DISCLAIMER: I do not in anyway and form own anything that I have written in this fanfiction. The characters (except for OCs) belong to their respective owners. I do not in anyway profit from this story and is only written out of pure enjoyment. I also do not own the cover image used for this story.

For Future Reference:

"Nice game!" - Japanese

"Nice game!" - English or another language

Enjoy Reading!

The Game Called Basketball

"It's better if you give up on basketball. No matter what you say about effort, it's no use. To survive in today's basketball, you have to have talent. It's an undeniable fact in not just basketball but everything else as well," Kuroko stared silently at the tall redhead in front of him with a blank gaze. "You have no talent in basketball."

"Who are you to say that to someone who loves basketball just as much as you do," Kuroko turned his head towards the source of a voice and was silently shocked at the appearance of the person. "Hmm?"

The red-haired teen, Kagami Taiga, shifted his attention towards the voice, seeing a blonde male who was surprisingly taller than he was. "And who the hell are you?"

"Naruto-sen—"

"Oh, just a fellow basketball enthusiast." A grin appeared at the blonde's face. "Wanna play a game?"

Kuroko's eyes went wide-eyed at the blonde's challenge. Even if it had been a very long time since he had last seen the blonde looking at them with a huge grin, he hadn't forgotten him. It wasn't everyday a person whose talents surpassed those of the Generation of Miracle appear.

You just can't forget someone like that.

"Heh," Kagami smirked. "You're on!"

Kuroko knew that Kagami was talented, he could possibly even reach the level of his old teammates if he worked hard enough. But right now, he actually felt concerned about the redhead's confidence when this was all said and done. Namikaze Naruto was the last person you would want to have one-on-one with.

—TGCB—

"Nice game!"

Kagami scowled at the blonde's remark. He was laid down at the ground, panting heavily from trying to keep with the blonde, sweat covering his entire body. "Shut up," He managed to breathe out.

The blonde smirked at Kagami's answer. "You're actually pretty good y'know. I was just better."

"That would be an understatement Naruto-senpai." Kuroko suddenly interrupted. The teal-haired teen knew how outmatched Kagami was just by playing with him earlier and even though he lost to the red-haired boy, Kuroko knew that the Kagami did not only had a disadvantage physically on his blonde senior, but in skill and experience as well. Naruto had two whole years on the two of them!

"You literally crushed him,"

Naruto grinned at Kuroko's remark. "You're just as blunt as I remembered you Tetsuya," He looked at the red-haired teen. "Although you aren't wrong on that account."

Kagami glared at the blonde, but was otherwise too tired to even retort. The blonde barely looked tired aside from the sweat dripping down his forehead and here he was heaving out like a dog. He couldn't believe that he would find someone this good in Japan.

"What are you doing here in Japan Naruto-senpai? I thought you were staying in the US for good." The question caught Kagami off-guard. So the blonde was like him?

"My mom demanded me to spend a some time with my grandparents, that and I kinda miss Japan. Although I'm only visiting right now, to file my enrollment for a school next term."

Kuroko nodded. "I see. What school will you go to? If you don't mind me asking."

Naruto just smiled at the question before staring between his two juniors. "Does Seirin ring any bells to you?"

"Wake up Naruto you lazy ass!"

"Five more minutes," Naruto managed to drawl out from his bed.

"No! You'll get up from your bed right now or you won't be getting any ramen for the rest of your stay here in Japan,"

That got the blonde up and going as he suddenly boosted himself up from his bed and standing. "That's not fair Sayuri, using my only weakness against me." He complained childishly.

"Yeah well, you better get used to it. Kushina-obasan trusted me to put you in line while she isn't here to supervise you."

"Damn it Mom, you're feeding me to the ravens here." He whispered to himself. Unfortunately, Sayuri heard him.

"I'll make sure to tell that to Kushina-obasan next time she calls."

Naruto groaned as he reached his closet and pulled out a dark orange plain shirt before turning back to the black-haired beauty that was his childhood friend. "Why did you even wake me up this early, I'm not even attending school yet."

