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Ozzallos
Author of 19 Stories |
Tales of the Foxcat
Chapter 6
By Ozzallos
"So these girls you're takin' me to meet…" Ranma asked in a slightly hesitant voice as he followed Kurenai from the gates of practice range five and angled for the gates of its cousin, range four. The martial artist barely noted that the path to range six was barricaded and roped off for construction.
"Yes?" The nin continued her easy walk while the boy trailed behind.
"They ain't psychos, are they?"
The kunoichi stiffened with the question, her forward progress faulting as she turned back on Ranma. If she didn't know any better, an edge of foreboding had crept into his voice. "Psychos?"
Ranma nodded, paying her reaction no heed. "Yeah, cuz that got pretty old in Nerima, ya know?"
It took a moment for the genjutsu instructor to collect her thoughts, staring down at the thirteen year old with red eyes. "And why would you think that these girls might be… psychos?"
Ranma shrugged "Beats the hell out of me, but I seem to run into my fair share of 'em. More than my fair share, though half that's my old man's fault."
"Your old man—? Kurenai cut herself off abruptly as she remembered some of the parenting that her newest student had related to her. "Wait, never mind. Suffice to say, they're all very nice girls. One is even in my training group."
"If you say so." Ranma returned in a somewhat doubtful manner, and the pair continued walking. "So why aren't ya training that one in your group then?"
"I'm lucky to train all three as much as I am able, Ranma-kun." Kurenai explained. "Were there more hours in the day, I would gladly, but until the village population renews itself, we are all forced to train to the most common denominator."
"Guys." Ranma supplied and Kurenai nodded.
"Correct. Which is why we need somebody such as yourself so badly." The red-eyed nin elaborated. "You're highly skilled, but we can't field you. Given your unique abilities, this was the most logical course available to us."
Ranma snorted with dry amusement. "'Unique', as in 'I change into a girl with the application of cold water'."
"In addition to the other skills we outlined." She admitted freely. "That aspect merely sealed the deal."
"Riiight."
Kurenai felt more than saw the roll of the young boy's eyes, eliciting a slight smile from her. If there was one thing obvious about Ranma by now, it was that there was a good deal of show in his objections toward this plan, as if he felt obligated to put on the front before getting down to business.
Ranma and Kurenai passed through the tree lined gates of range four, walking down a stone path similar to its immediate cousin before it branched off to the left and up toward the simple wooden construct of the field's observation booth. The martial artist's left eyebrows arched curiously as he caught sight of three girls sitting within the booth, blond, brown and cobalt blue respectively. The blond and brunette pleasant conversation halted as they noted the approach of the red eyed instructor while the cobalt haired girl remained in quite reserve on the periphery. The appearance of their instructor only distracted them for a moment before their eyes fell on the boy accompanying her.
Ranma suppressed the jitters being the focus of three girls produced and stepped confidently beside Kurenai. Every fiber of his being screamed that this was all a bad, bad idea, but for better or worse he had committed himself.
Probably worse, Ranma's conscious thought returned dryly, then turned to the genjutsu instructor. "This them?"
Kurenai nodded, motioning to the girls from left to right. "Yamanaka Ino, Tenten and finally, Hyuga Hinata."
The blonde was the first to speak, her visage forming into a slightly mischievous smile. "Who's the cutie, Sensei?"
"I'll bet he trains with us." The odangoed brunette supplied, while the shyer of the three simply watched with an ever increasing blush growing across her cheeks.
Ranma's blue eyes darted from one girl to the other, taking in the first impressions. The Ino girl seemed too refined to be in this line of work while the one with odangos held herself with guileless confidence. The blue haired girl was obviously terminally shy and—
Shit!
Recognition hit him like a thunderbolt. The neko-ken girl! If there was a doubt before, there certainly wasn't now. This was such a bad idea it wasn't even bad anymore… it was rapidly become epically bad.
"I'm glad you all made it." Kurenai drew the girls attention away from the boy; the boy who was now silently struggling not to part company with this wholly insane scheme. "As you already know, each of you has been individually selected to undergo special training. In fact, you will be the first graduates in thirteen years to under go this training."
"Whoa!" Tenten leaned forward in surprise while Hinata harbored an equal look of shock.
"No way!" the blonde followed up, clearly stunned. Special training. The first students in thirteen years. Training that Sakura wasn't receiving.
YES!
The black haired boy was momentarily forgotten now as all attention focused on the nin. "This training will continue for two hours a day outside your regular instruction. I've been promised it will be demanding and intense. You will only have this one opportunity to back out now."
All three girls stared at the red eyed ninja, still rolling in the after shocks of disbelief. From the trio, Hinata was the first to form a coherent thought.
"Um," She began timidly. "What sort of training is it, Yuhi Sensei?"
A rare smile found its way to Kurenai's lips. "Kunoichi instruction."
Tenten's eyes widened and she shot up from her bench seat beside the other two girls, raising her hand. "In!"
She was followed less than a second later by Ino. "Damn right!"
Only Hinata remained seated now and Kurenai turned to the girl. "Hinata-chan?"
"I… I would like to…" The girl's pupil-less eyes found the ground, focusing on the planks at her feet rather than the people around her. The instructor's smile lost a bit of its cheeriness as she realized exactly where the girl's reservations lay… That monster mistakenly given the title of father.
Kurenai took Hinata's chin gently and raised it from its ground borne vector, her smile returning to its previous intensity for the benefit of the girl. "If it helps, the Hokage himself fully backs this initiative and has already informed… everybody who needs to be informed."
Hinata blinked as the meaning set in. The Hokage not only was backing this training, but her father was going along with it too? "I… I guess… I mean… I would like to..."
Kurenai's cheerful smile returned, if only for the benefit of Hinata. "Then you will. But you- all of you -must be certain of this. The Hokage is placing his trust in you, as am I."
All three girls nodded solemnly and the nin's demeanor lightened. She stepped aside, allowing the forgotten boy beside her to take center stage. "Then let me introduce Ranma Saotome."
Hinata's blush suddenly reappeared while Tenten was left blinking. "I thought you said this is kunoichi training?"
Ino suddenly regained a mischievous smile that set Ranma's insides to squirming. "Unless you mean we get to practice on him?"
Uh, uh! No way, not again! A portion or Ranma's brain declared as his hand reached behind his back, folded through a thin pocket of ki and pulled out a familiar canteen. Time to stomp on this fiancée fire before it even gets started. He unscrewed the cap and held each of the girls with his cocky trademark smirk.
"Like she said, I'm Ranma Saotome, and I ain't practice..." He upturned the canteen over her head and instantly lost and inch and muscle bulk. Ino choked as the boys jet black hair faded into a crimson red hair and enough curves to make two out of the three girls extremely envious.
"…I'm your instructor."
The moment huge in silence. it passed and chaos erupted among the three girls.
