'Ten Days...that's all I have. A week and three whole days to show my worth.' my life's been filled with many lows, no parents, no home. Just the streets, that's my life. I was only lucky to e in high school...I could've been dead many times, that I can assure you. If it wasn't for Coach Jiraiya and Tsunade-baachan taking me in, I would be dead.
"Hey kid you're up." a man wearing a black tracksuit holding a clipboard, pointed to the baskeball court in front of him. The man turned back to the players currently on the as he began shouting to them to take it easy on the new kid. "Alright guys, the rookie's coming in so please, don't go to crazy on him, show him some pressure but remember even if he's on a ten day contract, it don't mean he's not part of the team." the coach stated as he then noticed the new kid wasn't there.
Turning back to the bench he was shocked to see him still sitting down. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" this caught the kid out of his daze. "Huh? What?-" the blond was confused. "Let's see what you got kid! Unless you don't want to play." the man hissed, since there was no way he was giving some kid, minutes in an NBA game, so if he didn't get his butt off that chair, he wouldn't get another chance.
Luckily the kid got off before it got ugly, about to go onto the court he was beratted by his coach. "The hell are you doing?! Take off the goddamn tracksuit and get yo' yellow behind on the court!" the man shouted as the entire gym was left silent, all attention on the blond, who felt a hard lump on his throat, "I...I...I"
"I...I...I. Stop wasting time rook, you know what I'm over you, just run suicides, you wasted your chance."
"What, no coach there no need-" he began taking off his jacket. "NO! You wasted your time, now get your ass off my freaking court and out of my gym. Run around the whole block until I say stop." he declared, the kid hearing this felt his eyes feel a little heavy.
"Just go!" the coach shouted as the kid just did so, shooing him out of the gym. "Alright." the coach began noticing everyone's attention on him. "Why are y'all looking at me like? We ain't done, get to work. *blows whistle*"
The entire block was very industrial, seeing as the training facility was in the industrial side of the city, also known as the nice side of the river seeing as that's what most of his new neighbors called it, back at the motel. The air seemed vibrant, lucid with a taste of humidity he needed to get used to. Moving so far up north the country was going to take a bit of getting used to.
His lungs we're on fire right now, due to all the running he had done. How long has he been at it? Did practise finish? How much longer will the coach keep him running? And how long will he keep on passing that overflowing dumpster? All of these questions kept popping up. Just what exactly was he doing? He was a pro basketball player for goodness sake, not some marathon runner.
How long was this block anyway? How long did it take him to do a full circle? So many questions went unanswered. Was this a hazing? He questioned since if it was, it was a pretty laboring one. His legs were getting really wobbly, his stamina was long gone, only thing leaving him afloat was just his energy to wait for the coach, his dream was in the balance and that man's say was the only thing keeping it alive.
He'd been playing in the G-League for two teams before his this one, both he got called up for a ten-day contract and all ended with him being in the gym and not getting in the rotation, hell he wasn't even on the bench as a reserve. This was the third time he got offered a ten day, his third year playing professional basketball.
He had been taken with the last pick of his draft class, Mr. Irrelevant was his nickname at the combine and during the pre draft workouts. No one knew about him, only thing they knew was that he was from Japan and was taller than the average male.
Lost in his thoughts, the kid didn't notice all the luxury A-Class cars passing him by, as they turned right back into the city, via the bridge. "Hey kid!" a gruff voice caught the blond's attention, turning his head to the right, jus driving beside him was the coach from earlier, currently in his car the man spoke.
"You can stop now, next time when I say get in, you better, see you tomorrow." with that the car sped off leaving Naruto standing there only to fall onto the ground. His lungs had collapsed and his thighs we're burning very hard. He had pushed himself to the brink, slowly taking a little break, the blond had to slowly return back to the facility.
Seeing the team doctor, he was assigned to a recovery schedule that span through the rest of the day, a massage from one of the trainers was the first and a ice bath was the last one on the schedule. To be honest, when he was told he was going to the NBA on another contract he was happy but now, the fact he hadn't even been to training and he was already dying. He was thinking twice about this.
