Ranma and his friends were created by Rumiko Takahashi. Naruto and his friends were created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is fan fiction created for fun.

Author's Note: This story is a sequel to The Shared Doom. While it is not strictly speaking necessary to read The Shared Doom first because the first chapter is expositiony, it is recommended. This story picks up at the end of Naruto's training journey, half of which Ranma was present for. While The Shared Doom's setting was primarily based on Ranma 1/2, Double the Trouble will deal primarily in the Naruto setting. Ranma characters may pop in. Ranma and Naruto both have the same (but different than Canon Ranma's) curse. Jiraiya also has a Jusenkyo curse.

This chapter came out long for me. Expect most chapters to be my normal length.

"Ero-sennin," Naruto complained, "Can't we wait three more weeks?"

They were about 15 minutes from Konoha's front gates.

"No, Brat," Jiraiya snapped. "Stop bothering me about this. I have important things to do and I can't have you brats interfering."

"What?" Ranma asked with a sneer. "More 'research?'"

"Yes, more research," the Toad Sage said. "The future of the Elemental Nations' literature depends on my research."

"Spare me your boasts, Ero-sennin," Naruto snapped. "Do you know how much trouble showing up now is going to cause me?"

"Yes, yes I do," Jiraiya said with a smile. "Maybe next time you'll think before you interfere with my research. Besides, Tsunade-hime would kill me if I left you with the Panda to oversee your training."

Naruto grimaced. That excuse was plausible. Ranma's father's training ideas were the type of things that would make the Crazy Snake Lady from the Second Stage of the Chuunin Exams smile.

"That might hold water if you weren't as crazy as Pop," Ranma said dryly. "Or if you hadn't already left us with him for months at a time."

Jiriaya stopped and stared at the redhead. "You think I'm as reckless as your father?" He looked genuinely surprised.

"Have you forgotten about tossing Imouto off of a cliff so that she would be desperate enough to call on the Kyuubi's power?"

Jiraiya had the decency to look embarrassed. "Look, I had safeguards set up in case it didn't work and it was a last resort."

Ranma looked speculatively at him. "You know, I think that's one of the reasons why Kushina-obachan is looking for a way to manifest outside our seal-scape."

The Toad Sage paled. Naruto did not blame him. No one wanted to feel the wrath of her mother.

He shook his head and then said, "Look, I know these next few weeks are an inconvenient time for both of you, but I really do have things I need to see to that would be better without you two along."

To say that the next few weeks would be inconvenient for Naruto and Ranma was an understatement. Their cursed forms were ovulating and their personal magic was interfering with their Jusenkyo curses and their shapeshifting. Not only were they locked in their cursed forms, but they could not use their shapeshifting to enter any male form. And while their minds were not interested in boys at all, for most of the next week their bodies would be. It was not anything they could not control, but it was embarrassing—even to Naruto, who was generally considered to have no shame. She certainly did not want to run into Kiba while she was "in heat." If last year was any indication, they would remain locked until their period was over. Their period began a week after ovulating ended and lasted for a week. The only good thing was that they only had to go through it once a year. She was anxious to see Tsunade, Sakura, and the rest of her friends, but not being able to assume her real form and meet them as "himself" was the worst of it.

"You're lucky your cursed form has already reached menopause," Ranma grumbled.

Jiraiya just laughed.

They walked in silence until they reached Konoha's main gates. They signed in as Uzumaki Narumi and Uzumaki Ranmi, guests of Jiraiya. They had decided to adopt the naming scheme for female Saotome fox youkai for their girl names when the people in question did not know who they really were. They had also decided that "Ranmi" and "Narumi" would be Uzumaki in the Elemental Nations and Saotome in the outside world. They would use their real names when in male form.
Jiraiya guided them to the Hokage Tower. Naruto had mixed feelings. She wanted to see Tsunade again, but was a little nervous about exposing her condition to her. Then she smiled. When it doubt, blame it on Jiraiya. It was even mostly true.

