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Leaf; Let's try this again?
Topic Started: May 6 2009, 05:38 PM (5,387 Views)
Ozzallos
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Old stuff in the first post, new stuff after that.
Standard disclaimer. Snippets are rough and things are subject to change at a moment's notice. Secondary disclaimer in light of the previous attempt... You're entitled to post your opinion, but this is fanfiction. Don't make it a holy crusade.

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Leaf
Prologue



Minato Namikazi looked out over his village, his home, the Hidden Village of the Leaf, Konoha... Currently the site of hell itself. His vantage point upon the hokage monuments allowed him a vast and unobstructed view of the apocalypse below. It was a sight few had seen before and those that survived would pray they would never see again: Kyuubi, the nine tailed beast. The beast had set upon them in the deep of night, tearing through their perimeter like a wave of furious red chakra and annihilating everything that stood in its path.


Steel blue eyes swept the embattled village, mentally assessing the damage to his home. A quarter of Konoha was simply gone, scoured in flame and chakra as the demon fox advanced through their hastily assembled defenses. While he would like to say his forces were giving as good as it got, he'd be lying. The Nine Tails was simple a force of nature and Minato knew he was trading his people lives for time to stay it's advance until the beast could be routed or killed.

Minato's stony expression met the night's crimson glow. It was hour number three since the nine-tail's arrival and so far neither objective had been achieved.

"Gambuto's spent. I've ordered ANBU Summer and Spring to fall back to to Kobi ward to reinforce Winter."

"Have Police four cover their withdraw," The Forth Hokage nodded to a dog-masked nin standing by for just such orders. The mask nodded and the nin was gone. Minato's blond crop of hair wavering in the pyre's thermal breeze. "They'll take heavy casualties, but..."

"...but we're out of options." Jiraiya finished in a a similarly sober tone. The white haired sanin stepped up to his former pupils side, watching beyond as the massive demon's tail lashed within the confines of their home, destroying entire city blocks as Konoha's dedenders sought to keep it from moving deeper into the heavier populaces. The elder turned away to gaze at his former pupil. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"

The blond simply nodded. "I've run it by Sarutobi. He agrees the seal should work."

"Dammit." The Jiraiya murmered. Under any other circumstance, he'd attempt to talk his friend out of the course of action he was commiting to, but that thing Madra had unleashed was... "It's not going to stand still while you run through the seals, you know. Hell, it won't stop for anything."

"It'll stop for me."

Both men turned around to find a woman stepping up to their position. Jiraiya blinked. Minato frowned. There was no mistaking the redmane of her hair set aglow in firelight or the lithe grace with which she moved. The fourth shook his head. "You of all people--"

"Must." She silenced him, adding a delicate finger to his lips. She smiled gently and pulled the finger away, leaving him silent. "I, of all people, and we both know why."

"Naruto?" Jiraiya queried, knowing the inquiry was largely rhetorical in nature. Still, it was more for Minato's sake, just to hear the words.

"With Taki at the southern gate." She confirmed what he had hoped he would hear.

Minato's frown persisted, but his body language eased a bit. "Most mothers would still be recuperating."

"It's been a week and I'm not most mothers." Kushina let the edge of smirk manifest itself along her lips and joined the men on the cliff side face where the smile evaporated. A single growl slipped from her throat upon seeing her home consumed in flames. "Madra."

"Stand in line," Jiraiya's gaze narrowed taking in the same scene of destruction. Fire lashed around the demon fox as it continued to press into the heart of Konoha. He cocked his head over to the blond, then the redhead. "Are you sure about this? Kushina?"

"We've... talked about it." The woman's face faded to resolution. "There is very little that walks I can't kill, but that thing out there..."

"...leaves my seal." The fourth Hokage finished with a nearly identical expression on his face. It wasn't something either him of his wife were looking forward to, but like his former sensei said, they were out of options. "We'll hold the line in the Kobi ward. I assume you've hit the armory, Love?"

"Requistioned every last tag they had." She smiled, pulling a kunai from her combat vest and twirling it her fingers. The action and look in her eyes set the toad sannin ill at ease. She loved those entirely too much for her own, let alone anybody else's. Minato's wife was scarily creative when it came to employing them and her claim to her own lethality was hardly a boast. She truned back to the inferno and thrashing beast below, her blue eyes hardening. "Let's do this."

Minato Namikazi took her hand, equally determined to end the slaughter below. "Lets."

-----------------

Death. Annihilation. Kyuubi, the most powerful of the tailed demons reveled in these as it tore through the man-monkey’s village unchecked, clensing it from the earth with wrath and chakra. The fox had waited nearly a decade for this opportunity and now he was going burn the Hidden Village of the Leaf from the very annals of mammal history.



A tail flashed through a long arc, slicing through an anonymous tower. The structure buckled and collapsed outright, falling to the earth on top of its defenders. Pathetic, the beast snorted as another salvo genjutsu flashed against the red fur of its flank. The man monkies stung like so many ants and only one in a hundred actually had the power to hurt him. Still, the pin pricks served as a reminder to be careful. This village was the home of the witch and her consort and they was not to be underestimated.



Another ninjustsu ablated off his hind quarters, this one composed of water that hissed into steam on impact. One of kyuubi’s tails answered in reprisal, slamming into the already devastated streets like a chakra whip and silencing the position. A molten trench remained where it had landed its heat setting nearby structures alight by proximity alone. In either case, it hardly mattered. The vixen and her mate would either appear or he would scrape their precious village from--


A light weight suddenly landed on his nose and his slitted eyes focused inward.


"Did you miss me, Fox?"


"WENCH!"


Kushina Uzumaki smirk grew to an all out grin. "You do remember me!"


"RAAARRRRRWWW!" The demon's triangular head jerked out from beneath her feet, but she was already airborn, flipping back and away from the beast's snapping jaws even as nine tails directed their full fury against her. The woman pivoted impossibly through the air as one tail after the other stabbed her airspace like ethereal chakra spears but never quite accurate enough hit the red headed fairy. Gravity finally took hold of the woman and tail number five chose that moment to curve in like a striking snake. Kushina tumbled one last time, allowing the knife edge of her hand to flash out and severe the tail invisibly before it closed to terminal range. The nin landed in a light crouch some twenty meters away and the demon fox barred its canines at her, growling down at her as the stricken tail regenerated smoldering chakra from a stump.


The female drew upright from her crouched landing with a confused look on her face. "Gosh, did you get slower in the last ten years of am i just that damn good?"


"I will devour you, whore." A bassy rumble bubbled from the demons throat as it bared down on her from several stories up. "Summon your mate, for I shall devour you, then him and finally destroy this pathetic village."


"My mate is cooking up something extra special for you, Fox," her smile turned down right icey, then fell into a look that spoke all business. "Until then, your dealings are with me."


Kyuubi snapped his jaws back at her in defiance, yet in that moment, there was doubt; Doubt that had only existed once before and at the hands of this very female. She hadn't killed him in their last meeting but oh how she tried; tried with a ferocity that even he could respect. And the mate of hers... Where was he? Alone, she was of concern enough, but together... the last time the vixen and her mate had fought, he had come away from the battle... reduced. A shadow of his former power. It had taken this long just to build that margin back and then some; certainly enough to deal with the witch.


And then the moment was gone. Kushina launched herself forward, becoming a crimson blur from the moment she moved. Kyuubi bristled, whipping taile number three around to conjure a wind jutsu while tail six induced flame, creating a firestorm that the demon sent down range to engulf the hapless nin. The redhead melted around the technique's perimeter even as it detonated, punishing the already scorched landscape but failing to incapacitate the redhead in any way, shape or form. Ice followed the assault, but Kushina simply danced through the frozen scythe rain all while never losing the blurring forward momentum. A particularly wicked slab seemed destined to split the woman in two, falling from altitute as if unnaturally guided.

In fact, it did.

