Chapter five – You want to say that again!? (Slight Update on1/6/04)


"Hey hey, who are you?" Asked Naruto suspiciously, they were standing just past the clearing, behind them fought a freak and Rock Lee.

Ranma nodded tersely to the boy, "Saotome Ranma, Rock Lee sent me to rendezvous with you and help retrieve Sasuke while he distracted that." Ranma pointed behind Naruto's back, Naruto nodded and leapt away, not commenting as Ranma kept close to him.

"You won't interfere unless I ask for it will you?" Asked Naruto suddenly.

Ranma stared at him for a moment mid air before they bounced to the next tree. "I am going to fight with you, the entire way… the mission comes first right?" finished the young man angrily.

Naruto grinned at him; Ranma found that smile to be far too much like a pleased cat for his own liking. "Good, Mission first. Don't forget it."

"Sasuke!" Naruto suddenly bellowed, in front of them Ranma caught sight of the kid; he was bounding away from them, but at a slower speed. The black haired boy ignored Naruto's call and continued to bound away.

Ranma hissed to his temporary companion. "I'll slow him down… you get first hit in." pulling out a dozen shuriken and a kunai Ranma broke the tip of the kunai and threw the shuriken within a moment. As Sasuke noticed the Shuriken and dodged hem, Ranma threw the kunai at the boy as fast as he could manage, it smashed into the boys shoulder, but however it did nothing but bruise and leave a few minor scratches.

"Go back Naruto." Sasuke said, his face was frightful, the curse seal almost completely dominated his skin and Ranma was suddenly reminded of a tattooed man that he'd met in china. Shuddering, the pigtailed man drew three kunai and placed them between the fingers of one hand, he held no fear that the enemy would wrest those weapons from him... he appeared to be all power and little skill… he was too young to have adjusted his fighting style to his body.

"Not without you Sasuke." Naruto growled, he had promised Sakura to return with Sasuke, and if he had to move heaven and hell to hold that promise… the orange clad boy would. "I've promised, and I don't go back on my word, that's my Ninja Way!"

Sasuke sneered at Naruto "Your way has nothing to my power; I must seek out Orochimeru for more." Leaping forward the boy lashed out to Naruto, but was thrown off course by Ranma's sudden attack from the side. As Sasuke impacted on a tree quite heavily Ranma's eyes sought out the point he'd punched the boy, a small bruise was there but it was fading under his eyes… Sasuke half again as fast as Ryoga, and about half as strong judged Ranma quickly… if the boy's skill was high, then there was a possibility he could defeat Ranma in a fight, but as is.. The boy held no chance, especially against Ranma and Naruto.

"The only things I know of Orochimeru is that he was driven out because of his weakness, and then he failed in his bid to destroy Konoha, another sign of weakness." Ranma sneered, "You've still got a chance to stay in the Leaf Village and become strong… but you won't do it under a weakling like him!"

Naruto grinned and decided to enlarge upon Ranma's words. "Yeah, he got beaten to shit by Tsunade… and I beat Kabuto, who is meant to be his best fighter!" the fox boy grin grew wider... "If that's how strong his people are, Genin level Ninja… why the hell are you going?"

Sasuke wavered, and the cursed seal retreated a little for a moment before coming back with a vengeance. "I am an avenger! I must seek out power wherever I can get it!" The response was not what he was hoping for; Ranma started snickering and soon was holding his sides in laughter. The Uchiha bellowed in rage and dashed forward, only to be thrown to the side again by Ranma's fist.

"You think this is seeking out power?" Ranma's sneer almost twitched to a grin, "You think you're an avenger?" Ranma snorted, Ryoga was an avenger, this boy? "You're too young to avenge anything… and if you go now to Orochimeru… you won't get a chance to grow into an avenger, you'll just be a lackey for the rest of your pitiful life."

