Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Flame Of Recca Fan Fiction ❯ Starlit to Lifes, Curses and Demons ❯ Progression ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: Make it short… I don't own any of the popular characters I use in here except those I made it myself. The storyline is mine except those I quote from manga, any manga storyline, especially Naruto. Mind you if the story I wrote in this fiction similar to other fanfic, don't blame me. I don't read all fanfics posted in the Internet okay but I do take some info of the techniques from several websites. Just for your acknowledgement.

Shaman? Priest? For the ghosts… I'll construct that info to add it up but I don't read Shaman King or Inushya. I do not want to call the boys as priest etc but only as a minor… I'll think about it

I do read some Saiyuki, Dragon Ball, HunterXHunter, MAR, some Death Note, couples of 3 x 3 Eyes books, Dragon Quest, Sailormoon, couple of One Piece books and 2 or 3 books of GS Mikami.

About Orochimaru and Akatsuki… that have been in my mind for quite sometime… will since chapter 10 but it's not the time yet (or rather the age yet), maybe a couple of chapters later. I have more than one reader, demand for the boys to meet with Tsunade and second meeting with Jiraiya… that will be in the line too.

"Blah" speech, `blah' thoughts, blah just to highlight,

-Blah- mind talk, -: Blah :- Makai language, "Blah" inner speaking to outer or the spirit (guess?)

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Chapter 14 - Progression

The living is the one who are still alive and the dead who are already die. Not everyone in the Spirit Village can see ghost and not everyone can truly understand what they spoken. They need someone to speak with them and that's not a problem for Kurama, Ranma, Recca and especially Urameshi of course. Because of their ability, they had made someone happy.

Happy to see the dead they dear at

Hinata was happy to her mother, even she was just a ghost she was glad to see her in person. Before this, Hinata could only know her by her picture taken before she died. (A/N: She can see her mother with the help of Urameshi who increase his Reiki until it also covered Hinata.)

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(A/N: the next scene is what daily life in Spirit Village do and some unordinary days. I don't fix the exact time. Go figure it)

The payment for the Spirit group by the ghosts is not just teaching them jutsu well since the boys starts their job for the ghost officially…

Not all of the were Shinobi

So, some ghost gave information about this realm, teaching various things about what they knew or tell them where to find their secret stash hidden before they died.

Telling anything that would interest the Spirit group.

Not a bad agreement, ne?

Well, some did give the Spirit group some handy information for extensions of their village or about some part of the construction that they can upgrade.

So everyone gathered around, working together to make their village more liveable for them. Ranma and Yusuke both went to buy some chickens for poultry and a couple of cows for milk. Then, they worked on making simple building themselves and place to put their animals. Medicines that Kurama made were packed mostly by the girls and stamped with the rose logo. Underneath the logo written Mei Hua and some description on the use of the medicine on the back. Kurama had been voted as their leader, only he has the full knowledge how to make the medicines. He was incharge in that particular area and at the same time teaches the girls some simple remedies that they can make on their own.

In the Spirit Village, Makoto became the mother of every child along with Harada as their granny.

They all made with what they can do with their small figures and strength.

Everyone has their own schedule with chores to do everyday. There were those who became teachers and those who needed to learn became students.

Morning: wake up, have breakfast and a morning kata with a jog around the training area (outside). After that, morning lessons on basic Ki by Ranma along with other martial arts training that ended around 11am.

Noon: a break for lunch and to do what they want in their free time until the next lesson hour.

Afternoon until four o'clock: learning the basics of Chakra at the classroom inside, that the mountain provided, located beside the underground training area by Recca and sometimes with Kurama.

Evening: training with Yusuke on Reiki usage. Learning the basic concept of Reiki just like Ranma teaches about Ki.

Night: dinner, no training at night but it is the time for anyone who wants to ask questions of that day or pervious lesson.

Every Wednesday night, all the students needed to go in the forest as part of the training.

