Author's Warning – As always this story is primarily a 'romp'. That means the purpose of this story is for the main character(s) to run around, fight random opponents, gain powers, with no clear agenda, purpose or overall objective. This story is not likely to have an advanced or complex plotline.

Next, I will make no promises this story will ever be completed, continued, or have something resembling a satisfactory ending. It will stop when I'm tired of writing it, be it after one chapter, or after one-hundred. Also, the span of time between each chapter release is, as you might have guessed, random.

Chapter 3

Wanderers

-oOo-

Ranma wears a grin while swaying around a thrown knife. Three dancing steps and a jump there after carry the pigtailed boy sailing over a large salivating mutt that pounces into Ranma's after image. With an arrogant spin, Ranma turns his back on his opponents and faces his father.

"So, Pop? You going to lend a hand?"

Genma sits a dozen paces from his son, perched on the back of an unfortunate ninja. The older Saotome merely grunts in answer, while Genma hands busily make their way through the squashed ninja's pouches. The quest for valuable goods ends only briefly as Genma takes a voracious bite from the poor kid's rations.

"Boy, if you need my help I haven't trained you well enough."

Ranma chuckles and ducks under the sickle end of a kusarigama. With twirling steps Ranma flashes up to his opponent even as the steel chain still slides over his head. With an almost lazily motion Ranma rises to his feet while transferring his momentum with a brutal shove. The motion sends the young ninja stumbling back only to be bowled over half-a-second later by a dog-human cyclone.

The ninja squad had ambushed the Saotomes only a short while earlier. One minute Genma and Ranma had been meandering their way through the forest and the next a bunch of high-schoolers were trying to kill them. Not a shocker or anything. Ranma cannot count the number of strangers with barely remembered faces that had popped up out of nowhere and attempted to remove his head from his neck. Thought, Ranma admits, it is far more amusing when it is Genma dodging deadly weapons.

The rush of combat, however, is a close second.

Four ninja and their big bad dog had launched the attack. Three boys, one crushed under his father's weight, and two more piled upon the ground in a tangle of limbs. The last is a girl wearing a flak jacket who has hung back and taken cautious, measured shots since the fighting had started. At first the ninjas had gone for the kids, but after being quickly crushed by the Saotome combination the remaining three had settled for defeating the pigtailed boy.

A good strategy truthfully. If the enemy is going to let you fight them one at a time then you may as well take advantage of it. Not that it'll do them any good, Ranma thinks with a smirk. He alone is too much for them.

Watching the two boy-ninjas and their dog trying to untangle themselves, Ranma keeps the still standing girl in his peripheral vision. The female ninja snaps a pair of knives at the pigtailed boy and Ranma decides to reward the girl's concern for her friends by taking a small hop back.

Ka-boom!

A sudden explosion rattles the air and leaves Ranma's ears ringing. The pigtailed boy spares a backward glance. Little scraps of paper flutter in the air falling like confetti. In the middle of the explosion is Genma, blackened and charred, with the remains of a small tag between finger and thumb. The large bald man cocks his bandanna covered head to the side, while picking at an ear with his free hand.

Ranma snickers at the sight. "You alright over there, Pop?"

Genma pulls his glasses back into position and lets out a gruff grunt. Ignoring his son, Genma places a heavy hand around the side of his ninja seat's neck. After a second, Genma grunts again, indicating that his is still alive. "It isn't me you should be worrying about, boy." the old man grumbles softly.

Rolling his eyes, Ranma executes a back-flip over the sickle slashing through his afterimage. He rolls through air before landing upon the kusarigama wielder's head. While Ranma's perch wobbles under the new weight Ranma hand streaks down and tugs lightly on the steel-linked chain. Grinning, Ranma watches the attached sickle's trajectory makes a sharp change in direction, flashing past the boy-dog pair and forcing them to scramble back.

"Magen: igamu bijon."

Ranma head snaps to his left as the first word leaves the female-ninja's mouth. Her hands are still poised in the final seal when Ranma's vision bursts into a cascade of dazzling colors. Trios of trees fracture into dozens of images. Greens melt into the blues of the sky blending to create an ugly yellow. All around Ranma the world wavers, as ground and sky whirl about each other until up is down and down is up.

Dizziness wars with Ranma's balance, and suddenly the pigtailed boy finds himself falling. A quick somersault salvages his landing, and a drunken stumble carries Ranma just barely out of reach of the dog-human hurricane. Speckles of blood fly from Ranma cheek when inhuman claws come a touch too close.

Still, none of this stops Ranma from snatching the kusarigama out of the air. Ranma smirks, imagining his opponent's surprise. Then arrogantly, the boy simply closes his eyes.

The rush of air warns Ranma of the knives the perforate the space he occupied just an instant before. The snapping of cloth is all he needs to sidestep the boy-dog whirlwind. The sickle-ninja makes a fatal mistake, he tries to pull the thrown weapon out of Ranma's hands.

Ranma pulls back, ten times harder.

All at once the steel-chain goes slack as the sickle wielding ninja finds himself flying at his blinded opponent. Ranma steps forward and spins into a vicious back-kick the drives all the air from his opponent's lungs. The sickle wielder collapses hard on the ground, clearly out for the count.

Grasping the kusarigama's chain, Ranma tears the weight from the sickle wielder's hands while dropping to the ground in an elegant rolls. While Ranma spins amongst the twigs and leaves he casts the weighted end of the chain up high, where it snags the boy-dog pair as their spinning strike passes above him. The chain quickly becomes a tangled snarl of iron links that pulls Ranma back up and onto his feet.

Ranma grins and stops his forward momentum and then, with a great heave, forces his captured opponent's into a slow circle. Whoomph! Whoomph! Whoomph! The air thuds deeply as the captured boy and dog go round and round faster and faster.

"Here, catch," Ranma says jovially.

"Aaaaa-" Thud! A pity he can not see the look on the ninja-girl's face as her two companions 'rush' into her embrace. Opening his eyes once more Ranma begins to try to blink away the crazy vision he has been afflicted with. When that doesn't work he smacks himself in the head once, twice, and then thrice before shaking himself free of the technique.

"Hey, Pop," Ranma calls out as he meanders toward his father. He makes a thumbing motion over his shoulder. "We've got three more contributors to the 'Martial Arts Traveling Fund.'"

Genma grunts once and quickly hogties his seat. Standing, the older Saotome turns his gaze to his son. "I'll deal with them, boy. You watch the kids."

"Gotcha, Pop."

Ranma gives his father a sloppy wave while nonchalantly walking up to the two children. Ranma hardly makes it five steps before a small blond boy bounces from his boulder and crowds up next to the pigtailed boy.

