Ranma almost ran into Naruto as she slowed to a crawl.
"What's wrong, Imouto?" she asked. "I thought you loved this Ramen Ichiraku."
"I do!" Naruto protested. "That's the problem! Old Man Ichiraku and Ayame were the only people who were nice to me when I was a kid, other than Old Man Hokage. I just don't know if I should tell them who I am. We agreed to keep knowledge of Jusenkyo to a minimum for now, but I hate doing anything that seems like lying to them."
Ranma shrugged. "This is your home town—I'll follow your lead."
"Some help you are, Neechan," she complained. "I really don't know what to do."
Sakura cleared her throat. "Would you listen to a suggestion from me?"
"Sure, Sakura," Naruto said with a big smile.
"You don't really have any proof that you're Naruto without bringing Jiraiya, down here do you?" she asked.
Ranma and Naruto exchanged glances. "Sort of, but not something I'd want to use on the Ichirakus," Naruto said.
"That doesn't sound ominous at all," Sakura said sarcastically.
Ranma nodded, giving permission for Naruto to explain.
"We have some temporary curse powder mixed up," Naruto said. "It wears off after one use, but it won't work on Ranma or me right now, so we'd have to do it on you or the Ichirakus."
"Which curses?" Sakura asked with trepidation.
"We have temporary girl and boy water," Ranma said. "The girl water wouldn't work on you, so if you wanted to try it, you'd have to use the boy water."
"Pass!" Sakura said with a shudder.
"I don't think the Ichirakus would like it either," Naruto said.
"How about you wait to tell them until you have proof?" Sakura asked.
"I don't want to lie to them," Naruto whined.
"Have Ranma do it then," Sakura offered.
"I don't want to lie to Imouto's friends either," Ranma said.
"You don't have to lie to them," Sakura said. "A little misdirection is all. You can do that, right?"
Ranma thought for a moment and then said, "Yeah. I think I can manage it."
The three started walking again until they came to an open storefront with a bar and stools in front of it.
Naruto rang the bell that was on the counter.
This is the first time I've rung the bell since I was a kid, she said mentally to Ranma. I usually just call out.
A young woman came to the counter. "Naruto?" she exclaimed.
"My name is Uzumaki Narumi," Naruto said.
"And I'm her sister, Ranmi," Ranma said. "Cousin Naruto recommended this place. He said it has the best ramen in all the Elemental Nations and beyond."
The woman smiled broadly. "I'm Ayame. Naruto has always been our best customer. Do you know when he's coming back?"
"Should be in about three weeks," Ranma said.
"I admit that you look like him," Ayame said, "but he's never said anything about you."
"We didn't know we were related either," Ranma said, "until our great-grandmother said so."
Ayame giggled. "You should watch out. Naruto used to be quite the prankster. In fact one of his favorites was to turn into a girl. A lot of people might mistake you for him—especially you, Narumi."
Naruto chuckled ruefully. "This isn't the first time I've been mistaken for him." She was probably thinking of Itachi and Kisame.
Ayame took their order and disappeared into the back. After about three minutes, she returned with an older man. "Ayame tells me that you're Naruto's cousins?" he said.
"That's right," Ranma responded. "Uzumaki Ranmi and Narumi."
"When should we expect the little rascal?" he asked.
"In about three weeks," Ranma responded.
"That's great," he said. "We've missed our best customer. It's nice to meet his family."
The three of them ate their ramen. Ranma thought it was excellent, but wasn't sure if it was really better than what the Amazons made.
She looked up from her meal to see Sakura staring at Naruto in shock.
"What's wrong?" she asked the pink-haired girl.
"He. . . she's eating ramen like a normal person," Sakura said in shock.
Naruto giggled. "If you think I was bad, you should have seen how Ranmi used to eat."
Ranma rolled her eyes. They both still ate fast, it was polite. They had incentive to eat at a more reasonable speed.
