Naruto: A New Beginning
Chapter 14
(Date: July 15, 2552. Location: Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach)
(Reach Surface Location: Montez Military Training Academy, Military Reservation 01478-B)
It was a fine morning as the sky was clear and the temperature was just right, just right for a survival exercise that is. At this very moment Drill Sergeant Condor exited the main building of the Montez Military Academy and noticed the Pelican in the sky that he had ordered about ten minutes ago. He continued on his way towards barrack number 333 with a loud speaker in his right hand, as the Pelican made its landing on the running track field.
He entered the barrack and walked a couple of feet inside silently. He lifted the loud speaker to his mouth annnd….
"ATTENTION!" So many things happened at once when he yelled that out in his loud speaker.
Naruto got out of bed flawlessly and saluted as practiced but Camilla didn't have the same amount of awareness as he did, so when that was yelled out she jumped out of bed in surprise and fell of her bunk bed, luckily Naruto caught her bridal style and put her down quickly with a small blush on his face.
She muttered small thanks and went into attention like he was doing before she fell.
Then after her mistake came Jasper's as he tried to get out of bed really quickly in fear of repercussion but instead made a fool out of himself by being entangled in his blankets and falling on the floor.
Afterwards it was Ice's turn as he put too much force in his jump out of fear and hit his head on the underside of the bunker with a resounding metal gong kind of sound.
Hunter was also getting up really fast and just as he had put his feet on the ground to get up, he got up too fast and hit his head on the top bunk as well. Heavy sleepers like Kate, Julius and Riley were safe as they heard the sound and got up lazily without too much of a fuss. But light sleepers like Earl, Mathew and Misha didn't have that kind of luck this time as something similar to what happened to Hunter and Jasper happened to them as well because of the surprise they got from the loud awakening.
"Now that you pansies are up I need you showered, changed and prepped for a Pelican ride to Pain Land in less than ten minutes, GET TO IT TRAINEES!" Drill Sergeant Condor ordered them.
"SIR YES SIR!" They all responded and unison and got to work as they ran towards their lockers to get a clean change of clothes and then ran towards the shower rooms located inside the main building.
In the meantime Drill Sergeant Condor was timing them while sitting on floor of the Pelicans open hatch. Eventually his trainees exited the building looking refreshed and prepped for action as they took notice of his location and walked towards him with purpose.
"Seven minutes and eighteen seconds, good job on not making me wait too long but it's time you stopped staring at me like a bunch of idiots and got inside the damn Pelican." Drill Sergeant Condor said this as he got up and walked towards the cockpit of the Pelican and everyone soon followed. "One thing you should get used to is standing up while inside of a moving Pelican, there isn't always going to be enough seats so two of you will have to stand the entire ride." The Drill Sergeant informed.
"I'll stand." Naruto volunteered first.
"Same here." Mathew also volunteered.
"Alright let's get this show on the road Corporal." Drill Sergeant spoke to the pilot of the Pelican.
"Yes sir." Was the female pilot's response.
The Pelican re-ignited it's engines with a mechanical whining noise and in less than two seconds they were already taking off vertically and watching as the Pelicans mechanism turned it into a jet of sorts, and they shot off into the assumed direction of Pain Land.
No one said a word as this was one of the most serious things they have done to date, Drill Sergeant Condor informed them that this is one of the toughest obstacle courses they have at the Academy and that they should prepare themselves for a lot of pain, hence the name Pain Land.
Ten Minutes in flight and the pilot alerted them that in thirty seconds they will be arriving at the drop zone.
When the pilot finished that announcement the Drill Sergeant got up and stood at the entrance of the cockpit while scanning his trainees.
"Listen up and listen carefully, I need you all to take this challenge with the utmost seriousness. I need you to take this challenge and give it more than 110 percent, you need to give this challenge one thousand percent of your effort and the full scope of your emotional energy. This challenge does not only reflect me as your trainer but it reflects you as a person and your ability to adapt and learn and survive. So do your best and pass this obstacle course, I will not wish you luck for you will not need it now or ever from the efforts I have seen put out from you." Drill Sergeant Condor ended his speech and he saw his trainees nod at him with more determination then he had ever seen before.
