2 years later
A hand reached out and slapped the alarm that had just gone off. Menma sat up and stretched before looking at his calendar and quickly climbing out of bed. It was finally time to graduate from the academy and get assigned to a team.
After showering he returned to his room and looked at the brown shorts and white shirt combination he'd worn throughout most of his childhood.
"The same old look?" He snorted and turned to his closet. "Yeah, right. Today's the day for the real thing." He dressed quickly and stood in front of a full length mirror. He wore a short-sleeved shirt that was a deep red. The shirt was dark enough that and night it appeared almost black. Baggy black pants led down to ninja sandals that matched his shirt in color. Black fingerless gloves adorned his hands.
"Just one thing missing." He said, turning to look at the coat hanging in the closet. The sight of it reminding him of his goals.
It had started back when Mizuki-sensei had given him that book on Fūinjutsu. He had struggled at first and decided he needed inspiration. When he'd gone to the library to find out more about it he'd found out that several well-known ninja of the village had been masters. Jiraiya the sannin. The Yondaime Hokage. Even the Third seemed to have some skill with it. After discovering that he threw himself into it and just as Mizuki had hoped, he began to climb back up the class rankings.
Eventually he returned to his old spot, second overall. He still couldn't seem to edge Sasuke out of the top spot, but their strength finally seemed even. It was then that he realized if he wanted to continue to grow that he would have to set his sights higher. Overcoming a bump in the road is far easier and takes less strength than climbing a mountain. With that, he decided he would overcome the Yondaime.
One thing he didn't notice until some time later, was that it was hard to be jealous of the dead. With his jealousy under control, or at least pointed in a direction that it didn't really bother anyone, his flagging friendship with Sasuke was restored. No longer feeling the need to prove himself to the Uchiha or anyone else in the class his attitude mellowed out a bit. This is turn made it easier for others to approach him. Which led to more people interacting with and eventually acknowledging him.
Menma rolled his eyes and reached for the coat. 'I stop giving a damn and suddenly everything I want falls in my lap.'
Putting on the coat he checked himself over one last time. His black hair was in a long shaggy style, similar to the Yondaime's. He grinned. 'Maybe a little too focused again, but it's not hurting anyone. Besides, my eyes set me apart from him.' He still wondered why they weren't the same. He knew they weren't normal, but which one was the normal eye? The blue one or the black one?
He shook his head and moved on to his coat. It was calf length, a dark blue-grey color, and had a fur collar. The sleeves reached down to his elbows, leaving his forearms bare. Satisfied with his look, he left for the academy.
As Menma walked down the street towards the academy he noticed people reacting differently than they had in the past. Before they would ignore his presence like he didn't exist. Now they were looking at him with disgust and giving him a wide berth, like he was what was left after a dog decided to squat down and relieve itself in the middle of the road. 'Maybe because I look too much like their precious hero.' He thought. 'Or they realized that ignoring me wasn't having any effect. Like what they think of me matters.' He shook his head. Thinking about the villagers was a waste of time, he'd be better off thinking about the test. He was sure the clone technique would be a part of it, especially after what Mizuki had done just a week ago.
Flashback
After class in a random training ground Mizuki had been helping him practice.
"Alright, Menma, let's see what progress you've made with your clones." Mizuki told him.
Menma flashed through the handsigns and with a cry the result was the usual. A sickly looking clone clutching it's stomach and lying on the ground.
Mizuki frowned at it. "Try again, but put more chakra into it."
This time the result was even worse. It was paler and even more sickly looking, not to mention it was a half-human half-blob... thing, and not a clone of him.
Another frown. "Again. More chakra."
"I can't put any more into it." Menma growled out.
"You shouldn't be out of chakra yet, what's wrong?" Mizuki asked him.
"No, I mean I can't put any more into it. It won't take any more." He replied.
Mizuki blinked. 'Can't put any more chakra in? That should be impossible for a genin let alone academy student.' He frowned and thought for a moment. "Try putting as little chakra as possible into it."
This time the clone looked far better. It was still fairly pale, but at least it was standing and only hunched over rather than clutching it's stomach in pain.
"I can't put any less than that." Menma reported.
Mizuki's brow creased in thought before he began searching his pockets. A few moments later he pulled out a small slip of paper and handed it over to Menma. "Channel some chakra into that, it will tell us your type."
Menma concentrated briefly and the paper caught on fire before splitting down the center.
Mizuki's brows shot up in surprise. "Two elements at your age? They're even opposing too. Lucky for us neither are earth, so the clone I'll teach you should work out just fine."
