Okay, first of all, I've never played basketb*ll, so forgive for some inaccuracies here. This contest was too good to pass up. So, I decided to participate and take a little break from hiatus, let's go! Also, I've already censored b*ll and bl*w since there are times where they get censored for some odd reason. Good luck, everyone!

Youthful Dunks

Crimson smirked as he arrived at his destination. He was in a rather large clearing in Konoha's Forest. There was a wide, open space. The ground was bare of grass. No trees were in the middle of clearing, all were perfectly aligned on the sides. And most important of all, the clearing is in the shape of a rectangle.

This brought a smirk on Crimson's lips. "Perfect." he said out loud.

The buff shinobi walked up to the clearing and started to perform a set of hand seals. Ending in the Tiger seal. The orangenette slammed both of his palms onto the ground, causing it to quake. On both sides of the clearings, basketb*ll rings emerged. Both were entirely made out of wood.

Crimson chuckled and brought out a scroll. He unfurled the object and channeled chakra into it, a single item materializing. A basketb*ll. He picked it up and raised the index and middle finger of his unoccupied hand, smoke shrouding him. When it was bl*wn away, it revealed Crimson in a green basketb*ll jersey, shorts and a short sleeve on his right arm.

"Alright!" declared Crimson. "Now, all there is left is-"

"Crimson-senpai!"

On top of a hill was Lee, Neji and Gai. For some odd reason, Tenten wasn't with them. And what's more, they were not in their usual outfits. Neji was wearing a standard referee's uniform, a whistle hanging from his neck. Gai and Lee, however, were wearing orange jersey shirts. Over their green spanded, of course. Crimson smiled and waved.

"Yo, Gai-sensei, Lee-kun, Neji!"

The two exuberant males of Team Gai waved enthusiastically, while Neji settled for a calm nod. They jumped down onto the clearing. Gai smiled and clasped Crimson's hand.

"Thank you for inviting us into the little basketb*ll match, Crimson-kun."

Crimson shrugged. "It's no problem, Gai-sensei. Honestly, even if Scarlet wasn't busy with baseb*ll, or with Midnight focusing on footb*ll, Breeze doing volleyb*ll and Azure participating in the gymnastics tournament, you guys would still be my top pick."

Lee cheered loudly. "Yosh! Then let us start!"

Before they could run up to their side of the court, Crimson stopped them. "Wait! Let's make things a little bit interesting."

Both wearers of the spandex looked at each other, before staring at Crimson. "What do you have in mind, senpai?"

Crimson slipped into a position, Gai and Lee immediately recognizing what he wanted. The three crossed their arms and shouted as one.

"Eight Gates Formation: Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain: Release!"

Neji had to momentarily block his eyes as a green aura surged out from the three, powering up their eight gates. Crimson, Gai and Lee looked at each other and smirked.

Neji picking up the b*ll. He held it up high and activated his Byakugan. "Alright, I want a good, clean match. No using of Ninjutsu or Taijutsu to harm the opponent. I you do use any sort of jutsu but it's for dramatic flair, I'll allow it. The winner will be declared once one of you reaches 15 points. Ready? Hajime!"

Neji then threw the b*ll up into the air, prompting the three to jump and fight over it. Lee managed to grab the b*ll and started running towards Crimson's court, dribbling the b*ll. Crimson caught up with Lee and prepared to steal the b*ll, only for Lee to pass it to Gai and dunked it into the hoop.

Neji ran up to the conveniently placed scoreboard and flipped the numbers to 2. Crimson picked up the b*ll and started dribbling. He dashed off in a blurring speed, which caught both mentor and student by surprise. Crimson jumped up and dunked shot the b*ll, earning himself 2 points.

"Heh. This is gonna be great!"

Lee picked up the b*ll and went towards Crimson's court. However, Crimson managed to catch Lee in a bind, blocking him from throwing it into the hoop. Lee saw his mentor motioning for him to throw the b*ll towards him. The student nodded and threw it to Gai, only for Crimson to intercept it and threw it all the way to the other side, shooting it into the hoop. Neji flipped the numbers, Crimson's score count becoming 5.

Gai and Lee frowned but remained undeterred. When Neji threw the b*ll towards them they immediately started running zig-zagged, catching Crimson off-guard. Gai quickly passed the b*ll towards Lee, whom shot it into the hoop, being awarded 2 points.

Crimson blinked but smirked nonetheless. "Getting a bit competitive, I see?"

The Green Beast of Konoha did the "Nice Guy" pose, but with a smirk instead. "We will not lose this youthful match, Crimson-senpai! We will beat you, and if we cannot, then we will juggle two dozen, no, four dozen basketb*lls with our feet!"

"And if I cannot beat you two, then I will juggle seven dozen basketb*lls while running 10 laps across Konoha!"

Neji stomped his foot, gaining the three's attention. "Stop babbling and get to playing!" He threw the b*ll to Crimson, whom started bouncing the b*ll.

Once Neji bl*w the whistle, Crimson dashed ahead, but was quickly intercepted by Gai and Lee. Crimson gritted his teeth and tried to rotate, only for Lee to sn*tch the b*ll away from his hands and moved towards his court. Gai smirked as he caught the b*ll from Lee and slam dunked the b*ll once again, bringing up their score to 6.

Crimson was given the b*ll again, the orangenette dribbling it with intense ferocity. He ran off into a start, focused on getting to the other side. Gai attempted to block, only for Crimson to jump over him. Lee ran towards his senpai and tried to grab the b*ll, only for Crimson to dash back and threw the b*ll inside the hoop, adding his score to 7.