Naruto was nodding quickly, "Orochimeru probably just wants your Sharingan, he'll wait to you sleep, cut it out and put it in his own head!" that didn't sound too probable, it was unlikely at best… but Sasuke seemed to be thinking it over. "You ever wonder why Orochimeru left the Akatsuki?" Naruto was throwing out bullshit now and he knew it… but if this was what it took to persuade Sasuke to come back… "It was because your brother beat the shit out of him repeatedly, how the hell are you going to become an avenger when your master couldn't even defeat him!"

Ranma grinned as Sasuke wavered; deciding now was a good time for the trump card the pigtailed boy tossed the proverbial gauntlet. "I've killed a god…"Well… Saffron was godlike... that counted. "If you leave Konoha… You'll lose the chance to study under me," Not that Ranma was the only person to study under. "Or any of the great ninja's who want to see your brother dead."

Naruto unclenched his fist as he breathed in deeply. "Besides… who else apart from Kakashi-Sensei can teach you the Sharingan?"

"No." Sasuke declared as he shook his head… his voice however showed how much indecision he was in.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "If you become like your brother and Orochimeru will make you like him... The Uchiha clan will be destroyed… how much of Itachi's plans are going to come to fruition when you become his doll!"

Sasuke looked up and glared at Naruto. "What makes you think that's part of his plan!" snarled the cursed boy.

"Why else did he tell you to live like scum!" Naruto sneered at his teammate angrily. "Unless he couldn't bring himself to finish the clan, and he was hoping you would finish it for him!"

Uchiha Sasuke relaxed out of his stance, Ranma smiled in relief and Naruto cheered for joy. "Come on Sasuke! We got to go find the rest of the team!"

Ranma frowned, they weren't going to at least tie up the boy or render him unconscious? "I know for sure that at least one of the enemy is dead, the boy Chouji killed him." Sasuke looked at Ranma in surprise and then sneered. "Probably just luck."

Ranma laughed in the boys face, causing him to clench his fists. "I saw some of the battle," Ranma said with a cold face. "The other ninja, he didn't stand a chance." That was a lie, Ranma hadn't even seen the battle.. But this needed to be done.

"Feh." Said Sasuke, Naruto bounded up to a tree, and Ranma indicated that Sasuke would go between him and Naruto. "Don't trust me?" asked Sasuke coolly.

"Should I trust one who abandoned strength for weakness?" asked Ranma with a small cruel smile. Sasuke immediately clenched his fists, but Naruto called his name and the boy sniffed and jumped up to follow Naruto.

It took only two bounds for them to reach the clearing, two ninja's stood over the body of a third. Lee and a ninja who Ranma didn't recognize- he was covered in brown black and a smidgen of white- were standing over that bone guys corpse. Sasuke frowned, "This doesn't mean anything… the others could have won." Ranma frowned, that was stupid.

"Hey hey Lee! Gaara!" chortled Naruto as they came into range. Lee grinned and Ranma and he exchanged thumbs up.

"Hello Naruto-Kun." Murmured Gaara as he was pressured for reasons of his presence by Naruto. "We were called to aid you." Offered the ninja finally, "We should return along the route?"

Naruto nodded, "Come on Sasuke!" he cheered before bounding off, the rest of the group waited for Sasuke to move before bounding away.

As they moved through the air, Lee engaged Ranma with questions, unfortunately pitched loudly enough for both Gaara, who was beside them, and Sasuke in front of them to hear. "Did you fight Sasuke? Did you win? Did you use any special techniques? Can you teach me any more techniques? I'll learn all the techniques you'll teach me or I'll do a thousand laps around the village and make up my own!" squealed Lee.

Ranma groaned, this was worse than Hero worship. "I'll teach you more techniques later.. Are your limits open now?" Ranma asked as he rolled his eyes in horror. Over to the side Ranma saw Gaara's lips twitch in a smile.