"Wouldn't I want a clone that matches my elements?" Menma interrupted.
"Not with you putting so much chakra into it that you can't charge it with any more. You're lucky it's just a clone. If it were an offensive technique it could blow up in your face and seriously harm you." Mizuki replied. "Plus, I've never heard of fire or wind clones. Now, here are the signs for the mud clone."
Several hours, and a rinsed mouth, later, Menma finally got the clone working.
"Good. It's not perfect so you'll want to keep practicing it. Solid clones are far more useful than the illusion." Mizuki said.
"So why now? Couldn't I learn something like this after I graduate?" Menma asked him.
Mizuki simply gave him a grin that said he wasn't going to tell him and motioned for him to get back to practicing.
End Flashback
"Probably a part of the test." Menma mumbled to himself.
Menma arrived in the classroom and looked around. Sasuke was in his usual spot brooding. Normally he would have given him a smack across the head and sat next to him to snap him out of it, but he had a feeling the fangirls would be especially rabid today.
"Last chance to sit next to their precious Sasuke-kun." He said with disgust. "I don't want to get caught in the middle of that. Choosing a seat alone at the back he sat and watched as the various members entered and sat.
'Aburame.' The first arrived. 'Stoic. Logical. He'll make a fine ninja.' He frowned. "With all those insects crawling around, in, and on him though... how does he not constantly scratch himself? It must itch like crazy.'
The next two that entered were a certain white-eyed girl and a boy with a dog on his head.
'Hyūga. Calm and reserved. She's probably a bit too kind for this life, not that she has any choice. Still, it's a lot better than the stuttering mess she was before.' Over the three years they'd been in the academy she'd grown more confident. 'Probably Inuzuka's doing.'
The boy had befriended her at the start of classes, ranting about how pretty she was and how she would make a great wife for him. Apparently his mother and sister had found out about and straightened him out. Or at least as best they could. Those thoughts brought him to the boy who entered with her.
'The Inuzuka is too loud to be a ninja. Too loud and too obnoxious.' He tried to imagine the boy as a ninja. Somehow his thoughts changed to imagining himself like that. Blonde hair as bright as the sun. Horrid kill-me-orange clothing. Screaming about being Hokage. An obsession with the food he was named after. He shuddered. 'Oh! Good timing. Someone to distract me from such horrible thoughts.'
The next two to enter were a boy who looked like he was sleepwalking and another stuffing his face with food.
'Nara and Akimichi.' Those two were rarely seen without each other. 'Is there a certain amount of sleep in the world? Is he always sleeping because I hardly ever sleep? Now that I think about it... Akimichi is always eating too and I know for a fact some of those fangirls diet. Hmmm.'
Speaking of fangirls. There was the sound of a stampede coming down the hallway. Just as a blonde and pink haired girl threw open the door to rush in they were thrown aside by a bunch of random girls he never bothered to remember. 'If any of those... things become ninja, I swear I'll kill them all and become a missing-nin.' He thought as said things pushed and shoved and slapped their way into the classroom. Not long after the blonde and pink haired girls entered the classroom and with a roar, threw themselves at the group. It didn't take them very long to dominate the group and force them back. Afterwards they marched over to Sasuke, forced him into the middle seat, and sat on either side of him with victorious smirks on their faces.
'Yamanaka and Haruno.' He watched them for a bit. 'We'll be short two if the others I bothered to remember pass. If we have to have any fangirls they would be the two to have.' He wondered if they were serious in their fangirl attitudes. Half the time they seemed to only do it so they could thrash the other fangirls. 'They're quite vicious when they do. Either way, better them than the completely useless ones.'
Iruka and Mizuki entered soon after and began the testing. They did the more physical portions first. Menma missed only one on the throwing, missing Sasuke's perfect score. The two of them scoring the same on taijutsu. Afterwards they returned to the classroom for the ninjutsu portion of the exam. Menma was called fairly quickly as the children without family names were called first.
"Kawarimi, Henge, and Bunshin in any order." Iruka told him.
With a nod Menma formed the hand seals and quietly called out to perform the mud clone Mizuki had taught him. He then walked over to a window, opened it, and again performed hand seals and called out to switch with said clone. The clone then dove out the window to dispel. With a final set of hand signs and quietly calling out he transformed into Mizuki.
"A perfect score. Well done." Mizuki told him with a smile.
"Indeed." Iruka said, holding out a headband with a cold look. "Congratulations on passing."
Menma quickly grabbed his headband and left, no sense in staying around to watch the others. He would find out who passed when they were assigned teams.