"INSTRUCTOR?" Ino blurted, goggling at the boy turned girl.
"He... she's no older than we are!" Tenten pointed with an amount of incredulity equal to her blonde cohort.
"Isn't… Isn't Ranma-sensei a… a…" Hinata chewed on her upper lip, her eyes telling her there was no boy to be found amongst them any more as she fought to expel the word. Ino managed the task for her.
"Yeah! And what's up with that?" Scorn began to intermix with her objection. "Some boy with a cheesy jutsu can't teach us how to be kunoichi!"
Kurenai glanced to the redhead, finding an unperturbed expression writ across her face. Apparently she was quite used to this sort of reaction. Ranma simply stared back at the doubting looks focused on her person and shrugged, walking to the edge of the platform railing. Beyond was the empty range the straw dummies sticking up from the barren field.
The red eyed nin was suddenly enlightened and alarmed at the same time. "Ranma, please don't destroy another one."
"Nah." the girl replied nonchalantly, stretching her arm out and sighting the middle of the field. "Just an object lesson."
The trio of girls looked from the girl to their instructor, then back to the girl. Destroy? Destroy another what? Their question was quickly answered as a fierce blue aura sprang to life around Ranma, collection into an angry ball in her outstretched hands. Eyes widened as the ball grew, pulsing with a power that seemed to wash across their bodies. A silent 'oh' drifted from Tenten's lips and Hinata slipped into the Byakugan on reflex, nearly staggering at the sight her bloodline revealed.
Ranma let the shimmering globe grow to the size of a small car before releasing it, allowing the sphere to fly downrange and squarely into the middle of a denser population of straw dummies.
BOOOOoooOOOMMM!
Even Kurenai's eyes widened as the strike zone flashed was promptly obliterated, sending an angry cloud of debris into the blue sky while chunks of stone began to pelt the roof of the observation booth in a sharp staccato rain. The constant breeze that had accompanied the afternoon blew the majority of smoke away quickly, leaving an angry, scared crater. The nin considered her charge with even greater curiosity now… That wasn't a powered down version from her demonstration run yesterday she realized with slight awe. More likely what she could do in her original body. The slightest tremor ran through Ranma's body, but she doubted the girls noticed it. Too much for that one, though, she noted, even if the redhead's attitude said otherwise.
That observation out of the way, Kurenai decided to break the shock and awe of the moment before the girls noticed it themselves. "Looks can be deceiving." Her words tore there attention away from the smoking crater and the red haired girl. "Your instructor is a Jonin ranked ninja specially selected for this assignment. She is imminently qualified to train you in the kunoichi arts."
"Not… Not a jutsu?" Ino stumbled, clearly noting the woman's emphasis on gender.
Kurenai shook her head, turning to Ranma. "Ranma, was that a jutsu illusion?"
The girl cast her a bland look that clearly said 'I hate you', but replied anyway. "I'm as much of a girl as any one of ya."
"A…bloodline?" Tenten hazarded and Ranma shrugged with indifference.
"Not quite… Tenten?" Ranma reaffirmed the name and the girl responded with a nod. "But close enough not to matter. I'm a boy when I'm a boy and a girl when I'm a girl."
"Isn't that kind of… Perverted?" Ino blinked as the implications of such an ability came home to roost.
"Not nearly as much as ya might think." Ranma's eyebrow arched, clearly expecting the question. "Gives you a unique perspective, ya know?"
"I can imagine." Tenten wondered aloud.
"Doubt it, but like Kurenai sensei said," Ranma continued, opting to let them stew over the development a bit themselves later. "You can still back out, but I'll let you know this up front… I ain't a pervert, I'm the best martial artist you'll ever meet and under my training, you'll be the best damn kunoichi this village has ever seen."
The girls stared at the redhead. Even Kurenai stared at her. The absolute confidence in that statement left absolutely no room for doubting the young instructor's ability, impossible as it may have seemed. It filled Kurenai with a warm feeling, a feeling of…
…Hope. Hope for these girls, hope for the village and hope for the future.
"But I ain't gonna lie to you," The redhead continued, breaking the spell. "I've only got you for two hours a day so it's gonna be rough. If you're plan on droppin' out, do it now and save us both the trouble."
Ino's face lapsed from shock to a firmer visage while Tenten straightened her posture unconsciously. Even Hinata had managed to maintain eye contact. It was all Kurenai needed. "Then I think I'll be off." She nodded her silent affirmation of support. "The paperwork will be delivered to your dorm by nightfall."
Ranma watched the kunoichi saunter off the platform and down the path and around a thicket of lush greenery before turning back to the girls. "Alright, first I gotta get to know you. I guess we'll start with you, No-chan."
"No..chan?" The blonde blinked. Her new instructor was clearly focused on her, but… "What do you want to know?"
Ranma paused for a second, clearly not having through the question through. "Stuff, I guess. What do you like, dislike, that sort of thing."
"Oh." Ino nodded. It was a simple request. "I love to practice my ikebana, I dislike that pink haired witch pawing MY Sasuke and am heir to the Yamanaka bloodline."
"I ain't no ikeban master, but we can probably trade notes." Ranma returned as memories of man eating plants danced through her head. That, and there was only one pink haired witch she knew of around Konoha… "And what's your family's bloodline do?"
"It specializes in mind-body manipulation." She answered in a haughty tone.
"Hmm. Sounds useful." The redhead filed the fact away for later consumption. "How about you, Ten?"
"Tenten." She correct with slight annoyance which passed quickly as she complied with the request. "I like to paint, dislike spiders and am really, really good with ranged weaponry."
"How good?"
"I currently hold the kunai trial academy record." The odango'd girl smiled confidently. "One hundred out of one hundred."
"Don't worry, we'll improve that some." Ranma smiled benevolently and Tenten's satisfaction turned into a frown
"Your turn, 'Nata." Ranma stated, bypassing Tenten's frustration completely.
"I… um…" Hinata twitled her fingers nervously and her eyes drifted to the ground. "I, like somebody, um, dislike hurting people and practice my family art, the Juken."
"Juken…" The word rolled off Ranma's tongue. "Pressure points, force redirection and all that?" A silent nod from the girl prompted Ranma to continue. "And the Byakugan like your old man?"
Hinata's posture stiffened slightly at the off handed mention. "Y-Yes."
"Interesting." The redhead commented, taking the three in as a whole.
The No-girl seemed passably proficient in the art by her posture, but not overly so. In fact, it was quite obvious that by her refined look and manner that there was probably a princess complex in there that would need broken down before any real training could begin. Blue eyes passed from Ino to Tenten and Ranma suppressed a chuckle. Looks like a little amazon, she noted, taking in the girl's Chinese style clothing. Might have to ask her where to get some. She appeared confident in her ability but probably stood at about the same mediocre level as No-girl when it came to hand to hand. One thing that was already clear that Hinata was going to be the biggest challenge of the group.
