Chapter 8

Disclaimer : Naruto and Ranma aren't mine.

Note: Many people on 's Naruto section have read Yuremi-chan's awesome fanfic "irreplaceable" and we all know what sad hand fate has dealt to this author so I would like to dedicate this chapter to this great author who should definitely receive a miracle. If not then we can only hope for the best in the afterlife.

Trip to Nerima

Sasuke glared openly at the blond and had the urge to slap the boy for looking at his body like he was doing. The fact that the cursed spring seemed to have been imbued with a very 'healthy' girl didn't help matters in any way.

"Outsider leave or have to fight!" The guard stated as she produced a spear from somewhere. Naruto walked over and gave Sasuke a thermos which was filled with hot water.

"Well, if you want to fight you might as well do it as a guy!" Naruto said cheerfully as Sasuke growled at Naruto at the evident mocking in his view but the blond threw the hot liquid at the cursed shinobi who turned back into his rightful appearance.

Now amazons are not lesbians in general, they can all appreciate a fine specimen of the male species even if they do belittle said half of humanity but a man cursed to become a female was, for some of them anyway, a catch even finer then a normal male. They had something of a unique vantage point of the female body. The boy seemed strong and the girl who was guarding the gates was only fifteen years old. With a battle cry she charged the male to Sakura and Naruto's surprise. A circle formed and some of the other amazons swore from the tone in their voices. They hadn't been fast enough and now the battle was already on.

The spear was the first thing that flew through the air as Sasuke ducked under the thrust and quickly kicked up. The girl quickly recovered and tried to do a sweep kick aimed to Sasuke's head but the sharingan user saw it coming from a mile away. The girl missed just barely as Sasuke didn't waist the movement to over dodge the move. She then jumped trying to use an axe kick but once again Sasuke countered as fast as possible.

"Oi! Sasuke! Stop dragging the fight!" Naruto called to him, the amazons who knew Japanese immediately went abuzz with gossip. The boy was holding back!

"Urusai dobe!" the Uchiha called to him. He did concentrate his chakra to unleash his full strength. The girl immediately went to a defencive stance but Sasuke already had two kunai out of his pouches. He quickly threw them and the girl swiftly dodged as nimbly as any amazons but the boy had tied them with strings. The girl had no way to predict the strength of the sharingan. Sasuke controlled the blades to perfection and they tied the girl like a sausage in a painful way. The strings cut through her skin and Sasuke drew in a deep breath as he made hand seals.

"KATON! RYUUKA NO JUTSU!" The fire attack followed the strings and were going to incinerate the girl alive. She closed her eyes and prepared to face death as an amazon. The fire was about to reach her. The sudden heat was affecting her enough that she fainted just as a kunai severed the string and made the fire vanish because it's stream of chakra was cut. Sasuke turned to Naruto and glared at the blond. Sakura ran to the fallen warrior as the amazons were talking even more amongst themselves. They had a marriage in their sight and as long as the guard hadn't made her claim. . .

The girl quickly woke up and the pain hit her as she realized she was alive.

"Take it easy . . .Hey!" Sakura was roughly pushed to the side as the girl latched herself on the still glaring Sasuke. He turned his face toward her and was surprised by a kiss.

"Wo ai ni da airan!" The girl said softly in front of the assembly.

"Oh shit." Ranma deadpanned as he and Khu Lon arrived.

"I seem to have gained a new son in law." The old woman said before a cackle of laughter.

"What does she mean Ranma?" Hikari asked her husband.

"Amazon law states that whoever beats an amazon while he or she is an outsider must face the consequences." Ranma said.

"And what might those be?" Hikari asked ticked off a bit.

"A man is to be married to the defeated maiden and a woman must be. . .disposed of. . ." Khu lon said as she approached the boy who was struggling to get out of the hold.

Khu Lon guided everyone to her house, aware that her challengers on the village council would want to stake their own claim.

"All right Khu Lon, you explain everything to Sasuke while I prepare to take off for Nerima. I believe our presence is rather unwelcome." Ranma stated as he started gathering their luggage.

"Very well Ranma. I suppose I'll come with you for a crazy adventure off in japan again." She stated with a large smirk. Ranma nodded and rejoined his family who were already on their guard. Moegi and Ryoma were the only ones having fun. Naruto, when the rules of the kiss of death and the kiss of marriage were explained, had almost turned into a feral creature protecting it's territory. No warrior was crazy enough to come near him at the moment even if being defeated by him would have been good, death never was an option.