This is actually to enhance their ability to feel the presence of ghosts and also night situations. One of the Reiki training is to balance the `Yang' energy as they build it by their aggressive movements and other things in daylight by taking `Yin' energy with meditations and calm their mind. (A/N: Heard this from Wu Dan art etc.)

The lesson held on weekdays. Saturday, is the day for everyone to do chores like help in the farm, pack the medicines, clean their rooms, classroom and training areas. Sunday, is a holiday for the students but they still need to follow the rules of the village and morning kata required to be exercise everyday. On Sunday, the day that commonly death wish note missions to be carried out that most outsiders referred Sunday as the day for death. (A/N: consider it like Friday the 13th.)

The games they usually play… well… like any normal ninja kids would do, jumping over hedges, walking on a small log like gymnastic. (A/N: I hope you get the point.)

There were other options, like throwing shuriken, kunai and senbon or anything else that can be thrown at the bulls eye. Some made their own slinger and others made weird looking throwing items based on the Anything Goes concept. Recca also added boomerangs in the list.

More people needed to be recruited but for the present, the numbers are suitable enough. Quality runs over quantity for this. Everyone needed to be trained including Kurama, Ranma, Recca and Yusuke.

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Smoke came out into the air. Little frog appeared as the smoke cleared

"Hello Jiraiya-sama what do you… Hey you're not Jiraiya!"

"No, I'm not"

"Then who are you? I never heard among my clan that we had a kid in the contract before"

"Weelll… that because I just put my name on that big scroll" Ranma pointed at the Summon Scroll. His name and fingerprints in blood still fresh on the paper. He did it like Urameshi and Kurama told his the way even he did wonder how do they know the protocol and hand seal movement. He's alone right now, he didn't want to bother the others' except if he had trouble, which he rarely did.

"You... YOU! You are the one who stole our summoning scroll from Jiraiya-sama!"

"Well guess I did. Anyway what's your name?"

"… Mizumi. Your name?"