No-girl she'd have to be careful with in breaking down the princess complex without completely shattering her, but it was doable. Ten would probably be the easiest to train out of the bunch, but Hinata… The girl had issues, self confidence being the prime among those. Her stance and posture told her there was definitely skill beneath the exterior, but little in the way of assertiveness or confidence.
Gonna be a bitch to overcome and I ain't no psychologist, Ranma through to herself, sizing the girl up. Gotta ask Kurenai-sensei about her later.
"Alright, a little about me then." Ranma broke from her observations, holding the trio with blue eyes. "Your first question is probably how can this cute little redhead your age be teaching you how to be kunoichi?" All three girls nodded and Ranma smiled mischievously. "Because this cute little redhead is the heir to the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū and master of over twenty styles of taijutsu, in addition to a dozen or so of the more obscure arts." The watching girls faced formed into expressions of disbelief. "Aside from that, I love martial arts, okonomiyaki and hate pigs."
The blonde raised her hand. "What's up, No-chan?"
"Ino." The girl's face scrunched, but moved on to her question. "You're a boy and a girl?"
Saw that one coming a mile away, Ranma snorted with dead amusement. "Depends on the weather." Ino's look turned to befuddlement and Ranma elaborated. "I change with water. Hot, and I'm a guy. Cold and I'm a girl."
"That's the weirdest bloodline I've ever heard of." Tenten shook her head, causing Ranma to chuckle.
"Tell me about it." She replied with amusement. "But I'm Ranma all the time, regardless of the body."
Hinata raised her hand tentatively. "What are you going to be teaching us, Sensei?"
"Lot's of stuff." Ranma smiled. "Aside from the taijutsu work, I'll be teachin' ya nearly everything ya need to know about bein' a kunoichi. Formal dining etiquette, calligraphy, tea ceremonies, how to dress, infiltration…"
Hinata cocked her head. "I… I'm well versed in formal dining."
"Can you incapacitate somebody with a spoon?"
Ino gawked. Tenten stared. Hinata was left blinking. "Um, no?"
"Then ya ain't well versed enough." Ranma countered, but smiled. "But you can probably help me out with these two."
"My calligraphy is very good!" Ino blurted and Ranma shared a knowing smile with her.
"Mine can cut through walls."
Ino resumed her gawking.
Ranma continued. "One thing I ain't so good at yet is genjutsu. If I can't help ya with it, I'll get Kurenai-sensei to help ya out, but for now, I need to know where all you stand."
"Where we…?" Tenten cocked her head with curiosity.
"C'mon." Ranma waved, beckoning the girls to follow her off the observation platform. "We're going to get know each other better…"
"Oh, well that's not so bad…"
"…On the practice range."
All three girls suddenly developed a very large pit in the stomach as they reluctantly followed the thirteen year old redhead that was now their sensei off the platform and onto the field.
"Uhhg…" Tenten moaned, pain pulsing through her. "That certainly felt real enough. I didn't even hit her once… You, Hinata?"
"I can't feel my arms." The girl stated simply, any embarrassment or shyness lost in deference to sheer exhaustion.
The blonde's frown deepened. Much as she hated to admit it, the wallflower was probably the best in their group when it came to hand to hand. The redhead had simply allowed her to attack for a bit, dodge some more and then rendered her arms completely useless with a couple of pokes. Tenten's vaunted perfection with ranged weaponry was nearly as bad. Their new sensei simply sidestepped every one of the practice blades thrown at her, engaged their teammate in hand to hand before promptly dropping her to the dirt as if she had gotten bored with the entire process.
That left her as the last girl standing.
It was perhaps the only highpoint of the entire sparring session as she stopped the crimson blur cold with her bloodline. It was actually shocking that tactic had worked, if only for exactly two point three seconds before burning through her control and engaging her in hand to hand combat.
The outcome was predictable and the injustice of it all returned with a vengeance. "But she's no older than we are!"
"I don't think it matters." Tenten commented, propping herself up from the flat of the table. Her face was now impressed by the flower designs inlaid upon its surface. "Did you have your eyes up, Hinata?"
The cobalt blue haired girl nodded. "I… I believe everything she said." Her teammates' attention instantly focused. "Ranma-sensei is very powerful… Not in chakra, but something else. Nor is her bloodline an illusion. She really changes like that. And she's fast…"
"Frankly, I'm surprised she let you off as easy as she did, Ino-chan." Tenten commented, absorbing the new information.
Ino nodded in agreement. She was expecting to get her ass kicked after initiating the Shintenshin no Jutsu on their new instructor, but instead got a curious look and a shrug after being dumped unceremoniously to the ground. The blonde shook her head with the memory. "Do you really think her calligraphy can cut through walls?"
Ino looked at Tenten. Tenten looked at Hinata. Hinata nodded. Ino sighed and leaned back. "Either this is going to be the biggest mistake we've ever made, or…"
"…Or she's everything she says she is and we're going to be the best damn kunoichi Konoha has ever seen." A smile began to creep along Tenten's lips. It was an infectious smile and Ino quickly found herself smiling. Even Hinata's lips managed the slightest grin as each girl indulged in the speculation as to just what this new training could do for them.
Outside across the street, a girl with pink hair stopped short, her idle chatter with a brooding Uchiha halting as she noticed an odd sight… Ino Yamanaka- her rival -hanging out in a café. That in itself wasn't so unusual. The people she was hanging out with, were, however. Tenten from Team Gai and Hinata from Team Eight. It wasn't the usual company she normally kept, but there they were, chatting it up. Ino was being… Sociable?
She stared for a moment, trying to discern the happenings within the cafe when Ino turned and caught sight of her through the shop's store front window. Her eyes widened slightly, but quickly settled into a smile…
…A rather disturbing smile.
Sakura shot the blonde a dirty look, opting to run back after her Sasuke. She'd find out what the girl was up to sooner or later.
The word echoed through his brain with disgust as Ranma Saotome sat on his bed with a bored expression, shuffling through the rather large stack of paperwork Kurenai-sensei had delivered to his room. Junk, junk, useless, junk… He sifted through the pile, separating anything that looked remotely interesting from the items that caused his eyes to glaze over. The first casualty had been the section relating to rules and regulations, quickly reduced to component atoms by a tiny Moko Takabisha after skimming through their contents. The section outlining damages and compensation quickly followed it. Ah, here we go. Ranma's shuffling paused as he found forms pertaining to the requisition of supplies and equipment. We'll be needin' a few of these, he decided, and set the papers aside. Let's see… Payroll and reimbursement… Gotta eat, I guess. Ranma smiled. Speaking of which, the pigtailed boy quickly set a number of passes to the instructor's mess safely aside.
