A loud agonised yawn broke out as the sun began to set across the lush green land, the darkening orange sky spraying across the uncharted lands. "Man I hate sleeping in trees, they're so uncomfortable y'know. But they're the safest place to be during the day, aside being behind the walls of course." He could do nothing but crack his neck loudly, getting out the aches and strains from sleeping in such an uncomfortable position.
He reached upwards and plucked a bizarre fruit that hung just above him. He had chosen this particular tree for multiple reasons. One: It was tall, the branch he rested on being at least forty-five metres off the ground, offering him a wide scope of the area around him. Two: There was food on this tree, he wouldn't have to risk dropping to the ground to scavenge for food. Three: It was singular, no other trees grew with in twenty metres of its vicinity, meaning he wouldn't have to worry about any smartalecks getting the drop on him.
He took a bite of the fruit, not the first one he had had since he arrived at this tree, he had been here since the early morning, and it was safer to travel at night obviously. Upon chewing up and swallowing the fruit he came face to face with some new facts.
The first being that the fruit he was eating was in fact edible and not poisonous, or at least, it didn't kill you within the first day of consumption. That was good information to possess, if he could remember where this tree was he could lead a small party to pick the fruit.
The second fact was, judging by the thin layer of dew on the fruit and leaves above him, it may have rained during the day, and that could hinder his tracking operation. There was someone stuck out here that needed to be brought home.
The third fact, at possibly the most important was the pair of large eyes glaring at him from his left. He smiled quickly, looking towards his watch. "I've been asleep for four hours, and you've been circling this tree waiting for me for four hours before that. I'm impressed you managed to figure out how to climb so quickly."
He smiled towards the hideous, seven metre tall creature glaring at him, a look of ruthless, unquenchable hunger ever present in its eyes. It's stocky short arms gripping onto the trunk of the tree, standing on a particularly thick branch. "Hmm, that Hange weirdo in the southern district theorised that your bodies were abnormally light, you shouldn't be able to walk as a bipedal, let alone climb a tree. Plus your kind is pretty fucking stupid, I've never heard of a titan being smart enough to figure out how to climb a tree!"
The monster before him only continued growling, still holding onto the trunk for dear life. He grinned widely, spinning on the branch he slept on to turn to the titan before him, his legs hanging teasingly before it, he began to sway them back and forth, watching the titan's eyes follow their pattern. "Say, if you're smart enough to climb a tree, maybe you're smart enough to speak. I'm looking for someone, could be alive, could be a corpse, or could no longer exist due to decay or belated devouring… more than likely the third option. Her name is Ilse Langnar, a member of the Survey Corp's 34th expedition. She discovered some… pretty interesting information regarding you titans, her body was stumbled upon by accident, and those who discovered it can't recall where they found her. So you see, I'm on a mission to relocate and find her body, could be some more information about you guys stored with her. Any ideas where she is?"
The titan roared back angrily, one of its hands moving away from the trunk and towards him. He grinned back instantly. "How's your balance?" He playfully asked the titan. Instantly, as soon as the titan reached towards him, its balance on the branch faded and it plummeted back towards the ground, landing on the ground with a shaking thud. Causing him to throw his head with an erupting laughter.
He continued laughing as he stood back up on the branch, wiping away the tears as he stared down at the titan groaning on its back.
And that's where he saw it. "Aw shit… Well you know what they say. Laugh at the face of misfortune, and get slapped by it in return." He saw the spasm of twitches coming from his horse's feet underneath the titan's body. Of course it would crush his horse.
He saw the titan turn onto its stomach, clambering back to its knees. He shot an iron wire towards the titan's neck, the grappling hooks at the top piercing into its flesh. He propelled downwards landing just above their only weak spot. "I guess this is it for you, Reibi will kill me if I don't kill you. Plus, you're pretty smart, learning to climb and all. Can't risk any Titan-senseis or have you teaching that to your kind."
He pulled out two blades from his holster and slashed across the neck, instantly any movements the titan made ceased as it slumped back into the ground.
He smiled once more, re-sheathing the blades, before looking out towards the sunset. "Almost night time. Things just became even harder now that Skippy is dead, guess I best get walking, it's a long road back to the group."
