Chapter 3

Ippan decided that the time for leisurely strolls was over and made his way home much more quickly than before, getting to his front door in the span of a couple minutes. He wasn't worried about Suzune keeping up with him, he was fast, but he'd heard that Suzune was the fastest Shinobi in existence. His quickened pace was probably a light jog for her.

Ippan opened the door of his house and stepped inside. "I'm home," he called in.

"Hi," he heard his sister reply from the livingroom. Making his way through the short hallway into his living room he spied his sister, Midori, doing a set of push-ups in front of the TV.

"You're home late," she said, conversationally as she swapped positions to begin doing sit-ups.

"I decided to take a bath at the onsen today," Ippan replied. There was no further conversation on the subject as Ippan made his way around to sit on the couch.

Midori was Ippan's younger sister by a year and stood about a head shorter than him. She had messy, black hair worn in a ponytail most of the time for convenience and had a pair of inquisitive green eyes. For her entire teenage life, she had been a fitness junkie. She jogged to and from her school every day, did cardio for fun, and worked out basically any free moment she had. The result was that she had quite an athletic figure that was well-toned. Her current outfit consisted of a sports bra and spats, likely what she wore under her school uniform.

"So how did school go?" Ippan asked. She didn't go to the same school as him, instead going to the nearby Kinkou academy, and he was the older brother in a family where their parents were very much absent most of the time, so he felt obligated to ask.

"Excellent, as usual, got a perfect score on all three of my tests, and I had a locker full of girlfriend requests again," Midori replied haughtily.

Ippan rolled his eyes but took it in stride, "Any of them strike your fancy this time?"

"N-no!" Midori blushed furiously, "Bunch of small fries, none of them were worth my time. They wouldn't even be able to keep up with me."

Ippan smiled at her response. She stood up now and began doing squats. He was reminded of how much of a shame it was that she didn't go to Hebijo like himself, the shinobi would have scooped her up in an instant based solely on her work-ethic. She would have not only been an elite; she likely would have made class representative in no time once Miyabi graduated. She might have even gotten picked up over him to fill his spot. Then he might have lived a normal life.

But now that Ippan was thinking about shinobi, his mind wandered back to the mysterious kunoichi that had assaulted him on the way home. He wondered why she bothered to hide her uniform so carefully. Was she perhaps from one of the schools he was slated to infiltrate? Or maybe she was from a school that Hebijo didn't know was a shinobi school yet. That one didn't seem too likely, but who knew, there was bound to be one school or another they weren't aware had shinobi.

It took him far too long to realize that while he was zoning out and considering all this, his eyes had not been resting on the TV screen, instead they had been resting on his sister's breasts. The likes of which were bouncing each time she squatted down and came back up. It was his turn to blush, but she didn't notice his staring.

Without even thinking about what he was about to do, he spoke, "It's normal for Midori to work out topless in the house."

Instantaneously, she reached down and grabbed her sports bra, lifting it up and over her head without a word then tossing it to the couch next to Ippan. Her bare breasts were on display. She was smaller than even Shibito, the girl Ippan had met earlier today, but she was still sporting decently-sized breasts. Probably C cups, and they hadn't even finished growing yet.

The fact that Midori was Ippan's sister and that staring at her bare breasts like this was wrong hadn't crossed the young man's mind yet, his eyes were fixed on Midori's perky chest and the almost hypnotic way they bounced with each squat. He couldn't handle how adorable her soft red nipples looked topping her pale chest.

He moved his hand and it came into contact with the bra she tossed. Once again, purely on impulse, he grabbed the garment and brought it up to his face, breathing in the scent. It was sweetness mixed with the scent of feminine sweat, the likes of which he had grown to appreciate after having to frequently spar and train with a bunch of girls.

But it was in that moment he realized what he was doing. He blinked, put the bra back down on the couch, stood up, and left.

"Where are you going?" Midori asked.

"It's been a long day, I'm gonna go to bed early." Clearly the events of the day had been getting to him. He never would have even considered doing something like that otherwise. He needed to rest and clear his head.

