Temple of Ranma's Sailor Senshi Seifuku

First part is mostly the same as what I had before till I revised it but with a different ending to reflect the changed events.

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Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, a man far too old to carry the title carefully inspected the seal on Naruto’s stomach while trusting the ninja of his village to handle matters outside. Having studied the seal in depth it was easy to see that something had tweaked it. The eight trigrams seal, a combination seal forming a spiral in the center with eight characters spaced around it had gained two more characters as well as a dashed circle around the original seal. He had expected the seal keeping the Kyuubi to be weakened by releasing a piece of itself, but he could find no evidence of this.

Satisfied that Naruto was not in any immediate danger and that the full force of the Kyuubi would not be awaked this day, he turned to a nearby ANBU member wearing a dog mask. “Where is it now?”

“Squads three through eight are engaging it at training ground twelve. Evacuation of civilians in the nearby area is almost complete with Jounin preparing to assist in the Kyuubi’s destruction.” The ANBU member answered with a brief nod of his head.

“I’ll be there momentarily, inform the squad commanders that it is to be captured, intact if possible.” Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at Naruto’s sleeping form. He needed to know the purpose of this change to the seal.

“Hokage-sama.” The ANBU sounded uncertain but left without questioning him.

Following at a slower pace over the rooftops of Konoha, he carefully drew the new seal that had been placed on Naruto for further study later. Even without knowing the location, he could feel the Kyuubi’s weakening presence as the Bijuu in human form struggled against Konoha’s forces. Something about it was off though. The Kyuubi was a creature of pure malice, a living element of destruction. But the avatar fighting lacked that, even in the midst of combat, the majority of the destruction he was passing had been caused by Sarutobi’s own forces.

Arriving at training ground twelve, a quarry that had been converted for the purpose of training Doton techniques, the heavy stone making excellent practice material for earthen manipulations. Another ANBU with a hawk mask approached him as soon as he had appeared.

“Casualties?” Sarutobi asked gravely.

“None Hokage-sama.” The ANBU answered with surprise in his tone. “A great deal of broken bones and some injuries that could be life threatening without treatment but no deaths. She isn’t using any ninjutsu or genjutsu, only physical attacks.”

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, he had expected there to be a long list of families he would have to send death notices to. He had not yet seen the Kyuubi’s avatar but he had been expecting a frightening visage when instead he found an innocent looking young girl with long unbound red hair. Surrounding her like a forest were hundreds of kunai, shuriken, and other more exotic throwing weapons.

She was hunched over, arms hanging limply with a kunai barely held in her left hand. Since her clothing consisted of just a modified martial arts gi, he could see bloodied cuts covering her bare arms and legs. The blade slipped from her fingers and she fell to her knees before collapsing onto her side unconscious.

“Get her stabilized and restrained.” He commanded. “There are a lot of questions I want answered as soon as possible.”

zx

A cell deep beneath the Konoha Intelligence Division building

Sarutobi watched as a trio of female medic-nin cleaned the cuts on the Kyuubi avatar. Around him, nearly a dozen of highly specialized shinobi waited to respond if she awoke. He kept his focus off the fact that the redhead was currently nude, remembering that he too needed to stay ready in order to put her down if the need arose. Even though special jutsu were being used to make sure she remained unconscious. All three of the medic-nin were visibly nervous, their hands shaking as they washed away dirt and blood.

“Hokage-sama-- would you take a look at this?” One of them asked and he approached the short distance.

“What is it?” He asked, his eyes watching intently as she cleaned a spot of skin where a line of blood indicated there was a cut. Only instead of seeing an injury, only smooth skin was revealed. Looking closely, he could see only the tiniest hint of lighter skin indicating where it had been slashed.

“Rapid healing with no overt chakra usage?” He wondered out loud. Even being nearly depleted, the girl’s chakra did feel very potent which could explain the rapid healing, but more tests would need to be run to see if it was due to that or a kitsune trait. No detail could be missed.

“The only serious injury we’ve found is that her right arm is dislocated and will need to be reset.” The lead medic-nin explained. “Should we?”

“No.” He shook his head. His decision wasn’t meant to be cruel or punish the avatar but to stop her from using any hand seals to mold chakra.