"Ohhh…I had to close them in the fight…" Lee said in shame, complete with downcast face and tears. "There! They are open now!" grinned the boy. And indeed, a light layer of ki covered the boy, it wasn't visible but Ranma could sense it dimly anyway.

"Good." Ranma said irritably. "I'll teach you a speed technique when we have time."

In front of them stood a large clearing, recently it hadn't even been that.. There was chopped wood everywhere and a female ninja was just finishing up making sure a corpse stayed dead. Naruto bounded past the blond haired girl and gave her a friendly touch on the shoulder before his jump carried him next to the second ninja… a black haired boy Ranma had met once in the village… he had been playing go at the time, so was probably real smart. "So far.. It's taken two to take down each of the Sound team.." Sasuke muttered.

Ranma frowned at Sasuke, his irritation coming again to the fore. "There's always power in having friends."

Naruto was babbling to the black haired boy, they both approached Ranma suddenly and Ranma nodded to them while keeping an eye on Sasuke. "I'm Shikamaru, nice to meat you Ranma-san." Said the black haired ninja.

Ranma immediately fastened his eyes onto him, mind reader? Not likely.. But. "I'd introduce myself.. But you know my name?" Ranma's voice raised pitch slightly in the last word.

Shikamaru smiled and nodded "My grandfather is on the committee, he works closely with Homura-san…" Ranma nodded in understanding, and as the enlarged group started to move again, Shikamaru placed himself between Lee and Ranma. "I'm told Homura-san speaks very highly of you Ranma… of both your fighting skill and general intelligence…" the boy shrugged and Ranma suddenly had an impression that the only reason Shikamaru knew it was because he was too lazy to avoid the information. "By the way, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro are of the Sand village." Ranma pointed to the blond haired girl shadowing Gaara's every bounce. "Temari." Ranma nodded silently… he could really get to like this guy.

Shikamaru called a stop suddenly, the group spread out until Temari called out "Tracks!" the group immediately bounded off to the right, except for Ranma, Sasuke and Gaara.

"Move Sasuke." Ranma ordered coolly.

"I haven't made up my mind yet.. Remember that." Sasuke said with a sneer as he launched himself into the air and after the group.

"I want to kill him." Gaara said as he and Ranma jumped to the trees.

"Kiba, Kankuro," Shikamaru pointed out the person as he mentioned their names. Ranma nodded in thanks, "This is Ranma." They nodded in return, something caught Ranma's eyes and he blurted into the air. "Why is Kankuro wrapped in bandages?" and indeed he was, he had retreated under the coverings and was again being carried by his defensive doll.

"He's a puppeteer, controls two dolls through Chakra." Shikamaru said quickly. Ranma nodded and ignored the looks the group gave him before they launched.

"How did he know?" Kankuro's doll asked Gaara quietly. Gaara merely shrugged in reply.

They traveled further, Ranma overheard one or two more remarks from Sasuke and was getting quite irritated by the boy. "Be quiet weakling." Ranma finally growled, Sasuke immediately opened his mouth to retort but caught the glares from several of the other members, most notably the sand Nins.

"He isn't a weakling!" defended Naruto angrily. Ranma just snorted and looked away.

"Shit." Yelled Kiba from ahead, as they caught up Ranma winced from the grievous wound in the boys stomach.

"Move." He said roughly as he pushed someone out of the way, Genma had taken wound like this from a gun once, although I had not been so large. Pouring ki out of his body like water from a faucet Ranma directed it down and through his arms where it wafted down onto the wound, the muscles and the torn intestine immediately moved around, reconnecting itself in front of their eyes, this was the equivalent of belting a fly with a steam roller to make sure it died… and it was both ki intensive and wasteful, the entire boys body would be fine except for the wound.

Panting Ranma dropped using the technique, the boy would be fine for now, all Ranma had managed to do was to slow the bleeding and allow the boy not to die in the next hour or so… although…

"His name's Neji." Shikamaru said suddenly, "He's a real pain in the ass most of the time, you know?... but.. He's pretty good."