Sadly they didn't have any more time to live in this moment as the Pelican had landed and the hatch was already opening. Waiting for them outside was a group of nine soldiers decked in clothing similar to theirs and one Drill Sergeant that was standing in front of the group getting ready to meet Drill Sergeant Condor.
Drill Sergeant Condor stepped out of the Pelican first with his trainees trailing behind him and then forming a neat single file line parallel to the other trainees behind Drill Sergeant Stoner.
Both Drill Sergeants walked forward at the same time and shook hands.
"Sergeant Condor, it's been a while since we have seen each other." Drill Sergeant Stoner said.
"Likewise Sergeant Stoner, I've been busy getting this group of trainees the proper training they deserve." Drill Sergeant Condor said with a smirk.
"Oh, and what do you mean by that Sergeant Condor?" Drill Sergeant Stoner said when he had let go of Drill Sergeant Condor's hand.
"It means that my previous methods for training with past groups has failed with this group since they were much more capable and disciplined when they enlisted for the ODST then past groups, so I had to work them into the ground much harder than any group I have ever had." Drill Sergeant Condor said this while still smirking.
"Hmmm, Intriguing looking batch I'll give you that but I have had these trainees for much longer than two weeks so it's best your team doesn't underestimate them." Drill Sergeant Stoner said while scanning Drill Sergeant Condor's trainees.
All of Drill Sergeant Stoner's men consisted of Caucasians and Latinos, and all of them looked like pure bred assholes.
"Sergeant Stoner if you don't mind I would like to skip the pleasantries and start the obstacle course, actions do speak louder than words." Drill Sergeant Condor said with that infernal smirk still in place.
"Why of course Sergeant Condor, if you would all follow me to the beginning of the obstacle course we can immediately get under way." Both Drill Sergeants sped up and walked ahead of the group as they silently followed behind, well not entirely silent.
"Yo, Vasquez, tell me now holmes. This group looks like a single file line of pussies' ehhh." One of the Latinos with a mustache and goatee said.
The one named Vasquez snorted with restrained laughter. "Hell yeah man, especially that blond one, when the hell did they start letting high school students train to be an ODST." Vasquez said with a smirk and moving his head side to side in a seemingly disappointed manner.
Suddenly another one of Drill Sergeant Stoner's trainees walked up to the talking duo during their walk to the obstacle course.
"Whats up my favorite spicks, what are you two hombres talking about besides that fine piece of ass walking in front of us." The trainee said with an excessive perverted leer and a lick of his lips directed at Kate.
"Ay yo shut the fuck up Max." One of the Latinos said.
"Aww shit this fuckin cracker." Vasquez said immediately afterwards.
"What am I wrong?" Max said with a dirty smirk.
"Nah man, we didn't need that shit pointed out to us." Vasquez's friend said first.
"We were talkin bout the pathetic looking group of trainees that Drill Sergeant picked up." He said pointing with a head gesture towards Drill Sergeant Condor who seemed to be in a heated discussion with Drill Sergeant Stoner quite a ways away from them.
"You two better shut your fucking traps before I get the Sarge's attention." Another trainee in front of them cut into their conversation.
"Damn it Tony you're a fuckin mood kill." Max said as he returned back into his place.
This entire time Drill Sergeant Condor's trainees were quiet, even though a few of them heard what was being said by the other trainees they didn't act as Drill Sergeant Condor's words inside the Pelican replayed in their heads.
Naruto especially heard everything that was said but smirked instead of getting angry, those trainees didn't know what kind of team they were dealing with so for now Naruto will be satisfied in his confident opinion that his team will put them in their place.
Meanwhile the discussion between Sergeant's Condor and Stoner was heating up.