"Pass the ball! Pass the ball!" the coach shouted from the sideline, it was the next day and another chance for the blond to perform, currently he was bottling that chance as his passes weren't very accurate either being easily telegraphed which led to steals or over thrown that led to turnovers. 'This kid is really raw.' the coach thought since he was certain some high schoolers could've played better than this kid.
When he saw yet another stolen pass from one of his players he had enough. "Alright! No inbound! Maxey you better hold that ball!" the coach shouted at the NBA player who was ready to reset the play but hesitated as the coach seemed really angry right now, not wanting to get on his bad side, he just rested it on his hip as coach spoke.
"Blondy get off the court, I've seen enough for a day." he declared as the kid couldn't help but walk slowly off the court in shame, everyone in the gym couldn't help but just look at the kid in confusion, the one's on his team were all wondering just how exactly did this kid get a 10 day contract? 'Guess they just hand them out to anyone, who asks nicely.' Maxey thought from the sideline as the blond passed him actioning to sit on the bench. "Oh no you're not sitting on my bench. Real players sit on that, your spot is on the floor." the blond turned in surprise, about to open his mouth to whine the coach beat him.
"Real players that play earn their spot to sit on that bench, you played like trash today, so if you just utter one word this entire session. I'm cutting you off the team, I don't care if the GM gave you a ten day contract." he declared as after his rant the blond decided to just stand instead. "Alright let's get back to the scrimmage, Tobias get in for the scrub.*blows whistle*" Harris got in to receive the inbound pass, he watched as Maxey ran for the corner, passing to player in motion he ran into the paint, Maxey with a quick touch and throw he passed to Harris who quickly pulled for a two point jumper just inside the three point line.
"Now that's what you're suppose to do, scrub." the coach eyed the blond. "Some one get this kid a clipboard and pen so that he can take notes." the man stated and without a waste of time, one of the assistant coaches, gave the kid a clipboard and pen. The look on the blond's face was a very funny sight for all the other players, to say he looked shell-shocked was an understatement.
The kid was very much embarrased by the situation. Minutes passed by rather quickly and the scrimmage came to an end as a draw, the players were then told to end training with a stretch. All of them pairing up, the blond was also about to join but was stopped half way as a dollar note was shown in front of him. "Scrub, go around the corner and get me some coffee." the coach stated. "Sorry, what?" the blond asked confused. "Get me a coffee, extra black and bring back my change." the coach retorted as he shoved the cash into the blond's open hand.
"B-but I need to stretch?" the blond declared as the coach waved him off. "You're not missing anything, now go before I lose my patience." seeing no point of arguing with the coach, the blond followed orders as he began to head for the door. "Eh yo!" the blond was called by one of his teammates who approached him with their wallet out. "Since you're going out, how about you buy me a couple boxes of chocolate donuts from Krispy Kreme." the man said taking out a couple notes of money and handing it to the kid. "Are you serious? I'm not an errand boy." the kid complained. "Sorry man, it's just part of the hazing, remember chocolate donuts nothing else." the man stated as he returned back to everyone else.
To say the line was long, was a big understatement, it was rush hour, people we're going to work. Practise had been scheduled way earlier than yesterday, due to this it intertwined with the time which people begin to go to work. It was currently 8:34 from what the clock on the wall said and many people we're waiting for their cups of coffee. The coffee place was packed with so many people that only a lucky few that needed to wait for their orders were able to find seats, one of those was the blond on the table commendated to him by the coffee place were boxes from Krusty Kreme, not sure of how many people needed donuts, the kid bought with the whole money all different kinds of varieties. What kind of person would buy boxes of the same flavour?
Anyway arriving at the gym, the blond was met by raids of people, to say it was a stampede was an understatement. The blond was sure he saw a couple suits, coming down the to get their taste of sugar. When it was all done, a single bagel was left one of the boxes, sitting there by it's lonesome Naruto was about to take it when the coach beat him to it.
The blond watched as the coach chow down only to drink his coffee as well. "Well done, training's done, see you tomorrow." with that the man left only for the blond to look shocked. "WHAT!"