The Legend of Menma Uzumaki
Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters and lore belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Menma's personality is that of my OC who ironically happens to be myself.
Hey again, I know it's pretty soon after the first chapter but I just couldn't just stop writing just yet. In this chapter we'll have the bell test and we'll MAYBE get to see some of Menma's jutsu finally. I may start the Wave arc mission soon or maybe even in this chapter who knows, just to let everyone know, Im making Sasuke much kinder and understanding in this fic, there are multiple ways traumatic events can effect a person. Please Review, need feedback.
'Thoughts'
"Speaking"
'Biju Thoughts'
"Biju Speaking"
Chapter #2 Enter Team 7
After his meeting with the Hokage, the kind old man had leant Menma a few hundred ryo for some ninja gear while also giving him his headband and Jonin vest. Tying the headband to his left arm for now; currently, he was reviewing the directions the Hokage had given him to the Shinobi section to the market district and was at this moment very confused with the directions. The lines didn't follow the streets but the rooftops instead. Suddenly he came to a realization, 'I am a damn ninja, I can jump from roof to roof with ease.' Menma pumped chakra into his legs and took off like a bullet, controlling his speed at supersonic speeds, unfortunately the sonic boom broke several windows after he'd surpassed the speed of sound and many angry civilian's shouted after him in which he only laughed in response.
Within seconds, he stood at the entrance to the shinobi section to the market district. He showed his headband on his arm to the chuunin guard in which the guard stepped aside to let him pass. Stepping into the district, he gazed in wonder at all the weapons and gear available for shinobi and decided to first find some black dye to dye his jonin vest. After an hour of looking around, Menma had bought the dye, a pair of both black and red leather chakra metal studded wraps to go on his shins and forearms, a pair of black ninja sandles, several pairs of black shinobi pants, skin tight black tank tops and a jet black trench coat with a white fur lining around the neck and edge of the hood to the coat, the coat was made of a special material that hardened when chakra was focused into it. Finally, Menma began his weapons shopping, picking up two black hip pouches and a pair of shuriken holsters for his thighs. He bought three scrolls of fifty kunai and three scrolls of fifty shuriken, the shuriken were just regular but the kunai varied from smoke bomb, to explosive to regular. With only two hundred ryo left, Menma decided to just look around until he had to meet his new team.
Something caught Menma's eye in the window to a custom weapons shop and he decided that he might go ask the shore manager the price of said weapon. Walking into the shop, he was greeted by a young girl with buns in her hair, "Hello there! My name is Tenten, welcome to our shop, what can I do for you?" Menma proceed to walk to the front desk and ask his questions, "How much is that zanbato behind you?" The sword had a four and a half foot blade, a foot wide, two inches thick of what looked like blackened steel. The blade had a dual edge, a foot and a half long handle with no guard and a wrist sized ring at the end of the handle and had no curve. "This sword you ask? Well you see, it's not exactly for sale. This sword is one of the sentient weapons of old, a living weapon. Sentient weapons choose their master not the other way around, but if you'd like to see if it chooses you I'd be happy to take it down." Menma nodded and Tenten did just that, handing the zanbato over to Menma. The sword, despite its enormous size, weighed little more than a dagger, but nothing else remarkable happened, "Well it looks like the sword has chosen its master. Anyone who has every touched the sword has had their chakra drained almost immediately and by the looks of it, you still have your chakra." Menma nodded in understanding before Tenten placed a sealing scroll on the table and unraveled it, "Place your strongest hand on the scroll," He did so and in a matter of seconds the seal transferred from the scroll to the underside of his forearm. He lifted his right sleeve and looked at the seal, "The seal is meant to act as the sheath to the blade, since we don't make sheaths for zanbato swords, we have a small stock of sealing scrolls made by Jiraya of the Sannin." Keeping his confusion to himself, Menma opened the seal and sealed his sword away into, "Thank you Tenten for this amazing gift, I'll never forget it," After that was said he left for training ground seven. Tenten waved goodbye before looking at the two hundred ryo Menma left on the counter, "Wait! You forgot your money…" But he was already gone.