"Oi, oi! That was awesome! Hey, teach us something cool!" To emphasize his point, Naruto bounds left and right while making energetic strikes at the air.

Ranma laughs lightly, and pats the blond on the head. "Tell you what, I just might show you a thing or two next time we stop."

"Awww... Come on!" Naruto whines. "Teach us something now!"

"I don't hear an us asking," Ranma notes.

"Hey," Naruto shouts. "Hinata wants to be a ninja too. She's just too quiet to ask."

"Is that so," Ranma says, he peers down at the quiet black haired girl. "So you really want to learn stuff, or is the brat just trying to strong arm you into playing 'ninja'?"

"I w-would be honored," Hinata says softly. "But, I don't know what my f-father would say."

"Who cares what that bastard says!" Naruto snaps.

Ranma stares down upon the cute, Hyuga girl for a silent moment. The knives still tucked away under her clothes, the way she walks, her awareness of her surroundings. Hinata has all the tell-tell signs of combat training. But, even with that, and her own words somehow Ranma cannot believe that the sweet little girl sitting in front of him actually wants to learn martial arts. The thought alone of dragging Hinata through the hell that is training makes Ranma feel like a criminal.

But..., she asked, and really, the kids need a bit of self defense. Just in case.

"Okay, then, I'll see what I can think up while we're walki-"

"Teach them tetsudan."

Ranma's eyes shoot to his father's retreating back. Taking a few fast steps of his own, Ranma quickly catches up. "What did you say, Pop?"

Genma shifts his gaze toward his son and regards the boy through glasses smudged with dirt and oil. After a moment of silence Genma tosses his son a hunk of dried beef. "I told you to teach them tetsudan, boy."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time," Ranma retorts before ripping into a length of beef with his teeth. He chews twice before pocketing the food in his left cheek. "I just thought I must've been hearing things so I asked again."

The older man stops and glares at Ranma while the two children do their best to catch up.

Ranma meets his father's eye without hesitation. "You seriously want to teach two kids iron bullet throwing? They'll end up killing someone."

"I case you've missed it, boy, people are trying to kill them." Genma shifts his glasses and breaks his son's gaze. "At the very least they ought to be able to return the favor."

Ranma grimaces. "Yeah, I suppose you got a point there, Pop," Ranma trails off. "Still, I don't like it. If we're going to teach them anything I'd rather teach them hand-to-hand. Harder to accidentally kill someone that way."

Genma snorts. "Don't be a fool, boy. If those brats try to go toe-to-toe with an adult and they'll be dead before they can blink. At least with throwing techniques they'll be able to stage a fighting retreat. With luck they might manage more than that. Besides, they can learn tetsudan while they walk."

"So you're going to teach us a cool technique?" An energetic voice broke in. Naruto bounces in step with the older men, radiating eagerness.

Ranma reluctantly looks down at the boy and then over at the dark-haired girl who hangs back. With another sigh he says, "Yeah, Pop and I decided to teach-"

"You will be teaching them, boy. I've got scrolls to read," Genma interrupts.

"Correction, I'll be teaching you tetsudan," Ranma says glaring at his father's back.

"Awesome!" Naruto shouts, then the blond grabs the milky-eyed girl and drags her close. "Did you hear that Hinata? They're going to teach us kick ass techniques."

Ranma eyes darken. "Don't be so damn eager, or I won't teach you anything. This is Pop's idea, but no matter what the old man says, if I think you can't handle the responsibility-"

A stuttering grunt escapes Genma, sounding suspiciously like a laugh.

"Shut up, Pop!" Ranma growls before whirling back to the wide eyed kids. Closing his eyes, Ranma grimaces. "I don't mean to lecture you or anything, but you can kill someone with this technique. So I'll make myself utterly clear, if I ever see you use tetsudan on someone that doesn't have it coming, you'll beg for the mercy Pop and I showed those guy's we ran into yesterday."

Ranma smiles cruelly when the kids give an almost audible gulp.

"Okay, the basic principle of testudan is throwing." With the toe of his shoe Ranma flips a pair of rocks into the air and snatches them with his left hand. "There's nothing special there, the real meat is in the ki. Basically, you've got to kind of get this 'feel', like the rock in your hand isn't a rock, but instead a big ass cannon ball. Your arm, of course, being the cannon. Then, when it feels just right, you let her rip."

With a whip of his arm, Ranma sends a small rock winging through the air. With a thud it smashes into a tree causing a small puff of splinters to spew out. A second thud follows the first when the rock penetrates clear through the trunk before smacking into a second tree deeper in the forest.

Ranma smirks as Naruto stares in awe. Even Hinata looks impressed.

"And that, kids, is tetsudan. Of course, if that tree were Pop, he'd just be giving you an evil glare, but normal people won't be getting off so easy."

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Eyes already turned away, Naruto quickly hurls every piece of ammunition he can get his grubby little hands on. His energy seemingly inexhaustible despite the obvious disappointment when rocks, sticks, and clumps of mud are are effortlessly deflected by the thick trunks of the trees. Beside him Hinata, takes a calmer approach. She instead peers deeply at a single rock that sits in her hand as though waiting for it to reveal the inner secrets of the universe.

Ranma shakes his head smiling to himself as a wave of nostalgia sweeps over him. Has it really been so long since, Pop taught him tetsudan? Which of the two had he been more like? Naruto who flings himself into the training without thought, seeking to uncover the right method with the brute force of trial and error? Or the like the cute milky-eyed Hinata who understands that there must be some trick to it?

Suddenly, Ranma feels strangely old.

"A-ano...," Hinata says quietly. She stares up, her pale-lavender eyes now surrounded by grotesque, bulging veins. "Could you sh-show us one more time?"

Ranma pulls himself from his reminiscence. "Uh- Yeah, sure not a problem."

Ranma tosses the remaining rock in his left hand a couple of time while both of the children watch carefully. Then with a flash of his hand he sends the rock in a wide curve that plows clean through a thin tree before burying itself in the dirt.

Hinata nods to herself thoughtfully before turning to her blond haired companion. "Naruto-k-kun. I think we need to fill the r-rock with our chakra before throwing it." The girl looks down nervously while glancing between the pigtailed boy and her crush.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that!" Naruto nods violently. Bending down the blond grabs a new rock and concentrates hard.

Ranma laughs. "I wouldn't do that if I were-"

Bang! In a puff of powder the rock explodes in Naruto's hand. Coughing the small boy grimaces and plucks a few little bits of rock from his forehead.

"- you..., because it'll explode," Ranma finishes. "But I guess you figured that much out already."

