Senran Kagura: The X Factor(Senran Kagura/MegaMan X)

Nukenin(抜け忍) the runaway Shinobi, and the most hated of all ninja.

You could be on the side of good and save a bus full of orphans on national TV. You could be an Akunin and carved a path from here to Tokyo to get your client elected as Prime Minister, But no one, except for businessmen and politicians that perform the most thorough of screenings, would ever hire a Nukenin.

A Nukenin was untrustworthy. They were an entity that answered to no officially sanctioned business or government, and they operated outside the acceptable practices laid down by all Shinobi/. Good or evil, you’re still the government’s lapdog, it was just that you answered to different sides of it. A Nukenin could answer to either. A Nukenin wasn’t beholden to a clan, had no teachers, and no stupid thieving sisters!

But just because she wasn’t beholden to the Founding Star Cross Foundation anymore didn’t mean that she was going to let these guys do what they want with her former family’s belongings, even if said family stole them first!

Especially if their thieving shined a lot on her thieving!

Using a special setup to observe the bridge, her eyes were glued to the monitor as she focused on a nondescript, 4 seater car at the traffic light before the bridge. The car in question was an old 2014 Subaru Impreza, a bit beat up, but otherwise it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary considering this was the poor part of Kodama Town, an already poor area. If it wasn’t for her senpai, she’d never even know how to search for what she was looking for, but his technology was the only reason those five idiots in the mountains were the only people that she could trust with it. Mainly because he knew them first, spent a few months with them, he taught them, acclimated them to civilian life, gave them the technology first why were they so lucky?!

To the naked eye, the car was just that, a car. Even if you used the most sophisticated of scanning equipment, you wouldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. But the telescope she set up could see what they were trying to hide. According to Senpai, it was a byproduct of Cain Labs technology not meshing well with the primitive vehicles, causing the shielding to make the car’s coloring slightly off. That could just be brushed off however, as just being how it was painted, but that wasn’t the only thing her telescope could see! It took a lot of her family’s money that she stole had on hand to pay the right people to modify it, and a lot more of her family’s money to shut them up, but in the end, it was worth it, because after all these years, she finally found her first lead in her quest to find these bastards. And it was painted right on the roof of the car.

Only a special lens coated with a special fluid using a special jutsu was able to see this image, the insignia belonging to the organization who ruined Senpai’s world!


The Mavericks.

The people Senpai hated so much, and who were the people she had to thank for bringing him into her life. Sure it resulted in a…less than favorable outcome for her, but she finally understood that whole ‘friendship’ junk those Zennin guys kept talking about.

“A 1992 Subaru Impreza..” It was a very out of date car, even for Kodama Town, and the Mavericks wasn’t one to flaunt their wealth. If they could use some drunk hobo for a mission, they would, and the fact they could do that repeatedly and successfully without drawing Shinobi attention was what made them so terrifying, especially since Kodama was Foundation Star Cross territory, her family’s territory.

There was also the fact that the bridge the car was at led to DenTech City, neutral territory, whose neutrality was strictly enforced. It was one of those fallout cities, where the Leylines coursing throughout Japan was the strongest, which meant that the population of the surrounding cities could be sent there and be safe in the case of a supernatural attack. You can’t have too much good, and you can’t have too much evil, that’d corrupt the leylines.

And the Mavericks were driving a car right into the city, through the Malice Barrier that would have detected their malicious intent! Maverick Technology was truly fearsome.

She was very familiar with the Malice Barrier. She and her Shinobi wannabe of a sister went there during their graduation from Genin, to get a taste of what a truly powerful Shinobi Kekkai was like. They were told to fill their minds and souls with evil and negativity, and so they did. Her sister was knocked out for a month from that, and she herself was out for a few days. It was the worst possible thing she’d ever felt next to the Energen Suppressor’s activation. The barrier also had a funny little quirk of remembering any Shinobi that tried to cross its borders, and given the incredibly stupid thing she did before she became a Nukenin, Hyōki would be attacked on sight the second she entered, and with her strength as is, it would be fatal.

That was why she was so far away from Kodama, sitting in some 500¥, 1 floor motel between Mitsuyoshi and Kodama, a horrible little hovel with a beautiful white carpet that she soon realized were spiderwebs. Thankfully, just because she was weak, that didn’t mean she was powerless. A talisman here, a seal there, and all the bugs were destroyed, and the rest were prevented from coming in. It was only going to last for a few hours, but she wasn’t even going to be here that long. No one would expect the sister of the famous Founding Star Cross Association to be in some disgusting hovel like this, but then agian her attire would probably let her go unabated if it wasn’t for that damn barrier.


Being weak sucked. She was pretty sure the guys she killed back when she was a regular Akunin felt that way. And without her chakra network functioning properly, many of her body’s subconscious functions were working on low power, which meant things that her body did on her own, she had to do manually.

To put it in simpler terms, her auto-hotness got shot to hell so now she had to put effort into looking good. And that was key in her convincing disguise. Her fair skin was a clammy white, due to said auto-hotness not working properly, and her hair was slick with sweat and oil. Not her body’s oil, just some oil she tripped in, and since a good shower cost more than this hotel which used up all her remaining money, her hair stunk worse than the whores in the alley next to her room. Her eyes were baggy from lack of sleep, having expending much of her diminished chakra to get everything set up for this recon mission, and she had a prominent hunch at the moment because the floor started to smell, and she was sitting on three crates as she typed on the laptop Senpai gave her.

“Come on come on…” One thing she learned very early on with Senpai was that magic and technology might as well be synonymous in his world, something he never even expected. As such, a computer from Senpai’s world could overclock any form of magic, and thanks to how they interacted, this tiny laptop was a giant cheat sheet for her to input jutsu from far away without the need of a talisman or seal. Too bad she had to type in the instructions by hand, but with just a few more lines left, she could give her poor hands a break.

Or not. While the greasy old motel owner was telling her the hourly rates to rent a room, she used the fact he was staring at her rack to slip a talisman onto the reception desk, one that would alert her to anyone that would present a danger to her. And given the fact she just felt the talisman burn up, and she felt the bracelet around her arm light up, there certainly was danger afoot, and it used Energen. And if whoever found the talisman used Energen, that meant only one group:

The Mavericks.

Fortunately for her, she was done. She quickly closed the laptop, powered it off, sealed it in a scroll, and placed the scroll in her hair, all within 33 seconds, 31 seconds longer than it used to take her.

“Oh Hyoooki-chaaaan!” Unfortunately, The Maverick that found her was the worst possible one a Shinobi could face, especially one in her situation. “You better start running before I start blasting!” Hyōki heard the sounds of loud footsteps as the hotel owner began asking questions, one of them likely being ‘why is your hand a gun?!’ In response, the Maverick began doing unspeakable things to his body, which distracted the Maverick, and the screams of the manager masked Hyōki’s escape out of the motel and into the alleyway, where she bounced between the two buildings and landed up on the roof.

And the second her feet hit the concrete, she heard the telltalle sound of a Buster charging, prompting her to book it.

Seconds later, she heard it fire, and despite the fact she was half a block away, her ears popped as she heard it fire, and soon that half a block distance became two blocks as the subsequent heat followed by the wind pressure from the blast sent her flying. Luckily, the Maverick just helped her escape. All this destruction made a perfect smokescreen for her to escape.


“Awww..” She reformed her Buster back into her hand. “Hyōki-chan got away!” Which was the entire point, but she hoped to get a lucky shot in on the fleshbag. It’d been funny for the human to have seen her pale creamy flesh melting off her skin from the intense heat, that is, if the man had any skin left, or nerve endings. She was feeling really peckish tonight.

Either way, she was almost done with her mission. The Saiga renegade was on the run, and a good chunk of the neighborhood was melted slag and concrete. ‘So that was the Mega Man’s fire power.’ The power that felled Lord Sigma time and again, and this wasn’t even close to the full output the Mega Man’s weapon, the X-Buster, could use! There were some kinks that needed to be worked out…

>ERROR! ERROR! BUSTER POWER CHAMBER 14 HAS UNDERGONE FATAL DAMAGE!
>STRUCTURAL STABILITY OF DUMMY FRAME IN JEOPARDY
>RETREAT FROM COMBAT SITUATION HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

..A lot of kinks actually, but it sped up her plans. This neighborhood was already her target, and leading that stupid girl here was just a bonus. Her intelligence network was compromised, and now the Mavericks knew the location of every single hidey-hole in the city!

