Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, very tragic tale of a penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …….

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in cannon (written or video), so don't flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways.

Advice is always welcome. I will continue the story to its end, and I have several other ideals in the works after this one or during breaks between chapters. I hate seeing stories that are dropped and never finished.

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 4

Ranma had just awakened after going back to sleep from the sheer boredom of laying there in the hospital. Sure it did not hurt that this was the first time in ages that she had not been rudely woke up by one of her so-called friends attacking her or her pop with another stupid training attack. She could tell that it was early morning just by the way her body felt, there was just something about that time before the rest of the world awakened that felt different, even expectant you could say.

"Well, it's about time you woke up Kit I thought you were going to sleep the entire day away," Kyuubi said from within her mind, giving her a feeling that she was amused by something.

"What are you taking about Kyuubi, I waited hours for you to talk to me yesterday," said a still sleepy Ranma. "What were you doing during all that time?"

"I was resting Kit; it took a lot of chakra to rechannel the power of the jutsu that Naruto used. Then I used more to save what I could of what remained of Naruto, while trying to saving your life. We were just lucky that things turned out as well as they did. I don't think that I have ever felt a human with a will to live as strong as yours. The process that I used transferring you to this dimension was not designed for living beings. When I reached out for a force to counter the jutsu's energy, I had felt the energy of the weapon you were using and latched on to it. We were just very fortunate that with the mix of energies and the additional viable bio-matter allowed what it did. But, it was very close as it was."

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked with a worried tone.

"I mean that what was left of you. Naruto and the one you called Saffron was nearly not enough for the form you have now. A part of picking you for my host was what you appeared to be, but another part was your size. If Naruto had not been so harmed by the jutsu or if Saffron had been less damaged it could have turned out differently. I am only telling you this because I want us to be open with each other. Nonetheless, I feel that things worked out the best that they could have under the circumstances. I feel that you are an honorable person Ranma, someone that Naruto would have respected and would have liked to have had the chance to call a friend. I hope that we can be that for each other also."

"Now, I think that we need to be ready for when they come to question you. The village of the Leaf is very open, but they are still a ninja village. So, you should understand how they might react since you have full access to Naruto's memories now. You know how he felt about the village, that he loved it even with the way some of its people treated him. I think that our best course of action is to be open to a point, to tell the truth or at least a blend of truths and half-truths. You do not really have to lie, even if you say that you are the child of the Forth, it is the truth. Tell the Hokage that you are from another world; he will know you are telling the truth by reading your aura, by keeping to the truth and not lying directly and staying open you will be believed at least by him. Now let's create you a life within the Leaf."

After talking and planning things out with Kyuubi for awhile, Ranma felt that they had an effective story. Kyuubi explained that she would be able to hide her presence behind the mask of the cat spirit that Kyuubi had consumed. This was fortunate in that foxes and cats share many traits in common. Moreover, the removal of that spirit had done a lot to heal her psyche, she no longer felt the nearly all consuming fear that thinking about cats would bring on. In fact, without it she could even remember that at one time she had liked cats. It even went a long way to her understanding of how she had been able to catch so many cats when her father asked her to.

Ranma knew it would not be much longer before they would come to talk to her. It had seemed like she had been talking to Kyuubi for hours, but she learned that only a fraction of that time had really taken place. Talking in her mind to Kyuubi was similar to when she was in a fight, the real world would just seem to slow down to her and move in slow motion.

After a short period of time, Ranma could feel that there was an increase in the level of activity outside the room. The guards outside her door were more alert as if waiting for someone important. It was not long after this that she could feel a strong presence coming closer from the feel and Naruto's memories, she felt that this was the Hokage. Just after this the door swung open and one of the two guards walked in to flank the door before an older man that she knew was the Third walked in followed by what she assumed was a doctor or nurse.

"Well young lady, what is your name and can you tells me about how you got here?" He asked.

Winching a little with the young lady comment, Ranma tried to speak for the first time in days, but was unable to get anything out past a whisper.

Noticing her difficulty, the Third spoke, "Oh, I'm sorry, let me pour you a glass of water before we go any farther." Ranma could guess that the old man had fully expected that this would happen and that his response was intended to put her at ease. She still felt that the Third was at least sincere in his concern.

After she had been given a small paper cup of water and scooted up into a sitting position to drink it, she tried to speak again. "Thank you, ojiisan." 'Why did I call him grandfather?' "My name is Uzumaki Ranko," deciding to adopt her female name along with Naruto's, "the only child of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage." She said, while rubbing the back of her head, "Sorry about this."