He jumped down from the decaying titan corpse, just at his feet was another one of those fruits. Most definitely having been dislodged from the tree when the titan fell to the ground. He picked it up and began chomping on it as he began walking northern bound, back towards the rest of his team.
"That fool! He should be back by now all!" A man shouted loudly, standing with his teammates waiting for the final member of their four man platoon. It was a dangerous operation for such a small group, but then again, they were dangerous people.
"Hachibi, calm down. Kyuubi said he'd be back by tonight." A woman next to him spoke politely, yet bluntly.
"Yeah but, with a horse, he should have been back earlier than this, Niibi. We can't wait around forever, if he's not back within one hour we have to leave. We don't have enough gas or blades to survive any longer than that." A red haired man, older than both of his companions answered the blonde haired woman.
"Ah Yonbi, your age is getting to you, fool! Becoming so scared of the Titans you can't even wait for a comrade." The tallest, a dark skinned man bit back towards the older man.
"It doesn't matter, he's here now." Yonbi nodded in front of them, seeing a human walking casually towards them. When they were within a better sight he gave the trio a quick wave.
"What took you so long, Kyuubi? Where's your horse?" Niibi asked curiously when he finally approached them completely.
"Dead. Got crushed by a titan, I've been on foot for the past six hours. Good Ol' Skippy, I'll miss him. He was a good horse, a loyal horse, a brave horse." The young male before them sighed mournfully.
"Sorry for your loss, but we'll get you a new horse. Now did you manage to find anything about Ilse?" Yonbi asked bluntly, clearing not liking being out in the open any longer than necessary.
"No, I did a fair bit of recon, but she's definitely not in this area. I wished we could just borrow that weirdo Hange, as she is constantly spouting on how she's inherited Ilse's will." Kyuubi sighed in annoyance, pushing his hair back out of his face.
"We can't go any further now, let's return to Wall Maria and re-supply, we'll depart from Shiganshina next time." Yonbi ordered, getting a curt nod from the members of his team.
Kyuubi looked to his watch on his right wrist again, gaining a small frown. "We should set off now, if we hurry, we might get halfway there before the sun begins to rise." He looked up again, specifically towards the three horses hitched behind them, a grin grew on his face. "So… Which one of you lovely fellows is giving me a ride home?"
Just then a flash of red lightning struck down from a clear evening sky a good four kilometres away from them, the earth shook from its power as it clashed with the crust of the ground beneath them. Smoke… No. Steam began pouring from the spot where the lightning had struck.
And all their eyes widened with horror as an enormous face, devoid of skin emerged from out of the steam, peering over the fifty metre trees. "What the hell is that!?" Kyuubi could only muster out in shock as the enormous head looked from side to side, searching for something it seemed.
And just as soon as it had appeared, another huge explosion of steam had occurred, and once t had dissipated the enormous being was gone. "Whatever it was, it defies all knowledge of the titans, which it definitely was one of. And it looked towards the wall before vanishing." Niibi looked in the direction of the titan's final stare before disappearing. "That thing must have been at least sixty metres tall, and it apparently has the ability to vanish itself or camouflage or something. Either way, if that thing makes an assault on the walls. Humanity is done for."
"Quickly! We must return to the Wall now!" Yonbi ordered, jumping onto his horse. "We have to tell them about this!"
Just then, a ten metre class burst out from the forestry behind them, snarling and charging towards them. "Tch, I got this! Just prepare your horses to go!" Kyuubi yelled back, drawing out two new blades and charging towards the lone titan.
"Kyuubi!" Yonbi screamed outwards as the younger man shot a grappling hook towards the titan's shin, piercing through to the bone, using the gas he propelled himself quickly, slicing through the muscle surround its leg, causing it to cease movement and drop to its knee.
He propelled past it, before turning mid-motion and firing his second hook directly at the nape. Within seconds he was flying past its screaming body, a thick trail of blood floating in the air following after his blades.
He grinned as he watched the titan's body drop to the ground and begin its rapid decay. And before he realised the second, six metre class titan jumping behind him it was too late.