"Hn. I just wanted to."

Naruto rolled his eyes at her answer as he removed his shirt. "Look, I know that you're angry that I came home late yesterday but I had a perfectly good explanation for that."

Sayuri flushed as she looked at her childhood friend change clothes in front of her. Did he honestly not know what he was doing to her?

"Well, I had a perfectly valid reason to worry as well you know."

"...I'm sorry for that, okay?" Naruto whispered lowly to his friend, taking a small glance at her form.

Sayuri slowly nodded, looking away from Naruto's gaze. "Okay."

A small toothy grin appeared on Naruto's face as he put on a black jeans over his current garment. "Alright then, might as well go to school with you and explore."

A light smile appeared on Sayuri's face, unknowingly making his heart skip a beat. "Let's. I'm assuming you're going to look for the basketball court?"

"You know me too well."

—TGCB—

"Let's have a five versus five mini-game!" Riko Aida, the coach of Seirin's basketball team, announced. "With the freshmen against the second years!"

"A match against the senpais?"

"The senpais that managed to get to the Final League with only freshmen!"

"Seriously?! That's unfair!"

"We're going to go against them? That's completely beyond our level, right?!"

"That sounds a lot of fun!"

"Shut up you idiot."

The Seirin basketball team stared at the two outsiders—as far as they're concerned— that was bickering. They saw a tall blonde, taller than even Kagami who already towered over the most of them. As much as they loathe to think so, he was as good looking as the one he was arguing with. His blonde hair and bright blue eyes made them think that he was a foreigner but his very fluent Japanese had them second guessing.

The one the blonde was arguing with had them blushing like a grade schooler. The girl was clearly a foot shorter than the blonde although she was not short, so to say. She had an extremely long hair, easily reaching to her thighs, tied into a single ponytail. Her dark black eyes was both very alluring and scary at the same time. They all knew who she was even though some them were still new to the campus. She was after all the Student Council President.

Kagami on the other hand was simmering on his place. "You!"

"Who are you again? Cagali, Kagabi, Komori..."

"It's Kagami you bastard!"

Riko recognized the black-haired girl as one of her seniors and decided to approach her instead. Said black-haired girl was palming her face in embarrassment for her friend. "Uhm, excuse me. Only members of the basketball team are allowed inside the gym. Even if you're the Student Council President, Uchiha-kaichou."

"Sorry for this Aida-san. My friend here," She pointed at Naruto who was still making fun of Kagami. "Wanted to see the basketball team of the school he was going to attend next term."

Riko's face lit up at the mention of the basketball team. She had seen her senpai's companion and she was extremely surprised and amazed at his estimated stats. "Is he interested in joining?"

"Yes. He's been playing basketball since we were five; that and his currently part of his school's team." Riko gained a curious look at that.

"If it's okay to ask, what school does he attend right now?"

Sayuri raised a brow at the question but still decided to answer the young coach's question. "He studies in America. I'm not sure what school though, but he lives somewhere in the east coast as far as I can remember."

Riko nodded at the answer with a small smile on her face. "Ah, I see. Can I ask you one last question Uchiha-kaichou?"

"Sure, but nothing private."

The caramel-haired girl nodded and glanced at Naruto. "I didn't actually catch his name exactly...?"

"His name is Namikaze Naruto. Don't let him catch you calling him by his surname though, he hates it when that happens."

Riko quirked an eye at the advice. Although she had an odd feeling that she was suppose to recognize his name but just couldn't pinpoint it. "Thanks for the advice senpai."

"No problem," Sayuri replied. The black-haired girl approached Naruto, intent on dragging him out on the court when said blonde suddenly shifted his gaze towards the young coach.

"Hey Coach-chan! Officiate the game would 'ya. I'd like to test the skills of my future teammates."

Hyuga Junpei, a bespectacled teenager and the current of the team, moved towards Riko with an inquisitive look in his face. "His either really confident in his skills or really arrogant."