"What could make you eat your ramen normally?" she asked incredulously. "I would have thought that was impossible."
"Err," Naruto said. "Someone we think well of convinced us to be polite."
"Who!?" Sakura demanded. "I need to thank them!"
"Can't say," Naruto said. "Promised."
The person in question was Naruto's mother, Kushina, but they weren't going to tell anyone that she still lived, after a fashion in their seal-scape, other than Jiraiya and Tsunade. More than just thinking well of her, which they both did, there was also the fact that she would harass them both if they did not listen to her.
After they had eaten, they cheerfully said goodbye to Ayame and Teuchi.
"Where can we find Sensei?" Naruto asked Sakura.
"He spends all of his spare time and much of the time he should be doing something else at the Memorial Stone," Sakura responded.
"Really?" Naruto said.
The pink-haired girl nodded in response.
Oh, Kakashi, Naruto's father said sadly.
"Let's go find him," Naruto exclaimed.
"You going to tell him who you are?" Ranma asked.
"Nah," Naruto responded.
"You're not going to tell Sensei?" Sakura exclaimed, scandalized.
Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Are you saying that Sensei doesn't deserve to be pranked like this? Mr. I'm-only-going-to-teach-you-tree-climbing?"
"He wasn't that bad!" Sakura exclaimed.
Naruto raised an eyebrow again.
Sakura wrinkled her nose. "Okay. He was." She paused. "Hey, he also taught Sasuke the Thousand Birds Technique!"
Naruto rolled her eyes. "Because teaching the most unstable genin in the history of Konoha an A-rank assassination technique is the mark of a good teacher."
Sakura attempted to swat her, but Naruto danced out of reach. "Don't talk about Sasuke that way, Naruto!"
"Look, he was my friend too," Naruto said, "but you can't say that he was emotionally stable."
"It wasn't his fault!" Sakura protested. "It was the curse mark!"
Naruto nodded. "That was a large part of it. Itachi's mind whammy was most of the rest of it. That doesn't change the fact that he was unstable."
"When did you get to be so wise, huh?" Sakura grumbled.
"I saw the world, got some teachers that were willing to actually teach me, found a few true friends—I wouldn't say that I'm that wise, but I've grown up a bunch in the last three years."
"Spending a lot of the time in a body not going through puberty helps too," Ranma added with a smirk.
"What?" Sakura exclaimed. "You look like teenagers to me."
Ranma shifted her apparent age to that of an adult woman. Her breasts and hips expanded and her face took on a more mature look. "You were saying?"
"What?" Sakura exclaimed again. "How'd you do that?"
"Do you know how you can tell a fox youkai's age?" Ranma asked as she switched back to her teen look.
Sakura shook her head.
"The number of tails—one for every hundred years," she replied. "Since Narumi and I have three, that means our bodies are over two hundred years old."
"So that means that the Kyuubi. . ."
"No," Naruto interrupted. "For the Bijuu tails represent power, not age. As far as we know, all the Bijuu are the same age. For youkai, more power comes with age, but it's a side effect of having more tails rather than the cause."
By this time, they were nearly at the Memorial Stone. Naruto quietly said to Sakura, "Introduce us."
"Sensei!" Sakura called.
Kakashi continued to stare at the Memorial for a moment before turning and greeting them with an "eye smile." "Sakura!" he said. "Nice to see you. Who are your. . ." He trailed off and then exclaimed, "Naruto?!"
"Hi, Sensei," Ranma said. "I'm Ranmi and this is my sister Narumi. The Hokage said she was reactivating your team with Narumi and me filling in for your missing students."
Kakashi just stared at them for a moment and then slid up his headband, exposing his Sharingan. "Huh, I guess you aren't Naruto after all." He paused thoughtfully and then added, "I should have known. . . You're wearing too many clothes to be Naruto."
"What!?" Naruto shouted.
Kakashi eye smiled again. "Whenever Naruto pretends to be a girl, he always appears naked. He's quite the little pervert. I'm so proud!"
