Disclaimer: I do not own either Ranma or Naruto.
'Thoughts'
"Kyuubi or Inner Sakura"
(Technique Translations)
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Saotome Ranma was not having a good day. The young man, who had defeated the Phoenix God Saffron, had finally beaten the perverted grandmaster Happosai decisively, and was well on his way to working out his fiancée problems, was suddenly 6 years old, again. He didn't know why his eternal rival, Hibiki Ryoga had slipped him the 6 centimeter mushroom, only that the look on the fanged boys face was not its usual look of anger or depression. It almost looked apologetic. Genma's reaction and Tendo Soun's reaction, trying to tie the boy down until they could find either another 6 centimeter mushroom or a 18 centimeter one, was futile. His mother threatening to behead his father didn't help much, either. So an 18 year old Ranma in a 6 year old body did the only thing he could. He left the area.
He wandered for about a week or so, using his curse when he needed food (not many people could resist a cute 6 year old) and trying to figure out a way to buy some time, when he remembered an incident from several years earlier. He and his father had found an abandoned shrine in the mountains in Okayama Prefecture. Genma, being the concerned father he was cough went in first to make sure everything was safe. When he came back out, less than 10 minutes later, he firmly announced that there was nothing of use there. Ranma didn't quite trust his father as he saw a look in his eyes he wouldn't see again until Happosai showed up years later at the Tendo dojo. It was a look of abject fear.
Ranma made for the shrine and climbed the well-worn steps. When he stepped inside the shrine, he saw the only ornamentation, a giant gate way filled with swirling mists.
'Wherever this thing leads, it'll buy me some time. Pops will never think of looking for me here,' the youngest looking grandmaster thought to himself and wasted no time entering the gateway.
Elsewhere...
After a sensation of falling that strangely reminded him of the Nanban Mirror, Ranma found himself tumbling out of an identical gateway in a forest composed of a wider variety of trees than were found in most Japanese forests. As he chose a direction and began moving that way, he noticed several young saplings and dead trees as though a great disaster had occurred there not long before. He was wondering what might have happened when he heard the one sound that was an automatic battle summons for him, the sound of a girl screaming.
He ran toward the sound and found a man dressed in rather nice robes wearing a strange headband carrying a young girls trussed up like a turkey. The girl had apparently just worked a gag out of her mouth as the man had stopped to set her down and replace the gag. Ranma wasted no time leaping into action.
"Kiai!"
The turned, slightly stunned, face the boy.
"Moukou Kaimon Ha!"
The young man's kick felt to the strange man as if a Stone nin had kicked him. Quickly recovering, he swung at the young man with his left hand while reaching with his right for a kunai. The swing missed.
'Not a bad fighter,' Ranma mused as he dodged several more attacks, empty handed and with the kunai. 'Hmm. Looks like a form of Taijutsu. Add the kunai to the mix and you get ninja.' Ranma was not an absolute hater of ninjas. After all, two of his best friends were kunoichi. Granted, only one of the two was female, but that didn't matter at the moment. This guy, however, was more than likely paid to kidnap the girl. That didn't set well with the young martial artist. Time to kick this up a notch.
"Haku dato shin sho!"
The young girl gasped as she saw a strange boy a few years older than herself execute a move strangely similar to one of the moves she had seen her father and her uncle practicing. She was even more startled when she saw blood and chakra erupt from the Cloud nin's back.
"What's wrong, jiji? Can't take a little serious punishment? I know pigs that can take more than that," Ranma smirked. Granted the pigs in question were Hibiki Ryoga, who could head-butt the average automobile and walk away and Katsunoshiki, who was a formidable sumotori in his own porcine fashion, but he wasn't lying.
The Cloud nin had no such knowledge, of course, and got angry. Very angry. How dare this brat without so much as a hita-ate dare insult him, the elite Jounin ambassador from the Raikage. The nerve of him claiming pigs could handle that blow when he couldn't. He began focusing on one thing, killing the brat.
The young girl began trembling as she feared her rescuer was done for. In her trembling, she failed to recognize the presence of her uncle and two more members of the Branch House. She was too wrapped up in the fight between the strange young man and the Cloud ninja.
Hyuuga Hizashi had his Byakugan active as he landed in the clearing and was shocked. The Cloud nin was showing signs of chakra burn, and, more surprisingly, his chakra was being drawn into a spiral by the unusual dodging antics of the young man who had most likely rescued his niece, Hinata. 'If he survives this, Hiashi-sama might want to meet this young man,' he thought.
Ranma was maintaining the Soul of Ice as the ninja he was fighting followed him into the spiral. Five more steps, four, three, two, one...'Goodbye kidnapper for hire.'
"Hiryuu Shouten Ha!'
"What the...?" started the Branch House member that did not have his Byakugan active, stopping when Hizashi and the other motioned him to silence.
"A chakra tornado," was the answer from Hizashi.
"What kind of ninja is he, able to do this before he even gains a hita-ate?" asked the other.
"Take care of the Cloud ninja first. We'll question the young man after that."