"He needs to be taken to a hospital within a day." Muttered Ranma quietly. They all heard though…

"Heh, lucky he's alive now at all." Grumbled Sasuke.

Ranma looked up at the boy, he was sneering down at Neji and really wearing on Ranma's nerves.. There was something he just didn't like about the boy, and the attitude made it worse.

Ranma growled again, they had just picked up Chouji, who was going to be fine albeit tired for a few days, when Sasuke mentioned again that he hadn't made up his mind yet.

Ranma walked over and picked up the boy by his shirt and raised him over his head. "What makes you think that if you decided to defect we'd let you get away with it?" the pigtailed young man snarled angrily.

"Oi! Put him down!" bellowed Naruto. Ranma dropped him and moved to the side of the group. They couldn't go anywhere yet, and none of the team wanted to separate for a while so they were stuck for a bit longer. Deciding he should just get the anger out of his system Ranma pumped all the angry ki into his fist and punched a tree with it. Predictably the tree went flying through the forest, breaking a half dozen or more down during its flight.

"I'll stop, and definitely come back if you can prove to me that you're better than Orochimeru… Fight me!" Sasuke snarled, he had seen what Ranma could do now, and it was above anything he'd seen so far from both sides.

Ranma blinked, as did everyone else. Gaara was smiling and so was the other two Sand Nins. Shikamaru had a look of panic, as he realized how out of control he was… and even Lee didn't look enthused. "Don't do it Ranma! You'll hurt him!" he said worriedly. This caused both Sasuke to become more determined and other people's jaws to drop.

"Come on, if you're so strong, what are you afraid of?" Ranma twitched and Sasuke continued on, sure of goading his enemy to fight. "Or are you a weak little housekeeping girl?"

Ranma froze at that and Shikamaru started to wave his hands quickly in front of him until Kiba pulled him away. "Let Sasuke fight, Shikamaru." He murmured quietly, he was right, if Sasuke didn't get defeated now he'd definitely leave the village later… but could Ranma fight and win?

"I'm not that strong." Ranma said as he glared at Sasuke angrily. "But combat isn't about strength, it's about luck and skill." Ranma's eyes narrowed, the curse although it appeared to be gone at the moment, was still a sore point… and noone would get awau challenging his manliness. "And don't ever call me a girl again if you expect to live."

"Feh, come on Dobe…" Sasuke said quickly as he activated the seal again, the cursed markings covered his body instantly. "And if anyone interferes.. I'm out of here." Dashing forward Uchiha attacked ruthlessly as the other people pulled back to the trees around them. Ranma dodged every attack with ease while not even bothering to conceal the smirk or to fight back. "Fight me!" snarled Sasuke angrily at Ranma.

"You're too weak." Said Ranma coldly, Sasuke howled in fury and dashed forward again only to miss in his attack. "Hiryuu Shoten HA!" bellowed Ranma suddenly as he raised his fist up in the air… everything paused for a moment before Uchiha Sasuke suddenly flew upwards and was knocked out mid air by a tree branch above him.

"He fought in a spiral…" murmured Shikamaru suddenly as everyone returned from their view spots…

Kiba was more than a little surprised. "He's out cold… he'll be out for a day or more I think…" finished the genin as he checked Sasuke's pulse.

Everyone glanced at Ranma, who ignored it all for a chance to glare at the unconscious boy. Suddenly he seemed to deflate, "Are we going on further or not?" asked the boy in an irritable but weary voice.

"We can return to the village today if we hurry.. But are we in good enough condition to do it?" Shikamaru asked, "And don't overestimate yourself."

"Ha! I could run all day." Naruto boasted immediately, Ranma rolled his eyes and leaned back on a tree… all these kids were so young.. Ranma had never felt this old before.

"I think I'll be fine… but what abut Neji, Chouji and Sasuke?" asked Kiba quickly.