"You could have told me that earlier, bastard," Naruto grumbles while glaring at the pigtailed boy.

"Yeah, well, you didn't exactly give me a chance." Ranma grins at the boy. "On the bright side you've both got pretty good control of your ki, for kids anyway."

Naruto ignores him and stubbornly plucks up another rock. Standing slightly further away than before, Hinata shares the boy's effort with her own stone, though she wears a clear frown and shoots Ranma shy glances.

"There's more to it than just putting your ki into it. Its all about the kind of ki you put into it," Ranma explains, speaking up. "Its not something that's easy to explain. But it has to feel right."

Ranma frowns and strokes his chin for a few moments. "Ah. I got an idea that might help. Here," Ranma says pulling out two knives he stole from the blond brat yesterday. "Takes these and- don't! ..."

Thunk! No sooner than the knife is in Naruto's hand then the blond throws it at a tree.

Ranma sighs, "Grab that knife brat, and don't throw it. In fact, you're forbidden from throwing real weapons for this part of the training. Now what I want you to do it to put your ki into that knife. Get a handle on how it feels when your ki is in that knife. Then, when you pick up a rock, a stick, or whatever, I want you to put your ki into that too. Except, you're going to try to make the ki in your rock feel like the ki feels when it is in the knife. Once they feel the same, that is when you throw your improvised weapon!"

"Awww!" Naruto whines. "That's no fun."

Despite the boy's words, Ranma can already tell that Naruto is eagerly throwing himself into the training. The kunai almost glows with brutal energy in the boy's hands, and Naruto doesn't hesitate a second before pelting trees with anything he can throw. Maybe a bit too eager, really, but the boy's spirit is in the right place.

Hinata on the other hand, isn't throwing anything. She focuses solely on studying her how her ki flows through the knife.

"Now, don't think too hard about it right now. This is something you can only really learn by doing over and over again. So, until Pop or I say otherwise, I want to you two to throw one thing every fifty steps or so," Ranma nods to himself. "And not just rocks either. Throw whatever you can find nearby. I don't care what it is, twigs, rocks, roots, even leaves if you can manage it."

Ranma walks slowly, watching the children for a few minutes, until he thinks both are throwing objects at a pace that lends itself to both experiment and analysis. Then he picks up the pace until he and the children catch up with his father. "You know, once you learn tetsudan there are hundreds of awesome variations of the technique," Ranma says with a sudden sly smile. "The best one I've ever seen came from this crazy iron chef-dude and his unstoppable knives of doom."

Genma offers his son a dirty look. Ranma smirks in answer.

"Of course, Pop just had to go and piss the guy off. Next thing he knows, there's dozens of knives following him. When I mean following him, I mean following him. Around corners, down the street, and even a few miles of running out of town. There they were, zipping through the air as easy as you please, slicing clean through anything that got in their way: trees, walls, cast iron pots, the works. So, scared out of his wits, and faced with certain, steely death, what could my old man do...?"

-oOo-

Quietly leaping from tree to tree Kakashi shadows the quartet from several hundred meters back. While he moves stealthily from limb to limb, he ponders the situation. The kidnappers are surprisingly friendly, going so far as to teach the abducted children how to better defend themselves. Of course, as a ninja, Kakashi cannot dismiss the possibility that the kindness is an act. Such friendliness is quite literally 'by the book' when it comes to subverting and redirecting loyalties.

Still, he also cannot dismiss that this may be some great mistake. One whose solution has been made worse by those who wished to purge Konoha of the Kyuubi. Hiashi's own self serving hand has done little to mitigate the mess. So Kakashi is left alone, with depleted chakra reserves, to face two supremely skilled opponents. It is not the kind of situation the silver haired shinobi favors.

Mentally, Kakashi evaluates his two potential opponents. Hiashi had described the older man in clear and stark terms. 'Might Guy with the sharingan'. A flat statement potent enough to send chills down the spines of S-classed ninja. After watching the younger of flatten two chunin and a pair of veteran genin, Kakashi came to understand what the Hyuga clan head had meant with his words. The young pigtailed boy, 'Ranma' – if Kakashi caught the name correctly – has the skill, speed and strength of a taijutsu specialist paired with an eerie agility and a reaction rate rarely seen outside of the Uchiha clan. A frightening combination to be sure.

But, what had captured Kakashi's eye as he carefully recorded the battle with his sharingan was not the boy's monstrous perfection in the realm of taijutsu, but instead a trait the silver haired ninja found far more fearsome. The battle had been no battle at all. From very the beginning Ranma had been a maestro, orchestrating every punch, kick, and throw. His enemies unwittingly danced to the boy's song of fist and flesh. Puppets pulled by invisible strings. Only for a moment had the boy's enemies escaped that grasp. An event that the boy reacted to be instantly bringing the battle to an end.

Such mastery and comprehension of the battlefield results only from experience. Ranma, Kakashi notes, must have fought hundreds of opponents prior to this. The father's cool and calm laziness tells the Kakashi that the older man is no different.

Genjutsu, however, hangs in Kakashi's mind. Ranma had stumbled when encountering a genjutsu technique, where taijutsu and ninjutsu hadn't made the boy blink. A weakness perhaps? Other details lingered as well. The boy's movements were smooth, a flowing continuous assault of strength and speed. To Kakashi, the fluid style has an almost foreign flavor. Ninja jerk with sudden explosive intensity as they shovel chakra from limb to limb. A flash of shunshin, a pause, and then, a sudden strike.

The boy, however, was symphony of movement which blended through each attack, leap and strike. Power ever present, as though chakra flowed occupied arms, legs, and chest simultaneously. Under the sharigan the boy actually glowed with a surrounding aura of energy. A modern reikijutsu master, perhaps? If so, the boy's peak strength and speed are less than similarly powerful ninja. In which case the lightning speed of a well executed chidori may be a deadly solution.

Assuming, of course, that an unnatural resilience like that of the father, did not render the boy immune....

Kakashi allows tactics and explorations to dance across his mind, but all the while he reminds himself of an uncomfortable fact. His chakra is already strained. Besides, so long as the friendly neighborhood kidnappers are content to meander though the woods there isn't any cause to rush.

-oOo-

"Hmm," Genma mumbles thoughtfully as he cocks his head to the left side.

"Hm," Genma grunts again throwing his head to the right.

"Hmmmm," he drags on slightly longer while adjusting his glasses. "This is a rather large lake, isn't it?"

Ranma glances back at the foothills they just crossed, and further South at the mountains. He then frowns as he conjures up a slightly fuzzy memory of China's geography. His little mental dot that declared you are here far in the country's west is suddenly and inexplicably updated to China's coast. The two-thousand miles in between?