"Me? Call me Ranma."

~~~~~ Ten minutes later ~~~~~

"So like it or not, if I'm gonna summon you again and have you follow my orders, I have to have the approval of at least the person before me… Am I right?"

"Yes! Even if you could beat Gamabunta-sama, we all won't follow your order if you don't do that first!"

"Is this rule common to all summoning contracts?"

"No, it varies depending on the earlier or the first agreement made"

"Aoouu… why do I need to get that pervert?" Ranma complained.

"Like it or not, that is the requirement for the frog summon. See ya." Mizumi puffed himself, leaving Ranma alone.

`Damn do I really need to? Might as well get someone to accompany me to meet that guy,' Ranma strode to meet the others.

After hearing Ranma's problem, they all agreed that the first thing to do is to track Jiraiya. Yusuke and Recca will join Ranma as backup when Ranma meets Jiraiya.

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A day in fire… Hot air, smoke and heat with spark of fire fumed the place

Crackle!

Crackle!

Red-hot form pulled out of the fiery amber

Making its way to the anvil to be tamper

clang!

clang!

Hammer striking the anvil

Clang!

Clang!

Another weapon to be created and of course used, weapon-making lesson were tutored by the ghosts with Urameshi and the others.

Clang!

Recca and his three Kage Bushin on the job. He has been given the task to make weapons, for mission and training.

Sheeee……

Then he moves the still glowing dim red into the provided basin of water

Sizzling hot it boils the water

"Hope this much will be enough after I sharpen all the edges" banishing all the Kage Bushin, Recca made the stacks of weapons razor-sharp, fit for what it was suppose to do.

After awhile, Recca decided to take a break

`One task done… maybe I'll read that book' Recca made his way to his room. He took out the Madoku book and spends the rest of the evening studying it.

Making weapons really made him tired plus with the constant usage of energy for learning Ki, Reiki and Chakra did take their toll on him.

Recca gives out a gold reddish colour for his Chakra and Ki but his Reiki was a shimmering silver gold colour.

Ranma has a golden blue colour for Chakra, blue for Ki and violet for his Reiki.

As for Kurama, a golden green colour for Chakra, gold colour for Ki and Silvery green for his Youki.

For Yusuke, he had red amethyst for Chakra, amethyst for his Ki. Blue sapphire for Reiki and deep blue with a tint of amethyst for his Youki. The ability of using multiple type of energy that Yusuke produced also affected Puu in a way that some of the tail feathers have all the variety of colours Yusuke can produce.

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One day Ranma was thinking alone near the edge of the waterfall.

Trying to track Jiraiya's location was futile. It's really giving him a headache so Ranma put aside that problem and focussed to his initial problem he thought of when he got into his realm.

Thinking if there was any possible way to make his body age back to normal, he remembered back when he shrunk back into a little kid the first time. That was caused by the mushroom from that old ghoul but now… was very different.

`What made the mirror turn me into a little kid? I did want to get away from those guys in Nerima but I don't want to be a kid…' Ranma looked down at the waterfall, water splashing down into the lake creating an endless ripple on the surface of the water. Some water splashed at the boulder Ranma sat on making him changed into Ranko.

`Hell…' ignoring his change, Ranma went on wondering. `How can I turn back to my real age? This is caused by the mirror so… It's more on magic energy or some other energy that turned me into a kid. This goes for the others obviously… maybe.'

Sunlight that shines on Ranma gave way to the cloud, which blocked them. Wind blew more intense then before ruffling Ranma's hair.

Ranma looked at the scenery of the landscape before him to find some tranquillity out of his unanswered question. He put his hands into his pocket and felt something round. He pulled it out and saw it were actually coins from the money exchange when he bought those animals. Some of them had a hole in the middle similar to the yen coins.

`Hole in the coin… hole… HOLY SHIT! Why didn't i think of that possibility… that English teacher of mine, Hinako using a ki sucking technique to make herself older…' then a pang hit him. `Oh yeah… Happosai shut some of her pressure point, turning her maybe permanently into a kid.'

Jumbling the coins in his hand, thinking about more possibilities, `but that is from Ki energy point of view… what about Chakra, Reiki or Youki? They all look like they have magic property's… Youki is out of reach but maybe I can get some tips from Kurama since he can change into his demon form.'

The sunlight shines on Ranma again as a cloud passes by.