Ranma was feeling a little bit nervous—although for different reasons than Naruto was. After talking about it with Naruto, she had decided to join Konoha's ninja forces, providing the terms were reasonable. Being a ninja stood against everything that her father had taught her, although the older Saotome was fairly ninja-like himself. However, she was not willing to give up the close relationship she had with her "twin" and the other cursed boy/girl was in a tough spot. She needed to be nearby.

As they approached the entrance to the Tower, Naruto asked, "Not using the window, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya laughed and said, "Not when I'm bringing others along with me—especially since you don't look like yourself."

The guards eyed them, especially Naruto and herself, but let them through.

"Hime," Jiraiya exclaimed as they entered the Hokage's office.

"So you're finally back, Pervert," a blonde woman with a prominent bust said. She appeared to be younger than 30, but according to Naruto she was the Old Pervert's age.

She frowned at the two girls. "Is this the infamous Oiroke no Justsu?" she asked. "I would think you'd know better than to use such a perverted technique near me."

She cracked her knuckles. "You better not have picked up any of the Pervert's habits."

Naruto threw herself at the older woman. "Baachan, it was awful," she sobbed into Tsunade's shoulder. "He made me stay like this the whole three years. He even made me keep a redheaded Shadow Clone around so that it would be like being with twins."

The older blonde's face twisted into a snarl and she slugged the Toad Sage in the gut. Jiraiya slammed into the wall. Her advance on the downed pervert was halted by Naruto's giggles. She whipped around and frowned at the younger blonde.

"That's what you get for bringing me back at this time of year, Ero-Sennin," she said, still giggling.

Ranma rolled her eyes and bowed. "I'm Saotome Ranma, sorry about this."

"What in the world is going on?" Tsunade said with a growl. "And what do you have to be sorry for?"

Ranma smirked. "My sister and her idiot guardian."

"I don't know what they told you," the Hokage said, "but Naruto isn't really a girl and he doesn't have a sister."

"Oh, I know she's normally a boy and we weren't born sisters," Ranma said, still smirking, "but we have the same condition."

"Condition?" the Hokage asked. She put a hand on Ranma's chest and a green glow surrounded it.

"You aren't human," Tsunade said. "I don't know what you are, but you're not human."

"I'm not human right now," Ranma corrected.

"I'll repeat myself," Tsunade said, losing patience. "What's going on? The only reason I haven't put you in a world of hurt is that you came in with the Pervert and that stupid stunt that just happened is something that Naruto would think was funny."

Jiraiya groaned. "Please make the office secure, Hime, and I'll explain."

Tsunade made a gesture with her hand and then after a delay of ten seconds activated a seal on her desk.

The Toad Sage stood up. "I wish you could have delayed your revenge until we could make sure that no one was listening, Brat."

"Okay, Pervert," the Hokage said. "Spill."

"I decided to broaden the Brat's horizons and took him outside the Elemental Nations," Jiraiya said.

"We were being chased by some very angry and very persistent women," Naruto added.

Jiraiya scowled, but continued, "We were at a place called Jusenkyo which is in the hinterlands of a nation called China, where we saw Ranma and his father sparring on some bamboo poles above a pool of water."

"His?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm normally a boy too," Ranma explained.

"Ranma's father was knocked into one of the pools. In his place a large panda popped up. A guide told us that the pools cursed Ranma's father to change into the panda. The panda knocked Ranma off of his pole. Naruto caught him in order to prevent him from getting a curse. The two of them landed on a wooden platform, but the platform broke, immersing them in a different pool."

"The pools work by cursing you with the form of whatever first drowned in it," Ranma explained. "Pop fell in the Spring of Drowned Panda."

"What pool did you fall in?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto and Ranma exchanged a glance. "We fell in the Spring of Drowned Foxgirl," Naruto said with a sigh.