It's an anti-pervert technique, Naruto raged mentally. She barely kept herself from yelling it outloud.
"Our cousin claims it's an anti-pervert technique," Ranma said.
"Oh?" Kakashi said. "You're Naruto's cousins? Which side of the family?"
"Surely you noted the resemblance," Ranma said. "We're Uzumaki—from his mother's side."
"Yes, we weren't pleased that you were keeping his heritage from him, Hatake," Naruto growled.
"What makes you think I knew?" Kakashi asked.
"You were his father's student," Naruto snapped.
Sakura gasped as Kakashi sighed. "Yes, I knew. The Sandaime thought it best to hide his heritage from him for his safety. I didn't agree completely, but there was logic there, so I followed orders."
Naruto was about to snap at him again when Ranma said, Calm down, Imouto. There's nothing you can do about it now and you'll give away too much if you keep at it. We can always prank him later.
She decided to follow Ranma's advice and let it go.
Kakashi eye smiled at them again. "I wasn't aware that any Uzumaki had survived. How did you meet up with Naruto and do you know when he'll be back?"
"Naruto had plans to be in Konoha in three weeks," Ranma said. "We met about a year and a half ago, by lucky happenstance. We didn't realize we were related until our great-grandmother told us the story of Uzu no Shima. [Whirlpool Island] Jiriaya confirmed that Naruto was a true Uzumaki."
Jiraiya's confirmation was actually when he found out that they hosted Naruto's father, but Kakashi did not need to know that yet.
"What made you decide to come to Konoha?" Kakashi asked.
"We heard that we had another cousin here and wanted to meet her," Ranma said.
"Who's that?" Sakura asked.
"Baachan!" Naruto said happily. "Her grandmother was an Uzumaki."
"I see you've picked up some of Naruto's bad habits," Kakashi commented.
Naruto stuck out her tongue at him.
"Better his than yours," Sakura muttered.
This only made Kakashi eye smile again.
"What rank did the Hokage assign you?" Kakashi asked.
"We're genin," Naruto answered.
"Well," drawled Kakashi. "Assuming Hokage-sama confirms your story, plan to meet me at Training Ground Seven at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning and so that I can see what your capabilities are. You too, Sakura. It's been a while since we've worked together."
Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"We need to plan what we're going to do tomorrow," Naruto said.
"Can't we do it tomorrow morning during the hours we're waiting for him to show up?" asked Sakura.
Naruto shook her head. "I wouldn't put it past him to be there on time and spy on us while making us wait."
Sakura scowled. "That is exactly the type of jerk move Sensei would do."
Naruto nodded and said, "We don't have to nail down everything, but this is what I think our general plan should be. . ."
Ranma sighed for about the twentieth time. She hated wasting time like this. She would rather be sparring or doing some other type of training, but she and Naruto had agreed that it would be best to not give Kakashi any clues to their abilities before the evaluation. Naruto said she would not put it past him to make them do poorly in the evaluation so that he could have an excuse to be lazy and get out of teaching them much.
From Naruto's descriptions of her old sensei, she definitely had mixed feelings about him. Naruto liked him, but at the same time she resented him for how poor of a teacher he had been. Now that she had her parents really teaching her, the shine of her time with Kakashi had definitely dimmed.
Even after the evaluation they planned on hiding some of their skills. It was not that they did not trust Kakashi or the other Konoha shinobi, but they definitely did not trust Konoha's security. The odds of Orochimaru or even Akatsuki finding out their abilities and designing counters was too high. Plus, they would miss out on some good prank opportunities.
Finally, Kakashi showed up two and a half hours late. Somewhat predictably he slammed an alarm clock down on top of a post and then jangled two bells. "In order to pass this evaluation, you'll need to get a bell. Anyone who doesn't get a bell will need to find a new sensei."
Naruto rolled her eyes. "Maybe we should opt out now. I bet we could get a better sensei elsewhere."