‘Still, what was she even doing?’ Yes, she led the fleshbag here, but there was no Wi-Fi, yet her internal router detected wireless activity. ‘Eh, I’ll give the data to Boar or Saginata.’ Making sure to save the communication data into her logs, she walked out of the hotel through the hole she made, completely unaffected by the heat thanks to her Duratanium body. Same couldn’t be said for the hookers and their clients. Dead or alive, the human body was shockingly durable..

She opened up her map file, giving her a live satellite feed of the entirety of Kodama Town. as the people screamed and panic infected the streets, she calmly opened up the traffic tab to show only the roads and the vehicles on it. One vehicle in particular got her attention, a 1992 Subaru Impreza, one headed straight into DenTech City through the Malice Barrier. And with…[OPENING CENSUS LIST] Let’s see…3…22…yeah, around 120 people in those apartments she just wasted, the military and the Shinobi sects were going to be quite busy trying to figure out what to do!

[Alert, shinobi group inbound! Five energy signatures detected!] And speak of the devil, a full Shinobi Team! ‘Should I go for a multi kill with them, or just leave?’ ….Yeah, she was out of here. And thanks to all the smoke and destruction, her teleportation was going to go completely unnoticed. It was upon her Transerver activating that she noticed who exactly the energy signatures belonged to. Well she can’t just leave things as they were before she escaped, right?

After all, it’s been so long since the two sisters met each other, and she wouldn’t be a good samaritan if she didn’t let Leo Saiga know her sister was still alive.

 

A beautiful sea-blue fur carpet met her feet as she got off of her turtle themed waterbed and greeted the morning sun from her window. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she let a small, satisfied smile form on her face as she thought about her life, today on her and her friend’s 16 birthdays, and how far they’ve come since those fateful weeks 8 years ago. Those months spent in the outside world, powerless and unable to defend themselves, was worse than any of the training their teachers could come up with, and their senpai, the man that sheltered them, trained them? He was a very aggressive teacher. She still hadn’t paid the Mavericks back for what they put them through, and though two were dead, 6 still remained.

Thankfully, those monsters never sent anyone competent into the borders of Tohno Village, and their lackeys were swiftly dealt with, if not by the Shinobi that lived here, but the retired locals that earned the right to live the rest of their days in peace and solitude. It also helped that there was little to no modern technology to be found within their borders, as was designed by the founders of Tohno themselves.

Having been to the city and seen it firsthand, it was like a blast of cold air hitting her directly in the face when she saw her first car. The buildings were bigger than she thought, the night skies were starless, and there were so many people that it was suffocating. Technology had become fully integrated into the daily lives of the outside world, something she’d already known thanks to her various paraphernalia, and the tutelage of the retired Shinobi that lived within the village’s borders, but seeing it for herself was intoxicating, and the amenities they had for all ages were so addicting, and these ‘cell phones’ were so fun to use!

And then Senpai took it all away, instructed them on the dangers of government surveillance, and Tohno Village was just as technologically empty as it was before her and her friend’s banishment. That wasn’t to say she didn’t authorize a few outside luxuries, however, though not enough to severely upend the lives of the residents, or to attract the attention of the Japanese government or the Mavericks trying to find her home once more. And even if the latter organization did find Tohno Village once again, they didn’t have Saginata’s worms to tip the odds in their favor.

Nachi walked away from her window and to her dolphin themed dresser drawer, crafted by Senpai after she bugged him enough. “Mavericks.” She whispered in disdain as she brought out a white-blue frilly dress and beige sunhat. Just the word Maverick made her sick to her stomach, and sadly, it wasn’t the rage and anger she should have felt towards those monsters. Her Shinobi group, the Tohno Tengu Shinobi Alliance, wasn’t like Senpai’s #1 groupie, whose training was unbelievably horrific, enough to let Senpai realize he had the ability to vomit. Little Hyōki-chan would have probably been able to handle what Saginata did to Tohno, but the five of them were just starting out back then. They were naive to the ways of the world, and seeing the flesh of the ones they were being trained to protect warped and bulged….. If what Senpai said was true, then Saginata was being rebuilt at this very moment for the purpose of what he called a ‘Boss Rush.’ Revenge was going to be quite satisfying.




Her dress was nice and snug on her, and her hat was on her sofa. Her scrolls and weapons were properly concealed on her person, and her decoy money was safely in her sea blue purse. Having fake money on hand was at one point something she considered almost sacrilegious, but when you lived in a neighborhood as pad as Kodama Town, it was a necessity that she hadn’t yet learned to cease.

She looked at herself in the mirror as she combed her hair to perfection. Self-consciousness was something she and her friends learned to hate in Kodama Town, but it was mostly Yuyaki that bore the brunt of the bullying they endured. Nachi endured an almost equal amount, because of her blue hair, better than average looks, and the fact people assumed she couldn’t see. Oh how wrong they were. She had no idea why she preferred her eyes closed, but it didn’t hinder her vision nor did it help her. Even now, with her eyelids shut, she could see herself perfectly fine in the mirror. Skincare and basic body upkeep was easy for a Shinobi to perform once you reached her level of skill. Once you did, your body kept your skin and hair mostly healthy, though it wasn’t like you didn’t have to put effort to keep yourself looking good, that was silly. And Nachi? She kept herself to an impeccable standard.

Pearlescent white skin tinged with a peachy hue that didn’t require an extraneous amount of vaseline or skin care cream like most outside girls, combined with long, waist length blue hair that shined like the water she loved so much. Her figure was modest, at least that’s what the dress would make one assume. Her 94cm G-Cup breasts were hidden to look 4 cups smaller, something that didn’t stop the occasional snapped bra, but it helped a lot whenever she had to leave the village for whatever reason. After all, a Shinobi’s true worth wasn’t just determined by their power, but also their cup size. Though that wasn’t the reason Senpai gave them design documents to fashion clothes like these. Oh she could hear the words coming out of his mouth right now…

‘What do you mean they’re just gonna rip off if you get hit?!’

Kumi shrugged as she ate her cereal. ‘It is what it is. Shinobi Tenshin’s only meant to amplify whatcha got.’

‘And by that end, it does nothing to protect your modesty.’ Nachi said as she ate a TV dinner, the most expensive thing they could afford at the moment. ‘Honestly sensei, I don’t understand why you have such a problem with that.’

‘You’re eight!’

‘And?” Kumi’s response caused his heat to literally spin 360 degrees, one of the few reminders that he wasn’t human. And when he righted himself, his pupils shrunk in horror.’ ‘Uhhhhh…’ And Kumi was frozen in terror like a frightened dog, Nachi realized he may have been getting the wrong idea on how Shinobi culture functioned.

Ah, nostalgia. They didn’t even know how to perform Shinobi Tenshin yet, and it perfectly explained his behavior when they taught him all about Shinobi culture. A few explanations later, and Senpai finally had the misconception that the Shinobi world was filled with a bunch of pedophiles cleared up. Good lord, the man was so high strung sometimes.

“Senpai…”Nachi wistfully said to herself with a pleasant sigh. “It’s almost-” She frowned, procuring a shuriken in a way that to the outside observer would seem like she made it out of thin air, and threw them at the wall to her right using her left hand. “That wasn’t a very good hiding spot.” She warned. “I suggest you reveal yourself, now.” She had a hint that was far too easy, as if her voyeur wanted to be found.

“Hohohohoho, you’ve grown a lot, Nachi-san!” She was proven right as a very familiar elderly man in green robes appeared in front of her. “In more ways than one!” And who wasn’t even pretending to look her in the eyes.

“Hanzō-sama.” Nachi greeted like how Senpai greeted those greasy high schoolers that looked at them weird the first time. “How nice to see you…..” Hattori Hanzō, one of the most prolific ninja in recorded history, and one of the strongest humans on the entire planet. “...Why are you here?” And the one person you don’t say no to if you want to keep living. “In my room?”

“I’m just here to test the anti-Maverick defenses X-kun laid out.” Hanzō chuckled at the shock on her face. If she ever opened her eyes, they’d be as wide as dinner plates. “Do you seriously think I haven’t learned about the Mavericks?” He let out a laugh before sighing in resignation. “It’s been a rough few years in the political sphere…” He sat down on her sofa, without her permission mind you, though her irritation gave way to worry as she saw the look of resignation on his face. “For you, those weeks hiding from the Mavericks had to be the worst moments of your life. For me, it’s every day.” He pulled out a scroll and activated, bringing out a glass table from the scroll’s confines with six familiar, slithering friends that nearly made Nachi scream. They were massive, as big as her thumb, obviously metallic, and leaking a disgusting looking black liquid. “They were nowhere near you village, fortunately, but they’re all over the surrounding cities.”