"I can carry two people easily enough." Ranma muttered loudly enough for most of the people in the clearing to hear.

Shikamaru nodded tersely. "Kiba, you can carry a third… unless…" his eyes narrowed and he looked over at Kankuro. "Is it much harder to carry someone with your dolls Kankuro?"

Kankuro, or more accurately his doll, shook his head. "Not much more effort.. I can handle a person easy enough.

A Sudden bellow interrupted any prospects of finding out if anyone was going to carry anyone or not.

"LEE!!!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The two people, master and student leapt to each other and crashed mid-air where they immediately hugged each other and stood reminiscing about the spring of youth and other assorted bullshit.

"How could you leave so soon after the operation Lee??!!?" asked Gai as he looked down sorrowfully at his student. "You know you shouldn't exert yourself!"

Lee looked up in ultimate innocence. "But I got Ranma to do all the fighting!" Gai immediately spun around and dove towards Ranma, Ranma, who thought this was some insidious attack immediately ran and hid behind Gaara causing Gai to hit a tree headfirst.

Before any other horribly mentally scarring action could go on three more Ninja appeared, one was Kakashi, the second Ibiki and the third one a guy Ranma didn't know…


"And after the Jounin took our wounded, we just headed back to the village, were debriefed by the Hokage – who asked if I would be willing to teach my school to others- and I came back here.. home." Said Ranma, as soon as Ranma had arrived home Homura had literally pounced on him for information on where he'd been, who he'd been with, and could she expect grandchildren…. Ranma was fairly sure the last one had been a joke, she couldn't really regard him as a son could she?... although, she did treat him a lot like Kasumi did… Ranma couldn't know if the eldest Tendo's treatment of him was motherly or not, he had no memories of mothering.

Homura was gazing at him with a mixture of pride and disappointment… and Ranma was torn between grinning at her like an idiot and turning his face in shame.. "Ranma… did you really have bait Sasuke-san like that?" asked the elderly woman sternly, "Although, it is rather good that he learns that he has no chance of beating his brother until he finished maturing."

Ranma scratched his cheek, "Yeah…" Ranma looked unapologetically at Homura for a moment, "He got so much on my nerves, you know? All that crap about avenging.. And then playing in the spotlight like he was an all important super-star or some crap like that." Ranma frowned and a bit of anger flickered in his eyes. "If he's going to have revenge, why didn't he wait until he's ready? Especially when he knows how many techniques that his brother knows.." Ranma leant back in the chair and folded his arms. "I mean, sure, Ryoga was a pretty decent Avenger.. While he did challenge me every time he saw me.. He didn't challenge me when he had an imperfect technique… he'd stay away until he was ready… and I'd be damned if he didn't beat me a couple of times with those techniques." Ranma shrugged finally, shelving the thoughts for later processing.

The elderly woman looked at him silently, almost long enough for him to begin to squirm in his seat. "If you thought it needed to be done… for his sake not yours." Homura said finally.

Ranma nodded quickly and Homura smiled a little, only to laugh at his next words. Well.. I won't say I didn't enjoy knocking him out cold…"

"Silly boy." Homura said chidingly as she swatted the back of his head gently. "Anyway… It's time for bed.. Now scram!" ordered the matriarch commandingly, Ranma chortled amusedly and delayed long enough to dodge another light smack across the back of his head before leaving to sleep.


Shikamaru's thoughts were racing, sometimes being a smart guy sucked, and other times? It was worse. Ranma was a good fighter, his Chakra control was a little unorthodox, but it was tightly under the young mans control. He was at his peak, just out of his growth spurts and unlikely to grow much more, this would leave him as a medium sized adult. He also had mastered his body to Jounin level, Shikamaru's mind immediately jumped sideways and realized that the majority of Jounin reached their rank between sixteen and twenty… So Ranma was technically Jounin material… but he hadn't even known about the existence of Chakra until he arrived in Konoha… so his learning curve was impressive as well, not quite at the stage of a Sharingan… but the Chuunin had little doubt that Ranma would be able to defeat Sasuke another dozen times at least before the Uchiha learnt enough to give Ranma a fight for his money.

