? No matter what?"
A young Kuroko, blushed lightly and responded, "Yeah, basketball is fun and you're really strong, I can get better if I play with you."
Naruto smiled and rushed up and hugged Kuroko.
"N-Naruto-kun, w-w-what's wr-wrong?"
Naruto had never hugged her before and she turned bright red from the unexpected contact.
Still not letting go of her, Naruto said, "It's just, all the kids at the orphange don't want to play with me anymore, they say I'm too good and every time I come to play." He looked down, "They all leave and I hardly get to play anymore. I just want to play basketball, so," he let go of her, "will you play with me?"
"Yeah, I'll play with you. Come on," Kuroko smiled, "let's play!"
"Thank you, Tetsuki-chan."
"T-T-Tesuki-chan?" She was instantly red again. She felt woozy, 'Tetsuki-chan.'
"Ahh! I mean, Kuroko-chan, can I call you that. I mean… Kuroko-chan?"
She was staring off into space.
'Maybe I won't call her that for a bit.'
Naruto sat down and waited for Kuroko, he was sure she would be okay in a few minutes, he hoped. A huge grin on his face, he was ecstatic. He might not get to play in full games against the others anymore, but, he got to play with Kuroko. He got to play with her and that's all that matters.
...play with others!"
"Good, that's what I'm looking for. You were not meant to beat Nagato, he's way older than you. He's bigger than you, faster than you, smarter than you and has more experience than you. Don't worry about it. Winning is not everything, you can't win everything. There's something wrong with your coach, to push winning so hard. Basketball is a team sport. There is a reason you have four other teammates to win with, to lose with and to cry with. You will have happy times and sad times, but you will never be alone. Remember that.
Now, since I'm going to train you, I should warn you, be ready. This will be the toughest time of your life."
Kakashi poked his head through the gym door.
"Maa, I'll train you too!"
A small giggle escaped from Naruto. The events caught up to him and he broke out in laughter.
"Thank you! Thank you! I'm really tired… though..."
When those words left his mouth, he laid down on the bench, he closed his eyes and he fell asleep.
There we go, learned a bit more about Naruto and Kuroko, this was difficult to write but I made it. :)
RoyalTwinFangs: I'm not sure what you mean. If your talking about what Seiho High does, I'm not to sure. I personally don't know enough about martial arts to feel confident writing it. If you talking about some of Naruto's fight styles from the anime, I'm definitely trying. I'm thinking of moves that would make sense in a basketball sense.
ThePizziaMan: Early on Naruto will be stronger, there are a few factors that I'm playing around in my head to keep him balanced. I don't want him so strong that every game would be boring. I have a slight rant about my thoughts below.
Dzerx: I can't confirm if this is NarutoxKuroko but it's definitely a possibility.
long live Uzumaki clan: No problem, I'm glad you're enjoying it so much! This chapter had both of them when they were a bit younger, but not at the point where they met. I'm sure I'll find a place to put where they both met. Ahh! I can't spoil the surprise but Naruto will play in an actual game soon!
Tru3Ph03niX: I didn't even realize I didn't finish the conversation. I found the point where I wanted to stop and was like, "That seems like a good place."
To the guest reviewer: This might lead on to a slight tangent and so I thought I might inform everyone. The jist of his review was why not make Naruto really strong and make him a challenge to overcome later. Before I go on I can say that it wouldn't really fit the story, if Naruto wasn't on Kuroko's team, it would be easier, but they're on the same team.
So, why am I trying my hardest not to make Naruto overpowered?
The first thing I thought when I started to write this story was, what do I like to read in a story? I thought of three main types of crossovers I like, one, a story where Naruto is overpowered and flaunts it, two, a story where he is overpowered but only acts when necessary, almost like a strong 'side character' and three, a normal story where Naruto grows with everyone else.
The first one I mentioned is my least favorite, the writing starts out cool and it has a novel experience, like, "Yeah, I didn't like that character, stomp his face." But, I grow tired of those quick and I lose interest once the story progresses and I stop reading the story. Cool, Naruto is literally unstoppable. What's the point of reading it? There's no sense of fear for any of the characters, every time I see a notification, I'm not worried, I don't think, "What can this chapter bring?" I like things kind of like Attack on Titan, it's unpredictable, who knows what can happen?
I think NeonZangetsu does a really good job on making Naruto strong, sometimes overpowered, but keeps my attention because it isn't a focus of the story. His story, Dark Side of the Moon, is a good example of Naruto being overpowered but I end up not caring because every time I see an update, I wonder, "Where can this go?" So I contradicted myself a bit, but I'm tired and I think I conveyed my feelings on it.
I like the third way but it doesn't fit with this crossover, for Naruto at least. All the main characters in Kuroko no Basuke start off strong. They are all good at basketball in their own way, and I already feel like I'm dragging the beginning along. I haven't even reached the third episode of the anime! I also wanted to focus on Naruto and Kuroko and I like the way things are progressing. For that to happen Naruto need to be strong.
So I went with the second option. Of course, I've done it my own way, so it's not exactly like I said, but I hope you get my point. One of my favorite stories, that's being updated regularly, is End Game Version R by Kur0kishi. Naruto is ridiculously strong, but every update I go in wondering what could happen. That's how I hope I write the up and coming games and that's what I want to do with the story overall.
Anyway, -rant over-
As always, thank you for reading and leave a review if you have the time!