The next morning, Ippan awoke feeling especially groggy. After a quick breakfast, Midori had left him some bacon and eggs, he took a long relaxing shower. While in the shower he couldn't help but remember what transpired the day before, especially what happened with his sister. He decided that he needed to be more careful and more aware of himself in general. Otherwise he might do something like that again. The rings gave him pretty significant power in many ways, but he needed to be careful how he used them. He did not undo the rule he had made regarding his sister's workout routine, but also did not realize this mistake until much later.

He was making himself uncomfortable thinking about this subject, so he moved on to how good Ryouna was at giving head. He found himself concerned about the taste of his own spunk for the first time in his life. And while he was sure that Ryouna would be more than happy to drink the stuff even if it tasted bad, since she was a masochist in nearly every sense of the word, Ippan was also worried about making other people drink it too, like hopefully that Shibito girl someday. To that end, he decided a new rule was in order.

"It would be normal for my cum to taste delicious," he said, listening to his words echo through the small bathroom.

His mind drifted other places too. For instance, how nice it was to have such easy access to Ryouna's breasts without having to deal with his arch-nemesis: the bra. Ippan understood that bras served a very specific practical purpose in reducing back-and-neck pain, but he just despised them so much and wished something could be done about them.

Something came to his mind then; he remembered a week-long lesson where Suzune had taught him about pain tolerance. By the end of the training he came to the realization that the majority of pain is in one's own mind. In other words, the brain could override the sensation of pain if it needed to, mind over matter. What this meant was that the experience of pain was technically a perception of one's reality, and he could change those.

"It is normal for women not to experience pain due to breast size or activity. It is also normal for women not to wear bras unless they are wearing swimsuits." Ippan couldn't wait to get to school. After showering he gathered his things and headed out the door.

Ippan actually decided to take his time getting to school this morning, he woke up early enough that he had time to stroll and enjoy the morning scenery for once. This was an unusual impulse for him, but then he realized just how depressing his outlook had been previous to yesterday. All it took was two dumb tacky-looking rings to bring his spirits back up, along with the reality bending abilities they granted him.

Eventually along his way he came upon a group of people crowding the sidewalk.

"Hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Ippan heard one of them ask. The group of people looked like delinquents. They wore school uniforms but they were torn, unkempt, and haphazard. More importantly, many of them were carrying makeshift weapons that they made poor efforts to conceal on their persons.

"Class," a female voice said in response, Ippan recognized the voice, it was Miyabi.

This ought to be good. He thought. He knew that these thugs had nothing on a poorly-trained novice shinobi, so the class representative of the elite shinobi of Hebijo could have handled all of them at once without breaking a sweat. So, he decided to stay back and enjoy the show. These idiots were going to regret this.

"Goody-two-shoes, eh? Nothing that can't be worked on. Why don't we slip away and have some fun instead?" one of the delinquents said.

Ippan had to struggle not to burst out laughing at the irony of that one. If he had known she was training to be an assassin for hire, he likely wouldn't have called her a "goody-two-shoes".

"Her tits are huge, man," one of the other delinquents in front of Ippan whispered to the other. This, Ippan could agree with. He silently shifted his position so he could see what was going on a little better. Before long he could see the short, white hair of his peer and her golden serpent-like eyes.

Miyabi was surrounded but did not look in any way concerned. "Out of my way," she demanded coolly.

"Hey, I'm talkin' to you," the apparent leader of the group said, taking a step forward.

"I will not ask again, get out of my way."

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do? Fuckin' bimbo," as the leader said this, he had his arm outstretched pointing at Miyabi. His other hand held a wooden training katana resting on his shoulder.

In a flash Miyabi moved, with what Ippan could barely recognize as a kick, the wooden weapon went sailing into the air, then in a blur of movement the thug's outstretched arm was suddenly behind him with Miyabi holding him in a key-lock. There was a resonant crack as she dislocated his shoulder without hesitation. He let out a scream of pain.

Yep, just as I thought. Ippan nodded, satisfied. As it happened, the sailing training sword came down right about where Ippan was standing so he went ahead and caught it. He decided this might be the moment to make himself known.

"Hey," he announced his presence. The other thugs whirled around to see him, holding their leader's weapon, "you guys might want to get your asses moving."

"You her boyfriend or something?" one of them asked, "Come to rescue your girl?"