"From my conversation with Uchiha-senpai, I'd say that he's really confident."

Hyuga looked at the blonde teen before looking back at Riko. "You don't say." Riko nodded. "Anyways, are you going to allow him to play with the team? He isn't even a student at the school."

"Not a student yet." Riko corrected causing Hyuga to stare at her in confusion. "You heard him yelling ago right? His going to transfer to our school for his final term in high school. Uchiha-senpai said that he already plans to join the team and I really want him to join. Can't you see how tall he is? That's already an asset in itself and besides his stats with his clothes on..." She trailed off, with Hyuga not being able to hear what she was saying. "He also seems to be familiar with Kuroko which means..."

Hyuga's eyes widened at the realization. "He might have come from Teiko in his junior high."

Riko nodded as she continued to talk. "That's right. Uchiha-senpai also mentioned that he currently plays for his school in the US. And besides, if we let him play, we get to hit two birds in one shot. We see how good our freshmen are, and we see just how good he is."

Hyuga stared at Riko in a contemplative look. He couldn't refute her logic no matter what he said and, if he were to be honest to himself, he was also a bit curious at the blonde's skills. The glasses-wearing teen heaved out a slightly tired sigh. "You're right, I guess."

The caramel-haired girl gave him a small smile and nodded, "I know I am." She took off her attention from Hyuga towards the rest of the team. "All right, line-up! Freshmen's first before the second years!"

Quickly on their feet, the members of the basketball team lined-up into a single column giving a bit of a leeway to show a small aisle between the freshmen and the second years. Naruto along with Sayuri chose to stand beside Riko.

"As I mentioned earlier before Naruto-san interrupted us," She took a slight glance at Naruto who was scratching the back of his head but was otherwise grinning like nothing happened. "We're going to have a five versus five mini-game between the freshmen and the second-years."

"Uhh, hey."

Riko gave Naruto an annoyed look for being interrupted again.

"What is it now Naruto-san?"

"Can you shuffle the lineup a bit? I want to play against the best team you can make," Sayuri took that as an opportunity to punch Naruto's arms, although only lightly.

"You're lucky that you're going to get to play with them. We aren't even allowed in here in the first place so don't go ordering people around."

"That hurt you know," Sayuri rolled her eyes. "And I was only giving a suggestion."

The rest of the team stared at the duo still a bit confused on the relationship between the Kaichou and the blonde foreigner(?). They were close, that much was obvious, but how did they even know each other. They looked and acted...very differently. The second years were also trying to figure out when they had met each other. From their previous year, they knew that the Kaichou was very studious with her studies and often volunteered to help organize the school events. Maybe they met when they were younger?

Riko cleared her throat, getting the attention of the two. "What was your suggestion again Naruto-san?"

"I wanted to play against the best team you can assemble." Riko raised an eye at that. He must really be confident in his skills to say that. "Also, I want Tetsuya to play in that team, Cagali too if you can allow that."

"It's Kagami!" The redhead shouted from his position.

Riko turned to Sayuri to see if she had any protests. "I can't really do anything right now, can I? It's your team so it's your call. I recommend you follow what he says though, his quite stubborn." Riko sighed at the answer. Naruto seemed to have a proud look on his face at that moment as wel.

"Okay then. Izuki, Mitobe, Hyuga-kun, Kagami and Kuroko. You guys are the first team." The five of them nodded, Kagami in particular nodded in vigor. Oddly enough, Kuroko seemed to be a bit excited.

Riko turned herself to Naruto and asked, "Naruto-san, I'll give you the option to choose your teammates."

"Thanks. I guess I'll be taking those three freshman and one of the guys over there." Naruto pointed at the three freshmen who nodded nervously.

"You can play instead of me Tsuchida."

Naruto saw the two other guys he pointed out trying to give the other chance and decided to intervene.

"How about the a coin toss?" Naruto said, getting a coin from his pocket. "Heads will be," He glanced at the one who tried giving to the Tsuchida guy.

"Koganei."