"What," Tsunade said flatly.

Naruto and Ranma both relaxed into their foxgirl form. It was their default form while cursed, although they had several others that they could change into without difficulty, including the human-looking one they had been using. The only real difference was that they now had fox ears and three tails the color of their hair sprouting from the ends of their spines. Their other two forms where a giant, tiger-sized fox with three tails and a normal-sized fox with one tail. They could also assume any other shape for a total of three hours a day normally, including their original birth forms—except for the few weeks a year when their cycle was active.

"Please tell me that this isn't permanent," Tsunade said, palming her forehead.

"It is and it isn't," Jiraiya said. "The curses can normally be deactivated temporarily, but there's no way we know of to get rid of them permanently."

At this point, Ranma did not think she would get rid of the curse if she could. At first she had hated it, but then she had found out that the curse actually restored to her her heritage. She had been born a human boy, but her mother was a fox youkai, just like her cursed form. Naruto was also descended from a fox youkai, but much more distantly. She was not willing to give up being a boy, but the curse had actually brought her much closer to her mother and given her a sibling and best friend in the form of her distant cousin Naruto. Over a year of being tutored by her mother in how to be a female fox youkai had made her accept her curse and being a girl part time—mostly. Equally, learning that the founder of the Uzumaki clan had been a male fox youkai had made Naruto less wary of turning into a fox—although it still made her nervous considering how unwelcome foxes were in Konoha.

"You're sure that this isn't due to the Kyuubi?" Tsunade asked.

"At first, we thought it might be due to the Kyuubi indirectly," Jiraiya said.

"How so?"

"The pools of Jusenkyo tend to be ironic," he explained. "The magic there pulls you toward curses that emphasize or highlight a character flaw. Ranma had issues with being compared to a girl by his father and Naruto was afraid of being seen as a fox because of the Kyuubi. Later we found that although Ranma was originally human, his mother is a fox youkai. Also Naruto's distant ancestor, the founder of the Uzumaki clan, was also one."

"Yours too, Baachan," Naruto said. "Why didn't you tell me we were related?"

Tsunade sighed. "Sensei's notes recommended that you not be told until you were older or at least more mature. You aren't exactly subtle, Naruto. If you had been told your heritage before you're training trip, can you honestly say you wouldn't have shouted it from the rooftops?"

Naruto folded her arms and pouted. "I can too be discreet."

"I admit you're much better at that now, Brat," Jiraiya said, "but before?" He shook his head.

"If you can deactivate your curses," Tsunade asked, "why didn't you before our meeting?"

Ranma shrank into herself and Naruto wrinkled her nose is distaste.

Jiraiya chuckled. "They're in heat."

"What!?" Tsunade exclaimed.

"They're ovulating," he explained. "There's something in their personal magic that interacts with Jusenkyo's magic that stops them from resuming their male forms until after their period is over. It lasts for about three weeks total."

"But one cycle follows another," Tsunade protested. "Does this mean they're almost always female?"

"No," Naruto said smugly. "Fox youkai normally only ovulate once a year."

Tsunade looked irritated at that news, but did not say anything. "Where are you at in the cycle?"

"Only about two days in," Ranma said irritatedly.

"Anything else I should know?" Tsunade asked.

"A few things," Naruto said. "First, Ero-sennin has a curse too."

"Oh," the Hokage asked. "What does he turn into?"

"He fell into the Spring of Drowned Amazon Elder," Naruto said, smirking.

"Amazon Elder?" Tsunade asked.

"He turns into a shrunken, wrinkled crone," Ranma said, also smirking.

The Hokage burst into laughter. "You mean he turns into a woman, but he can't even fondle himself because he's old and decrepit?"

Naruto laughed. "Not really decrepit, but very, very old."

"This I have to see," she said. "How does it activate?"

