Konoha Baller's Life-The High Schooler

#27

Disclaimer: The only thing I own in the story is the plot and storyline. All rights belong to their respective owners. Some of the language may be adult.

A couple of weeks later- April

Naruto's POV

It's been a couple of weeks since that day, and I've been feeling really happy now that I'm with Hinata. After the first few days, which were a little awkward, we grew more comfortable with each other. We admittedly haven't been able to be together a lot, due to the fact that I have basketball and we both have work, but when we can hang out, we do a variety of things, from homework to playing 2K to watching movies together on Netflix, with my arm wrapped around her waist, and her head on my shoulder. Moments like these just make me feel a level of happiness I haven't felt before. And it evaporated every time she leaves.

Speaking of basketball, I've got a game today, and now it's the playoffs. Right now, we're in the semi-finals, after an easy win last week in the first round. We're gonna take on Osaka today, and I heard that it's gonna be broadcasted on television too, so I had some nerves coming into the game. I calmed myself, got ready, and went out with the team to the bus.

I sat right next to Duck Butt. "Nervous?" he asked. "Of course," I said, "You?" He seemed to smile and said, "Of course not. I know I'm going to ball out." I shook my head. "Don't get to cocky, Duck Butt. Sometimes you can have a bad day, and we are going up against a good defense." He scoffed at me and said, "There's a reason I'm in the conversation for MVP of the league. I'm not worried."

"Well, okay, if you say so," I said. Then the bus stopped and Coach Takashi motioned us to get out. We obliged, then entered the stadium. After we checked in, we got to the locker room, where Coach made his final speech before we got out to the court. Then we started warming up and shooting around, 30 minutes before the tip. I was shooting pretty well during the shootaround, but I knew that even then, Coach would have me come off the bench, which I couldn't really control.

OSAKA 0, FUKUOKA 0, 12:00 Q1

Shootaround ended, and now it was time for tipoff. I watched as Kazuki tapped the opening jump ball right to Sasuke. He isolated on his defender, who I heard was one of the better ones in the league. He tried to get past him, but was denied, so he chucked a tough shot, which missed.

Osaka got the rebound, and they pushed the pace, and got an easy basket. Then I just watched as Sasuke brought the ball up again, then just took a wild jumper over that same defender, and bricked. Osaka got the ball, then managed to hit an open 3-point jumper after Sasuke lost his man. And just like that, Coach Takashi called a timeout, and he looked angry at something.

OSAKA 5, FUKUOKA 0, 10:54 Q1

Coach drew up the play, reminded us to play for each other and not take contested shots, and then the timeout ended. The same five that started went back out there for us, and the same for them. We managed to get two points off of a Kazuki offensive rebound and finish, but we once again let easy points up.

OSAKA 7, FUKUOKA 2, 10:18 Q1

A short while later

OSAKA 64, FUKUOKA 51, 2:44 Q2

We were down 13, as we were getting close to halftime. I was only out there for 8 minutes, totaling 2 points, 1 assist, and 1 steal. We were down by as many as 20, but we cut it to 13 after Sasuke started to heat up, getting 7 quick points.

He got the ball, then tried to make a move on his defender, but then inexplicably fell down. His defender took the ball and easily get two. Worst of all, Sasuke stayed down, and he looked like he was in serious pain. Coach called timeout, and we all immediately went to where he was. He pointed at his left leg, and he was clutching his ACL area, which was worrying to say the least. "Yo, you gon be ok?" I asked. "Y-yeah," he grunted, adding, "And also, ball out and get us the win if I can't return, ok?"