He looked at the lakeside down below and could see little figures, Urameshi must be teaching those kids on Reiki. Well, Haku advanced most compared to the others, who were still struggling to understand basic Reiki concepts. `Yesterday, Urameshi said that the form of Reiki is not limited to a ball shape but depending on the user just like he used it in ball form, Rei gun, or a friend of his… what's his name? Kura…. No not Kurama! Kuwa… Yeah, Kuwabara.'

Ranma saw a figure being kicked into the lake along with yells and a scream from the unlucky kid. `Now where was i? Yeah, Kuwabara… he can turn his Reiki into the shape of a sword or a spear, but most important, Urameshi says that the guy could cut between dimension using that sword. So there must be some magic properties for one to be able to do that.'

`I have nothing to lose. Better use this idea or wait for me to the age again, those are a long few years in the future.' Ranma flipped up, standing on the rock and made a quick dash back to the village.

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"You got it all wrong! Pin-point all your concentrations to your finger tip!"

"Easier said than done," Tsukino Yoru grumbled.

"Do the best you can"

"I wish I could cut him into pieces," whispered and grumbled Chiba, while trying to focus. "Bet he would cry for his mama if I could beat him." Aikawa Chiba still didn't like Yusuke but he respected the other three.

"Hey! Concentrate or I'll throw you into the lake!"

"Okay, okay… Kuso… Remind me again why we have to focus it to the finger tip?" Tenkino Kame asked.

"Yeah, why not the whole hand? It's much easier…" Haruno Tanaka asked. Her twin, Akiwa nodded.

"Aaah…," Yusuke tried to simplify what Genkai said to him before (A/N: Coz she always end up knocking Urameshi hardhead before he can understand what she thought him. She used a lotta spiritual concept to explain.)

"…How many of you can gather a suitable amount of Reiki to actually get your hand to glow?"

Nobody answered

"If you gather it at your finger tip, you need just a small amount to trigger it, but it needs more concentration. At least you can see your progress better than trying to focus on the whole hand. One more beneficial thing when focusing at your finger tip is that when you want to focus say on your whole hand, it would be much easier." Yusuke explained the best he could.

"I still don't understand the actual use for focusing…" Tenkino said, still blurred on the subject.

"When you master in focusing your Reiki, we'll go to the next step. That would be meditation and finding your potential because Reiki can be turned into a variety of forms: from needle, senbon, shuriken, kunai, up to sword, katana, staff and spear or even you can have other specialities like mind reading or control your target movement by capturing their shadow. All this can be done without any handseals, that most ninja are obliged to do when using ninjutsu."

"Sugoi… " the kids said, awed when they thought of the possibilities of Reiki usage.

"Now back concentrating on your finger tip."

"Yosh! If I can't do this I'll run 200 laps around the mountain!" Lee declared. `Later I'll go and meet Ranma sensei to train again and then I can be stronger than those that called me names back there…'

`I can do this! I will show those Leaf Villagers that I'm better than them. Better than the Hokage! I want to be as strong as Kurama Sensei' Naruto thought about his aims while concentrating on the lesson.

"I-I… I…can do this… " Hinata whispered.

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Somewhere else…

"Hi hi hi hi…" the sound of a person with a weird looking of smile and saliva drooling out of his mouth. Yeah it's a white haired guy.

`Lots of information…. Uuuuoooo….'

Peeping at the girls bathing at the hot spring.

Unfortunately one of the girls noticed him.

"Kyiiaahhh!!! PERVERT!!!!"

"Get em!!!"

(A/N: You can think what happen next to unfortunate Jiraiya.)

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"The dice numbers are even. You lossed the bet!"

`Damn!' She lost again in gambling.

She keeps on gambling even if she knows how bad she was in that area.

But it can't be help

Being addicted to gambling.

`I need a time out,' Tsunade thought in her twenty year old figure.

"Alright, I'll pay you but can I go to the bathroom for a while?" Tsunade gave the gambler her very own you-cannot-say-no-to-my- plea face.

"On the right door…"

"Thank you…" `Suckers' Tsunade hurried to the direction of the door. In there she changed her appearance into a little ten year old girl. She jumped through the small windowsill and landed beside Shizune with her pig.

"Let's go"

Tsunade had been gambling non-stop for months. When she gets her eyes on gambling, it made her obsessive about it and nothing else mattered. Nothing… except the urge of food, drink and nature calls.