Ippan shrugged and pointed at Miyabi, who was standing menacingly above the writhing body of the leader, "Does she look like she needs rescuing? I'm telling you to run so you don't have to deal with her, dude. But if you must know, I might have just as much fun as her walloping you if you decide to make the wrong choice."

The others of the group looked between each other, and judging from the unsure looks they were giving, Ippan could tell they weren't going to take the chance. No matter how hot they thought Miyabi was, she wasn't worth it. Without saying anything else, they picked up the moaning pile that was once their leader and ran off into the alleyways.

"Ippan," Miyabi greeted, "I'd thank you for coming to help, but I was actually kind of looking forward to ripping them apart."

Ippan shrugged, "Sorry."

"Still, I commend your ability to defuse the situation without too much bloodshed. I'll bring this encounter up with Suzune-sensei so she knows how well you handled that."

There was a subtlety in that statement that Ippan was not lost on. If the "normal self" ring functioned like he thought it did, she shouldn't have taken much notice or had much care about Ippan's actions there, even if they were positive. He was beginning to get the impression that the ring specifically filtered for negative reactions and not positive ones. If so, that was very helpful.

"Oh, well thank you."

With that, the two made their way to the school together. After arriving early, before the first class was slated to begin, they decided to walk through the courtyard of the academy and took in the scenery.

"There was a time," Miyabi began suddenly, "according to Suzune, that this academy was not only an all-girls school but also a shinobi-only school. This courtyard was meant as a training field."

Ippan didn't know that, "Wow, this school has gone through quite a few changes recently then, hasn't it?"

Miyabi nodded, "In some ways, things would be much easier if the academy still was like that. And while I don't much care for the current headmaster, I have to admit this was a good choice."

Ippan nodded, "Yeah, high school makes a pretty convenient place for real-world practical training on a lot of matters of information gathering and subterfuge. Much harder to get that in a school that only has shinobi."

"It's not just that," Miyabi said, staring thoughtfully at one of the blooming cherry blossom trees, "this place has a vibrant community. It's alive, it's real. We can have a glimpse of normal high school life and we can build connections. I think all of that is important for people, even akunin."

Ippan considered that, specifically he thought about Sanji. He certainly was grateful that he could live a normal life in spite of what he was being trained to be. It meant he had some good memories to look back on.

"I spent three years hospitalized," Miyabi said. "That's why I'm older than the rest of you. Imu did too. And I curse the fact that we had to spend that time away from our training, but at the same time if we hadn't, I wouldn't get to see this new school and the way it is now. I certainly wouldn't have met you, Ryouna, or Ryoubi."

Ippan was wide-eyed, "I didn't know that, what happened?"

Miyabi was silent for a long time. "Youma," she said at last.

Ippan's heart sank. Shinobi everywhere, zennin and akunin alike, knew to fear the word youma, as it referred to eldritch monsters attracted to the shed blood of the shinobi and the cursed songs of clashing blades. One of the jobs of all shinobi was to keep these monsters a secret and keep them at bay until there was a way to deal with them permanently. From the stories Ippan had heard, Miyabi and Imu were lucky to escape such an encounter with just a three-year stay at the hospital.

"But no matter. You have an important assignment today, and as I understand, Suzune is going to give you a special lesson during class. Be prepared, Ippan." She nodded and walked a few steps toward the school just as the first bell rang. "Oh, and by the way," she turned to look at him briefly with her piercing gold eyes, "thanks for keeping me company."

After a few moments alone to his thoughts, Ippan took a deep breath and likewise went into the school as well. The glory that he witnessed when he arrived was enough to make his heart race and allow him to forget the terror of the youma.

No bras.

Ippan could tell just from the shapes beneath their uniforms that none of the girls were wearing bras. When they moved, their breasts jiggled ever so slightly. What was better, none of them seemed bothered by their lack of upper support. He had made a fantastic decision.

He spent the entirety of his first period just admiring the view. He even copped a feel of a few of them, since he could get away with it with the rings on. And nobody even batted an eye, nobody even mentioned their lack of bras. What a glorious day.

To Ippan the first period seemed to go by very quickly, probably because of the fun he was having. With the chime of the distant bell he made his way to the hidden classroom.

He was interested in knowing where he would be spending his next two weeks, and even more interested to know about the special training Miyabi eluded to.