“Saginata…” Mav-002, Reflex Saginata, the Maverick who took control of their village, and nearly succeeded in gift-wrapping the entirety of Tohno to the still unknown Akunin faction they work for. “How many of my men were infected?” If he was showing her this, then that meant the Shinobi she sent to the outside world were compromised.

“More than this.” Hanzō answered, Nachi flinching at the uncharacteristic anger emanating from the man. And she nearly had a heart attack when he told her the full amount of infected Shinobi. “There were thirty-three infected Shinobi in total, ranging from ages 12-16. These were the only ones I could safely extract from their hosts without killing them.”

“....” Well..this…this was… “This isn’t it, is it? You have more to tell me?”

“Sharp as a tack, you are.” Good lord, he looked so tired. “Three days ago, there was an attack in Kodama Town’s red light district. There were over 360 casualties, and the energy signature was reminiscent of Zennin chakra.” He shook his head with an angry smile on his face. “I almost fell for it, if our blue friend didn’t give me the proper technology to weed out their little schemes that is”

“So it wasn’t a terrorist bombing…” It didn’t take long for the news of what happened on the Neutral Border Town to reach her ears. As the leader of a Shinobi Village, Nachi had ways of learning these things. “Then if that’s the case, then it could only mean one thing..”

“An Energen blast.” Nachi bit back a curse. Those robots were the only ones stupid enough to do something that brazen, and powerful enough to get away with it. “According to the scanner, it was a Type-C blast, reminiscent of what the device called a ‘Maverick Hunter MAC-22 Artillery Cannon. But given how big those things are, I expect the source of the blast to be something smaller.”

“A Buster.” Nachi brought out her stress money and began squeezing it tightly. “Are you sure you weren’t followed?”

“If I was, then they’d be searching in the wrong place.” The stress of dealing with those machines may have weakened his body, but he wasn’t going to be outwitted by their dropout Shinobi trackers. “I took a big risk coming here, and the reward is 100% worth it.”

“And that is?” It was also pertinent to note that since this conversation began, the legendary Super Ninja had not once looked at her chest, and was staring her face to face.

“It starts with our Nukenin ally getting here.” He said, holding up his finger. “As for the 2nd…” He held up a second finger, and gave an eager smile. “The return of our blue friend.”

Nachi almost opened her eyes. “Senpai..” It couldn’t be! “But how?”

“I have my ways. Interdimensional magic is a risky endeavor, but the things he shared with me made it very easy to contact him and get the ball rolling! I just need your half of the ingredients, and he’ll be here by 12 today!”

“I..” Nachi’s heart was beating a mile a minute. “Can I..can I-”

“Yes, it’s safe to tell your team. By the time the sun rises, we should be ready for the transfer!” Nachi nodded dumbly and quickly left the room. And once he sensed her presence was far enough away, Hanzō leaned back and exhaled, letting out all the pressure that had been building up in him for the past three days. He may have exaggerated the ease in which he evaded the Mavericks. With three of their numbers down and the technology to rebuild them fully not being available to them, they had become far more aggressive, and with their technology supplanting their meager ability in the art of Ninjutsu and other arcane arts, it was getting harder for him to move around freely. It was only a matter of time before they fully integrated a Shinobi’s chakra control into their soldiers, and when that happens…

‘No.’ That wasn’t going to happen. Getting the Mavericks off of his trail while he returned to his world was hard enough, and hiding Tohno Village was even harder. And to save not only Japan, but the entire world, they were going to let the Mavericks know that Mega Man X was not only alive, but they were also going to find out where Tohno’s exact location was. This was going to be the fight of a lifetime, especially if a Feraloid General was called in, which it 100% would be. “I hope you five are ready.” Saginata was traumatizing to those girls when they were children, and what the other generals lacked in psychological and physiological terror, they made up for it in brute, overwhelming force. By the time the sun rose, either the Mavericks would be repelled, or everyone in this village would die, and X’s body would be hand delivered to Eratoeir.

Either way, this fight would signal the end of Tohno Village as it was now.

 

Yuyaki woke up at precisely 8AM. Letting out a yawn, she brushed away her silver hair that stuck to her face, only for the sweaty, sticky locks to flop back onto her face. She grumbled softly as she got off of her tatami mat and stood on the wooden floor of her house. Her night kimono absorbed a lot of the heat, but it was a testament to the sun's irritation that she was still this sweaty.
And it was a testament to the technology of senpai’s that they could develop clothes that wouldn’t slip off of her in her current state. Puberty already made wearing clothes hard enough as it is, and the last thing she wanted was to go braless again because the stupid thing broke if she so much as jogged.
"So hot…" The heat and humidity had been unbearable for the past few weeks, and with her home so high up above the rest of the village, with the sun having direct access to her bed, she'd bore the brunt of it. Years of living with the summer heat as a seasonal companion had conditioned her childhood friends to think of the heat as a minor annoyance, Yuyaki, their leader, was not so lucky. Crows and summer heat didn’t mesh well as is, and having Crow chakra within her made it even worse for Yuyaki. Compounding that was her naturally dark complexion, which absorbed more heat when the sun was out. It was often that she wished she’d forgo her self control, just grab a weapon, and let the bloodlust take over. At least then she wouldn’t have to worry about the heat or heatstroke!
Her friends could sympathize in their own way. The Tohno Tengu Shinobi Alliance was the official Shinobi squad for Tohno Village, blessed by the land itself with powerful chakra based on different mythological animals, whose shape also formed what their Shinobi Spirit would look like. Ushimaru(U-chan) was the cow, and her Shinobi Spirit was the Ushi-Oni, Nachi(Na-chan), the village leader, was the kappa, and her animal was a powerful Kappa spirit that had been with her family for generations. Kumi (Ku-chan), had the fox, her spirit animal the Kitsune, and Misato (Mi-chan) had the raccoon, her spirit animal the Tanuki. It took years for them to reign in their animalistic traits, helped by the arrival of their sensei and his training methods, but there were some factors that persisted through in their biology that just wouldn’t go away.
What was going to go away though,thankfully, was all this sweat. Thankfully Na-chan was able to convince Senpai and his Shikigami to use some of his technology to introduce a few modern conveniences into the village, like indoor plumbing for all housing, or in this case a shower. Until recently Na-chan was the only person in the village with indoor plumbing, and she never let any of them use it after the amount of hair they had that clogged the drain. Now, everyone had a shower, and these were clog proof!