The ice razor craved the earth and where one had stood, there were two kunoichi. Then three. The fox crouched in low to the earth, tails flaying wildly as the red blurs weaved through one another's path then seperated, streakin in on him from three completely seperate vectors. Each Kushina was running flat out, low to the earth and trailing a tagged kunai in each hand. On angled for one of the taller buildings that was still standing and began to run up its side while the other two flanked the fox from opposing angles. At ten meters, each inititated a forward tumble that let them press a single palm to the earth and redirect that impossible momentum skyward over the fox while the third clone pushed off from the top of the structure she had scaled. The tails were once again back in action, lancing the air in a vain effort to knock any of the Kushina from their ballistic arc overhead. Clones number one and two used the errant tails as springboards to even greater hieght, allowing all three to pass one another throught the apex of the manuver and rain steel down on the demon, coating it with what almost seemed to be a solid stream of kunai from three different angles at once. Each tag held a tiny flame that burned down in less than a second before detonating.

One tag lighting off was beneath the nine tails notice. A dozen would have stung. Four hundred and thirty ripped a trail of fire and steel across the demons back, prompting it to howl in pain and rage as the concusive shockwave buckled the earth it stood upon. Anyone looking upon the scene from a cliff or rise watched as the three intersecting lines burned, drawing the monsters attention away from the landing redheads.

All three hit the ground simutaneously, braced and plunged a single finger into the ground.

--------------

Jiraiya's eyes widened as the earth beneath Kyuubi suddenly opened up and shattered, pushing a number of massive stone spires into the night sky. Anything within the triangle Kunisha had set up was either impaled outright or took the resulting fragmentation on the chin. Kyuubi did both and its howling indignation from before was elipsed by one of sheer agony.

"Did you know about that?" The Toad Sannin asked dubiously, eyeing first his former student, then zone of death Kushina had created. Even the ANBU they had assembled for their volenteers only offensive were left staring at the nine tales, entrapped and writhing.

"You know how she is about her training," Minato nodded soberly. And to think there had once been a day where she wouldn't take a human life, period. "No better time than now, then. Begin the operation."

The white haired nin nodded and leapt away. The ANBU took their cue from the sannin and followed him into the breach. Ninjustus flashed out with the advance distracting the detructive tails from Kunisha, who withdrew to Jiraiya's position with a flip as the volunteer unit engaged. "Is he...?"

The white haired man simply nodded. "He sends his love."

"I already know." A brief, fond smile found it's way to her face. It disappeared just as quickly, replaced by cold indifference. "Time to finish this."

Both nins flashed forward, knowing that Minato would be bringing up the rear once the Kyuubi was well and fully occupied. Even as they closed to range, a body flew back in the opposite direction, uncontrolled and completely ballistic. Both mentally tagged the tumbling corpse as a casualty but plunged into the breach regardless. As expected, the thrashing tails had cleared most of Kushina's spikes and the beast's wounds closed, though her activities had been a delaying tactic at best. Now came the main event. Masked ANBU had been darted around the nine tails perimeter, subjecting its flank with harsment fire when the two S Class nin's slammed into it completely unseen. Jiraiya's massive fireball smacked into the side of the foxes head, casuing it to waver and shake off the impact, only to be followed up by a bright incandecent sphere.

Kyuubi had been rocked but only the hopelessly naive would have thought the attacks would be enough to put him down. Burning yellow embers for eyes focused on the pair and the jaws came up, snapping at interlopers all while fending off the ANBU volunteers circling him. The tail came down, feignted right and caught one of the ANBU dead center, lighting him afire with the stoke. Tags and jutsu answered the blow, but it was merely a gesture after the fact; The nin was reduced to ash in seconds. Two more tails partitioned off from the rest, specifically targeting Kushina while Jiraiya occupied the mosters jaws. She waited until the tails had commited themselves then promptly vanished. The distraction allowed Toad Sanin his follow up, blasting Kyuubi's snout once more with what looked to be a writhing salamander engulfed in flames. Kushina reappeared with the strike, already falling from altitude on the errant tails. The edge of her left hand swung in, then the right severing both tails to a length of fifteen meters. Only the slightest distortion of atmosphere told of the attack's passage, but Kyuubi howled with fury regardless as the lifeless chakra tails fell to the earth, their potential evaporating with the breeze.

"I WILL DEVOUR YOU ALL!" The demon boomed, wreaking massive, but more importatnly stationary destruction on the landscape around him. "THE WITCH WILL SUFFER! HER MATE WILL SUFFER! YOU WILL ALL ENDURE SUFFERING BEYOND YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES!"

"It is you that will suffer, Fox."

The triangular head whipped around to find a blond man standing clear of any cover or rubble, his hands already flashing through a complex set of sealing. Warning screamed through Kyuubi's brain with the sight. The had been distracting him, his vixen and the others drawing his attention and now... The nine tailed demon spun around sharply on all fours, sensing the dire and immediate danger. While the ultimate outcome of the justu was unknown, the chakra building around the man monkey all but assured him it was a finishing move. Kyuubi had already covered a quarter of the distance to the man and was beginning to pick out the details. The seal types he was using... The symbol structures glowing from his belly through his clothing.

NO!

Kyuubi's ears flattened back and his tails streamlined, picking up speed even the witch and the other continued to lash his flank with critical strikes that were for now the least of his concern. A swirling black formed around the blond and Kyuubi could see an array of circular glyphs forming at the man's feet. "YOU WILL NOT STOP--!"

Something heavy slammed into his snout, something with enough force to drive his skull into the very earth, forcing it to auger across another thirty meters like a plow before tumbling to a stop. The Fox demon shook the blow off and began to right himself, only to find a blonde female interposing herself between him and the the witch's mate. Said witch landed next to her, joined by the white haired sennin a second later. Kyuubi was nearly upright when the voice seemed to thunder against his ears.

"Tenma Ori Justu!"

"RAAAAARRRRRRWWWW!!!!" The howl rolled across the Village of the leaf, shattering near by structures already weakened in the battle while reverberating through the very Earth. Chakra began to boil away from the nine tails, ripped from the creature and siphing off through the forth's clothing and into the seal etched on his stomach. The boiling increased along Kyuubi and the first tail withered and died, as if absorbed into the writhing fox. Still, Kyuubi managed to remain upright, baring his canines upon the steady man but paralyzed, unable to move. The slitted embers of his golden eyes narrowed. "Your... pathetic prison... cannot... possibly hold... my power!"

The edge of the fox's muzzle curved up with an equivolent to a smirk he began to force power through their mutual link now, nearly knocking Minato to the gound. The attempt had been to break the man monkey's concentration, but the blond held fast to his purpose. Still, the witch's mate was obviously in pain. Great pain, and he forced more into him out of sheer spite.

From the other side of the link, Minato already knew the fox was right. Chakra burned through his system and he had only absorbed two tails worth. He was trying to store it, pack it away, but there was just so much an the fox was feeding it far too fast to be neatly dealt with. At this rate... A presance beside him. He turned loking into the concerned eyes of his wife. A sharp pain ripped through him as another tail disolved. The sheer agony forced him to his knees and Kushina followed.

"I think... Plan B."

"I never liked plan B," The redhead whispered, knowing full well the implications. It had always been a possiblity, but... Another tremor racked her husband as number four began to boil into him. If any of them were to survive the night, there was no other way. She turned back to Tsunada. "Naruto-kun, please. Hurry."

The woman's eyes widened, but she nodded, leaping away.

"We need time..." Minato panted, sweating through the pain. "Too much power... time for the seal..."

Blue eyes stared back in him in sorrow, then smiled gently. Kushina leaned in, kissing her husband lightly on the lips. Without another word, she rose to her height and turned away, facing the demon fox and the streams of angry red chakra.

"Buying time is what I do best."