Naruto stood up from his seat beside Sasuke and pointed at him accusingly while looking at Iruka, "Why do I have to be on a team with THAT teme?! Im a much better ninja than he is!" He pointed his thumb at his shinobi headband Iruka had delivered to his house this morning. Iruka sighed and shook his head, "Naruto, you got the lowest marks in the class, while Sasuke here had the highest. That's how it works, the rookie of the year is always placed with the lowest scoring student of the class," Naruto sat back down and crossed his arms with a pout, while Sasuke glanced over at him and sighed, "Hey dobe, stop looking so upset. At least you passed this time." Naruto leaned into his arms and grumbled something Sasuke couldn't hear to which Sakura; who was sitting on Sasuke's other side, responded by throwing a pencil at the side of Naruto's head, "Shut up baka! Sasuke's much better than you! Right Sasuke?" Sasuke glared at her for a brief moment before returning to looking out in front, his chin resting on the tops of his hands, "You're annoying," Sakura deflated at the sound of his comment while finally the last team was being declared, "Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. Your sensei is Menma Uzumaki, wait here all of you and your sensei will be here to pick you up." Naruto's head shot up with a great big smile was plastered on his face; he jumped up and down excitedly throwing his fist in the air, "Yatta! Menma is my sensei!" Sasuke, who had noticed his last name was the same as Naruto's, grabbed Naruto's shoulder and sat him back down, "Since you obviously know our sensei, can you please enlighten us as to how you two may be related? Iruka-sensei just said Menma Uzumaki dobe, pay more attention will ya?" Naruto pondered all that Sasuke said in his head before making his response, "I… I never knew that he was an Uzumaki, I never asked." Sakura decided to but in and make a comment of her own, "Hey guys, everyone is gone, were the only one's waiting now." Suddenly, a tapping could be heard from the window. All three of the genin looked and found Menma waving outside the window before letting himself in through said entrance, "Yo, meet me on the roof and Naruto?" Naruto nodded in acknowledgement, "We'll talk later, and now follow me." Noticing his Sharingan, Sasuke, with a hurt and angry expression, was about to voice his concerns when Naruto shoved him for his attention and shook his head as if to say not yet; Sasuke responded by shoving him back just as they started to make their way through the roof doors. Menma sat down on a bench by the edge of the roof and turned to face his new students, "Ok, now, how bout we get to know each other a little better. I want to know your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams, and obviously, your names. I'll start, my name is Menma Uzumaki, I like training in all forms of shinobi combat, partying on weekends and smoking, I dislike dishonor and disloyalty, my hobbies are training, reading, swimming, drinking and smoking and my dream is to one day be Hokage." Everything else Menma said was true but his dream, it's like he was on autopilot when he said it, like it was but wasn't him and it felt strange. "Now whiskers, your turn." Naruto pointed at Menma accusingly, "Look who's talking about whiskers cat face!" Menma facepalmed and waved his hand for Naruto to continue, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, training and pulling pranks! I dislike the three minutes it takes to cook ramen and traitors! My dream is to one day be the greatest Hokage that ever lived! Then the villagers will have to acknowledge me!" Menma gazed at Naruto with a look of sadness before moving on, "Emo, your turn," Sasuke growled at the emo comment before giving his answer, "I am Sasuke Uchiha, I like training and tomatos, I dislike slackers and sweet things, my hobbies are training and archery, my dream; no my ambition is to find and kill and certain man and eventually restore my clan to its former glory." Menma nodded in approval, "Very good, although it's not my business, revenge is never the answer, justice is. You bring that man to justice and you make him pay, but you never forget your friends have your back alright?" Menma gave Sasuke a pointed look and Sasuke just nodded, turning away, "Now you.." Sakura jumped to it, "My name is Sakura Haruno, my likes are," She looked at Sasuke and giggled, "My dislikes are Naruto, my hobbies are planning for the future and my dream is…" She looked at Sasuke and giggled, all the guys deadpanned. "Anyways, tomorrow I will be testing your aptitude as a team; if you fail you will all be sent back to the academy." The shocked expressions on their faces sent Menma rolling in laughter. Naruto stood and screamed, "What do you mean sent back?! We passed the genin exams!" Sasuke and Sakura nodded in agreement, "Well, this is my test to see if you have what it takes. I alone will decide if you're cut out to be shinobi. Now all of you get some rest, and make sure you eat breakfast, a shinobi should never go without food before training, and I'll see you all at 5 am tomorrow." With that, Menma got up from his sitting position and jumped from the roof and into the alleyway below. His students looked out over the edge of the roof to find nothing but trash in the alleyway, their sensei was gone already. Naruto turned to Sasuke and Sakura with a bright smile, resting his hands behind his head, "So now that we're a team and all, maybe we can all go for ramen or something!" Sakura grimaced at the idea, "As if baka!" With that, she stormed off leaving Naruto deflated. Sasuke's response however, was surpisingly much nicer, "Sorry dobe, I have training to catch up on, but maybe next time alright? Uchiha have to eat too ya know what I mean?" With a slight grin he turned around and followed the path their sensei took, leaving Naruto alone on the roof.