"You fucking sack of manure, how can you simply disregard my group because of how they look, what gives you any fucking right to judge them without seeing them in action." Drill Sergeant Condor said with normal voice volume but angrily in context.
"Have you gone senile already Devon, I mean look how young they are, most of them don't even have the muscle mass that my men do. How can you possibly let them stay in the program for this long when they are just going to die out in the field." Drill Sergeant Stoner said quite callously.
"I swear Joshua you're the biggest cum dumpster I know, when all my men and women wipe the floor with your fuckin embodiment of masculinity trainees, we'll see who's really going senile in their age. I told you once and I'll tell you again. YOU have seen the men I have trained before and I am telling you that this group has much more potential than any of my previous trainees ever had. Right now you have the average tough guy trainee that usually enlists in the ODST. But I have different trainees." Drill Sergeant Devon Condor said with his arms crossed.
"Hmm, how so?" Drill Sergeant Joshua Stoner said carelessly.
"I ain't telling you shit, you're not going to care about the shit I have to say anyway, you were never that kind of man." Drill Sergeant Condor said.
"Maybe, but I have always created excellent ODST's that have served humanity well and that's all the UNSC cares about." Drill Sergeant Stoner said as they finally came upon the beginning of the obstacle course that the trainees will run at the same time.
"EVERYONE ON ME, YOU WILL BE DEBRIEFED ON THE RULES OF THIS COMPETITION!" Drill Sergeant Condor ordered out loud to all the trainees.
Everyone converged upon his position and he started the short debriefing with Drill Sergeant Stoner standing slightly behind him letting him do the talking.
"For this competition and training exercise you will have to complete this course as fast as possible by any means necessary, you cannot however sabotage the other trainees. You can work together and do what you ever else you feel is necessary to complete this course . . . any questions!"
"NO SIR!" All the trainees yelled.
"Good, now you will all line up here at this starting line and when I shoot the flare gun you will begin the 10 acre run and crawl over razor field." Drill Sergeant Condor was smirking slightly as these trainees didn't know what they are getting into. All the trainees lined up at the starting line with Sergeant Stoners trainees trying to intimidate the other trainees with menacing stares but Sergeant Condor's trainees were just ignoring them only serving to piss them off.
"BEGIN! (FWOOMP!)" Immediately after he said that word he fired the flare gun and it shot up high into the sky where marines farther down the obstacle course will take notice of the beginning of the competition.
Sergeant Stoner's trainees immediately ran first in a disorganized array of frantic sprinting to beat the competition. While Sergeant Condor's trainees didn't gun it and nodded at each other showing that they will continue to follow their teamwork ethics.
This all happened very fast and once the other trainees ran off they exchanged that nod and ran off as well with Camilla, Kate, Misha and Naruto leading the group. Drill Sergeant Condor's trainees automatically made this formation so the girls will create the speed they will travel at without anyone being left behind. Soon at the speed the girls created they remarkably caught up to Sergeant Stoner's trainees who were looking at them with disdain on their reddened faces. After a couple of minutes of this team on team sprinting face off they came upon a long stretch of mud with barbed wire just inches over the ground, and to top it all of there were Marines on M12 FAV-Warthogs located on both sides of the muddy stretch with the barrels already spinning on the mounted turrets located on the back of the Warthogs.
Both teams of trainees without hesitation dove under the barbed wire, but it seems that Sergeant Stoner's team were too anxious and careless and one of their members got an electrifying surprise from the barbed wires. This made both teams proceed with more caution, while the stun wasn't bad it still left that one trainee twitching as he tried crawling through the mud pit.
Now everyone was crawling through the mud pit with electrified barbed wire, obviously it didn't end there as the Marines prepped the turrets and started shooting live rounds in front of them, on their sides and over their heads but regardless of all this both teams did not stop. Many if not all of the trainees came out with scrapes because of the jagged gravel that paved the 10 acres and the mud crawl they went through, regardless while the trainees from Sergeant Stoner's side left their comrades as soon as they got out of the mud crawl. Drill Sergeant Condor's team waited for each other to finish and ran alongside each other when they were all accounted for. They continued running straight on a now dirt path that was covered on both sides by thick forest.
