Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 367 Sakuragi's 'Blindness'

Sakuragi stretched out his body, like a bowstring drawn taut.

Bang~
With a loud thud, the basketball was slammed into the hoop by Sakuragi.

At this moment, time seemed to stand still.

"Amazing!"

"A dunk from the free-throw line, that's incredible."

"This year's freshmen are incredibly strong!"

……

The Shohoku players on the sidelines were filled with emotion, and many of them felt the pressure.

Judging from the performances of Sakuragi, Rukawa, and Yohei, they have almost secured their spots in the starting lineup.

This has made the lower-ranked starting players feel a sense of crisis.

If they're unlucky, they could be replaced by newcomers.

On the field, Sakuragi landed on the ground and let out a long sigh of relief.

At that moment, the immense pressure that Naito had placed on him seemed to be released.

Only then did Sakuragi realize that the pass had come from Rukawa.

He knew very well that although the dunk was spectacular, it was mainly due to Rukawa's pass.

Sakuragi subconsciously looked at Rukawa and found that Rukawa was also looking at him.

For a moment, Sakuragi was speechless, unsure of what to say.

He has been targeting Rukawa Kaede all along.

As for Rukawa Kaede, he still treated everyone the same.

Thinking about this, Sakuragi felt inexplicably ashamed.

"Sakuragi, at least give us some response!"

"Yes, don't be so petty."

"Sakuragi, hurry up and thank Rukawa!"

Suddenly, the voices of the three goofballs rang out.

To support Sakuragi and Yohei, the three goofballs naturally didn't miss this match.

"If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute!"

Sakuragi put his hands on his hips and glared at them fiercely.

"Rukawa, well done!"

Sakuragi mustered his courage and shouted, giving Rukawa a thumbs-up.

Hearing Sakuragi's praise, Rukawa simply nodded slightly.

His expression remained stern as he turned and went back to defend, preparing to meet the opponent's next attack.

Sakuragi composed himself and quickly returned to his own half of the court.

Sitting on the bench, Mokumu muttered to himself, "This match is very meaningful!"

As long as Sakuragi and Rukawa can work together sincerely, even if all the third-year players graduate, Shohoku will still be the biggest favorite for the national championship.

Don't forget, Naito is also a second-year student at Shohoku!

The inside duo of Naito and Sakuragi is far superior to that of other teams.

The game continued, and as Sakuragi put aside his resentment, his cooperation with Rukawa became more and more frequent.

Led by Rukawa and Sakuragi, the first-year team's morale soared, and they began to catch up.

In a short time, the second-grade team's lead was gradually eroded.

Although Sakuragi's fronting defense was ineffective against Naito, Rukawa would occasionally help Sakuragi out.

This greatly troubled Naito, as he almost always had to fight against both opponents alone.

Thinking of this, Naito gave Emperor Kakuta a resentful look.

Your Majesty, wake up! Don't sleep anymore.

However, Emperor Kakuta kept his eyes narrowed.

It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but he simply couldn't.

Although Emperor Kakuta has also developed a mid-range shooting ability, his mid-range shots are relatively close to the basket.

Moreover, his shooting speed is relatively slow, which is the main reason why Rukawa is able to constantly cover for Sakuragi.

Even if Naito passes the ball to Kakuta, Rukawa can still interfere with it using his agile footwork.

Kakuta's ability to withstand interference in mid-range shots is clearly lacking; he is now only suited for open mid-range shots.

shuh~
With Rukawa Kaede scoring another goal, the first-year team finally narrowed the gap to single digits.

Beep~
Without hesitation, the second-year team immediately chose to call a timeout.

Both teams had five timeouts in this match.

Naito took a few deep breaths; his physical fitness was at its peak, and his stamina was still remarkable.

"This won't do, Kakuta. I don't care what method you use, you have to take Rukawa away as far as you can, or stop him from covering the defense."

Naito looked intently at Emperor Kakuta; he wanted to win this match.

He truly understood the pain of having no rice to cook.

If Kakuta hadn't been the second tallest player on the second-year team, he would have substituted him long ago.

As for replacing the player with someone else, that's out of the question.

Rukawa Kaede already has a height advantage; if you replace him with a shorter player, what difference would that make from giving away points?

Just look at how happy Mitsui was when he met Satoshi Ichinokura.

As for Ichinokura Satoshi exhausting Mitsui's physical strength... isn't that Mitsui's own problem?
"I see!"