"You mean there is a medicine that powerful it can heal like that?" Tsunade asked Shizune. Her obsession about gambling really cut her off from hearing new medical breakthroughs. Now that she's done with the village she and Shizune visited, this news really had her interest piqued. After all, she is an excellent medic-nin, one of the three Legendary Senin of the Leaf and can't get her eyes off gambling.

"Yes, it has been in the market for more than a year around the West region country and now it is already here a few months it's sold in the Mugen medical shop." Shizune replied.

"Mugen eh?" Tsunade said in deep thought, "Well lets go and visit the shop."

They went to their destination

Mugen Medical Shop (Branch)… was the name written on the board of the shop. It's the ninth branch open and all thanks to the bountiful profits of selling the Mei Hua Medicine.

"Welcome, may I help you?" said one of the shop-workers. She wears a simple blue kimono with a scarf on her head.

"I'm looking for a medicine," stated Tsunade.

"The Mei Hua I presume? How many would you want?"

Tsunade looked at Shizune, using body language to tell her to buy some for her since she's broke from gambling.

"We'll take two," Shizune said as she bought them.

"Thank you, do you have anything else your interested in?" (A/N: I feel like playing a game in a shop buying items, huh…)

"There's one thing… where did this Mei Hua actually come from. I mean where is it produced?" Tsunade asked. Tsunade had changed back to her late twenties look before entering the shop.

"I'm sorry I can't answer that question. Many people asked that question but I could only give the same answer. None of us know where it originates from," the worker looks particularly cautious at Tsunade.

"From the look you're giving me I guess you're suspicious to my interests. I'm a medic-nin and I assure you that I have no interest in opening a shop or anything else. As a medic-nin, I'm interested in this medicine and I really want to have a discussion on medical interest. You know, from one medic to another medic." Tsunade tried to convince the worker.

"Even so, I can only give you the same answer. None of us knows. The only person who knows about it is the owner of this Medical shop at the main shop."

"And where is that?" asked Shizune.

"In Hana Natsu Village."

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"Hey, that's mine!"

"I got it so it's mine! Eeuuuii wweeee…" Hajimari Sora said, while making faces at Takuya Kino. A big bully since he's very big for his age (A/N: but not as fat as Chouji) He's holding Takuya's unfinished wooden doll that he was carving for the twin girls. That doll was actually hidden inside Kino's cloths so he could surprise the twins when he finished it.

"Give it back or else!" yelled Kino.

"Or else what? You wanna punch me with your small hands?"

"You asked for it," Kino released a bit of his Chakra and commanded the trees around them to hold onto Hajimari.

"Mokudon: Jyukai Koudan" (Wood element jutsu that uses plants to wrap up the opponent. To more than likely strangle them.) Kino can only use a small amount of trees to do his bidding, even with his bloodline.

"Trying to wrap me, eh? Two can play that game." Hajimari said as he focused some Ki into his legs to jump up and away from the grappling tree branches and vines of plants. He made some hand seal that he created with the help of Recca and Ranma, "Harimai no Rousoku no jutsu!" (A tai jutsu mix with nin jutsu movement that uses candle wax for attack and defence. A/N: Anybody help! I think the word `Hari mai' is not the appropriate word. I know the word `mai' means dance…) He swirls around, wax appeared around him in the form of a kunai. Blades of wax kunai as hard as metal, surrounded his body and started cutting the plants that tried to attack him.

"My turn!" a liquid stream of wax made it's way to Kino while he tried to barricade himself with walls of plants. The wax squeezed it's way through the holes in the plant wall and surrounded Kino. Unfortunately Kino, who was too late to move away from the assault, was stuck in the wax. The wax hardens the moment it starts wrapping around Kino's body by the command of Hajimari and leaves him stuck in it. (A/N: I like to try to put some ideas from One Piece: the Mr. 3)

"Yo! I still got your little doll… he he he," Hajimari taunted laughing at Kino. Hajimari was originally from a family of candle makers but his family ended up with some bad luck and he was lucky to get away before some of the mafia could capture him and sell him on the black market like his sister.

"Okay that's enough. Sparrings over and get Kino out of there. Oh yeah, give that back to Kino," Kurama ordered.

That was the last pair that sparred for the day. Every month there will be a full scale sparring where every student needs to participate to evaluate his or her ability and improvement. Now, it's time for the comments of each sparring for the day.