Both Sakura and Naruto were alone in a corner at that moment.

'Naruto, calm down!' She almost shouted within his mind. She was almost assaulted with images of the absorption of Kyuubi and she looked at him with respect.

"Is it the instincts overwhelming you?" She asked out loud. Naruto nodded at her and struggled to control himself.

"It's worst when you turn into a kitsune, I get assaulted with all those sensations and smells." He stated as he calmed his instincts gradually. "I'm dangerous right now Sakura, I could go berserk at the first sign of an attack."

Ranma approached them and sat at a respectful distance.

"I understand you son." Ranma said as the boy looked at him with a gleam of protectiveness in his eyes.

"Even you seem to threaten me dad. I feel as though you want to steal Sakura." Naruto was struggling with himself.

"I know how it feels son, just concentrate on my voice alright." Ranma instructed. Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated on the sounds. "Alright, now listen closely. You're struggling because you have a connection closer to the kitsune then Sakura does, you shouldn't shut this out but try to harness them."

Naruto struggled to say something but Ranma was already talking again.

"If you shut them out you'll never be able to truly control yourself son!" Ranma exclaimed as Naruto settled down. Sakura had been silently observing Naruto struggle. She could feel his more human side slowly relenting it's basic instinct to resist and repress the urges of his animal side and to slowly calm himself.

'I was scared for a second.' She thought and Naruto grinned at her.

"Alright! I'm back in full control!" Naruto said but when he heard a peculiar sound he immediately went back to his previous turmoil.

"Don't be too hasty with saying that. It'll take you a bit of time to totally control your instincts to lash out." Ranma said as he moved away.

"You should get some sleep though, we're moving out early tomorrow." Ranma said as he walked away to rejoin Hikari. Sakura told him goodnight and went with Moegi as Naruto was given a room alone. Sasuke simply slept on the couch as Ryoma took a futon in his parents room.

Well, Sasuke tried to sleep but he screamed in the middle of the night as Fey Briz, the girl who was the lucky spouse of the Uchiha tried to consummate their union. Sasuke was out of his bed and holding his kunai in a defencive manner.

"Keep it down you two!" Khu Lon ordered. "Newlyweds! How. . .energetic they are!" she was grinning at the prospect of great great great great grand children. Naruto however was laughing his head off at the expense of the black haired ninja. He went back to his room leaving the other guy to his own struggle. Naruto went to sleep and his dreams turned to the first person.

Naruto's POV

I was a small thing, weak and frail as I looked up. My parents were over me, looking down at me and my siblings as we dragged our bodies to drink our mother's milk. I was a small cute and furry creature, I was a fox.

It didn't take me long to understand the truth of the world as two of my siblings died during the four next weeks but it was life, those who were stronger survived but the others died. I then learned to hunt, slowly and step by step as the litter grew just as I did. First through games and then through real kills.

We grew and finally outgrew our childhood. I was an adult fox and it was my goal to find a territory of my own so I moved out of the parental lair at the same time my siblings did.

I encountered man for the first time in these travels, hunters who made my skin crawl as they wore their fox pelts. It scared me that these creatures were stronger then us foxes and it infuriated me. It wasn't just any pelt they had on but those of my brothers and sisters. I bid my time and, when they slept soundly, I killed them during their sleep. It was merely a couple but I killed them nonetheless.

I lived afterwards trying to find a safe heaven to raise my own children once I had a mate.

I found both in the deep forest unexplored by mankind but this female was out of my reach. She was a kitsune, a spirit of the very embodiment of foxes. I came close to her and found her wounded. It was a snake bite which was making her suffer. I took my courage and licked her wound. I tried my hardest to draw out the blood that was infected. When she opened her eyes I withdrew a bit only to see her smile at me. I was ecstatic! I walked back toward her and somehow transformed into a humanoid form. I looked a bit like a man but I wasn't a man.

"I wish to thank you for saving me kind one." She said with a large smile.

"Then please become my mate!" I burst out and she smiled wider at my audacity. She turned into a fox and I did the same. I had become a kitsune myself! A spirit of the foxes, a legend to my race and almost a god to them and I had gotten a goddess as mate.

We lived for hundreds of years together, founding a large family of many litters. Every one hundred year, I gained a tail to my back as my mate remained the same. We were larger then any foxes would have been, we had at least the size of a dire wolf or a small bear. We were happy until man came. At first it was a small settlement which was in a conflict with other humans. It bothered us, how stupid was this race anyway? To kill your own instead of hunting as was the rule of nature?