Emperor Kakuta nodded seriously, his eyes narrowed the entire time.

terrible!
Naito then looked at the Tsurumi brothers and said, "Tsurumi brothers, I will do my best to support you. I hope you can seize the opportunity."

The Tsurumi brothers readily agreed, eager to increase their share of possession.

Soon, both sides returned to the field.

The first-year team substituted Kentaro Ishii and Satoshi Sasaoka with two new players.

After the game restarted, the second-year team began to change their playing style.

Naito and Miyagi executed a pick-and-roll, Naito's pick-and-roll was of excellent quality, giving Miyagi an opportunity to capitalize.
In addition, Naito focused more on support and defense, which gave Sakuragi a lot of headaches.

Although Sakuragi developed a mid-range shot, his main scoring still came from under the basket.

Even so, the gap is still narrowing, but the situation is much slower than before.

Time passed slowly, and soon, the last minute arrived.

On the court, Rukawa Kaede easily broke through Kakuta Taisuke's defense and attacked the basket again.

Naito had no choice but to bite the bullet and cover the defense, while also diverting some of his attention to Sakuragi.

As soon as Rukawa passes the ball, he immediately pounces on Sakuragi.

While moving at high speed, Rukawa Kaede feigned passing the ball.

Naito instinctively stopped in his tracks. When he saw that Rukawa hadn't passed the ball, he could only helplessly watch as the other man swept past him.

On the bench, Akagi remarked with a sigh, "Rukawa's stamina has clearly improved!"

He still remembers the scene when Rukawa Kaede first came to the Shohoku basketball gym.

At that time, although Rukawa Kaede was full of energy and strength, his body was somewhat thin and he also had physical deficiencies.

After each training session, Rukawa Kaede would be completely exhausted, his body barely able to support him as he stood up.

However, Rukawa never complained, but silently accepted everything.

Through years of training and nutritional supplements, Rukawa Kaede has grown a lot compared to that time.

His body became stronger, his skills matured, and he made up for his physical deficiencies.

The current Rukawa Kaede can easily play the entire game, and he always remains calm and focused.

Bang~
Rukawa Kaede unleashed a tomahawk dunk, easily slamming the ball into the basket.

With 49 seconds left, the first-year team successfully tied the score.

Offense and defense reversed!

The second-year team launched a quick attack. Judging from the timeline, if they could complete this attack quickly, they would have one last chance to attack.

Unfortunately, the first-year students rallied and significantly increased their defensive intensity. For a time, the second-year team had no easy scoring opportunities.

Under these circumstances, Naito had no choice but to face Sakuragi one-on-one again.

Despite Sakuragi's best efforts, he still couldn't stop Naito.

Soon, Naito achieved another breakthrough.

Rukawa immediately stepped in to cover.

Naito didn't stop and continued rushing forward.

The two jumped up one after the other, but unexpectedly, Naito did not shoot, but passed the ball towards the basket.

shuh~
Emperor Kakuta received the ball and scored a layup, hitting the crucial shot.

It turns out that while Rukawa was helping with defense, Kakuta was also busy, waiting for an opportunity to cut into the basket.

That's how Naito Myoden's story came about.

After scoring the goal, the second-year players breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Everyone must not be careless and must hold onto this ball, especially the opponent's three-pointer."

After returning to his own half of the court, Naito clapped his hands vigorously to boost morale.

The second-year players rallied and worked hard to keep their assigned opponents occupied.

Sakuragi ran quickly, his positioning lacked any real skill, he just ran around randomly, but his speed was undeniable.

Naito could only grit his teeth and keep chasing, and he was not left behind by Sakuragi.

Beyond the three-point line, Rukawa Kaede received a pass from Yohei.

Emperor Kakuta remembered Naito's instructions and immediately stuck close to him, not giving Rukawa a chance to shoot a three-pointer.

Rukawa raised his hands and, just as Kakuta was lifting up, seized the opportunity to break through and rush towards the basket.

Naito immediately abandoned Sakuragi and rushed towards Rukawa.

Surprisingly, Rukawa didn't pass the ball; instead, he charged towards Naito.

The two jumped up one after the other. Suddenly, Naito felt a pang of anxiety and realized Rukawa's intention.

In mid-air, Naito leaned back as far as he could to avoid touching Rukawa.

Seeing that his plan had failed, Rukawa Kaede resorted to a less desirable option and passed the ball to Sakuragi, who was cutting into the basket.

Suddenly, a ghostly figure pounced forward and touched the basketball first.

He is none other than Miyagi!
The basketball bounced towards the corner and was caught by Yohei.

