A surprise attack caught Ranma off guard as Anko clapped one hand down on his shoulder. “Sorry Guy, but Studboy here has to escort us girls tonight. We’ve got a karaoke party to attend.”
Mihoshi bounced up to Ranma to glomp onto his other arm, cheering the whole way over. “Yay! Karaoke night!”
Nabiki glanced at Anko, immediately recognizing that it wasn’t karaoke night and that Ranma would figure that out if she gave him the chance. As much as she disliked working with the psycho snake woman here, the situation called for drastic measures. It was one thing for Ranma to mouth off and claim he was awesome, it would be something entirely worse for him to actually cut loose and blow away their captains’ preconceptions of what a twelve year old could do. Knowing Ranma, he might literally blow them all away. “That’s right Saotome, we’re done training today, time to go relax and celebrate surviving another day.”
Not knowing quite what was going on, Yamato was glad for the break so he could regain control of the situation. “That’s right. Sorry Guy, we need to have our team debriefing now.”
Ranma glanced around him, the sudden change in situation leaving him floundering as he’d just gotten pumped to enjoy a good fight. “Wait, what? But we’re about to fight here!”
Nabiki walked around to stop in front of Ranma, interposing herself between him and Might Guy to further hold him back. Since coming here Ranma had stepped up and handled a lot of things, including their tight finances and keeping Mihoshi in line so she didn’t over-indulge on snacks and forget her exercises. Like her he was dealing with being twelve again, so it was even more impressive to her he’d been so mature so far when she was struggling with her own hormones. “Let’s just go enjoy ourselves and I’ll try not to be angry tonight when you explain just what you’ve done today.”
Ranma wasn’t going to be stopped so easily, his fighting spirit wouldn’t vanish as easily as his battle aura. “...but I’ve got so many new moves to try out. The Welcoming Dragon, the Imperial Octopus King submission hold, the Rushing Phalanx, the Fierce Tiger Rasengan, the Meteor Flash Grand Impact, the Hidden...”
Nabiki held up her hands, putting them in Ranma’s face. “Whoa there Saotome, if you go naming all the techniques you know we’ll be here all night.” Thinking about it, Nabiki realized Ranma was probably at his limits. Neji gave him less of a challenge than Kuno and he didn’t have someone like Ryoga popping up for random bouts of craziness. “Look, I’ll overlook the fact that Lee called you sensei. Heck, if you can behave yourself, you can go and train the others, okay?”
The excitement draining out of him with a heavy sigh, it was seeing Rock Lee so excited that saved Ranma from Ryoga levels of despair. The boy’s arms were vibrating from excitement, his eyes shining eagerly, fairly bursting with anticipation. “Well, alright I guess.” Heaving out another sigh, Ranma let go of his disappointment and cheered up a bit.
The seventeen year old super martial artist from Nerima that had read the manga was excited at the prospect of a fight against the only super martial artist of the series. The twelve year old ninja Ranma had already figured out how to slip loose from the girls and start the fight.
The current Ranma knew how much Mihoshi looked forward to their karaoke nights, glancing at Guy with a grin. “Alright then, this can wait. When I make Chunin, we’ll have ourselves a little match. Look forward to it.”
Neji however had just found an outlet for his own stress. “Hah, Saotome is already whipped. Brought low by a weak kunoichi.”
Nabiki’s eyes narrowed. “We can spare a few minutes for Neji to get his ass whupped.”
Ranma shrugged. “Meh, I’d rather do karaoke. Neji’s boring. Welp, let’s go Mihoshi.”
As Mihoshi cheered and opened a portal into town, Ranma fist-bumped Lee again. “Well then, guess we’ll get to train together now.”
Rock Lee saluted, snapping to attention extra forcefully. “Yes, I look forward to it! Training with you for the first time, for we have never done it before!”
Nabiki looked through the portal and bumped Mihoshi on the shoulder. “Wrong place, the karaoke bar in Konoha.”
Ranma glanced over at Mihoshi trying to get her portal right, then to Yamato. “Oh, can you get me some information on the Fourth’s Hiraishin technique?”
By now, Yamato knew not to be surprised by such questions. “Why?”
Ranma pointed at Mihoshi. “It used seals to mark the targets. I figure I can learn the seals and help Mihoshi aim her ability, maybe improve the range while we’re at it.”