...

Well... stranger things have happened.

"You know," Ranma begins after a minute of thought. "That looks a lot like the ocean to me."

"Don't be absurd, boy. We are over a thousand miles from the ocean."

"Yeah, maybe if 'ya never got lost there might of been," Ranma retorts. The pigtailed boy then bends down and sticks a finger in the water. Lifting it to his lips he takes a lick. Salt. "It's the ocean alright, Pop."

"Boy, its impossible for me to get that lost," Genma growls back. "Besides, the ocean isn't the only salty body of water."

Ranma puts his hands on his hips. "Oh yeah, Pop. Name one gigantic, salty lake."

"The dead sea."

Ranma suddenly cringes. "Yeah, okay, so there are salty lakes. Should of known that. But I never heard of any lake this size in China, much less a salty one."

"Well, boy," Genma says swerving his eyes to meet his son's. "Maybe that's because you haven't been STUDYING HARD ENOUGH!!!"

As Genma's voice echoes off the hills Ranma removes his hands from his ears and then wiggles a finger in his right one in a vain attempt to stop the ringing. "Yeesh, Pop. Trying to wake up everyone in a hundred mile radius? Fine, its a 'lake' if you say so." Ranma says rolling his eyes. "What's the plan then? I don't think the kids can swim it, lake or no."

Genma grunts and nods to himself. Then he thrusts a finger into the air. "We walk it!"

Ranma blinks. "Ah! That water walking technique you were showing me. Sure, we can give a try." Ranma then frowns. "Ya know, we might want to have the kids learn it too. They seem to have a pretty good hand on ki control."

Ranma suddenly smirks, "Besides, I'm pretty sure if we don't switch his training soon, the blond is going to explode."

Glancing back at the tree line, Ranma watches Hinata and Naruto for a moment as they bumble around ineptly. Both of the children are blindfolded, and have their arms crossed in front of their body. They bounce pathetically on one leg attempting to find the other and knock them down. Ranma snickers when Naruto slams into a tree instead and falls flat on his back.

"Hey, kids!" Ranma shouts.

Both of the children stop. Hinata sets her left leg on the ground while Naruto pulls himself back to his feet.

"Is it time to switch legs again?" Naruto asks, as he stands.

"Nope, we're done with that game for today. Get your butts over here next to Pop and me," Ranma replies. He's about to look away when he sees the blond and the girl reach for their blindfolds. "And I didn't say anything about removing those!"

Ranma grins as he watches the boy trip over some debris before making it to the beaches' edge. He feels a sorry for Hinata though. Still, the cute Hyuga girl bears her own scraps well.

Finally the two kids gather next to him.

"Okay kids, you can take them off now," Ranma says motioning to the bandanna blinds folds.

Naruto rips the sweat soaked bandanna from his eyes, and rapidly blinks away the bright light that floods his vision. Hinata unties hers slowly and then folding it neatly.

With both of the children able to see, Ranma continues, "Pop and I are going to try to learn this new 'water walking' technique, and I figured the two of you'd like a change of pace so we're going to let you have a go at it with- Oooff!"

Ranma train of thought is derailed when a rock as thick as his chest is tall is slammed against his back. Behind Ranma, Genma rapidly ties the huge boulder to his son. Once the mass is secured the older man lifts his own load and begins to fasten it to himself.

"Pop, one of these days I'd like to learn a technique without being subject to you psychotic interpretation of training."

"The line between madness and genius is paper thin, boy," Genma declares. "That's why we can be sure that if we do the insane, we'll inevitably achieve genius."

"Or die trying...," Ranma mutters under his breath.

"Boy!" Genma shouts, suddenly grabbing the front of Ranma's gi. "Stop whining like-" Whoosh! The older man tosses his son high into the air. "- a girl!"

"~Waaaaaaaa~!" Ka-ploosh! Water explodes upward as Ranma cannon balls into the 'lake' dozens of meters from where his father threw him. Huge waves cascade onto the beach, briefly overwhelming the continual surge.

"Hmph, serves the boy right," Genma grunts, before turning his eyes back to the kids.

Wide-eyed and terrified they stare up at him.

"You aren't going to tie one of those things to our back and throw us into the water, are you?" Naruto asks, terrified.

Hinata watches in mute horror.

Genma turns his back on the children paying them little mind. Wading into the water until the surging waves reach knee deep, the old man speaks casually. "Don't be stupid, brat. If I threw you in like that, you'd drown. You need at least three more months of experience before your ready for that kind of training."

Splash. Splash. Genma hops up and down in the water while alternating his head side to side in consideration. Suddenly he glances back. "What are you waiting for brats? Get in the water!"

The two children rush forward only to stop when something large rises to the lake's surface. Water cascades off of its enormous bulk, rivulets dribbling off a tent of torn kelp. Pale, fleshy appendages part the curtain of green revealing... Ranma.

"You trying to kill me, Pop!"

"Hmph, my son isn't so weak as to die from a little bit of water," Genma retorts. The older man sets a foot atop of incoming wave and briefly rises a bare inch in height before the limb splashes through the surface once more. "It appears that I'm missing something."

"A-Ano," Hinata says softly, drawing attention to herself. "How i-is this technique s-supposed to work?"

"Uh, well...," Ranma scratches his head and glances at his father. The older man steadfastly ignores the searching gaze. "From what the scroll said, you gotta put ki out of your feet or something. Don't know how it works from there, probably pushes off the surface...," Ranma ventures finally.

"The purpose is to solidify the water beneath you're feet by using your ki to make it part of yourself," Genma explains, he then gives his son a look. "If it'd involved pushing with your ki, it'd be a flying technique, not a water walking one."

Ranma shrugs, "Don't give me that, old man. The only reason you've got any idea on how it works is because you've been hogging the scrolls and had more time to experiment. Heh, I bet you anything that half your explanation is bullshit and ignorance anyway."

Smirking at his father's fuming Ranma repeatedly bounds out of the water and lands on the rolling surface. Testing Genma's advice, he infuses the surface with his ki each time he touches it. With trial and error, Ranma quickly finds that he can get brief traction, but the continual wash of water combined with his sheer weight are just too much and the technique folds. Still, there is just a bit of promise to the concept. Ranma smiles wide, this may be a real water walking technique, not one of the mumbo-jumbo fraudulent arts that he and Pop ran into far more often than not. Lost or not, being able to walk on water would make the whole trip to China worth it.

"Hey, hey! I'm sta- waaaa!" Naruto's arms flail in the air before the blond is sucked under the waves.

