16cm Short

Toi 16cm (遠い16cm) is the 349th chapter of the manga it is also the third and final chapter of the Mushrooms of Time Arc.

Synopsis
Back at the Tendo Dojo, Ranma, Ryoga and Akane do their best to take care of the mushrooms once again. Unfortunately the little boys keep squabbling over the fastest growing mushrooms and nearly destroy the crop more than once. Akane gives Ranma a spanking for force feeding Ryoga a mushroom that turns him into a three year old. Soon Akane realizes that the only way to ensure the safety of the mushrooms is to hide them.

Plot Overview
After cultivating some mushrooms from Ryoga's backpack, Akane decides to show Ranma and Ryoga that they yet again have lots of mushrooms to choose from so can stop fighting over them. However, one mushroom soon becomes slightly taller than the others, prompting Ranma and Ryoga to begin fighting over it. In order to calm down the pair, Akane suggests they use Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who can claim the mushroom as theirs, but this plan soon fails when the pair just punch each other.

Tiring of Ranma and Ryoga's constant fighting, Akane throws the both of them outside. After getting thrown out, Ranma continues arguing with Ryoga and soon agrees to fight Ryoga, but only if he can catch him first. The two of them then race across Furinkan until they end up at the local play park, where Ryoga looses sight of Ranma who's hiding under one of the structures in the hope that Ryoga will get hopelessly lost. Ryoga however was aware of Ranma's plan. He takes out a pack of breadcrumbs and reveals he created a trail back home. But this soon backfires when a flock of birds arrive and eat the breadcrumbs.

Believing Ryoga to be well and truly lost, Ranma heads back to the Tendo Dojo when he suddenly gets a special delivery which Ryoga packaged himself in and promptly jumps out to punch Ranma for what he did.

Some time passes and Akane talks with Kasumi about how the mushrooms aren't safe with Ranma and Ryoga around. Just then Akane hears the pair have returned and are still fighting each other.

Back with Ranma and Ryoga, and, after getting hit by Ryoga's "Shishi Hōkōdan", Ranma manages to throw another Mushroom of Time in Ryoga's mouth which causes him to become a three year-old. Despite this, Ryoga starts using a technique called "Baku Chaitenkechu" which is identical to his "Bakusai Tenketsu", but instead of destroying boulders the new technique only destroys wooden floorboards. Eventually Ranma tires of this and hits Ryoga in an attempt to make him stop, however, this causes Ryoga to start crying just as Akane arrives.

Seeing that Ryoga's crying, Akane tries to comfort him before she puts Ranma over her knee and gives him a spanking for picking on the smaller Ryoga. Just as Ranma thinks to himself that he'll get Akane back for this, Ryoga tells Akane he can take care of himself now and reveals he's taken another mushroom, this time making him older than Ranma. After Ryoga beats up Ranma, Ranma turns to Akane to help him as he's now the smaller child getting picked on however, Akane doesn't punish Ryoga because he wasn't the one who started the fight. Upset as seemingly being treated unfairly, Ranma runs out of the room whilst declaring he hates them all, but uses the opportunity to steal the tallest mushroom he can get.

After seeking to the back of the Dojo, Ranma measures the mushroom and learns that it is 17cm tall, despite this meaning he will lose a year of his life, Ranma decides to cook the mushroom in preparation so that he can get back at Ryoga. Unfortunately for Ranma, just as the mushroom finishes cooking, Kuno appears and eats the mushroom. Given that he's already 17, Kuno is unaffected by the mushroom (but does feel like he's ready for battle) whilst Ranma is left devastated.

Once Akane sends Kuno flying, her and Ranma hear Ryoga screaming and rush back to see what's wrong. The pair swiftly notice what the problem is when they see the tallest mushroom - from which the others were cultivated - has whittled. Ranma, however, tests some of the other mushrooms on Ryoga and sees they still work. As Ranma and Ryoga start fighting again, Akane deduces that the mushrooms must have a limited lifespan and sneaks the remaining mushrooms away.

When Ranma and Ryoga finally notice that Akane has gone, they sneak up to her bedroom window, where they overhear Akane commenting that they'll never find the mushrooms now. Once Akane leaves the room, the two of them sneak in. Ryoga is initially against searching Akane's room but quickly gives in to the idea of finding Akane's most private things and starts searching as well.

Despite searching the entire room upside-down the pair can't find the mushrooms, although Ryoga does find Akane's diary. Seconds after Ranma hits Ryoga for not searching for the mushrooms the two of them hear Akane returning and hide in one of her drawers. Just as Akane comments that she'll get Ranma and Ryoga for messing up her room, Nabiki walks in and tells Akane that mushrooms are now 16cm tall. Hearing this, Ranma and Ryoga try to escape the drawer, but have to use their combined strength to do so which ultimately destroys the drawer whilst also incinerating the mushrooms.

The pair turn to Akane and ask her what they do now, to which Akane sadly declares that those were the last mushrooms, meaning they will now have to start their lives again.

Later that day, as Ranma and Ryoga are entertained by Soun, Nabiki notices that Akane secretly hid some more mushrooms away. With her secret found out, Nabiki tells her sister that she's planning Ranma and Ryoga will stay shocked long enough for the mushrooms to reach 16cm.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Akane Tendo
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Ryoga Hibiki (human)
 * Kasumi Tendo
 * Tatewaki Kuno
 * Nabiki Tendo
 * Soun Tendo
 * Genma Saotome (panda)

Quotes

 * When will you learn not to pick on smaller children?! - Akane to Ranma while spanking him

Trivia
To be added