With those few words, all sound in the room suddenly disappeared, only to be broken by the tinkling sound of the Third's pipe hitting the ground when it fell out of his suddenly numb fingers. Sarutobi was speechless for a moment, he knew beyond a doubt that the Forth had not had a daughter, but he could detect that the child before him was not lying to him. She was or believed herself to be just who she claimed to be, the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. He did not know how this could be, but he would find out.

Taking a careful look at the child, as he reached down to retrieve his pipe, the Third could almost believe it himself, she had the same icy cerulean blue eyes as the Forth and her hair was the same rich shade of auburn red as Kushina's own had been. Looking the girl straight in the eyes, the Third asked her another question, "If as you say, you are the daughter of the Forth, why is it that we have never heard off or seen you before now?"

Acting as if she was surprised by that question, Ranko looked around the room and said, "I don't know exactly how I got here, but I am who I say I am. The last waking thing I remember before I woke up here was fighting Saffron for Akane's and my friends' lives. When I drove my weapon into his body, it seemed to pour forth energy and explode. I could feel a tearing feeling in the air around me as I was pulled away. It was then that everything went painfully black."

"Alright child, say I believe your claim that you are the Forth's child, tell me more about yourself." The Third asked, thinking that even if she were lying that she may drop some bit of information or clue as to where she truly came from.

"I told you that my parents were Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, but they were not the people that raised me. After I was born, my parents died, leaving me an orphan. I was raised by Genma and Nodoka Saotome until I was around six years old. It was at that time that Genma took me away from the only home I had known to train in the Saotome family's style of martial arts. Pops, the stupid panda, believes that girls are weak and that allowing Nodoka too much influence in raising me would make me weak too. So, we left to go on a training trip where he raised me as a boy, to be a man among men." Looking straight at the Third with a strange gleam in her eyes she said, "Do I look like a man to you?"

Chuckling along with the child's joke, the Third could not help himself from feeling that she was telling him the truth. Not once had he detected that the story that she told him was a lie. It was hard to believe, but he had seen her through the scrying crystal. She had been lying there unconscious after the flash of light had cleared. Was it possible that she was who she claimed to be, and that she was somehow transported here? He was willing to believe anything at this point. Last night he had been sure that all of Konoha would be destroyed by the jutsu's blast. However, when the light had cleared she had been there. Had she been pulled from somewhere else? He knew enough to know that this was not the only plane of existence, that there were alternate worlds out there. Nevertheless, he still had other questions that needed answering.

Turning back to Ranko, the Third asked her, "Very well child, if as you say you are telling me the truth, I have another question for you. I sense that you have something inside of you, tell me what it is."

Licking her lips to moisten them Ranko was about to answer when the Third stopped her. She watched as he reached out, poured her another glass of water, and kindly allowed her to finish before directing her to continue her story.

"My pops, the fat stupid idiot, is responsible for that. I told you that he took me to train when I was six; well he had found a scroll that had listed an unbeatable technique called the Cat Fist or Neko Ken. Not brothering to read the rest of the scroll to learn that you would have to be a fool to teach someone the technique he went ahead. I will not tell you everything about the technique as I refuse to take the chance that anyone else would try it. He bound me in rope and fish products and tossed me into a pit full of starving cats. Well I did not die or go insane, like the scroll warned. I survived the training somehow with a powerful cat spirit bound to me, but I am in control of it."

The Third could sense that the child was holding back information about this experience. But, after hearing just a part of what she had been through he did not press for more. In fact, he wished that he could meet this Genma; he did not expect that the man would enjoy the meeting. After questioning Ranko more about her past and listening to her answers, Sarutobi felt that the child was not a threat to the village. He would also, have her claims tested against samples of Kushina and Minato's DNA to find out the truth. If these claims turned out to be true, he would take steps to make up for what he failed to do with Naruto. He would have a second chance, in a way to make things right with their heir.

Announcing that they should take a break until later in the day after hearing the child's stomach loudly start to growl, he excused himself and promised to return later. He also promised that he would see about sending someone over to get Ranko some new clothes before he came back. He was slightly surprised that she did not seem more excited about the prospect of new clothes, but he put that down to her explained odd childhood of going up as a boy under Genma's care.

More to come later soon Ranko as I will now call Ranma will meet Naruto's former classmates and explore the village of the leaf. I am sorry that the chapters are not as long as some people would like. But, I feel that I am doing better about crafting a story and don't like to hold back just to make a longer chapter. At least this way I feel that I am turning something out. Hope you have enjoyed it so far.