Ranma's smirk turns dark. The blond kid had stood. Briefly yes, but he had stood. Somehow a little blond brat has stumbled upon something Ranma and Genma haven't figured out quite yet. Ranma's pride fights this awareness. Impossible. Its only because he doesn't have a boulder on his back. Excuses crisscross the pigtailed boy's mind. Certainly, the brat's success cannot be because the brat actual understands something. Random chance, it won't be repeated.

Pushing aside such thoughts, Ranma makes a mental note to work harder on the blond's balance. The kid has no grace whatsoever.

-oOo-

"Byakugan," Hinata whispers.

At once her eyes pulse as blood and chakra flood into them. All around the world explodes with new light. The ground glows with the flowing life force of bugs, bacteria, the brilliant energy of nature itself. Trees become fountains of power reaching high into the sky, the wind and clouds shimmer with secret spirits, and the sea is a deep, swirling, mass of unfathomable energy.

A dull and almost painful pressure behind her eyes ruins the vision's beauty, and the flood of new information causes her mind to waver. For a moment, Hinata loses all awareness of what is around her. She sees, but does not understand. Then, discipline taught ruthlessly by her father asserts itself. Hinata sharpens her mind on a single point tracing the grains of sand at her feet. Then, she allows her vision to expand until it wraps everything around her. Aware once more, Hinata turns her attention to the Saotomes.

Ranma and Genma splash amongst the rolling waves, setting foot again and again atop the water's surface. Hinata watches as their chakra flows. It spills from every pore of skin, a rippling curtain of energy that runs like a river across their bodies before gathering around their feet. Then it reaches, alive, grasping, grabbing, embracing the water below it.

It is a mysterious and beautiful sight.

To her right, Naruto's efforts are a far cry from that of the Saotomes. The blond boy's energies instead gather in his lowest chakras before being thrust downwards. All along his legs the spirit sprays out with misty force before shooting out of Naruto's feet. Unlike with the Saotome's, Naruto's energy is dead. A raw energy that is propelled, but has no life.

Yet, when Naruto's chakra reaches the water the reaction is entirely different. Beneath the blond's feet is a storm of force. His spirit meets the spirit of water and they react with a creative violence.

Releasing her byakugan, Hinata blinks her eyes as they adjust themselves back to the colors and limits of humanity. It is almost ironic, that the efforts of two masters are being beaten by the crude fumbling attempts of a young boy. She stares for a moment at Naruto as he stands once more atop a wave for a startling second before being sucked under the swell. She then glances back over to Ranma and Genma. She now knows that they are doing everything wrong, but..., can she say it?

... Naruto-kun would say something....

Taking a deep breath, Hinata opens her mouth, closes it, and opens it once more. "A-a-ano...," she finally squeaks as hesitance wars with bravery.

"Eh?" Ranma replies, glancing over his shoulder. He smiles brightly.

"I-I think you are doing it wrong," Hinata barely manages. She stares at the ground refusing to glance up lest her courage flee at the sight of the boy's dismissal. "I th-think you need to m-move your ch-chakra internally."

Finally, unable to resist, her gaze rises. At once she sees the young man's scrunched up face and doubt filled eyes.

"I don't really think that it works li- Ow!" Ranma's words stop when his father's hand smacks against the back of his head. "What did you do that for, Pop?"

"Shut up, boy," Genma growls as he stomps forward. With each step the large man's feet dig divots in the sand, his own large weight combined with the mass of the bounder causing him to sink deeply into the wet beach. Standing close Genma lowers his face so it nears the girl's height. Reflected sunlight shrouds his eyes as he stares into those of the girl. "Now, what were you saying, girl?"

Hinata quivers under the intensity of the older martial artist's presence. As she peers up at the stern visage her throat clenches tight allowing only squeaks to escape.

"Hey!"

Suddenly, a small blond shape places itself between her and the largest Saotome. Naruto glares up at the older man.

"Leave Hinata alone, y- ~waaaaaaa~" Ka-plunk!

The impact of Naruto upon the water produces a wave tiny in comparison of the one left by Ranma earlier. Absurdity wars with the seriousness, and suddenly Hinata finds Genma's intensity impossibly silly rather than strict. Beyond her control a giggle rises in her throat and escapes.

Genma simply adjusts his glasses as though nothing had happened. "Now, girl, what were you saying about moving ki internally?"

"I-"

"Hey, Pop," Ranma interrupts. "Can't you tell you're scaring her stiff," Ranma pauses to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "Don't know why though. Honestly, you might have that mean old bastard look, but all I've ever been able to do when you pull it is laugh."

"Quiet boy," Genma snaps. "And this isn't my mean old bastard look. This is my you just said something interesting look. The two are entirely different." Genma folds his arms across his chest while turning his head away from his son's childishly. After a moment the older Saotome's face takes on a sly visage. "Though boy, I remember how your lip used to start quiv-

"Okay, okay! I got it, Pop. I'll keep my lips sealed while you break the poor little girl's mind," Ranma shakes his head sadly, "Son of a notorious torturer of children. Oh, what shame does a father pass onto his son."

Genma glares needles at Ranma, but his son's countenance refuses to fade. Grunting, the older Saotome switches his forceful visage back to Hinata.

"Now girl, spit it out. Tell me what you were telling my boy."

This time, while the older man's wrath is more apparent than ever, Hinata finds herself stifling additional giggles rather than fighting a sudden surge of fear.

"I was s-saying that I th-think you need to move your chakra internally."

Genma grunts and slowly nods to himself. "Is that so," the older man mumbles while stroking his chin.

"Yeah really think just moving ki internally is gonna do it, Pop?" Ranma asks, his eyes flicker to the dark haired girl once more. "No offense or anything, Hinata, but we've been doing this kind of stuff for a long time."

Hinata drops her eyes to the sand at her feet. A wave of water crawls across the beach in a sheet of white foam. Sands slides, flows, and floods into the foot shaped craters, slowly, surely erasing their presence. Her gaze rises to the ocean. There, in the distance, Naruto swims toward land. Soggy, orange arms rising in and out of the blue-green sea.

"I-" Hinata explains. "I can see it. I c-can see chakra. My clan, our eyes can see chakra." She glances up at the two Saotomes, eyes flashing between their faces.

"Really?" Ranma asks. For a moment a frown mars his face, and his brow scrunches. Then with a shrug the young man's grin returns. "Guess that doesn't surprise me. Seen weirder things. Heh, I am a weirder thing." He leans in close and whispers conspiratorially, "It comes with being awesome."