Yamato didn’t bother to wonder how a genin orphan could know enough details of a rare S rank jutsu to ask such a question. It was more surprising to think of using part of the technique in combination to complete Mihoshi’s strange ability. Portals on demand could be a very useful thing for the village. “A good idea. I’ll make the request.”
Anko glanced from Ranma to the portal. “So why can’t we just go to this karaoke bar?”
Ranma glanced over. “That one’s okay, but it’s a two day hike back to Konoha. Mihoshi can only hit faraway stuff randomly, so don’t expect an easy trip home from there.” Stepping over to Mihoshi, he put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a little guidance. “That way. A little further. Yeah, there. Close enough.”
The portal offered a bird’s eye view of Konoha, which meant it was also high over the ninja village. This didn’t stop Ranma from grabbing up the girls in each arm and jumping through, adjusting his angle to match the shift in gravity as he landed lightly and ran across the rooftops to safely bleed off his momentum.
Anko raised an eyebrow since most shinobi couldn’t handle a jump from such a height while holding two squealing girls. Oh, she was up for the challenge though, jumping through and using her snake hands technique to grapple along the buildings in pursuit of the transformed boy.
Being polite, Captain Yamato turned to the other team captain. “Well then, we’ll be going now. You can talk with Ranma-kun some other time.”
As soon as he started talking to Might Guy, Yamato realized Guy was just as frozen as Ranma had been by the sudden interruption of their tension. Well, he wasn’t particularly good at dealing with Guy’s exuberance either, so the quiet was rather nice.
After Yamato went through and the the portal closed up, Team Guy waited for their captain to make a declaration.
With everyone else gone it was obvious their captain wasn’t moving, so Lee tapped him on the shoulder. “Guy-sensei?”
Startling out of it, Guy realized his opponent had already left. The feeling coursing through him reminded him of the first time he’d challenged Kakashi, an intoxicating cocktail of excitement, tension, fear and anticipation. Not because of the power Ranma had possessed, Lee’s own inner gate release was more explosive.
It was the skill Ranma had displayed, bringing out that much power effortlessly, subconsciously, naturally and putting it way just as easily. His dear student Rock Lee could match the power, but the simple act of bringing out that much force would take such a toll on his body that it would take days to recover even if he did nothing other than opening the gates.
With all that tension and no opponent to take on, Guy had to do something to expel it, shouting in his usual exuberant fashion. “Alright! We’ll do five-hundred laps around Konoha!”
As Neji put a hand to his face in frustration, Lee bounced up in excitement. “And then what Sensei?”
Might Guy took a pose and pointed to the sky. “We shall sing our hearts out at a karaoke bar as well! We won’t lose to them singing either!”
As Tenten cheered at the news of their reward for training, Neji finished burying his face in his hands. “I can’t believe it got worse.”
Yamato arrived to street level to find Ranma leading the girls away from the karaoke bar, almost as if they were looking for another place. “Isn’t the place right there?”
Ranma glanced back at him. “We’re looking for a good place to eat.” Glancing at Anko, he amended his statement. “We’re poor orphans, we’re not treating you.”
Anko worried the boy by smiling in return. “That’s alright gaki, we’ll treat you.”
Yamato looked at Anko in askance. “Us? Why are we going to eat as well?”
The older woman merely grinned at him. “Don’t be such a square, the kids know how to do it.”
Nabiki rolled her eyes and bailed out their captain. Him she liked well enough. “Karaoke places have expensive snacks, it’s better to go there on a full stomach.”
Hearing it had a financially sound reason improved Yamato’s mood a bit, plus it would be easier to have their debriefing over dinner. “Fair enough, we’ll treat you then as a reward today.”
Ranma made a sweeping gesture. “If you’re treating, pick the place. We’ve got healthy appetites.”
Nabiki’s face darkened as she added her own qualifier. “As long as they serve something other than ramen.”
Yamato glanced at the girl even as they walked to a restaurant he preferred. “What do you have against ramen?”
The young man trapped between the girls replied for her. “Naruto always picks ramen, so she always wants something else.”
The place he chose served traditional Japanese food in a family style, rice with multiple side dishes. The serving method meant it was affordable to feed a large group and he enjoyed the food and atmosphere.