“As you wish, we’ll finish up so that she can be properly restrained.” The medic-nin bowed her head before turning from him. As soon as the avatar was cleaned, she was dressed in a simple white dress, and a team went to work to finish binding her in the center of the room. Sarutobi didn’t leave until he was satisfied there would be no way for the Kyuubi avatar to escape, leaving orders to be alerted as soon as she awoke, he needed to check on Naruto.

zx

“Hey hey, old man, what’s with the free ramen?” Uzumaki Naruto asked, greedily slurping up his noodles with the Hokage waiting patiently nearby. He had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with that hot redhead that had been in his bed earlier. Not that he was going to volunteer that. If the old man had his secrets than Naruto could have his.

“Just something to lighten the mood.” Sarutobi answered and finally sat down at the small table in Naruto’s apartment.

“You’re not gonna tell me I have to pay for repairs, are you?” He squinted his eyes suspiciously.

“No that will be coming out of some overly enthusiastic ANBU’s salary.” The elderly man folded his hands together. “This is a serious matter though.”

“Oh?” Naruto finished his ramen with a loud burp.

Sarutobi nodded his head with an affirmative grunt. “Your special tenant-- have you noticed anything different lately?”

“Should I have?” He asked in confusion. Naruto had found out about the Kyuubi being sealed within him barely a week ago and had never noticed anything special from knowing about it. “This have something to do with that girl?”

“Yes actually. What was she doing before she knocked you out?”

“Sleeping.” He shrugged before crossing his arms angrily. “In my bed of all places, when I tried to wake her up she kicked me in the face.”

“Have you ever seen her before?”

“I would have remembered if I had.” Naruto giggled absently in a moment of remembrance at how hot she had been.

“This is serious!” Sarutobi snapped, breaking him out of his daydream. “Have you ever met anyone like her before?”

“Nobody like that talks to me and they definitely don’t sleep in my bed.” He remarked irritably and pouted. “What is she supposed to be the fox or something?” When the Hokage failed to respond immediately he raised an eyebrow. “Aww! You mean I’ve been thinking about the fox? Like that?”

“You’re too young to be thinking like that.” Sarutobi sighed. “Did she say anything at all?”

“Morning-- with her foot.” He joked, trying to get his mind off the fact that he had found a fox attractive. “Wait-- does that mean it’s out of me?”

“Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, no. She appears to be merely a very small part of the Kyuubi. If you notice anything out of the ordinary I want you to tell me immediately, understand?”

“What does that mean?” He asked, trying to mask his fear. “That something--got out?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

So, Naruto is a little perv. Wonder if he'll drop his obsession about Sakura for Ranma, lol.

Well, Naruto is a teen and Ranma is a cute redhead, I think his reaction was pretty normal. And compared to know perverts in the Naruto world, nah he isn't a pervert, not until he reads Icha Icha in public and starts to imitate certain Toad Sage.

Ranma felt strangely at ease as she floated in an empty white void. “Well-- this is different.” She remarked, finding that if she willed it, then she would move about freely. “Am I dead? Did those assholes cut my throat while I was out or something?”

A tugging sensation on her stomach was all the warning she got before she was pulled hard to the side. Flailing her arms and legs, the world snapped into focus to reveal a vast training hall with the walls lined with books and scrolls. “Woah!” She exclaimed, realizing that everything was super sized, and that she was comparatively the size of a small bird.

Flying around aimlessly, she stopped to inspect one of the books to see it labeled Genma stealing food. Another was labeled after some obscure martial arts school she had long since forgotten about. “Are these my memories?” She stopped to blush in embarrassment at a book labeled bed wetting.

Catching sight of a similarly miniaturized man down several shelves reading through a giant book propped open against the shelf, Ranma quickly flew over. “Hey!” She called out.

“Such an oddly structured mind.” The tall man with long blond hair in a high ponytail remarked before looking in her direction. “You’re aware of my presence?” He asked himself and stopped touching the book which immediately snapped closed and resumed it’s place on the shelf.

“What is this place?” She demanded, suspicion over his comments. “Who are you?”

“I’ll just be a moment longer.” He answered, flying away with his long black coat billowing behind him.

“If this is my head then get out!” Ranma flew up to try and push him away from another book but he just extended a hand, and sent her tumbling away towards the floor. Regaining her bearings, Ranma flew up to hover next to him. “I said out.” She snapped angrily, her eyes tracking to the book to see that it detailed the events around Jusenkyo.