"Rock Lee" Recca called.

"Ossu."

"Your strength is overwhelming compared to the others but you need to improve you accuracy and control of your energy." Recca said as he reads the overall comments from the four.

"I will teach you a kata that involves both aspects later," Ranma added.

"Ossu!" Lee's eyes beam with excitement. A new technique will be taught to him by Ranma - sensei! `Yosh!'

"Tsukino, Good work on trying to defend yourself but practice more on your attack especially the usage of Ki. Don't slack off in practice next time."

"Haiii…" Tsukino answered while scratching his head. `Damn bad luck! Why did I get to fight with over enthuse guy, troublesome…'

"Hinata."

"H-Ha-Hai…R-Recca…Sensei."

"Try to pull down your curtain of shyness or you'll get yourself swat again. You're gonna get extra training after this," Recca said holding a long list of comments about her. Make it two pages for her.

"Hell yeah you're gonna get some intensive training," Yusuke said grinning. "Oh yeah, next, Haku, you're doing good with your bloodlimit but try to control your ice so it doesn't go haywire again."

`Hai! I'll try."

"Next, Aikawa… Control your temper! Are you trying to kill someone again? Luckily we got you sparing with Naruto and… Naruto stop grinning like an idiot! This comment includes you too." Recca said as he handed the comments to Yusuke. He really doesn't want to read the comment because of their ludicrous actions in sparring.

Yusuke cleared his throat before he spoke the summarized version of their sparing. "Are you two TRYING to kill each other! Get the meaning of a technique, that's the ninja way and what's this jutsu you used Naruto? Sexy no Jutsu?" `Never thought that Naruto would make that jutsu earlier than he suppose to. "Yusuke thought, "Are you reading my books? If you want to use that technique, use that on adults not bo-… Ouch! What?" Ranma slapped Yusuke's head, with his face telling Yusuke to talk to Naruto in private later. Ranma didn't want everyone to know Naruto had peeped on him bathing at the waterfall when he was too lazy to go back and get a tub of hot water.

"Yeah, yeah talk about this jutsu you made later… All right you two including Hinata are gonna get the some training as Lee. Next is… Haruno and Akiwa, I know you two have the same fighting techniques but I never thought you two would draw in sparring. Overall your fighting skills have improved. Better luck next time."

"Hai, we will!" they chorused.

"Next! We have…"

And the list went on…

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The two old folks never thought that they would end up living with kids running around them after having a miserable son. Mamoru Hanageshi and Harada Hanageshi enjoy seeing the children practice even if they sometimes do scare them, as the children got hurt. Both of them give their respect to the four boys that teach these children.

These four boys…

The way their thinking is beyond anyone their age. So wise, so…so experienced… well make it three wise boys and a kitsune in the form of a red haired boy.

Speaking about kitsune's…

That is the last thing they thought would happen, to live with a kitsune. That kitsune… Kurama, he is a kind person, always tending to those that are hurt and very picky on plant subjects. He had been elected as the leader in this small secretive settlement although not all of the children know who or what he really is. Those who knew didn't really mind. Who would… a kitsune is a wise creature and god knows how old he really is from the number of tails he has.

Even with this happiness and peacefulness, there is a downside. Living in this secretive place means no other adults other than Makoto, who always watches her son and being the mother for all the children other than Harada. Nobody visits here and it was a bit lonely. They miss the hassle and bustle from around them before and… it's not that bad. At least there are no more of those peoples who want money or make them suffer anymore.

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It's Sunday again… a day for the kids to have their free time to have fun or to do whatever they want.

But not for these kids…

"All right! I know those who need to participate in this session are just four people, Aikawa, Hinata, Naruto and Lee. Others who are here also can participate as long as you want," Ranma continued.

"This type of kata is very hard. When I say hard I mean HARD for you guys!' Ranma paused for a while. He turned around and handed two wooden balls to each person. "Today I'm going easy on you. You might wonder what's with the wooden balls. Here I'll show you an example of the kata before I teach you," Ranma says as he starts the kata. The style was very odd. While he was doing the kata, Ranma also kept the pair of wooden balls in the air.