Genma sets a hefty hand on his son's shoulder and then shoves the young man aside. "Girl, when you saw the brat move his ki, did it start here?" The older bespectacled man lifts a starts to make a jab toward Hinata to illustrate, but suddenly stops himself. "Ha ha, I mean did he gather his energy between his hips?"

"Y-yes," Hinata answers. "He g-gathered it in his lower ch-chakras."

Genma nods sharply. "Hmm," He grunts, leaning his head to the right.

"What, Pop? Why wou- ah!" Ranma's eyes widen and his slams a fist into an open hand. "I see what you're thinking old man. You're thinking that because the ki was formed in the chakra its behaving differently."

"Got it in one, boy," Genma says nodding. "As might remember, boy, the lowest chakra muladhara, has an earth elemental nature. When earth meets water it produces wood. Wood floats. Thus, with the elemental power of wood we can float atop a lake like the witches of ancient Europe!"

"Huh? What the heck are you babbling about, Pop? Witches? Wood? Earth muddies water. Don't you remember your five elements?"

"Ah, my boy, but which five elements?" Genma retorts.

From there the Saotome's descend into an argument more defined by witty retorts and flying fists than intellectualism. As a warm glow fills Hinata's heart, she allows her eyes to slide to Naruto, who is now pulling himself ashore. Sopping with water the blond boy shakes like a dog spraying a rain all around him. Then, face fixated with stubbornness, he stalks forward ready to defend her from enemies that don't really exist.

Its a wonderful feeling.

-oOo-

Thud.

Not bothering with stealth Ranma lands on the forest floor with deep sounding impact. The pigtailed boy lazily strolls up to his father, who has built a small campfire that he and the kids are gathered around.

"Hey, Pop," Ranma says plopping down on the log next to his father. The pigtailed boy lazily tosses a pair of rabbits. "Grabbed us a little bit for dinner while I was about. Bad news other than that. It's all coast North and South for a good distance. Even had myself a little swim, to see if I could see something if I got far enough out, but it doesn't look like there is anything out there to see. I'm telling you, Pop, if that's a lake, its the biggest damn lake I've ever seen."

"Its not a lake stupid. That's the ocean," Naruto pipes up.

"Foolish brat, we're well over a thousand miles from the coast," Genma retorts.

Ranma rolls his eyes. "Wow, I get this feeling that we've done this before."

Genma's eyes flash to his son. "And I told you last time, boy, that is a lake not the ocean."

"Not it isn't!" Naruto declares, folding his small arms across his chest. "And everyone knows that Konoha is only two-hundred miles from the ocean. Believe it!"

Ranma wears an amused smile as his father puffs his chest. "Pop, if the locals and I both agree, then it probably you who's wrong."

"Hmph," Genma grunts. "Are you mad, boy? Are you saying I got lost?"

"You did get lost. That's how we ended up in Xinjiang province," Ranma frowns, "Though I suppose we must have gotten a lot more mixed up than that.... Here let me pull up the map and we can figure out where in China we are."

Ranma reaches for to his pack. The old rugged backpack is propped up against the same log he and his father sit on. As always, their traveling supplies are kept close at hand. Even for travelers as hardened as Ranma and Genma supplies are the difference between a pleasant journey and waking nightmare. As Ranma pulls the pack close and opens the top a brash voice speaks up.

"This is the Land of Fire not Xinjiang or whatever," Naruto grins. "You guys must be really stupid to end up in an entirely different country!"

"Hey," Ranma snaps. With a jerk he tears his atlas from his pack and slams it on the ground. "I did more traveling by the time that I was six than you'll do in your whole life, brat. I'll admit, Pop is pretty dim sometimes, but not even he'd pull a Hibiki. Especially not while I'm watching over his shoulder."

Flipping open the atlas, Ranma halts on a big two page map of China. He then shoves the book into the blond boy's hands. "Now make yourself useful and tell us where in China this Konoha is."

Naruto stares down at the book, looks up at the young man across from him, and peers at the pages once more. Suddenly, the blond starts to laugh, "Haha you guys are really really stupid. Konoha isn't anywhere on this map. I've never even heard of this China place anyway."

"Now who's stupid," Ranma retorts. "I don't think there's anyone that hasn't heard of China."

"Ano," Hinata whispers, "I've never h-heard of Ch-china either."

Ranma freezes, and he looks down at the cute Hyuga girl in confusion. "You haven't heard of China," he asks gently, "You know, biggest country in Asia?"

"That's what we said," Naruto declares. "I've never heard of Asia, China or whatever it is you're talking about."

Ranma glances over at Hinata, who nods at Naruto's words. No China. No Asia. Even kids should know that much. Its absurd, impossible even, that anyone wouldn't know of China and Asia. But, there is the ocean, two days of travel from the city named Konoha. The impossible has already occurred. Could it be that they aren't in China. Not in Asia. Not on earth. Madness.

Mad, yes, but sadly, Ranma finds that he can actually imagine it and even believe it.

Whirling on his father, Ranma makes the only accusation he can, "Damn it Pop, you got us cursed!"

"What are you talking about, boy? There's no way this could be my fault."

"Yeah sure," Ranma says sarcastically. "Think back a couple of weeks, Old Man. Remember that old monastery?"

"Hmph, I fail to see your point boy. I wasn't the one that broke that pillar. So if we got cursed it was clearly your fault."

"Broke the pillar! I broke the pillar? Pop, you kicked me through that pillar."

"Yes, boy, I remember quite well," Genma replies, while fingering an ear. "Which is why, after listening to you whine about it the first time, I took it upon myself to put the pillar back."

"Which, if you remember, is the reason the whole monastery collapsed."

Genma leaps to his feet and shouts at the sky. "The gods surely forgave my ignorance of masonry!" Genma whirls on his son. "But they most certainly didn't forgive your thievery!"

Ranma folds his arms across his chest and looks affronted. "I've never stolen anything in my entire life."

"You anger the heavens with your false plea of innocence, boy! I saw quite clearly how you stole that meat bun from that small roadside shrine."

"Hey, if someone's going to leave a perfectly good meat bun, I'm going to eat it." Ranma retorts. "Besides, its not like whatever god may have inhabited that itty-bitty shrine could eat the thing. So I was doing that god a favor by making sure he didn't have a rotting bun on his front porch." Ranma eyes narrow on his father. "Besides, Pop, I know the only reason you remember that is because you wanted the meat bun for yourself."

"Don't think I'm done yet, boy," Genma declares while shifting his glasses. "Because you did more than anger the gods. You angered a wizard."

"Pop, that wasn't a wizard," Ranma explains slowly as though speaking to a child. "That was a fraud."

