"Speach"
'Thought'
/Radio/
I will refer to Ranma in male or female terms depending on his/her form at the time.
Ranma looked down at the crazy village he'd just escaped from minutes before. He or rather she at this point had never encountered such a place before even during the rather extensive traveling with Genma. He'd only stopped a runnaway cart that was about to crush a group of kids. So he stopped a cart carrying nearly a ton of raw metal with nearly no effort. They didn't have to get all crazy about it. Some form of gratitude would have been appreciated.
Of course, in order to stop the cart he'd had to dip into his ki reserve and that might have been the cause for distrust. With that many trained ninjas in a concentrated area his well of power might have been somewhat threatening. When the ninja found him he was stepping away from the kids who were getting teary eyed and, by all the laws of murphy, jumped to the wrong conclusion.
Looking at the shapes carved into the rock below her he could only contemplate where he might have been sent. It was obviously no place she'd ever been before so that left the continents of Africa, Europe, and South America. This wasn't Mt. Rushmore, because it looked nothing like the picture Miss Hinako showed them in Engish class.
Not to mention the common language was definitely Japanese. English would have been predominant no matter how many Japanese tourists visited the US. The device Ryoga had used on her must have been to blame in this case. Well, that, the monster of the week (Akane's Cooking), Xian Pu's amazon magic, and Mu Tsu's strange spell combined.
Considering the causes Ranma took out her normal ticket home.
'This shard of the Nanban mirror has taken me home from a lot of strange places.'
The nanban mirror was, originally, a hand mirror that would allow travel through time and space. Activated by a person's tear the shard was normally very effective in returning the shapshifting martial artist home from unexpected trips. Broken nearly a year ago Ranma had retained this coin sized shard for saftey's sake. If the little pervert happosai found it he could repair the mirror and use it for his own ends. As long as the mirror was not complete the ability to time travel was lost.
Traveling through space was apparently easier to do in pieces. But this time each attempt to return home with it just dropped him back on top of this carved mountain.
'I guess I'm stuck here now..' Her train of thought was distracted easily by the sound of movement to her left. Two life forces were heading her way. One was an older woman by the taste of her ki, and the other was child like... almost wild with traces of Makai energy.
Curious, Ranma moved to investigate. Not many would be leaving a village that was this worried about intruders. What he found was a woman in her late fifties leading a blonde boy up the mountain path. What got his attention was the fact that the boy had massive energy reserves for an untrained three year old. The woman was a concern though. Her aura showed a viciousness that belied her kindly outward appearance.
"Come now Naruto we must hurry if we are to get your present." The old woman sounded sweet but, seemed dangerous for a non-combatant.
"Yay, Jinai-san, what is it?" The boy seemed far too happy holding the woman's hand. As if he'd rarely had such contact.
Concentrating on the path ahead of the two Ranma made an unsettling discovery. A group of perhaps six males were sitting in anticipation of the pair moving up the mountain trail. Now considering this situation Ranma made a decision.
aaaaaaaaaa
Jinai had lost her son to the Kyuubi demon's attack over four years ago and now she was able to gain her revenge. Patience had gained her what others had failed to achieve. The opportunity to be rid of the demon without violating a single law.
All she had to do was get the monster to the top of the monument and the hired thugs from another part of fire country would take the boy away and dispose of it. She'd recieved help from several others in this endeavor, but didn't know who her associates were. Secret messages and periodic instructions moved her into a position to get close to the brat.
Working at the orphanage was tedious after already raising her son but it was necessary and provided her this wonderful opportunity. Moving into the clearing at the top of the mountain path she found a single individual with a masked face sitting patiently for her.
"I thought there'd be more of you?" She asked eying the figure before her. The short individual's form was shrouded in a large cloak and a pack sat nearby.
"For one boy?" Came the young voice. Either the thug was a girl or very young. Or a ninja in disguise.
Best not to question.
"He's all your's. I've done my part." With that she pushed the boy in front of her and moved back down the trail quickly for an older woman.
Naruto looked at the covered figure confused.
aaaaaaaa
Ranma looked at the receding back of the woman with mild anger until she looked at the kid standing there confused. Sighing she picked up the pilfered pack and took the boy's hand.
"Come on kid. I don't know what the deal is, but I don't think it's safe around here for ya. Ya'd do better with me I think."
Lifting the boy into her arms she began walking away from the village.
"I wanna be a ninja." Spouted off the child happy to be carried by this nice girl.
"That's nice kid. Your name's Naruto right?" Ranma asked as she carried him away from the thugs tied up in the tree tops unconcious.
"Ya, U-zu-maki Naruto." Naruto said carefully to her, proud that he pronounce it right. No one had talked to him this much before.
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked as they moved further away from the village.
"I don't know yet. Where do you want to go?" Ranma asked as she made her way through the forest.
'Where to go? I know...'
"I want to go where the sun sleeps." Naruto spoke up.
"What?"
"I hear the lady at the orphan-age say the sun sleeps at night. So I want to see it sleep." Naruto explained.
Ranma laughed at the explanation in her mind, but was also slightly pensive.
"How old are you kid?"
"I'll be five in four months." He showed her the number of months on his hand with his fingers.
This caught her off guard. That explained why he could speak so well. He was either a very malnourished five year old or very small framed boy. Having him in her arms allowed her to do a passive scan of his body only to find he was in fact malnourished. She also found the well of power buried deep with in his body was indeed makai. Demons weren't terribly common in Nerima, but on rare occasions he'd encountered one.
Normally, they congregated in different areas of Tokyo. They tended to avoid Nerima and Juuban due to the dangers associated with those areas. Although there was a new spirit detective in Tokyo with a team so Ranma felt little concern about them. Old Lady Genkai had the situation well in hand with the new guy so Ranma only got involved if the demons visited his section of the city.
"Well? Can we go?" Ranma was brought back to reality by Naruto's questioning voice.
"Sure kid. West it is." Looking at the sun's position she adjusted her course and they left the village hidden in the leaf behind for some years to come.
AN/ Should I continue this story now that I have started it? Maybe. Can't decide. Might be entertaining.