Leaf
Chapter One

Pain. Excruciating pain. The very air was made of pain. Kushina Uzumaki knew this because the simple act of breathing filled her lungs with tiny glass daggers with each breath. The world was made of pain as well. There was no part of her that wasn't either pulsing in agony, spasming or presented to open air as some form of open wound. Even thinking is a pain, Kushina gritted, somehow managing morose humor even as she braced against the jackhammer inside her skull. Still, she didn't move or even open her eyes, opting to test instead to test her muscles with minute twitches. Most produced a stab of pain, ensuring that they were still attatched. Fingers. Toes. Foot. Larger muscle groups flexed ever so slighty to less ensure their range of motion but more the fact that they were still there. Kunoichi cracked her eyes and was instanly reward by a sharp need of sunlight; a white hot needle shoved directly into her brain.

"Miss, are you okay?"

Okay, Kunisha snorted. Okay was not interposing one self between an open chakra vacuum and nine tailed demon composed of nothing but. The fact that it was daylight was telling enough... As was the fact that she was still alive. Even better was that fact that there was somebody nearby enough to even ask if she was okay. She anwsered the male voice, her own coming out ragged. "Seen worse..."

"You're in pretty bad shape," The voice's concern trickled off her ears, his accent registering as forgien; definitely not native to Konoha. "Can you move? I can get you to a hospital..."

"Move first. Hospital later." Kushina tried her vision again and was greeted by a less agonizing, but still supremely blinding glare. Seeing is overrated anyway, she deadpanned and rolled over in an atempt to right herself. That action alone was excruciating enough, but she pushed through the curtain of pain and into some semblance of a sitting sprawl. "I'm thinking I look as bad as I feel?"

"Lot's of burns," The voice replied. She could hear his footsteps as they padded across what she felt to be dirt and grass. "A few cuts, a deep one on the arm. Might require stitches. You're going to need a new clothing."

The fingers from her left hand traced up the right arm, probing the area in question. Good eye, she agreed with the man's observations. Her clothing had absorbed most of the blood and it seemed to have clotted, but she knew from experience that any sudden movement would open it outright. As to the clothing... Just having some was a blessing at this point. Eyes again. The Kunoichi cracked them and this time they weren't burnt from their sockets by blinding light. The world beyond was still an overexposed mess, but... Kushina frowned, taking a sniff of the air. The tiny daggers still inhabited her lungs, but they rapidly were dropping from her list of concerns in favor of others.

She knew a third of Konoha had burned with the onslaught of the Kyuubi. While the Hidden Leaf wasn't exactly a small village, the proportional casualties it had taken were enormous. War produced it's own atmosphere. Smells. Sounds. Even days after the battle was won or lost, they lingered. Kyuubi had drawn a scar across Konoha that would take years to heal, yet the air was fresh, not ashen. The sounds were wrong. No cries of the wounded nor the bustle of demolition or construction. Those questions invariably brought back to her son and husband... Minato-kun. Kushina fingered the necklace hanging just abover her bussom, caressing the warmth of the blue jewel it held. He was still alive... After a fashion, at least. Naruto... If she wasn't in Konoha, she needed to know where she was now.

The nin rubbed her forearm, affecting a pained expression while sliding the hand closer to the bracer and the hold out kunai tucked within. If the blur in front of her was anywhere near competent, they and the matsuba-gata concealed within her red mane wouldn't be enough after what she had just been through. "So... Where am I?"

"Um..." the blur seemed to face on direction, then the other. "I, uh... Don't know."

Kushina's hands stopped their creep up to the bracers. She couldn't have heard that correctly. "You don't know."

"I'm... ah... kinda bad with directions."

Well, getting lost happens, The red headed nin considered the statement, nearly taking his sincerity at face value... Or rather what little she could see of his face. That still didn't answer where she was however, or why the way he answered sounded so damn familiar. She eased back on the paranoia and rubbed her eyes, trying to improve her vision as she stood up carefully. "Okay then, is Konoha near by?"

"Konoha?" The figure was clearly confused and Kushina couldn't help but to frown now. "Is that near Okinawa?"

Who doesn't know where Konoha was?! Fire country, Hidden Village of the-- Her rise to irritation suddenly stalled and the foreign words spilled from her lips in a reverent whisper.

"Okin...nawa...?"

"I'm certain I passed it three days ago," He continued, still looking off in another direction and failing to notice her reaction. "It's the place with the Pyramids, right?"

You're in Tokyo, P-chan... The whispered memory flashed unbidden through her minds eye, firing across neurons that hadn't seen use in the last decade. The kunoichi shook her head as her vision continued to sharpen into something usable. Black hair. A faded yellow tunic... The umbrella! "You... you can't be serious..."

"What?" The teen turned around and Kushina couldn't help but gawk now. Fangs. The bandanna. His travel worn tangs. If she had an ounce of chakra she would have yelled kai and disrupted whatever genjustu she was under, but it was too real to be a self induced hallucination or otherwise.

"I... Appear to be lost my self." Kushina chose her words carefully and made a show of looking around. The landscape appeared to be Japanese- at least what she remembered of it -and there were buildings on the horizon... Skyscrapers, her mind wrapped itself around the concept, her eyes drinking in there tall, unnatural angles. She turned away, looking back to the teen who was staring at her curiously. There was still one final test and she dipped a shallow bow in his direction. "Thank you for coming to my assistance. My name is Kushina."

Her would be rescuer blinked then smiled, returning the bow. "Ryoga! Ryoga Hibiki!"

It was all she could do not to collapse into a fit of giggles and laughter.

------------------
Ryoga Hibiki glanced at his travelling partner for what had to be the hundredth time since there meeting, all but feeling the woman's pain as she kept a steady, wobbling pace with him. Her balance was assisted by a walking stick she had picked from the side of the road and put to good use. The hacking cough she had started out was worrisome, but had since subsided several kilometers back. Now she simply walked, albeit wobbly thought the suburb with him; taking the sights in like a tourist.

Not that there is much to see, Ryoga appended mentally, attempting to keep his study of the woman as covert as possible. A car passed by- a small box on wheels - and the woman's eyes tracked it like it was some sort of mechanical wonder. He'd dismissed it as a small oddity if it weren't for the other oddities. Her injuries was his first real clue that something was off about the long haired redhead. She had taken damage and as one martial artist to another, he was all but certain she had taken it in a fight.

Her clothing was definitely screwy. The dominant feature beyond that of her wild mane of red hair was a dense looking flame orange vest, heavily scored from what was almost certainly combat damage. Beneath it and the ragged dark crimson sports bra rested a fine mesh body suit that clung to her slender torso and arms. Chain? He traced the mesh and tantalizing flesh beneath down, fighting down the slight blush that threatened to break out across his face. Hugging her hips was a utility belt with a buckle hanging free around her black cargo pants, though the skewed steel plate looked like it had been through the wringer; on it, an odd swirling glyph.

The Lost Boy pulled his eyes away, attempting to piece the facts together. The twenty something woman had obviously taken a beating and looked to be dressed... Like a ninja? It certainly wouldn't be the first time he had stumbled across a kunoichi, but it was a rare occurrence to say the least. While there were similarities, her clothing definitely strayed from the ninja archetype and it was the first time he had ever seen one actually wear what looked to be armor...

A tug at his sleeve broke him from the analysis and he looked up to find the pleasantly smiling woman pulling him back on course. She motioned in their direction of travel. "You were starting to wander off again."

An embarrassed blush flooded his cheeks. "Eh... Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it." The woman he had come to know as Kushina smiled. "I knew somebody with the same problem once. He was like a brother to me, even though we practically fought non-stop."

"Uh, I think I know somebody like that too," Ryoga frowned with the thought. "But he's more trouble than he's worth. Bastard."

The redhead's light chukle filled the air. "Friends always are."

To that, Ryoga didn't have an answer and the pair continued on in companionable silence, still marveling on how the most mundane items along the way seems to capture the woman's attention. At one point, he caught her staring into the sky. He cocked his head up and followed her line of sight up to find one of the lower flying airliners. First time in the big city? Don't get out much? Those were the questions playing through the wanderer's head as he compiled his observations on Kushina. Still, it wasn't adding up and the silent mystery finally got to him.