The refreshing chill of leaving the shower went away as soon as a now dry Yuyaki put on her clothes, Shinobi tailored, which meant they fit her perfectly. And with the few modern conveniences Na-chan and the elders allowed integrated into her daily life, that also meant she saved a lot of money on upperwear as well.
She looked herself in the mirror to make sure everything was spic and span. Vanity was a trait Yuyaki rarely indulged in, but years of experience outside of Tohno forced her to admit that yes, she was very attractive. She didn’t like thinking about that, but everyone said she was attractive, and you know people: if they don’t shut up about something, it’s eventually going to stick in your head.
And let’s just say she had quite the complex, in addition to the other complex she had. Like any properly trained Shinobi, she had a slim, athletic physique with noticeable, toned musculature that didn’t clash with her feminine build. Her well developed chakra network made up for the lack of physical musculature, allowing her superhuman strength to remain hidden.
…And then there was the other thing….even now she still didn’t feel that comfortable about it. As the advent of multicolored hair mysteriously popped up around the world, the standard of black hair when it came to the standard Japanese beauty was even more vaunted, with the pale, almost ivory skin being a constant mainstay. Aside from their chests, her friends had more normal, Asian skin tones, so they wouldn’t look out of place when it came to infiltration missions or reconnaissance should the need arise.
Yuyaki was not blessed with that. Instead she was ‘blessed’ with dark, almost coco-brown skin. At first she thought she was naturally tanned, until U-chan slept in the summer sun too long, and proved that to be false. It…certainly made things difficult, when they had to leave their village. You had a red eyed, blonde haired girl (Ku-chan) , a brown-haired girl in pigtails that’d fit in anywhere (Mi-chan) , a strawberry blonde girl with gray eyes (U-chan) and a blue haired girl who never opened her eyes. (Na-chan) and then there was her and Senpai, the two ‘Gaijins’ that stood out like a sore thumb.People got used to him, and kids their age couldn’t get enough of him. Back then, no one knew how old he truly was, and his ability to get people on his side was awe inspiring. Shame it didn’t help much for her and her friends. For a Shinobi, especially one in training like she was at the time, the inability to blend in because of a physical trait you couldn’t control was, to put it lightly, enraging.
Her long white hair didn’t make things easier, moreso the length than the color. Both of them were big targets for bullies, which wouldn’t be a problem normally, as she’d dealt with worse during her Shinobi training. But she wasn’t supposed to be a Shinobi at the time, she was just a normal civilian, so she just had to let it happen. A lot. And with Senpai’s Shikigami’s technology hiding them at the time, she couldn’t even give in to her own bloodlust to fight back, which ironically was one of the few bright spots about her exile. It was a tumultuous time in her life, fourth on the list compared to the banishment from her village, that disgusting worm binding the people there to their whim, and the takeover to get Tohno Village back. In retrospect, it was almost like a fever dream.
Before all that happened, and before her and her friends got a taste of the outside world, she thought herself the same as every other Japanese girl. Why, at age 8, she thought you could stick her in any school in Japan, and she’d fit right in!
Her first taste of the outside world quashed that notion, and puberty reduced it to atoms with not even a hint of ash remaining. Neither her nor her friends had the slim, demure figures of a Japanese woman. No, their proportions were more ‘American’, to put it lightly, or, as Ku-chan would put it in her usual crude way, ‘hot as hell. Except Testicle Bitch over there’. Yuyaki went her whole life thinking that her friends were just a bunch of regular Shinobi with abnormally large chests, only to find out that ‘abnormal’ didn’t even begin to explain how much more curvaceous they were compared to the average Japanese woman, heck, to the average woman.
Especially U-chan.
When last Yuyaki checked, her bust size was around 90cm, an F-cup to be exact. And even with these clothes specifically made for girls like her, they were still very prominent. Thanks to Senpai, they were able to have clothes that fit them, thanks to a certain legendary hero predicting their measurements over the years. It took a lot of guesswork, mostly because Senpai wouldn’t let the one of the most prolific ninja in the world around them after he guessed their measurements, but she’d never say she hated the results. Her chest stretched out the fabric something fierce, but it wasn’t like with most Shinobi, whose breasts magically caused the fabric of whatever they wore to contort to their bodies, as if their shirts or dresses had sockets specifically stitched in to accommodate their chests. It was a phenomenon that was accepted as part of the Shinobi life, and even the legendary super ninja couldn’t give an answer. But then again the man was a lecherous hedonist, so he probably wouldn’t have told them the reason if he did know.
As for the attire in question, it was far different than what she usually wore. Today, she wore a bright blue, short sleeved t-shirt, and a dark blue skirt, both of which didn’t contort to her figure like cellophane, and the skirt had some weight to it, so she wouldn’t have to worry about any unwelcome upskirt shots because of a stray gust of wind. The color blue wasn’t a color she was privy to, more preferring whites and greys and blacks herself, but today was special. These were his colors, and…well.. It’s been so long; and she grew up a lot over the years. She couldn’t wait to see how much he grew as well.She blushed and left her home through the window, thinking about her senpai who wore the same colors she was.
Even now she could remember all the time the six of them spent together. The TV dinners, the bath water senpai spent hours cleaning out for them to bathe in, the horrible summer heat that made it all worse…those were some of the worst days of her life, yet she couldn’t help but get nostalgic as she reminisced.

 

A healthy cow weighs 1400 pounds. Unless you knew what you were doing when transporting them, you’d either be dealing with a bunch of giant, black and white boulders that stood there and grazed without a care in the world or to your existence, or giant, angry, black and white murdermachines who’d flatten you like a pancake. Herding cows can be easy if they knew you and knew where what you were doing, or hard if they didn’t care or hadn’t become accustomed to your presence.

“Mnnnnhh…” Or in the case of Ushimaru, they were just part of her daily training. Being the most physically fit of the Tohno Tengu Shinobi Alliance, she could easily toss these cows like basketballs at her age, but that wasn’t the point of this exercise. There were times when Shinobi would use their abilities to blend into the surroundings for various purposes, like reconnaissance, or in this case disguising themselves as someone. These rare, one in a million Shinobi that could change their entire physiology were the most dangerous type of all, basically playing Russian Roulette with their bodies to perform these near impossible feats of camouflage.

Like her pet cow spirit, for instance. For those chosen to be in the Tohno Tengu, your Shinobi Spirit was also a fully sentient nature spirit, like Na-chan’s kappa for example. Her’s was passed down from her family and belonged to the land Tohno village sat on, But these spirits could also be shaped by your will if your bond was unbreakable like how Ushimaru was with hers. And as a powerful nature spirit, Ushiwakamaru was adept at blending into his surroundings, or in this case, hiding as one of the livestock, and it was her job to find him.

Now normally, anyone from the village, like Ku-chan, or Mi-chan if Ku-chan was within eyesight, would go for the biggest source of nature chakra that the cow had: the udders. The idea was that the one who produced the most chakra, or the one that kicked you the farthest, was probably your target, as their chakra would be most focused there, and their kicks would be far stronger than a normal cow.

Or it could be that the cow was just really really strong, but a cow that could kick a Shinobi 7 feet away like a pro-footballer hitting the goal post from the other side of the field was a rarity. This is what most people Ushimaru’s age would have had happened to them if they tried such a thing, but Ushimaru wasn’t like most teenagers. Then again she wasn’t like most people.

For one thing, have you ever seen a teenager with J-cups? That didn’t cost a couple 10k USD? You probably wouldn’t notice hers, since her clothes were baggy and she had a very strong bra, but she had them. From what she saw in the outside world during the banishment, breasts that big were usually reserved for really really fat people, or ladies that had a lot of money. Either way, it was a rare sight to see, and almost impossible for a civilian her age to achieve through natural means. Maybe her Shinobi genetics caused her mostly meat diet to go to her breasts? Who knows. It wasn’t worth thinking about, and if you looked at her lackadaisical face and somewhat droopy, grey eyes, you’d think ‘not worth thinking about’ would be her modus operandi, but that was hardly the case.

There were a lot of contradictions about Ushimaru. You’d think she was slow, and her general disposition and combat style didn’t help with that assumption, but she was very perceptive. She spent all day in the sun, tilling the land and milking cows, but her skin was incredibly resistant to sunlight, and as a result she was the palest of Tohno Village’s elite shinobi. She also wasn’t very muscular, then again what Shinobi was, but even the most hardened Shinobi would show some muscle given what she did all day. Ushimaru’s lifestyle and choice of weapon, a thick, cowhide whip, should have given her the slightest bit of muscle, but she was surprisingly compact, and said compact body was very sweaty right now.

She knew she was going to be in the mud and sun all morning, so she dressed appropriately, with a thin white undershirt for better heat resistance with blue overalls above it, thick brown gloves, and her best waterproof boots in case she stepped in some cow poop. Her pale orange hair was kept undone instead of the usual pigtails she kept it in, and like the rest of her skin, it was slick with sweat. Thankfully Matter Wave clothing was made to be extra durable, so there wouldn’t be any wardrobe malfunctions. Her shirt wasn’t even the least bit translucent, so that was good.

With the amount of sweat she had accumulated, one would think she should have been an exhausted, panting mess, like any city Shinobi would be in her situation. But as said before, Ushimaru was built differently, and anyone could be sweating buckets, but feel perfectly fine.

Now, as for how she was doing in the exercise? Terribly. Her family didn’t raise any weak livestock, and Ushiwakamaru instructed them to kick her as hard as he did if she stayed close to them for too long. And they did. A lot.That was why she was in the trees next to the cow enclosure, watching them graze. ‘Aww, he’s making this really hard…’ Ushiwakamaru was smart for this exercise. Unlike last time, he made sure to evenly distribute his chakra between the other cows before disguising himself as one of them, which she couldn’t sense for irregularities in them. She couldn’t get close, because the last time she did they kicked her so far she landed in the bathhouse down the hill, and if she acted too suspicious, Ushiwakamaru might get paranoid and switch places with another cow.

Oh, but that wasn’t going to work for long. Ushimaru knew Ushiwakamaru; they were two sides of the same coin after all, and she knew what got him going: gummy worms. All the cows and sheep just love that nasty, artificial outside candy, and while she was being punted all over the village, she used her air time to scatter as much of them in the enclosure as possible, as well as procure more from the various stalls on her way back to the farm. By now, the candy should be melting in the heat, and with how humid it is… ‘There!’ Some of the cows were going to where she planted the candy! “Come on Ushiwakamaru, Ushimaru believes in you.” He was such a glutton for sweets, there was no way he’d resist eating those.

“Mooo.”