We were on the verge of moving to a new area when we were spotted, it was stupid of us really but the man attacked us in hope of getting our pelts. He killed my mate in front of my very eyes and almost got to me. I killed a man again and ate his heart to learn all he knew. I was a spirit no more, I was now a demon. The thing I saw on him told me who he was and where he came from. The image of the metal plaque he wore was burned within my mind.

I trained myself for a decade, I had taken a human form and I killed every man who wore the same insignia, eating their hearts to gain more power to enact my revenge.

I was ready, I was strong, stronger then ever and I attacked! Claws and fangs ready to obliterate every living thing in this god forsaken village. All of this for my revenge! All of this slaughter for what? Getting trapped within a child. . .

End of Naruto's POV

Naruto woke up with a start, he looked at his hands which now had claws. He had learned all of Kyuubi's misfortune in his sleep. He almost felt sorry for the fox but he remembered something else from the dream that the fox had never seen.

"The leaf was barred." He muttered. It was a lot to take in, he had been the Kyuubi, he now knew his instincts as well as he knew himself. This was why he had been restless the previous night, the memories were trying to surface and were throwing him off. At least as far as he could tell. He walked to the living room after packing his stuff and found Sasuke actually asleep with the girl on his arm.

"Oi, Sasuke!" He said. The noise was enough to wake the other shinobi while it only made the girl squeeze a little harder.

"What do you want?" He asked in a harsh whisper.

"How did you wind up here? You should be back in Konoha!" Naruto almost growled his answer.

"Alright, I'll tell you. I was on my way to training with your father when I was pulled inside a weird jutsu and I ended up landing in some pool of water. There, you happy now?" He asked in his usual rude manner. Naruto only nodded as he got up to the kitchen to find some ramen. What he saw almost made him jealous of Sasuke. There was a kitchen full of supplies just to make the stuff. Sasuke was one lucky bastard to have a family of in laws who actually owned a CHAIN of ramen stands. Small but still a chain!

"Ramen. . ." he said dreamily as something else took his attention. His senses were still over developed and his earing and smell were quite sharp. Sakura had let out a soft curse as she had entered the waters of her shower which must have been too cold since he was already starting to catch her intoxicating smell. He tried to distract himself with the idea of the ramen that was in front of him but it was no use. His mind was going full gear thinking about Sakura in the shower.

"Hey son, how's it going?" Ranma asked as he joined his son in front of the ramen. Naruto was looking out in space for some reason with drool leaking from his lower jaw. Ranma tried to snap him out of his trance but for some reason it just didn't work. Ranma shrugged and went to make his own breakfast and some for his son.

Naruto did snap out of it just as Sasuke's scream of outrage woke at least half the villagers. Fey Briz glomped onto his arm. Thank god for contact lenses!

Naruto went back to laughing at his colleague's misfortune and finally sat down for breakfast. He ate until Sakura came in the room, her still wet hair and the fragrance of her shampoo hit him like a ton of bricks. Worst was the fact that the hot water was broken and that she was a kitsune at that moment. Naruto took hold of the table and his knuckles turned white as he controlled himself from dragging her somewhere for reasons evident for anyone.

Ranma was hit with cold water as well when Sakura spilled her glass on him. A very wet Ranma-chan sighed as she put a kettle on the stove.

Sakura was also receiving an overload of information, just like Naruto, but she didn't have the added problem of a demon merging with her. What was the worst were the urges she had to jump on him and be extremely naughty. She didn't feel them outside her cursed form and it was disturbing. Her senses were too developed she guessed. Naruto was, for lack of a better expression, her mate. It was as simple as that when she was a kitsune but she was also a human and there came the problem. Her inner self was more or less acting like the the demon fox had for Naruto from what she could guess and was messing with her already messed up feelings. It didn't even react to that girl Fey Briz staking a claim on Sasuke, she had only cared about Naruto and staking her own claim of ownership, or rather of being owned by him.

Ranma poured hot water upon her and Naruto seemed to relax a bit. His knuckles did remain white though.

Naruto was, in fact, having conflicting images going through his mind. Sakura's smell had lessened but her shampoo still had the same fragrance of cherry and it still drove him mad.