After everyone got sat down and the food was on the way, Yamato began his debriefing. “Ranma-kun, because of your surprise kekkei genkai, the Hokage as requested you take bloodline tests to see if anything else interesting shows up.”
Ranma glanced over at Mihoshi. “As long as she doesn’t have to take the test.”
As a confused Yamato prepared to ask why, Nabiki spread her hands slowly apart. “Fwooomm, good-bye medical building.”
With Nabiki and Anko both glaring at him, Yamato coughed to cover himself. “Ah, yes. I see.” He turned to Nabiki in turn. “Any complaints about being bloodline tested Tendo?”
Nabiki frowned at all the strange things that could pop up and all the freaks like Orochimaru that might get interested as a result. “No, as long as it’s kept secret. We don’t want to be targeted for our bloodlines.”
Yamato turned to his vice-captain. “Yes, Mitarashi-kun, do keep that a secret. The Hokage hasn’t quite figured out how to explain there being another survivor.”
Anko crossed her arms and pouted. “No fair, I wanted to brag to Kakashi.”
Ranma smiled a little, finding her childish act amusing. “It’s okay Auntie, I can kick emo boy’s ass, so you’ve got plenty to tease him about. Besides, it’s more fun to keep it a secret until it’s fully developed, then it can be a fun surprise.”
Anko grinned before turning her attention to Nabiki. The girl was Neji’s age, so she was thirteen now, meaning she’d gotten held back in the academy for a few semesters. Her file indicated she’d improved a lot in that last year of academy as Saotome’s partner, but she was still what one expected of an average kunoichi without a family bloodline, a lot like that Sakura girl on Kakashi’s team. “Well then girl, we’re going to work on your training. You’re going to train until you’re a kunoichi to be proud of, or at least can kick Haruno’s ass.”
Nabiki glared briefly at Ranma, remembered what he’d said when training her about how he at least didn’t want her to be as useless as Sakura. Well, she knew which one she wanted training her at least.
Mihoshi saved her from needing to make an immediate reply. “Does that mean I have to beat Naruto?”
It was Yamato that spoke up before Ranma, this time in an effort to correct her. “No, we do not have a rivalry with Kakashi’s Team Seven.”
Ranma’s mischievous streak allowed him to keep a straight face. “Does that mean we’re not jumping him tonight to claim the reward?”
As Yamato drew back in surprise, Anko started laughing before the captain had a chance to question the statement. “That was a joke?”
Nabiki grinned. “Of course it was, Ranma wouldn’t do that to people he likes. If he needed money he’d just mug S-class criminals and if they complained about it, he’d turn them in for their bounties.”
Ranma grinned warmly at the thought. “Mhmm, although doing a fake turn-in on Kakashi might get them to let their guards down, but he might want a cut then.”
Nabiki shrugged. “Well, as long as he helps you out, a cut should be fine.”
Yamato smiled, trying to get into the mood. “Ah, I see, you’re just joking.”
Nabiki and Ranma stared at him for a moment.
After a quiet moment, Ranma turned back to Nabiki. “So, do we need the extra money?”
Anko leaned across the table. “You’re going to let Auntie in on the action too, aren’t you?”
Nabiki glanced between Anko and Ranma. The scary part was at this point she didn’t know if they were still joking or not. “I guess we could just try C rank missions first.”
Anko pouted at her. “Spoilsport. You’re no fun.”
With what he hoped were jokes over, Yamato moved on to team business. “Well then Ranma-kun, could you illuminate us on your plans for training and missions?”
Ranma stared then counted on his fingers a bit. “Mhmm, well, I need to train myself, plus Nabiki, Mihoshi, Naruto, Hinata and Rock Lee. Hinata and Naruto don’t have dedicated teachers right now, so they need the help, plus I’m probably the only one that can teach Mihoshi without it being a disaster. If Auntie helps with Nabiki’s training, we could get a good amount of training in and still squeeze in a few good missions.”
If nothing else, Ranma sounded like he knew what he wanted to do. That he currently looked more like an adult due to his henge helped, but Yamato wasn’t going to simply accept his plan without some questions. “Why them? Why no one from Team Ten?”