“Yeah, they’re eating it. “Ushimaru casually told Ushiwakamaru as the cow spirit sat next to her. “You really like gummi worms, so I figured it was the best way to get you out of hiding.”

“Moooo!” The cow spirit yelled, offended.

“No you’re a lot easier to trick than that.”

“...Mooo?”

“Yeah, see, I can see you right there, you’re really chewing on it.”

“Mooo.”

“Hm?” Why would she look next to her? Confused, Ushimaru did as asked and promptly screamed from surprise as she fell out of the tree and landed on the ground.

“Oooooowwww..” Breasts first. She got off the ground and wiped the mud off her face, and spat out the rest. She heard Ushiwakamaru’s giggling behind her as he floated down, Ushimaru turning to face him with all the intensity of a bored teenager: “That wasn’t very nice.” Which meant she was very annoyed.

Ushiwakamaru giggled again, floating around in his bucket as he continued to moo at her. Ushimaru liked cute things, and since Tohno Tengu Shinobi Spirits were influenced by their wills, Ushiwakamaru took the appearance of a stuffed cow toy in a bucket, with a squeezable nose too!

Honk!

“MOO!” A very squeezable nose.

“Now we’re even.” Ushimaru told him. “I never really had a chance, did I?” The cow spirit shook his body to say no. “Figures.”And it was almost time for the monthly meetup, too. ‘I’m all sweaty and sticky now…’ Oh well. Ku-chan had her perfume, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

 

A T-shirt, pants, shoes…that’s about it. Kumi looked at the junk she pulled out of her closet with satisfaction. ‘Yep, this’ll do!’ As a Shinobi, the young woman bound to the spirit of the Kitsune was very neat and immaculate with everything. Considering she had the most hair and fur to deal with upon transforming, cleanliness was viciously enforced in every aspect of her training, and as her tails grew in number over the years, 9 in total as of last year, Kumi had learned to be quite the neat freak. And as with any fox, grooming was a top priority, and after her sensei -may he rest in peace, damn the Mavericks to hell- made sure her and Testicles didn’t embarrass themselves by cleaning their bodies like how their namesakes did, she was taught how to use many cleaning solutions and techniques. As a result, the simple clothing on her bed -a white t-shirt, some pants she found in her closet- were spic and span, and the fresh smell of ironed clothes delightfully met her nose.

Her weapons closet was just cleaned 3 hours ago, and each and every one of her blades was polished to a reflective shine, the closet they were in dust free, meaning she had the whole day to herself. She went to the mirror checking out her bod and giving herself a thumbs up with a smile.

“Lookin’ good!” And smellin’ good! Nasal training was a must with how her fox chakra interacted with her senses, and thanks to her late sensei’s help she had the perfect amount of perfume on to make it not unbearable to be around people, especially a bunch of sweaty older ninjas, but the perfume also doesn’t make everyone run away from her like she had the specter of death hanging around.

Her spirit, the kitsune, also gave her some very nice benefits too, like her knee-length hair/fur. She didn’t really know which it was until senpai used his visor to perform a ‘DNA Scan’ or whatever, and even he couldn’t figure it out, but the point is that it was shiny, sleek, and soft to the touch. Like most depictions of the mystical fox, her hair was a light orange bordering on gold, and combined with her ruby red eyes and somewhat lighter skin, she had often been mistaken for a foreigner during her and her friend’s ‘banishment’ 8 years back.

Her body? Bangin. Her tits? Rockin. Her tits were big, both a perfect 87cm, and bigger than Testicles tiny knockers by 1 centimeter, and they got aaaaaallllll the attention when she walked in the room, especially if Testicles was with her. Granted, she wasn’t going to reciprocate much of said attention, but she loved it all the same! Seeing as her window was just right beside the mirror, it allowed her to quickly exit her home with a perfect backflip onto the streets. She’d land with style, completely unnecessary, but it looked kickass!

“OW!”

“DAMN IT!”

Aaand it was ruined. She landed right on top the one person she didn’t want to deal with, a certain black haired brunette in pigtails, whose head was currently being used as Kumi’s footrest. “What the hell, Testicles?! You ruined a perfect flip!”

‘Testicles’, AKA MIsato, suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, and reappeared right in front of Misato, nursing her head. “Who jumps out of a three story window?” She growled angrily.

“Me!” Kumi proclaimed, pointing to herself. “I do! Until ‘you’ ruined it!” Kumi and Misato did not get along. At all. Shockingly enough was that their inner tanuki and kitsune, rivals in the mystical world on par with cats and dogs, neither increased or manipulated their disdain for each other, they just didn’t like each other that much, at least that’s what they’d say if you asked them. Whereas Kumi was well, as you saw, Misato was far more reserved, and it showed in the way she dressed, a modest, forest green dress over a white, short sleeved shirt. Her hair was done in finely combed pigtails, but a certain teammate of hers ruined hours of hard work! Her dark brown eyes angrily met Kumi’s equally fierce glare, and this would be the part where their energies would visibly flare up as sparks would shoot from their eyes. “You got something to say, Testicles?”

“I don’t know, do you have something to say?” But that was before a certain senpai and his Shikigami weeded that behavior out of them as fast as he could. They were on the run back then, and alien seal or not, two kids cussing and beating the crap out of each other was going to attract attention from people other than the ones hunting them down. “Like an apology, maybe? If you spent more time learning manners then you did grooming those giant flea-ridden-”

“-Bitch, don’t you dare talk about my tails like that!” So in lieu of their old tussles, they settled for verbal conflict, a few feet away from each other, hands not within striking distance of one another, became their go-to for conflict resolution. Senpai had this look of utter disappointment that just…grated on them in the worst possible way, all five of them. “My tails are flawless!” And that wasn’t even getting into what his Shikigami would do if they pissed him off too much. “Unlike your giant ass raisins, Ta.nu.ki, mine are soft to the touch!”

Misato turned red from embarrassment, her teeth gnashing in anger. “I don’t have testicles you stupid bitch!”

“Then you’re not a real Tanuki then, right?!” Kumi scoffed. “Have some pride in yourself! I’m a powerful Kitsune-: She summoned two of her tails and held them in her hands. “As you can see.” She then dismissed them, giving Misato a smug grin. “Then again, I understand why you don’t wanna show off what you got.” That ‘pitying’, smug grin was making Misato feel very punch happy at the moment. “I mean, it makes sense. If I had nuts as big as yours, I’d hide them from the public too.”

“I DON’T HAVE TESTICLES!”

“Yes you do Tanuki!”

“Fuck you!”

“Yeah I bet you want to, huh?!”

“I-” Misato blinked. All the tension in the area evaporated as the grin on Kumi’s face slowly morphed to one of embarrassment and humiliation. It should be noted that there were a few dozen people on the road going about their merry way, many of whom learned early on to just ignore the two bickering children. Not out of fear of course, god no. weak as they were, they’d face worse than two idiots who hadn’t realized they just needed to bang to get over their problems. No, the reason is because even with the Matter Wave integration into the village, very few of its residents actually watched TV or used electronics in their life in the outside world.. “-What did you say?” And for Shinobi who forsook electronic media to come here, seeing these two idiots fight was a good morning show before their favorite programs came on the air.

“I said-” Kumi began, before her face turned red. “God damn it!” Oh shit, this..this…! “L-look, let’s just go meet Yu-chan, ok.”

“Y-yeah…I..don’t…. want her to come looking for us.” And so the two friends awkwardly left, not looking at each other as they walked towards the rendezvous point. “He really took the fun out of this, didn’t he?” Misato asked with reddened cheeks, not looking at Kumi.

“Yeah…” Kumi muttered embarassedly.

 

Three trains, six buses, and five truck rides she had to take to get to the countryside where she had to remind the men that picked her up she was 14 later, left Hyōki just a few minutes away from Tohno Village, and she didn’t need a mirror to know she looked like utter garbage. Her hair was heavy with sweat. Her eyes were dilated from the amount of running she had to do, her chakra pools were almost empty, and somehow her skin was even whiter than before. She had enough for a few attacks, and certainly not enough for a Shinobi Tenshin, but she was safe here, so that didn’t matter.

‘Please come home soon, Senpai!’ It was bad enough escaping into the countryside. It was even worse when she saw her name and face on the news again, with her tired, sweaty mug displayed for all of Japan to see, and it was even worse when she realized the legendary freaking Super Ninja just waltzed into one of the few hideouts she had left, taking the last of her stolen and purified lakewater, and then said ‘Maverick problems, go to Tohno Village!’ and left without saying anything else! How did he know about her hiding spots? How the hell did he know about the Mavericks? It’s Hanzō, you can’t explain it. That was one of the few bits of advice regarding the legendary Zennin her family taught her, the only bit of advice they had. Only bright side was that he looked worse mentally than she did physically, and that was enough to make the Nukenin smile.