"Good Morning Ranma." Said the Chuunin suddenly, Ranma looked sideways at him with no surprise on his face. Shikamaru immediately raised Ranma's ability at detection up a few notches in his mental list. "Enjoy your sleep?" Shikamaru estimated that there was about an eighty percent chance that Ranma would become friendly with only a little effort on the Chuunin's part… a little enquiry to his face, check up what he's doing every know and then… and Ranma would be grateful… Like Naruto was to his teammates… and then Shikamaru would have an ally to take up a little of the work, which of course would leave more time for the genius to watch clouds.

Ranma nodded and smiled, "Morning Shikamaru, I did sleep rather well.." The pigtailed young man mentally reviewed a list of things he could say and settled on one quickly, "Did you manage to get enough sleep last night?" Ranma placed an enquiring expression on his face as he spoke, it wasn't the best curious look, but it wouldn't be good for his cause if he did a very curious look anyway.

"Almost, Mom woke me up too early though." Shikamaru declared grouchily. Ranma seemed to be working to plan well enough, but he was making unexpected overtures back to the younger boy…they were friendly, and honest enough.. But it was more like the man had been advised that doing it was a good idea. "Want to grab a snack to eat? My shout." Asked Shikamaru after a moment, judging by the fact Ranma had taken the last bite out of a morsel of food as he had exited the gates of Homura's residence it was unlikely that Ranma would be hungry.. But if Shikamaru's hunch was correct, Ranma would accept anyway, proving that like Chouji's clan, Ranma knew the secret to being able to use great amounts of energy lay in having a large or at least plentiful store of energy.

Ranma rubbed his jaw for a moment, he wasn't really hungry… but a snack.. Well, that was important… food was energy and energy was stuff he could use to get in better shape and become stronger which meant he could get more food and continue the cycle… "Yeah, nothing much though.." muttered Ranma as if not being able to eat two meals in a half hour's period was a near crime. As they started walking down the main street, where Ranma would have passed on his way to the training area and his teammates in half an hour, Ranma's mind wandered momentarily before immediately fastening onto something very dear to Ranma's heart. "Shikamaru, how do I go about asking to learn new techniques?"

Shikamaru smiled, his theory was correct, Ranma knew, which meant that it wouldn't be hard at all to get him friendly with Chouji- merely mentioning that chouji's clan used their eating to fuel their combat would bring Ranma's attention where he wanted it, directly to contacting and most likely helping Chouji. "Beef Jerky?" Shikamaru asked suddenly, Ranma nodded and the shorter boy approached the vendor and bought a dozen strips. Handing over half Shikamaru chewed on one thoughtfully. "I'll be blunt." Started the lazy man. "I want to see you in action again, I'm a Chuunin, and I don't doubt that I'll be selecting people for missions again… I want a decent idea of how good you are in all area's so that I can decide efficiently." And also, if he knew more of Ranma, he'd know if he could be as unsuitable as Naruto- not that the blond haired boy wasn't a supreme fighter in a pinch, but he was unsuited for stealth or finesse, he'd be more useful in large scale combat than a pinpoint attack… especially when you considered the boy's most used technique was a mass duplication device.

Ranma's mind spun, Shikamaru judged him as a good fighter already, at least good enough tot take notice of and wanted more information on him to fill mission requirements… Ranma was fine with that, but there was a chance that he was initiating close relation information gathering....not a large chance, but that had to be noted, as did the possibility that Ranma would be requested to teach others again, there was no chance that Shikamaru knew that Ranma had been asked merely the day before, by the Hokage no less, to teach… although Ranma had put it off, he wasn't sure if he was up to it and wanted some guinea pigs (his team mates) although that had been left unmentioned. "I suppose… What are you thinking of for demonstration purposes?"