Naruto nodded before continuing, "And tails will be Tsuchida." He flicked the coin upwards which spun in the air rapidly before landing calmly on his palms. He got heads.

"You're up Koganei."

"Good luck." Tsuchida said to Koganei who nodded before sitting on the bench.

Both teams gathered around their captains', with Hyuga and Naruto being the ones respectively for each team.

"Okay first things first, tell me your names, specialties and preferred position." The blonde temporary captain stated coolly.

"Furihata Kōki. I guess I kinda specialize in supporting my teammates as I prefer to play as a point guard but I can play as a shooting guard as well if needed." Naruto nodded before staring off to another one of the freshmen.

"Kawahara Kōichi. I'd like to think my best skill is my shooting and my friends usually have me play as a forward."

"Fukuda Hiroshi. Most of the guys I play with have me play as a center because they said that I play good inside defense."

"Koganei Shinji. I'm kinda a jack-of-all-trades so I don't specialize, I usually play as a small forward."

With one last nod, Naruto introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you guys. I'm Namikaze Naruto, call me Naruto or Naruto-senpai if you like. Like Koganei, I like to call myself a jack-of-all-trades although I do prefer to facilitate with the ball on my hand. I play as a point guard in the school I go to." Naruto enjoyed the look of shock that came to their faces at the mention of him playing as point guard. The cultural and physical differences between the US and Japanese people were quite amusing at times.

"I attend a high school in the US if you're wondering on why I play the one."

"So you're like Kagami?" asked Furihata curiously.

Naruto raised a brow at the statement. "Kagami came from the US as well? Nice to know. And yes, I'm like Kagami if he came from America as well." He took a look at the other team who was also seem to be about the done with their huddle.

"For this game, do you mind sliding up the shooting guard position Kawahara?" Kawahara shook his head. "Thanks, Koganei is it alright if you took the four?"

"I'm fine with that."

"Okay then. I'll be taking the jump ball if it's okay with you Fukuda."

"It's fine Naruto-senpai."

"All right, let's go!" Naruto cheered with the his current teammates following. Hyuga and his team followed up their cheer with their own before both teams settled down gathered around the center of the court where Riko was waiting with a ball. Kagami took his place in beside Riko, staring at Naruto intenty.

"Good luck Komori," Naruto said with a smile to which Kagami responded with glare.

"Are both teams ready?" Riko asked, glancing between the two captains who both nodded. Extending her hand forward, she threw the ball upward.

Kagami jumped up first, with his hands extended as far up as he could. Just as he was about to tip the ball towards his side, a hand went pass his own and managed to tip the ball towards the direction instead.

"Tsk," Kagami said to himself.

Fukuda managed to gain possession of the ball before throwing the ball towards basket after seeing the raised hands of Naruto who was already speeding towards the paint. The freshman flinched when he saw that he overpowered his throw seeing that it was a few inches over the ring while it was still at the paint area. Naruto wasn't having any of that.

Jumping from his position, he extended his arms as far as he could and caught the ball with a vice grip before slamming it down over the ring with unmatched force.

"Incredible..." Was Riko's, no, everyone's (including Sayuri's) reaction. Riko knew just how monstrous Naruto was from just seeing an estimation of his stats but seeing the stats she saw in action was a whole different thing.

Hyuga, who was also in shock by the quick and powerful dunk, quickly snapped himself out of it before facing his teammates. "What are you doing gaping? Get your head in the game!"

That seemed to snap the rest of them from their own shocked states before running towards the other side of the court.

"Let's go defense!" Naruto shouted to his teammates. The freshmen along with Koganei nodded with energy as they guarded their marks.

Izuki brought the ball down towards their side before passing it down towards Kuroko at the right wing. Sensing the pass, Naruto quickly tracked down the ball and stole it before it even reached the halfway mark. With a quick burst of speed, he ran towards their basket ad opted to go with the classic finger roll layup. No one even manage to get past half-court.

"Damn it!" Kagami shouted in frustration.

