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Shinobi One-Half
Chapter 3
Waking Up on the Wrong Side of Reality Part 2
Disclaimer: I don’t own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.
I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave. If you find any, let me know, and I will correct them and repost the chapters.
You learned early on that it was pretty much the only solid Bushin you could use without destroying said paperwork.
But right now, he was focused on his task: training of the newest members of the village: Nabiki Tendo and Ranma Saotome. While both had expressed interest in the training—Nabiki’s interest most likely due to her torture by the dead nin who kidnapped her—it wasn’t as easy as sending them to the Academy. Both were much too old to attend the Academy, not without being seriously out of place with the other students, who usually varied in age from eight to thirteen. Even if they did go and graduate, their age alone would throw off team dynamics, since they would be deemed team leaders by age alone. Social issues alone would cause problems, not to mention feelings of self-hatred that you were unable to get concepts that small children could grasp.
No one liked to feel like an idiot.
No, for them, the best thing would be private tutors, people who could spend the time to teach them as well as give them the personal attention needed to cram four years of training in as quickly as possible. It had been done before, usually though by the major clans and only then by those who hadn’t been able to attend the Academy for some medical reason.
But who could he get to teach them? Who would be able to teach a young woman who had barely any taijutsu training and nothing else, to be a ninja? Who would teach a boy who seemed to wield a power similar yet different from chakra and was already damn near a taijutsu master, to be a ninja worthy of the Leaf?
A smile began to grow on his face as the perfect two people came to mind. “Oh yes, payback’s a bitch.”
Smiling in self-satisfaction, he turned in the chair, spotting the time.
“Shit,” he muttered, paling as he saw the time. Gulping, he sank into the chair, hoping the ‘special woman’ he was supposed to meet secretly that night at Training Ground 7 wouldn’t kill him before he could apologize for missing said meeting.
Kushina’s scary when she’s mad.
Closing her eyes, she pulled the covers on the medical bed up higher, making a mental note that whenever they moved out of here, she was going to make sure that the room she chose didn’t have the sun streaming through the windows either going up into the sky or down into the horizon.
She was going to miss the giant teddy bear she’d been with the last few days as she recovered, though. At least Ranma had been able to offer her some comfort—as long as she made sure he kept his mouth closed enough to prevent his foot from entering it. It was almost like he was cursed to ruin some moods at times. Of course, that was more likely to be the result of his father’s influence for a decade.
Nabiki hadn’t really been up to sleeping alone after her abduction. She still had the occasional nightmare—occasional being that they only woke her up less than three times the last few nights. They did seem to dwindle more when she had Ranma holding her. Sure, it was pretty stupid—it wasn’t like he could pop into her dreams and support her, but it did provide some sort of security.
No snoring from the teddy, less haunting nightmares, and a fresh target prepared for her teasing when she woke up. What more could she ask for?
“Well, it’s a start, I suppose.”
Oh yeah, she had a five-tailed tanuki Bijuu/Raiju/whatever the hell it was in her body. Do you have a name?
“I was once referred to as the Gobi no Tanuki when your ancestors gazed upon me in ancient times.”
Nabiki sighed softly, wondering if she was perhaps too jaded because of Kuno or perhaps it was just that the tanuki’s comment had sounded slightly pompous.
“It’s just you.”
Nabiki cringed at that.You hear all my thoughts, don’t you?
A dark feminine chuckle rang through her mind. “I reside in you, my dear. Your thoughts are quite the open book to me.”
What about your secrets?
“I have much more experience in separating my thoughts from those of others, a must for any Raiju. After all, beings of energy must be able to tell our own thought from another’s if we become entwined.”
Nabiki had the sudden image of Evangelion pop up in her head.
“Not exactly a correct analogy, but it does represent a close enough situation. Strange creation, this ... anime.”
Nabiki just shook her head. Great, so I need the mental equivalent of an AT Field to keep my thoughts my own.
“Right ... or you could ask me not to read your mind constantly.”
She fought hard not to let her eye twitch. Don’t read my thoughts.
“I will try, but you have little in the way of a wall to prevent me from such, even if I wanted to.”
Then why did you say I just should ask you?
“To show you what you need to work on, my dear.”
She failed to defeat the twitch this time. I wonder if Ranma-kun has this problem.
Thankfully, it did not include the things of nightmares, such as certain idiotic kendoists proclaiming their love or forever being trapped as a girl.
All it was, was a simple plot of land, surrounded by a spotlight, with only unending darkness surrounding him. “Well ... this is new,” he muttered, wondering which ‘acquaintance’ added this new dimension to his life or if he had finally bought it.
“I thought it best.”
Ranma spun around. Either someone had hit him hard enough to hear voices or … or this was some final judgment before his soul was sent on. “Great, probably killed in my sleep, uncute tomboy probably found Nabiki cuddled up to me and jumped the gun.”
“As amusing as your guesses are, neither one is correct.”
“Okay then,” said Ranma, continuing to try and peer into the darkness for any sign of movement, his other senses extended as well, trying to make some sense of what was going on.
“I have muted what you can sense here, child,” said the voice. “I do not wish a repeat of our last encounter, progress should happen sooner rather than later.”
“What encounter?” asked Ranma, not retracting his senses. Thanks to his ‘training’ under his father, he knew one fact: people who didn’t want you looking usually had something very good to hide, and it was usually best if you knew what that something was.
“I tried to contact you earlier when we arrived here,” said the voice. “However, you reacted … badly to my presence, you began to act like a small cat.”
Ranma cringed at that. Just his luck some … voice would try to talk to him and knock him into a Nekoken mindset. “I … didn’t trash anything, did I?”
“We were in your mind at the time, and I was able to calm that mindset down before you awoke to the real world, thus no chance of that mindset rampaging in reality.”