The Saotome's eyes drifted toward the window and the city beyond, the sun drifting slowly down into the skyline. Not exactly Nerima, he chuckled as his eyes picked over the chaotic jumble of buildings beyond. All in all, the sparring had gone pretty much as he had expected. The Hinata girl had skill, but little confidence to back it up. Ten was all range, but came up short in hand to hand, and the No-girl… Well, that had been interesting. One moment she had been advancing on the blonde and the next it felt like he was being shoved aside… In his own brain. He shoved back and Ino was gone, but it had certainly been an enlightening experience. Her hand to hand proved less inspiring.
What to do… Ranma mused, leaning out through the open window. Tenten was probably the most obvious. Teach the girl the chestnut fist and ki folding and she'd be goddamn machine gun with those daggers of hers. Give her some pointers in Anything Goes Ballroom Dancing along with some melee work and she'd be a devastating weapon in or outside of hand to hand.
The No-girl was a bit harder. Her hand to hand wasn't bad per se, but chances were she wouldn't be able to hold her own with the gang back home. Andif that mind-body thing is her only claim to fame, she's gonna be a project, Ranma sighed internally.
Hinata on the other hand… The girl was fast. Only two things kept the blue haired girl from landing a blow. First, Ranma had been fighting in her female aspect, allowing her to maintain parity with the girl in terms of speed, but the decisive factor was that Hinata had no real aggression whatsoever. With it, she was certain the shy girl could kick ass and take names. At very least, I'd be forced to block her blows, Ranma thought, remembering the exercise. There were moments where Hinata was pushing Amiguriken speed, but without the aggression, it was a hopeless prospect.
Did he really want toteach these girls the forbidden schools?
"The world is full of determined killers, Ranma."
"Dammit." He grumbled aloud. And if the woman was right, the threat level was magnitudes higher than anything seen in Nerima, formidable as the prefect may have been.
Knock-knock.
Ranma turned back from the window, then spied the papers sprawled across his bed. His room wasn't exactly in any condition to receive company, but oh well. "Come on in."
The door opened and a feminine face framed with long black hair and red eyes dipped in. Kurenai studied the room for a moment before noticing the bed. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Ranma looked at the bed, then the pale kunoichi and smiled. "Nah. Just wadin' through all the paperwork you left on my doorstep while I was out."
"Ah yes. Paperwork," The pale woman stepped gracefully into the room, harboring a slight smile. "The bane of nin existence." Ranma noticed a black, rectangular box in her hand as her eyes continued to take in his abode, however temporary in nature it might be. "And if I may inquire about the girls?"
Ranma moved from the window to the small desk inhabiting the corner of his room, sitting up on it. "They ain't too bad. Gotta a lot of work ahead of 'em, though."
Kurenai nodded solemnly. "If Hinata is any indication as to the state of the other girls' skills…"
"She ain't." Ranma shook his head, causing the kunoichi to consider his with curiosity. "'Nata's good. Absolutely no confidence whatsoever, but she's good."
"And the others?"
"Ten's got the work ethic, just she's putting it all into throwing." Ranm explained. "Overspecialization's gonna cost her in a real fight. Ino ain't bad, but that brain trick of hers is situational at best."
"I see." Kurenai replied, her expression carefully neutral. "Does she have a chance, then?"
Ranma nodded, tapping a finger on the desk as if to emphasis the notion. "She's got good instincts. She knew anything else she could do wasn't gonna cut it against me and went straight for somethin' that would. None of the other girls did that and I know darn well Hinata could have. That alone is powerful tool to work with."
"But."
It wasn't even a question and Ranma acknowledged it as such. "But she ain't ready up here." The martial artist tapped the side of his skull.
"She's still a school girl and I'm gonna have ta break that."
"I see." Kurenai pursed her lips. "Can she take it?"
"Don't know." The Saotome stated matter of factly. He sat in silence for a moment before regarding the kunoichi again. "Speakin' of which, what's going on with 'Nata anyway?"
"Ah." Kurenai frowned. Ranma had seen enough of the woman to realize that any facial expression beyond pleasant neutrality either meant that she was very happy or quite upset, the latter being prevalent in this particular case. "Hinata has a rather… difficult domestic life at home."
Ranma's own expression lapsed from curiosity to a frown of his own. "I just happen to have one of those at home too. Parents?"
The frown deepened. "Indeed."
Ooh, she must be pissed. Ranma noted. "Alright then. I got a good idea of what's happenin' then."
"The Hyugas can be very… Prideful." Kurenai was obviously picking her words very careful.
"Sounding more and more like home already." He quipped and an uncomfortable silence descended upon the pair for the next minute. Ranma hated uncomfortable silences.
"So what's in the box?"
Kurenai blinked at the sudden change in topics, suddenly remembering the other reason she had dropped by the dorm. "Ah, yes." She brought the flat rectangular black box up and offered it to Ranma. "The paperwork hasn't been finalized, but I think don't see any reason why you shouldn't receive this token of our gratitude before hand."
Ranma took the box with curiosity and the nin inclined her head. "Good evening, Saotome-san."
The woman departed as silently as she had arrived, leaving Ranma to look upon a closed door and the mystery box in his hand. After a moment of contemplation he pulled the top of the black rectangle off and set it aside before removing several sheets of delicate rice paper to reveal…
Steel.
Ranma's eyes found the reflective plate bound by six bolts and black silk folded immaculately beneath. His fingers traced the along a spiral that had been etched into the artifact itself coming to a point where the spiral converged into a cone along the left side of the symbol.
"Well I'll be damned."
"I'm going as fast as I can!" The blond balked as he stepped through the kata and the intricate steps prescribed by his current tormentor, Ranma Saotome. "AaaaRhh!"
THUD.
"Owie." Ranma winced as the boy tripped over his feet, the result of which painfully applied his face to the roof shingles. That single word, however was the limit of the thirteen year old instructor's sympathy. "Again."
Naruto peeled his face off the roof and scowled. "Come on! What do I need to know this crap for? I need those fancy moves you used against Sasuke, not dance lessons!"
The objection prompted Ranma to roll his eyes. "Well if you can't do a simple kata, what makes you think you can learn those moves?"
"Because I'm—"
"Going to be Hokage of Konoha, yeah yeah." Ranma mocked and jabbed a thumb to the monument at his back. "And I'm pretty sure any one of those guys on the mountain over there could dance circles around you, so shut up and do it again."
The blond sent and evil glare up at Ranma but hopped back up and assumed the beginning stance. He took a breath and stepped into the kata once more, slowly building speed. Soon he was moving at a respectable speed, twisting in and out of the various forms. "See? I'm the—"
THUD.
Ranma shook his head, but failed to offer the boy a hand up. "Seriously, we haven't even gotten to the hard stuff yet."
"This is stupid!" Naruto hopped back up, challenging the pigtailed boy. "Just show me some fancy moves so I can start kicking ass!"
"Feh, as if." Ranma shook his head. "So I guess all that big speech to the shrimp was nothing but a bunch of talk."