The next hour the boy didn't speak a word as his family and Khu Lon's came in to eat. He seemed to dodge Sakura who found it rather pleasing that she was causing this.

After their meal the Saotomes, team 7 and the two Chinese amazons were on the road for Japan.

The journey went on for three days. Khu Lon rode on the pack of her son in law who, for some cosmic reason, tolerated the old woman at that moment. In fact they had a sort of truce. He would carry her and her things while she kept the annoyance of a descendant away from his tent.

Said annoyance was stuck to his arm like glue while almost glaring at any female who came close to him.

Sakura had taken to teaching the girl proper Japanese and they chatted merrily on their way when they weren't running.

Ranma was carrying Moegi when she was tired while Hikari did the same with Ryoma.

Naruto was meanwhile trying to ignore the very foxy Sakura. travelling had one very annoying problem: hot water was a scarce resource and it seemed the female was actually enjoying causing him discomfort. Fey Briz's 'tips' didn't help either. On the second day, Naruto's control broke during their nightly halt.

Sakura had actually kissed his cheek as she wished him goodnight. Naruto took a whiff of her smell and he almost lost it. He seized her shoulders and tackled her to the ground. Sakura's eyes widened as he kissed her almost savagely. Her body reacted normally and she simply kissed back.

Naruto regained control of himself and looked at the teen he had under him. A part of him was rather enjoying his position of power but another was appalled at what he had just done.

"Sa-Sakura! I'm-I'm so. . ." He was interrupted as she seized his collar.

"Naruto, shut up and kiss me!" She pulled him back for a second kiss which Naruto was all too cooperative to act upon. The next morning he woke up to the pleasant sight of Sakura in his arms. He almost panicked until he finally felt the reassuring separation of clothes. Naruto sighed in what was both relief and disappointment. He was holding her against him and all the influence about her scent in the air had now vanished even as the smell lingered.

The boy looked at her, smelled her with a raised eyebrow and noticed a subtle change in the fragrance.

Sakura opened her eyes to see Naruto right in front of her. She immediately checked for clothes and sighed in relief as she was wearing some. Naruto kissed her briefly before they parted almost brusquely.

'Morning breath' They both sent to the other as their stronger senses felt repulsed by their odour. For some reason the connection was stronger then it had been before and it felt like Naruto was back in complete control of his urges. The travellers purchased a boat to cross the sea, it was in fact a row boat which Naruto and Sasuke were in charge of making it move. Their competitive spirit and their rivalry made the trip extremely short but it was two very tired shinobis who were almost dragged to the Tendo dojo that day.

"Challengers use the bell" Sakura read the sign hanging near the door. Ranma knocked on the door and waited.

"Yes, what. . ." Ranma came face to face with himself, his 16 year old self to be precise.

"Moooom!" The copy, as far as Ranma was concerned, called just as his wife was withdrawing her still sheathed sword.

A woman dressed in a black gi came to the door. Ranma knew immediately who this was and bowed his head in shame.

"Akane?" He asked tentatively.

"Is that you Ranma?" She asked back with a touch of concern in her voice.

"Yeah." He answered.

Only to receive mallet-sama under his chin sending him flying in the general direction of the Ucchan.

"I guess you would be Akane, I'm Hikari Saotome, Ranma's wife." She said with a smile.

Akane immediately changed from berserk fury to nice and shiny. Naruto braced for his life as Sasuke just cringed for his sensei.

"I'm sorry, I am Akane Saotome, I was adopted by Ranma's parents after the twins were born. I'm sorry about the outburst but. . ." she trailed off as Hikari bowed in reply.

"That's alright, I would have reacted the same way." Hikari answered the woman. Two teenagers were observing them quietly from the door. One of them had red hair while the other was brown haired.

The whole group that had come from Konoha followed Akane who sat them at the dinner table to talk.

"So, while I know your jerk of a husband I don't know any of you." Akane said as she sat down with Hikari. Naruto looked around the facility which was quite similar to his own place.

"Like I said I'm Hikari, these are my children, Moegi and Ryoma while the others are Ranma's student. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. Do you have any hot water by the way?" She asked as Akane rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess, Jusenkyo?" she asked only for Hikari to nod.

Someone hadn't heard any of the things about Jusenkyo, the brown haired boy just had to know who that cute girl with the black hair and scowl was.

"Hey there, I'm Tori, what's your name?" He asked trying to sound cool.