Ranma released a breath, before his eyes shot open. “Hey, that was you! You were the one that woke me up and helped me find that jerk who took Nabiki!”
“Yes, that was I,” admitted the voice.
“Okay then, what happened?” asked Ranma. “I want to know, cause one minute I saw the jackass who took her, and the next… Well, I don’t really know.”
“For that, I cannot be certain,” said the voice, though the unease it felt about the topic came through. “To be honest, I am not certain what mindset was in control after that. It may have been a mixture of all present. But needless to say that her attacker was eliminated. He will not threaten an innocent again.”
Ranma paused for a bit. He didn’t like killing—something he hoped to never like. But he didn’t even remember doing it. Focusing his mind, he tried to isolate a memory, a sliver of thought—something he had plenty of practice doing considering he either had to try and recall or listen to second-hand accounts.
“What the hell are you?” cried out the man, as he tried to back away from the demon.
“Your executioner,” smirked the figure, raising an arm, an act mirrored by the cat-aura. “For hurting her, for endangering my mate, DIE!”
No name for the attack was called, no sign whether or not it had come from the aura-cat’s extended paw, or the extended hand of the human. All that Funuke knew was that a ball of chaotic energy had shot forth from that area, and before he could move, before he could even think of countering the attack, it had already lanced through him, ripping through his chest, causing pain to scream out in his mind, as his corpse fell to the ground.
Ranma’s eyes snapped wide at that. That… That wasn’t him, was it?
“To protect the ones we care for, the ones we treasure, many would gladly die for them. How many would kill for them?”
Ranma baulked at that. Him? And Nabiki? “Yep that settles it; someone killed me in my sleep and this is Hell. Any minute now, I’ll change to a girl and Kuno will show up and say we’re married.”
“… Are you finished?”
“Getting there,” said Ranma, rubbing his forehead.
“As a balance is reached, we might even bridge this issue, as well as your … other issues.”
“Other issues?”
“The reason you went from talking to me to chasing an imaginary butterfly,” the voice replied.
Ranma stared down sheepishly. “I’m getting better,” he muttered. And it was true. He didn’t really ‘cat’ out unless some really big cats were nearby, or he let himself do it. So then the question came to be: what was it that set him off the last time.
And then it hit him harder than a tomboy. That statue, that Raiju! Shoulders sinking, Ranma had to sigh. What was it with his luck that he got stuck with a giant cat Raiju? If anything would trigger the Nekoken instantly, he was pretty sure that was it. It wasn’t like he had any way to work up to dealing with something like that.
“Tell me child, why do you fear cats?” it asked, almost like it knew the reason.
Ranma wanted to growl out he wasn’t afraid of anything ... well, anything short of being locked in his cursed form. “Nekoken,” he said quietly, almost a whisper.
“I see,” said the voice. “I have seen many versions of it in my long life, Ranma. Many versions that share very little of the truth of the technique.”
Ranma blinked. “You mean you know how to fix it? I can use it without freaking out?” True, it was a powerful technique, one that had saved his ass many times. But what good was it if he needed to either be out of options or near a cat to scare him into it? What good was it without control?
“In time,” the voice continued. “In truth, unless your soul was looked over by a cat spirit, the training itself is supposed to be deadly.”
“WHAT?” yelled Ranma.
“Spirits from the other side, animals of all sorts, mingle with the souls of man. One of the requirements for the Nekoken is that the soul spirit inside the tested must be feline. If any other spirit reside as a spirit guide, then the person will be driven insane, murderous, and slay all that it sees. The fact your spirit is feline allowed you to survive and even have some freedom from the cursed variants.”
Ranma was shocked, his heart rate rising. He had a cat spirit inside him, one that was the only reason he wasn’t some blood crazed killer like what Kasumi had said a true berserker was like? Sure, the spirit inside him didn’t freak him out too much; his mind more worried about the fear of losing himself to the technique and being consumed by it.
That was something he truly feared.
“It shows you have made progress against the madness that you fear becoming it.”
He almost preened at those words of praise. Okay, so he had a cat inside him somewhere near his soul. He could live with that, if the blasted furball kept him from being consumed by the Nekoken and ending up like those berserkers Kasumi talked about.
“But you have a long way yet to go. To master the technique, even the flawed teachings of it, you would need to master your fear.”
Ranma nodded sagely, trying to grasp what was said. So there was a way to master the technique and not be scared with cats, and the strange voice in the darkness said he knew it. “And how do I master it?” he asked. He felt he was already near mastering it, given his last year in Nerima. He could stand being near a few cats; hell, he’d even tapped a bit into it against Saffron. Surely he could finish it now.
“That will take time,” the voice said. “It will not be an easy road, but when you are better recovered, come to see me, and we shall discuss it further.”
Ranma growled angrily. “And why not now? I’m ready ta start now!” he proclaimed.
“Because you need to wake up now,” the voice replied with a self- assured sound.
“Huh?”
The pigtailed boy moaned a bit, as his conscious mind returned to the waking world. Granted, he was a bit upset about being dragged away from someone who could teach him to master a technique that still haunted him. “What is it, Nabiki?” he asked, making certain he wasn’t holding her too tightly. He was well used to her sneaking into his bed due to her nightmares, and despite his instincts telling him not to, he could never deny her that request.
“Minato’s supposed to come by today after the doctors check us out,” she said. In a way, she felt a bit surprised that she was actually looking forward to some training. But she didn’t want to be weak here. In Nerima, weak meant either you didn’t fight with your body or you didn’t fight with your mind, both being weapons to be used in the daily battles, each of which a master could use to be a victor.