"So... Should we be expecting company later?"

"No." the implication was obvious and A dark look crossed her face for the barest of moments before she shook her head. "He won't be bothering us for a good long time."

Ouch, Ryoga winced with the implication. And somehow, he was certain she had done just that. "So what brings you to this part of Japan?"

"A bit lost like yourself, I think." Kushina seemed to think on the matter before deciding on the answer. "It's been a while since I've been back this way."

"Right." Lost was something he could definitely relate to, though her sense of direction seemed to be a bit more fine tuned than his since she was the one continually pulling him back on course. "So do you know where we're going?"

"Vaguely." she cocked her head, studying their surroundings with a critical eye. "We've passed a few places I remember, so we should reach your place by nightfall."

"Well, that's not so..." A key fact clicked, suspending his sense of relief in favor of something more ominous. His head turned slowly on Kushina, who continued to study their surroundings as they walked. "Just how do you know where I live?"

"Honestly Ryoga-kun," She chastised, her tone holding its own edge of humor. "How many red-headed Japanese women could you possibly know?"

How many...? What kind of question is that? the Lost Boy rolled her response around mentally. Well there was Ranma, but that didn't exactly count... Ryoga stopped, his legs failing to work as the implication suddenly occupied a very large portion of his thought process. Kushina continued to walk for a few steps before realizing that her traveling partner had stopped, staring incredulously at her. She waited patiently for another minute while the teen sorted himself out.

"You... you..." The redhead nodded kindly, as if to encourage him to continue. "You... You can't be..."

"Though what I'm really wondering is what year it is..." Kushina wondered aloud, trailing off into her own musings. "You certainly don't look any older."

"You're... Saotome?" Ryoga had progressed from incredulity to a bug eyed stare. It was impossible. Utterly and completely impossible that the woman standing before him now had been... Ryoga shook his head, as if to dispel the vision. Even the reflexive anger he normally felt at the sheer mention of his rivals name had been effectively bypassed failed to rise given the impossibility of what he was seeing. "Ranma...?"

"Sure, why not." She shrugged indifferently at the name. "Though to tell you the truth, it's a name I haven't used in nearly ten years."

"You've only been gone one!" He snapped back, though its composition was complete shock and no anger. "They told me you left for some training mission!"

"Weird..." The woman tilted her head, contemplating the turn of events. "I would thought all you would be the same age by the time I got back..." She frowned slightly. "Not that I was looking to."

"You-- what?" Ryoga's mental process was bordering on that of a fifteen car pile up as impossible questions continued to lack plausible answers. Eventually one fought its way out of the snarl and even then it was barely coherent as it spilled from his lips. "But you're... Your age..."

"Twenty six, I think." She nodded after counting off a few fingers. She paused, sizing up the lost boy herself. "But seriously... Seeing you here looking the same as the day i left. Thought I had a concussion. A bad concussion." She suddenly gained an introspective look. "Hmm. still might."

"But you can't be!" Ryoga railed against the discontinuity standing before him, then suddenly gained a suspicious look. "Mushrooms?"

"Mushrooms...?" Kushina-Ranma stared without comprehension before understanding dawned upon her visage. "Oh, mushrooms. Forgot about those." She struck a pose for Ryoga that offered him a view of her curvaceous adult body. "Nope, this is all natural."

Now it was was Ryoga's turn to stare before shaking the affect off. That mesh body suit left nothing to the imagination and his mood soured. The ego alone was unmistakable. "You're definitely Ranma, alright."

"Oy, stop looking at me like that Ryoga-kun. My husband might be upset when he finds out later." She quipped with a teasing smile, prompting a blush to form along the lost boy's face for a moment before taking on an irritated look.

"Back from the dead and a comedian," Ryoga retorted dryly and started back along his way. He glanced back at Ranma shaking his head. "And that crack about a husband is just creepy, Saotome."

"Oh, i was quite serious about that," She returned pleasantly in his wake, prompting Ryoga to halt his forward progress once more as he attempted to reconcile the statement. The kunoichi began to fish something from the inner breast pocket of her orange combat vest. "Here."

Ryoga blinked, taking the four by five glossy square she offered him on reflex. Only after he had it in his hand did he bother to ask what exactly it was. "What's this?"

"Photo." She replied with a smile, causing Ryoga's cheek to twitch once. The wanderer brought the glossy to eye level and stared. There she was, Ranma with the same flowing red hair, arms wrapped possessively around a grinning blond man sporting a white trench coat and spiky hair. It was everything he would expect from a photo of a couple in love, save for one crucial fact: The Ranma Saotome he knew was a guy. Dazed and confused, his next words came out in a small voice as he handed the photo back. It was the only question he could think to ask.

"Are you...locked?"

"Ah, finally. The six million ryou question." The nin tucked the photo back into her breast pocket, leading ryoga back along their way. "Mostly... For about four years now."

Ryoga considered her admission for a moment before coming to the most obvious solution availible based what he knew of the martial artist. While it wasn't exactly the first time, he knew that it was about Ranma's only other fear besides cats. "Jeez, that kinda sucks."

"Not really," Ranma admitted, burying yet another virtual dagger into the lost boy's thought process. "Sure, getting here was all sorts of hell, but in the end... trust me when I say I'd rather be there than here any day of the week."

Ryoga knew he wasn't a philosopher by any means, but even he could read the sense the deeper meaning in the words 'there' and 'here', as if they were more than just locations on a map, which was a good question in and of itself he decided. "Where is there anyway?"

"Somewhere that's not here." The woman's expression turned serious. "Somewhere I've got a husband and son who I need to get back to as quickly as possible."

"But exactly where..." The teen's voice trailed off as his brained picked out a key word. He swallowed the implications down with a nealy audible gulp. "Husband... And kid?"

"Mmmhmm," Ranma nodded amiably.

"But that's... That means..." Ryoga stumbled over the concept now. Ranma was locked. Married. Had a kid. It was too freakish to be real. "Adopted... right?"

"Ryoga-kun, I am not the same person you knew." She shook her head, her attitude picking up that edge of seriousness once more. "I've grown up, gotten a life, husband, a child. I will not be staying any longer than it takes me to find a way back to them."

"You're serious...." It was all the lost boy could do to hold on to his sanity. Ranma Saotome, man among men and martial arts heir... abandoning all of the former in favor of this woman before him. And there was no doubt in his mind. Even though she was answering to the name Ranma, this particular version was so far removed from the previous that it was just downright eerie. Just close enough to be Ranma, but little more. The fact that he was willing to just leave... "But what about the Tendos? Your parents? Hell, what about Akane, you--!"

"Don't." The kunoichi whipped around like a snake, her arm extending like a blur to his throat where the cold steel of an edged weapon now rested. Ryoga froze, his rapid climb to fury instantly doused by the woman's gaze. it was cold and pitiless. He could feel her intentions rolling around him like a blanket and he instinctively knew she would have no qualms about pushing whatever it was in her hand a few inches further. Her next words came out very evenly and without emotion. "I am not here to play games, Ryoga-kun. I am not even here to stay. I am not here for Akane, the girls or to walk back into the life I left. Nod if you understand."

Ryoga nodded with wide eyes, very slightly as to avoid the razor's edge chaffing his skin further.

"Good." She nodded. The extension of her arm had her other leaning into the improvised walking stick, but he knew it would serve no impediment to a further thrust as the redhead so desired. The blade remained at his throat and her expression continued to be solid business. "What I said before about seeing you as a friend was the truth, but there is too much at stake to play those silly, childish games. Those are done between us. You will find that i react very badly to death threats."

She waited and another tepid nod brushed lightly against the blade, which she finally pulled away to be replaced into the padded bracer along her left forearm.