Back before the Mavericks found it, Tohno Village didn’t hide itself using a Genjutsu or any fancy tricks, just good old camouflage. In the past before her time, a Genjutsu was a Shinobi’s best asset. Why spend hours or days building complicated traps, when a Genjutsu illusion could do the job in just a few seconds? With just a bit of chakra, a rugged plain filled with trees and grass could become a deadly poisonous swamp, or the hot springs you were in could become ice cold and freeze you instantly.

Nowadays, these powerful illusionary arts were nowhere near as strong as they were in the days of Hattori Hanzō’s youth. With the advent of Shinobi Kekkais and their frequent usage in skirmishes, the average Shinobi brain had evolved to process information faster to use what was essentially a closed space in reality, ergo, if you can use a Shinobi Kekkai, or had been in one, as is with most Akunin schools, a Genjutsu was utterly worthless.

That didn’t mean they didn’t have their uses, though. For most Shinobi, a Genjutsu was the perfect tool to keep civilians out of Shinobi controlled territories, and just because most Shinobi could tell they were in an illusion, that didn;t mean they knew how to dispel it. It was very easy to do, so much so that her sister of all people mastered it on her 2nd try, and that was part of the reason Tohno Village went unnoticed for so long. If she wasn’t aware of the trickery the hicks employed to protect themselves, she would have been in Tohno Village by now, or at least what she thought was Tohno Village. In reality she’d probably be drowning in a lake somewhere, or bashing her head into a rock until she bled to death. The leylines here were not particularly kind to those who treaded on the path of evil such as herself. They may have let her off easy so far because of her connection to Senpai, but they were especially savage to others.

Like over there near that puddle of blood for example, that mushy mess of metal and flesh that used to be a group of Mavericks. She only gave their bodies a passing glance of disgust, not even taking a second to stop, as she went along her way. ‘Worthless dropouts.’ Those stupid machine’s need for Shinobi bodies combined with the high mortality and dropout rate of Akunin schools were a match made in heaven. Who knows how young those girls were when they decided to sell their souls to those robots?

And how did they feel in the end when their efforts and pain went to waste? She never really had that much pride in her Shinobi skills, or even cared much about the lifestyle, at least until Senpai sealed her power away, and even then it was just some meager pride in the skills she managed to retain. But despite her disgust at the augmentations done to those girls, even she could feel pity for those scouted out by the Mavericks. After all, Shinobi that were treated like garbage and refuse were prime targets for manipulation and grooming. She should know after all; that was what her family did to keep her around, at least until they got cocky and started ignoring her completely.

They were so lucky that Senpai talked her out of killing each and every one of them. With his fists. Lots and lots of fists. Getting him to treat her like an adult was the most exhilarating moment of her entire life.

‘Focus Hyōki, you’re almost there.’ All remaining Chakra was being put into her power walking as fast as she could, as she didn’t have enough to muster the strength to hop from tree to tree, which would have shortened her travel considerably. Senpai’s ‘gift’ beeped, alerting her she was almost close to her destination, and soon enough, she could see it deep in a crater, hidden by what had to be tons of trees acting as a shield to hide it from aerial view.

Tohno Village was the most well kept of Shinobi secrets, and one of the few neutral areas that was kept a secret. And a relic of the past. Just looking at it made Hyōki feel like she just came out of a time portal to the past.
She brought out her binoculars from the scroll hidden behind her ear, and surveyed the area, noting that it was still just as busy as it ever was. The architecture of Tohno Village was the epitome of Feudal Era Japan, with nary a hint of modern building aesthetics in sight. The walls, the houses, all were made of wood and stone without a hint of concrete or steel to be found, and if you escaped up through the canopy at night, you could see the stars without the pollution of modern civilization clouding their presence. he stars at night showed how far away from the city this hidden village was.
And it was also home to the most prolific Zennin in history.
Whether it be from old age or you were just sick of the life of a ninja, Tohno Village was where many government affiliated Shinobi went to spend the rest of their days. Leaving was not an option, and entering required a very specific set of credentials that Hyōki didn’t even have. What she did have were ‘friends’, with heavy quotation marks, on the inside. As a result of it’s purpose, Tohno village had a lot of secrets, and many Akunin had tried in vain over the years to penetrate their borders, using their most powerful and advanced jutsus, sometimes working in teams to accomplish their goals, all of which ended in vain.
Then the Mavericks found it by chance, and now the once mighty 1000 active Shinobi were reduced to a mere 5, the Tohno Tengu Shinobi Alliance. Sadly for any intruders, that group had matured, and just one of them was better than those 1000 men, and luckily for Hyōki’s sake, they were far more merciful towards intruders.

She switched to her Binoculars thermal mode, and looked at the northern gate. ‘23 hidden, 3 in plain sight.’ A Shinobi could sneak as many weapons as they wanted to onboard a plane, and bypass any and all forms of technological detection. Not so much with the technology from Senpai’s world. If she ever had this on a larger scale should her original plans have gone through that fateful day, she probably would have been far more dangerous.

She put it back into its scroll and slowly, very slowly climbed down. Ignoring the protests of her aching body and the stabbing of the rocks against her palms and legs, and the pain from the various accidental falls that shortened her climbing time, Hyoki made it down to the ground six minutes later, what remained of her chakra going to healing the bruised, broken flesh all over her body, from the leg bone that was bent funny to the black eyes from when she landed face first on one of the outcropping The guards paid her no mind. They knew who she was, and they knew for a fact any one of them could kill her as she was now. And even if she did pose a significant threat, healing all that damage used the absolute last of her chakra. Until it restored itself, she was just a weak little girl.

Limping in the front gate, she made her way to the nearest check in station, ignored the confused guard, and plopped herself down on the very painful wooden seat. “Oooogghhh…” Everything hurts so much. Being powerless sucks! But at least she was finally going to get some nice, needed sleep. Still ignoring the confused guard, and not sensing the 2nd presence that made itself known in the station, Hyōki closed her eyes and drifted off into dreamland.

And with the six main actors of the story in play, ready to meet the man they looked up to so much after so many years, their unseen foes were preparing to make their move.

 

Only those who prove themselves worthy of being on a Shinobi team of five were given proper clearance to renovate their living quarters to their liking. That wasn’t to say you were forbidden from having any decorations in your room, this wasn’t a military academy, but there was a difference between putting up a few posters here and there,putting a mattress or TV in your room, and this insult against the laws of physics..


[And the death toll is estimated at] CLICK [Sources say the explosion originated from this motel here in Kodama-] CLICK [-aiga Hyōki is considered the top suspect in-]

And the word this perfectly described the thing that Dougen-sama order them to watch over as she went along with her day.


Her room was absurdly luxurious, with reflective white floors that looked to be self cleaning. Any one of them would have noticed if that thing or anyone else would have cleaned this place up, but there was rarely, if ever, dust to be found anywhere in this room. You’d think she’d clean it herself, but there weren’t any fingerprints to lift, at least none that they could find on whatever she touched, as if she didn’t have any, and if she was using her chakra to obscure them, that is if she had any chakra to begin with, then it was obvious that she had potential on par with the legendary Hanzō!

But like many things in the halls of Hebijo Clandestine Girl’s Academy, they were under strict orders to keep quiet about what went on around here, and the principal, Dougen-sama, was very clear about letting their blue haired guest keep her secrets. And it was safe to say that this abomination had many secrets.

Back to the room, there was confusion as to whether or not there was a Shinobi Kekkai in place, Because that would explain why this room looked the way it did. It would justify everything in here, like the giant aquarium in place of a ceiling, with mood lighting built into it that would alter the color of the room to her liking. Or the support beams with holograms that displayed news feeds from around the world. There weren’t any control panels that they could find in this room, and there were certainly none in the walls, which were also aquariums, so it couldn’t be in one of those, not unless she had military grade waterproofing for her electronics. It had to e a Shinobi Kekkai, otherwise that last thing was something Dogen-sama would confiscate immediately.

Maybe the thing that maintained the Kekkai was in that hoverchair of hers? That ghastly, ugly hoverchair? Why in the world would that thing choose such a slick,futuristic aesthetic for her room, and then decided that thing was a good choice to sit in?! It was like she got the largest anglerfish she could find, hollowed its innards out , and put in some of the most expensive technology she had ever seen into the remains! And again, Dogen-sama let her keep all this?!

