Prologue

It starts with the shakes. His body trembles for a moment as he steps into the pod. His back presses into the crash padding of the chair, after he stows his weapons in their harnesses. He sees his Commanding Officer step onto the launch deck. An unlit cigar in his mouth, an old habit he has, he doesn't light it until the mission is over till everyone is accounted for.

"Listen up apes, the situation on the ground is as bad as it can get. The marine units have all but been wiped out. The Covenant forces have nearly captured the entire area. To put it mildly you are about to be dropped straight into hell, AND HOW WILL YOU GO!" The CO screamed.

"FEET FIRST!" Chorused the four squads of elite soldiers.

"OUTSTANDING! You hit the drop and you smash the entire area, show those alien slime bags what ODST's are made of."

"HOO-RAH!!!"

Next, is a small hum as the hatch slides into place, a soft hiss as it seals and he is cut off from everything. Claustrophobia, no matter how many squad psychiatrists or hypnosis therapy sessions he still feels numbing fear as he sealed in a pod that he cant help but notice leaves no more room inside of it then a coffin does. Then it shakes as it lowered into position. This is the worst part, loaded into a tube like a bullet ready to be shot, and he knows that if the ship takes a hit now he could be trapped here awaiting a slow death. One more jerk and then he's violently shot forth. Time for a pod to reach planet side drop point: 30 seconds. Average life expectancy from an Orbital Drop Shock Troop: 25 seconds. The outer cameras come to life showing a peaceful sky filled with several other drop pods. Anti air fire begins and somewhere in the distance a pod explodes into a million pieces. 20 seconds to go, he breaks the cloud coverage next turbulence kicks in shaking him like chew toy. 10 seconds to go, his clear visor switches to heavy tinted completely hiding his face. Suddenly the drag chute pops open cutting his speed at the last second. Finally, with a loud boom he hits the ground, the hatch shoot completely off from the pod. For a moment he is disoriented by the light and sound before training kicks in and he runs out assault rifle leveled before him rounds firing into enemies as they appear.

"I got two gallons of illegal drink that says I rack up more kills then you." Came a call over the com from his squad leader, best friend, and rival.

"You're on Sasuke." He grinned. "There's nothing I'd like better than to relieve you of some contraband."

"In your dreams Naruto."

Explosions rained overhead, screams and bullets rang through the air. It was hell, but that was fine he was born for this, he was the best, he was ODST…

NARUTO: ODST

Chapter 1

Recruit

Planet Earth, Florida

The bar was crowded, but that was to be expected of a bar within walking distance of a military base. Civilians and military personnel alike were there. Naruto walked passed several people on his way to the bar, it was the third bar he'd been to that night and wouldn't be the last if he had his way. At 6 foot tall, in above average shape, with spiky blonde hair and piercing blue eyes he tended to stand out in a crowd even without the whisker like birthmarks on his cheeks. As he made it to the bar he spotted a young woman in military dress with bright pink hair.

"Hi there, my names Naruto." He said as he flashed a big grin.

"Hi." She answered simply before turning back to the bartender.

"Oh come on, you could at least tell me your name." She continued to ignore him ordering a drink. "Well if you're not going to tell me your name I'm just gonna have to make one up for you."

"My name is Sakura." She answered in a slightly annoyed tone.

"That's amazing that was the name I was gonna give you." Naruto drunkenly exclaimed. "So what is a pretty thing like you doing in the military?"

"Nothing that you would understand." Sakura answered dismissively.

"Really? Cause by the look of your uniform you're part of a medical unit. No cross on your shoulder so you must not be a field medic, which means you must be early in your training making you a nurse at this point." Naruto took a sip of his beer as he finished. "Am I Close?"

"Not bad for a drunken frat boy." Sakura replied mildly impressed. "Now if you'll excuse me I should get back to my friends they just got out of boot camp." She turned to leave when Naruto reached out to stop her.

"Hey there's no need to run off, promise I won't bite." He teased.

"The lady said to leave her alone." A voice growled from over Sakura's shoulder. He was taller than Naruto a bit broader in the shoulders wearing a fresh marine uniform.

"Go bother somebody climbing a beanstalk I'm busy here." Naruto replied taking another drink from his beer.

"You should be more polite runt. These aren't the best odds here." The Marine growled poking Naruto in the chest as four of his friends stood up behind him.

"So go get some more guys. Oh, and stop poking me." Naruto replied.

"Who's gonna make me?"