"Very well then." Ranma nodded, her stony expression relenting into pleasantness. "I'd rather have you as my friend anyway... A younger brother as it were."

The Hibiki rubbed his throat, feeling along the line her blade had rested. That alone was telling enough. Ranma Saotome wasn't the weapons sort, nor did he inflicted them on others just to prove a point. This one... She's downright scary, Ryoga decided, his throat itching where the cold steel had touched. He hadn't even seen her draw, let alone the weapon employed. It was some sort of kunai, but he had only seen that after the fact. He frowned with the realization, then at her words.

"Younger brother my ass, Saotome."

The jingle of feminine laughter greeted the remark and he scowled regardless as she continued, leading them along their way. The remainder of their conversation was lighter in nature as the day wound down though it wasn't until the sun had dipped below the horizon that Ranma made good on her promise, finally finding the Hibiki residence after a couple of wrong turns, causing them to double back and make corrections before finally arriving at the front door.

"And I still can't believe you became a ninja."

"What's there not to believe?" Ranma shrugged as they walked up to the door, silently noting not a single light on in the house. "You wouldn't believe how much my old man taught me that was directly relevant to the profession."

"Hmmf." Ryoga snorted, first rapping the doorfront then testing the locks. "Always pictured you as a front line fighter."

"That's exactly what they are there." The redhead explained, watching Ryoga step off the welcome mat and fish the key from beneath. He slid it in to the lock with a click and twisted, opening the dark the cool evening air. "Just throw every stereotype from around here out the window because its all on a completely different level."

Ryoga eyed the older woman in her quasi combat ninja garb behind him. "And I suppose you're on that level too."

"No." She cast him an easy smile back. "I left that so far behind it's not even funny."

Ryoga muttered something about concerning an 'egotistical jerk' before stepping into the dark of his parents home, fumbling for a light switch. He cast a look behind him at the stationary kunoichi. "What, aren't you coming in?"

"I seem to remember something about your place." She put an inquisitive finger to her lips, tilting her head with the attempt at remembrance. "Something..."

Click. THUNK.

"That's it." Ranma smiled. In the doorway, Ryoga Hibiki had indeed found the light switch, which had in turn triggered a trap door to open from the ceiling to drop a massive wooden Tanuki statue upon the intruder's head. The chuckling woman walked around him, finding a piece of paper tapped next to the switch itself. "I have to admit, it's only taken me a decade appreciate your mother's skill at improvised entrapment and snares... Though they would work even better without the conveniently placed advisories."

The Tanucki slid off the side of Ryoga's head with another resounding thud. "Shut up, Saotome."

"Right," The smile only widened, then a wistful expression crossed her face. "It was good seeing you again."

She began to turn away, angling back to the sidewalk. Ryoga blinked. Wait... that's it? Irritation bubbled up from his psyche once more. "And where do you think you're going?"

"We passed a park a few blocks back." Ranma shrugged. "Figured I'd camp until something came to mind."

"Idiot." The lost boy growled, jabbing a thumb back into his house. "You got me here, so get your ass back here so I can repay it."

A giggle bubbled up from the woman's lips, causing Ryoga's cheek to twitch further. "Far be it for me to refuse such an eloquent request."

An hour later Ranma-Kushina was found lounging in the Hibiki furoh, soaking in the liquid heat of the bath. The action had sent her various wounds ablaze with a painful stinging, but the cleansing warmth far outweighed the dull pain of the moment. Her head lulled right to the tiled surface around the tub and lined up next to it, the sum total of her remaining ordinance: One kunai, one explosive tag, five matsuba-gata needles and five meters of wire. Everything else had been expended just keeping the nine tails from erasing Konoha and for now it was all she had to aid her in her primary objective. Somehow she had crossed the veil again and her ability to return rested in either finding somebody with the requisite ability or obtaining an artifact of similar power. The temple I originally slipped through won't work, that's for damn sure, she mused drawing a ripple across the steaming water with her fingertip.

So it's a visit to Nerima then, Ranma let herself sink deeper into the furoh; a move that reflected her mood. It was really the last place she was looking to visiting. Had ten years actually passed here, it would have been doable. Everybody would have moved on, gotten married and did whatever it was there future would have held for them without her in their lives. But only a year, she frowned, working through the implications. It's not going to be pretty...

A warm yawn racked her body, and she blinked away the fatigue. But that was for tomorrow. Tonight, she would plan, sleep and then... Another yawn signaled it was time for her to depart the furoh. She took the step up reluctantly into the slight chill of the ambient air.

The door slid open.

"Hey Ranma, did..." Ryoga's words died on his lips as he walked into the washroom without thought, his eyes instantly falling on skin. Succulent, wet skin. The curves were those of a full woman bearing a passing resemblance to the younger form he once knew and traced its every feature. There were scars, but they did little to detract from the hypnotizing sight before him. Soaked red hair draped down to the small over her back, where his gaze lingered. Aside from the wonderful posterior, an odd tattoo was found and he briefly wondered what it was before the portrait shifted, breaking the trance.

She was a redhead down there too.

"See something you like, Ryoga-kun?"

Ryoga instantly lost nearly a pint of blood from his nose and fell over unconscious.
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Ozzallos
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Kushina rolled over in her light doze and was instantly rewarded by a needling pain, a result of the small canyon gouged into her arm. It was wrapped and she had done the stitching herself, but that didn't make it any less tender. Her blue eyes fluttered open with a wince and took her nearly two seconds to identify the unfamiliar surroundings. Japan. Tokyo. Ryoga's House. Whatever small hope there had been that all of last night's events had been part of a severe concussion crumbled and she sighed, slowly propping herself up from the futon and pushing the covers aside. Sunlight filtered through the smallish window of the guest room she had taken up residence in. Normally she didn't sleep anywhere close to this late, but today she could make an exception. Not that I have much choice, she decided. The food and sleep had helped, even if the food had been merely top ramen and the sleep on a thin futon, but it was enough to at least give her body a start on the minor wounds; half of which were already gone. Ihe larger one on her arm would take a decent reserve of ki to fuse back, but for now it was there to stay.

She rose up tentatively, testing her balance and movement. All in all everything was in better working order than yesterday, so she adjusted the yukata on loan from Ryoga's parents closet and slid the door open stepping out into the Hibiki household. She looked down the length of hall available to her, instantly tasting the lost boy's ki around the corner in the next room. Surprised he didn't get lost during the night or something, she wondered, walking in on him. "Feel like going to the tendos?"

"I thought-- erk." Ryoga glanced around from the ironing board he was attending, the wisp of steam trailing his actions as he pulled the impliment away. That's when he caught sight of the woman in his mother's yukata and it was quite obvious that Mom didn't have the dimentions to fill the garment out the way this adult version of Ranma did. "No goddamn modesty," Ryoga muttered as he mentally reset his brain and tacled the question head on. "So all that crap about not wanting to go back...?"

"Still applies." the redhead shook her head, moving fully into the room. The Ryoga household was a trip unto itself as every room- especially the living room within which she stood, was a shrine to the travels of the Hibiki clan. All the babbles and sovereigns were stacked on on top of the other and it was obvious those travels had been extensive ones... Quite extensive. "Want and need are two different things entirely in this case. I want to skip all the baggage a trip to Nerima is going to cost me. I need to go back since it's probably the highest concentration of magically people and items that i know of and therefor my best chance of getting back quickly."

"And you're sure this isn't about Akane." Ryoga eyed the woman suspiciously.

"Would you like to see the picture again?" Ranma-Kushina asked in a bland tone and Ryoga's expression blanked, quickly followed by a vigorous shaking of his head. "Exactly. What you do with Akane is your business. Or that rancher girl. Or any of the others for all I care."

The lost boy studied the woman for a moment, grudgingly admitting to himself that the air of complete and total indifference she was radiating was pretty damn convincing. He sniffed with passive contempt and tossed her a set of clothing. She caught the offhanded throw easily enough and looked through the bundle of clothing with a questioning look. "Put those on. I'm gonna have to burn the yukata."