Ranma doodled on the table with one finger, working out movements and strategies in his head even as he talked. “The Ino-Shika-Cho combo are all special families, so they don’t need help. Rock Lee should be obvious. Naruto, us orphans gotta look out for each other. Hinata, her father’s basically disowned her, so she doesn’t actually have anyone to teach her her own style.”
Anko had some eyebrows to raise to that. “Are you saying you can teach her the Hyuuga style? You know you have the wrong eyes for that, right?”
Ranma lazily poked Anko’s throat lightly with one finger.
“What was that for? My voice? You brat! Fix it now!”
Anko’s high pitched voice had the kids giggling, since it was difficult to to be intimidating with a voice that made children giggle in amusement.
Even Nabiki couldn’t help laughing and pointing at her. “She’s like that alpha dog from Up.”
Ranma restrained himself to a good-natured smile. “Well sure, can’t have you singing karaoke like that or we’d die of laughter. Maybe you could do me a favor and watch Mihoshi tonight?”
Anko growled, although with her higher pitch is sounded like a purr. The snakes that came out of her sleeves after she did her hand seals were still just as scary.
At least the snakes were scary until Ranma jabbed their voice boxes as well and they started panicking at the sight of Ranma. “It’s him! He ate my cousin!” -- “He roasted Bob!” -- “Help, save us, we’re going to be barbequed!” -- “Traitor! They’re already at the table prepared to eat us!” -- “He ate Suzie raw!” -- “We’re all doomed!”
Anko reconsidered her tactics for several reasons. For one, Nabiki was laughing so hard she had fallen out of her chair, although she was trying not to be loud and cause a scene. Ranma had also hit the correct points on all of her snakes with so much speed she hadn’t really seen his hands move.
Finally, she had squealing snakes trying to hide in her clothes to escape Ranma, which was almost embarrassing enough to make her blush. Which was saying something as jounin kunoichi were tough cookies.
A glance from Ranma drew her attention, causing her to notice Yamato was doing his best not to laugh. It was an interesting sight since he was such a cold pickle, she’d never heard of him enjoying himself.
Seeing Anko’s glare, Yamato coughed and recovered himself. “Ah, yes, perhaps it’s time to get along? Would it really be so bad to help your precious students a little bit?”
The kunoichi continued to glare at him for a moment then dismissed her snakes before one of them crawled into an inexcusable place. With that cleared up, she turned to Ranma and pointed to her throat.
Ranma reached over and touched her throat lightly with his thumb, rubbing a little as if removing a smudge. “There, give it a try.”
“Ahem.” Her tone sounding right, Anko gave her prize student a flat look. “I didn’t agree to babysitting Blondie.”
Ranma shrugged. “That was close enough to asking nicely. I only asked you if you would keep her company for a bit so I can study.”
Anko grinned at the boy and relaxed. He was more than she’d hoped for, so why not enjoy it? He was obviously still holding out on her, yet doing a reasonable job of dealing with her. Then there were his tactics outside of combat, casting her as the irresponsible one, which was a surprisingly effective counter to her wildgirl act. Also if she played nice, she might be able to weasel out a few more secrets and get him to lower his guard. “Alright then, I guess I could spend some quality time with my students.”
Several raised eyebrows met Anko’s statement, everyone except Mihoshi being instantly skeptical of her change in attitude.
Putting the distraction she’d caused with her snakes aside, Anko had learned one interesting thing. “So you can do the Gentle Fist?”
Having gotten herself back onto her cushion at the low traditional table, Nabiki interjected in the hopes of preventing Ranma’s martial arts otaku side from coming out. “Saotome is Master of All Martial Arts.” Seeing Anko didn’t immediately get it, she named a random style she’d heard of him learning. “He learned Martial Arts Tea Ceremony in two days.”
That got Anko’s interest mainly because tea ceremony was her somewhat secret lady-like hobby, although she didn’t want to know how there could be a martial arts version.
Luckily for her sanity, Ranma answered about the Juuken instead. “There are only three parts to the Gentle Fist style. The Byakugan provides a way to see the chakra pathways to target them. The actual martial art is a specialized form of Baguazhang using chakra enhanced strikes. The only part I lack is the eyes, but most of the targets are about like learning to target arteries or nerves with senbon. The eyes also make learning the chakra focus for the strikes easier since they allow them to see the chakra to better shape it.”