Was it because he liked foreigners? That question was so stupid she didn’t even know why she asked herself, but if it was true….well…she couldn’t blame him. She was unnaturally good looking, even for a Shinobi.

She wore the Hebijo school uniform well, as her breasts were so massive that the fabric of the shirt stretched out and showed her stomach for all to see, like most of the students here. Her smooth, knee length, ocean-blue hair, crimson red eyes, and the pitch black color of the Hebijo school uniform, contrasted greatly with her incredibly pale, milky white skin. Combined with her larger than average rear and massive bust, bigger than the sister of the main Hebijo team’s second in command, and her ‘personality’, personality being in the loosest of terms, she was quite popular with many of the student body, with a fanclub rivaling the Hebijo team leader Miyabi.

But for the faculty and those with experience in dealing with artificial lifeforms, Abyss Lurere had to be the most disgusting mockery of a human being they’d ever met. And they had no choice but to put up with her.




‘Another day of fleshbag experimentation done and over with!’ The monster thought as she reclined back in her hoverchair, which was far better than those stupid mats the fleshbags used for bedding, and drank in the chaos she caused last night. And to think, this body wouldn’t have been able to handle a Maverick Hunter SMG beforehand!

A 5’2” remote controlled frame made to look like a voluptuous 16 year old German female was the design for this external frame when it came for her to infiltrate Shinobi society. It was a simple bod, Miyano industries standard, basic animation templates for the CPU to go through so she didn’t have to do things like walking or opening doors, it was the lazy bot’s bod, far cheaper than getting the preset programs legally, and it was a pitifully weak thing compared to her true body. Then again, not that many things were stronger than her real body. Hell, she could probably body slam this entire school if she wasn’t on standby.

That being said however….last night still came as a surprise to her. Her Tapirphant, Peckershark, Saginata and the others were all given the same upgrades years ago, and thanks to their respective tasks, they never had the chance to use them. Boy were they probably jealous once they saw the power they were packing now! Especially Ouroboros, that cunt.

The upgrades were all combat related, specifically aimed to amplify the power of their Special Weapons and their built in Busters, and she had to say, she loved the results! That Charge Shot was on par with the firepower produced by the Mega Man’s hated armors, maybe even on par with that giant clunker armor he used against whatever that dinosaur Reploid’s name was!

Logically speaking, It should not have produced as much power as it did last night. This body was made for two things: blending in, and running. That’s it. The only reason their human benefactor didn’t pull some excuse out of his disgusting fecal hole to justify the continuation of her education here was because a civilian Reploid was always stronger than a human. Until the disgusting fleshbags changed that after the 2nd Maverick War.

The kickback from that shot should have demolished this entire frame, but with her back where she belonged, Lurere supposed that anything was possible. And that wasn’t the only bit of good news that they got thanks to the boss lady getting her sister back. To help facilitate their increased firepower, She gave all eight of their optical sensory networks the overclock treatment, improving their reflexes and allowing them to get a better gauge on how much strain their bodies were under. But there was also another addition that she was sure everyone loved: Maverick Hunter level energy detection equipment, minimized to fit right in the motherboard for her left eye, which allowed them to see past the Mega Man’s black armor should he ever find the need to use it again, therefore preventing a repeat of Saginata’s embarrassment 8 years back. And it also let her see the fleshbags hiding in the shadows, thanks to the hidden cameras in this body’s left and right temples.

Again, Saginata’s failure at capturing the Mega Man at his weakest, saddled with five ball and chains in the form of the fleshbags he rescued, necessitated a way to find out how these organics and the Blue Bomber were able to hide from their sensory equipment without that satellite. With her on their side now, they had their answer, and with a 33% reduction of fleshbag dissection! I mean, sure they had the answer as to how their biological energy system functioned, but..they’re fleshbags. What self respecting Maverick wouldn’t want to mutilate a man or twenty?

Combine all that with the cloaking capabilities this frame had pre-equipped into it that made avoiding the primitive surveillance systems of this world a breeze, and she could move anywhere she wanted without those overly developed idiots watching her. It was understandable that the pathetic, primitive machinery of this world couldn’t detect these ‘masters of stealth’, when some cheap aluminum foil from the store could block the most advanced thermal detection equipment here. Her equipment gave her an accurate, live feed of her stalkers, and even let her see the spatial containment fields they kept on their person in the form of scrolls. “Well, time to hit the books.” And as long as she kept up this little charade, the fleshbag boss shouldn’t have any problems with her.

She stepped off of the hoverchair, taking note of the lack of change in heartbeat or bodily chemicals from the stalkers as she recalled the furniture back into her Internal Storage Drive. So they were getting used to her huh? Wonder if they still thought it was one of their energy manipulation techniques, or ‘Jutsus’ as they called them. Worthless fleshbags and their naming conventions.

“Now where was the study hall again?” The flighty busty airheaded persona wasn’t a favorite of hers to use, and as one Lord Sigma’s chosen she had quite the disdain for those personality types, but the preset really helped her blend into this overly complicated military training academy. As she walked out of her room, the stalkers following her, she queued up her books in her ISD and materialized them in her dummy’s hands as she left the calming blues of her room, the door closing behind her automatically -one of her many additions to her living quarters- and leaving her in the cold, drab, brown hallways of Hebijo Clandestine Girl’s Academy.

She missed the ocean. Having to keep her main body on standby while she devoted all attention to this puppet wasn’t even the least bit exhausting, at least not anymore, but that still didn’t make it comforting to operate. All those torpedoes going to waste, the earthquake and typhoon generators collecting dust, it’d bring a tear to her eye if she thought it was worth the effort to activate that program. Thankfully the animation presets she had installed worked just fine for day to day interactivity while she was bored out of her skull. Still, some practice was in order, because of said boredom, a flaw of perfect sentience. Looking back at her memory files as she walked, her frame winced in disgust whenever she tried to act on her own without the presets active. If that ballerina freak of nature was getting unnerved, then she had problems. She needed a crash course in social interaction, but who to start with?

“Abyss-sama!” Ah, the perfect training dummy! One of the prepubescent fleshbags, mammary glands bouncing as though she didn’t wear any support for them, ran up to her gleefully. “G-good morning Abyss-sama!” That’s right, she accumulated a fanclub. And like every other member of that group, this one was dripping with greed, though she wasn’t greedy for monetary or material objects. She just wanted her precious upperclassman to notice her.

<INITIALIZING WEATHERBERG INDUSTRIES CONVERSATION PROGRAM VER.B> Yes, this one will do. Gyaru inflection was what she used here, so she loaded that up into the Japanese language files, and oh why not? Put on a veneer of attempted upper class nobility? “Yooo, what’s-” She took a second to log into the school registry to find out who the hell this was. “-Say..ka…nay…ta…san…” Emphasize the accent, turn your head up and fake a thinking pose. Luckily the Akihabara Waifu Training module was the perfect program to draw Japanese facial animations from, and these morons never even noticed. It was so worth the 640k yen she got it for before Lord Sigma kicked off the Repliforce War!

The girl, Sakanata, pouted. “Ab-yss-sa-ama!” Honestly, how could her senpai be so dense?! “Oooohh..” She blushed, twiddling her thumbs. “Oh, I can’t stay mad at you!”

Oh thank Sigma for animation presets, because that look the fleshbag was giving her was absolutely disgusting. They weren’t even special presets, like the ones given to their operatives back on their world so they could interact with civilians, even with the Virus altering their core programming. No, these were just some random ones you could get for cheap at any Reploid manufacturing company, the equivalent of a cheap dev kit for a game console, and just as low-tech. It even came with preset voices, how convenient!

“Aww you’re so cute!” Pat the creature on the head, ignore the look of delight aimed at her. “I was about to go for a study sesh, wanna go?” It was almost time anyway. Just another hour or two, and Mega Man X would once again step foot into this dimension. Who knows how strong he had become over the years? Then again, he probably didn’t know how powerful they’ve become. She had to hide her grin upon imagining how that poor boy scout would act when he saw who made them as strong as they were now!

And Peckershark, his first victim, was just itching to get her blades soaked with his Energen.

 

Swimming was Nachi’s preferred way to relax when she wasn’t fishing ,or counting money, or holding money, or anything to do with money honestly

Given that her Shinobi Animal was an actual Kappa, she had a natural affinity to water, and had a natural desire to be with her. Being in water felt as natural to her as spending and saving money, and if she wasn’t fishing or bathing in a sea of yen bills, she was swimming in the waters of Tohno for as long as she could, and as deep as she could go.

