Akane Tendo sighed, it had been two weeks since Ranma and Ryoga had both disappeared. She knew in her heart that Ranma would come back to her, after what had happened with Saffron she knew he loved her, and that she felt the same way towards him. She looked towards Genma Saotome, Ranma's Panda/Dad, and asked the question she had asked so many times in these last two weeks, "Are you sure?"
Genma nodded his head, "I already told you Akane when he was young I met a traveling martial artist, he showed me a technique that linked myself and Ranma's life forces, I'd know if he was dead."
Akane sighed, she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or just trying to avoid having to commit Seppuku at the hands of Ranma's mother, after all a dead man is not a man among men, but she chose to have faith in the aging martial artist, she had to for her own sake.
Ranma sneezed, looked around, and decided that someone had been thinking about him. His own thoughts turned to Akane, thinking back to their disastrous wedding attempt, and laughed despite himself. He had just woken up in the apartment that Konoha had lent him and was preparing to do his morning workouts when there was a knock on the door. He opened it, fully expecting it to be either Guy or Lee, only to find himself face to face with the tall, white-haired ninja that he had met the day he arrived in Konoha. The man's one visible eye observed him lazily.
"I'm sorry, I was looking for someone else," Kakashi Hatake said, "You haven't seen a short, red-head around have you?" He eyed the young man who had answered the door, not sure what else to say.
"Got any water?" was the young man's only reply, he raised one eyebrow at Kakashi, "I can get her for you, but I need some water first."
Kakashi sighed, "Of course I end up meeting a crazy person first day back," he thought to himself, before pulling out his canteen and handing it over to the pig-tailed boy still in his pajamas. He was slightly surprised when instead of taking a drink he dumped the water over his own head, and he was even more surprised when suddenly standing directly in front of him, was the girl he'd been looking for.
He flushed when he noticed that her shirt was thoroughly soaked, giving Kakashi a view of her voluptuous chest, he turned his head away.
"You might want to put on a dry shirt," he said, motioning down towards her chest, trying his best to be courteous. "Damn, I might like to read 'romance novels' but I still have some respect in me," he thought to himself, as he was led inside by the short girl. A moment passed, and the redhead returned wearing a blue sleeveless qipao and a pair of black silk pants.
"So what'd ya want anyway?" Ranma asked, looking the one-eyed ninja up and down, "I mean you already thanked me for my help with those guys who attacked you before."
Kakashi nodded, "I was just coming to see if there was anything I could do for you, but I needed to also ask you an important question"
Ranma preempted the question with her answer, "Yes, I will help you train your students, I don't like training other people, but I also would hate to just sit back and watch as a bunch of kids went out into the world to get killed by a bunch of grown-up ninja," she shook her head, "You'll have to bring them to the training ground along with Guy and Kurenai's Kids though, can't be playin favorites."
Kakashi's grin was covered by his mask and his eye didn't show it, but Kakashi was glad that she had agreed to help, he had returned to Konoha today, and just happened to see Neji sparring with Hinata, both of them showing levels of strength and speed higher than he expected even from one of Guy's pupils, much less Hinata, who was showing confidence in her own abilities something that Kurenai had mentioned she was lacking completely. He had eventually been able to find Guy and had asked what had happened while he was away, only to find out that his team was falling behind, even after all of the growth they had accomplished in the Land of the Waves.
He was pulled from his musing by the girl's voice, "if you want to start today, meet up with us at Training Ground Three at noon, we start then,"
Kakashi nodded and quickly made his way out of the apartment heading to gather his team.
Ranma looked towards the mirror and sighed, she had already showered today and had no intention of doing so again, "Looks like today's a girl day." She made her way out the door, trying to find a nice sweets shop. She thought back on the progress her students had made, Lee was shaping up amazingly, he could move almost as fast now with his weights as he had originally been able to without them, and Neji, Hinata, and Kiba were all reaching the level that Lee's taijutsu had been at originally, true to her word, Ranma hadn't been able to help them with their Ninjutsu Skills but all of the Genin who had been training with Ranma daily for the last two weeks were now able to output much more chakra than they had originally been able to, plus with help from both Kurenai and Guy, their control over their Chakra had exponentially increased. Ranma stopped thinking about his training for a moment as he laid eyes on a tea-shop that advertised "The Best Rock-Candy in Konoha," her thoughts turned to sweets as she entered the store, slightly disappointed that the clerk was a female, no free stuff for now, and ordered herself, several sweets.