The sun had set and it had finally begun to get dark when Menma decided to take a break. He had graduated and officially become a ninja today, that should be reason enough to end training a little early. He stretched and decided he would take the scenic route home.
Taking the long way around he saw a familiar flash of silver hair as he neared a lesser used gate. Looking closer he realized it was Mizuki. He was carrying a large scroll and seemed to be glancing around nervously as he made his way beyond the village.
Menma narrowed his eyes at this. Mizuki was acting odd. Usually he would be home at this hour. Deciding to find out what was going on he followed him as he made his way into the forest. A few minutes later he stopped in a clearing where someone else seemed to be waiting for him.
Mizuki patted the scroll. "The Forbidden Scroll, as promised. With this he'll let me join, right?"
"Of course." The other man replied. "We'll even leave alone those two, just as you requested. Now come, we need to leave before anyone finds us."
Menma had heard enough. Throwing away his first teacher's training he leapt out into the clearing to confront them. The two, thinking they had been caught, leapt backwards up into the trees to land on a branch.
"Mizuki-sensei, what the hell, you're a traitor?!" Menma roared.
Mizuki frowned. Menma normally trained for hours still, what was he doing out here? "You don't understand, Menma, I don't have a choice. My past, combined with my actions and all the rumors flying around..." He shook his head. "I have to join them. It's the only way."
"What actions? What rumors?! Just bring the scroll back and I'm sure it'll all work out!" Menma pleaded.
"Menma, thank you. Keep getting stronger and do what I couldn't. Show Iruka, show all the others that we're just as amazing as they are. That we won't lose." Mizuki told him.
"What do you mean what you couldn't do? What about your fiancé? What about your house? Iruka doesn't have anyone! He lives in a crappy apartment like I do! You're going to have kids and pass on what you know and he'll die old and alone!"
The mystery ninja looked over and the teacher and frowned. He could see the hesitation in his eyes. Was that little bastard actually getting through to him?
"You were proof I could beat Sasuke. You're-"
The other ninja had heard enough. He could see it, Mizuki wasn't going to follow through. So he would just have to take care of things on his own. He pulled out a tantō and jammed it into the man's back. He quickly grabbed the scroll before giving Mizuki a kick in the back and sent him plummeting to the ground.
"MIZUKI-SENSEI!" Menma rushed forward but didn't make it in time. Mizuki had twisted as he fell, and landed on his back. There was a sickening squish as the blade sunk the rest of the way into his body.
Menma reached his side and knelt next to him to find him coughing up blood. "Sorry... Menma. It looks like... you really will have to show them... all..."
Menma felt for a pulse as Mizuki's breathing stopped. Nothing. No pulse. 'No. This can't be happening. Not again!'
The ninja up in the tree let out a cruel laugh. "Dead already? What a weakling!"
"Shut up..." Menma growled out.
"One attack! All it took was one attack! Pathetic people like that deserve to die!"
"SHUT UP!" Menma roared, red chakra beginning to leak out of him. He stood and turned to the ninja in the tree. "I'll kill you."
The red chakra gushed out of him like a geyser forming into a shell around him that vaguely resembled an animal.
"Kill me? A little shit like you? I'll gut you and leave you for the crows, along with that weak trash next to you."
Menma growled at him, the shroud darkening into a deep red as Killing Intent flooded the atmosphere. The combination of chakra and KI acted as a beacon for the ANBU that were searching for the scroll.
The ninja sweat nervously. 'Is that KI really coming from that kid? What a monster.' he thought. 'No doubt it alerted the guards. I'll have to finish this quickly.' He pulled out a kunai and lunged at the boy.
Menma didn't move.
'Is he just going to stand there and let me kill him? So much for him being terrifying.' The man thought as he closed in. At the last second Menma twitched to the side causing the kunai to miss his heart.
"Still got your lung. Not so bad now, are you?" The man sneered at him.
Menma stared him in the eye as his hand flashed forward and slashed out his throat. The man stared back at him gasping and choking on his own blood.
"The only weak trash I see here, is you." He growled out, roughly pushing him aside and walking over to the scroll.
As the chakra shroud slipped away he carefully unrolled the giant scroll. If his teacher died for the knowledge in this thing he'd damn well put it to use and learn something from it.
The ANBU and the Hokage showed up shortly after he sat down. The enemy ninja gurgled and died right as they showed up. Just as the Hokage was about to speak he was cut off.