"Not a wizard you say boy? Then what of the star covered robes? The pointy hat? The wand? The staff? I think I know a wizard when I see one, boy."

"Exactly, Pop. Its easy to tell the man was a fraud because he was trying way too hard to look like a wizard. Besides, everyone knows magic doesn't exist."

Genma gazes again at the heavens. "Oh, how you try me with my boy's foolishness. To think, he believes in curses but not magic?"

"Oh shut up, Pop. If you knew Ryouga you'd believe in curses too," Ranma explains. "But I've never seen a smidgen of magic, and until the day I do, I refuse to believe in it."

"Which, boy, is exactly why you got us cursed by that wizard," Genma declares while making a stiff nod to accentuate the conclusion.

"Whatever," Ranma dismisses. With a sigh the boy allows himself to drop back down on the log. "Rather than wasting our breath arguing, we should start by figuring out where we are, and how we get back."

Ranma looks over at the two children. "So, the two of you were saying something about the Land of Fire?"

"That's right! The Land of Fire is the awesomest of the elemental nations," Naruto declares. "We've got the strongest ninja, and old man Hokage is cool."

Ranma nods inattentively with the blond boy's speech. He then turns to his father. "Say, Pop, you manage to pick up any maps while you were robbing the local library."

Genma raises his nose to his son, but begins to ruffle through his infinitely deep pockets anyway. "I didn't rob the library, boy. I am merely borrowing the scrolls. You understand that right, boy? That libraries are places you borrow books from."

"Oh please. Well then, Pop, come on. Show me your library card and prove to me you checked those scrolls out properly."

Rather than answering, Genma steadfastly ignores Ranma. Carefully the bespectacled man unrolls a series of scrolls and examines their contents. One by one they gather in a neat pile beside him. Ranma takes a chance to nab one of the rolled up pieces of parchment and get a better look the goods.

Scanning the scroll Ranma saw a series of pictures, each with a set of hands in variant positions. 'Hand seals are the foundation of most ninjutsu techniques. By using hand seals a ninja control how chakra energy is formulated and released. For instance the bird...

"Here, boy. This looks like a map," Genma says handing yellowed parchment over to his son.

Ranma sets down the scroll he grabbed, and looks at the one his father set in his lap. After a few minutes of staring at the parchment Ranma speaks. "Damn, this doesn't look anything like China. Well, Pop, it looks like we've got a lot of traveling ahead of us to get back home, assuming we are even on the same planet."

Genma grunts, and adjusts his glasses. "I've got an idea what we can do about that boy. In one of these scrolls I ran across a reference for a way to summon dragons."

"Let me guess, it involves collecting seven yellow balls...," Ranma says with a flat voice.

Genma stares at his son. "What in the world are you talking about, boy? Yellow balls? How silly. No, apparently there's a scroll that if you sign with blood and use the correct mudra, you can summon a dragon."

"Okay, I don't suppose we have to part with our immortal souls while we're at it?" Ranma gives a sidelong look to his father. "Though in your case, promising your immortal soul would probably start an inter-demonic war or something."

Ranma lounges back on the log he and his father are sitting on, and stares the star filled sky for a long moment. For a moment a vague memory crosses his mind. Hadn't the blond boy said something about dragons? Ranma dismisses the thought. What does he care about dragons anyway?

With a sigh, Ranma rolls back up to a sitting position, and picks up one of the rabbits he had captured. Using a knife, the pigtailed boy starts slicing away the dead animal's skin.

"So, since you brought it up, I don't suppose you have any idea where this scroll can be found?"

"Kumo," Genma answers promptly. "The dragon summoning scroll belongs to the Daimyou of Lightning, and is held in trust by the Raikage."

"Ah," Ranma mumbles. He reaches to his right and picks up a stripped stick and skewers the rabbit with it and sets it over the fire. "Lightning Shadow and Fire Shadow, eh? Explain this to me, how can anything that glows be a shadow?"

Ranma glances up at the kids with an amused smile. That smile quickly vanishes when he notices Hinata, who stares at the ground trembling slightly.

"Something wrong over there, Hinata?" Ranma asks.

Naruto, who sits at the young Hyuga's side, glances over at his companion. Grabbing a the dark haired girl's shoulder gently the blond boy says, "Yeah, what's wrong Hinata? Did those jackasses say something mean to you? If they did I'll kick their ass. Just tell me who and I'll kick their ass, believe it!"

Despite himself Ranma laughs, "Brat, you're way too early to kick any ass but your own." Still chuckling lightly, Ranma says, "No really. Pop, and I might not be the most cuddly people, but if something is wrong you should just say it."

Hinata raises her pale lavender eyes first to Naruto then to Ranma. She manages a weak smile. "I- I don't w-want to go to Kumo."

Ranma grins and flips his knife into the air. "Then lets not go to Kumo."

"No," Genma interrupts strongly.

Ranma stops suddenly, and jerks his head to face his father. "What did you say, Pop?"

"I said, the we are going to, Kumo."

"Come on, Pop, can't you see that she's scared," Ranma says, gesturing toward the girl across the fire. "I'm not dragging her somewhere if she doesn't want go."

"Yeah," Naruto addends, nodding sharply.

Genma glances up from second rabbit, which is now dressed and skewered like the first. "Boy, without that scroll we aren't going home."

Ranma sighs and glances at Hinata once more. The girl is truly scared about the idea of going to Kumo. "Come on, Pop. We can swing by that way later. They've got some pretty neat tricks around this place. Mud people, fire dragons, water walking, even a really cool variation of replacement technique. There's no need to rush home."

"Kumo and that's final!" Genma booms. "I'm not changing plans just because a little girl gets a bit scared."

Ranma opens his mouth to shout something back, but Naruto beats him to the punch.

"Hey! If Hinata doesn't want to go then we aren't going."

The little blond glares up at the tall broad shouldered Genma. The older Saotome returns a stare just as fierce, his jaw and posture steadfast.

"Pop, there's no need to be so stubborn" Ranma says. When his words do nothing to move his father Ranma sighs. "Yeesh, you're such a bastard sometimes, Pop."

Ranma settles his head into a hand, and nurses a headache. Genma is obviously intending to go to Kumo whether Ranma likes it or not. Frankly, Ranma is of half a mind of letting Genma go alone, but moments after that thought come the images of inevitable trouble, a poorly done heist, and a dead father. He and Pop might not always get along, but Ranma doesn't want to see his father dead.

"Okay, how about this. We find someplace to dump Hinata and Naruto for a couple of days, and steal the scroll, summon our dragon, and send the parchment back through the mail. That way everyone's happy."