Here, it wasn’t one or the other, it was both that one needed to survive. And despite her wishes, both she and Ranma were severely lacking in areas; him in the abilities for mental fights, and her in the abilities for physical fights. And while her ... attacker had used a mental technique, part of her was convinced had she been physically stronger, maybe she wouldn’t have been placed in that situation, maybe she wouldn’t have been targeted.
She knew it was some form of insane guilt and self hatred brought on by the attack; a person who used head games enough could spot them even when they applied to themselves.
Of course, knowing you had a problem and dealing with it effectively were two completely different things. She suspected on some level, Saotome knew this. He had to; since he had yet to throw the usual fits he did when a fiancée snuck into his room. It was hard enough to convince him not to sleep inside the closets after Ukyo had snuck in one time and super-glued his hand to her breast in an attempt to drill into his mind the fact that his ‘ole buddy Ucchan’ was not a guy.
But yet now, he did nothing, just held her as she slept, doing what she requested. He didn’t hold her too tightly, didn’t snore. Hell, he didn’t even get soaked from a leaky roof or attacked in the middle of the night.
I shouldn’t feel like I need to be protected.
“We all need to be comforted at times; there is no weakness in such. It is a feature that defines us as more than simple beasts.”
She could only mentally snort at that. While it felt nice to be protected, she wasn’t foolish enough to assume she shouldn’t know how to protect herself.
“That, my child, is the true sign of a new beginning for you.”
No, it was the fact that said genin had been accompanied by several female ANBU, ANBU who hated a certain book that a certain Legendary Sannin published and had been in the middle of ... researching.
“The brat still causes his old teacher problems,” grumbled the white-haired man.
“It seems to be quite the Konoha tradition,” stated a nearby voice.
Blinking, Jiraiya turned and spotted his own former Sensei. “Sarutobi-sensei; what are you doing here? I thought you retired?” he asked with a smirk, noticing a small bit of an orange book sticking out of the former Hokage’s robes. “Looking for someplace quiet to read, perhaps?”
Sarutobi just coughed nervously, as he adjusted the book better inside his robes. “Actually, I was summoned here by Minato,” he said, a slight embarrassed blush on his face at being caught like he had. “I wondered why he had asked me here, though seeing you as well does expand my ideas for that.”
“Ah, both of you made it?” said Minato with a smile, walking over to the two.
“Didn’t give me much choice, brat,” grumbled Jiraiya, rubbing his chin, remembering a vicious uppercut that one of the ANBU had thrown and connected with. She hit almost as hard as Tsunade did.
“Well Sensei, I did need to make certain you came,” Minato said with an oh-so-innocent smile. “And since I do not currently know where Tsunade-hime is at, I figured a few of the more ... distinguished ANBU might be a better choice.
“Besides, I have a proposition for you.”
“Oh?” asked Jiraiya. “And what do you have to offer one such as me?”
Minato just smirked. “I have two students needing some of the best teachers. As such, I gathered the best ... available teachers here,” he mused.
Sarutobi just chuckled, lighting his pipe. “In other words, you need someone to take personal time with our new arrivals?”
Minato just nodded, even as Jiraiya began to look confused. “I have got a good idea about their levels, but I want to make certain before I ask you to train them.”
“Who are they?” asked Jiraiya.
“You don’t know?” asked Sarutobi, both in a bit of surprise that his usually knowledgeable student hadn’t heard anything yet from the gossip, and in his usual Sensei voice, glad he still knew a few things his pupil didn’t.
“Just some rumors,” said Jiraiya. “A nin killed before he could escape, some weird energy, and new arrivals that seemed to come with one hell of a recommendation,” he mused. He paused a bit, before narrowing his eyes. “I thought I recognized that kunoichi.”
Minato nodded. “I figured you would be close by to watch my being named the Fourth Hokage. I just needed to create a tease to keep you hanging around.”
“You had them talk about it in the baths,” Jiraiya mused, nodding in understanding. “And she hit me so hard because...?”
“You were a pervert, Ero-Sennin,” mused the blond, as he turned around. Ignoring the growl from his teacher, Minato motioned for them to follow. “Let’s go see how Ranma does with his test.”
“I take it you won’t be testing the girl?” asked Sarutobi.
Minato shook his head. “No; she’s already accurately stated her level of skills—as little as they are, which is why I’m hoping you can start her training. Someone who could teach and create the Legendary Sannin should be able to help her become a ninja.”
“The girl?” asked Jiraiya.
“Do you really think I’d trust an eighteen year old girl with you, Sensei?” asked Minato innocently. “No; I figure your teaching style would be perfect for the young man.”
“And this test?” said the white-haired frog hermit, rubbing his forehead, feeling as if a huge rock was coming at him.
“Only a simple test to see how what he knows stacks against what we know.”
Kakashi blinked, before staring at the Azure Beast of Konoha. “You say something?”
Rin just sighed from her place on the sideline. “He’s here too?”
Minato just smiled. “I needed some who has a high ranking in Taijutsu, and he’s one of the best.”
“My eternal rival, shall we have our challenge?” yelled Gai. “If I lose, I shall do five hundred laps around Konoha. If I fail that, I shall do one hundred laps while doing squat thrusts!”
Ranma just blinked from his seat. “Um ... is that guy ... well ... right in the head?”
“Reminds me of that one physical education teacher we had last year,” muttered Nabiki. She was just glad he had run away before her class, such activities were not something she wanted to be dragged into.
Ranma slowly nodded. “Yeah, just about the same attitude,” he mused. “Well, minus the weird ideas of what he will do for losing.”
“Okay then,” said Minato, clapping his hands to gather their attention. “We have a simple plan today to test Ranma Saotome’s current skill levels. Now Ranma, while your responses are not limited to any particular style,” he stated, watching a bemused smirk form on the pigtailed boy’s face, “the same is not true for your three opponents for this test. Maito Gai is limited to Taijutsu, Kakashi Hatake is limited to Ninjutsu, and Kurenai Yuhi will be limited to Genjutsu.