The spikey blonde's frustration died abruptly. "Huh?"
"You want instant power, that's fine." Ranma continued, distain creeping into his voice. "But you ain't getting it from me."
"but… but…" Naruto panicked as his opportunity to learn new techniques began to slip way. "But I need them to beat that bastard Sasuke!"
Ranma arched an eyebrow. "And why's that?"
"Because he thinks he's so much damn better than everybody!" Naruto growled, clearly incensed. "And he rubs it in my face every chance he gets!"
"Funny… I knew somebody like that…" Ranma replied, turning out to the rood top ledge. "He was obsessed with beatin' me. Always lookin' for the next best super move to do it too."
"Yeah?" Naruto hung on every word of the story. "What happened to him?"
Ranma turned back to the boy in orange, his gaze a hard edge. "I kicked his ass."
Naruto shrank back slightly. "Oh."
"Each and every time." The martial artist continued, letting his eyes continue to burn into his friend and student.. "And the few times I couldn't, I learned somethin' new and kicked his ass again." Naruto remained silent, Ranma noting that his explanation was having the desired affect on the kid.. "Bad ass super moves help, but without the foundation, you ain't jack. I fought the Sas kid. He may be bastard, but he's got a foundation to build off of. You don't."
"So you're saying I suck," Naruto glared. "Just like everybody else."
"If you sucked, you wouldn't be up here now." Ranma countered, shaking his head. Obviously the straight up explanation wasn't working. maybe…
"Tell ya what… master this kata and I'll teach something cool."
Naruto's eyes suddenly began to shine with an eager light, his mood turning one hundred and eighty degrees instantly. "You got it, Sensei!"
Ranma smirked as Naruto fell back into the stance. He'd have to thank Nabiki when he got home. Bribery was, apparently, a universal constant.
"Daughter." That single word dug the pit in her stomach immeasurably deeper as she unwillingly brought her eyes off the bowl of rice to meet the her father's gaze. His stoic demeanor was made even more intimidating by the pupil-less eyes that were their shared heritage.
"Y-Yes, father?" The clan head frowned at her stutter, but it wa short lived as the unemotional mask slid back into place.
"You are undergoing kunoichi training." It was a statement to which Hinata could only acknowledge with a nod. "The gender shifting child is your instructor." Another nod and the patriarch took a sip of his tea. "While the perfection of the Juken is a superior art, the kunoichi is a necessary role. Perhaps you will excel at this art where you have failed in others."
The eldest Hyuga daughter bowed her head with the verbal blow. "Yes father."
Hiashi considered his offspring impassively for another moment before continuing. "You will learn everything you can about the gender shifting child. Learn its art, learn its weaknesses. Report them to me. Do I make myself clear?"
Hinata couldn't bring herself to even make eye contact with her father and instead opted to mumble another "Yes, father."
She could practically feel the aura of dissatisfaction roll off the man as he took one final sip of his tea and stood up and left the room as unceremoniously as he had arrived, leaving the young girl to stew over the new development. Learn his weaknesses? Its weaknesses? She chewed on her fathers words with unease. The entire conversation implied she... he was a threat and it was her duty to the clan to inform on her instructor.
It wasn't a task she was looking forward to.
Not at all.
Ranma Saotome looked at the sheet of paper in his hand, then back up at the wooden placard hanging from the store front. The architecture was classic Japanese, and it was times like these when the young martial artist wondered just what had happened to produce this weird cocktail of society, technology and ninja that he stumbled upon. Thankfully, the impulse passed and he shook his head free of such bothersome thoughts.
"Guess this is the place." He shrugged while Naruto attempted to peer over his shoulder from at the papers in his hand.
"What are we doing here, anyway?" The blond asked, emoting curiosity as he followed his friend up the front steps.
"Shoppin'." Ranma pushed the door open, stepping into what his brain only describe as martial art heaven. The place was wall to wall weaponry of every sort while body armor hung off the racks interspersed throughout the store. Glass displays lined the perimeter of the store, protecting indecipherable paper seals from indiscriminant handling. In the middle of it all was a balding, middle aged man sporting a graying goatee. He wore a simple brown hamak and held a katana in one hand and a well worn rag in the other.
A smile spread across the martial artist face
A wide smile.
"Now this is what I'm talking about." He grinned, weaving through the racks of weapons of armor. His head swiveled left to right, taking in the sight of gleaming metal and smells of polish and leather as he moved deeper into the establishment.
"Ribald Barterman at ye service" The older man produced a shallow bow upon noting the pair, setting aside rag and blade in order to properly greet his new arrivals. "Young Naruto I believe I recognize, trouble maker that he is. Remember the rules, boy." The blond squirmed under his gaze, and pale blue eyes turned on Ranma. "You, I do not know. Ye here to buy or paw my wares like your partner? If the latter, you best turn around now before I chase you out with a switch."
Naruto cringed.
"Oh, I'm definitely buyin'." Ranma assured the proprietor with a smirk. The pale blue eyes considered him for another moment before passing judgment.
"Music to my ears, then." Ribald smiled crookedly. "The Restless Kunai is the finest shopping in all of Konoha. Widest selection, lowest prices and nary a fancy illustration." He motioned to the store at large in a grand gesture. "Just the goods, fair and plain."
Ranma began to dig into the pocket of his tangs. "That's great, cuz I got a list."
"Oh?" The owner looked at the boy as he pushed the sheets in one hand off to Naruto, then proceeded to unfold the piece of paper he had just retrieved.
"Yep." Ranma nodded, smoothing out the paper. "Letsee, I need five hundred feet of rope, three hundred kunai, four sets of vest armor, enough ten pound weights for three, including hand and legs, a hundred and fifty needle shuriken…" Ranma paused, his fingers recounting the list items. He looked up at the motionless store owner. "What do ya got that goes 'boom'?"
"Uh…"
"Tags!" Naruto volunteered eagerly. he didn't know how his friend was going to pull this off, but damned if he didn't want in on the action. "These over here!"
Ranma looked through the glass display at the small square parchment and the odd symbology pained there on. "Sure, a hundred of those, I guess."
The owner blinked.
"Smoke tags too!" Naruto blurted, his nose practically pressed against the glass now.
"Fifty of those." Ranma added, running down the list. "Let's see… How about the two jian on the wall over there, four body harnesses, matching bracers… Do you got any asbestos sheeting?
Ribald began to look slightly put out. "I think I'm going to need to see some ID."
"Oh, right." Ranma nodded absently, as if he got carded for weapons on a regular basis. The pigtailed boy snatched the paperwork back from Naruto and offered it to the shop owner, who in turn took it warily. He studied it for a moment, blinked and read it again. The goateed owner gave Ranma another edgy look before crossing the store floor, making his way to a wall mounted phone. Ribald picked up the receiver, dialed and waited.