"Cold water activates, hot water deactivates," Ranma said. "Ero-sennin designed two seals to help us control it. The first is a seal that locks us in our cursed form. Unfortunately the 'hooks' in the magic that allow that are not there when the curse is deactivated, so we can't be locked in our birth forms as far as we know. The second is a seal that repels water. It has a few disadvantages."

At this point, Naruto nailed Jiraiya with a water balloon, activating his transformation into an old crone. The seals on her clothes swapped them out for clothes that fit her current form much better. Giggling Naruto said, "It only stops 'free water.' Water in something like a balloon or sack isn't stopped and if it bursts, it triggers the curse."

"It also can't stop anything but weak Water Release Techniques and won't stop large natural effects like rain or falling in a creek," Jiraiya said in her scratchy voice. She turned to Naruto. "Haven't you had enough revenge yet?"

"You brought me home right at the beginning of my locked cycle despite my repeated requests to wait so that I could be able to turn back to normal—just so you could perv without interference. What kind of godfather are you?" Naruto glared at Jiraiya, who glared back.

"Speaking of Amazons," Ranma said. "There's a chance that Ero-sennin's Amazon wife will show up."

"The Old Pervert got married?" Tsunade said incredulously.

"I did not," Jiriaya spluttered. She pulled a kettle out of a storage seal and turned back to normal. "I saved a woman and her daughter from being killed or worse. According to their customs, that made me her husband. They also consider Naruto and Ranma their daughters and sisters since they were female at the time."

Tsunade doubled over laughing.

"They're nice people, if somewhat odd," Naruto added. "The woman's name is Jeru and her daughter is Shanpuu. If they show up, they'll likely be accompanied by Jeru's grandmother Koron, who looks like Ero-sennin's cursed form, and possibly by Muusu, Shanpuu's unrequited suitor."

"You really think they'll show up here?" Tsunade asked doubtfully.

"They've caught up to us a few times on the training trip," Naruto said. "They have to have some way of tracking us, but we don't know what it is. Ranma's parents might also show up. We had them settle down in Tanzaku-gai before coming here."

"Why didn't they come to Konoha with you?" Tsunade asked.

"Several reasons," said Jiraiya. "Ranma's father, to put it lightly, is a scoundrel."

Naruto added, "We were also afraid that people might try to kill him when they found out what he did to Neechan in the name of training and for some reason, she's still fond of the idiot."

"He's my Pop," Ranma said as if that explained things. "He's not that bad—just lazy and stupid."

"We were also afraid of what Ranma's mother might do to the villagers if she saw them mistreating Naruto," Jiraiya said. "She considers Naruto a close niece/nephew or even an adopted son/daughter."

"Mom's not that bad," Ranma protested. "It's likely she would give them a stern talking to and make them feel a few centimeters tall."

"Or she could freak them out so badly they would have heart failure," Jiraiya muttered.

"Maybe we should invite her to come for a visit," Tsunade said snidely.

Ranma was glad to see that her sister's surrogate grandmother was protective of her. "We wanted to get settled first," she said. "It really is better that Pop stay away for now and she's the only one that can control him."

The conversation lulled until Tsunade asked, "How did you come to be traveling with the Brat and the Pervert, Ranma?"

"Jusenkyo is death magic," Ranma said. "It interacted with the Shiki Fuujin [Dead Demon Consuming Seal] on Naruto, destroying it. . ."

"It destroyed the Shiki Fuujin?" Tsunade interrupted, pale as a ghost.

"Yes, but it's not that bad, Baachan," Naruto said. "The Eight Trigrams Seal is still there, plus it released my dad!"

"What? Minato is alive now?" Tsunade said, thunderstruck.

"Not exactly," Jiraiya said. "From what the Brats have said, when the Shiki Fuujin collapsed, Minato was pulled from the Shinigami's stomach into the seal where it merged with a Shadow Clone that Minato had built into the seal."