“I will stress again that this is only a test, which means I want the conflict to go on a rising scale. The result is that I will have a fuller understanding of what our new friend here is capable of. And the test spars end when I say so or Saotome loses consciousness.”
Nabiki leaned over to whisper into Ranma’s ear, her mind already decided on something. “Better use your father’s sealed techniques as well.”
Ranma blinked, before he turned to her. “But I promised to seal those,” he hissed.
Nabiki just shook her head. “No you didn’t. Ryu promised to seal them if he lost, you promised to give him the Umisenken scroll; you never once promised to seal them.”
He blinked at her words, as the knowledge slower filtered into his mind. If he could use them...
As a smile formed on his face, he nodded happily. It was just too bad he didn’t realize that beforehand. Being invisible in Nerima would have helped him out a lot. Sure, the Yamasenken would be useful here if nothing else, but he was really going to have to work on the Umisenken first. Part of him wondered how far he could take it.
But here in this world, it was more likely he’d have to work on either relearning or remaking the Yamasenken first, given the nature of conflicts here.
“Combatants, take your positions,” said Minato.
Gai leapt across the field, landing before jumping to full attention. “Come Ranma-san, let us explode in Youth, and show the fires that burn within us in honorable combat!” With that said, he slipped into his nice-guy pose: giving a hard thumbs-up, a bright smile, and a twinkle forming off his shiny white teeth.
Ranma could only blink. “Everyone saw that weird twinkle thing he did, right?”
“Just go,” sighed Nabiki. “And remember Saotome, no holding back. You’re not here to show off; you’re here to show what you’re capable of.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, as he walked out onto the field.
Finally, after he took his ready position—hands in his pockets and his usual ‘no defense’ defense—Minato began the match.
Still smiling in anticipation of a grand fight, Gai launched a kunai at Ranma’s head with blinding speed.
Ranma’s smirk grew, too used to such attacks by Mousse—though the kunai was a nice change from daggers, scimitars, swords, and the occasional training potty. He waited till the last moment before dodging it, trying to stay focused on his opponent.
“Dainamikku-Entorī!”
Ranma stood strong, wanting to know what sort of power-base Gai had. Did he center his fighting around speed and agility, as he himself did? Did he prefer unrelenting brute strength and inhuman resilience, like Ryoga? Or, perhaps, did his techniques center around weapons, like Mousse's? In some fights, the first move can set the entire tone for every move afterwards. Bringing his forearms up, he prepared to block the attack.
The result was that he skidded to the side, his foot placement the only thing keeping him from being knocked over. But he now knew something at least: Gai was no Ryoga. That kick had some power in it, a lot more than he expected. But that wasn’t the equal to the Lost Boy’s usual charge.
Smirking, Ranma charged forward, making three quick punches and a few kicks, testing out Gai’s response. With each move, he increased his speed a bit.
The duo continued to smile as they danced about, each one upping the energy of the battle as they tried to surpass the last limit the other used.
“You are a skilled fighter,” commented Gai, as he avoided a punch to his ribs, hopping backwards and trying to come up to Ranma’s blindside.
Ranma dodged the shot to his kidneys, parrying the blow and trying to catch Gai with a kick to the head. “Not bad yourself,” he replied. He was tempted to see if they could exchange a few techniques, but he was still a little freaked out from the shining smile from earlier.
Soon though, the increases in energy began to wane, as Gai’s limits began to approach.
“Looks like you’re about maxed out,” commented Ranma, before he upped his aura a bit. “Mine ain’t even near this,” he said with his usually cockiness as he connected with a vicious punch, sending Gai back across the landscape.
The freshly minted Jounin slowly stood up, smiling, as he wiped blood from his lip off his face. “You are truly a warrior of youthful energy, Ranma Saotome.”
“Thanks,” he replied, smirking his usual smile.
“But one should never assume victory is in their grasps until the battle is ended,” he said with a growing smirk as he reached to his pant legs and pulled them up.
Ranma paled a bit, wondering what new horrors the odd fighter might release, but also glad that said surprise needed his pant legs to be pulled up, and not his pants to be pulled down.
That mild fear turned to confusion as it revealed something wrapped around, a wraparound belt nearly as large as the leg. Gai removed them from both legs, and held them out to his side, smiling as his pant legs slid back into place.
“After all,” said Gai, “the tides of battle can change in but an instant.” And with that, he dropped the weights.
Ranma barely had time to notice the small craters the pair of belts made before he received a kick to his guts, sending him backwards.
Okay, he’s a lot faster now. Obvious conclusions aside, Ranma fell right back into his battle mode. At best he found he could avoid fewer blows now, a concession to the new speed Gai was using in the battle. Moves that Ranma would have dodged easily before now became dodges missing by the narrowest of margins. Momentum added to the harsher effectiveness of the kicks, but the punches remained the same, only intensified if he gave Gai enough room to use a running start to add to the momentum of the fist.
Gotta stay close; keep him from adding power to his fists. If he can’t use that speed to get around me, then he can’t hit me!
Ranma was forced to keep Gai close now. If he didn’t, then Gai would use his speed to level a more devastating blow from wherever he found an opening. Sure, he would take more damage this close, but he couldn’t allow the green-clad ninja to put some distance between them.
Gai grunted as he Ranma kept flowing around his punches. He wasn’t avoiding them anymore by large margins, but small ones. Gai was missing him once more, and it was now leaving Ranma constantly close enough to deal damage back.
I’ll need to start adding some weights to my arms. It was quite obvious to Gai now that while he had more speed without the weights, it was concentrated only in his legs. The advantage of which was being lost because Ranma refused to allow him to use anymore, despite the damage he was taking from it. In order to hit Ranma enough to win, he was going to need more speed in his arms. And there was only one technique at his disposal for that.