"Burn? Why?" Ranma blinked, fingering the light cotton garb with confusion.

"It's my Mom's." Ryoga frowned. "And I'll never be able to look at it the same way again, bastard."

The redhead shrugged, walking back into the guest room an out of sight. No sooner than she had, the garment tumbled out into the hallway casuing Ryoga to twitch as it floated to the ground. he wasn't sure which was worse at the moment... Ranma in his mother's yukata or Ranma nude in his very home. She reappeared moments later wearing the bundle he had tossed her, a rugged tan button up shirt and a pair of blue jeans, both a bit on the baggy side though somehow still doing little to hide her adult figure. She pulled at the belt around her hips and shrugged, sliding into the orange vest before passing judgement. "It'll do for now. Not like i'll be staying for long anyway."

"Let's... Let's just go." Ryoga simply shook his head, hard pressed not to notice the complete lack of bra. She even made his father's clothing look good.

Go they did, Ranma leading the way silently as she picked their way through the suburb and retraced their steps nearly lost to memory. For Ryoga, it wasn't so much memory as opposed to a clear lack of navigational skills helped only by Ranma's occasional tug to steer him back on course. It was also a silent affair. Ranma did little for her part beyond take in the sights and maintain a constant awareness of her surroundings. It left Ryoga time to think, and those thoughts eventially bore fruit in the form a singular question.

"So where have you been, anyway?"

"Don't suppose you've been to a place called Fire Country in your travels?" She asked after a moment's consideration of the question. ranma clearly wasn't expecting a reply but Ryoga shook his head and she continued. "Didn't think so. Not even sure where it is in relationship to our location now, but suffice to say i'm prettysure it's unreachable without magical intervention."

"Magical," Ryoga returned somewhat skeptically. "And just how do you know that?"

"Because that's how i got there in the first place." Kushina stopped, looking back at the Lost Boy. "When did I disappear again, Ryouga?"

"About a year ago."

Ranma shook her head. "For me it's been nearly eleven years."

------------

Alright, let's do this.

Ranma Saotome, sole heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts stood alone in the forest clearing , focusing on a crude 'x' he had drawn into the ground with a stick. Two days of planning, preparation and most of all losing every fiancee, rival and parent between here and Nerima... Today, he was going to learn how to fly. Wind gusted slightly around him as he flared his ki and mentally ran through calculations of just how much it would take to to get him airborne. Too much to do herb's way, he had since decided and gone about seeking different means. The dragon prince simply had too much of it at his disposile for the martial artist to contemplate using the same technique, but Ranma was determined. Anything Herb could do, he could do better; dragon ancestory or no. A constant stream of ki was out of the question, yes, but pulses wheren't. The Saotome smiled, pointing an open palm into the ground. This is gonna be easy.

"Moko Takabisha!"

The blue sphere flared only for a moment before rupturing on contact with the Earth. The ki shot's containment failed instantly and the martial artist had just enough time to realize that maybe being at ground zero of his own techinque wasn't such a good idea before the blast enveloped him fully. Physics took over from there and and the blast ripped around Ranma and indeed launched him skyward, but in an uncontrolled ballistic spiral. Ranma regained his senses at the fifty meter mark, but by that time, his initial ineria had already bled away and the ground was rapidly closing on him.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit..." The Saotome twist through the air, orienting his palm back towards the Earth once more, unleashing another bolt of ki in panic in the hopes to break his fall...

BOOM!

...Only to follow its detonation straight into the ground. It took a solid mintue for the cloud of dust to clear, revealing the battered, blue silk clad martial artist already sitting crosslegged in the crater of his own making. Well that didn't work, genius, he grumbled, paying no heed to the smoke wisps rolling off his person. Getting airborne was apprantely the easy part, he decided ruefully. Getting airborn safely, on the otherhand... And Moko takabisha's aren't exactly the most economical way to do it, either. Ranma surmised, rolling the matter around in his head. Okay, so we don't try to reinvent the wheel. Still gonna have a problem with the reserves doing it Herb's way, though...

Ranma nodded to himself and picked himself up, stepping out of the crater he had just made. Releasing a steady stream of ki like Herb was impractical and the pulse technique was a bust. Need something self sustaining... like a Hiyru Shoten ha, but... The martial artist's train of through stumbled as his intellected suddenly connected through severl unrelated concepts to form the beginings of a unified technique. A mini Hiryu Shoten Ha!

His foot began to etch a small spiral into the ground as he chewed on the dynamic. Small tornados I can make, Ranma quickly acknowledged, running through the variables. The smaller Hiryu shoten ha’s were battle tested, but he had never attempted to make anything smaller than that necessary to incapacitate somebody, and certainly not controllable. And no opponent around to initiate the catalyst… he admitted, but dismissed it as a minor variable. Ranma stared at the spiral he had drawn for another few moments before nodding, retrieving the same branch he had used to draw the ‘x’ turned crater. He pushed the point into the ground, drawing a loose spiral around his person that ended between his feet. The catalyst still required a spiraling mix of hot and cold which was something well within his ability to improvise. What came after that…?

Will worry about it when I get there, he decided, commiting to the power up of hot ki. The pigtailed martial artist spun sharply, his feet sliding along the lines of the spiral and building pressure along their wake. The world blurred around but Ranma was devoting all his attention inward, pulling pulling his outstretched arms inward to tighten the effect until weight of ki reached critical mass.


“Hiryu Shoten Ha revised… Soaring Dragon!”



Ranma flipped a mental switch and went cold.


The air gained sudden density as the Saotome plunged into the Soul of Ice, inviting physics to take over once more. They did so, but in a rather unspectacular manner; summoning just enough force to float him a meter off the ground before depositing him hard on his ass with a solid “oof!”


“Ow…” Ranma groused as he righted himself in failing dust storm he had created. “Son of a…”


The problem was obvious, he decided, stepping away from the second ground zero to examine his handiwork. He hadn’t put enough speed into the initial catalyst, thereby starving the tornado of the nessisary force to lift him. Ranma sighed with the revelation and correlary that he wasn’t going to be able to produce anything much faster in the initial spin.


Wonder if this is how the old man felt creating his schools… Ranma wondered while a separate portion of his brain was already chewing on the forces nessisary to achieve flight. He revised the initial theory and stepped back into the spiral. This time, for sure.


Ranma Soatome had twelve more ‘this time, for sure’s’ that day, the worst of which launched him across the forest clearing to rebound through several trees and skip off two boulders before coming to a rest. It was that attempt and the fading light of dusk that finally convinced him to call it a day, trudging back to the abandoned Shinto temple that was serving as his base camp. Sure the elderly structure had been torn in half by a buckled tree and the undergrowth had all but claimed its bones, but it was shelter, and some was better than none.


Ranma dropped the pile of twigs and branches he had collected on the way back like an offering at the steps of the shrine, sparking two stones into the some dried grass before continuing. He’d need the fire to ward off the cool night, but more imporatantly, he’d need it to assess the days damage. The martial artist unbuttoned his shirt and took stock of the number of scraps an bruises along his torso, some trailing down to his legs. His hand was still the worst of the lot, however, having sustained a deep gash. It had clotted, but he knew it would open back up if he was to flex it.


One look at the dirt and grime told him he was going to have to do that anyway, if only to clean the wound. Ranma retrieved the cantine from his pack leaning against one of the ruined walls and mad his way to the nearest flat surface, a slab overlooking some partially destroyed icon. Ranma flexed and the dull pain suddenly climaxed as the wound reopened. Blood flowed, dripping onto the marred stone and he tipped the cantine with his free hand, washing the cut out. More droplets of blood spattered the flat block and the air hummed around the teen, who was too awash in needling pain to note the anomaly.