"Dad was also able to make a seal that uses mine and Ranma's chakra to sustain the Shadow Clone of Mom that got put into the seal too," Naruto exclaimed. "Now we can talk to Mom and Dad whenever we want!"

"Wait!? Ranma too?" Tsunade exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ranma said. "Jusenkyo spread the Eight Trigrams Seal to me while we were in the pool. Now I'm the co-jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. We share the same 'seal-scape.'"

The Hokage put her palms on her forehead. "I so did not want to hear that."

"It caused some problems for a while in that Ranma's boy form could not handle the Kyuubi's chakra, so we had to lock her in her foxgirl form," Jiraiya said. "Ranma could already manifest her chakra in a raw form that the Japanese call ki, so it only took several months for her to learn how to properly use chakra. Due to her supernatural heritage, even as a human, he had lots of potential."

"Pronouns are going to be a pain with you three, aren't they?" Tsunade said with a groan.

Ranma smirked. "The Kyuubi claims that it doesn't want to escape and the four of us that've talked to it agree that its behavior seems to bear that out."
"Four of you?"

"Me, Naruto, Minato-jichan, and Kushina-bachan," Ranma responded.

"Of course you would call the Yondaime Hokage jichan," Tsunade muttered. "No one this close to Naruto would actually be respectful."

"We offered a trade," Jiraiya said. "Ranma, who's quite talented in taijutsu, would train Naruto in it and, in return, we would teach Ranma to use chakra so that her curse could be unlocked. At the time, Ranma was very against being a girl. By the time that Ranma's curse was unlockable, they had bonded to the point that they consider each other very close siblings. We also traveled with Ranma's parents for over a year so that her mother could teach the two of them fox youkai skills."

"What kind of skills?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"Shapeshifting, illusions, and foxfire," Ranma said. "We need to gain a couple more tails before we can start branching out into other magics."

"Illusions? Like genjutsu?" Tsunade asked.

"In some ways," answered Naruto. "Our illusions cover the areas they affect. They don't attack a person or their chakra system directly."

"How would you rate their skills, Jiriaya?" the Hokage asked.

"Overall, their combat skills are at fresh jounin," the Toad Sage answered. "Ranma is quite good at taijutsu. She has some decent long-ranged ninjutsu and similar skills, but she tends to disregard them in favor of beating on someone with her fists. Her biggest fault is that she tends to toy with her opponents and draw out fights.

"Naruto has improved substantially, largely due to Ranma's influence. She's now decent in taijutsu and has picked up some decent long-range ninjutsu. Her biggest fault is that she tends to attack head on. She has some excellent improvisation skills for if and when that fails, but she would be better served by thinking ahead.

"Both of them are excellent learners if it is something that interests them, but have a hard time if they find themselves bored. They both are excellent at stealth, but for some reason dislike using it in a fight. Naruto's pranking skills could translate well to trapping, especially with some of the fuuinjutsu they've picked up. They are both Inuzuka-level trackers in their cursed forms, and are even not to bad in their natural forms once they figured out Shadow Clone's usage there. Their leadership skills are unknown and their grasp of long-term strategy is iffy, but they're both excellent tacticians. With a little more seasoning and experience they could be superior shinobi."

Tsunade looked thoughtful. "Would you like to join Konoha's shinobi forces, Ranma?"

"What are the terms?" she asked. "If I decide to quit in a few years, can I without any hassle?"

"Genin must serve for five years after joining," the Hokage said. "After that they can retire at any time."

"Is it different for other ranks?" Naruto asked.

"Chuunin and jounin must serve for five years after promotion and when they retire, they are automatically put into the Reserves unless it's a medical retirement," Tsunade answered.

"You mean they can be called up involuntarily?" Ranma asked.

"For retired chuunin, they can only be called up during an invasion or war," she replied. "Retired jounin can be called up at the Hokage's discretion."

"I'll join as a genin," Ranma said, "provided I can be on Naruto's team. If I'm not on my imouto's team, I don't have a reason to join."