"Yeah, this is Ribald of Restless." He began, never taking his eyes off the two kids. "I've got this kid with an official requisition form and—" He paused, taking in the voice on the other end of the line. "Um, you're sure?" Another pause. Ranma grinned. Naruto stared. No way could his friend actually pull this off. "Okay. My complete cooperation. Got it."
With a click the man hung up the phone and turned to the two boys, simply staring for a moment. "And where would you like all that delivered?"
...much to her relief.
Since the formation of their group, her teammate had insisted she use live blades instead of the wooden ones. She was fine with that on one hand, as it allowed her to practice her specialty with the real thing instead of the wooden practice blades cored with iron. While the weight was right, there were subtle differences that an artist such as herself could discern. On the other hand, she was throwing live blades around. Her accuracy was exceptional enough that Neji would bleed if he missed even one. It wasn't a prospect she looked forward to, but the few times she had attempted to throw toward less than lethal trajectories had been met with classic Hyuga tantrum; that is to say a glare and a cold, cold shoulder.
At some point along the way, she was almost hoping that she'd at least nick him in order to not only get him to realize just how serious throwing live kunai at him was, but to at least validate some portion of her skills. Yesterday's bout with the redhead certainly hadn't helped matters. The girl- her new instructor, no less -had simply laughed at the fact that she had scored a perfect score on the academy final and pretty much did what Neji was doing now... Rendering her hard earned practice a moot point.
The last kunai fell to the ground after flipping through the air and landing point first at the Hyuga's feet. The boy showed no real emotion after such a feat, instead looking at Tenten and saying, "Again."
Tenten shrugged and pulled another salvo from her belt, arraying theblades between the fingers of both hands. Maybe this time she would-
"Tenten!"
The girl turned finding a brick wall of muscles and greenery walking up to her from across the field they had been practicing in. Trailing behind him was far less imposing wall of green, though both sported nearly identical bowl hair cuts. As atrocious a fashion statement as the forest green body suits were, they did make a cute couple in a father-son sort of way and the
sight managed to coax a full smile from her lips. "Gai-sensei! Lee!"
Upon being noticed, the smaller of the pair ran ahead and quickly grasped her hand, a concerned light dancing in his eyes. "Is it true?"
"Is... what true?" Tenten backed up slightly under the intensity of Lee's questioning.
"It is, Lee!" Gai, replied with pride. "Tenten will indulging in the fires of youth for an extra two hours a day!"
Lee's already round eyes became even rounder. "Truly an example to aspire to! I shall train with you!"
"Alas, you cannot indulge in these fires of youth." The team's instructor shook his head solemnly. In that time, Neji had walked over, wondering what was impeding his exercises.
"What's this?" The young man questioned, first casting Tenten a skeptical look, then the trembling Lee.
"I'll prove that I'm good enough to train with my glorious team mate, Sensei!" Lee demanded with favored intensity. "I shall double my weights! I'll run another two hundred-!"
"No, my cute apprentice." Gai held out a hand, stopping the Taijitsu specialist. "Tenten's training is for the blooming pedals of feminine adolescence, not the burning fires of manliness !"
Tenten began to glow a bright pink. "You could have just said kunoichi training, sensei."
Lee's face broke out into a silent 'OOOOH' while Neji simply arched an eyebrow. "Indeed."
"Perhaps I shall accompany you," Gai scratched his broad chin in contemplation. "to ensure your new instructor is capable of adequately stoking the fires of youth!"
Lee pumped a fist. "Yosh!"
Neji simply shook his head and walked off as Tenten buried her head in her hands.
Tenten cringed as the an explosion rocked the earth a mere thirty meters from her position, showering her with dust and debris after the slap of overpressure washed across her body.
"You missed."
By and large, Tenten could be described as the cheery sort, driven to excel in any given field but harboring no ill will toward anyone in the process. Today, however, was not one of those days as she was currently directing a good deal of ill-will towards a certain redheaded kunoichi instructor.
"STOP THAT!"
Ranma paused in the twirling of the kunai in his hands, an innocent look about her face. This particular kunai bore a flimsy looking piece of square paper tied to the base ring like many of its cousins holstered in the belt straddling her hips. "But I thought you were the hundred out of a hundred girl?"
"Well how can I if you keep tossing those things around!" The glare the question incited promised to reduce the young martial artist to cinders. The mangled target fifty meters down range had yet to see a solid hit from the girl's kunai, and she had tossed ten out thus far.
"You mean these?" Innocent eyes looked back and her fingers flipped the dagger around once more. Off to the side, Ino took a step back with the careless display, as if their teacher was about to drop the tagged blade at any moment. Hinata chewed on her lip nervously beside her. Ranma smiled easily. "Tell ya what. If you can put ten… No, make that five kunai into that target, I'll stop."
"Really!"
Ranma nodded benevolently. "Get a head shot and you can skip hand to hand practice."
The odango'd girl's eyes widened. "Just one?"
The redhead looked as if she had other things on her mind, examining her reflection in the steel of the kunai. "Mmmhmm."
Tenten brain took a split second to process her instructors state and spun around on target. it appeared to be a wild spin, but she was her chosen area of specialty and her arms extended out, her left hand snatching five kunai on its way out. Less than a second later the throwing arm came to bear and Tenten smiled impishly. Five kunai on target, one head shot made to—
BOOM!
The shockwave crashed through her concentration and the array kunai were released in a staggered mess, two plowing earth ten meters out, one arcing wildly to the right, another to the left and the final dagger was swallowed up by a stray bush on the far side of the range. Pebbles and turf bounced off her head and the girl ground her teeth down glaring evilly at her tormentor.
Ranma wore an astonished look. "Oops."
"DAMMIT!"
The curse echoed across the scarred field known as practice range six and was easily heard by the group of instructors standing watch in the observation booth high above the scene of torture.
"AHAHAHA!" Anko gasped for breath as she watched the Saotome carelessly toss another dagger out marking the ground with another resounding boom and an accompanying crater. "Oh my God, K-chan! This has got to be your best idea EVER!"
Kurenai tore her eyes away from the blossoming cloud of smoke and stared at her friend with wide eyes as she practically wheezed in laughter. There was a hard and fast rule she usually went by concerning the spiky black haired kunoichi… If Anko thought it was a good idea, it probably wasn't.
"Are you nuts?" Iruka was also staring now, his cheek twitching. He pointed downrange, shaking. "He… She's going to kill them!"
Gai was watching the spectacle, leaning over the booth railing with curiosity. "While I usually advocate immersing our new graduates in the fires of youth, I have to question the indiscriminant methods by which it is dispensed…"
BOOOooM!
Another echo rolled across the practice range, as if to emphasis the point.
"BWAHAHAAHAH!" Anko cackled leaning into a nearby pillar for support. "I love this kid!"
"It's not your student she's blowing up." Kurenai shook her head as the antics continued below.