Miyabi, Imu, and Suzune were the only ones present at the moment, though all three of them had already stripped down to their underwear. This time, however, there were no bras present.

He couldn't help but stare at the amazing breasts on display. Suzune's had a perfect tear-drop shape and large, puffy pink nipples. The mole on her left breast was just the cherry on top for the sexy teacher. Miyabi's nipples were barely noticeable because they were only a shade darker pink than her already pale skin tone. Finally, Imu had a cute pair of perky breasts that Ippan tried not to pay too much attention to, primarily because he knew her sexual preferences. Still, avoiding it would be difficult, and it wasn't like he was doing anything besides looking.

"Good morning, Ippan." Suzune said, blushing slightly as he stared, but still maintaining her usual serious and down-to-business attitude.

"Good morning, sensei," he replied, bowing and finding it very difficult to hide his good mood.

Looking around carefully, he found a similar story with the others. While more or less embarrassed to be topless around each other, Miyabi and Imu at least looked a lot lighter on their feet and much less stiff. Ippan's normality this morning seemed to do them a world of good.

He heard the door/wall flip open again.

"Ippaaaaaan~" He turned around just in time to see Ryouna skip toward him and he braced for impact. But this time she didn't tackle him. Today she just moved around in front of him and knelt down. At first, Ippan thought she was going to just start sucking him off of her own accord, but instead she leaned her head in and started to rub her cheek against the ever-growing bulge in his pants. She even made a soft purring noise like a cat as she did so.

The others watched this display with curiosity but nothing more, even Ryoubi only rolled her eyes and took her place at the corner of the room. The two bicolor-eyed sisters made a hand seal and their clothing vanished, leaving them once again in their underwear. As expected, Ryoubi's chest was totally flat with only a pair of small pink nipples on display. Even so, Ippan thought it looked cute, though he was curious how she would look after using her shinobi transformation. Whenever she did, for some reason her breasts suddenly got much bigger.

Ryouna on the other hand, was much the same as she was yesterday. She never wore a bra in the first place, after all. She didn't disappoint, however, as today she was also wearing a very racy black thong.

At some point Murasaki snuck in, and Ippan caught her out of the corner of his eye. Out of all the others, she looked the most relieved to not have back pain from her massive melons. Her posture was noticeably better, and Ippan was amazed at the sight. Her breasts looked even bigger without the tank top from yesterday somehow, and they were topped with inverted nipples surrounded by large, puffy areolae.

With a cute blonde rubbing her head against his crotch while surrounded by half a dozen topless kunoichi, Ippan realized this day was truly amazing.

Breaking his train of thought, Suzune approached him.

"Ippan."

"Yes sensei?" Ippan bowed as well as he could with Ryouna against his crotch.

"It's time to discuss your assignment. I have decided on the first school you will infiltrate, as well as who will accompany you."

Ippan was holding his breath in anticipation without meaning to.

"Your first target is Hanzo academy. I have reason to believe they are planning something big against us, so I would like to start there. In addition, I personally know quite a lot about them and how they operate. It will make things much smoother. The real challenge will be Gessen academy, which is why I'm saving that for later."

"Understood," Ippan himself knew a decent amount about Hanzo given that it was going to be his second choice before deciding to go to Hebijo. But he only knew the public details, he obviously knew nothing about the way the shinobi operated.

"As for your partner in this mission, I have decided that the most logical choice would be Ryouna. While you hold the highest marks in espionage, Ryouna is actually a close second to you. Imu and Miyabi are also quite skilled at it, but they are too important to our operations here, and I will also need them to scout out Gessen for when you're ready to go there."

"Yay! Ryouna is coming with you Ippan! Aren't you excited?" Ryouna jumped up from her kneeling position, making her breasts bounce wildly.

Ippan nodded but was shocked. Ryouna didn't seem like the kind of girl who would be good at espionage. She was loud, clingy, and not subtle in the least. Still, he trusted Suzune's judgement on the matter, so he nodded. In any case he owed it to her after she saved his ass the day before.

"That said, Miyabi is going to be your official coordinator for your mission. She won't be joining you directly for it, but you will report to her when she needs a progress update," Suzune continued.