"Really?" she asked. "Based on Jiraiya's endorsement and some minimal testing, I could justify enrolling you as a chuunin."

"Nah," Ranma said. "I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a shinobi, but I can handle five years."

"And you, Naruto?" she asked. "I could promote you as well."

Naruto looked thoughtful. "Before the training trip, I would have said, 'yes,' no question. Now? I think I'll hold off on it, Baachan, and see how my condition is received."

The Hokage was shocked. "But your dream of being Hokage!"

Naruto laughed. "I've found family outside of Konoha, Baachan. I still love Konoha and want the best for it, but now I have more than just that dream." She grinned foxily. "Besides, I swore to Scarface during the Chuunin Exam that I could become Hokage as a genin and I still say that I can do it!"

A faint grin touched Tsunade's lips. "Very well," she said as she opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a Leaf Badge attached to a blue headband. She tossed it to the redhead. "You understand that by accepting the Leaf Badge, you are joining the military of Konohagakure no Sato and Hi no Kuni and swearing to protect them and to obey the lawful orders of the Hokage and your appointed leaders?"

"I do," Ranma answered as she tied it around her waist. Naruto had changed her Shinobi Badge to her waist not long after being cursed because the headband interfered with her ears in her foxgirl form.

"Change back to human," Tsunade commanded, "and I'll call for your team leader and teammate. I'd like your team leader to evaluate your skills."

"Who is it?" asked Naruto, bouncing on her toes.

"You'll just have to wait and see," the older blonde said. She deactivated the seal and scrawled a quick note. She made a gesture and an ANBU appeared in front of her in a swirl of leaves.

"Execute these orders," she told the ANBU. She smirked at Naruto, who pouted.

"You could have told him the orders verbally," the younger blonde accused.

"I know."

The wait worried at Naruto like a dog at a bone. It was all that she could do to not pace—all the while Tsunade and Jiraiya grinned at her. Even Ranma looked amused.

"I could be eating Ramen Ichiraku," Naruto complained under her breath.

Finally a familiar figure entered the office.

"You wanted to see me, Shishou?" [master] Haruno Sakura asked. She looked older, but much the same as when she had seen her last.

"Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed, excited to see her old teammate.

"Naruto!?" the pink-haired girl exclaimed in return. Then her features hardened. "What are you doing using that perverted technique?" She moved to punch Naruto in the head.

Her wrist was caught by Ranma. "I won't let you hit my sister for no reason."

"Why does this Shadow Clone have red hair?" Sakura asked.

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Why does everyone think I'm a Shadow Clone?"

"It is Naruto's favorite technique," Jiraiya commented.

"Are the Shadow Clone and Oiroke the only techniques you used before, Imouto?" Ranma asked.

Naruto chuckled nervously. "Maybe. . ."

Sakura, whose wrist was still being held by Ranma, said, "I don't know who you are or what the Idiot told you to get you to play along with his prank, but will you please let me go?"

"Are you going to hit my sister?" Ranma asked her.

"Fine," Sakura snarled. "I'll let him try to explain himself, but you should know that Naruto is a boy and pretending to be his sister is futile because are no records of who his parents are."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Naruto is my sister because we share the same condition. By birth, we're distant cousins."

Jiraiya scowled and activated another security seal on Tsunade's desk, to her bemusement.

"Condition?" Sakura prompted, curious. Her hand glowed green. Ranma, knowing what she was doing, because the Hokage had already done it to her, dodged out of reach.

"Haven't you people heard about medical ethics?" she complained.

"Medical ethics?" Sakura said.

"You know," Ranma said, "like 'Do no harm.'"

"We're shinobi," Sakura said, confused.

"How about privacy rights?" Ranma asked.

"Shinobi," Sakura repeated blankly.

"I still don't like you butting into my affairs without permission," Ranma stated.