"Keep a cool head Kagami."

"Sure, captain."

Naruto looked onto his two juniors with an amused look before running down the court to help on defense. "Show me what you got Kagami." He whispered to himself.

Izuki held the ball again at half-court, this time looking for someone else to pass to carefully. He saw Kagami calling-out for the ball while being guarded by Fukuda but saw Hyuga wide open at the corner. Just as he was about to pass to Hyuga, a dark shadow suddenly towered over him.

"Your names Izuki right?"

Izuki felt his senses suddenly tingling and held his guard up and decided to dribble defensively. "Yeah, what about it?" He asked as politely as he could.

Naruto had a smirk on his face with the question before answering. "Think fast,"

The black-haired raised his brows for a second when he suddenly felt or rather did not feel a ball bouncing up his palms. "Go Koganei!"

Izuki turned his head back and saw Koganei running towards the basket when he suddenly felt the wind pass him and saw a flash of red chasing Koganei down.

Koganei layup'ed the ball towards the basket but was denied when a hand went pass him and flicked the ball towards the glass before bouncing back towards the key.

Unfortunately for Kagami, Naruto got the rebound and was left wide open from the three point-line.

"Good work Koganei, I'll handle the rest!" Naruto gathered up his strength and shot the ball from beyond the arc.

Nothing but net.

"This is ridiculous! It's barely even thirty seconds and they're already up by seven," Riko said to herself. She thought that with Kagami and their best players that they would have at least be able to level the playing ground against the blonde, she was starting to doubt even that with how the game was going so far.

"He's still as great as I remember him," The caramel-haired girl was startled with the sudden entry of Sayuri's voice.

"I was actually wondering about that Uchiha-kaichou. Did you and Naruto-san used to go the same school as Kuroko?"

"Kuroko's the one with blue hair right?" Riko nodded. "Then yes, we did."

"So you did come from Teikou. Did Naruto-san, you know, played with the basketball team."

"I think you would be more suited to ask Naruto that but I can answer that at least,"

"Thanks. I'll do as you say later."

"Naruto used to be the captain of the basketball team, when we were in second year. But his parents suddenly had him fly to them in the states. He only just returned recently as I mentioned earlier." Riko tried to not looked shock at the revelation. He used to be the captain one of Japan's best junior high school teams. Then why didn't she recognize his name...

"I think you should focus back on the game."

Riko looked back at the game and saw the scoreboard. "What the?!"

17-3

"How did that even happen? I looked away for one minute and they already doubled their lead."

"You're really lucky that I go to this school you know, Aida-san. If I hadn't been attending this school, Naruto would most likely wouldn't even be here right now."

Riko would have agreed with her without protest if she had not been in the state that she was. She was sure that even if Teppei were to come back and Kagami manages to reach the heights that she thought he could, she knew that Naruto would still dominate them if he had teammates half as good as Kagami was. His stats were nearly triple from what she saw from Kagami for god's sake! And he was showing them all why.

"You guys should utilize Tetsuya properly. If you want to even try to beat us then you have to utilize him properly." Naruto chided his frustrated-looking future teammates.

"Utilize him properly...what does he mean by that Kuroko?" Hyuga turned to the sweating blue-haired boy.

"Please pass me the ball in the next play,"

"...If you say so. You heard him Izuki?" The black-haired point guard nodded.

Izuki, with Furihata defending him, was trying to look for any openings in the lane but unfortunately couldn't. They were closing down any openings immediately with Naruto directing them with utmost confidence. They're defense were tight and good especially with Naruto being capable of reaching out for their passes with his long wing span, it made it harder for him to pass the ball without turning it over.

The point guard saw Hyuga managing to get free and open to his left wing and immediately passed the ball to him. But then Naruto's hand suddenly shadowed over the ball, making him slightly pale. Suddenly, the ball disappeared.

"Nice pass!" Kagami didn't know how it happened but the ball suddenly landed in his hands and freed himself up to elevate for his most probably favorite type of shot.