Naruto Uzumaki quickly made his way towards Training Ground Three, special training with sensei had naruto extra pumped even though he knew it was team training which meant Sasuke would be there.
"Sasuke's not as bad as I thought he was," Naruto thought to himself, "He's still an annoying smug bastard, but he's still my friend!" He stopped running when he noticed that there was a group of Ninja already at Training Ground Three, he spotted Kiba and Shino among some people he had never met before, standing to one side, exchanging blows with one of the strangers was Hinata, he was confused, but decide to continue forward, he within ear-shot when he heard Kiba say "Man, I can't believe how strong we've gotten in such a short period of time!" he reached down and rubbed Akamaru's head, "even Hinata can go toe to toe with Neji now,"
Kiba sighed, he was glad he was making progress, it frustrated him how quickly he had been passed by Hinata, especially after Ranma had increased the trainings difficulty, breaking down all of the participants, forcing them to come to terms with their actual limits, it had been a confidence boost for some, and had crushed a few egos. Neji was the most secure in his beliefs that he was superior, but even he had reconciled with Hinata, Ranma had quite literally kicked him down a peg or two, somehow getting to explain to the jounin his reason for hating Hinata, which despite what Kurenai had thought, wasn't truly hate for Hinata but for the Main house of the Hyuga. He had then been forced to realize that Hinata wasn't in charge of the Main house and that she too wasn't happy with her father.
Neji's Byakugan, like Hinata's, warned him that Sasuke and Sakura were approaching slightly behind Naruto, Neji had already taken advantage of Hinata's lapse in focus upon seeing Naruto and had scored several shots to her arm, closing down her chakra points, but had received several of his own as well.
Naruto had stopped in awe, watching the pair fight, showing skill beyond any he had seen from his classmates, "They're as good as, no better than Iruka," he was appalled, he thought he had gotten stronger, but here in front of him was Kiba and Hinata both showing skills far beyond what he had.
"What the hell!" he yelled in protest, "How the hell'd you get so strong?!" He ran up to Kiba, "Come on man, you gotta tell me, please!"
Ranma leaped out of the trees, looking down at the commotion below, she laughed to herself, "Alright everyone, let's get started, today we are gonna be showin' these newbies the ropes, I want each of you to find someone who is new, and walk them through the process, use the weights like I did with you all."
She turned towards Lee, "You get ready to spar," turning toward Kiba and Tenten, "you go work with Ryoga."
As the teams dispersed, Ranma noticed the blonde kid was standing there looking confused, "What is it kid?" she asked, looking him up and down, "Your one of Kakashi's kids right? He said you'd be training here." The jounin had informed him yesterday, Guy and Kurenai, that there was going to be a meeting about the Chunin exams that day, and that Guy would be the only one to show at practice. Before Ranma could say anything else Hinata approached and tapped Naruto on the shoulder.
"Umm, Naruto-kun, you can come train with me," the Hyuga said timidly, causing Ranma to give her a puzzled look.
"I thought that I had fixed her timidness," the redhead thought inwardly, before noticing the way that Hinata looked at Naruto, "Ahh, a crush." Ranma shook her head, and simply smiled, she wasn't sure why there seemed to be so much boy craze among the genin girls of Konoha, but Tenten's crush on Lee had been an amazing motivator for her thus far, and he could already spot the way that Lee kept glancing over at the Pink haired girl, Sakura, that he liked her.
"Well they are middle school aged kids after all," she said to herself as she turned towards Lee, his strength was exponentially more than it had been, and he no longer thought of himself as a loser. Ranma could tell the kid was a genius, and now so could Lee.