Anko grinned at the concise description of his knowledge in the arts. Hiashi Hyuuga would either shit bricks or engage Hinata to the boy if he knew of this, possibly both. Perhaps she’d mention it over tea sometime. “So you’re training Hinata Hyuuga, why?”
Ranma grinned in return. “Neji is boring to me, but Hinata beating Neji would be priceless. Also she’ll be a fine kunoichi once she gets over that confidence problem, which is mostly because her father dismissed her for being weak.”
An actual smile graced Anko’s face upon hearing that. This way of dealing with Neji was especially devious, which was something she could admire. More importantly though, Kurenai was a friend and it was that aspect of Hinata that had her worried since her father had essentially dumped the girl on Kurenai and washed his hands of her. Being on Team Ranma was starting to sound fun. “Alright then, you’ve got my interest. Want me to tell Kurenai of your offer?”
Ranma shrugged. “Sure, you can talk to her if you want.”
Anko could tell from his attitude he intended to train her either way, but seemed to think her offer was nice. Well, there were other things she wanted to know. “So what were those techniques earlier, like the Phalanx Rush?”
Ranma thought about it and decided explaining that one would probably be safe. “It’s just a revised version of the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, or Chestnut Fist for short, all I did was step it up from a training technique to a combat technique by making the punches heavier.”
Nabiki was actually intrigued by this one since it had seemed to be combat effective already since he used it to jackhammer Ryouga quite a few times. Since she was learning Taijutsu now, she did have a bit of interest in that particular technique, so she explained what she knew in the hopes Ranma would spill the juicy bits. “It’s hand speed training by picking roasted chestnuts out of a blazing fire without burning yourself. Saotome turned it into a super punch.”
Ranma grinned, recalling it somewhat fondly now. “I learned it by catching piranha with my hands, so maybe I’ll make a version with that name some time... and that wasn’t a super punch. I just used it that way to get through Ryouga’s boulder toughness without breaking his bones or exploding his internal organs and stuff. Not like I couldn’t have just punched him harder.”
Anko didn’t quite get it from Ranma’s explanation. “How does this punch penetrate boulder armor?”
Ranma corrected her almost absently. “Toughness, he did some training where he smashed face-first into boulders for about a week straight to toughen himself up. Basically it’s just a few hundred light jabs to the same spot in an instant.”
The jounin didn’t want to continue but an almost morbid curiosity drove her forward. “So when you opponent toughened himself up, you developed an ultra-rapid punch to cause penetrating damage so you could avoid seriously injuring him?”
Ranma nodded, happy she was getting it. “Yep.”
Nabiki made a buzzing sound, like sticking a piece of paper into an electric fan. “It used to make a buzzing sound when he did it, but it seems like he figured out how to make it quiet.”
Ranma grinned at Nabiki, glad she’d caught on. “The air resistance was getting in the way.”
A statement like that only raised more questions for everyone else, since it implied he’d figured out a way to bypass air resistance while also implying it was important enough to matter for his punching technique. Anko decided to get to the meat of the matter. “So the Phalanx Rush version does what?”
Ranma had some idea of the limits of their taijutsu knowledge, particularly the fine art of punching people in the face, so he thought of a way to make it easy to follow. “Well instead of light jabs, it’s closer to full power punches. It’s actually like a Strong Fist version of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. When the enemy takes a strike, some of the force goes into injuring them and some goes into pushing them back, with the technique being the difference. I can do a punch that does full damage and no pushback, or all pushback and no damage.”
“The Sixty-Four Palms is a chain combo of double-handed palm strikes at the tenketsu, and each step up in the combo has to be delivered faster and harder, because the previous strikes are making the opponent fly back faster. The Phalanx Rush is a combo of hard strikes to the vital points so fast, all of them land in an instant before the opponent flies back. I probably could chain it further too, but against anyone that can take the first barrage, I’d probably be better off chaining into a different technique instead. Variety is the spice of life and all of that.”
Anko stared, not quite wanting to consider it might be true instead of a boast. He had presumably hit her snakes so fast she couldn’t see the tenketsu strikes on their vocals chords, so he did possess the speed. On the other hand, from what she’d seen and read in reports, he hadn’t shown any particular strength or toughness to match his claims. He mostly settled taijutsu matches by dodging and using well timed skillful strikes on his opponents, making him more like Neji than Lee in fighting style. That aside, it did seem that he had an insightful understanding into what was supposed to be the Hyuuga clan’s secret taijutsu technique.