"A mock combat simulation between a few teams, all with blunted weapons of course." Started Shikamaru, he had no intention of actually doing any work, but he'd persuaded his teacher to ask Ibiki about doing the exercise. "There would be a Jounin team and two Genin teams." Kiba, Hinata and Shino were in good condition, although Kiba was a little worn for wear… Sakura and Naruto were fine, although Sasuke would most likely be in the hospital or unavailable due to his almost missing Nin status… and Chouji was too hurt and tired to participate, leaving him and Ino of his team available.. Shikamaru intended on putting Ino with Naruto and Sakura-then watch the sparks fly- while he observed the entire exercise. The third team would be Kakashi, Gai and Ibiki… it would make an interesting combat situation, especially when there were so many rivals… when comparing the two Genin Teams, at first glance they appeared to be vastly mismatched.. but if Sakura and Ino could work together well enough, Naruto's vast combat ability would hold the team equal or just slightly superior to the other team, which had much more team work… but two members of it were already proven to be incapable of defeating Naruto on their own… Hinata wasn't a good a fighter as Neji, and Kiba had been defeated before Naruto's major power boost between the prelims and the third exam. "The Jounin team will support the other two teams against you… but will stay impartial if you're defeated and it comes down to a fight between the other two Genin Teams." Shikamaru suddenly placed his hands in a circle, as he ignored Ranma's surprised glance he thought about adding other people to the mix… Lee and TenTen could do with a workout, if they hadn't been sent on a mission already.

Ranma nodded with a smile, he'd have to check with his team-mates before he jumped into this… but it sounded interesting already. "I'll do it if my team says ok." Ranma declared with a friendly grin.

"Excellent." Shikamaru said with a lazy smile.

Ranma nodded and then looked up at the morning sun. "I need to go meet with my team… I'm running a bit late..."

Shikamaru nodded, "Enjoy Ranma, if you can get back to me by midday, I should be able to organize this by afternoon." Ranma nodded and bounced off immediately, turning away Shikamaru yawned and cursed at himself, "Stupid Chuuninism, making me do all this work to check out how good everyone is."


Authors Note: Wow! Another chapter so fast… I didn't want another battle this chapter… but I pushed the story too far forward too fast… and unless I wanted to add more to the earlier stage (which I didn't) I didn't have much of a choice… until inspiration struck and I attacked quickly by writing some stuff from Shikamaru's genius view… if its ooc? Stfu! Just cause I'm a dumbass and can't write a genius point of view… leave me alone

Many many thanks to those who have reviewed my stories, all of you mean a lot to me. :D

At this point, there are sixty-seven lovely reviews attached to my pretty little story :D drools fifty a few days ago… a hundred in a few more days… and after that…. I WILL RULE THE WORLD!!!

On other notes. opens up the review page Katie, My apologies for the Choppiness.. it won't be any better in this chapter either.. I'm hoping to tell almost an entire exercise in a more coherent fashion next chapter.

Saa dsf, I don't plan on any matchups…I've not seen many stories that start out with a person in mind ever do anything well with them except push them into OOCness… I've got enough problems keeping IC as is.

Ghostdraconi- Ranma isn't as strong as the servant of Orochimeru is making him out to be in the committee, you may have noticed at least two members of the committee know that, as to Ranma's advice, they are more to spur Lee onto greater heights than to change anything immediately.. the changes will happen down the road though, especially when you consider that Lee's ability to heal the damage the gates cause while having them open to allow more power through....

Craw- I was going to wait.. except I got carried away and attacked!

Maximara, Ranma's curse still exists, but creating Chakra out of Saffron's Chi has allowed a temporary reprieve from its effects.. how long that will last? I'm not sure yet.

Edit- Just fixed up the paragraphs a little according to one of my reviewers (thanks) and added a few words here and there, nothing important.