“Get out!” Ranma spat and threw a punch that he deflected away. “Stop it!” She screamed more desperately, trying to grab his hands. “Don’t read that!”

The training hall vanished before she could pull the man from the book as her mind snapped into full awareness of the real world due to her shoulder popping back into place. Cringing, she gasped in pain, and tried to reach up but found her arm barely budging. “Huh?”

Struggling against the heavy metal chains binding her in place, she cursed repeatedly and loudly. At most she could rise to a kneeling position, her hands shackled at the wrists to the floor, and her ankles. Another chain around her neck went down to her waist before connecting to the floor. Below her was a circle made out of strange glyphs, from eight points more glyphs spiraled out to meet with a much larger circle. The chains merged seamlessly with the floor and scrawled over the shackles were more of the glyphs.

Ranma finally noticed the three men standing before her. One was a short old man wearing a white cloak and a wide brimmed red hat. The two others, one being the man she had seen in her head, while the other had multiple scars across his face and wore a black handkerchief to cover the top of his head.

“What did you find Inoichi?” The older man asked the blond.

“Either the most carefully crafted fake memories I’ve ever seen or she’s not part of the Kyuubi.” The blond man answered, looking like he had been awake for days. “I really don’t know what to make of it.”

Ranma narrowed her eyes dangerously at the man. “I’m pretty forgiving but you guys are really pushing it.” She snarled.

The scarred man stepped forward until he was within arms reach. “Tell us who and what you are.” He demanded. “Where do you come from? What is your relationship to the Kyuubi?”

“First you try to kill me, now you got me chained here to play in my head, and you expect me to just answer your stupid questions?” Ranma snorted derisively. “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?” She probably should have been less insulting considering her current position, but having some stranger reading through her innermost secrets was just too much.

The scarred man put his hands together to form a strange hand sign. Immediately Ranma felt the chain at her neck tighten as it shortened, pulling her down towards the floor until she was bowing to him. “We will get answers, one way or another.”

“Ibiki.” The elderly man interrupted and the scarred man stepped back. “Girl, while I find torture distasteful, I will do whatever it takes to keep my village safe. If you refuse, far more painful methods will be used to force your compliance.”

“And if I do talk-- what then?” She asked uncertainly. At the moment there was no way to fight her way out of here and she had no leverage to break the bonds holding her in place. So if answering a few stupid questions for these crazy people got her out then she would play ball.

“Depends on your answers.” The old man answered. “What are you? A kitsune? Some kind of chakra clone?”

“Well unless I took another trip to Jusenkyo I’m still human.” She shrugged as best she could. “How about loosening this chain so I don’t have to stare at the floor?” The chain remained short so she just grumbled about bad manners.

“Your name?”

“Saotome Ranma, what’s yours?” Just because she was answering them didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be snide about it.

“You may address me as Hokage. Where are you from?”

“Nerima.”

“Where is this Nerima?”

“It’s part of Tokyo.”

“What land? What nation does this Tokyo belong to?”

“You’re speaking Japanese and you ask me that?” Ranma blinked several times in confusion.

“Retrieve a map so she can point out it’s location.” The Hokage ordered to someone.

‘Great I’m dealing with really crazy people.’

Heh. Every Ranma/Naruto crossover has Ranma being captured, interrogated, and have explain where Nerima lies. Well, I guess it is a logical process.

Dumbledork wrote:Heh. Every Ranma/Naruto crossover has Ranma being captured, interrogated, and have explain where Nerima lies. Well, I guess it is a logical process.

Which is why I'm going to skip over most of it.

Every Ranma/Naruto crossover has Ranma being captured, interrogated, and have explain where Nerima lies.

Well, it's either this, or they kill him (either accidentally in combat or deliberately for being too dangerous). That wouldn't be a particularly interesting story (neither a long one).

I couldn't find anything outstanding to comment, so I can offer only the traditional "moar".

Throwing this out because I'm tired of staring at it. Kurenai is actually picked because if Ranma steps out of line she can just take him out with a genjutsu which Inoichi found he had no resistance to.