The aforementioned Cloud ninja needed no taking care of, as between the fall and the drain from the strange tornado, he was quite unconscious when he hit the ground. The two Branch House members secured him in preparation for accommodations with Morino Ibiki, Hidden Leaf's interrogation specialist. Hizashi turned his attention to his niece.
"Hinata-sama, are you alright?"
"I am safe, uncle. Who is that boy? He used that move I see you and tousan using in practice."
"A Jyuken move? Impossible. He is not a Hyuuga. Look at his eyes."
Hinata obeyed and saw a pair of stormy blue-gray eyes that seemed to have a hidden pain within them.
"Ano. Can someone tell me where I am, who you are, who this kidnapper for hire is, and what happened to these woods? Er, gomen, Saotome Ranma desu," the boy said, as though suddenly remembering his manners.
"Saotome-san, I am Hyugga Hizashi. The young lady you helped rescue is my niece, Hinata-sama."
"Honored to meet you, Hyugga-san. Is Hinata-sama OK?" The boy replied, showing etiquette most of his friends would have been astonished to know he possessed and his father would have tried to 'train' out of him.
"I-I-I-I'm a-a-a-all right, Saotome-san," the Hyugga heiress responded.
"Please, both of you. Call me Ranma. My father is Saotome-san, and I came here to avoid his foolishness."
"Very well, Ranma-san. Would you care to explain more?" Hizashi answered as the group made its way back toward Konoha.
"I think I should, but it's a long story and the less I have to tell it the better."
"I have no problem with that."
As the group reached the gates of the Hidden Village, Hizashi gave the others directions, "Akiro, take the Cloud ambassador to Ibiki-san. Akita, ask Hiashi-sama to meet us at the Hokage's office. I suspect Ranma-san has an interesting story to tell," Hizashi ordered as the group cleared the gates of Konoha and led the unusual young man and his niece to the Hokage's office..
A few minutes later...
A man that looked like Hizashi approached the Hokage's office. On his face was a worried look until he saw his young daughter being held by Hizashi. Ranma tensed for a moment until he saw the man relax, slightly. 'At least he's concerned about her.'
Ranma looked around the office, seeing a fairly austere office with a few chairs and some well used desks. Behind one of those desks was a much older man with an aura that radiated authority and wisdom.
"Hiashi-san, how may I assist you today?" the older man asked.
"Hokage-sama, my twin brother has rescued my niece from an attempted kidnapping by the Cloud and asked for my presence here. I suspect it may have to do with the young man," Hyuuga Hiashi replied.
"Hai. Hokage-sama, Hiashi-sama, this young man's name is Saotome Ranma. It was he who actually rescued my niece. She knows the story better than I do except for the end."
"Oh," the Hokage raised an eyebrow as he puffed on his pipe. "Please Hinata-chan. Tell me what happened."
Hinata began stuttering an answer when the young man stepped up to her, whispered something in her ear and began generating an aura that the older men recognized as pure confidence.
Hinata then began again, "Gomen, Hokage-sama. I was getting ready to change for an afternoon nap when I smelled something odd in my room. When I woke up, I was bound and gagged and being hauled through the forest outside Konoha. I managed to work the gag free and called out for help, just as my father and uncle had taught me." At the point, Hiashi visibly relaxed and promised some of the Branch House guards at the Hyuuga estate punishment for falling down on the job. "The Cloud-nin set me on the ground when I heard a shout. The nin turned as though the shout had slowed him somewhat and Ranma-san Ranma cringed at the -san delivered one of the most powerful kicks I have ever seen to the man's chin. He then used something that made the Cloud-nin's blood spurt out and began insulting him. Then he led him into a spiral and used a Fuuton technique on him. That's when my uncle showed up and brought us back."
"It almost sounds like he was using a form of the Jyuken. That is not possible. He doesn't possess the Byakugan. There is no way he could see the tenketsu's to affect them," Hiashi responded, a bit perplexed.
"Actually, Hiashi-sama, I saw chakra burns on the Cloud 'ambassador's' back, The Fuuton technique the boy used was a chakra reversal technique that fed on the Cloud-nin's own chakra," Hizashi countered.
"Impressive, I must say. Do you have anything to add, Ranma-kun?", the Hokage asked before the discussion could continue.
"Oh. Hai. My name is Saotome Ranma. I currently live in the Nerima prefecture of Tokyo, and, though I may not look it, I am the Grandmaster of the Musabetsu Kakuto Saotome-Ryu, my family's school of martial arts. A rival of mine recently used an unusual magic mushroom on me and reverted me to the age of 6. I still have the knowledge of my family school and a good deal of the speed I had beforehand. I came through a gateway here to prevent my father from doing anything else foolish to me."
"Foolish, young man," Hiashi interjected at this point.
"Yeah. Like engaging me to the daughter of anyone who was a halfway decent cook when he was hungry, throwing me into a pit of starving c-c-c-cats while I was covered in fish products, or taking me to a cursed training ground. That kind of foolishness."
"Cursed training ground, Ranma-kun?" the Hokage asked.
"Yeah. It's called Jusenkyo. I was 16 at the time. The springs curse anyone who falls in to turn into whatever drowned in them last. Hot water can temporarily undo the curse, but it comes back when I get hit with cold water. Most of the people I know got the short end of the curse, like pig or duck or c-c-c- small feline. A few got appropriate ones, like Pops turning into a panda. Me, well, I guess I'd better show you. Could I get some hot water and some cold water, please?"
"Certainly, Ranma-kun."
To say the the Hokage and the Hyuuga were shocked when Ranma displayed his curse was an understatement. Even after watching the change using the Byakugan, Hiashi was astounded.
"Hokage-sama, when Ranma-kun changes, even his chakra coils change. It is a complete change."
"Ranma-kun," the Hokage asked, "do you know anything about the nature of the curse?"
"I do know that the Cursed Springs are fed from a central source called Jusendo inside a mountain where the Phoenix people live. They use the waters of Jusendo to help their king, Saffron, evolve to his highest state. The only other thing I know is that you take the form of whatever drowned in the spring you fall in. Oh, and the curses can mix."
"Mix, young man?" Hiashi queried.
"Yeah. I know a guy named Pansuto Taro who was baptized in the Spring of Drowned Yeti riding Ox carrying Eel and Crane. And I don't have any more of a clue how an eel can drown in water than I do how a duck or an octopus can drown."
Ahem "Hokage-sama, I would like to ask him more about the techniques he used, especially the one my daughter described that sounds like the Jyuuken."
"Oh, sure. Remember me talking about my pop. One thing he was good at was martial arts. He came up with a pair of technique sets he called the Yama-sen-ken(Mountain of 1000 fists) and the Umi-sen-ken(Sea of 1000 fists). The Umi-sen-ken is all about stealth. The Yama-sen-ken is about power. The technique Hyuuga-sama is asking about is called Haku Dato Shin Sho (White Snake Reliable Fist). It hits several shiatsu points almost simultaneously and forces the opponents chi to leave through other shiatsu points."
"Chi. Shiatsu points. Hmm. Ah, you must mean chakra and tenketsu. There are orders of martial monks in the Five Elemental Countries that use your names. You are not a monk in training, are you?" the Hokage asked after Ranma's explanation.
"I was trained by some Shaolin monks during my training trip in martial arts, but my pop had the idea that I should marry and unite our school with the Musabetsu Kakuto Tendo-Ryu. Unfortunately, the mushroom kinda messed that idea up since I was six again and my fiancée was 18." 'All of them are 18.'
Hizashi chose this moment to continue asking the boy about his combat style. "What about the Fuuton technique you use?"
"Huh? Oh, the Hiryu Shouten Ha (Heavenly Dragon Ascension Wave). That was a technique I learned from a Nicheiju elder. Actually, I think she was the matriarch of their village, to tell the truth. Anyway, by making my battle aura cold, I guess you would call it radiating cold chakra, and mixing it with hot battle aura caused by anger 'or perversion' a properly timed strike can cause a tornado. And what's even better is it feeds off your opponents aura."
"Hiashi-san, Hizashi-san, Hinata-chan, I wish to speak to Ranma-kun alone. I think it safe to say he is no danger to Konoha."
The three Hyuuga bowed and left the Hokage's off. As the door closed, the Hokage turned to Ranma.
"All right, Ranma-kun, let's hear your entire story."
Insert Standard Ranma back story
"... After the failed wedding attempt, I tried my hardest to work out my problems. Some of them, like the old pervert and the engagement to Ucchan weren't too hard. Never could quite take care of the Amazons or the Kunos. Then my friend Ryoga pulled the stunt with the mushroom and I found myself 6 again and found the gateway and came here."
"Ranma-kun, what would you really like to do with your life?"
"Well, I am always looking for more martial arts to learn, and I'd kinda like to teach someday. Also, I want to live up to the Code as best I can."
"We have a saying in Konoha. The Will of Fire makes a ninja of Konoha strongest when he is protecting others. Our Will of Fire sounds much like this Code of yours. Would you like to take the time to perfect your art and live up to your Code as a ninja of Konoha?"
"A ninja. Hmm. Konatsu-chan would be surprised and impressed, if I ever saw him and Ucchan again. And I would enjoy sharing my knowledge with people it could help. Sure, I think I would like to become one of your ninjas."
"Very well, Ranma-kun, I'll arrange for an allowance for you for food and arrange housing for you. Also, I would like to test your Taijutsu, err Martial Arts, tomorrow as well as your techniques. I will have a pair of elite Jounin do so. If you do well enough, I will arrange courses with Academy instructors to teach you the knowledge you need to be an effective ninja, as well as our basic jutsus, Kawarimi, Bunshin, and Henge. Also, I will see if I can come up with a seal to give you some control over your curse."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"Oh, and I will make arrangements for Yamanaka Inoshi to see if there might be something we can do about the Neko-ken. Give this to my administrative assistant outside." With that the Hokage gave Ranma a set of papers that would lead to his meeting some of the most unique people he would ever encounter.
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A/N: Differences from the actual Naruto storyline will be explained in future chapters.