Ranma continued with his speech after he finished the kata, "this kata can be classified as a vigorous control Kata. It involves precision, endurance, control and little power. While controlling the balls you can use either Chakra, Ki or Reiki depending on which energy you want to work with but in this session, I expect you guys to use Ki in the kata."

One hand shot up in the air, "Ano sa… Ano sa! Sensei!"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Ano… what do you mean by precision and control? Isn't that the same thing as… accuracy?" Naruto asked.

"No, not at all, precision is the ability to hit the target," Ranma holds out the wooden ball. "And control is how much power you use. The Kata you're learning is to not only hit the ball in the right place, but also to do it exactly hard enough so it lands when you are in a position to kick it again while your doing the kata."

`Keep the ball in the air while doing kata,' Lee pondered while he scribbled in his little notebook. `Precision- ability to hit the target, Control- how much power you use to get the ball in the air.'

"Okay. Anymore questions? No?" Ranma waited but nobody raised their hand to question. "Okay start."

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Somewhere inside Spirit Mountain….

Both of them were on their way to the underground classroom. This time Recca will have Kurama join the lesson on Chakra. On the way to their destination, Recca showed something to Kurama.

"Hey Kurama-san, I managed to make a Madoku. Here," Recca said taking out a small object.

"What's this?" Kurama asked while holding the round shaped item as much as his hand could hold. It has a yellow jewel set in the middle was the kanji for `Shadow'. Roughly made with the mix of metal materials around.

"It's a shadow madoku, anybody who uses it can sneak around within the radius of 500km max. That's all it can do rather than the original version. The real Madoku was owned by my mother. That one had a much larger radius and can view almost any place a person desires. I only figured out the properties for a small portion of that Madoku. I need a lot more research on it. Oh yeah, I went out to test it before but I forgot to tell you guys, sorry. I just wanted to make it a surprise when it was done." Recca replied, looking at Kurama's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, next time tell us when you're doing a test. What did you think you were doing, doing the testing all by yourself? What if things went wrong? Never mind, hold this back. Tonight we'll show this okay." Kurama said as he handed back the Madoku.

Taking the Madoku back, Recca moved on. "Okay, lets go. We've got a class to teach, neh."

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Somewhere inside Spirit Mountain…(again) A place that looks like a reception area

"This one… C class no make it D…"

Stacks of Death Wish notes not yet fulfilled had been sorted by Yusuke. A tedious work and when Yusuke thought back to it, how the hell could Koenma do this job? `No wonder he always acts like a spoiled brat… taking all this stress with paperwork'.

Then two ghosts came near him

`Now what?' Yusuke thought as he made two Kage Bushin to continue sorting the Death Wish notes. "Yes, what can I do for you?" Yusuke asked.

…A few minutes later…

"Well that would be a bit of a problem. We'll try to find her so you two can meet her in person," Yusuke said as he wrote down the requests of both ghosts before they disappeared. Ranma marched into the room and greeted Yusuke, "Yo, still not finished? I thought I sensed a ghost in here just now."

"You did and they added another mission. I had to get them rearranged according to the difficulties." Then one of his clones called to him, "I think we need to make a new class for this one." The clone said as he handed a piece of paper to Yusuke.

"Your right… make it a S class," Yusuke said after he read the contents of the paper.

"S class? What's the S mean?" Ranma asked, snatching the paper out of Yusuke's hand and read the contents. It wrote, kill a man under the name of Orochimaru, known as one of the Three Legendary Senin. More descriptions were in the paper that described the person and the reasons why. There was more than one person or ghost that wanted him dead.

"Orochimaru?" Urameshi snatched back from Ranma.

"S means Super or Special class. This guy Orochimaru is dangerous. Do you remember the guy we stole the scroll from? That guy and this guy are one of the Three Legendary Senin. Not an easy person to defeat." Yusuke made another space for S class - missions in the room.

"So what, I beat a demi god before, it'd be no problem to beat him. Heck, look at that Jiraiya guy… he he," Ranma boasts along with raising his ego.