Sasuke was annoyed, very annoyed. It was one thing when girls fell all over him but when it was a guy. Let's just say his reaction was far from positive.

"Get out of my sight loser." He said with barely restrained rage. Naruto raised an eyebrow at that just before something brushed against him. The red haired girl actually took hold of his hand to Sakura's great annoyance.

"I'm Ranko, how would you like to practise in our dojo? Anything goes is the greatest form of martial arts there is and with me as teacher you're in very good hands!" The girl said.

Sakura immediately growled loudly and her eyes seemed to glow. Naruto quickly moved away from the incoming cat fight. He could feel the chakra hanging in the air just from her reaction. Ranko turned to the girl and instinctively took a step back.

"What kind of sparing did you have in mind? I'm a student of anything goes myself and I'd really like to compare techniques." Sakura said with an edge to her voice.

"Sakura!" Hikari called to the girl who stood down immediately. "I'd advise the both of you not bother those three. And please don't look at Sasuke like that. It's disturbing." Tori didn't get out of his staring act until his mother actually dropped the hot water upon the girl. To say he backed away was an understatement.

"Well now these two are my children, Ranko and Tori. How about they show the children around the dojo and house while we chat?" Akane asked. Her children motioned for the others to follow her and they disappeared to the dojo.

"They're Ranma's kids aren't they?" Hikari asked bluntly.

"Yes, they were conceived two days before he disappeared through the mirror." Akane answered.

"You do know he still loves you right?" Hikari stated with a far away look in her face. "He told me all about his life here and he always talked about you. I can't help but feel a little jealous of you."

"Why would you be jealous? He's married to you, not me." Akane sighed in a bit of regret. "And why is that? Because we were young and foolish." Akane fought against the sobs that raked her body. "And what do I do when I see the jerk again? I actually hit him! The worst part of all this is that I still love him goddamn it!" she almost screeched.

Hikari and Akane then talked for a couple of hours undisturbed as Ranma was otherwise occupied.

In fact, let's go back to his forced flight. Quite a nice view it gave him of his old school, the Kuno mansion, those crazy aliens over in Tomobiki, the giant monster fighting against another giant monster while kids watched, Nuku Nuku running after the milkman and, as always, the nearest spot of water where he would most likely land.

Prophetically (or maybe because I'm god when I write a story. . .okay! I'm really the demon lord ruler of HFIL also known as the home for infinite losers!) he started his descent and landed face first into a puddle of water at the back of the Ucchan. Ranma picked himself from the ground as the owner of the restaurant came to look at what had caused this much noise in her backyard.

"Ranchan?" Ukyo asked at seeing the pigtailed man. Ranma turned around and gave her a sloppy smile.

"Oi! Ucchan, long time no see!" He said as he waved. The girl had her head hanging low so Ranma couldn't see her features. When she lifted it he would have really loved to be somewhere else. The head lifted at the same time the spatula did and Ranma was hit over the head and knocked out by the battle cry of an angry Okonomiyaki chef.

"JACKASS!" The shout resounded through all of Nerima letting people who should not have been aware of his return know he was there.

"Saotome. . ." the voice growled, or rather it would have had it not come from a small black piglet who was running from his life to escape the dogs who wanted some bacon. Instead it sounded more like a weak "Bweee!"

It didn't take long for Ranma to find himself seated at the counter with Ukyo at the grill.

"So I guess this is my life. A home, a job as a professional ninja, two kids and three students and that's without counting Akane's kids whom I didn't know about." Ranma summarized.

"Yeah well sugar you missed quite a lot. Akane got adopted by your parents so the schools could be joined. Since the kids had to be yours they paid me back for the yatai by giving me enough money for a long time and Shampoo got together with mousse." She explained.

"I was surprised by that. I thought the village would forbid it or something." Countered Ranma.

"Forbid it? They were revolted that their strongest warrior would go for such a low life according to their status but eye surgery exists for that you know, even if their daughter still needs to wait till she's 21 to have it." Ukyo rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the amazons.

"I guess I should go back to my family and ask Akane about where my parents live now. I wasn't even sure the dojo was still standing." Ranma said as he devoured his okonomiyaki.

"Well, for info you should go to Nabiki normally but she's married to some rich guy and lives in Juuban right now and Kasumi is now a doctor and working somewhere in Africa so Akane would be the one to know who wouldn't charge you for the tip." Ukyo told him as she counted on the cash register. "It's 150 yen please." She told him as he took some money he had changed and gave it to her with a very generous tip.