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Two days later

Ranma barely bothered trying to see what the blond man, Inoichi was looking through within her head. She couldn’t do anything to stop him, this place being a construct of his own making. That she was even aware of this place was an oddity. And even though this was her mind, in this place, he was a god. Not that it stopped her from hovering protectively in front of several embarrassing books describing things that must surely have been picked up after gaining the curse.

Inoichi glanced over in her direction. “You don’t remember meeting this Shirokawa Kaede before, do you?” He asked seriously.

“Can’t you read?” She asked hatefully, feeling nothing but contempt for the invader.

“I take no pleasure in this.” He answered her response by going back to the book. “And reading back through your entire life would be-- tedious.”

“No, I never met her before that tournament.” Ranma admitted, not wanting to sit idly by while he sorted through her memories looking for an event that never happened.

A harsh buzzing and twisting in her gut was all the warning before she was deposited back out into the real world. Disoriented, she slumped further into her kneeling position. Inoichi withdrew his hand from where it had been placed on the top of her head. “That’s it.” Ranma shook her head. “You’re not getting in my head again.”

Inoichi didn’t respond, quietly leaving the room to leave her stewing near the outer ring. Raising her right hand up and looked at the shackle that remained in place before sighing and letting her hand drop back to the stone floor. The chains had been lengthened, allowing her to wander around inside the circle of glyphs. Between bouts of questioning she was able to make several attempts at breaking free but they had all failed. The chains were almost impossibly strong and responded to her actions. If she tried to to get a running start to snap them then they would stretch just enough to negate her momentum. Or they would jerk just before she could pull on them at the worst possible moment.

Inoichi had mentioned the curse but they didn’t want to test it out because it would require removing her restraints or crush her wrists, ankles, and throat. So with no water of any kind within reach except for the glasses of cool water they brought with her meals, she was stuck as a girl for the time being.

She was thoroughly sick of just waiting around and trying to make idle conversation with the guards that remained partially hidden in the shadows on the outside of the room. ‘Bet they’re sleeping behind those tacky animal masks.’ She grumbled and walked over to settle down on a cheap futon they had given her to try and kill some time staring at the ceiling.

They knew that she wasn’t this Kyuubi. They knew she wasn’t lying about where she was from. The only thing they kept going on about was Kaede. Ranma had never heard them talk much on the subject, just that the name kept coming up. ‘If it was her, why would she do this to me? We were getting along so well. No fiancee garbage, she didn’t care about the curse, she would have been a great sparring partner, and I thought she was pretty fun to just be around.’ It hurt to think about how she had been deceived.

‘They better hope I don’t have to break out of here.’ She thought darkly and rolled over onto her side. Not seeing any of the guards from this angle, Ranma resumed trying to use her fingernails to cut into one of her wrist shackles. ‘Damn it, why didn’t I ever learn the breaking point?’

zx

Sarutobi looked over Yamanaka Inoichi’s findings from the girl’s mind. No explanation was forthcoming on why she had appeared in Naruto’s room or why her chakra signature matched that of the Kyuubi’s. They were like fingerprints, it shouldn’t be possible unless she was actively mimicking it. Other than this Shirokawa Kaede that had entered Ranma’s strange life barely a week prior, he had no reason to suspect the teen’s story was a lie. Or at least the red eyed girl had been thoroughly and extensively programmed to believe it was true.

“It would be nice if there were some kind of precedence for this.” He moaned and leaned back in his chair. Several trusted intelligence specialists would also be going over this information to give their own recommendations but in the end it fell on him.

The seal on Naruto had been altered in disturbing ways. Before the seal was designed to slowly weaken over time and allow the Kyuubi’s chakra to mix and join with Naruto’s. The additions had added a block controlled from the kitsune’s end, now he could deny any and all chakra from mixing. Another change was that it allowed the absorption of outside chakra. Which is where he believed Ranma fell in.

At least one kitsune was attempting to release the Kyuubi. Clearly the similar chakra signatures were not mere coincidence. Sarutobi remembered the the bijuu had been split into yin and yang before being sealed. Had someone found a way to release the half sealed within the god of death and seal it in a counter vessel to Naruto? The seal placed on Naruto could not survive the two halves of the Kyuubi being reunited which would release the bijuu.