The Slam Dunk.

"Now this is what I'm talking about! Nice work there Tetsuya, Cagali!"

"How many am I suppose to tell you that my names Kagami," The redhead growled out as he ran back towards the opposite side of the court.

Both teams then went on to exchanging buckets before the quarter ended with Hyuga's team managing to slim down the lead to a respectable three points with the help of Kuroko's new found ability and the firepower of the both Kagami and Hyuga.

31-28

"It amazes me on how lucky we are to be able to get three amazing players this year. Granted that Naruto-san is set to join us most probably during the Winter Cup."

"Like I said earlier, the reason why Naruto is attending Seirin in the first place was because I attend this school as well."

Riko could only nod at Sayuri's statement, her mind racing about all the possibilities especially when Teppei returns and Naruto joins them.

Meanwhile, Naruto and his team approached Hyuga's team with a smile on his face.

"That was a great quarter you guys!"

Hyuga decided to talk with the blonde and said, "I'm more amazed by how monstrous you are. Coach said that you played for your high school in the US but I didn't know you were that good."

Those who didn't know of that small tidbit was shocked to say the least. "Heh, it's not like I'm the only one here who played in America, am I right Kagami." Kagami's eyes widened by the sudden attention on him, not noticing the lack of wrongness on how Naruto addressed him. While the team already knew that Kagami went to America in his middle school, they were interested on how he would react.

"Uh..Yeah, your right."

"What school do you go to anyway Naruto-san?" Izuki asked.

"You guys know Oak Hill Academy?" Most of the team shook their heads, except for Kagami. He knew exactly what the rep of the school was.

"Holy..."

Naruto smirked at Kagami's reaction before bidding an excuse to go and waving at them as he and his team follow him back to their side of the court. "Oh well. See 'ya later on the court then."

Kuroko looked at the Naruto and waited till he was out of earshot before looking at his own teammates with serious face. "We should prepare for the next quarter. Naruto-senpai is going to take us seriously now that he more or less scouted out your skills."

"Wait, what are you talking about Kuroko? Wasn't he serious already during the first quarter?"

Kuroko shook his head as a response, making them pale at the implications of what he was saying.

"Naruto-senpai is on a whole other level. He made my teammates back in Teikou look like they really were middle schoolers playing against professional players. He's that good. And his most likely going to lock me down, now that he's used to my presence again."

Hyuga looked Kuroko with a bit of panic etched on his face. "What are we suppose to do then? We were barely even competing against him before we managed to exploit your skill but now his somehow going to elevate his game and guard you at the same time?"

Thud.

Kuroko, Izuki, Mitobe and Hyuga all looked in surprise at Kagami who printed his fists on the wall. "What are you guys doing getting all worked up for! As basketball players, this is what we all play for. The challenge of beating people who are much better than you are. Where's your sense of pride as a player?!"

Kuroko stared blankly at Kagami before shaking his head. "I understand what you're talking about Kagami-kun. But you also have to understand where I'm coming from. Naruto-senpai is in a whole different plane of existence when it comes to basketball. Being one of the Generation of Mircales is the closest that you can get to him without being a pro."

"Alright both teams return to court!" The sound of the whistle cut their conversations and had them returning to court. The lack of planning had Hyuga and the two other second years worrying even though it was only a practice game.

"Let's go this game started," Kuroko grimaced at that. This was going to be a long quarter for them.

—TGCB—

The heavy panting of the Seirin's strongest five was prominent to all of the on-watchers in the court. They were all shocked at how fast the momentum of the game switched as soon as the quarter started and it carried through the entire quarter. If it hadn't been a practice game, it would have probably broken their spirits. To be beaten by a bunch of freshmen, Koganei and of course the monster that was Namikaze Naruto in the manner that they did was something they did not want to experience again.

Riko was still looking at the scoreboard, shocked by the sudden turn of events. She had thought that Hyuga and the others had managed to find a game plan to keep up with Naruto and the freshman (plus Koganei) but she was wrong. The blonde was in fact the one who was feeling them out and the scoreline showed it.