"Keep the change." He said with a large smile "I ate enough on the house in the past so keep it and don't say a word." He retreated toward the door and waved at the chef. "It was nice seeing you again. I'll come back to present you the rest of the family." He announced as he got out.

Ukyo looked at his retreating back and sighed as she put the money in the register. Ranma was still and would always be an inconsiderate jerk who was blinder then Mousse when it came to emotions.

'Can't he see I still love him and that it will only hurt me to see his family?' She thought as she went to her usual stress relief: making the ultimate okonomiyaki recipe.

Ranma walked along the streets of Nerima. It was good to be back even if he missed his new home. Nerima had been the first stable home he had ever had even if calling Nerima 'stable' was a stretch. He made it to the school looking so much like it did before he left. There even was someone screaming at him.

"Saotome you cur! You dare show your face here after you defiled Akane Tendo with your evil spawn and ran off with the pigtailed girl?" A voice, none other then Kuno's, reached him. The crazy kendoist was wearing a hakama just as the teachers who Ranma recognized as Hiroshi and Daisuke. Faithful to his old habits, Ranma sent Kuno up into LEO and went to chat with his old friends.

The tour of the Tendo house was quite a tense situation. Tori seemed to have now taken an interest to Sakura while Ranko was yanking on Naruto and Sasuke trying to decide which one she would get. Naruto was growling menacingly while Sakura openly glared daggers at the girl. Ryoma and Moegi were oblivious to all of this as they gleefully asked questions about each and every part of the house, it's use and what the appliances were. Sasuke was decidedly not amused when Fe Briz made an entrance so she could take him to meet her mother and father.

'I've had enough.' Naruto sent to Sakura as he flared his chakra.

"That's it! I've had enough!" He exclaimed. He seized Sakura's waist and drew her to him for a long deep kiss which left the twins shocked. "Now that it's established that Sakura and I are together could we please stop all this meaningless bickering and get to visit this place?" Naruto asked as the dazed Sakura regained her composure.

"I guess we could." Tori said slowly as he tried to get the image out of his system. Ranko simply nodded and let both Sasuke and Naruto alone from this point on. Being on the path of an amazon was never a good idea even when they were your friends.

The tour thus became much more civilized even if Sasuke still had an extra weigh on his left arm. It finished with the dojo. Ranko and Tori decided to spar and bowed to one another while the others took their places around the tatami.

It was obvious they were used to fighting one another. Their styles were different since Tori used his superior reach to keep his opponent at bay while Ranko used speed and feints to get to her brother. Naruto estimated they knew one another too well from the moves they made but he recognized their potential.

"How about I step in and spar with Tori for a while?" He asked eager to practise.

"You sure about that?" Tori asked. "I wouldn't want to hurt you." He confessed as Naruto grinned.

"I don't think you could touch me if I wanted to." Naruto said confidently. He replaced Ranko and took a loose stance his opponent knew to be serious. A strength of their style was the non commitment stances which gave the user an edge in his anticipation. Tori had seen his grand father Genma use it when they trained together and he was able to use it when he knew his opponent but now he needed to study his quarry.

Naruto on the other hand had studied the style the boy used and had no doubt it was polyvalent and could change depending on the opponent but he had fought against Ranma too many times to care about his current quarry. Ranko took her place as referee, or rather as the one to signal the start of the fight. Anything goes meaning exactly that, anything goes.

"Hajime!" She exclaimed and went to the bleachers. The dojo remained silent for a couple of seconds as the combatants studied one another. Both shifted stances at the same time as they moved from one style to another. They dashed as fast as possible and the battle was joined. The moves were a blur to the spectators except for Sasuke who saw every action with his sharingan. Naruto went in with a sweep kick which Tori jumped over only to be on the receiving end of a haymaker punch which he barely bent under.

He didn't only dodge as he used his momentum in the air to back flip and deliver a kick aimed for Naruto's jaw. The blonde retreated just enough to seize the limb and redirect his opponent to fall. Tori recuperated his balance and dodged the axe kick which would have hit his stomach by rolling sideways.

Both stopped and smiled at the other. Naruto was in his element, he wanted to finish the warm ups.

"A nice fight, but my brother hasn't even started yet." Ranko commented from the side lines.

"Naruto hasn't even used any of his stamina and, quite frankly, he has enough energy to take on a whole army and then run a thousand laps around the village so I hope your brother can knock him out before he gets really serious." Sakura countered.