"Let us begin Saotome-sensei!" Lee yelled enthusiastically before springing forward his body untrackable by any save Ranma and Ryoga.
The third Hokage sat at his desk, "You all wish to nominate your teams for the Chunin Exams?" He asked glancing at Iruka's restlessness, "If you as their sensei believe them to be ready then I shall give you the registration forms." Iruka stepped forward at this point, "As their academy instructor have to protest, I know all of their strengths and weaknesses, and I seriously doubt that in the scant few months that you have trained them that they have improved to such a degree as to have a chance in the Chunin Exams."
Kakashi looked him in the eye, "They aren't your students they're my soldiers now, and I say that they are ready." His eye calmly watched Iruka's response who sighed, conceding defeat on the subject.
Several hours later, Ranma had finished her spar with Lee, and Kakashi had appeared seconds before Kurenai joined them. He looked over at Kakashi, who looked on in amazement as Naruto silently worked through the Katas wearing the equivalent of his own bodyweight in training weights, he turned to Ranma
"Is that usual?" The copy Ninja asked, observing the young ninja's intensity, "He's never been this focused before."
Ranma sighed, "That kid is one of the most driven people I have ever met, plus he's a fast learner when it comes to physical stuff. I had to keep adding weight to get him to stop complaining about not learning fast enough. He's definitely improving the fastest out of your team, much to that Sasuke kid's irk. He too insisted on more weight, never letting himself be beaten by the 'loser' or something like that, anyway, If I'm not mistaken, your entire team is stronger than Kurenai's was when they started, so it should only take about a week for them to catch up."
Kakashi let his glance shift over to where Sasuke, similarly covered in weights, was methodically working through his Kata, all the while using his Sharingan to observe the moves of those around him.
He then turned back to Ranma, "So do you use a Jutsu to turn into a woman, or is it you turning into a man?"
Ranma sighed, shaking her head, "No, I'm a guy, I was traveling through China on a training journey with my old man when we came across a cursed training ground, I ended up being cursed to turn into a girl when I contact cold water, and back into a guy when the waters hot," she shrugged, "I really need to find a better way to explain this to people."
Kakashi thought for a moment, "I don't know anything about curses, we have a few Jutsus out in the world called curses, and there are curse marks, but I guess you could tell people it's a bloodline."
"And what is a bloodline?" Ranma asked, observing her temporary students progress for the day.
Kakashi took several minutes to explain family "bloodlines" and how they were usually unique to a family, he also thought through some of the merits of using that explanation.
Ranma thought about the new info and agreed that it would be the simplest way to explain away the curse, especially if she didn't want to have to go into the long explanation all of the time. She looked up at the setting sun before sighing., "Alright that's enough for today."
Kakashi Hatake looked at each of his students, all of whom looked exhausted, and pulled out three papers, "These are the Chunin Exam registration forms, if you believe that you are ready to try and become chunin then you must come to the Academy on the specified date, it is, of course, a personal decision, and if you are late then you are out of luck. I want you all to consider it carefully." Simultaneously, two other Jounin were telling their teams the same thing.
Hinata nodded her head, determination evident in her face, she looked to her two teammates, who were also showing signs of being prepared for whatever the exams could throw at them.
Ino Yamanaka looked at her sensei, she was glad that he had faith in her and their team, she was worried that Shikamaru wouldn't go to the exam regardless, but her pride in Asuma's faith in them was evident, "Come on Guys! Let's prove sensei right!" She looked over at Choji who was silently munching potato chips, he finished before saying, "Sensei, could we go to a steak house if we do well?"
Naruto Uzumaki was deep in thought, which, if you knew him was not something you would expect from him. He sat on the roof of his apartment building, "I feel physically stronger, but not much," he thought before slamming his fist down onto the concrete beside him, "Damn it, I need to get stronger than Sasuke, and the damn Bushy Brows, how can someone be that strong and not be a chunin?"
Naruto stood suddenly, "I'll ask sensei for some extra training!" He leaped off of the roof, heading towards the center of town when suddenly he heard a yell from the adjacent ally.