They all again encountered the other team during their run but not the entire team as they were spread out. Eventually they encountered in odd sight. The dirt road they were on widened significantly and led to a stretch of dirt that was littered with standing metal poles at random intervals throughout the stretch of field, on the other side they could see the continuation of the dirt road. What they also noticed was one of Stoner's trainees twitching rapidly on the ground with a metal wire tied around his frame somehow and it was sending non-lethal amounts of voltage through his system.
"Alright so it's safe to assume that all these metal poles are booby trapped, so let me go first and then follow after me and we can get through this." Naruto said first. Stoner's trainees seemed slightly lost as they didn't know how to get through without being caught in a trap, so they watched Naruto in hopes of figuring it out.
"Be careful Naruto." Camilla told Naruto.
"Don't worry I'll be fine." Naruto reassured.
Naruto's teammates had faith in him, knowing deep down that he was the strongest member of their team.
Naruto started the trap run by walking forward normally. He suddenly looked down and noticed a trip wire and pointed to it with his finger. He continued walking forward until he came across another pole that suddenly opened and tried shooting him with Taser rounds which he dodged by crouching when he noticed the mechanism in the pole open up a random opening the pole. He walked some more and reached another pole, having learned about sensors Naruto glides his hand forward and the pole immediately reacted to his presence by shooting the same kind of electrified wiring that caught the first careless trainee that tried running through here, it missed since Naruto's body wasn't within its range.
Just as he was reaching the next pole and the end of this path Naruto stepped on something that started beeping really fast. He jumped back quickly and just in time too as a paintball mine had exploded beneath the surface of the dirt floor he stepped on, he sweat dropped when he saw that. Soon though Naruto reached the last pole in his linear path to victory and glided his hand over it again, this time though little segments opened three hundred and sixty degrees around the pole and Naruto ducked just in time as the poles started shooting Taser rounds in a 360 degree arc. After that though, he passed the pole without worry and turned towards his teammates who were all looking wide eyed at the events that took place.
"Alright follow the same path that I took and watch out for any mysteriously appearing trip wires and mines." With that Drill Sergeant Condor's trainees went single file through the path Naruto took and took his warnings to heart as several times they had to maneuver around paintball mines and step over mysteriously appearing trip wires. The poles they didn't have much of a problem with until some of them started shooting Taser rounds 360 degrees randomly, but Naruto helped out by telling them when to duck.
Soon though they all made it across virtually unscathed and resumed their run while leaving Sergeant Stoner's team in the dust.
Afterward they made it to the next and last obstacle course that was called the sky challenge and consisted of various monkey bars, climbing nets and rock climbing walls each with their own punishments if failure to complete happens. Along with that there were balancing beams that lead to extremely unstable rope bridges that eventually led to a long zip line that ended at a segmented wall they had to climb down from.
With effortless teamwork they completed the sky challenge, even though they were all tired from the previous obstacles they all helped each other as a team when some of them were facing difficulties with certain obstacles in the sky challenge. Naruto only helped when he was really needed though because he was told by Drill Sergeant Condor the importance of his teammates also developing their own independence which worked perfectly.
Once they all finished the Sky Challenge and met at the bottom of the segmented wall, they all ran as a team through the remaining one thousand five hundred feet run and met up with Both Drill Sergeants.
Sergeant Stoner looked at Sergeant Condor with a nasty frown present on his face.
Drill Sergeant Condor openly ignored that and walked towards his saluting trainees.
"At ease trainees, you can rest now." Drill Sergeant Condor said with smirk in place. It took more than a few minutes for the rest of Sergeant Stoner's team to arrive at the finish line. They arrived at random intervals and all of them had torn clothing and were battered and beaten inside and out. Eventually all of them had arrived and they were all still saluting as they waited for the Drill Sergeants comments.