Naruto had left the roof and was currently walking home in a sulk, kicking stones around with his hands in his pockets, passing villagers either ignoring him or giving him deathly glares, 'Why do I always have to be left alone, even Menma-Sensei left and he promised to explain some things and stuff.' Not paying much attention, Naruto ended up bumping into his sensei himself, standing infront of Naruto's apartment building, "Hey kid, you ready for some answers? Or do you want to pack first?" Naruto gave his sensei a strange look and he just laughed, "What? We are family after all, so you're coming to live with me. Hokage-sama has generously given us a small, two bedroom house in the nicer parts of town." Menma cringed on the inside, 'Generous my ass, Im gonna be paying off that house for the next year if Im lucky.' Naruto's eyes sparkled with gratitude and his smile looked like I'd split his face from ear to ear; "Let's pack first! Then we can talk about stuff!" Menma nodded his approval, "Ok sounds like a solid plan."
With Naruto's shadow clones, and Menma's strict packing schedule, they got the packing done fairly quickly; making their way to the new house by dusk. Naruto, walking in front with Menma, turned to him, curious as to why he was never here before, "hey Menma-Sensei? How come it took you so long to get here?" Menma stared straight ahead, trying to find a way of tell Naruto without giving too much information from the start, "Well Naruto, I grew up in the Western side of the world, across the ocean. See, our family never came from the Leaf Village, they came from elsewhere, a village in fire country that no longer exists. I don't know much about it except it was called the Whirlpool Village; and it was completely destroyed in war." Naruto's eyes widened, his eyes beginning to form tears. He looked away, "So we might be the last Uzumaki ever?" Menma nodded and Naruto looked disgruntled, "Don't worry though, although I don't really know our relation, I think it'd be best to call you my brother. So even though we may be the last, at least we still have family right?" Naruto nodded, clenching his chest where his heart lay as they walked on now in silence.
They made it to the house; Naruto had decided he wanted the upstairs bedroom where Menma was fine with the basement bedroom. After putting everything away they decided to check out the rest of the house; the house had a small library for ninja scrolls and the like, a small training room and weapons room to store their equipment. Other than that it was just a regular standard house, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and even a deck displaying the outside training area composed of three acres of land. Naruto's excitement had been bursting at the seams since they'd gotten there, practically bouncing off the walls, "Hey Naruto, it's getting late, we should call it a night." Menma, who possessed the same unnatural energy Naruto himself had, felt no fatigue as he headed for bed; but Naruto never went to bed at first, he instead ran around the house, enjoying the open space, laughing and enjoying himself in his new home, 'Home, it feels nice.' After about maybe an hour, he finally went upstairs, got dressed for bed and fell into a sound sleep.
The next day, Menma dragged himself from bed at a fresh 3 am; Him pulled his ninja pants and tank top on, his sandals followed, next he wrapped his forearms and shins in the black and red studded leather before putting on his black jonin vest, finally he placed his weapons pouches on his person, strapping his kunai holsters to his legs before moving to grab his coat and head upstairs to the kitchen for some breakfast, after breakfast, he left Naruto a present on the bed while he was still sleeping, 'I like orange, but too much is a very bad thing for a ninja, only ACTUAL foxes blend in the forest with bright orange'. Naruto was still asleep by the time Menma was out the door, giving him plenty of time to prepare traps around the training ground for his student, 'Unhealthy bodies don't motivate teamwork, harder challenges do. Sorry Kakashi, but I do things MY way.'
Naruto woke up feeling like a new person completely. So new in fact, he felt it was time for a wardrobe change, only thing was he had no money or the time to search for a shop that would sell to him, it was already 4:30 am. Pulling himself out of bed he found that Menma had left him a new outfit before leaving which made Naruto smile in delight, 'Wow! New clothes! Menma-Nii san is being way too nice, is this what it's like to have family?' The outfit composed of forest camo ninja pants with a black long sleeve ninja shirt, ninja mesh undershirt and a coat matching Menma's only with orange fur instead of white; to complete the outfit, Menma included an orange sash to add a little more orange to it. Naruto slipped the outfit on and rushed to the kitchen, making a quick bowl of ramen for breakfast, he ate, put his dishes in the sink and left the house, locking the door behind him.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all made it to the training grounds within minutes of eachother, only to discover that their sensei was already there waiting. He was standing by a tree with a clock in his hand and a pair of bells in the other, smiling at his students while he waited for them to approach. After they all stood before him he began to explain, 'This test is to see if you all have what it takes to make it as a genin team, so you have till noon to get one of these bells from me, if you fail to grab a bell, you'll be sent back to the academy." The boys both nodded but Sakura began to question, "But sensei, there are only two bells. How can we all pass?" Menma chuckled at the question, "One of you will be sent back for sure." Naruto growled and pumped his fist in his sensei's direction, "No way am I getting sent back Nii san! No way!" With that, Naruto charged his sensei, forming two shadow clones on each side of himself for support.
SO this is the second chapter, It's not as interesting as the last chapter but I've lost my drive to write now so it's time for me to take a break. I'll post within the next week I promise.
Bye for now
Menmanator