"Ah, don't be so standoffish, Neechan," Naruto said with a smile. "Sakura will find out soon enough, assuming she's on our team. She is on our team, isn't she, Baachan?"

"Yes, Naruto," the Hokage said. "She's on your team with Ranma."

Naruto whooped excitedly.

"You're replacing Sasuke?" Sakura said, dismayed.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "The Uchiha brat has been missing in action for about three years. It's only as a favor to you and Naruto that I don't label the punk a missing nin."

"Don't worry, Sakura," Naruto said. "Neechan's awesome!"

"What's this condition you have?" Sakura asked.

Naruto explained to her about Jusenkyo and their curse and how they met—leaving out the fox parts, including the Kyuubi.

"Can you demonstrate this 'curse' to me?" Sakura asked.

"Not for a few weeks," Naruto said. "Our curses are locked."

"Really?" she said doubtfully. "Why?"

"Estrus," Naruto mumbled.

"What?" Sakura said.

"Estrus," Naruto said, louder. "We're ovulating."

"I know what estrus is, Idiot," Sakura said. "I just don't know what it has to do with this. The human female reproductive cycle is nearly continuous. If it interfered, then you would hardly ever be male again until you were old."

Naruto sighed and explained about what their real curse was and how their yearly cycle interfered with the curse. This culminated in Naruto showing Sakura her tails.

"Cute!" Sakura exclaimed as she pounced on her.

Ranma snickered, grateful that she was spared the usual response to a girl discovering their tails.

"You don't mind?" Naruto asked.

"Well, the whole thing is really weird," Sakura admitted, "but it's not like you're the Kyuubi. Plus, I think this is justice for developing your perverted Oroike no Jutsu."

Naruto looked down at the floor and sighed. She looked at the Hokage who nodded.

"Some people think I am," she admitted sadly. "The Kyuubi, I mean—even without this latest development."

"Why would they think that?" Sakura demanded. "You've always been annoying, but you're hardly demonic."

Naruto explained about how the Kyuubi could not really be killed and how the Yondaime had sealed the Kyuubi inside her when she was a baby.

"Don't they know anything about sealing?" Sakura asked.

"Some people really do believe Naruto is the Kyuubi," Tsuande explained, "but I think they're a minority. There are others that believe that the Kyuubi took Naruto over when he was a baby. Others think that Naruto is dangerous because the Kyuubi might escape and others mistreat him simply because of peer pressure."

Sakura looked embarrassed at the last explanation.

Disliking the heavy mood, Naruto tossed another water balloon at Jiraiya, who was looking away in shame at the way people treated her. "Ero-sennin is too old to have to worry about estrus and menstruation. She can demonstrate her curse."

"Brat!" the transformed Toad Sage whined. "Will you stop that?"

Naruto folded her arms and sniffed. "Sakura wanted a demonstration of Jusenkyo in action."

Jiraiya summoned another kettle from a storage seal and changed back.

"Where does all the mass go?" Sakura demanded. "He must have dropped at least 70 kilograms and then got it all back!"

"Don't know, kid," Jiraiya said. "Don't really care at this point." He looked at Tsunade. "I assume that the team leader will be Kakashi?"

When she nodded, he snorted. "There's no way I'm waiting around for Kakashi to finally show up." He bowed to the Hokage. "I'll see you around, Hime, Brats."

He disappeared in a swirl of leaves, disrupting the privacy seal.

"I don't want to wait for Kakashi-sensei either!" Naruto exclaimed. "Let's go get ramen! Kakashi can come find us."

"So this ramen is supposed to be even better than Koron's?" Ranma asked doubtfully.

"Ramen Ichiraku is the best!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

"Before you run off, Brat," Tsunade said. "Are you going to go by Naruto as a girl?"

"We told the gate guards that our names were Uzumaki Narumi and Uzumaki Ranmi," Naruto said.

"At least those names will be easy to remember," Tsunade muttered as Naruto led Ranma and Sakura out the door.