Chapter 14
"Nine tails, was your chakra split into three or something?" said Menma
"No nothing like that" said nine tails. "I have no idea how this is possible."
"You like the red eyes?" said Adonn. "Courtesy of some of the nine tailed fox's chakra that entered my body twelve years ago. Makes for a pretty good boost in strength."
"So that act of being blind was a trick?" said Sairana
"I don't really like to show off or anything like that" said Adonn.
Aylana touches her shoes with her gloves on. Her shoes caught fire and turned blue as well. She then takes a fighting stance. "Doesn't matter" she said. "I'll make sure to take that bell this time."
Adonn starts laughing hysterically making Sairana and Menma nervous. "You're more than welcomed try" he says. He then licks his lips and charges at the three of them.
Meanwhile Naruto's group was busy waiting for Kakashi to arrive to the training grounds. Naruto was still half sleep barely functioning. Sasuke seemed normal and Sakura was rubbing her eyes as if she just got out of bed. A good hour passes with the sun high in the sky. Kakashi finally arrives to the grounds.
"Morning everyone, ready for your first day?" said Kakashi.
"You're late" said Naruto and Sakura.
"Well a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way."
Naruto and Sakura look at Kakashi irritated.
"Well then, let's get started" said Kakashi. He goes to three posts that were placed in a nearby clearing and places an alarm clock on the middle one. "It's set for noon." Kakashi then takes two bells from his pocket. "Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. It's as simple as that. If you can't get them by noon, you go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch while I eat my lunch in front of you."
The three of them all groaned realizing that this was why they didn't have them eat breakfast.
"Wait a minute" said Sakura. "There's three of us, how come there's only two bells."
"Well that way at least one of you ends up tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy." Kakashi scans the three of them. "Then again, all three of you can flunk out too. You can use any weapon including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me you won't be able to take the bells."
"Those weapons are too dangerous sensei" said Sakura.
Kakashi chuckles. "Well if you hesitate like that then there's no hope of you passing."
"Please" said Naruto laughing. "We may end up accidently harming you especially since you couldn't dodge that eraser. I bet Menma will have an easy time with the blind guy."
"You really shouldn't underestimate Adonn. He's in fact much more brutal than I am. Even had a knack for putting students in the hospital after they went through his test. Sound familiar Naruto."
Naruto stops laughing and stares and Kakashi.
"Unlike Menma who clearly is stronger than you, you're the class clown and clearly the weakest link. That's why people can safely ignore you with you having the lowest scores and clearly a loser."
Naruto glares at Kakashi.
"When I say start you can begin."
Naruto pulls out a kunai and tries to charge at Kakashi but Kakashi suddenly appears behind Naruto and grabs his hand pointing the Kunai to the back of his head. He uses his other hand to simply grab Naruto's head and hold him still.
"Don't be in such hurry" said Kakashi. "I didn't say you can start yet." Both Sakura and Sasuke back up slowly. Kakashi lets go of Naruto and he tumbles forward. "But at least you came at me with the full intention of destroying me. So…how can I say this, I'm actually starting to like guys." Naruto and the others get into a ready position. "Alright ready and start." The three of them scatter away from Kakashi.
Back in the leaf village, Iruka is meeting with the Third and drinking some tea with him.
"Iruka what did you come to see me about" asked the Third. "I doubt you came here to drink tea with me and chat did you?"
"Naruto's been assigned to squad 7 and Menma to squad 6" said Iruka. "The Jonin in charge of those squads, just how tough are they?"
"You mean Kakashi and Adonn? You're concerned about them?"
"I am I heard rumors on the two of them about their training methods."
"Hmm…which one are you more worried about, Naruto or Menma?"
Iruka looks at the Third in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Does Naruto concern you more or does Menma?"
Iruka folds his hand and leans on the table. "Well I am more worried about Naruto since I know Menma is a lot stronger than people realize."
"I see…if I were you I'd be more concerned for him than Naruto." The third puts two books on the table in front of Iruka.
"What's this?" asked Iruka.
"The book on your right has details on the trainees assigned to Kakashi. The ones who past and the ones who failed. The book on your left has the details of Adonn's trainees."
Iruka grabs the book on the right and looks into it. He's shock when he sees the information written in it. "This is even worse than the rumors" said Iruka.
"Kakashi's tests may be a bit more difficult than the others" said the third
"I bit more difficult? Not a single student has ever passed his tests."
"True, they all tried but none could live up to Kakashi's standards and all eliminated." Iruka stares at the other book. "You may be uncomfortable when you see the contents of Adonn's book."
Iruka puts down the Kakashi book and picks up the Adonn book. He examines the contents and is more shocked by them then Kakashi's.
"I didn't think it was possible to get worse than Kakashi" said Iruka. "Every single one of the students in Adonn's group was not only eliminated but suffered severe injuries as well as permanent memory loss." He slams the book down. "How is he even allowed to have a squad assigned to him?"
The third drinks some tea and lets out a huge sigh. "At the time, we didn't know about his extreme measures when he performs his tests. When the first trainees were brought into the hospital, he said that they turned on each other in the middle of the exam in order to make sure the other passed. There was an eye witness at the time of that incident and confirmed his story. The second time it was an accident involving a tree falling on top of them. By the time the third and fourth ones came we started to get suspicious. We had someone tail him for the fifth ones and found out the truth. From then on his status was revoked and spent some years in prison." The third closes his eyes and leans back. "Despite all that I had a soft spot for him knowing the background he came from with his dad." "He sits back up and puts his elbows on the table folding his hands. "Anyway, when finding out that Menma had passed and was graduating from the academy, I hit a wall with trying to assign people to his squad that he wouldn't easily fight with as well as take into consideration his skills. Considering his friendship with the Uchiha girl Sairana, there was no doubt that I would assign her to the squad. The only other person that could fit was Aylana being the one with the highest score amongst the females."
"I understand that" said Iruka. "I probably would have done the same thing given the situation."
"Yeah well the hardest one was of course the Jonin. None of them wanted to be bothered with Menma. They all felt he would do more harm than good as a ninja. This is why I turned to Adonn. He seemed quite excited and immediately jumped at the opportunity. He and Menma are very similar as far as track record when dealing with others. I figured that giving him one last chance to be an instructor would help Menma stay leveled."
"Even so, was it really wise to do such a thing?"
"…Maybe not, worst case scenario Menma's team will suffer the same fate as the others. However, if anyone can keep Menma under control it's him."