"And where the hell did she get all that ordinance anyway?" Iruka screamed, still shaking. Fortunately, he didn't notice Kurenai's efforts to avoid eye contact.
Meanwhile, Ranma Saotome turned back to her other two students, tucking a tagged kunai into her belt while Tenten sizzled with frustration. "Can either of ya tell me—"
Thunk thunk thunk!
"Those don't count." Ranma commented off hand, not even bothering to look at the girl or the three head shots she had just thrown.
"NO FAIR!"
"Like I was sayin', can either of you tell Ten what I'm doing?" Hinata simply looked from the redhead to their sizzling growling teammate and back while Ino actually stared in disbelief for a moment before a sour look descended on her face.
"Well how can she hit anything if you… keep… throwing…" Pale blue eyes widened and a smirk grew across Ranma's face.
The martial artist cocked her head as if trying to hear Ino better. "What was that?"
"You're… You're doing it on purpose!" Ino's jaw dropped as the logic gates in her brain started to connect. "Not just trying to be a sadistic bitch!"
"Wouldn't speak too soon on that one," Ranma commented with a slight chuckle. With only two hours a day, she was going to have to be a sadistic bastard. "But yer right. The question now is 'why'? Hinata?"
The blue haired girls body language seemed to close up when attention focused on her, but Ranma waited patiently. It took a another couple of moments for Hinata to stop shuffling pensively and stutter out an answer. "You… you're distracting her?"
"Very good." Ranma smiled and the girl sighed with relief as attention left her and turned back to Tenten. "First and foremost. Everything I do here is for a reason. I got better things to do than torture little kids—"
"You're a little kid!" Ino fumed, and Ranma ignored her.
"It may seem stupid, weird and like torture, but it's trainin'." The redhead continued, eyeing the odango girl. "keepin' that in mind, why am I tossing firecrackers at ya?"
"You're distracting me." Tenten came to the firm conclusion.
"Why?"
"Because my accuracy is of little use if I get distracted." The girl realized, anger all but evaporating.
"Took a bit, but you finally got it." Ranma nodded, causing a sliver of Tenten's irritation to return. "But unlike like my old man, I'm gonna show you why I'm torturing you." The shorter redhead stepped up to genin while Ino and Hinata. She held out her hands. "See any weapons on me?" Everybody shook their head. the girl had depleted the last kunai on her belt five minutes ago. "Watch."
She stepped up to the line Tenten had been throwing from and adopted one of the many casual stance dictated by anything goes and took a breath. Accuracy wasn't absolutely necessary for the demonstration, but it would help her credibility if she could put most of the kunai in the target… Ranma took a deep breath…
She took a step forward and Tenten nearly stumbled back as her instructor's arms became a literal blur, rapidly followed by the drumming staccato of high speed impacts echoing from across the range. The rapid impacts continued for about four seconds until the redhead stopping moving, a trickle of sweat running down her forehead.
Tenten gaped.
Far off to the right, a red and white robbed elder took off his hat, joining the instructors who were also staring. The girl had just put over fifty kunai into a wooden target at fifty yards with nearly a ninety five percent hit ratio. Iruka turned from the spectacle, noticing Sarutobi's pleasant smile.
"So did I miss anything?"
BOOM!
BOOMBOOM!
Thunder cracked across the range as fifty tagged kunai detonated nearly simultaneously, turning the target dummy in which they were imbedded into a sheet of hellish flame, utterly ripping it and the surrounding landscape apart in a maelstrom of violent fire. The initial wash of devastation expended itself after a minute, leaving little of the strike zone but jagged, smoldering real estate.
The Hokage simple stared as thick black smoke poured into the sky. "Guess not."
Back on Practice range six, Ranma blinked, whipping the sweat from her brow. That had actually gone better than expected. She turned back to Tenten and found the girl… froze. Ranma was about to snap her fingers in front of the zombie-girls face when her head turned towards her sensei her lips finally moving of their own accord.
"I'll never question your training again, master."
Ranma snorted with amusement at the worshipping tone the words had been spoken it. "Aw, sure ya will." She turned back to the similarly awed Ino and Hinata. "Now it's your guys' turn."
The words didn't even register as the pair simply stared into the burning crater downrange.
BOOMBOOM!
Naruto's head whipped around as the bassy thunder staggered through the forest, sending wildlife to scatter in every direction. The blond stood dumbfounded for a moment, his current mission temporarily forgotten. What the hell was that? His mind whirled as he stared into the direction of the rolling thunder. Something… exploded? Of course, chasing that damn cat for Mrs. Tanaka had taken him off the beatin' track when Sakura had suggested they all split up and work a spiral outward from the pet's last known location and the only thing out on his end of the search was a bunch off woods, grass and… and the practice range less than two kilometers away! His eyes widened with realization.
They must be doing something really, really cool down there!
Any thought of finding the wayward feline instantly evaporated as the orange jacket clad boy raced through the forest, quickly encountering the range fence and vaulting over its length. There were a total of nine ranges on the property he now transverse, but only one of them mattered… The one with thick black smoke rolling away from it.
Naruto wound his way through the thinning foliage, opting to avoid the main paths lest his presence be discovered before he had a chance to learn what the nins were doing. After all, whatever super cool moves they were practicing probably weren't meant for the prying eyes of students, especially students that just happened to be demon containers. The normally loud genin crept along the ridge of a small hill, his eyes flicking left to right in an occasional bid to avoid detection, but always returned to the angry cloud drifting skyward. The student ninja pushed the brush from his position overlooking the practice range and took the scene in, first finding the instructors he knew watching from the observation booth.
Iruka-sensei, Kurenai, some other woman… Gai sensei… Naruto blinked. Even the old man! Blue eyes continued to scan the scene, following the cratered and thoroughly trashed field. Four girls. That blonde friend of Sakura-chan's… Hinata… one of Gai-sensei's students… All fighting that girl with red—
"WHAT THE HELL?"
Hinata Hyuga's frown deepened as she shuffled before her red-headed instructor pensively. "But…"
"No buts." Ranma retorted imperiously. "Try it again."
"Dammit! My brain hurts!" Ino exclaimed irritable, clutching the side of her head as if it were throbbing in pain. In reality, it was. Tenten winced, was more than happy to sit the lesson out after her bout with their diminutive instructor.
The martial artist shrugged without a care to the girl's plight. "You know the rules. 'Nata hits me, you get a break." A condescending smirk spread across her face. "I'd be helpin' her out as much as possible if I were ya."
Ino burned a glare into the girl, then turned on Hinata. "Hinata! Kick her ass!"