And after the meeting she had this morning, a good long dip was just what she needed. Her private pool had just been cleaned recently, and right now she was at the bottom, naked as the day she was born. The pool’s water was drawn from the rivers of Tohno, and as such was energized by the leylines that her home was situated on Those born within it’s borders could reap the nutritional and spiritual benefits the water provided by bathing in it, and Nachi, both being the leader of the village and having the power and soul of a water spirit, benefited greatly

One of her men had came back an hour ago and informed her that the scrolls detailing her orders were sent to her leader and the rest of the Tohno Tengu, and with Senpai on the way, that meant his #1 fan was going to find her way out here to meet him once again. ‘Mavericks.’ Just thinking of them, especially that worm, was almost enough to make her open her eyes. The hell that thing put her and her friends through did a number on all their psyches and it took years to train herself to keep the calm, affable persona the villagers knew her to have.

And right now that persona was close to shattering. She spent so many years building this village back up from near destruction after those robots took her people and mutilated their minds, and now they were going to come back and finish the job. Sure, they were ready, this time and Saginata’s victims had been cleared to return to duty just for the chance to kill more Mavericks and their allies, but the fact that the legendary Hattori Hanzō came here to her for help shot down any confidence she had in her people’s ability to fight them off. Not to mention the Shinobi benefactors that were giving the Mavericks ample supplies of thrown away and disowned Shinobi for their ranks. Senpai or no, this was going to be a bloodbath.

And she really hoped he got back those vaunted armors he so loathed.

Beep Beep Beep

‘Well, it looks as though my meditation has prematurely ended.’ That was the silent alarm for the village gate, the one security only activated when there was a situation that required her or her friend’s interference. And seeing as how she wasn’t sensing a lick of malice, or feeling the bloodlust that came when one was in the throes of combat, or the happiness from seeing Senpai back, that meant there was on probable scenario:

Hyōki finally made it here.

She quickly swam out of the pool, dried herself off with a towel and her chakra, and put back on the clothes she was going to wear today, stored in her scroll for convenience. ‘Just what in the world has she been up to?’

---

Hyōki Saiga, age 14, former daughter of the Saiga corporation, an Akunin prodigy, and was not only one of the most wanted ninja in modern history, but one of the most wanted people in Japan at this very moment. Senpai's continued victories over the girl hammered at the younger girl’s already fragile and weak mental state, and now she was ‘lucky’ enough to have the US Army demanding her head on a platter.

With all that in mind, Nachi perfectly understood how someone with her skills and lack of maturity became this sweaty, dirty, tired wreck of a human being sleeping away in the guard station. She shook her head in dismay, noting the lack of meat on her bones and her heavy, shaking breathing as she slept. ‘Of all the things you could have used to survive, you decided to go for Chakra Supplementation?

Just thinking about the way Hyōki used that technique made Nachi shudder. Chakra Supplementation was a powerful tool, an enhancement technique used during combat to increase your physical strength and mental acuity far beyond a Shinobi’s already superhuman capabilities. It was an incredibly difficult ability to use, requiring perfect control of one’s entire chakra network to pull off, so it made sense that Hyōki mastered it at such a young age.

However, and this couldn’t have been stressed enough in the texts detailing the technique, it was never to be a replacement for sleep and sustenance, because once you ran out of Chakra..you ended up like the little panther, weakened and near death. Supplementing Chakra for vital functions of the human body would leave it dependent on the energy far more than it realistically would, and at the end, would utterly break said body once your chakra ran out, as seen with Hyōki right here. Not to mention due to her ‘popularity’. she was probably using what little chakra she already had to disguise herself in order keep civilians and unaware Shinobi out of her affairs, which for a genius like her shouldn’t have taken much effort, Chakra deprivation or otherwise.

"My my my," She muttered, and upon hearing her voice, Hyōki's eyes shot open like a bear trap. She slowly and painfully turned her body towards the older woman, her tired yellow eyes glaring at her with all the intensity of a drunk puppy. "You made it here in one piece. I’m impressed" Hyōki groaned in pain, Nachi watching as the sweaty dirty girl got off the painful looking wooden seat to look her in the eyes. Akunin endurance training must be on a whole other level if she could manage this. “I'm guessing that you've exhausted all of your Chakra getting here, correct?" Hyōki glared, mostly out of distrust, and the feeling was mutual, but Nachi also theorized that glaring was all Hyōki could do at the moment. Given how skinny and nutrient deprived she was at the moment, it probably hurt to talk. It probably hurts for her to walk, too.

"You were warned about doing that, and you ignored all the warnings. Now look at you." And Nachi knew how far she traveled; she knew the bus routes from the nearest city to the nearest rural town that bordered the forest where her village lay. Hyōki had to escape six Zennin border patrols, 3 Akunin patrols due to the Zennin routes being fortified by the military after what happened in Kodama Town last night, and then take six buses, and she knew that the last three didn’t have air conditioning, all while using her Chakra to prevent herself from falling asleep, as well as using it to get her body to stop screaming for her to feed it.
If Hyoki hadn't met Senpai, Nachi knew she never would have been in this situation. Without Senpais ‘gift’ the younger Shinobi could probably hoof it from Tokyo to Hokkaido without stopping even once for rest! But Hyoki did meet Senpai, and whatever she did angered him enough to put something as awful as the Energen Suppressor on a 10 year old girl. Given how much of a monster the girl was back then, getting that thing clamped onto your arm was a slap on the wrist in comparison to her crimes as an Akunin, but even so, Nachi hated imagining the idea of anyone wearing one of those things.

What a cruel world Senpai lived in in order for something like the Energen Suppressor to be mass produced. The effect it had on robots was immediate as seen with Senpai, completely shutting him down and putting his mind into a state akin to a human under the effects of a tranquilizer dart. The effects it had on a Shinobi however, were far more insidious, and yet far less so at the same time. The Hyōki glaring at her and shaking like a leaf was a far cry from the one she could have been, or the Hyōki from 2 years ago. And given how powerful she was back then, it was doing its job ‘marvelously’. So marvelously in fact that Nachi didn’t see a reason to take it off of her. Not that she wanted to.

The funny thing about Senpai was that he was more Zennin than most Zennin, and at times more obnoxious than the ones who hadn’t been broken in by the realities of the Shinobi life. Yet make no mistake, he was a killer, a very proficient one. If someone like him was willing to do something as cruel as crippling a Shinobi , then she didn’t even want to know what the child did to warrant that level of punishment. Weak as she was at the moment, the Hyōki was just what they needed.

Nachi shuddered again as she thought of that awful armlet. She didn't even want to imagine how weak and drained she'd be if she wore that bracelet as long as Hyōki did, given how powerful the girl was at half her age, ‘What would happen if I put that monstrosity on?’ She knew full well what Hyōki was going through, though it paled in comparison to the 2 years the former Akunin endured.

She remembered those days all too well. The five of them were stripped from their homes and way of life, villainized and attacked by their fellow villagers with the clear intent to kill, reduced to Nukenin in all but name as a bunch of parasites paraded around in the bodies of their people for their master’s own nefarious ends. It was thanks to Senpai’s Shikigami that they were able to get that awful, bug infested apartment, and it was thanks to her that Senpai was able to adopt a form that didn’t signal to the Mavericks who he was. But thanks to Saginata’s powers, his hosts could track the six of them down with ease, and in Senpai’s weakened state and his stance on attacking humans, even they knew it was a death sentence.His solution to that however certainly felt like death, in that they all wanted to die.

And for a bunch of tired, exhausted, and scared 8 year olds with nothing but crappy cheap TV dinners in their stomachs? That was not an exaggeration.
Nachi looked to the confused guard, the adult getting the message and leaving as she then grabbed Hyōki in her arms, bridal style. "So you know who’s coming today, right?" She didn’t hear anything from Hyōki, but she felt the smaller girl relax, so that was a yes as far as Nachi was concerned.
With a smile and Hyōki in tow, Nachi left the building and landed on a rooftop on the other side of the street from the check-in station in just 2 seconds. "Well since you know, then it’s pretty obvious you know you can’t meet him in the state you’re in." She began as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop towards her home at the far end of the village. "That's why you're getting a bath, some new clothes and a Chakra infusion ASAP.”

Hyōki groaned in protest. “Come on now; You want Senpai to see you at your best right?” This wouldn’t take long. Yuyaki-chan and the others should be getting ready to go to the rendezvous point in an hour or two, and a good dip in her pool should be enough to get her Chakra Network functioning properly again. Or at the very least allow her to talk. The latter was what she was going to work on before anything else, because she really didn’t like the fact that she could feel Hyōki’s spine right now.