Ranma however, was reaching the same conclusions about Gai’s offensive style. The punches had not gained any speed, but his legs most certainly had. Gai could probably run faster than him now, but his delivery for his attacks had only increased marginally. While his kicks were nearly impossible to avoid, they were the only shifts in the dynamics.
However, as Ranma dodged, it became necessary to keep his legs free to press the attack, keeping Ranma from putting more distance between them.
And Ranma did so enjoy a close up fight. Deciding to go on the offensive himself, Ranma waited for Gai to try another kick. If he tried the attack during one of Gai’s punches, the bushy-browed teenager would use his speed to avoid the area and capitalize on Ranma’s open posture.
However if he waited until Gai tried a kick and would be open himself for an attack, then he would strike pay dirt. “Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken!”
Gai grunted as hundreds of punches rained down on his unprotected stomach, forcing the wind from his lungs, and pushing him back; his attack forgotten as he tried to deal with the pain now assaulting his senses.
Ranma panted slightly. It hadn’t been the attack that had winded him, but the accumulated damage of getting to that point. Slightly stiff, he sent his ki out to accelerate the healing. Oh he was going to be feeling that in the morning, some of those kicks ranked up there with Pig-Boy’s punches. “Ya got faster, ya didn’t get better.”
Gai nodded, smiling. He was enjoying this challenge, someone who was taking him to his limits in his Taijutsu skills. “In any battle, skills, speed, power; these things in the proper combination determine the winner. You are skilled, but my power and speed are ebbing that advantage away.”
Ranma just smirked, standing up straighter as his wind came back to him. “Nah, that speed trick was nice. But I don’t lose.” His smile stayed as his eyes focused on Gai, his mind already coming up with several other ways to overcome the newest challenge now that he had the free moment to consider it. He would adapt and he would win.
“Very well then,” said Gai, standing up as well. “Then I will have to … add a bit more to my attack.”
Ranma’s eyes arched at that response. “Oh, so show me what you got.”
“Omote Renge!” yelled Gai, as he blurred.
Ranma’s eyes shot wide, his senses spotting a sudden spike in Gai’s aura, his eyes barely tracking the now faster movements of his opponent, before he felt the impact of a fist to his chest. He put his best efforts not into dodging the attacks—at this speed, avoiding them wasn’t an issue, but an impossibility for him—but to roll with them, trying to lessen their effect.
Of course that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and find a way to stop it. There was one chance: he needed to keep Gai away from him until that energy burst wore off. Putting as much ki as he was willing to waste into his aura, he exploded it outward. It had worked in the anime Akane always watched, it could … should work for him now.
His aura burst outward, blasting Gai backwards a bit, and allowing Ranma some breathing room, which increased when the pigtailed boy hopped backwards, before collapsing to one knee.
Panting heavily from the effort, Ranma stared at the equally worn Gai across from him. “Looks like that move took a lot out of you,” he mused, wincing at the bruises he could already feel forming across his body. “That power jump thrashed your body almost as much as you thrashed mine.”
“This may be true,” said Gai, as he struggled to stand. But to Ranma’s amazement, his attempts grew stronger, small scratches and bruises from their battle began to heal at an amazing rate. “However, the Lotus of Konoha blooms twice.”
Ranma nodded, eyes narrowed. Silently, he cursed himself as once again; he saw that Gai’s energy had spiked once more, energy that seemed to be healing him quickly. “Nice trick,” muttered Ranma, wondering how Gai had pulled it off.
His own body was healing, just not at the rate Gai’s was. Considering what he saw, he figured he had maybe a minute or less before Gai would be on him once again. Assuming that first spike was now finished, he would be hard pressed to put up a defense or dodge the incoming attacks. If it wasn’t completely finished, then he would be taking a lot more damage soon.
He could try the Umisenken, get around the guy and maybe hit a pressure point. But he didn’t have much in the way of recent practice. Added to that was the fact that he wasn't entirely certain what areas on Gai were covered with weights/armor, made that idea a bad one.
He could try the Möko Takabisha...but successfully using it would require getting up close. Given Gai’s speed, a miss would leave him wide open for a counterattack. To use it, he would have to immobilize the Beast first.
Okay, this guy has speed, but most of his power is in his blows, he commits to the hit. He had trouble against me because I wove around his strikes instead of completely moving out of the way.
Wait; he puts a lot of his power into his strikes! It means he can’t turn as good after a certain amount. So I need to keep him off balanced, constantly … turning.
A smile broke out on Ranma’s face as he ran forward to engage Gai before the ninja could fully heal. Considering all of that aura he was putting out, and what he needed to do…
Ranma had a plan. And he didn’t even need to show off the Saotome Secret Technique to devise it.
Damn I’m good.
“Not sure,” said Kakashi. Whatever was happening, his Sharingan wasn’t picking it up.
Nabiki just smirked. If Ranma was going to do that, at least she was far enough away not to be sucked up.
Kakashi focused on his eye, trying to figure out Ranma’s plan. He saw Ranma launch an uppercut, one Gai also saw and moved to avoid. But to his surprise, Ranma didn’t pull the arm, he continued through with the failed attack.
“Hiryü Shöten Ha!”
The group watched in amazement as a tornado formed around the fighting duo, obscuring them from view.
“You’ll probably want him to explain that one to you later on,” said Nabiki with a smirk, enjoying the harsh breeze created by the vortex of opposite ki energy. She didn’t fully understand it herself, but she did understand that if Ranma stopped to explain every move he did, they’d never be out of there. Of course, he’d probably never shut up until he understood the moves they did. But that was something whoever taught Ranma would have to worry about. At this point, she was only hoping her teacher would be a great one and not some damned pervert.