The shy nin looked from her teammate to her new instructor, who seemingly stood idly by waiting. The reality of that stance was much different, as all three knew by now that the redhead's unprepared posture was far from it. Hinata didn't want to hit her new instructor. Heck, she didn't want to hit anybody, but it seemed to be the only option if she was to provide Ino any respite from her lesson. With that thought firmly in mind, the dark blue haired girl spun on her instructor, attempting to force a finger into her abdomen in a bid to end the conflict quickly. True to form, however, Ranma hopped just out of reach with a smirk and engaged her directly by throwing her own- albeit lazy –attacks back at her.
The punches and kicks were easily deflected by somebody of Hinata's speed, but the sheer volume ensured she remained on the defensive. Ranma pressed forward, forcing the girl back under a barrage of punches, kicks and an absolute wall of confidence.
Hinata, however, wasn't the only one frowning.
Dammit, hit me! Ranma growled mentally as she pressed the girl before. Sure, she was throwing a hailstorm off attacks at the shy girl, but—Pressure increased on the Saotome's mind suddenly and she was shoved aside, forcibly relinquishing conscious control of her own body. Bout damn time, she snorted, recognizing the telltale affects of Ino's bloodline. The result wasn't subtle. Ranma's form immediately developed a massive hole as the blonde took control of her body… And was promptly kicked out as her instructor overrode the manipulation, riding over Ino's conscious on tidal wave of confidence and willpower.
"OW!" The mental battle was over in under a second, and Ino found herself reeling as if she had received a physical kick to the head. The exclamation caused Ranma to smile wider, but the perverse joy of kicking her student out in such a painful manner was dulled by the fact that Hinata hadn't taken the opening it offered.
She's got skill in spades, but no instinct whatsoever, Ranma groused as she quickly tightened up her form and resumed her offensive, this time ensuring a few hits found their way past Hinata's guard. The girl would feel the hits, but no lasting damage was done. Maybe if I can get her mad, she'll—
"WHAT THE HELL!"
Ranma spun around at the sudden exclamation and Hinata nearly tripped over herself, tagging sensei's shoulder by sheer chance. Her instructor rocked with the punch, but barely felt it, both surprised as a blond haired boy with spiky bangs burst from the tree line behind him. Even Ino and Tenten were staring now as the boy closed on them with wide blue eyes.
"Uh… hehehehe…" Hinata developed a deep blush, barely managing to maintain eye contact with Naruto. "Hi, Naruto-kun."
"What the heck is he doing here!" Ino growled, already in a bad mood from the migraine thrumming through her cerebellum. Tenten wisely kept her mouth shut, responding with a simple shrug.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto Uzumaki accused, ignoring the other girls entirely in favor of confronting the red head. "How could you teach them something super cool and not me?"
Ranma simply shook her head. "Sorry 'Ruto. Girls only."
The boy blinked, digesting the information and the fact that his friend's current accompaniment were female as well. Given those facts, his brain bridged the gap from 'a' to 'b' in a most unorthodox manner. "SEXY NO JUTSU!"
BONK!
Ranma's fist bounced off the blonde haired girl's skull in a comedic manner, dispelling the illusion outright almost as soon as it was manifest. "Real girls. Take a hike."
Silence reigned for a moment before the dam burst.
"Oh yeah? Well if you can do it, so can I!" The boys gaze narrow sharply at the rebuke for a moment before accepting the challenge with bravado. Ranma arched an eyebrow as the boy took a stance suddenly. Another rebuke was about to fall from the martial artists lips when the spike of power flashed around him and an angry red glow erupted around the boy.
What the-? Ranma fought the impulse to take a step back as a wave of angry, dark power began to suffocate the area around her part time student, while his blue eyes shown with fierce determination. What the heck does the kid think he's doing? He doesn't need to prove-!
"AAHHHHHAAAaaaARRR!" The red aura began to boil around the boy violently and this time, Ranma heeded his instincts, and took the step back, while his other students had already taken several. They all watched now with a look that straddled the line between incredulity and panic.
"Na-Naruto-kun!"
Hinata's concern went unheard as the build up continued until it reached an impossible peak, where upon raw chakra was released into open air. "MINAKO NO JUTSU!"
Red tendrils of power burst forth then arced back inward, turning upon their host and feeding back upon their wielder, lashing in to Naruto's orange clad form while causing the boy to writhe in agony. The blond began to distort under the bombardment, bathed in an ethereal glow of damning power that seemed intent on forcibly reshaping his body in the most painful way possibly. Even as Ranma contemplated intervening, the red trails died away, evaporating into the air to let the boy fall to his knees, panting. Beneath them, the ground smoldered from being scorched.
Ranma stepped forward to help the boy up, but halted barely a foot from him. There were differences. His body was thinner. His hair, longer. Shinier. Singed orange clothing hung differently from his frame. It all pointed to something Ranma Saotome, heir to the anything goes school of martial arts and Jusenkyo victim was intimately familiar with.
"What—What did he do?" Tenten asked, curiosity overriding the trepidation Naruto's raw display of power had produced
Hinata's eyes shown bright with concern from beside her. "Naruto… kun?"
Naruto Uzumaki struggled to push himself off the ground as pain resonated through his bones. There was a definite reason for the way his clothes fit now. Naruto was nearly an inch shorter, and indeed did have longer hair, sans the spikes. His arms and legs had lost mass. His hips and chest had gained ample curvature, while his face…
Ino's cheek twitched. "He's… he's….!"
The blond neo-girl revealed a tired, defiant grin. "I… I told you… I could do it. Now you… have to train me!"
Ranma walked up to Naruto and unzipped his jacket, revealing exactly what she had expect to find… two breasts every bit as well developed as her own. Real breasts. Not a conjured jutsu. The… the idiot duplicate her curse? How in the hell? She shook it off, and stared. A girl stared back at him, but she could see it in her eyes. Naruto.
But I'm Ranma all the time, regardless of the body…
The thought prompted the slightest smile to escape her lips as she recognized the closest thing to a kindred soul she had known since acquiring the curse. No doubt she'd be catching all the blame for this particular stunt, but…
"Sure. Why the hell not."
Ribald Barterman; Yep, that's not an Asian name. But then, neither is Shampoo. Laugh and pretend you got the joke. ;)
Minako no Kitsune; Naruto is well known throughout the series as the loud ninja that manages the impossible; at very least, the improbably. Likewise, he has a kitsune inside of him, possibly conferring not only power, but the ability and nature of a kitsune as well. Besides destroying anime villages, they are renowned shape shifters, and given the right motivations, Naruto has shown his ability to tap 9t to the point where he begins to gain his characteristics.
I'd be remiss not to mention works by both MageOhki and Fosfor both of which helped (unwittingly) turn what was a harmless plotling into something more annoying versus the causal adventurer (in other words, a four hit dice creature). Look for their works on Teh Fanfiction Forum. I'll post a link on my ffnet page since doing the dot-dot thing here proved too annoying in the past.
Special thanks to Wargiver, MageOhki, Trimatter, Amy and Materia Blade, likewise Metroidvania for editing services rendered.
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