73 - 34

"I can't believe this, they barely even held the ball. I'm glad he didn't choose to go to another school." She mumbled to herself.

"Told you," Sayuri said beside her, a haughty smirk on her face.

"'Sup ladies, what are you talking about?" Both Riko and Sayuri was startled by the hand suddenly on their shoulders.

Sayuri turned to her childhood friend, "Aida-san mentioned how lucky Seirin was to have gotten you."

Naruto gave out a hearty laugh. "I guess she can thank you and my mom for that,"

"I guess so."

"Anyways, Coach-chan thanks for the game. I had a lot of fun with them. Train them nicely you'll go far on your next tournament before I return."

Riko was snapped from her thoughts by Naruto's gaze on her as she flushed a little of being caught deep in her thought. "Ah, yeah. I'll make sure to whip them up to shape so they won't lose to you next time you return."

Naruto laughed at that good-naturedly. "I'll be looking forward to that then. Ciao!"

"His part-Italian." Sayuri told Riko before following his friend out of the court and left the caramel-haired girl to wonder if the student council president was serious.

"When will you actually go back to the States Naruto?" The blonde looked at her friend as they walked through the corridors of the school. A number of students was actually whispering about them being that the beautiful student council president of the school was walking with a tall, gorgeous foreign-looking teenager with her. The two them silently agreed to ignore the murmurings.

"I'm going to return next week. My papers are about done anyway."

Sayuri noted the smile on Naruto's face as he said that. She held herself from flushing a bright pink from seeing just how good-looking her friend had become in the past few years. And that smile of his...

"I guess we have one week to help you familiarize yourself with the area before you go."

"Yup." Naruto said, popping the 'p' sound at the end. "I'm actually really excited to play in the Winter Cup that you mentioned. Can't wait to see how those little kouhai's of ours improved."

"You barely even played with them remember?"

"Still, I want to see why they were given there name. Last time I played them, they were still a bit raw."

Naruto saw Kuroko in the classroom they just passed by and decided to talk with him before leaving. "Hey Tetsuya! You got here fast."

Kuroko turned from his seat and saw his blonde senpai waving at him from the door. He lifted himself from his seat, though a bit slowly as he was still a bit sore from the earlier game against the blonde, and approached him. "Good Morning Naruto-senpai, Uchiha-kaichou." He greeted. "I thought it would have for the best if I came to class as soon as possible or might not be able to later on." Naruto nodded at that, knowing his logic behind it.

Sayuri stared at the two, more on Naruto really, while they were conversing. She remembered the times they spent playing with each other before, during their grade school and during their two years at Teikou together. She remembered being really angry at Naruto when he told him he was going to leave for the states during the summer before their third year in junior high.

They've been only able to communicate with each other through the internet although Naruto did visit Japan once during her third year. That's when he met for the first time the people who replaced his role in the basketball team. A group of five—six if you ask the right people— basketball geniuses that stormed through the Japanese Basketball scene. They were, without fail, called the strongest. A group of players with talents that could only be seen once every ten years.

The Generation of Miracles.

But Sayuri knew that Naruto's talents exceeded even theirs—the Generation of Miracles. And in a few months, the whole of Japan will know too as well. One of the brightest and best basketball players the world will ever meet.

Namikaze Naruto.

Author's Note:

With the Champions League all but over and the NBA Finals was only just starting to heat up, I was suddenly swept by a strong urge to write down a basketball story. This was the result.

And yes, Sayuri is fem!Sasuke. I always wanted to try that and found a great opportunity to use it here. She's kinda OOC though. Same goes for Naruto but there's bound to be changes to their personalities with the circumstances and all.

I'd also like to inform you ahead that I'll be referring each character differently. I may use their first name or I might use their surname. It depends on the character, like Riko (First Name) and Hyuga (Surname) for example.

Anyways, if you have any other questions, you could ask in a review or a PM and in my forum. Check out my profile for the link to the forum.