In fact Naruto took out five kunai from his pouch and launched them. Tori dodged them but Naruto already knew this would happen. The five weapons transformed into five Narutos who jumped on his opponents back.

"I guess I win." Naruto stated as he bent before his struggling adversary.

"You cheated! You had people jump me!" Tori stated.

"Hey! We're Naruto! We don't cheat!" The six exclaimed at the same time as the clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"What was that?" Ranko asked Sakura.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu, a forbidden technique in our village because it's use can kill someone too weak to use it properly." Sakura stated proudly. Sasuke, of course, had copied the technique but the sheer power needed to use it was beyond his. Even with Sakura's control over chakra he wouldn't have been able to attempt the technique.

"It's cheating! It was a one on one duel!" Tori exclaimed.

"They are technically Naruto so they aren't a cheat." Sasuke stated as tension once again rose in the dojo.

"Another round blondie and this time I'm not pulling my punches." The brown haired martial artist took a stance as Naruto did the same. There was no signal this time. The battle wasn't a spar but an all out duel. Naruto smiled as he took off his jacket for the enjoyment of the gathered ladies and the pain of his adversary. He stood in an undershirt and flexed his muscles at the free movement. Naruto grinned as he went back to the battle at hand. He and Tori quickly moved the battle outside the dojo and once again Nerima was witness to a duel of world class martial artists.

They stood near the koi pond where Ranma and his father used to spar daily as their mother opened the door to see outside and witness the cause of the commotion.

"Naruto is going to slaughter your kid." Hikari predicted sullenly.

"Tori was trained by myself and his grand fathers as well as Happosai so there's little chance of him losing." Akane countered as Naruto and Tori fought around the garden. Naruto was thrown at the pound but didn't sink in the waters but used them like any hard surface. He made a couple of hand seals and called an attack.

"Suiton! Sui bakudan no jutsu!" (Water technique! Water Exploding Bullet no jutsu!) He called as balls of condensed water rose around him and shot toward his adversary spraying him and the audience with water when the technique exploded. Naruto then made another set of seals as he called a new technique.

"Yukiton! Hyouchou!" (Snow technique! Ice pillar!) Naruto called and a pillar of ice immediately formed around his opponent who simply could turn his head.

"Alright, you win! But how do you do that?" Tori asked from his place encased in ice.

"Ki manipulation and intense training." Ranma answered from the wall as he made his way to the porch to rejoin with his wife and adopted sister, at least he guessed she was his adopted sister.

"Ranma." Akane deadpanned.

"Akane. . ." Ranma hesitated, not knowing how to approach the issues at hand.

"Ranma, how about we talk about those matters you have in mind later, when the children are in bed." Hikari suggested. Ranma nodded and his chest heaved from relief. Sakura was cheering for Naruto while Sasuke had copied the techniques as well as he could. The suidan he knew but it wasn't his speciality but the ice pillar was new. Naruto was slowly melting the ice with a basic fire technique. Tori broke free fast enough and he and Naruto started chatting merrily about techniques and the training methods they used. To say Tori wanted a weighed vest was an understatement.

Ranma chuckled at their antics and shook his head.

"That's a good change for Naruto, someone his age who doesn't have any prejudice." Ranma smiled contentedly.

Most of the night was spent exchanging idle chatter until Hikari declared it was late enough for the teens to go to sleep. Ryoma and Moegi were already fast asleep in their rooms.

Silence reigned over the room until, by some unknown signal, Hikari and Akane nodded and advanced upon Ranma.

"Err, what did I do?" Ranma yelped.

"Nothing much Ranma." Akane stated. Ranma looked from one to the other. He knew they looked a bit similar but when they were placed next to one another unless you knew what to look for you wouldn't see a difference.

"We just saw something you must have seen." Hikari continued.

"And what would that be?" He asked almost panicking. He was sure they would kill him. Hikari thinking she had just been a replacement for Akane, which wasn't true, and Akane just because he had replaced her. What followed completely surprised him.

Cliffhanger!

Evil, I know, I'm evil! EVIL! But you have another new chapter so don't complain.

This chapter is about 50% longer then usual in length to celebrate my 100 reviews! Review even more and you'll get a chapter two times longer. I almost covered the whole Nerima arc as I'll call it in one swift chapter but I'll stretch it for two more chapters at the very least sending the five travelling children to school just to get even more humour and training!