"'Okay'?" asked the girl.
"Yeah, you want ramen?" said Naruto, moving towards the door.
The girl blinked and looked mildly disappointed. "You're giving up when only one of you has tried?"
"Nah," said Naruto. "I could try using Windy and Wood to catch you, but I'm not really good at working with either of them yet. Otherwise I would have been able to catch Kakashi-sensei better."
"True," said Sasuke, picking himself off the floor.
"So we'll try fighting you some other time," said Naruto. "Maybe we can give a try once a week or so. In the meantime, any ideas on how to catch Shadow?"
"Uhm, maybe?" said the Fight card. "Ramen, huh?"
"Ugh, not everyone's a ramen maniac, Naruto," chided Sakura. "Though... do you even eat, Fight card?"
"I can," said the redhead, shrugging. "The shape and personality are based on a human martial artist from another universe, but there are several others I can switch to if I really need to."
"So, how about a ramen eating contest?" asked Naruto, inspiration striking.
The redhead smirked. "You're on."
"That was disgusting," said Sakura, two hours later.
"I have not yet begun to fight," said Naruto, a little unsteadily with a belch to punctuate things.
"That's my limit," said Fight card. "And before you ask - no, that doesn't count."
"I knew it couldn't be THAT easy," said Sakura.
"It was worth a try," mumbled Naruto, sloshing slighitly as he tried to move to a comfortable position.
"Well, if you're going to be hanging around, what do we call you besides 'Fight card'?" asked Sakura.
"Call me 'Ranma'," said the redheaded girl, stretching out lazily. "That's the name of the person I'm sort of copying."
"So, if Naruto does defeat you and uses you, what can you do?" asked Sasuke.
"I'm what you'd call a taijutsu specialist around here," said Ranma. "Unarmed and armed fighting, some ninjutsu that either enhances the taijutsu skills and some taijutsu skills that are useful with ninjutsu."
"Such as?" asked Sasuke, not hiding his curiosity. Especially as Naruto had apparently fallen asleep.
"Such as enhancing a sword with wind chakra so it cuts things easier," said Ranma. "Or using one's taijutsu skills to build up power and release it with physical energy in a ninjutsu attack."
"Ah," said Sasuke.
"So he could use me to enhance one of you with my taijutsu, have me train up one of you, or even summon me or one of my other guises to act as a physical combatant while he works up some other attack," said Ranma with a shrug. "Depends on how much energy he's using, and the situation to some extent. We'll see. IF he manages to beat me."
"You don't think it's likely," noted Sakura.
"It's this personality," said Ranma with a slight shrug. "It's just a mask, sort of. We cards are more along the lines of spirits of concepts and forces - we're not very human. The cards manage to allow us to interact with your reality. Honestly, I hope he does manage to beat me eventually. It's boring otherwise. But - there's rules involved. Power ain't free, you got to work for it."
Sasuke looked very thoughtful about that observation.
"You gonna finish that?" asked Ranma, her chopsticks pointing at Sakura's plate.
"I thought you were done," said Sakura, passing the plate towards the redhead.
"I was. That was then, this is now," said Ranma, taking the plate and beginning to eat - though at a much slower pace than before. "Tastes and textures. Scent also - that adds to the whole thing."
"So, you want us to eventually beat you," said Sakura, looking for confirmation.
"Eventually," agreed Ranma.
"Ragadash," mumbled Naruto in his sleep.
"I've got an idea on that," said Sakura, chewing on her lower lip as she considered this.
"So anyway, Kakashi-sensei, this girl says she's the absolute best in taijutsu and that we can't beat her."
"THIS is your plan?" asked the redhaired girl. "I don't think he's going to do any better than the Uchiha here."
"Oh?" asked Kakashi. He knew something was up, but not exactly what.
"Look, if there's a taijutsu master around - that might work," said the girl. "Designating someone else to fight me, valid tactic but it'd be better if Naruto fought alongside him. Fighting some scarecrow like this isn't even gonna make me break a sweat."
"Oh?" repeated Kakashi, looking over the completely relaxed position the young girl had taken. To an inexperienced eye, or even many experienced fighters, she'd seem wide open and completely unready. Kakashi wasn't inexperienced.
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(Posted Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:59)
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