Miyabi picked up where she left off, "I can't stress enough how dangerous the shinobi of Hanzo are. Their elites are almost on par with us, and they know what they are doing. If you get dragged into a battle with them, they will not hold back." Ippan actually wasn't worried, since he actually could guarantee that they would hold back. That was unless the kunoichi with the rings was among them, but Ippan didn't think that was likely. Suzune said she didn't match the description of any shinobi she knew of, which Ippan supposed included the shinobi of Hanzo academy.

"And if you happen to run across her, do not engage in combat with a shinobi named Daidouji," Suzune warned. "She is beyond your combat capabilities. Treat her with the same due caution that you would treat me, were I your enemy." That made Ippan slightly worried, even with the rings.

"Noted, I will be careful," Ippan bowed.

Suzune and Imu then exchanged glances, and Imu nodded.

"Being careful may not be nearly enough," Suzune said, "I think it's time we discovered what your guardian spirit is."

Ippan blinked. Each individual shinobi called upon a "guardian spirit" which was an idea in their mind, typically an animal or mythical creature, to emulate when performing their most powerful skills. It was the combination of a shinobi's will and the unique "signature" of their individual chakra. Some shinobi had two different guardian spirits, Miyabi being among them. So far, not only had Ippan been unable to summon the idea of his own spirit, they did not currently even know what it was.

"I know we have previously had very little success in the matter," Suzune said, pushing her red-rimmed glasses up on her nose, "but Imu has brought to my attention a possibility I had not considered when trying previous methods."

Imu seemed to take this as her cue to join the conversation, pushing up her own glasses in an almost perfect imitation of Suzune, "Most shinobi manifest their guardians purely in their mind's eye, using their imagination to let it enhance their chakra-fueled abilities. However, there are a rare few for whom this is not the ideal manifestation. In truth, there are many ways a guardian can be used to aid oneself. It is my suggestion that you may be one of the rare few shinobi who manifest their guardian differently than the majority."

That was certainly an interesting possibility, Ippan had no idea there were different methods.

"In any case, we know that each of the elites of Hanzo are aware and capable of calling upon their guardian spirits to aid them, if you do not learn this you will be severely handicapped should it come to blows. We must at least try one last time before you are sent on this mission."

"I understand, sensei, I will give it my best shot," Ippan replied. He was frankly disappointed in his inability to perform this fundamental aspect of shinobihood, and felt even more inadequate knowing that every one of his other elite peers were capable of manifesting theirs. He was the only one who couldn't yet. He was eager to try something different if it meant he could stop feeling as inadequate.

"Good, let's move to the dojo then."

All of them made their way into the dojo, and Ippan began breathing deeply. Most of this process was meditative, so he was getting himself ready.

"Let's begin like we usually do, Ippan. Put yourself into a state of deep calmness." Suzune said.

Ippan nodded and stood in front of her, breathing deeper. The other students were positioned around him, about five yards away each. Sometimes the first manifestation of a guardian could get dicey, so they were there to make sure nothing went wrong.

It took Ippan about a minute before he was ready. Suzune seemed to pick up on his change of state because she continued her instruction, "Now, I want you to look deep within yourself. If you feel your consciousness stopping on its journey inward, pump it with chakra to keep it moving past the obstacle."

Ippan did as instructed. He was familiar with this part, he knew where to look for his guardian, and he'd always managed to get close, but it always slipped away in the last moment. He buried his conscious deep within himself and let his creative mind run wild, allowing his imagination and feelings guide him.

And there it was. He knew it was there, just up ahead, hiding in the shadows, just out of reach.

"Have you found it?"

"Yes," Ippan replied sleepily, to him it sounded like his own voice was miles away, "but I can't get to it. Just out of reach."

"Reach for it, try to touch it with your feelings."

Ippan did as he was told, he tried but it moved away. It was like every single inch he reached across it moved five inches away, so it was growing ever more distant.

"It's getting away. It's going deeper," Ippan said, already beginning to feel defeated. This was just like before. Soon it would be too far away for him to pursue.

But then Suzune said something that surprised him, "You are mistaken. Or more accurately we have been mistaken. It's not going further in; it's trying to get out. You're going the wrong way. Follow it. Rise to consciousness but bring it with you, guide it."

Then he felt it, and knew she was right. The reason it never worked before was that he'd always gone deeper to try and find it, but it was trying to leave, and it got lost. He did as instructed and began to move his consciousness away from the core of his being, slowly dragging himself back into the real world. As he did, he found it.

For the first time he saw it, and he felt it. It was like an old friend he hadn't seen in years had come to visit him, and when he looked upon his guardian, he felt a deep kinship and comradery. He felt warm. Hot, even, but not uncomfortable. It was a pleasant heat, like a burning passion within his soul. It was as though he were enveloped in flames, and through the flames he could see very clearly the form of his constant companion.

It was a fox, with a coat the color of burning flames. He reached out his consciousness to touch it, he was happy to have found his guardian at last. He must have been close to the real world again, because he could see the vague shape of his real arms as he reached out, and even saw the steel bands around his index fingers.

But it wasn't just the fox he saw. He saw his future. More specifically, he saw the future that he wanted for himself. And island somewhere in the pacific ocean surrounded by crystal blue waters, surrounded by a harem of beautiful women, all of whom loved him deeply and some of whom served him loyally as servants. No cares, no guilt, no akunin. He could see this goal in his mind's eye, and he knew that not only did he want this more than anything, his guardian spirit wanted it too, and would do anything to help him.

As they reached closer to the fox, Ippan's rings began to glow brightly, so vibrantly that he could see ghostly iridescent rings of light projected between him and his guardian. As he drew closer, the two rings of light were moving closer to each other and were growing closer to encircling the fox entirely. He could see his guardian changing before his very eyes as this transpired.

Three things happened all at once. Firstly, his hands reached his companion at last, touching it but he did not feel fur as he expected to. Secondly, the rings of light combined so that the fox was framed by a brilliant halo. Thirdly, he at last emerged from within himself.

His eyes shot open to find that he was looking down at his feet. His clothes were gone, and a pile of smoldering ashes lay on the ground around his feet. There were scorch marks in the dirt that extended for about two feet in each direction and looked to be twisted in a spiraling formation, as though a tornado of flame had been raging around him.

He then realized his hands were touching something, and he was actually holding them out in front of him, they were holding something soft, something he had felt before but only recently.

Ippan looked up then, wholly expecting to see the face of his sensei, instead what he saw was a face that he'd never seen before, but somehow felt perfectly familiar. At once he knew who it was.

It was a woman with fiery orange hair that was long and straight cut. She had a curvaceous, soft-looking pale frame which was completely exposed and naked in front of him. His hands were on her large, shapely breasts. Her eyes were a dark amber color with vertical slit pupils, just like a fox. The fox-like features didn't stop there, as a pair of cream-tipped fox ears sat atop her head, and Ippan could spy a bushy orange tail swishing back and forth behind her. This was his fox, his guardian.

"I can't believe this," Ippan heard Imu say.

"That's so cool!" Ryouna said.

"What the fuck?" Ryoubi said, and something about the truly flummoxed tone she had made Ippan satisfied.

"Sensei, was that supposed to happen?" Miyabi asked.

But Ippan barely registered any of it, because his guardian was leaning in close to him, leaning in for a kiss. This was all he could think about right now, and he wanted it to happen. He needed it to happen. He gladly connected lips with her, and they began kissing deeply. In that moment, he could hear her name in his mind.

Reiko.

She seemed to sense that he had verbally acknowledged her name, because she then parted lips and smiled wide and happily. Then something seemed to catch her eye behind Ippan. Out of curiosity he turned to see what she was looking at.

Murasaki was standing behind him in the formation and looked shocked at the sight of what was happening. Without making a sound, Ippan saw the form of the fox-girl dash swiftly around him and toward her.

She let out a slight squeak of surprise, but otherwise didn't stop Reiko from tackling her to the ground, making Murasaki's huge breasts wobble significantly. Ippan moved forward in an attempt to help his classmate, but then noticed what Reiko had begun doing. Her lips were wrapped around Murasaki's nipple and she was suckling on it deeply and fiercely. The strangest aspect of this situation, however, was that Murasaki herself didn't seem to care.

Or more specifically, it looked like she was treating the situation as though it were perfectly normal. And so was everyone else.

"Sensei?" Ippan heard Miyabi repeat.

"That… was definitely unusual," Suzune replied, at last.