The tornado slowly dispersed, leaving only a small dug out pit, and Ranma standing in the middle, his clothes barely touched by the howling winds, his fist still in the air. Blinking, he lowered his hand, patting his clothes. “Glad they didn’t rip apart,” he muttered. It wasn’t like he had any other set of clothes here.
“Saotome!”
Blinking, he looked over towards the group, noticing Nabiki pointing up.
“Shit!” he muttered as he flipped backwards, narrowly missing the incoming Youthful Projectile.
The group raced forward, anxious to know the extent of Gai’s damage. As the approached the now deeper impression, they stared in silence as Gai struggled to sit up.
“Such … youth,” he gasped, before passing out.
“He’s okay,” said Ranma, patting off some remaining dust. “Anyone that tough isn’t going to be hurt like that; he’s just out cold from the effects.”
“He’s right,” said Rin, performing a quick chakra scan. “He’ll need some rest, but he should be fine.”
Kakashi fought not to release a depressed sigh. Oh well, he’d just enjoy the quiet while it lasted.
“Okay then, let’s get him out of there,” said Minato. “Kakashi, you’re up!”
But there was something ... off about what he was using for those moves. The Sharingan had saw, analyzed, and stored in memory, as well as the visual clarity to keep from getting dropped in on. But when it focused on Ranma rather than his ‘eternal rival’, the whole procedure seemed … off, as it he wasn’t focusing correctly. If he had to guess, it would have to be that Ranma used a different … variant of chakra.
He would also have the guess from what he had seen that Ranma was primarily a close-range fighter. He obviously didn’t have any weapons on him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have other means to take on a long-range attacker. The problem was he only had a few ninjutsu that were both long-range and non-lethal—well, as non-lethal as those types of jutsus got.
“Begin!” yelled Minato.
Kakashi started out with a silent Bunshin no Jutsu, creating four clones. This was followed by a quick Kawarimi no Jutsu with one of the outer clones, before they charged Ranma.
Ranma just slid into a stance. He didn’t know if this was like Cologne’s Splitting Cat Hairs (Katsu Neko Ke) or Konatsu’s Duplicating Body Technique, but he did know it wasn’t what it seemed. You deal with enough ninjas, especially the crackpot type that somehow seem to seek you out, you learn not to trust first impressions. Quickly, his foot lashed out, kicking several pebbles knocked loose by Gai’s crash landing towards the clones. If they were after-images, then it would go right through the fakes.
Only the one on the left didn’t instantly poof out of existence, and thus as a reward for staying, Ranma delivered a spin-kick to Kakashi’s gut.
The figure lurched backwards, nearly doubled in half, before it disappeared in some smoke as well, a quick Kawarimi allowing Kakashi to evade the attack thanks to a log.
The log didn’t survive the attack, landing in two pieces, split down the middle.
“Damn it,” growled Ranma. It was a move similar to Konatsu’s Disappearing Body Technique, just minus the need to lose a shirt to do it. And when you had trouble like he did, you did not want to lose any clothes in good shape.
Sending his senses out, Ranma tried to locate the missing ninja. This guy wasn’t going to be purely physical in a fight.
Of course, hopping back to avoid a kunai that missed him wasn’t what he was expecting either, especially one that looked like it still had a sale sign attached to it.
“Shit!” Ranma yelled as the tag began to hiss slightly. Dealing with Mousse, you quickly learned that any object thrown that made a sound was something you got away from quickly.
It turned out it was true here, as the area he had been standing erupted in a small explosion. It wouldn’t have been much, but it would have definitely hurt. And probably set him up for a second attack and left him little option for a counter.
Of course, it helps if the second attack isn’t another exploding kunai.
This meant he either needed to create massive damage quickly and constantly, or he needed a deciding blow.
“Shooting Star Kick!”
It also meant you had better never allow him to be obscured by a dust cloud. Apparently he was going to have to do some massive retraining to make use of Obito’s last gift.
Not that he took his eyes off the ninja if he could help it—a fact which saved him from finding out if he was tougher than those exploding tags twice.
Kakashi however, was once again considering two things. One was the fact that Ranma’s taijutsu abilities were at least high chuunin-levels if not low-to-mid jounin levels. The other thing was that he really needed to spend some time watching other ninja practice with his Sharingan and up his repertoire of techniques. His only big one was Chidori, and now wasn’t the time to try such a technique.
But he needed something to get Saotome to back off of him for a moment so he could try to use some more long-range attacks.
Ranma of course gave him just what he needed, just not how he needed. The pigtailed male was a bit tired of dishing stuff out and only taking it with no real proof. So he decided to let out a little explosion of his own. “Möko Takabisha!”
Kakashi’s eyes opened wide as the ki projectile struck him, launching him back roughly across the ground.
Ranma didn’t want to let up as Kakashi was skidding towards the tree line again. Taking Nabiki’s advice, he raised his arms. He wasn’t aiming for Kakashi, but he had to time it just right. “Kijin Raishü Dan!” he yelled, sending two vacuum blades into the trees, hoping to pin the explosive ninja to the ground.
Kakashi was barely able to alter his momentum enough to send him up and over the falling branches that had been trying to pin him, before he disappeared into the trees once again.
“The Sharingan makes one a quick learner,” came Kakashi’s voice from the trees, but not anywhere Ranma could pinpoint.
“That weird eye of yours, I take it?” said Ranma, putting more ki into his scans around him.
“It is a bloodline ability, though mine came as a gift from my teammate before he passed on.”
Ranma made no comment about that. You didn’t speak ill of the dead … as long as they were good people. If the Old Letch croaked, he’d do the same … for the first five minutes.