"What is this?" Menma growled. "Icha Icha Paradise?" He unrolled the scroll further. "Icha Icha Tactics. Icha Icha Arena. Icha Icha RANCH." He turned and hurled the scroll at the feet of the Hokage. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"
"That would be the Forbidden Scroll, Menma." The Third told him calmly.
"Where are all the techniques? What's with all that shitty smut?!"
"You didn't really think we would have the village's most powerful and dangerous techniques all in a single scroll, did you? That would make it entirely too easy to cripple us." The old man continued. "Those techniques are all sealed into different scrolls. One technique per scroll. They're also all stored in separate locations."
"Then why is Mizuki dead? What the hell did he die for?!"
"He died for the village, Menma. His name will be put on the Memorial Stone. He'll be remembered as a hero."
The boy grit his teeth angrily. 'What a bunch of crap.' He turned and stalked away before pausing at the edge of the clearing. He turned his head to look back at the old man.
"The village wasn't worth it." He ground out before walking off into the shadows.
The Third let out a tired sigh. Mizuki wasn't supposed to die over this. And now Menma was slipping further away from the ideals he hopped to pass on to him.
A day later
Iruka was rambling on about what it meant to be a ninja. He was telling the class about the Will of Fire and how they were all expected to give their lives for the village. He stared at Menma over that last part.
His eyes narrowed when he saw Menma snort over it. 'I guess he really did take Mizuki's death hard. Maybe I should make an effort to get to know him after all.'
He then proceeded to list off the teams. Menma ignored most of them as they were filled with useless fangirls and others that didn't take being a ninja seriously. It was once he got to team 7 that he started paying attention.
"Team 7 will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and... Menma, under Hatake Kakashi." He called out.
'At least it's one of the two wild beast fangirls. She shouldn't be that much of a burden.' Menma thought, looking at the girl. She was definitely pleased at being on Sasuke-kun's team. Sasuke just kept staring out the window.
"Team 8 will consist of Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino, under Yūhi Kurenai."
Kiba whooped at being on the same team as Hinata, Hinata smiled, and Shino... Shino'd.
"Team 9 is still in circulation from last year. Team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chōji under Sarutobi Asuma." He said. "Wait here until they come pick you up." With that, he left them alone.
One by one the Jounin came and picked up their teams until only Team 7 remained. Menma waited patiently for an hour before standing and heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Sakura called out. "We have to wait here until we're picked up."
"It's been an hour. I have more important things to do than sitting around wasting time." Menma replied, walking out the door.
Sasuke stood and followed him out without a second thought. Sakura looked around worriedly for a moment before rushing after them.
Two hours later a certain grey-haired man would enter to find an empty room. "They were told to wait here, right?" He asked the empty room. With a sigh he vanished to hunt down his missing team.
He quickly found the three of them and dragged them back to the academy roof.
"Why did you three leave?" He asked them.
"Why were you three hours late?" Menma replied.
"Well, you see, I almost walked under a ladder so I had to back up and when I did I knocked over a mirror and broke it, so I had to go touch a piece to a tombstone to prevent all that bad luck." Kakashi told him. "So, why did you leave?"
"I heard our new sensei was crazy and wanted to ask the Hokage for a different one." Menma told him in a monotone.
"Smartass, huh? Why don't you introduce yourself so we can all get to know you." Kakashi said.
"Menma."
Kakashi waited. When he realized he wasn't going to say anything else he spoke. "What about likes, dislikes, hobbies, or dreams for the future?"
Menma just stared at him.
"You know, like this. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have some likes... mmm, and some dislikes. I don't feel like telling you about my hobbies. Dreams for the future? I haven't really thought about it." He said.
"Menma." He stated.
"...oookay. You next." Kakashi pointed at Sakura.
"Ah, uh, I'm Haruno Sakura. My likes... I mean the person I like..." She giggled. "My hobbies..." She looked at Sasuke and blushed. "My dreams for the future..." She looked over at Sasuke again and giggled and blushed some more.
Kakashi's eye twitched. "And finally, you." He said, looking at Sasuke.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have few likes and too many dislikes to mention. I have no dream because I will make it a reality. I will restore my clan, and kill a certain man." He replied darkly.
Kakashi's eye twitched more violently at this. 'Maybe next time I'll actually tell them something. Being on the receiving end of these not-introductions is annoying.'
Kakashi sighed and stood. "Alright, well, be at the assigned training ground at dawn tomorrow morning for a survival exercise. We'll see if you're really cut out to be ninja."
"Wait, didn't we already pass?" Sakura blurted out.
"That was to see if you had the ability to become genin. My test is to see if you actually become genin." He turned his back on them and prepared to leave. "Oh, and don't bother eating, you'll only puke." With that, he vanished.