Kakashi eye smiled. "I'll have you know that you won't find a better jounin sensei in Konoha."
Ranma arched an eyebrow. "Really? I mean, we already know how to tree climb. Isn't that all you think genin need to know?"
"My old team was a special case," Kakashi said seriously. "They needed teamwork before learning anything more advanced."
"And how did that work out for you?" Naruto said sarcastically.
Ranma saw their prospective sensei flinch almost imperceptibly.
"The least you could have done is make sure our cousin was up to genin standards," Ranma added. "You know the Academy instructors didn't actually teach him anything."
"I was planning on it once giving him some individual help wouldn't make the team fall apart," Kakashi explained.
"But then the team fell apart anyway," Naruto concluded.
Kakashi fake coughed into his hand. "Anyway. Bells."
Ranma waved a hand. "We already know the point of the test is teamwork."
Kakashi fake pouted.
Naruto snorted. "You really think Sakura wouldn't have filled us in, even if we hadn't already heard Naruto's stories?"
Kakashi eye smiled. "That just means you have to actually get a bell to win. You three ready?"
All three girls answered in the affirmative.
"Start!" Kakashi exclaimed.
Naruto and Sakura disappeared, while Ranma just stayed in place and glared at Kakashi with her arms folded.
Remember, Naruto sent to Ranma, you need to make it tough enough to keep him interested, but not tough enough that he puts it away.
I remember, Ranma replied. Trust me. I know how to do this. Showing people just enough skill to think they can win is one of the hallmarks of Anything Goes.
"You know, your cousin did that too," Kakashi told Ranma.
"Unlike Naruto," Ranma said, "I was actually taught how to fight."
She launched a flying kick at the jounin who blocked it while taking out his orange book. They traded blows while Kakashi pretended to not pay attention to her.
"Sure, you're better than Naruto was," Kakashi said in a playful voice. "In fact, you're pretty good—for a genin."
To Naruto's eye, it actually looked as if Ranma were fighting at chuunin level. After the insult, Ranma intensified her strikes slightly, but not enough to make Kakashi put away the book.
Naruto got into position and made one Shadow Clone that moved to stand next to Sakura. They had already decided that spamming clones would only make Kakashi suspicious, but using one at a time would be okay. She prepared for her part in the plan. Ready, she sent.
Ranma suddenly struck at the wrist of the hand holding the book. It was just enough to make Kakashi bobble it. In that moment, Naruto's clone struck with a Replacement and her clone appeared in place of the book. The clone attempted to strike at him, but he was able to disperse it.
Sakura grabbed the book and slapped an Incendiary Tag on it that Naruto had provided her. Naruto moved to support Ranma in cutting off Kakashi. He attempted to dart past the redhead, but Ranma increased her skill just enough to cut him off.
"Alright, Sensei," Sakura said. "You're passing us or the book gets it."
"Getting my book was not the goal of the mission, Sakura," Kakashi chided.
"So it's fine if I torch it?" she asked sweetly.
"I didn't say that," he protested.
"Fine, then give us the bells and we'll give you the book back," Ranma said.
"You were supposed to get them from me," Kakashi stated.
"Naruto said you always told him to 'look underneath the underneath,'" Naruto said. "This is our creative solution to your exam."
"Fine," he said and tossed Naruto and Ranma each a bell. "Let me have my book back now."
Sakura set in on the ground and walked over to where Ranma and Naruto stood. Kakashi used the Body Flicker Technique to appear next to his book and snatched it up, saying, "My precious!"
All three girls rolled their eyes and huffed.
"How can they expect a man to enjoy the finer things in life with three teenage kunoichi on his team?" he muttered.
"What was that, Sensei?" Sakura growled.
"Meet here tomorrow at 8 o'clock for D-ranks," Kakashi said quickly and then dissappeared.
"What!?" yelled Sakura in a rage. "I'm not doing D-ranks again!"