“It is one of a few truly powerful Kekkei Genkai in the Leaf Village,” Kakashi continued. “I am only just now beginning to fully understand the value of Obito’s gift.”
Ranma dodged another hail of kunai, his eyes quickly noting that those had not had exploding tags on them, as leapt to the side. It appeared either he was out of those or saving them; and since Ranma doubted that the grey-haired jounin knew any Hidden Weapons techniques, it most likely meant he only had a few of either left at best.
“Running out of shit ta throw, are you?” asked Ranma, trying to get Kakashi angry—the one major skill needed for Saotome Ryu and in any battle. After all, an angry opponent was more often than not a sloppy opponent.
Truthfully, that was the last of what Kakashi had to ‘throw’ at him. He was also beginning to run low on chakra. The Sharingan is using too much chakra again. At least I got a few good taijutsu techniques from Gai’s battle. But then again, it seemed Ranma also didn’t fully understand what exactly the Sharingan was. If so, then he could use what remained of his chakra for one final assault. And that meant he had to get close and personal once again.
Ranma blinked as the ninja exited the tree line, instantly engaging into a taijutsu battle again. He still was careful—never knew if all those exploding tags were truly gone—but it seemed as if not only the grey-haired Nin was slowing down, but smiling as well.
Kakashi was smiling—given his mask that was hard to know for certain, as he cupped his hands like Ranma had done. “I already told you Ranma, the Sharingan makes one a quick learner. Möko Takabisha!” he yelled, funneling chakra into his hands like he had seen Ranma do.
BOOM!
Kakashi cringed as he looked at his hands, seeing the damage the failed attack had caused. The sleeves were torn, burned, and slightly bloody halfway up to his elbows. The hands themselves were not much better. The twitched slightly from damaged nerves, something he hoped his remaining teammate could fix. They looked raw, as if he had burnt them in a fire.
Ranma just stared. Not once when he had been practicing the Möko Takabisha or the original Shishi Höködan had that happened. Come to think of it, the only time his hands had ever suffered because of the Möko Takabisha was when he simply put too much power into it, power his body hadn’t been trained to put out.
“Ah, I get it,” smirked Ranma, looking at Kakashi’s hands. “You’re little copy gimmick worked, but ya didn’t fix one thing. I use ki, not chakra. So I guess when ya tried to use my Möko Takabisha, apparently chakra can’t be used like that without a few changes.”
Minato nodded his head. “Not bad, Saotome,” he said, motioning for Rin to get Kakashi and begin healing his hands. It was so odd to see another attack like his own creation: the Rasengan. Momentarily, he wondered if he might be able to fire it like Ranma’s Möko Takabisha when he completed it. Perhaps he’d have to set some time with the teenager and learn about that technique. It might be just what he needed to complete the Rasengan. “But now we have one last test remaining.
“Kurenai, you’re up!”
Kakashi just grumbled, his forehead once again covering his Sharingan eye. “I could have beat him,” he grumbled, as Rin began to heal his burned hands. The left one was just about finished, not being nearly as injured as his right hand had been.
Jiraiya sighed as he handed the complaining teen an orange book. “Stop your bitching and read this. With any luck, you’ll have something else to focus on and we can watch this last test in peace.”
Glaring at him with his one good eye, Kakashi used his one good hand—fresh from Rin’s tender mercies—as he looked at the book. “Icha Icha Paradise: Shinobi Sunset.”
Figuring that he didn’t have anything else to do, with one hand down and his chakra too low to use the Sharingan, he opened it up. Who knew, it might be a good read.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” said the tired pigtailed boy. “What’s this genjutsu stuff?”
Kurenai Yuhi just blinked at the boy. From what she had seen, it was obvious the boy did have skill, at least chuunin-level in several areas. But how could he not know of what genjutsu was when he knew taijutsu and ninjutsu, and why the hell was he waiting till now to even ask. “Genjutsu,” she explained, “are techniques that use the chakra in the victim's nervous system to create illusions. By using it, I can create illusions you believe are real. Advanced genjutsu can even create full sensory immersion.”
Ranma just blinked. “So you can make imaginary fire and stuff that someone will think is real?” he asked, remembering Toma’s little trick that was supposed to be ‘unbeatable’.
Kurenai’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, that is one application of it.”
Ranma just smirked. “No problem then, this’ll be easy.”
“Can you just start now?” yawned Jiraiya. Sure the kid had potential, he could see that. And training him would be a bit easier of a job than training the Tendo girl. But them chatting was not going to show him the limits of what the boy already knew. It was going to be bad enough to even try and train the new brat seeing as how Gai would want to have Ranma train him in using ‘ki’. Right now though, he wanted to see the brat’s mental fortitude.
“Then we shall start off with a basic technique,” said Kurenai, her hands clasped together before her, as she concentrated.
Ranma blinked as he felt her discharge … some sort of power. If that stuff Toma used was Genjutsu, he hoped it was something he could learn—not that he’d ever abuse such knowledge and make some rivals and especially one insane kendoist think they were surrounded by fire.
“So,” he started, looking around for some fire, “when does this technique start?”
“RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!”
Mouth wide in shock, he turned, spotting perhaps the only person he could expect to find him here. But sure enough, fresh from the forest, backpack and all, was the Lost Boy, glaring at him and charging straight for an attack.
“Damn it, Bacon Bits,” yelled Ranma, “I’m busy here!”
“How dare you think about your needs when Akane is crying about you running off with Nabiki?” Ryoga yelled, as he launched a haymaker at Ranma’s skull.
Ranma dodged it, but his eyes narrowed. Something was off about this. How come no one had stopped this? Wasn’t he supposed to be under some test right now? Unless of course they felt Ryoga’s desire for a quick battle was a good test. Hell, he should have been hearing Nabiki demand the walking pork product to take them back to Nerima.
