Author's note – Kishimoto Masashi owns Naruto while Guyver is written by Yoshiki Takaya.
I make no claim to either, I am merely playing in their sandboxes.

This chapter overlaps with the previous one.

.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Uzukage

.

Konoha receded behind Naruto as he hurtled through the sky towards his rendezvous. