Chosen

by TheSlain

Ranma is taken to the Elemental Countries by a strange entity, given a purpose for being there Ranma decides he will take the strange second chance he's been given into his own hands, The Right Hand of Chaos has returned.

Chosen: Chapter 1 – The Entity and a Purpose

A/N: Okay I promised myself I would never do this… Ever… And here I am writing something that I can't get out of my head. I don't read the Naruto Manga, I stopped watching the Anime after the beginning of Shippuuden but an event stuck out in my mind that took place towards the end of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Kabuto released all those prisoners and had them fight to the death to choose a new body for Orochimaru when Sasuke had not been delivered on time. This is the start of my second Fanfiction and another place for me to cause untold amounts of Chaos as Ranma interferes once again.

In an old cemetery in Nerima ward, Japan a single entity examined each grave with something akin to detachment. This entity could not be seen, heard, felt, or smelled, no this entity for all intents and purposes did not exist within the physical realm and it didn't mind one bit as it searched for the one it was looking for, the one that had been called God Slayer. As it came to the last grave in the cemetery the entity looked down at a simple headstone covered in dirt, grass, and other plants. What could be seen of the headstone gave a single name, Ranma, and that he had died at twenty-two years of age. A single sentence just above the name told quite a bit about the man Ranma had become, "Honor bound until the End."

The entity would have snorted and laughed as was the case, no there was no honor in the way this young man had died, he had valued honor yes, but he had died without it, thus his spirit and the two others that had existed within his body had clung to the decaying corpse until none of the three knew the difference between themselves and had forged a new spirit, as was the purpose of Ranma's Jusenkyou curse in the end. To understand how three spirits could make one you must first understand how they came to be, the first being Ranma himself was overly masculine as could be in his later life during his stay at the Tendo Dojo. The second spirit was forged in the pit of cats as he was taught the Neko-ken, its sole purpose was to protect Ranma when he was at his weakest, and it had succeeded admirably in this way. Finally there is the third spirit, this one was from the very spring that Ranma had fallen in at Jusenkyou, Jusenkyou very rarely let the spirits of its victims go, but when it did it was for a purpose. In this case it was to balance Ranma's own masculine tendencies with those of a woman, to balance his spirit, in death that Jusenkyou spirit had fulfilled its purpose as well.

Now when the merged spirit of the three was almost ready to let go of its purposeless existence the Entity snatched it up and decided to give it purpose, to give it reason to exist, even if it was only to insure the survival of its chosen warrior in a different world, time, and universe. Taking the spirit to its own realm was fairly easy considering the policy of non-interference that the Kami of Ranma's world practiced and so it set him in the nothing that was its home and waited for a moment as Ranma began to wake up so to speak. When Ranma opened his eyes to the nothingness of the void he was sure he was dead but waited to find out as he had learned towards the end of his years that patience usually came with a greater reward. Thus it was the Entity that spoke first, "You learned well during your life time God Slayer, now I present you with a choice, move to the afterlife like every other spirit does when they die, or continue fighting opponents that would be considered far above your own level, choose wisely."

Ranma of course understood that he was being given a second chance for some reason, and he had long ago discovered his purpose in life, that was to fight and keep on fighting. He lived for thrill of the battle even when death seemed to be knocking at the door he had fought, and then he had won. Yes, Ranma knew what his purpose was, but as his memories flashed before his mental eyes he was drawing blanks in places he knew something important had happened, and then he was getting memories of being a girl. As an Amazon of the Joketsuzoku the memories of this time spent as a female had been interesting to say the least but he had gotten anry when this girl he knew he had never actually been was forcefully taken to Jusenkyou and drown there. While he didn't have any memories of being the large cat he could feel the instincts that came with being a part of the cat, the need to hunt and stalk prey, other things that would be less prominent as he mastered those instincts. Ranma couldn't see in this Void but he could indeed hear just fine apparently and his answer was most satisfying to the entity who had chosen him to protect the world she watched, "I choose to fight."

The Entity couldn't have been happier if it could have felt such emotion and had given a reply almost instantly, "then you shall fight God Slayer, because your adventure begins now." Even as Ranma began to disappear from the Entity's realm it felt as if it had made some great mistake, had it been 'watching' Ranma as the last of his body disappeared it would have been frightened beyond what mere words could describe, the grin on his face suggested he had meant far more then what he had said, and when Ranma was putting meaning to his words that was not stated then things were going to go terribly wrong for any plans that the Entity may have had, May Kami have mercy on the multi-verse, because Ranma had been unleashed.

Orochimaru, the Hebi-Sannin, and nuke-nin of Konoha, was currently just standing up to go check on a few experiments when out of nowhere a body had fallen on him, causing him to fall on his face as the full dead weight of the body hit him. Orochimaru hissed in a very serpentine way as he pushed the body off of him, standing up, examining the body closely he noticed first that whoever this young man was he was wearing a red silk Chinese Tang, black fighters pants, and black shinobi sandals. Upon further examination Orochimaru could tell the young-man was well versed in at least Taijutsu, but what confused him was that he could sense some form of energy coming from the boy, but no chakra. The fact that the boy didn't have chakra would bare further investigation, so would this energy the boy was obviously able to use already.

Orochimaru smirked, "Kabuto," he said in a slightly raised voice. "Yes Orochimaru-sama?" The silvered haired medic pushed up his glasses as he focused on orochimaru as he entered the sannin's study, "Kabuto, take this young man to one of my labs, and then prepare a cell for him, perform the intial tests to get what you can on his abilities and such, once that is done put him in the main cell block with the others." Kabuto nodded, "as you wish Orochimaru-sama," the medic picked up the man with a little difficulty as he slung him over a shoulder and left Orochimaru's study as quickly as he had arrived.

Kabuto had set Ranma on a bed and performed several tests to confirm the twenty-three year old was in good health. After the silver haired medic had confirmed the boy was in good health he had left for a few minutes to inform Orochimaru. The Hebi-sannin had given Kabuto orders to put Ranma in a cell for the moment; he had plans for the young man when he finally woke up. For two days Ranma was kept in a cell and not once did he wake up, Orochimaru was sick of waiting and had Kabuto bring the pigtailed martial artist to one of his labs. Orochimaru waited until Kabuto had strapped the young man down on one of the steel tables before his neck stretched out and he grew a pair of fangs as he latched on to Ranma's neck, just behind the head. As Orochimaru pulled back three curved lines could be seen on the back of Ranma's neck, the Chi no Juuin had been applied to the young man.

Orochimaru grinned like the maniac he was and Kabuto was slightly shocked that his master had used that particular cursed seal. As they watched Ranma's body seized up for a moment before relaxing slightly, as soon his body relaxed the Chi no Juuin activated the square lines spreading across his body rapidly before seeming to melt into his skin as the purple chakra the young martial artist had been surrounded by steadily began to turn a dark blue as Ranma's own Ki began to purify the corrupted chakra. Orochimaru watched with growing ire as the Chi no Juuin was steadily destroyed, the hebi-sannin also noticed that the purified chakra was jump starting the young man's Chakra circulatory system and he grinned viciously as he thought of all the things he would be able to do with this specimen.

Kabuto began a few diagnostic jutsu to make sure the younger man would live, but as he did so the silver haired medic's eyes widened considerably as he suddenly stood up with a look of fear on his face as he backed away. When Kabuto was almost five feet from Ranma he turned and bowed to Orochimaru as he spoke, his voice shaky, "Orochimaru-sama, this man, he could be dangerous to keep alive." The snake-sannin turned sharply to Kabuto as his eyes narrowed and he hissed, "why would he be too dangerous to keep alive?" Kabuto was shaking as Orochimaru released an ungodly amount of killer intent, "Master, he has seven of the eight Hachimon Tonkou open." Orochimaru's eyes widened as he turned back to the man who had destroyed the Chi no Juuin the snake-sannin had applied to him, as he examined the boy as if were an experiment Orochimaru smirked, "apply Chakra binds to him, make sure they channel the chakra into the ground to be absorbed, I want him kept alive for the moment, experimenting on this one can wait until I have my new body."

Kabuto nodded quickly as he unstrapped Ranma and took him back to the cell he had been assigned, shutting the door and sealing it Kabuto went to get the Chakra Bind, when he had them he returned and applied them. Essentially the Binds were a pair of shackles with a long chain attached to each of them, the chain was sunk into the ground while the seals on the shackles pulled chakra from whoever they were applied to and the chains channeled the Chakra into the ground. They were effective in keeping stamina freaks subdued for long periods of time, and as Kabuto left the cell again he wondered how long it would take for the Binds to fail. What nobody, not even Orochimaru suspected, was that the Binds would help Ranma's new Chakra circulatory system to grow, by the time Sasuke was supposed to arrive Ranma's monstrous Ki reserves would be matched by just how large his Chakra reserves were. What nobody thought would happen often happened when Ranma was around, in this case his Chakra reserves were forced to grow so rapidly it was dangerous for his health though nobody would discover that fact until Ranma made his escape.

Ranma had always been a fighter and thus he had always been instinctively good in the Martial Arts, he had developed a sort of sixth sense during the training trip with Genma. It was after that sixth sense had been fully developed that Ranma realized he had become more powerful in some way, what he didn't realize was, and that in developing that Sixth sense he had permanently opened the first of the Hachimon Tonkou. During the course of Ranma's stay with Tendos he had trained even harder and began to grow even more powerful, he began to force open, without knowing it, the second of the Hacimon Tonkou. When the second gate had been forced open it wouldn't remain open, often giving Ranma the boost in power he needed to defeat an opponent before closing up again. This had frustrated Ranma greatly so he focused his training on maintaining that boost permanently; he succeeded after several months of training. The third gate of the Hachimon Tonkou was even more frustrating for Ranma when he finally managed to push it open in his fight with the Orochi to save Akane. He had trained in maintaining the third gate as well, though he never knew that he was steadily pushing past human limits and doing what was considered impossible.

After his training Ranma was able to, on a conscious level, keep three of the eight Hachimon Tonkou open at any one time. On a subconscious level Ranma always kept the first gate opened, in battle he opened the second and third gates, on a subconscious level Ranma knew he could go further though he didn't do so consciously. In his fights with Herb the Dragon Prince, and Saffron the King of Phoenix Mountain, Ranma had opened, on a subconscious level, up to the seventh of the Hachimon Tonkou. When Orochimaru applied the Chi no Juuin, Ranma's body recognized it as a threat and opened up all the gates it could without destroying itself to fight the threat. The energy produced from opening seven of the eight Hachimon Tonkou was focused solely on purifying the corrupted chakra that the Chi no Juuin produced, and then on destroying the Chi no Juuin itself. When Kabuto had examined Ranma to make sure he would live the gates were only just starting to close. The Chakra that had been purified had jump started Ranma's circulatory system so when the Chakra Bind had been put on Ranma he only had the chakra levels of a mere child in a standard ninja village, the Binders forced his body into producing Chakra so fast his reserves were forced to grow to low Jounin level as fast as possible. The rate of growth of such a network of energy within the body was dangerous and potentially deadly.

Ranma remained unconscious for almost a week and half due to lack of energy before finally waking up, he had just enough energy to wake up and move normally, for him anyways. Ranma could feel something off within his body, more particularly his Ki seemed to be low, and there was another energy there that he could feel in a metaphorical sense. Opening his eyes Ranma took stock of his surroundings and noticed the shackles on his wrists, a tug on them confirmed that they were attached to the ground. Grumbling incoherently Ranma pressed the inex finger of both hands to the shackle on the opposite hand and channeled some Ki into the metal bindings, a few seconds later the two metal cuffs crumbled to dust as Ranma finished his improved version of the Bakusai Tenketsu. The Chakra Bindings absorbed chakra from the one wearing them, this meant they absorbed the combined physical and spiritual energy that most Shinobi produced, and they did not absorb the base components of chakra alone.

Ranma examined himself for a moment; unconsciously rubbing the spot where the last remaining piece of the Chi no Juuin existed. He recognized the fact that he was in some form of solitary cell but didn't really know how he got there. As Ranma was contemplating how to get out of the cell the door creaked open slightly, Ranma raised an eyebrow as he approached the door and pushed it open slowly. Outside the cell Ranma could see a large room, if he were to guess, Ranma would say it was about as long and a bit wider then an American football field, every five feet or so along the wall there were doors similar to the one he had opened. Ranma pushed the door all the way open as several other doors opened and people began to leave the cells, walking amongst the large number of prisoners, Ranma could tell most them had been there for a long time. Ranma's head snapped up and towards a voice as someone started speaking.

Kabuto looked down at the prisoners from his position on the balcony as he spoke, "Everyone, listen carefully," the silver haired medic smiled lightly as he continued, "I will allow you out of this prison, but only the last man standing." Kabuto turned around and disappeared into the hallway as all hell broke loose down on the floor. As Ranma was in the very midst of the large brawl he was giving out quite the beating and nearly had his head taken off by a large fist when a voice entered his mind, "You were Chosen for a reason, and now I give you a purpose, protect the Ninth and destroy the Sage of the Six paths." Ranma continued beating the living daylights out of the other prisoners but he had acknowledged his purpose in this world, now there was only the fact that he had other plans.

Kicks, punches, and throws were being dish out liberally by the pig-tailed martial artist as the fighting continued, as Ranma jumped upwards, nearly some fifteen feet he was struck by a wave of pain as the last of the Chi no Juuin imploded. The energy released by the Chi no Juuin was enough to force Ranma into finding a way of getting rid of it as fast as possible or die a very painful death. Ranma took stock of his surrounding and made for the edge of the brawl to start his plan. Along the way he planted a foot in a brown haired man's face and a fist in the gut of another man. Ranma was starting to feel the energy build as he entered the necessary emotionless state for his plan to work and started the spiral, his eyes were beginning to glow as he made his way around the very edge of the large room in the first leg of the spiral. As he began to tighten the spiral Ranma was forced to duck and dodge around attacks as well as people, the anger, frustration, and generally high strung emotions in the vast room would make this even more powerful. Ranma didn't bother fighting anybody as he began to enter the center of the spiral, he stopped in the center and dropped down only to rise from the ground incredibly fast with a twisting upper cut.

The shout of "Hiryu Shoten Ha," stopped all the fighting in the large room for a moment as everybody turned to and then nearly died laughing when nothing happened. Ranma's grin as the tornado erupted around him was decidedly feral.