"Speach"
'Thought'
//Kyubbi//
I will refer to Ranma in male or female terms depending on his/her form at the time.
"Mama, look who followed me home!" Naruto yelled as he walked up to his mother meditating on the front lawn of the house they were renting in wave country. The island was nice an quiet place that wasn't too crowded, but had many welcome amenities.
Without opening her eyes to her sons loud voice she picked up a nearby scroll and made some notes. Once she finished writing she looked at what her son had brought back with him. At nearly seven years old it would be seen as normal for a child to ocassionally surprise their parents by bringing a stray home. Sometimes its a dog or cat. Sometimes reptiles or amphibians. None of these were present on this occasion.
"So, where did you find a rabbit the size of a polar bear?" This was Naruto Saotome, and I ask who is surprised by this?
Scratching the back of his blond, spiky haired, head the boy laughed nervously. Meanwhile said rabbit started munching on the leaves of a nearby tree.
"There was this really neat old ninja in town. He showed me some neat scrolls and sold me the suprise box of jutsu scrolls for only sixteen hundred Ryu.And I followed the instructions on the scroll and here he is." Pointing at the large animal munching on the lower branches
"Myownpersonalsummoningcontract." Naruto explained in a rush of breath displaying an old worn scroll for approval.
"We are being tracked by three fairly competent ninja who seem to want to take you away from me and your training and you call up the most eye catching thing you could?" The red haired teacher asked of the young boy.
"But it's soooo cool." Naruto whined even as the tree the rabbit was eating began to fall from the weight of the rabbit climbing to reach more leafy food.
Sighing Ranma gesture Naruto over to her and with a stern look bent him over her folded knees. Pulling up the back of the shirt she examined the seal she'd placed there a year ago. It was an ink seal of the Kimen martial arts calligraphy. A body binding strength builder. Having tracked down the idiot that gave Ryoga a free powerup she'd learned some training techniques. Pulling a inkbrush out of stuff-space she added a mark to the seal.
"I have added one point of restistance to your training. You are also responsible for caring for your new...pet." At this point the tree finished its decent to the ground making a large amount of noise.
"I can keep him?" Naruto asked as he leaped into the air with glee. Albeit with more effort than in the past.
Sighing Ranma smiled at the happy blond boy. That is until a sudden shower caught them both and left a blond girl and her mother in the yard with the massive Rabbit.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Flash back. Six months ago.
An old barker was telling the crowded festival of the fantastic blade that would grant one wish to any who could pull it from the anvil it was stuck in. This was seen by most as a scam. Because the sword wasn't very impressive and had only been a fixture there since the village was founded. Which was only about twenty years prior at that. However, for Naruto who'd been given some pocket change to enjoy the festival this was exciting.
The old man who'd been calling to the crowd had his attention drawn to his feet by small hands yanking on his shirt. Finding a boy who couldn't be more than six offering him money to try the sword pull brought a smile to his face. Charging only half price the white haired man pulled a chair over to allow the boy to make his attempt.
Scrunching his face in concentration the young Saotome pulled as hard as he could.
Following this action the blade flew out of the stone with a flash of red light and the before any could comment, including Ranma, Naruto made his wish.
"I wish I could do all the great things my mama can do."
..."Wish granted."... Intoned the mystical sword before rusting away to iron dust.
//What the #$!!// came a roar that none could hear from the prison deep within the boy while the commotion around the boy increased. The boy wasn't supposed to make his wish before the demon had the chance too. About to begin thrashing about behind it's bars it stopped when a new sound came from the other side of the bars.
Gearing up to intimidate the interloper to his private domain he came to find something very strange. There cleaning itself was a large cat. In the shadow of the cat was a small pink haired female human stretched out on a very comfortable couch watching a big screen television.
//Who dares intrude upon MY vessel!!// Bellowed the great many tailed beast.
Looking up from it's grooming the cat looked at the big fox indifferently before continuing its efforts. The female, however, just yawned and turned the television volume up. Trying to determine what was so interesting brought the fox to realize the television showed the outside world. The view was obviously from his vessels point of view. Finally, the beast now had some entertainment. Being stuck with nothing to do, but nap for five years would cause even the greatest of beings to crave stimuli. Sure the fox could expand its awareness outside of the boy, but it took so much energy it saved that for instants were it could feel 'useful' things in the nearby area.
The sword was the first it had discovered in some time. Save for a feeling it got when it entered the leaf monkey's leader's office.
No longer caring about it's new roommates the fox concentrated on the picture of the outside world and settled down to watch the opportunities it could exploit occur.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Current day.