He poked Naruto in the chest once more and before he made contact Naruto grabbed his hand and twisted it before grabbing the marines head and slamming it into a table. The other marines rushed in an instant the first tackled Naruto pushing him into the bar. He punched Naruto in the gut twice before Naruto rammed his knee between the marine's legs and flipped him over the bar. A bottle cracked over Narutos head and made his vision blur for a second before he jabbed his assailant square in the nose breaking it. Without letting up Naruto struck three more times the last two were on him a messy tangle of limbs fell to the floor punches kicks and occasional the occasional bite went around until Naruto felt himself hoisted off the floor by the first marine and slammed on a table where he proceed to punch Naruto in the head. Black dots clouded his vision until he heard a voice cry out.

"OFFICER ON DECK!" The entire bar came to order, as the military personnel snapped to attention, even the civilians freezing in place. A tall man in an admirals uniform with close cropped white hair and a red scar on one cheek surveyed the room.

"Everybody out, bar's closed." He said calmly. Everyone hastily complied. "Except you Naruto." He said looking down at the young man still lying on the table.

Twenty minutes later the duo was seated at a table in the bar as the bartender attempted to clean the mess left behind after the brawl. Naruto with paper towels stuffed in his nose to stem the bleeding before he downed another beer.

"So how did you find me Ero-Sennin?" Naruto muttered.

"How many times have I told you not call me that?"

"Sorry, Admiral Jiraiya, sir." Naruto said with mock seriousness.

"Naruto, you're not in the military so don't address me as such. I'd like to think we're still family." Jiraiya replied in an exasperated tone.

"Sorry Grandpa." Naruto said softly.

"That's better." Jiraiya softened. "As to your last question all I had to do was follow the trail of empty beer bottles. I'm sorry about your mom."

"Makes two of us." Naruto muttered into his beer.

"She wouldn't want you to throw your future away over her though. Your father told me you withdrew your application to the Navy-."

"Don't bring him into this." Naruto growled. "I don't want anything to do with him."

"Naruto, your father isn't to blame for your mothers death." Jiraiya soothed.

"He's not much of a father to begin with, he was never there growing up, always off on a starship somewhere. Bastard didn't even make it to her funeral." Naruto whispered.

"I won't make excuses for my son Naruto, but you've spent your life going to military academies. You've waited your whole life to enlist."

"I'm not joining the Navy just to have everyone kiss my ass cause I'm my fathers son. I'm tired of being the admirals son. I just wanna be Naruto."

"Well there is always the Marines. Trust me they won't be impressed by your father. Marines only care about their own kind. Maybe you can find what you're looking for there."

"Dad did always hate infantry." Naruto grinned.

2 Years Later

Planet Reach, Fort Hidden Leafs

Naruto stood in formation on the hot asphalt with several other trainees. They were all clad in black fatigues with tight black shirts embroidered with their names and serial numbers. After two years as a marine Naruto had excelled in every mission and had finally been accepted into the ODST program. Before him a tall dark man with a cigar in his mouth walked back and forth across the assembled cadets appraising them. He was wearing black fatigues like them but had a hat covering his head and officers pins on his shoulders.

"Welcome to Fort Hidden Leafs, you are here because you are the best the Marine Corp has to offer, and as of right now all your skills mean absolutely jack shit. Here you will do the impossible; you will become better than Marines. My name is Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, and I am god." Two spots next to Naruto a trainee sighed.

"How troublesome." He muttered. In an instant Sgt. Johnson was on him.

"Something bothering you boot?" Johnson growled.

"Sir. I just think this is pointless we know why we're here we all signed up for this. Sir." The trainee with a ponytail in a pineapple shape said in a bored tone.

"That's your first mistake boot you don't think until I tell you when and what to think." Johnson grabbed him by the collar jerking him out of formation. "You see that armory? Go run around it." The cadet started to mutter how troublesome this was before Johnson extended his stun baton and struck him on the leg with. "Move it boot. Sgt. Gai, keep pace." Johnson called out to a passing Sgt who grinned for a moment before extending his own baton.

"MOVE! Run fast to fan the flames of youth that burn within you." He shouted gleefully.

"Now, if any of you pukes think you can't take it and you want to quit all you gotta do is fill out your 10-16 and take a walk down washout lane." Johnson said gesturing to a path that led to the transport building. Johnson spit out the remains of his cigar and removed his duty belt. "Now, who thinks they got what it takes to knock me down?"

"Sir, I think I can, Sir." A trainee with wild hair and red triangle tattoos on his cheeks stepped forward.