Genma turns his gaze to his son. Slowly the older Saotome adjusts his glasses. "Boy, the children are being hunted. I won't allow the children to be killed on my watch, and that's exactly what will happen if we leave them alone."

"Exactly how far do you think those Ninja will chase these kids down, Pop."

Genma eyes flicker with vanishing quickness out into the depths of the woods. "To the ends of the earth apparently."

Ranma stills suddenly, and allows himself to circumspectly glance in the direction his father had. Just trees, shadows, and... ...a presence? For and instant Ranma sees the shadows shift, but the movement is so fast that he isn't sure it happened at all. Still, a wariness settles upon Ranma, and the pigtailed boy allows more of his attention stretch into the terrain around them.

"Kumo...," Hinata's soft and quite voice breaks the period of silence. "If Kumo s-sees me they'll kn-know that I'm Hyuga. T-they'll remove my e-eyes."

In an instant, Ranma's mind snaps back to the young girl. Disgust creeps onto the pigtailed boy's face. Cut out her eyes? Disbelief strikes Ranma immediately at the thought. "Why on earth would anyone want to cut out your eyes?"

"B-because I c-can see chakra, and if they had my e-eyes though could see it too," Hinata explains.

Next to Ranma, Genma suddenly sits. "I see," the older man mumbles, his voice barely audible.

"Well," Ranma says. "I think even, Pop will drop the idea of going to Kumo now."

"No."

Ranma jerks his head toward his father. "What? You're still stuck on that idea? What's wrong with you?"

"Quiet, boy. I'm thinking," Genma retorts. The older man is silent for a few seconds and then he begins rifling through the scrolls. "Here," Genma grunts shoving the rolled up paper into his son's hands. "We teach them the technique on that scroll. We'll also take a few days to teach the brats a bit of anything goes. I don't think I like a country that murders boys and rips out the eyes of little girls."

Ranma nods to his father's words. "Yeah, I'm starting to think I might want to show them something nastier than tetsudan. Good to teach them real self defense though. Kids have no business learning techniques that can kill or maim. It just isn't right."

To Ranma's right, Genma grunts in agreement. For a while the two are silent and Ranma listens half attentively to Naruto's wild descriptions on how he'll single handedly defeat the whole nation of eye thieves. Within the lull in conversation, Ranma glances down at the scroll his father handed him. The contents describe a technique called henge and a variety of interesting variations.

"Heh," Ranma half-grunts half-laughs. "Interesting idea old man."

-oOo-

Trivia

Kusarigama – A sickle with a chain attached. Properly the weapon's chain is used to wrap the enemy's weapon or legs after which the attacker charges in to finish the opponent off. Ironically, the typical ninja anime/manga shows the wielder striking by throwing the sickle end instead. Hence, the 'not really historically accurate' depiction here.

Muladhara – The lowest of the seven major chakra. Symbolically, and for story purposes, this chakra has an earth based nature.

Mudra -- Traditional Buddhist/Hindu handseals. Some are actually used in old, but real martial arts disciplines.

Naruto vs Ranma 1/2 III -- Reikijutsu

Kakashi in this chapter speculates that Ranma and Genma may be reikijutsu [lit. aura technique] masters. In the prehistory of Seven Village Stomp reikijutsu pre-existed ninjutsu, but, because ninjutsu is easier to learn, easier to teach, more versatile, and often more powerful, reikijutsu has been largely supplemented in the Naruto-verse.

Reikijutsu is the philosophy and technique of aura mimicry, enhancement, and transference. For instance a reikijutsu samurai will attempt to synchronize their aura with their sword. Once the two became one the samurai then uses his 'ki' to enhance the swords 'traits'. In other conditions, that same samurai could attempt to treat another 'object' as his sword by 'transferring' or imposing a sword's aura upon that item. In doing so objects such as a boken (wooden sword) can obtain the cutting power of a ki-enhanced katana.

Similar principles apply to iron cloth – transfer the properties of 'iron' to cloth, tetsudan, and other reikijutsu techniques.

These principles extend beyond just weapons and to the martial artist himself. A reikijutsu master strives to learn and transfer aura aspects to his own body so that he might have the 'toughness of iron', the 'strength of a bear', 'eyes like an eagle', etc.... In this sense, the Musk in Ranma ½, take the principles of reikijutsu to the extreme by literally obtaining the 'spirit' of these animals through blood inheritance.

Ninjutsu is quite different. Where as reikijutsu involves obtaining and amplifying traits through the use of aura, Ninjutsu involves altering the fundamental nature of naturally produced ki by using the body's chakra. Generally the energy is molded in one of the seven chakra nodes so as to distill specific 'elemental' natures. This energy is then further manipulated and controlled through a formalized system of mudra (hand seals).

The net result is a highly scientific ki manipulation art. Where aura's can only be produced by 'feel' and 'experience', once a ninjutsu master learns how to mold chakra in certain ways he can produce any technique that requires that energy by simply duplicating already known hand seal and energy combination sets.

Techniques

I make no promises any of these translations are accurate. They were obtained by cursory examination and evaluation of words (and occasional Kanji) in a Japanese dictionary. I do not speak or read Japanese, and will not pretend that I can.

Magen: Igamu Bijon [lit. Demonic Illusion: Warped Vision] -- A simple genjutsu technique that distorts visual sensory input. This technique is not easily disrupted by pain, as it depends on neither the internal generation of dreamlike hallucinations nor emotional manipulation. It is, however, easily disrupted by 'kai' and has a short effect time.

Water Walking [CANON] – More a skill than a technique. Naruto canon describes this technique as merely involving a 'steady stream of chakra released from the feet'. Obviously, for Seven Village Stomp, there had to be more to it than that, otherwise Ranma and Genma would already have had the skill.

Byakugan [CANON] – A blood limit inherited by the majority of the Hyuga clan. When given ki and 'released' this eye technique/genetic feature allows the user to see ki in great detail. Additionally it grants all-around-vision, the ability to see through many objects, and telescopic vision. Note that all of these traits have their own limits. For instance, 360-degree vision does not grant 360-degree awareness, it is harder to see through an object the more ki it has, etc...

Tetsudan [lit. Iron Bullet] -- A foundational ki throwing technique. The user imbues the thrown weapon with an aura of 'iron', 'force', and 'momentum' causing the weapon to behave as though it is harder, denser, and thrown with more force. More advanced throwing techniques often build on tetsudan by adding aura traits like 'cutting', 'penetration', or even 'seeking'. Ranma ½ thrown weapon such as steel denting takoyaki balls, boomerang razor bandannas of death, and lamp post penetrating teaspoons all derive from this technique.