He looked down the alley to see Konohamaru and his two friends, Naruto didn't know their names, and smiled, "Yo, Konohamaru!" He said, lifting a hand in greeting, "Guess who's gonna become a Chunin!" He stopped, noticing the lack of a response from his friend/underling, before noticing that there were two other people in the alley beside Konohamaru's crew. One was a girl slightly taller than himself, carrying a giant fan, and the other was a guy who had something wrapped in bandages on his back.
"A runt like you is gonna be a chunin?" the ninja clad in black said, his voice had a dangerous edge to it, "Damn the leaf must be weaker than I thought."
Naruto stopped, his balling his fists, "Who the hell do you think you are, do you know who I am?" Konohamaru turned at this point his face showing relief and excitement.
"Boss!" he yelled, him and his friends sprinting to Naruto.
The mysterious ninja, who wasn't wearing a leaf headband, laughed, "No, who the hell are you pipsqueak?"
Naruto growled, his anger beginning to rise, he took several steps forward, yelling at this point, "I'm the future Hokage of this village, believe it!" He started to approach the mysterious ninja when suddenly, in a swirl of sand, there was a short, red-haired, boy standing between himself and the jerk who'd been insulting him.
"Come on Kankuro, Temari," said a surprisingly deep voice, "We don't have time to play with trash like this." He then began to walk away before turning back towards the stunned Leaf ninja, "If I were you, I'd stay out of the chunin exam, unless you wish to die." He promptly disappeared in another swirl of sand.
"What was that boss, why didn't you clobber em for talking to you like that?" Konohamaru asked from behind Naruto. Naruto turned and looked at his admirer, "I didn't have to, they left, didn't they? I've been training like crazy lately, and I wouldn't want to go around hurting people now would I?"
Konohamaru gave Naruto a doubtful look before nodding, "So, can we play ninja like you promised now boss?"
Ranma Saotome sat in her apartment, she and Ryoga were discussing the merits of becoming Ninja for the village.
"We'll have actual money coming in," Ranma said, she tugged on her pigtail, "and we'll get to go out and do cool stuff for a change, I mean these kids are cool, but I really don't want to hang around train other people all the time."
Ryoga looked around, "I get what you mean, I'm just reluctant to leave the village, I'm positive I'd get lost and never find my way back here again, maybe these Ninja can help me figure out my directional problems." He looked over at Ranma, shaking his head, "Before I agree to any kind of mission, I have to have a guaranteed way back to town."
Ranma stopped pulling on her pigtail, before standing up, "You're right, maybe Guy know some sort of trick that will help you not get so lost."
The two rivals looked at each other then nodded, both leaving the apartment together, A girl and a pig, Ryoga transformed so Ranma could carry him without having to worry about him getting lost, made their way to Might Guy's residence.
After a ten minute walk, with nary an interruption for once, Ranma knocked on the door of Guy's house and, after being invited inside, filled Guy in on Ryoga's issue.
"I'm sorry my friends," Guy said forlorn, "I can't help you, if it is a medical problem then perhaps try and find a medical nin? And if it's some sort of chakra based illness then maybe see if the Hokage knows of any way to help."
Ranma thanked Guy for the advice, before making her way back home, She looked at the clock on the wall, and sighed.
"It's almost 8 o'clock," she said to Ryoga, I think it's time to sleep and prepare for tomorrow, we're gonna be busy after all."
As the Chunin Exams draw nearer, the Third Hokage prepares to receive more Ninja from other villages. "We need more Anbu keeping an eye on these visitors, I want anything that seems suspicious reported."
He glanced at his clock, 11:30 pm, and yawned, "The exams aren't for another two weeks, and If the rate that Guy says his team is growing is true then Konoha will be one of the groups that make the biggest impression." He chuckled to himself thinking of the surprised looks that the warlords would have up seeing his Genin, "I'm looking forward to seeing who all will pass the exams this year.
Two weeks fly by as the Chunin exams grip the minds of most of the Ninja in Konoha, will their persistent training have paid off? Find out next time on 'Story about some stuff!'
End of Chapter 6