He growled in pain as the titan chomped around his right elbow, its larger front buck teeth instantly severed his hand just after the wrist, the rest of his arm remained clamped inside the titan's mouth. Hanging outside the titan's mouth, he watched his watch, and the wrist of the hand it was tied around drop to the ground.
The titan began to run off, almost not willing to push its luck by engaging the other humans present.
"MENMA!" Hachibi screamed towards his younger squad mate, watching the titan begin to take off in the opposite direction, he prepared his horse to begin the chase to retrieve their youngest team member.
"GO!" He screamed back towards his comrade, his friend. "YOU HAVE TO WARN PEOPLE ABOUT THAT COLOSSAL TITAN! IF THAT THING CAN DISAPPEAR, IT MIGHT REAPPEAR IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE AT WALL MARIA! BEAT IT BACK TO THE WALL AND SLICE HIS NECK OPEN FOR ME! FOR HUMANITY!"
The titan began a breaking speed away from the horsed trio, and he smiled, seeing out of the corner of his eye that his squad heeded his words, taking off back towards the wall. He turned back to the face of the titan gripping him in its mouth and his smile turned to a rage filled snarl. "You idiot! You bit off the wrong hand! I'm left-handed!"
He swung his left arm precisely towards his intended spot. The rush of adrenaline caused him to not even feel the blade cut through what little right arm was exposed. He quickly turned as he fell to the ground, launching the only grapple he could towards the titan's shoulder. Launching himself high above it,
Once again he turned, and using what felt like the last of his gas in one last explosion of force propelled himself back towards the titan's neck, leaving one deep gash across its nape.
The Titan fell towards the ground in a heap, its body already beginning to recover from the wound. He wasted no time, continuously slashing away at its neck until it stopped moving. "Damn, this must be some kind of record for most kills by a single soldier on an expedition. If not, then I guess I can go down in history as the man who did the impossible, taking down a titan with one hand… literally. Throughout training, the Instructor stressed that the ODM Gear can't be operated with one hand only."
He hopped down from the titan's corpse, looking down at the blade handle connected to the rest of his machinery. With one quick hard tug he disconnected the wire connecting it to the mechanics to shoot his grapple hooks and work the gas.
He stabbed the blade into the ground before unbuckling the holster that held all his equipment in place. "Ran out of gas anyway. This is just dead weight now." He spoke solemnly as the blade holsters, the empty gas canisters, and the grappling mechanism dropped to the ground.
He dislodged the hilt of the sword and attached it to his final two pieces of blades, the only two left that hadn't been dulled.
He picked the sword back up, and place it under his shirt, cut off the straps around his torso, pulling out the black bands. He began tying it round his cleanly cut stump. He must have only had two inches of right arm left.
He sighed loudly. "Walking again…" He muttered weakly after ensuring the band was tight enough to stop the blood flow to his gaping wound, before trudging back in the direction he was carried from.
'Don't know why I'm even bothering… No horse. No weapons. No mobility. Serious blood loss. I'm as good as dead already…'
He dunked his head into the large puddle of water he found, throwing his head backwards after taking large gulps of the water. With his remaining hand he pushed his straight red hair backwards, and wiped the watered down blood from his face.
He looked towards the brightening sky, he had been walking for hours, and the sun was beginning to come up, yet he felt like he had barely walked any distance, and barely made any progress. 'Heh, just like the rest of Humanity…'
"Plus, it doesn't help that you guys are starting to become active again." He looked towards the lumbering, weakened titans surrounding him. Without the sun they were useless lumps of meat, awake, yet immobile. But now, as the sun began to rise, so did these monstrosities surrounding him.
He pushed himself backwards, crawling towards the base of a large tree to rest his back against it. The titans began to stand and rise, and instantly all five of their gazes fixated on him. "It's like breakfast in bed for you guys isn't it." He laughed weakly, watching as the Titans began to come to their senses and approach him.
"Hey Menma, you graduated three days ago, didn't you? Where did you stand in the rankings?"
"Ha! You are looking at the Number 1 Cadet in the Eastern Districts' 96th Training Corps!"
"Really? Number 1!? That's so cool Menma! Just like Dad!"
"Yeah it is, I suppose..."
"Say Menma, have you decided what Regiment you are going to join?"