Immediately, Yohei stepped back and appeared outside the three-point line.

However, his step-back was not skillful, and when he jumped to shoot, Miyagi pounced on him in a flash.

With a running start, Miyagi jumped very high and stretched out his right hand as hard as he could to slap the basketball.

Yangping was startled and had no choice but to raise the angle of his attack.

The basketball slipped from his hand, flew past Miyagi's fingers, and headed towards the basket.

"You must come in!"

Yohei cried out in his heart.

bang~
The basketball eventually hit the rim and slid off.

Yohei is ultimately not a wooden screen, and without the support of flashbacks, it's understandable that he missed the throw.

"Rebounds are my domain!"

Under the basket, Sakuragi and Naito were entangled in a struggle.

In the end, Sakuragi used a feint to gain a favorable position and touched the basketball first.

Sakuragi lifted the basketball, and Naito tried to steal it, but Sakuragi jumped a second time and successfully caught the ball.

Just as Sakuragi jumped for the second time, the Tsurumi brothers rushed up together and joined forces with Naito to double-team Sakuragi.

At this point, there were seven seconds left in the game.

In this situation, Sakuragi managed to protect the basketball and tried to pass it out.

Surrounded by three people, Sakuragi's vision was limited.

A drop of sweat happened to slip into his eye, causing him a sudden soreness.

At that moment, Sakuragi's vision became blurry.

Suddenly, he saw a figure rushing towards him, seemingly trying to come and help him.

So Sakuragi jumped up and passed the ball without thinking.

At this moment, everyone was stunned.

Because Sakuragi's pass wasn't to one of his own teammates!

Emperor Kakuta instinctively caught the basketball, looking at Sakuragi with a bewildered expression.

That's right, Sakuragi's blindness flared up again, and he passed the ball to Emperor Kakuta.

Kakuta was originally chasing Rukawa, but he never expected Sakuragi to pass the ball to him.

It wasn't until then that Sakuragi finally saw clearly, and he was completely dumbfounded.

No way!
At this moment, Rukawa Kaede remained calm and focused, and immediately pounced on Kakuta Dai-ichi.

Emperor Kakuta was startled and immediately tossed the ball high into the air.

Beep~beep~
Before the basketball even landed, Mitsui blew the final whistle.

Emperor Kakuta has once again proven his 'luck'!
"Kakuta, well done!"

"Kakuta truly lives up to his reputation as our Shohoku team's mascot; he's incredibly lucky."

……

When Mitsui blew the final whistle, the second-year players erupted in cheers.

They excitedly surrounded Emperor Kakuta, their faces beaming with undisguised excitement and joy.

Although it was just an intra-team scrimmage, the match was exceptionally intense, with the first-year students displaying amazing skill and fighting spirit, putting immense pressure on them.

As seniors, they didn't want to be defeated by juniors; that would be too embarrassing.

However, they only won by two points in this match.

This demonstrates the strength of this year's freshmen.

bang~
Suddenly, a muffled sound rang out on the field.

Everyone instinctively looked in the direction from which the sound came and found that Sakuragi's head was hitting the floor.

Sakuragi's forehead was red and swollen, with a slight bump, clearly indicating that he hadn't felt good after that blow.

If they hadn't passed to the wrong person, they would have had a chance to tie the score.

"Damn it!"

Sakuragi's eyes were filled with self-reproach, and his heart was filled with guilt.

He felt he had let his teammates down, and his fatal mistake had cost him the chance to equalize the score.

Just then, Kimoku stood up and slowly walked up to Sakuragi.

"Sakuragi!"

Kimo gently patted Sakuragi's shoulder, his voice as gentle as ever, like the warm sun in winter.

"Mistakes are part of the game, a reality that every athlete must face."

Everyone makes mistakes; the key is how to learn from and grow from those mistakes.

So don't let guilt overwhelm you. Hold your head high and strive to avoid making the same mistake again in official matches.

"Huh, it's a formal competition!"

Under Kigami's persuasion, Sakuragi blinked, and his mood instantly calmed down.

Because the match was so intense, he forgot that it was a friendly match, not a formal competition.

This made Sakuragi breathe a sigh of relief, and then he looked at Naito.

"Bald guy, you win this time. I'll remember this lesson, and I'll definitely beat you next time."

"I told you not to call me Baldy! This year's freshmen are so rude!"

Inside the basketball court, Naito's dissatisfied voice suddenly rang out.

Moku watched this scene with a smile, knowing that Sakuragi had already recovered from this setback.

(End of this chapter)