Neji tossed the b*ll to his teammate, whom quickly jumped up and threw it immediately. Crimson rushed and went to intercept the b*ll. He jumped up and tried to catch it, only for it to slip through his fingers. It shot into the hoop, awarding Gai and Lee 3 points.

"Yosh! We're two points ahead of you, Crimson-senpai!"

The buff shinobi chuckled as he dribbled the b*ll. "Don't count me out yet, Lee-kun. The match still has a long way to go."

Crimson flinched, along with Gai and Lee, feeling the Eight Gates' strain finally making its way to their bones. The dark-skinned male s* it off and swerved around his kouhai and mentor, shooting the b*ll into the hoop. Neji flipped the scoreboard again, the score now 8 - 9.

Lee dribbled and tossed it into the air, confusing Crimson. Lee jumped after it and unwrapped his bandages slightly. He wrapped it around the b*ll and tossed it towards hoop. It bounced in, only for it to bounce out but then it bounced in again.

Neji blinked and grabbed a book from nowhere, reading through its contents quite quickly. Once he found what he looked for, he faced the scoreboard and changed up the score, Apparently, what happened counted as separate scores. So now, it was 13 - 8.

Gai laughed boisterously and flashed a thumbs up. "Truly, for a short basketb*ll match, this was very youthful! But this is your downfall, Crimson-kun. All we need is just two points and-" Gai blinked as Crimson just passed him, the latter quickly dunking the b*ll into the hoop, getting 2 points.

Neji tossed the ball towards his sensei, who had recovered from his shock. Gai narrowed his eyes and dashed off. Konoha's Blue Beast dribbled very intensely, the ground kept getting indented. Gai jumped up from where he stood and threw the ball, in hopes of getting it in. However, out of nowhere, Crimson managed to intercept the b*ll and threw it into their court instead.

It got in. The score was now a tie. 13 - 13. Whoever scored next would be the winner. Crimson smirked at the two, whom smirked back. "It's time we end this match. Ne, Gai-sensei? Lee-kun?"

Gai nodded. "Indeed!"

Much to Neji's shock, Crimson started to perform a set of hand seals, prompting him to berate the orangenette. "Hey! What are you doing? I thought I said-"

"Wood Style: Wood Human Jutsu!"

An enormous statue-like creature popped out from below, the entire creature made out of wood. It growled lowly and took hold of the b*ll. The creature c*ocked back its arm and threw the ball in blurring speed. Gai smirked and jumped up, spin-kicking the b*all back to Crimson. The dark-skinned male jumped over his golem and punched the b*ll towards Lee.

Lee unwrapped his bandages again and wrapped it around the oncoming b*ll. He started spinning around, the wrapped up sphere catching on fire. He spun one more time, right before tossing it to the wood person. The statue-like creature merely flicked it back to the duo.

Gai and Lee nodded at each other and kicked the b*ll into the air. The three then smirked at each other and jumped after the blazing b*ll. Lee threw a punch only for Crimson to block it and threw him quite far. Gai spin-kicked Crimson and side-kicked him down. Gai front flipped and drop kicked Crimson, sending him back down. The wood statue manage to catch Crimson, who rubbed his aching head.

He saw Gai manage to grab the b*ll and started descending down.

"Leaf Drop Dunk!"

Crimson looked at his creation. It nodded. The wood person tossed his creator right towards Gai. The Blue Beast was surprise as he found himself in a bear hug by Crimson. The orangentte smirked as he started to spin around.

"Reverse Lotus!"

Neji looked up, seeing the two enter their vision. Crimson stopped spinning and dunked Gai into the hoop, which caused, somehow, a small explosion. Neji slipped into a stance and spun around. "Kaiten!"

Neji started rotating, deflecting most of the oncoming rubble and debris. Once everything cleared down, Neji stopped the jutsu, to see the court destroyed, the hoops quite a wreck and Crimson and Gai, laying down in the middle, their jerseys quite torn up. Neji sh*ok his head and flipped the numbers on Crimson's side.

The final score was 15 - 13.

"Match set. Winner, Crimson."

"Noooooo!"

Neji turned around seeing Lee burst out of the bushes, his jersey torn up a bit. The Green Beast fell to his knees, anime tears flowing down his face.

"Gai-sensei! Forgive me! I've costed us our win!"

Gai chuckled from where he lay. He looked at his prized student and sh*ok his head. "No you did not, Lee. It's not always about winning. This was for pure fun. This match, it was quite youthful!"

Crimson nodded in agreement. He looked at his sensei and they high-fived each other, only to flinch as they heard their bones break.

"Maa maa. You guys never cease to be this wild, huh?"

The four looked around and saw Kakashi wearing a football outfit along with Midnight. Scarlet dropped down, along with Sasuke, the two of them wearing baseball uniforms.

"We were just coming back from a brief practice match, and then we came home to see you do an unorthodox basketb*ll match." The Uchiha sh*ok his head bemusedly as he stared down on them. "I'll never understand Taijutsu users. I'll really don't."

Kakashi eye smiled and pocketed his hands, agreeing with his student. "Well, come on. Let's go carry these two idiots to Tsunade-sama."

Scarlet and Kakashi dropped down, carrying Crimson and Gai respectively. The orangette blinked, remembering something.

"Gai-sensei, Lee-kun. You two lost, which means you two ahve to juggle four dozen basketb*lls with your feet."

Lee sh*ok his head, fire burning in his eyes. "No! We will not be doing that! Instead, we will juggle EIGHT dozen basketb*lls with our feet, while we run 20 laps across Konoha!"

Sasuke and Midnight looked at each other, looking quite concerned. Scarlet and Kakashi looked relatively unconcerned, but were actually laughing in the inside. Crimson let out a small chuckle as he looked up at the sun.

"I'll be waiting."