The next morning the three sat around the training ground waiting for Kakashi to show up. Like before, after an hour of waiting Menma stood and walked off.
"Where are you going this time?!" Sakura shouted at him.
"Breakfast." Was the only reply she got.
Like before Sasuke stood and wandered off without a second thought.
"Sasuke, are you going to go eat too?" Sakura asked.
"Yes."
"Can I go wi-"
"No." He cut her off.
Sakura stood there looking after him sadly for a minute before chasing after Menma.
Once again Kakashi showed up 2 hours later and had to drag them back.
"You're late again." Sakura pointed out.
"Ah, when I was walking here I had a black cat cross my path and had to take the long way around." Another lame excuse poured out of Kakashi's mouth. He pulled out a timer and set it on a stump. He then turned to the three and pulled out two bells. "You have until the timer goes off at noon to get a bell from me. If you don't get a bell, I tie you to one of these posts and eat my lunch in front of you."
Kakashi waited for the outburst he was sure he would get. When he got none he gave them a flat look. "You all ate didn't you?" He got three nods in reply.
"Whatever, just get a bell or fail." He sighed. "Ready, go!"
The three quickly leapt apart and hid in the surrounding forest. They waited tensely as Kakashi pulled out... a book? Menma narrowed his eyes angrily at this. He recognized that book from the Forbidden Scroll.
Deciding to make a move he spewed out mud to create several clones. He sent the first one out to face the man directly.
"A direct approach? I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less from the second best." He said.
Clone-Menma growled at this. 'First he has that trash book and now he insults me? Fine, let's see how good he is.' With a snarl he charged the Jounin. Kakashi easily blocked and dodged his various attacks before vanished and appearing behind him.
"Letting your anger control and and letting an enemy get behind you? Sloppy." He said. His hands formed the tiger seal before he jammed them forward into Menma's rear. The clone immediately burst apart covering his book in mud.
When the clone had jumped down to face Kakashi, Menma created a second clone to drag Sakura over while he went after Sasuke. Once they had gotten together he sent the second clone to watch the fight.
"Why should we work together? There are only two bells." Sasuke said.
"Yeah, and he's a Jounin. None of us can take him on alone. After we beat him and get the bells we can fight against each other to see who gets them." Menma replied.
Sasuke and Sakura nodded. It was fairly sound. Fight the tougher enemy together, then worry about the bells.
"I've got a clone fighting him now, when the time is right, you'll know when to jump in." He told them. They quickly split back up and returned to watch the fight just in time to see the first clone explode all over his book.
"Nooooooo!" Kakashi wailed.
The second clone chose that moment to show himself. He was standing behind Kakashi with a notebook and appeared to be writing in it.
"Kakashi. Likes - little boys and trashy porn novels." Kakashi whirled around with a growl. "Oh yes, I know what those books are. Which one was that? Icha Icha Ranch? Or maybe... Icha Icha Bishounen?" With a roar Kakashi lunged at him to avenge his Precious.
The second clone also exploded upon impact, coating Kakashi in mud and blocking his sight.
"There!" Sasuke shouted before leaping out. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
Kakashi felt the giant fireball flying towards him and leapt to the side. As he did so, he felt a tug on his belt. Ripping his headband up to reveal his Sharingan since his other was filled with mud he found a smirking Sakura holding both bells.
"Nice job. So who's going to pass?" He asked her.
Menma and Sasuke walked up to her. "We're going to fight each other to find out." Menma told him.
"No you're not." The three looked at him in surprise. "Sakura has the bells, so she's going to choose. So? Who passes?"
Sakura looked confused and more than a little afraid. She could keep one and give the other to Sasuke but Menma might attack her to take the bell anyways.
"Tch. Let them have them." Menma said. Sakura and Sasuke looked at him before looking back at Kakashi.
"You're willing to sacrifice your own chance for them?" Menma nodded. "Then you all... pass. Meet me here tomorrow morning for your first mission." Kakashi told them.
A/N:
The next chapter likely won't be as long. The traditional Tora stuff as well as the beginning of Wave. I felt this chapter was a little bit rough. I'll likely come back through some time and clean it up.
Tomaxor: I haven't seen RTN but from what I read online he was basically like Dark Naruto? This Menma won't be entirely evil like that but he's certainly not all sunshine and rainbows. Hopefully he lives up to your expectations. Also, I don't want to give anything away but the title of the story isn't actually referring to Naruto(Menma). It refers to someone/something else.