"Your teams efforts are commendable Drill Sergeant Condor." Sergeant Stoner said without any true emotion.
"Unfortunately the same cannot be said about your team, as we had watched through the camera's what each of you were doing and noticed that while my team had excellent teamwork your team completely disregarded the suggestion I gave them in hopes of individually making it to the finish line first." Drill Sergeant Condor said to spite the other Sergeant.
"Of course this will be corrected, it is best you leave now Sergeant as I'm sure your team has some wounds that need to be taken care of." Drill Sergeant Stoner said normally but with clear disdain tainting his facial features.
"Already kicking us out after my team wiped the floor with yours." Drill Sergeant Condor boasted out loud surprising Drill Sergeant Stoner with the unexpected blow to him and his trainees.
"This will not be the last time we will face off Sergeant Condor, trust me." Drill Sergeant Stoner said as he then started walking away with his trainees giving last minute looks of disgust and anger at the other team.
Once they were well away from his team Drill Sergeant Condor turned towards them with a happy grin, yes A HAPPY GRIN on Drill Sergeant Condor's face.
"You all made me very proud today, so proud in fact that I have a special surprise in store for all of you after you answer a very specific question, but let's save that until were back at the base." Drill Sergeant Condor gestured for them to follow him and they did as they finally came upon the clearing where the Pelican landed and was still waiting for them.
They all climbed on and in a matter of minutes they were all back at their temporary home and training establishment called the Montez Military Academy.
They all followed Sgt. Condor back to the cafeteria where he ordered them to eat breakfast and continue the rest of the day as normal. Soon it was time for them to go back into their barrack for rest and as they entered the barrack they saw Drill Sergeant Condor standing their seriously with his hands behind his back.
"Attention trainees." Drill Sergeant Condor said normally to all of them.
"Sir!" They all went into military protocol mode and saluted their superior.
"At ease." The trainees relaxed their postures a bit. "I am here today to ask all of you a very serious question." He scanned their faces and noticed he had their complete attention the way he conditioned them to.
"First I would like to know that you will answer this question of mine with honesty and absolute integrity." Without hesitation his trainees responded.
"Sir yes Sir!" They all replied I unison.
"Alright, well . . . my question to you is, do you intend to complete my training and become an ODST." Again with no hesitation that even surprised the Sergeant the trainees responded.
"Sir Yes Sir!" They all responded in unison, then Mathew stepped forward to comment.
"We have already come so far sir, we aren't going to leave things as is and were going to finish as a team." Mathew said with absolute certainty in his voice.
"This is great news, it seems I placed my hopes on the right people. Well you may be asking yourselves why ask us this, well remember the day of the evaluations. On that day scanners took your size readings and I ordered the perfect ODST armor that will be tailored to each and every one of your sizes and ranges of mobility. I had high hope for you and it seems that they didn't go to waste as I had these made in advance. The reason you may be asking again, its simple really. Now that I know you will pass my training you will begin some training sessions with these pieces of technological armor so you can become accustomed to them and understand the full range of mobility you have when wearing them, you will also learn how to use them and their limits and capabilities. You are the best damn group I have ever trained and I feel like you already deserve these armors to show that in my eyes after beating a more experienced group you guys are already ODST's. Sleep now but tomorrow morning I will pick you up and sow you your new armors. Congratulations trainees, you deserve it." Drill Sergeant Condor left immediately after his speech and left the wide eyed group of trainees just standing their speechless.
Until Naruto broke the silence.
"Damn, are we simply that awesome." This broke the tension and everyone snickered a bit.
"I have to say I did not see this coming." Mathew stated.
"Hell yeah, were so fucking badass we get our ODST armor early, what other ODST can say the same." Jasper said excitedly.
"I have to say, if it weren't for that day we created that introduction circle things would be a lot more different now." Misha commented and everyone nodded in agreement.
"I agree, our teamwork must have stood out the most to the Sergeant and it's all thanks to Naruto, Mathew and Misha." Julius agreed in his own way.