Since that technique’s discussion seemed to be over, Yamato decided to ask about one that had caught his attention. “And the Fierce Tiger Rasengan? I presume this means it is a revision of the Rasengan?”
Ranma looked at him in surprise. “You know about the Rasengan?”
With some effort Yamato resisted the urge to react strongly, merely raising an eyebrow. “I’m not the one that shouldn’t know about the technique. Kakashi-sempai knows the technique as one of the few that learned it from the Fourth. I’m not asking how you learned it, as you’ve noted earlier, Kakashi learned it at your age so it’s not out of the question. I merely want to know if you’ve succeeded in advancing it.”
Ranma considered forming one but decided against it since dissipating one safely in a nice restaurant wasn’t something he was sure he could do. Also there was the issue of revealing too much since that was one of his surprise aces. “Mhmm, you mean the elemental infusion?”
That was enough to confirm Ranma’s knowledge of the technique for the now part-time ANBU jounin. “Yes, have you made progress? I’m sure Kakashi-sempai would be interested in seeing it completed.”
Ranma frowned and crossed his arms, deciding that this much was safe to discuss, popping up two fingers. “Besides that being a very difficult hurdle, it’s actually more complicated than that. There’s a second improvement required to make it work, and that’s what I’ve completed. The elemental infusion will have to wait until my skill increases.”
Pleased with the reply, Yamato nodded his head, happy that Ranma seemed to be aware of his limits and could set goals in his training. A surprising amount of maturity for a twelve year old Genin, but perhaps his strange backstory was true enough to explain it. “...and that second improvement is?”
Ranma smiled. “A secret. It’s one of my surprises I’m keeping in reserve.”
Anko looked between Ranma and Yamato. Because she hadn’t been around the three people that knew the technique when they were using it, she didn’t really know about it. “So what’s the Rasengan?”
Yamato glanced over at her, guessing she deserved to know that much, although he was sorely tempted to go along with Ranma and declare it a secret. “A technique the Fourth Hokage developed, although it was left incomplete. It is the highest form of chakra shaping, so even without an elemental release it is an A rank technique with high destructive power.”
Since the cats were escaping the bag en masse, Nabiki turned her annoyed gaze on Ranma. “When did you learn that Saotome?”
Ranma considered what answer to give her that wouldn’t reveal any secrets in public. He’d learned it in Nerima as one of the few techniques he could learn then from the manga, the other being water-walking.
Since making that wish, they’d been here for a little over ten months, the academy’s school year mirroring that of a Japanese school. Each year was three semesters of three months of learning with one month breaks in between that the students spent with their families doing personal study into clan techniques. During times of peace the school was set up so that students could graduate at age twelve at the earliest, actively preventing students from graduating early, but otherwise student graduation tests were held at the end of every semester for qualifying students.
It had taken them a month to deal with the created memories of their lives in Konoha and pull everything together.
Mihoshi having arrived late had a mysterious orphan backstory, she’d been found and raised by an old couple that ran a candy shop that Nabiki liked. Despite being a blonde ditz she had a desire to become a ninja and fight bad guys. She’d been a failure in most of her classes and some butt-monkeys like Neji had picked on her, but that had changed when he’d come into her life and started helping her.
Nabiki backstory made her an orphan from the end of the Third Shinobi War taken in by a rival ramen shop of Ichiraku’s. For her it was either become a kunoichi or have a life of serving ramen to drunks. Despite that motivation, Nabiki had been a lot like Shikamaru in class, although her apathy stemmed from a general dislike of taking personal risks. Also like Shikamaru her poor grades didn’t reflect her true abilities, only her reluctance to stand out and become a target.
Of course ten months ago she’d suddenly gotten serious about her school work and passed that year, something the locals attributed to his influence. In truth the local Nabiki’s back story was a reflection of Nabiki, but the girl had decided upon arrival that being a failure of a kunoichi was not good for her survival chances in this crazy world.