The most simple and direct option he had was to kill Ranma. The redhead was clearly an important part of that plan, removing the teen would protect Naruto, and foil it completely. However that may be the intent. Have Ranma appear next to Naruto and be killed, causing the nearby chakra to be absorbed into the seal. The immediate response of the ANBU had been to try and put Ranma down, it was the expected reaction.

He couldn’t believe for an instant that the obvious solution would solve any problem. A long term plan with this much at stake would not have been left to chance. Now he just had to figure out a reason to spare Ranma’s life that would be accepted by those who did not deal in half measures.

zx

“Are you assholes ever going to let me take a bath!?” Ranma called out into the darkened room. At least a week had passed rotting in her own filth, chained to the floor, and put through mental torture without a single offer of a proper bath. Not only were these people crazy but they were unforgivably rude.

Waiting in silence, she nearly missed the soft click as whatever door her tormentors came in and out of opened. Soft footsteps preceded a tall woman with red eyes moving towards her. One of the metal forehead protectors could be seen peeking out from the center part of her black hair. Her clothing resembled an oversized gi constructed out of multiple bands with vine patterns running along the seams. Her right arm was covered in a red sleeve while the other was bare and Ranma could see an opaque fishnet layer covering her chest.

“You’re not going to try some stupid hey I’m a girl, you can trust me, kind of thing are you?” Ranma groaned in annoyance. “Cause seriously, if you just offered me a bath, and some decent food I’d agree to a lot.” She waved a hand flippantly, chains clinking loudly in the otherwise silent room.

“Nothing so crude.” The woman answered Ranma’s taunt without any emotion to her voice.

“And jumping into my head to force open my memories was eloquent?” She snarled.

“I’m not here to argue the merits of the Intelligence Divisions information gathering techniques.” The other red eyed female responded clinically. “I’m here to tell you what’s going to happen to you.”

Ranma waited in silence to see if the woman would explain but she didn’t continue, waiting for her to acknowledge that she was paying attention. “Go on.”

“I’ve been selected to act as your handler. You would be under my direct supervision and would live here in the village as our voluntary guest. Rudimentary training materials would be made available to you in exchange for your compliance.”

“And if I just want to go home?” She had no desire to stay among these nut cases.

“If you don’t agree to cooperate-- you’ll find the alternative far less appealing.”

Ranma sighed and slowly sat down on the hard floor. ‘Think Saotome, there’s gotta be a way out of these psychos clutches. You’ve had days with nothing to do but think about it, you lunk head.’

“Ranma-san.” The black haired woman knelt down just outside the outer circle, her voice going from clinical and detached to concerned. “Please don’t force the alternative. We had to make sure you weren’t a threat to the village. Now that we know you’re not, we just want to make the best of a bad situation.”

“Oh? So you’re asking me to trust you?” Ranma asked.

“We want you to accept our offer for a safe place in the village.”

“And why can’t you just let me leave? Or am I not supposed to leave, ever?” She asked darkly.

“Until we know what you are, it’s too big a risk to you and ourselves. But it would not be forever.”

“How many times do I have to tell you people that I’m human?” Ranma rose up to her feet and crossed her arms to glare down at the woman. “And you want me to trust you and agree to this?”

“I would like for you to trust me.” The woman nodded.

“No.” She turned her back on the other female with red eyes.

“If you don’t they will break you. It’ll be worse than remaining in this cell for the rest of your life.” The woman pleaded desperately.

“Sorry, I can’t trust someone who won’t even get within my reach.” She spat and pointed at the outer ring that marked the extent of her movement. “Didn’t even tell me your name.” She snorted and made a big show of walking away by purposely throwing the excess chain out of her way.

“My name is Yuuhi Kurenai.” The woman called out to her. “And I am more than willing to get within arms reach.” Ranma turned enough to see that the red eyed woman had entered within the outer ring. “They’re giving you one hour to decide.”

I like it that they are acting like ninjas and not trust Ranma right away like they do in most crossovers.

If Konoha do this to the innocent, I wonder that the other villages do...

Blackcat101 wrote:If Konoha do this to the innocent, I wonder that the other villages do...

Depends on who's in charge, but common assumption is that other less-progressive villages would have raped her for all the information they could have before either killing or leashing her.