Ippan was so transfixed by the scene before him that he only barely registered his teacher's presence next him now. Murasaki had begun moaning now, and Reiko swapped to the other breast, happily lapping up and suckling on the nipple. Ippan's cock was hard as a rock.

"Ippan," Suzune began, "I feel inclined to explain to you what just happened. At least, the information I do know, which is surprisingly little. Imu came to me today before school hours because she had an epiphany about your guardian. Some shinobi do not manifest their guardians as mere ideas in their mind, some can actually manifest them in the real world, effectively summoning them into existence. None of your fellow elites are capable of this yet, which is why I never considered it a possibility for you. As it happens, Imu was completely right, as we can see."

"That said," Imu cut in from the other side of Ippan, "it was not supposed to manifest like that. I have never even heard of a guardian spirit that was human-shaped before. They are usually just animals or mythical creatures."

"She didn't start that way," Ippan said, and quickly decided to fudge the truth a little so he didn't have to explain the role of the rings in this. "She was a normal fox at first, but when I pulled her out with me she changed. And she isn't totally human-shaped, she has those ears and that tail."

"That part seems perfectly normal, I wouldn't be concerned," Suzune said and Ippan actually managed to rip his gaze from the sapphic scene in front of him to gawk at her. Then he noticed it, Suzune used that word again. Normal. After this realization he gawked at Reiko again. The pieces were falling into place now. She had the same normality effect as his ring. And now that he considered it, the fact that she was getting away with molesting another elite was proof enough of that.

Reiko had now removed herself from Murasaki's breasts. It was in that moment that Ippan actually spied trickles of white fluid around Reiko's mouth and running down the slopes of the purple-haired kunoichi's breasts. Apparently Murasaki could lactate, either that or Reiko made her. Knowing this definitely wasn't helping Ippan's raging erection though, and he was only peripherally aware that he was still nude.

Finally, the fox-girl stood up and turned around, smiling at Ippan and practically skipping up to him. She said nothing but wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the lips.

"You seem as smart as a normal human, who are you?" Miyabi asked in a commanding tone.

Reiko seemed momentarily offended, though at what part Ippan couldn't quite tell. To him it almost felt like she was offended by the notion that she was human. In any case, she did not reply to the snow-haired class rep, instead putting her hand over her mouth and throat.

"She can't speak," Ippan said, picking up on the meaning immediately, "but I'm pretty sure her name is Reiko."

She nodded at this in confirmation.

"And are you fully autonomous? Are you actually Ippan's guardian spirit?" Imu had begun barraging her with her own questions, becoming enamored in the technicalities as usual.

Reiko nodded at the first question and shrugged at the second with a puzzled look. She didn't know.

"I've never heard of a guardian spirit being autonomous nor sapient," Suzune said, stroking her chin thoughtfully, "but I don't think it's impossible. They are products of imagination made manifest, so I suppose as long as Ippan could imagine an autonomous spirit it's not impossible. Still, this is fortunate news."

"How so?" Ippan asked, curiously. In the meantime, Reiko had begun looking around the room thoughtfully, seeming to admire how large the dojo was.

"It means that you'll have someone else there to help you on your mission. A guardian spirit that can be physically materialized is a powerful enough ally, one that can act with intelligent thought is an amazing companion. Also, it seems that in addition to discovering your spirit guardian, we have unwittingly discovered your chakra element as well," Suzune gestured to the scorch-marks in the dirt.

Fire.

"Oh, yeah I guess we did," Ippan replied, distantly.

Just then, Reiko gave an almost mischievous grin and snapped her fingers. In that hand that made the sound, a small flame appeared in the palm of her hand. She tossed it into the air like a ball a few times for emphasis, then wrapped her hand into a fist, snuffing the fire out.

"And, as is to be expected of a guardian, she can make use of it. She will be a very great helper indeed. And I don't think anyone will find her to be out of place."

If no other statement proved that Reiko possessed the normality effects of Ippan's rings, that one certainly did.

Ippan looked at her one more time. Her impressive curves, her fiery hair, her unusual but pretty amber eyes. She was a part of him but somehow alien, she was a mystery to Ippan but he wanted to protect her all the same. And most importantly, he could tell just by looking in her eyes she wanted to do the same for him. He took her hands in his and smiled at his companion.

She smiled back. Things were getting interesting.