Ranma admired his handiwork and wrapped the hand, knowing ki would heal off the rest by tomorrow morning. Which only leaves one thing left for the night, he decided, digging back into his back and pulling out Kasumi's bento. Food! He popped the lid open and dug in with his chopsticks. The first bite was in his mouth and swallowed before the gagging cough began. His eyes buldged and water as he fought down the urge to puke the morsel up and after a full mintue, finally gathered the remainder of his wits to examine the bento more closely in the flickering fire light.


Akane.


There was no doubt. kasumi didn't cook green noodles topped with red chili sauce and God knew what else. the sparkling components of the noodles were disoncerning as well. The martial artist shook his head and emptied the contents into the fire which immeditely hissed it's own disapproval before showering the immdiete area with pyrotechnic sparks.


"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ranma rolled out as the fire billowed an angry blue before lapsing back into a dull orange-yellow flicker. He squished a burning ember burrowing it's way through his hair with his thumb. "Stupid tomboy..."


The martial arist righted himself and wandered back over to his bag, pulling out plan 'b', a bag of instant raman and a small pot. Oh well, he groused, looking staring at the expended bento and the bait and switch inflicted upon him. He had seen worse days on the trip with his old man, so a pack of noodles he could endure and were in turn consumed in short order, leaving the martial artist to contemplate the days training. Todays lesson? Tornados are a bitch to control.


It was also perhaps the his last conscious thought as the days exertion and a somewhat full stomach finally caught up to Ranma, letting him drift off to sleep against the agged pillar and the warmth of the fire.
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Ozzallos
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A rough time line based on hard information or semi accurate deductions. I stole this from the internet, where everything is always right.
-----------

56 BK
8 February - Sandaime Sarutobi is born.

48 BK
Shodaime and Nidaime found Konoha, the Village of the Hidden Leaf.

39 BK
Tsunade is born.
27 October - Orochimaru is born.
11 November - Jiraiya is born.

29 BK
8 January - Hyuuga Hiyashi and Hyuuga Hizashi are born.


27 BK
Minato Namikaze born (approximate)


17 BK
17 July - Shiranui Genma is born.

16 BK
8 March - Ebisu is born.
26 August - Momochi Zabuza is born.
18 October - Sarutobi Asuma is born.
21 October - Mizuki is born.

15 BK
20 March - Morino Ibiki is born.
11 June - Yuuhi Kurenai is born.

14 BK
1 January - Maito Gai is born.
15 September - Hatake Kakashi is born.

13 BK
26 May - Umino Iruka is born.
24 October - Mitarashi Anko is born.

12 BK
2 November - Gekkou Hayate is born.


11 BK
Ranma Saotome ports to Narutoverse
Minato age, approx 16.


7 BK
29 February - Yakushi Kabuto born.

5 BK
14 February - Ayame born.
9 June - Uchiha Itachi is born.

3 BK
9 January - Haku is born.
23 August - Temari is born.

2 BK
Mitarashi Anko becomes a Genin at age 10, begins receiving training from Orochimaru.
15 May - Kankuro is born.
12 June - Dosu Kinuta is born.
6 July - Kin Tsuchi is born.
14 September - Zaku Abumi is born.
27 November - Rock Lee is born.

1 BK
9 March - Tenten is born.
3 July - Hyuuga Neji is born.

2 BK ~ 0 AK
Orochimaru leaves Konoha village.
Uchiha Obito is killed. Hatake Kakashi acquires the Sharingan.
Yondaime is officially made the Fourth Hokage.

0 AK
19 January - Gaara is born.
23 January - Aburame Shino is born.
28 March - Haruno Sakura is born.
1 May - Akimichi Chouji is born.
7 July - Inuzuka Kiba is born.
23 July - Uchiha Sasuke is born.
22 September - Nara Shikamaru is born.
23 September - Yamanaka Ino is born.
10 October - Uzumaki Naruto is born. The Kyuubi is defeated. Yondaime is killed.
27 December - Hyuuga Hinata is born.

3 AK
27 December - Hyuuga Hinata turns 3. Hyuuga Neji, as a member of the Hyuuga Branch House, receives the Hyuuga Bunke Juinjutsu.
30 December - Konohamaru is born.
Sinobi Gashir of the Hidden Cloud attempts to abduct Hyuuga Hinata.
Hyuuga Hizashi is killed in place of Hyuuga Hiyashi.
The Cloud and the Leaf achieve peace.

5 AK
7 March - Hyuuga Hanabi is born.

8 AK
9 June - Uchiha Itachi turns 13.
June ~ July - The Uchiha clan is slaughtered by Uchiha Itachi.
23 July - Uchiha Sasuke turns 8.

9 AK
7 July - Akamaru is born.

11 AK
October - Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, and Tenten graduate from the academy.

12 AK
10 October - Uzumaki Naruto turns 12.
15 October - Series start. The Konoha Rookie Nine, including Uzumaki Naruto, officially graduate from the Academy.

13 AK
March~May: Team 7 is ordered to escort and assist Tazuna. Haku and Zabuza are fought and killed.
1 July - Chuunin Written Exam is held.
2 July - Chuunin Field Exam in the Forest of Death begins.
3 July - Orochimaru attacks Sasuke, and marks him with the Tenfuuin.
4 July - Fight with Dosu Kinuta and his team.
7 July - Chuunin Field Exam ends. PreliNaamiry Chuunin Tournament is held. Zaku Abumi and Kin Tsuchi are killed.
July ~ August - Dosu Kinuta is killed. Gekkou Hayate is killed. Uzumaki Naruto learns to summon Gamabunta.
11 August - Chuunin tournament is held. Sandaime Sarutobi is killed.
13 August - Sandaime Sarutobi's funeral is held.
~27 August - Itachi and Kisame arrive in Konoha. Jiriaya and Naruto leave to find Tsunade. Kakashi and Sasuke put into comas from Itachi's Tsukiyomi.
28 August - Naruto begins training the Rasengan
29 August - Morning - Naruto completes part one of training; begins part two.
30 August - Naruto completes part two of training. Tanzaku Castle Destroyed by Orochimaru. Naruto begins part three of training. Naruto accepts Tsunade's challenge.
6 September - Sannin fight occurs. Naruto first uses the Rasengan.
7 September - Tsunade arrives in Konoha, officially becomes Godaime Hokage. Shikamaru promoted to Chuunin.
8 September - Naruto and Sasuke fight on the rooftop. Sasuke invited to join Sound. Sasuke leaves with the Sound Four.
9 September - Team Shikamaru forms, begins "rescue Sasuke" mission. Lee undergoes surgery. Chouji and Neji's battles occur.
10 September - Kimimaro appears and the remainder of fights occur. Sasuke and Naruto fight at the Valley of the End. Chouji and Neji undergo surgery. Sakura begins training under Tsunade.
December - Naruto leaves Konoha to train with Jiraya.

15 AK
3 July - Hyuuga Neji turns 16.
7 July - Inuzuka Kiba turns 15.
23 July - Uchiha Sasuke turns 15.
23 August - Temari turns 18. (Sweet.)
15 September - Hatake Kakashi turns 29.
22 September - Nara Shikamaru turns 15.
23 September - Yamanaka Ino turns 15.
10 October - Uzumaki Naruto turns 15.
27 November - Rock Lee turns 17.
27 December - Hyuuga Hinata turns 15.
30 December - Konohamaru turns 12.

16AK
1 January - Maito Gai turns 30.
19 January - Gaara turns 16.
23 January - Aburame Shino turns 16.
9 March - Tenten turns 17.
28 March - Haruno Sakura turns 16.
1 May - Akimichi Chouji turns 16.
15 May - Kankuro turns 18.
26 May - Umino Iruka turns 29.
9 June - Uchiha Itachi turns 21.
June - Naruto returns to Konoha after two and a half years of training.

And a modified map of the geography in effect as of Ranma's arrival, pre-Kyuubi
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spooky316
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I for one am glad to see this here. It's less likely to turn into an insult contest.