"Yeah, think I'll join the Survey Corps. I didn't train so hard so I could shit myself behind the walls. If I am going to shit myself, I'll make sure I'm doing it down a Titan's throat!"
"Don't make jokes about stuff like that, Menma!"
"Sorry, sorry… Hey, listen little bro, see this watch? It's been handed down our family for generations, hell this watch is probably older than the walls. When you're old enough and have decided whatever it is you want to do, be it a soldier, a farmer, a doctor, anything you want to be, I'll pass this watch onto you. Deal?"
'Why… Why am I remembering this now?' A tear slid down his eye, picturing his younger brother's beaming smile. He was going to be all alone now. 'Is this… regret?...'
He looked towards the Titans, who had all halted in their steps. Instantly his sadness turned to rage. "What the hell is taking you so long!? If you're gonna eat me, the just fucking eat me!"
The titans continued to just stare blankly at him, almost looking as if they weren't interested in the helpless meal before them. "That's right. You guys can smell it, can't you? I'm already dead! You assholes don't eat humans because you're hungry, you don't have digestive tracks! You eat us to kill us! To eradicate the Human Race! I bet you all are wondering what's the point of eating a dying Human? You want someone fresh and very much alive! Well you fucking assholes I'm the best you're ever gonna get! And even then you still can't have me! I won't be remembered as caving in fear in front of you! I won't be remembered as just another soldier devoured by the titans!"
He gripped the sword he had carried since his mutilation tightly, the Titan's appeared to respond to his show of life, closing in on him once again.
He turned the blade towards himself, and with one quick thrust stabbed it through his own stomach. "I'd rather die by my own hands then get eaten by shits like you!" His roar was not filled with pain or agony, but with rage and hate.
He continued roaring as he sliced the blade across his stomach, blood and entrails began to pour out of the new gaping wound. He leaned his head back against the tree, grinning victoriously towards the five monstrosities before him. He let go of the sword, leaving it pierced through his gaping stomach, the tip of the blade piercing through the flesh of his back.
Weakly, he raised his hand to his chest, keeping his fingers locked in place between his palm and chest, leaving on the middle finger upwards, pointing towards the titans. "I don't know if you can even understand what I'm saying… But I hope you do… And I hope you can speak… So you can remember me… And you can go tell the rest of your kind… That Menma Namikaze… told you to go fuck yourselves!..."
'I'm sorry… Little brother…'
"Who the hell are you?" A small blond boy looked straight towards a young guy with messy grey hair and bright purple eyes, a large scare running down under one of them. The guy was dressed in a simple soldier's uniform, but with no markings or badges to prove which regiment he was affiliated with.
"You're Menma's brother right?" The guy answered in a dulled out voice.
"Yeah, what's it to you?" The blond boy scowled in response to the question. Until the guy handed out a clothed item, he could recognise the blood staining the fabric wrapping whatever was underneath the fabric.
He cautiously took it for the guy, and carefully unwrapped it. His face exploded with horror as in his hands was another person's severed hand, beginning the slow process of decay.
But it was what was wrapped around the severed hand's wrist that caused the horror on his face, the tears beginning to stream from his eyes.
It was a watch, rimmed with gold on bland brown straps. But more importantly…
It was his brother's watch.
"Sorry kid."
AN: Hey, so here's a new stoty for you all. Big fan of Naruto and a big fan of Attack on Titan, and there's not many crossover's between the two of them, so it feels like a all you can eat buffet for potential stories.
So this prologue/chapter 1 focused more on Naruto's older brother Menma, who is well and truly deceased now. Menma's name obviously comes from road to Ninja, however his straight red hair comes from the episode where Naruto meets Kushina and he imagines himself with straight red hair.
Before people start with pairings, I have one prepared, but it doesn't include Naruto.
For the majority of the time this story will be taken place in the Eastern districts, instead of the southern where Eren resides.
I figured Menma's training corp as follows. People graduate into the army at 15 following training. Menma is 18, so he's been in the army for 3 years before he dies. Eren (and eventually Naruto) are part of the 104th, the graduated 5 years after the wall first fell. Meaning the graduating training corp then would have been the 99th, take off another 3 years would be the 96th.
Anyways, a new chapter should be up soon if people are interested.