In light of recent discoveries, Ranma’s backstory made a little more sense to him now. He’d actually had a sensei of sorts in this world to properly reflect a more shinobi version of himself. His parents were unknown and he was slightly younger than Naruto, meaning he’d been born shorttly after the Kyuubi attack.
He’d been adopted as a little brother by Shisui, known in the third war for his Shunshin technique of high speed movement. He was also an Uchiha, so Ranma had been taught the traditional flame techniques as well, including the Great Fireball technique used as a coming of age technique. None of this had seemed odd to Ranma as his Konoha self was the type to sneak around to learn jutsu by observation, so he’d definitely wanted to learn the techniques.
Having the Sharingan though explained why he would have been adopted by the Uchiha, although being a ninjutsu prodigy was still a likely factor. It was possible the Sharingan part had been unknown, since it had never been mentioned to him. Perhaps it was just a coincidence he’d been adopted as the little brother to one of Konoha’s fastest Shinobi.
Then of course Shisui had died, followed shortly afterwards by almost the entire Uchiha clan, so Ranma had been made an orphan again. Nabiki and Mihoshi were in higher classes at the time, with Nabiki being the same age as Neji, but over the years they’d gotten held back enough that they eventually wound up in the same class. Had it ended there, Mihoshi and Nabiki would have been in the two-thirds of the class to fail and get held back again.
Butt-monkeys like Neji picking on the girls had gotten local Ranma’s attention and brought the orphans together. They’d eventually moved in together and the girls had stopped failing so many classes, setting up the situation for when they had joined the Naruto timeline as orphans living together.
Nabiki got impatient as she’d waited for her answer. “Well Saotome?”
Snapping out of his recollections, Ranma quickly tallied up the math. “About thirteen months ago.”
Nabiki blinked, doing her own math and coming up with an answer that said she needed to know which Ranma had learned it. “So before this year in the academy started?”
Ranma grinned, thinking of how to answer it in a secret way. “I wanted to surprise Ryouga with it.”
While that raised entirely new questions, it also relieved Nabiki a bit to know it was before the crazy wish. Nothing would prevent Ranma from learning crazy new martial arts, even if they were from sources that were merely fictional at the time. “Ah, okay.”
Anko had something else she was interested in. “So this is a technique Kakashi knows? Something even he couldn’t master?”
Yamato nodded. “It inspired him to create the Chidori and Raikiri, but he was never able to complete the original version. They also learned it at around the same ages, although I don’t think Ranma-kun had a teacher.”
Ranma shrugged. “The training is pretty simple.”
Anko grinned, knowing that only a prodigy would describe an A-rank technique as simple to train. Well, at least they weren’t boring. “So we have us a genuine Kakashi level prodigy, eh? Well, as long as you don’t turn into a stick in the mud, should be fun. The question is, where did you learn it?”
As Nabiki seized up slightly from Ranma being caught, the young man took it in stride. “Did you know Shisui Uchiha? He was about your age.”
Anko managed to hide her blush at remembering her joke that morning. “Mhmm, you could say that.”
Ranma sighed at the memories that weren’t quite his own. That guy had been way better than Genma. “My adopted big brother, he taught me a few things. I watched other people do their techniques to learn some more and scavenged the rest.”
Before Anko could say anything, Ranma continued, guessing what she was going to exclaim. “I was never treated like an Uchiha, just as a fairly talented kid. The other Uchihas didn’t like me except for Itachi-san, so I stayed away from them.”
Anko reconsidered what she was going to say. “Well, they still might have known something about your parents.”
Ranma shrugged. Except for Itachi they were all dead now. He felt no need to say that however.
Nabiki stared at Rana, silently cursing his secretive ninja nature once again. “You were trained by an Uchiha? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t ask.” Knowing that Nabiki wouldn’t be happy to hear that again, Ranma continued on. “Besides, I handled it better than Sasuke, but it’s still a sad memory for me.”
Yamato put on a small smile of cheer. “Well, enough of that, I think I see our meal arriving.”
Ranma smiled, always happy to see a good meal. “Oh, thanks for the meal, been a while since I got to enjoy some good food.”
Yamato bore a small but genuine smile. “Us Konoha-nin are like family, and teams like this more so. Orphans like us only have the families we make through our own efforts.”
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(Posted Fri, 04 Oct 2013 04:00)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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