"AWWW man this is gonna be sooooo epic, imagine it guys. Every time we go to the battlefield and were recognized as the elite of the elite and we boost everyone's moral and start pushing back the Covenant, I can already see it Ahhhhhhh!" Kate girlishly squealed in unabated excitement for the future of their career.
"I'm happy and all but I'm still going to bed, even though we beat that obstacle course Sgt. Condor didn't let up on afternoon training." Earl said tiredly.
"Damn my fuckin muscles feel like jelly homie." Ice said to Rob.
"Tell me about it, although the training were getting seems to be harsher than normal I feel myself getting stronger as a result." Rob replied. "Regardless I'm following everyone else's example and knocking out." Rob finished as he walked towards his bed.
"Hah, yea I'm beat." Camilla walked towards her bed with a smile on her face but then frowned when she saw the ladder she had to climb and looked at Naruto already laying on his bed. Camilla being physically weak was still increasingly sore from the afternoon training and she could barely stand on her own legs, she was getting stronger though as her muscle density had increased significantly so even though she didn't look it she was really strong.
'Fuck it I'm too tired to give a damn' Camilla thought carelessly.
"Naruto move over, I'm too tired to go to my bed." Camilla said with that adorable pout that always flustered Naruto.
"Whaa, I-I mean Su-Sure I'll just go to your bed then." Naruto got up and jumped and grabbed hold of the railing that made sure Camilla wouldn't fall off the bunk bed in her sleep, and climbed into her bed.
Unknown to him though Camilla was disappointed as she thought she was going to sleep comfortably next to him. She sat down on the bed with that cute pout still in place and a small blush on her face for even thinking about sleeping next to Naruto.
'Oh well, better luck next time.' She thought. She immediately laid down on the bed with an exasperated sigh, soon she was joined by Chaser who was alone almost all day because he had to stay in the barrack while they went to the obstacle course, he still had freedom to walk into the woods though since he wasn't tied up, he was too smart to be tied up like a common dog that would run away first chance it got.
Chaser laid down at the foot of Naruto's bed and licked Camilla's feet tickling her and making her giggle.
"At least I have you Chaser." Camilla said happily and petted Chaser before laying down herself. "Good night Naruto."
"Good night Camilla, sweet dreams. NIGHT EVERYONE!" Naruto said out loud to everyone else.
"Nighty-Night" Kate said back.
"Peace Out Muthafuckas." Ice replied casually.
"Night." Hunter replied curtly.
"Sleep well." Mathew said sincerely.
"Oi, don't let the monsters get to ya." Was Rileys form of goodnight.
"Yea yea goodnight." Jasper said.
"Ohh shut the hell up Riley." Misha said.
"ZZZZZZZ" Earl was already snoring.
"Good Night." Julius replied shortly.
"Buenas Noches." Rob said afterwards.
Soon the whole gang was asleep and was restfully awaiting what tomorrow may bring. They were surprised by their Drill Sergeant today announcing them as unofficial ODST's and they were ecstatic about their accomplishment in Pain Land today. This group of people had no clue how lucky they should feel that they got such an astounding Drill Sergeant such as Drill Sergeant Condor, who has been training them into the ground since day one and has forcefully had them progress much faster than any other trainee before them. Drill Sergeant Condor was truly proud that he had a hand in training this interesting and capable group of individuals with the determination and drive to accomplish what he had set before them.
Truly he felt that the UNSC should feel lucky once they see his team out on the battlefield, in such a short time they had become ODST ready and they still had months of training left, at least that's what the Sergeant thought.
Authors Note: BAM! Two chapters in one day, cough up those reviews because you love me. As added incentive and compensation to the four day delay I will also inform you that Things are going to heat up real soon and really really hot. So . . . yeah take a couple of seconds and drop a review on this chapter, and give me some ideas I could integrate into this story. I LOVE ALL OF YOU AND STAY TUNED FOR MORE! Naruto: A New Beginning. PEACE OUT FAMILY!.