And then he saw it, a blur around the edges of the attacking Lost Boy, as if he didn’t have anything really there.
“By using it, I can create illusions you believe are real.”
Ranma just smirked. Okay, so he hadn’t picked it up so quickly, but now he understood. It wasn’t fire, but it was still a cool little illusion, one he definitely wanted to learn—once again not to use it on unsuspecting rivals or pain-in-the-ass fathers.
“Thanks for the rest,” he said, scratching his lower back. “But that wasn’t very good.”
“What?” she growled out. She was supposed to be a prodigy, but this guy was shaking off a jutsu of that power and level faster than a few chuunin she knew, and calling her work sloppy.
“Well, having me attacked by Ryoga was pretty nice,” he mused, scratching his chin. “But he wasn’t all there, kinda blurry in places.”
Her eyes opened wide at that, anger replaced with shock and confusion. Her genjutsu had been … imperfect? Then again, perhaps it had not been her effort that was the problem, but the target himself. Didn’t he say he used some form of energy called ki. The Fourth had commented that it seemed almost like a differing mixture close to chakra, but that he wasn’t sure. Could it have somehow altered his perception enough to block a perfect application of genjutsu?
Of course, given that her opponent was one pigtailed martial artist, her current state was reset soon enough.
“Man, hope the other moves you have are done better, cause I’d hate to be underrated because you need more practice.”
“Fine,” growled Kurenai, as she began to form some seals. “We’ll try another genjutsu then.” The fact she planned to amp the power on it just a tad to mess with him for calling her skills dodgy had nothing to do with that decision. If asked, she would just say that she felt his odd energy might not allow for low-energy genjutsu to take hold unless she amped the chakra in them.
Ranma just snorted. “Sure, try some more of that mental hocus-pocus skill of yours; it ain’t gonna work on me.”
“We’ll see,” she said, forming the final seal. “Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu,” she said in an eerily calm voice, as the leaves began to dance around Ranma.
Nabiki paled at hearing the name. She knew that technique all too well, the same technique that sick bastard had pumped up and used on her to weaken her resistance. But unlike Ranma, she had seen a horrifying vision, as well as felt the blows as her family attacked her, belittled her.
But what would Ranma see? She could already see that his smirk hadn’t died off, his eyes still focused on the young genin that Minato had chosen for the test. What would be his horrifying vision, she wondered. Akane’s cooking? Kuno declaring his love?
Her eyes shot wide, a sudden thought entering her head. No, it couldn’t be! It couldn’t locate and use that fear, could it? “You’ve got to stop now!” screamed Nabiki to Kurenai.
“What’s wrong?” asked Minato.
“She can’t use his fear!” Nabiki yelled, not even wanting to consider what would happen if that got loose here. If what that damned tanuki had said was true, they did not need that running around with so much power. Hell, Ranma hadn’t even slipped into it since he started learning to toss his chi around like a baseball. There was no telling how powerful the damned thing would be now.
“I don’t understand,” said Kurenai.
But before Nabiki could respond with a warning, with a new scream to cancel the technique; the fear became fact.
Ranma’s eyes became hooded by his bangs, as he crouched down on the ground.
“Meow.”
“The Nekoken,” Nabiki quietly hissed, fear racing through her mind, as she wondered what the cat would do now.
“Meow.”
He immediately stiffened up at hearing the cry of a small cat, as he spun around, trying to locate the source of his eternal tormentor, once again trying to lure him into a false sense of safety with their small beady eyes and their ‘I’d never scratch out your eyes and dine on your blood’ face.
He found it coming towards him from the right, a lone baby ... thing, making its way towards him, exuding peace and serenity, a total appearance of non-threatening.
Like he’d fall for that again.
“Meow.”
He blinked, twisting to his left to spot a second of the fearsome beasts, making its way towards him as well. Okay, just two of the furry demons; I can handle them. Ha! I ain’t scared of two little furballs! Ranma was trying to form a smirk at the apparent victory over the technique; as if two kittens could defeat him.
“Meow.”
He blinked. A third one? Well, that wouldn’t be ... too... Shit!
That may have been just the meow of one cat, but it was not just that one new cat making its way towards him. Everywhere he looked, the furballs were there, making a beeline for him. So many that the field seemed to have no grass, only a sea of mouse chasers, and each one coming towards him.
His heart began to race as he looked for anywhere he could leap to avoid the encroaching mass of fur fury. But the trees were too far for him to leap towards, given his weakened state, and no other features stood out in the landscape to put some well needed distance between him and terrors.
Stay calm! He mentally berated himself. They’re just the small ones, ain’t nothing I haven’t faced before!
His small reassurances failed though, as the small furry kittens began to shift and grow, distorting and becoming the things he feared most. There weren’t tiny monsters anymore.
There were true incarnations of demonic cats from Hell he knew them to be, easily twice the size of the tiger Kuno had used before. Their calm appearance was gone, replaced with a drooling menacing one that seemed to belay their intent to gobble him up and rip into his form.
Ranma didn’t even have time to scream before they all seemed to leap at once to pounce on him.
He had no idea how bad it was about to get.
Name: Omote Renge, literally "Front Lotus", Viz "Forward Lotus" (a.k.a. "Primary Lotus" or "Initial Lotus")
Type: B-rank, Offensive, Short range (0-5m)
Users: Rock Lee
This technique puts a lot of strain on the user's muscle fibers, and is basically a suicidal attack. Normally, humans use the power of their muscles at only about 20 percent of its full power; the brain regulates muscle usage to ensure this, since any higher and the muscles will be damaged or destroyed. The Omote Renge requires the opening of one of the inner celestial gates- the Initial Gate, which releases the brain's regulation on muscle usage. The result is a much more powerful brand of Taijutsu than normal, but at the cost of damage to the user.