"Well come on then boot." The cadet charged forward and threw a punch, Johnson easily caught the punch and flipped the cadet over on his back before giving it a sharp twist. The assembled trainees winced as a loud snap was heard. "You alright son?" Johnson asked calmly.

"Sir yes Sir, But I think I broke my arm Sir." He moaned in pain.

"Medic!" Johnson bellowed. A medic unit quickly ran over to the squad and began checking the trainees wound. "Now that we have the introductions out of the way I'm going to give you your squad assignments. You will train with these people, live, fight, eat, and more than likely die with these people so I suggest you get along. After you get your assignments head off to the chow hall, when you get back we're going to get to work."

"Damn Sgt Johnson, I'd like to kill him for breaking my arm." Growled the trainee with the broken arm. Naruto was seated at a table with his new squad mates.

"Don't let him hear you say that. He might break your other arm, but then at least you'd have matching bio foam casts." Naruto replied. Just then the other trainee with the pineapple like hair sat down at the table looking a bit haggard.

"That armory is bigger than it looks. So did I miss anything?" He asked.

"No not really, we were just about to go around the table and introduce ourselves and our skill sets." Naruto replied.

"Well it's troublesome but I'll go first and get it out of the way. I'm Shikamaru Nara, specialize in engineering. Basically I can fix anything from vehicles to computers." Shikamaru said in a bored tone. He gestured to the person next to him.

"Well I'm Kiba Inuzuka; I'm the guy to go to for heavy weapons. I'm also trained in survival tactics too." Shikamaru looked over at Kiba and noticed the blue bio foam cast on his arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Don't ask." Kiba growled. "What about you red? What's your name?" Kiba asked the person seated next to him. He had short red hair and dark circles around his eyes.

"I'm Gaara." He answered without looking up from his meal.

"Ok Gaara, what are you good at?" Kiba pressed.

"I like to blow stuff up. Your bunk is right across from mine right?" Gaara said softly as he stared emotionlessly at Kiba.

"Um, next?" Kiba gulped. He gestured to girl across from him. She had short brown hair that framed an attractive face arranged into two buns atop her head.

"I'm Tenten, and I am a certified artist with a sniper rifle." She stated proudly.

"You're a certified artist?" Naruto asked amused.

"Yes, I am. One more thing to you perverts on this squad." She said pointing to each of the boys. "You touch my stuff and I'll fucking kill you."

"Starting to like this group already." Naruto mused. "And who's our next contestant?"

"Neji Hyuuga. I'm Tentens spotter." Naruto glanced at Neji he had dark hair kept in short marine regulation length, and had soft milky eyes that resembled another person at the table quite a bit.

"Hey are you related to our field medic over here." Naruto asked looking over at the girl seated next to him. She had almost blue black hair in a bob cut that left a bit of her bangs in her eyes. Naruto also noticed a long pale scar on the side of her neck.

"Yes, she is my sister. Hinata Hyuuga." As he said this Hinata made a series of signs with her hands.

"What's she doing with her hands?" Kiba asked.

"She was injured in combat about a year ago and suffered serious damage to her vocal cords. Sign language is her only manner of communicating now. When we have time I'll be more than happy to teach all of you." Neji answered. Hinata made another series of signs. "She wants me to explain to you that her inability to speak does not diminish her medical skills in the slightest, and she hopes you won't treat her different because of it."

"Well we definitely won't have to worry about you breaking radio silence." Naruto grinned. "Pity, bet you were a screamer." Hinata glared at Naruto before raising her middle finger and slowly rotating it.

"Hinata says you can go fuck yourself." Tenten translated.

"Thanks Tenten, I kinda figured that one on my own."

"God what a mess this squad is." Whispered the last member of the squad. He had short black hair that was swept up in the back giving it a spike look. His hands were clasped in front of his face as he gazed at the squad with dark brooding eyes.

"And what's your name sunshine?" Naruto asked.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Espionage and Sabotage expert, I'm also going to be squad leader."

"Well with that attitude how could we not love you?" Naruto joked.

"And you Dobe? What do you do?"

"Women, but hey if you don't go that way it's cool, I'm not one to judge." Naruto grinned.

"I know a rich boy when I see one. What's the deal? You join the Corp to piss off daddy?" Asked Sasuke.

"Actually I need the money. You know, ever since your mom raised her prices." Naruto shot back.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" Sasuke screamed as he leapt over the table and tackled Naruto.

"It's gonna be a long 3 months." Neji said as the squad watched the two wrestle on the chow hall floor.