Very interesting, I like all the little nudges here and there hinting at different things. Can't wait to see how these developments pan out. Nothing else much to say really, just keep up the good work

With no way to tell time, the hour stretched on for an eternity for Ranma. Having decided on her course of action shortly after the woman, Kurenai had left, she settled down to meditate. She heard people enter her prison but remained focused on keeping herself centered and ready to respond to anything.

“Have you made your decision?” Sarutobi asked gravely.

Ranma slowly opened up her eyes to try and look down at the man from her seated position. “I’ll be your-- guest.” She answered.

“We would have your word on that.” A tall man wearing a light gray kimono with long slicked back black hair demanded, his off white pupiless eyes boring into her. “A promise.”

“The only thing I’d promise.” She snorted and slowly rose to her feet before pointing past Sarutobi to Inoichi who was standing behind him. “Is that I promise to punch him in the face the moment you take these chains off.” Ranma finished, glaring daggers at her tormentor.

“Now now.” The elderly Sarutobi drew her attention. “It’s rude to attack your comrades. Please, think of Konoha as your home now. I wish to make up for what we put you through, but it’ll be impossible if any of us continue to hold grudges.”

‘Because you’re never going to let me leave.’ Ranma simply nodded absently to help this painful meeting get over faster. ‘And I promise to kick you while you’re down too.’ She carefully kept her face neutral, even as her fists were so tightly clenched that her fingernails were cutting into her palm deep enough to draw blood.

“Ibiki, please remove her restraints.” Sarutobi instructed the heavily scarred man.

Her red eyes tracked his movement and the string of hand seals Ibiki made, memorizing every action. She had to figure out what each one meant and what boost to abilities they gave. Ibiki stood at the exterior of the circle and after his hand seals, slammed his palms into the ground. The glyphs receded away from his hands and when they reach the opposite side, the internal circle pulsed once before vanishing. Her shackles made a loud cracking noise as they fell away to land heavily on the floor.

Rubbing at her wrists with a happy smile, she was happy to have the heavy metal no longer tying her down. Her smile dropped and she looked towards Inoichi. Stomping towards him and paying no heed to the other members of Sarutobi’s entourage preparing to respond.

“I don’t care if it was that old geezer who told you to do it or the Emperor, but there’s no way I’m going to forgive you.” She snarled at the blond who took a step back and raised his hands in defeat.

“Hey I’m sorry kid, it wasn’t anything personal.” He tried to sound apologetic up until Ranma fulfilled her promise and punched him squarely in the face. Inoichi was thrown backwards to bounce once before he impacted the exterior wall upside down.

“Ouch.” The blond groaned and rose to a sitting position.

“Apology not accepted!” She shouted at him and turned towards Kurenai who was supposed to be her supervisor. “So where am I going to be staying? I need some food and I need a bath-- maybe not in that order.” She shrugged.

A slightly amused Kurenai merely blinked several times before gesturing towards a door Ranma could now see. “Nice punch.”

zx

Sarutobi watched the two leave while hiding a brief smirk of mirth. Not being the one seen as responsible for her torture had helped a great deal to stop any fury from being directed his way. Inoichi had known this might happen and would be fine, it was a simple way to finally see a tiny fraction of the girl’s strength and speed. The shackles and chains she had been bound with weighed in excess of two hundred kilograms. But she had moved around as though they were nothing.

“It is foolish to allow her to roam free.” Hyuuga Hiashi, the head of his family noted simply, arms crossed into the sleeves of his haori.

“I wouldn’t say free.” He commented, there were contingencies in place.

“You never had any intention of placing my families seal on her, did you?” The man pointed out in irritation.

“Just one of many options.” He answered casually. ‘Options are a ninjas best friend.’ He thought to himself.

“How’d my hair get so long?” Ranma asked his reflection in a small mirror inside the tiny shower area he had been allowed to get cleaned up in. He made a point not to think why they would have a shower next to what he guessed were interrogation rooms. Wiping away some steam from the mirror, he turned his head to the side to see that his black hair now reached down to his lower back.

“I’m going to need something to tie-- it-- back--.” He trailed off, feeling first horror then elation that the effect of the dragon whisker soup had finally worn off. “Ha! No going bald for me!” He cheered and did a small happy dance.

“Too bad someone stole it, I could have sold it to my old man for a fortune.” He lamented.