I noticed one thing though:
Quote:
 
probably the highest concentration of magically people

Should be "magical."

I'm not a big proofreader, so there might be more.
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Skelethin
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Pathetic, the beast snorted as another salvo genjutsu flashed against the red fur of its flank.


I think you meant ninjutsu here, as genjutsu isn't used in a salvo-type attack.

I think you caught the second one of these from earlier. That is all that I noticed on a very casual read through.
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SDPalmTree
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Ah, I see we're finally getting into the backstory behind everything. It will be interesting to see how Ranma will change into the person we see in the prologue and first chapter. I'm looking foreword to reading more, but I have to say that it'll be difficult reading through backstory when there's so much hinted future conflict in the 'present' part of the story.
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Fox Mage
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I think this line is going to cause... problems:

Quote:
 
"Are you...locked?"

"Ah, finally. The six million ryou question." The nin tucked the photo back into her breast pocket, leading ryoga back along their way. "Mostly... For about four years now."


If Ranma is "mostly" locked then some people will be annoyed. Ozz, if you're going to have a Ranko fic then I would suggest locking her completely.

Also as was pointed out at TFF, Kushina is way too laid back about getting back to the Leaf village. Her son is there alone, and has a demon sealed in him.
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Skelethin
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May 6 2009, 10:19 PM
I think this line is going to cause... problems:

Quote:
 
"Are you...locked?"

"Ah, finally. The six million ryou question." The nin tucked the photo back into her breast pocket, leading ryoga back along their way. "Mostly... For about four years now."


If Ranma is "mostly" locked then some people will be annoyed. Ozz, if you're going to have a Ranko fic then I would suggest locking her completely.

Also as was pointed out at TFF, Kushina is way too laid back about getting back to the Leaf village. Her son is there alone, and has a demon sealed in him.

I don't see her being in a 'I gotta go back NOW!' type mode. If for no other reason than she isn't anywhere near fully healed. Also, rushing at this point isn't going to help her any. She has to plan who to ask, and how, before even dealing with any of them. And with the lack of time passing for the rest of Nerima, it will turn out to need some rather delicate handling, which Ranma may or may not have training for at this point.

This is not the Ranma we are used to dealing with, the one who rushes in without any real idea of whats going on, and relying on luck and skill to survive. Shes been through things that have killed fools for that approach. And, very likely, has survived such situations either due to pure luck, or a skilled healer. Or both.

The battlefield has become her home during her stay in the Elemental Countries. And nothing as wimpy as the battlefield she was used to in Nerima, where everyone was back to full use of their abilities in a week or so. This is a battlefield where the slightest mistake leave you 6 feet under. And possibly your entire team too.

Things like that really beat the brash stupidity out of a person.
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Dumbledork
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Quote:
 
Also as was pointed out at TFF, Kushina is way too laid back about getting back to the Leaf village. Her son is there alone, and has a demon sealed in him.


I'm not so sure. Kushina/Ranma is a kunoichi, and shinobi must remain calm and not show their emotions at all.
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Fox Mage
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May 6 2009, 11:25 PM
I don't see her being in a 'I gotta go back NOW!' type mode. If for no other reason than she isn't anywhere near fully healed. Also, rushing at this point isn't going to help her any. She has to plan who to ask, and how, before even dealing with any of them. And with the lack of time passing for the rest of Nerima, it will turn out to need some rather delicate handling, which Ranma may or may not have training for at this point.

I didn't say that she would be reckless and do something stupid, but honestly she thinks she may be hurt and knows where a good doctor (Tofuu) is. Why isn't she trying to get herself checked out?

Also you're wrong about the passage of time. Remember that Kushina was gone from Nerima for one year, but for her it was 10 years. That means that for every day that she spends in Nerima that 10 days will have passed in the Leaf Village. Not too bad when it's only a few days... horrible when it's longer.

Also, since Kushina is a mother who has been bonding with her child for a week, for her to NOT want to get back as quickly as possible is just... wrong. Besides she knows that her husband is dead and that hasn't affected her at all? I mean come on, she's teasing Ryoga about her husband... who happens to be quite dead
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spooky316
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Perhaps she entered some form of shock when she realized where she was. Posted Image
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Ozzallos
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May 6 2009, 11:46 PM
I didn't say that she would be reckless and do something stupid, but honestly she thinks she may be hurt and knows where a good doctor (Tofuu) is.  Why isn't she trying to get herself checked out?

Also you're wrong about the passage of time.  Remember that Kushina was gone from Nerima for one year, but for her it was 10 years.  That means that for every day that she spends in Nerima that 10 days will have passed in the Leaf Village.  Not too bad when it's only a few days... horrible when it's longer.

Also, since Kushina is a mother who has been bonding with her child for a week, for her to NOT want to get back as quickly as possible is just... wrong.  Besides she knows that her husband is dead and that hasn't affected her at all?  I mean come on, she's teasing Ryoga about her husband... who happens to be quite dead

As far as Ranma not panicking... i'm pretty sure I at least hinted at the explanation in the TFF version and added a tad more foreshadowing in this version based on that constructive criticism. Anything further will have to wait for the remainder of the plot.

Quote:
 
The sounds were wrong. No cries of the wounded nor the bustle of demolition or construction. Those questions invariably brought back to her son and husband... Minato-kun. Kushina fingered the necklace hanging just above her bussom, caressing the warmth of the blue jewel it held. He was still alive... After a fashion, at least. Naruto... If she wasn't in Konoha, she needed to know where she was now.


Likewise, I'm not sure how I can illustrate the fact that she knows she needs to get back to Konoha more than i already have. This Ranma is logical and professional. She knows she needs to get back but is wounded, only vaguely aware of the land's lay and only theories on how to get back. Short of her crying out "I HAVE TO GET BACK TO MAH BABY!" anything more is going to be over the top IMO. Finally, don't get too hung up on the ratio of time passage when magical items or services are involved. A does not have to equal B.

Oh, added a map up top in the timeline for lore's sake.


----------------

And a note on those irritated people. They're the tantrums of a two year old. They like pie and they're irrate that I write more cake than they approve of. That's all there is to it. They're obviously not the target audience and they can choose not to participate at any time, but they choose to troll my thread with their plot nazi viewpoints, as if I'll somehow be swayed by their offensive, righteous indignation. Ultimately, my lack of caring comes down to this: If they don't like my cake, they can go have some pie from a different purveyor of pastries. I'm not forcing cake down their throats.

Nor do I care about the cries that I have thin skin. My only concern is that happens to every single thread along the same subject matter and its frankly not worth staying somewhere that doesn't regulate a rude vocal minority when there are better places to squat. TFF has made it clear through action and inaction that it isn't author friendly place to post and frankly, I have better things to do than watch a legitimate preview thread blossom into ten pages of flame. Once a site starts to actively inhibit the process of creation for the author and the reader, it's time to find a new home.

Thin skin? Hardly. TFF simply wastes my time.
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Ellf
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Glad to see that you are indeed continuing this, Ozz, and that everyone here is actually giving constructive criticism.

What happened to the TFF version of this thread is what sparked the creation of this forum, but enough about that.


I do like that it seems that you are going to intersperse flashbacks with forward movement in the story. This is a new direction for you, and I wish you luck at pulling it off.

Do I care that it's Ranma-chan? Nope don't give a crap. I care that it's well written.
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spooky316
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I agree with what you said Ozz. Write what you want, I can pretty much guarantee I'll read it, Ranmachan fic or not. :)
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Fox Mage
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Sorry Ozz, I missed that part as I skimming though the chapters that you had up.

As for why there was such a flame fest on TFF... some people (including myself) don't like Ranko fics. To them it turns Ranma into an (in)SOC*, and feels so out of character. I mean you're basically turning a male heterosexual into something that in canon gave him nightmares (the Kuno dream). I'm just here to see how you lock Ranma this time and then I'll be leaving.


* = (in)SOC == (insert name) Shaped Original Character
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