"Jiraiya was distracted coz his mind was on that book he wanted to write. Plus he wasn't taking us seriously until the end." Turning his face to Ranma's, "this Orochimaru guy is different. He's a missing-nin, a traitor to his own village where he learned all his techniques and now, he has a grudge against that village. So he's probably making his own village like us to wage a war on the Leaf. That makes him dangerous. Another thing is we are still kids and we have no info what so ever on his location and/or his weaknesses." Yusuke explained. "And don't forget we still can't use and control our powers with the same ease we used to."

But even with Yusuke explanation, the thought of having a chance to fight Orochimaru are still lingering in his mind. He smirked for a second when he thought of the possibility to fight a strong opponent. That smirk was noticed by Yusuke, "Oh no you don't!"

"Don't what?" Ranma asked with a face intended to make it look like he didn't know what Urameshi talking about.

"I saw that smirk of yours, the one that says you want to go against what I said to you."

Ranma looked at Urameshi with his eyes squinted small and an expression on his face that says there's no way in hell I'm not going to do that!

"Okay you can track him since he'll probably stay in one spot…he won't travel around like Jiraiya. We need to talk about this with the others," Yusuke said as he shook his head. He didn't want this argument to continue. He needed to get these piles of paper in order before the evening session. Not to mention the next day he had an errand at the next village.

o-o-oo0o0o0oOoOo@oOo0o0o0oo-o-o

Hana Natsu Village…

It was Saturday when the two medic-nin reached their destination. Shizune was asking the local villagers where the Mugen Medicine Shop was located while Tsunade viewed the scenery of the village.

It's a peaceful village, kids playing around, with their voices ciphering of laughter. No fighting happens around here. The soft breeze in the air slowly carries the scent of flowers into the village.

"Thank you ma'am" Shizune said as she finished asking directions.

"So, where is it?" Tsunade asked.

"Not far, lets go." They both headed to the shop.

… Twenty minutes later …

"I'm sorry. No matter how good your cause is I still can't tell you. I've promised the medicine makers not to tell anyone who they are. I'm sorry…" Mugen said to the two unexpected visitors. He never thought he would ever meet one of the three Legendary Senin.

"I see… thank you for taking the time to talk with us," feeling disappointed at the end of the conversation Tsunade and Shizune bowed to Mugen before they turn to leave the buildings premises that have people walking in and out from time to time…

As they were about to step out of the building, something makes Shizune's pig squeal.

"What is it?" Shizune asks her pig.

It squeals again, frantically trying to tell it's owner. Shizune took sometime to figure it out.

"My pig says that that boy who just passed us, into the building had a very strong smell."

"Strong smell of what?"

"Mei Hua medicine on his body." Shizune replied.

`Really? Better stay at the buildings nearby and follow him before we get near him to ask questions," Tsunade suggested.

They wait for a while before the boy came out again and followed him.

The boy blends himself into the crowds in the market area before heading out of the village.

The forest...

The boy was very agile, moving fast under the dense trees. He walked as if he knew the route by heart.

Suddenly he stopped. For a reason of course…

A big tiger appeared.

Tsunade and Shizune raised their guard. They didn't want the boy to be killed by the beast but they didn't expect what happened next.

The boy didn't look afraid but rather happy to meet the tiger.

"Hey, it's a surprise to meet you… what's the matter? Got a problem?" the tiger growled low at the boy, it turned around and looked back to the boy as if it wanted the boy to follow.

"Okay, lead on," the boy said as he started to follow the tiger.

Tsunade and Shizune looked at each other blinking a few times before looking at the direction the boy went. The pig in Shizune hands squirmed and wanted to run away rather than getting near the tiger again. He can smell what both of them are thinking.

They're going to follow the boy till the end.

They have to be extremely careful, as tigers are very sensitive to there surroundings and would attack if they feel threatened.

They followed him until they reached a cave… Tiger's Den

The boy went into the cave, along with the tigers that were waiting outside it. Shizune looked at Tsunade with her face saying now what do we do?

Tsunade used her left hand, telling Shizune that they were going to stay until the boy came out...if he came out. In the mean while, they're going to stay put and make sure that their scents stay out of the tigers' noses.

TBC

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