"I'm telling you we're going around in circles again." Itachi complai... stated.. to his companions as they made their way through Rain country." They had indeed be following the incredibly meandering route produced by the chaotic prey they stalked.
"You know this is the only way we'll be able to keep track of them though so live with it." Marin said as they continued stealthily through the trees. Following the scent of their quarry was easier to do then having either the sharingan or byakuugan track the life force left behind. The energy simply lingered to strongly where ever it went. They were perhaps a week away from the target, but each time they raced to catch up they'd simply lose track of the physical trail and have to back track.
"Are you two still set on finding the kid? This has got to be a record for a hunter mission. We haven't even been back to fire country since this began." In truth they'd also seen more of the elemental countries of Wind, waterfall, and Earth than they'd care to. Being blamed for the theft in Rock hadn't endeared them to the local shinobi.
"It doesn't make any sense though. We keep getting turned around and loosing the trail only to find it again with my Byakuugan. Then we find their scents again. It has to be more than them crossing all those rivers to hide their scents." Miku grumbled as she tossed several paralyzing senbon needles at a hidden group of ninjas. As if it was as simple as swatting a fly out of the way they moved on past the patrol and happily were moving out of the rain forest like country.
"I think it would be wise to return to Konoha and speak with the Hokage about our situation in more detail than we've been able to relay through our usual channels." Meaning he was tired of happening to find their quarry's trail at every last bath house they visited to send information back to Konoha via the Toad Sannin's information network. That an his supplies of sweet things were low.
"Oh, come on Itachi do you really want to deal with the clan when you get back?" Miku asked as they walked across the river they'd come to. He'd been resisting returning home for the last year when he began receiving summons from his father. Apparently, he'd missed his rite of passage within the clan and would be reprimanded severely when he returned.
"Your joking right? I've grown more in the past two and a half years than my family back home could realize. The freedom to train at my own pace on this mission has been a blessing. This was a vacation I needed you don't know how badly." It was true he'd become much more relaxed since he'd been working with his team again.
"What about you Miku? Ready to return to dealing with you 'precious' elders?" Itachi teased his older companion while watching Marin struggle with carrying her large dog across the water with her. Chichen was the only dog he'd heard about that couldn't swim.
It was not a secret how she felt about her forced position in the branch family. She'd been allowed on this mission only because the council believed it to be a short mission. If they weren't informed of their situation every three weeks at scheduled checkins the old fools would have activated her caged bird seal. That was one of the reasons branch members rarely left Konoha on long missions. The Hyuuga council was extremely paranoid when it came to possible missing-nins from their clan. Hiashi's wife had been the only voice of reason in the main family by Miku's own opinion.
As one they began heading toward the fire country's border and they each had their own thoughts on the matter.
'I hope Shisui hasn't forgotten about me.'
'I hope little Hinata is alright.'
'I cant wait to get some more pocky and chocolate.'
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Panting a pair of Saotomes could only smile at each other as their current training/mission was completed. They'd been hired to relay messages, to and from, twenty-seven different villages in Stone, Rain, snow, and lightning countries. While at the same time carrying several large loads of materials in hidden weapons space. It had taken some careful training to get Naruto to an acceptable level in the skill while not neglecting any of his other skills too greatly.
Having gained some inherent grace and agility, while not the fear, of the neko-ken. He'd also gained the phenomenal learning curve, as well as, the curse his mother possessed. He still needed work though. The brat learned a great deal faster,but was still as bright and determined as he had been. Of course they'd finished their trip in Lightning country and as with any area that had even the chance of rain the curse decided to activate.
It was at this point that the main road decided to come to life as well as a large procession made its way through the storm. Moving to the side of the road was the wise thing to do as several ninja were traveling with the many carts and carriages. In the lead was a very gaudy thing being pulled by six large black horses. Gilded with gold and silver and almost certainly less than pleasant to haul as the horses seemed very put out pulling it through the various mountain passes. Three ninjas were perched on top of the carriage and the symbol of the Hidden cloud village was easy to see.
What was also easy to see was a very young girl chained to the back strut of the monstrous conveyance. Her eyes were shut and it was likely she was unconcious. Now both were very tired from their recent work out, but being who they were they couldn't let what they saw as an injustice go unresolved.
Therefore, six large rabbits and some special techniques saw them running for their lives from an entire entourage intended to protect the Raikage. This of course included one Yugito Nii. Resident demon jailer of Hidden Cloud.
To be continued...