Ranma had been all too happy to oblige them on showing off his real form and had given specifics on his size so they could give him basic clothing. What they gave him was a simple pair of slightly too big white boxers, light blue capri pants, and baggy gray tshirt with a wide oval shaped neck. Not his usual style but the fit was satisfactory for them not even seeing him. They had gotten his prefered style of slipper right but they were at least two sizes too big so he would be going barefoot for the time being.

Leaving the shower area, he was suddenly blinded by a camera flash. Holding the camera was a short thin woman wearing a long white robe. Two other men wearing similar clothing were standing close with various instruments.

“They would just like to take some actual measurements.” Kurenai explained.

“Alright-- I guess.” He shrugged and let them quickly go about the task. “Why didn’t you do this when I was a girl?”

“We did.” The camera woman answered and took a profile shot. “You were just unconscious at the time.”

“Ah.” Ranma would make them regret it if they had done more than that.

“It’s not everyday that we get someone who changes gender.” One of the men suddenly plucked a hair from Ranma’s head.

“Maybe you could find a way to cure me.” He suggested excitedly. Chakra based techniques seemed like magic, it had to be possible.

“We’ll have to get back to you on that. It’s been difficult enough analyzing your previous sample and may need more.” The same man answered, putting the hair into a glass test tube and covering it with a cork stopper. “If anything comes up, you’ll be notified.”

‘Wonder if there’s a Jusenkyo on this world I could go to.’ He thought as the trio departed.

“Just so you’re aware.” Kurenai broke into his musing. “You’re being trusted that this is not just some jutsu to change your appearance. I imagine normally they would have sat there and watched you change-- repeatedly.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll see it in action enough.” He grumbled before wringing his hands together rapidly. “So how about some food?”

“There’s a cafeteria nearby--.” Kurenai started to say before he interrupted her.

“No way, I want real food.” Ranma crossed his arms and decided to start testing their limits. “I need to make sure my taste buds still work after a week of that slop you fed me.”

“It is a bit early but you’ve definitely earned it. I wouldn’t eat the prison food on a dare.” The black haired woman became more serious. “But first I would like to go over your cover story so you can practice with some prepared responses.”

“What would I need a cover story for? No one knows me, I’m on a different and crazy world.” He shrugged in indifference.

“Every senior ninja knows about you now and will be briefed on how to handle the situation, but the reaction to your arrival was a little too public to simply sweep under the rug with our younger generation and the civilians.” She explained and appeared to stop waiting for him to acknowledge that he understood.

“Is it at least something that makes me look cool?” He asked. “Cause I’m not doing it unless I’m a badass.” He struggled desperately not to let a smirk appear on his face.

zx

Inuzuka Kiba elbowed his female teammate Hyuuga Hinata before pointing towards their team leader walking down the street with a much younger guy.

“Hey, who’s that with Kurenai-sensei?” He asked and crossed his arms over his pet dog Akamaru tucked within the front of his gray coat.

“I-- I don’t know.” The shy Hyuuga answered, her pale lavender eyes without pupils tracking Kurenai.

“You ever see him before, Shino?” He turned towards his other teammate, Aburame Shino. The other genin’s face was hidden behind the high collar of his jacket and his dark round sunglasses. The quiet Shino just shook his head to the negative.

“Wanna find out if he’s the reason why she stopped us from doing missions the next couple of days?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Yes, because it will be good training.” Shino answered.

zx

Ranma paused while inhaling some utterly delicious barbecue ribs to look dubiously at Kurenai. Stripping the last of the meat from the bone, he licked his lips, and set the bone down. “So, I’m your cousin.” He summarized.

“Very distant judging by your table manners.” She added, looking shocked over the speed he was eating at. “Can you repeat the basics again?”

He looked down at the small map she had given him with several notes written near cities. “I traveled with my father in the Land of Fire all my life.” He pointed to a large section that also contained the ninja village he was currently in. “He was killed by a-- missing-nin?” Criminal seemed like it would be simpler but he figured with this chakra being available it was necessary to make a distinction between average bad guys and the ones who could blow up buildings with a few waves of their hands.

“Go on.” She encouraged, listening intently.

“Having no other family, I contacted you and you agreed to help me start up a life here.” He finished, skipping over a great deal of boring and minute details.

“Good enough for now.” She nodded. “Study that scroll so that I can ask you more specific questions tomorrow morning.”

“What do I get if I get a good grade on this test?” He asked absently, glancing at three young teens who entered into the restaurant. Two boys with one girl and they were all so incredibly bland and unassuming that they caught his eye immediately. ‘Are they sending kids to keep watch on me?’

“Did you notice their henge, or was it how ordinarily ordinary they look?” Kurenai asked in amusement, noticing where his eyes had wandered.

“Way too normal for you people.” He answered and casually took a sip of his glass of water.

“Hinata.” Kurenai called across the room, causing the disguised girl to flinch instantly, and look in their direction. The black haired woman didn’t say anything more, merely gestured with her index finger for the three to come over to the table. One of the boys cursed loudly and gave the indicated Hinata an angry scowl.

“Hide the map.” The red eyed woman ordered and gestured for the three to come over to them.

Ranma didn’t realize why he had to hide it until the three normal teens vanished in a puff of smoke to be replaced by more distinctive figures. One stood out immediately for his black slitted eyes, wild spiky hair, and red slashes running vertically on each cheek. Peeking out the front of his dirty gray jacket was a white puppy that was giving Ranma a dirty look. The other boy and girl seemed far less odd, except for the girl’s pupilless lavender eyes.

‘Just like that old man.’ He remembered the stern angry looking one who had been with Sarutobi.

Kurenai’s hands moving across the table to roll up the map reminded him that she had told him to hide it. The only one of the three who seemed to have picked up on the map was the one with dark round sunglasses and a collar so high that it hid most of his face. Ranma could only guess that though as the only change was an eyebrow peeking slightly up over his glasses.

“So who’s this guy?” The one with the dog asked aggressively and crossed his arms.

“This is my cousin, Saotome Ranma.” Kurenai introduced politely. “Ranma, this is my team of genin. Hyuuga Hinata.” She indicated the girl with the pupilless eyes. “Inuzuka Kiba.” The boy with the dog was next followed by the sunglasses wearing boy in a high collared green coat. “And Aburame Shino.”

“Little ninja, huh?” Ranma leaned forward to prop his head up with his right hand in contemplation. “What are they training to be, dog catchers?” He asked casually, a plan quickly forming in his head. They had offered to give him information on chakra but he certainly didn’t trust that he would receive anything worthwhile.

“Could kick your ass.” Kiba snorted, rising up to answer Ranma’s taunt. Even his dog gave a growl in response.

“Kiba, that’s enough.” Kurenai chastised the boy, stopping the situation from escalating.

“Good dog.” Ranma whispered as softly as he could, enjoying the tightening around Kiba’s eyes. “I’m sorry, cousin. Do you think that maybe I could see how you train them? Me and my father trained together, ya know. Might make me feel more at home.” He trailed off sadly, not needing to act the part. He had been gone for nearly a week now with no way of knowing if he would ever be able to return. As sure as Ranma was that he would eventually find a way there were nagging doubts and he still had to payback Kaede for all of this.

“Does that mean you’ll be staying for some time-- because your father is no longer around?” Shino asked in a matter of fact sort of way behind his high collar and sunglasses.

“Uh-- yea.” He answered uncomfortably, immediately noticing that the girl with the strange eyes was shyly looking at him with a look bordering on pity.

“Tomorrow.” Kurenai finally said tensely. “He needs to get moved into his apartment first and each of you are going to spend the rest of the day working on your henge.” Hinata looked down while playing with her fingers nervously, Kiba groaned loudly, and Shino stood stoically as though he didn’t have any feelings on the matter. “We’ll meet tomorrow in the market of block four and I hope not to spot you so easily.”

“Yes, sensei.” The trio bowed their heads towards the woman briefly before hurrying out of the restaurant.

“How lenient.” Ranma remarked, trying to push away the dark thoughts of home. “Was expecting you to take off a fingertip or two for failure.”

“Fingertips are useful, plenty of other body parts you can part with without losing combat effectiveness.” Kurenai explained casually, daintily using a fork to finish the last of her food.

“Funny--.” He rolled his eyes before shouting across the room. “Hey waiter, I want to order another plate of ribs!”

Nice way to make friends, Ranma.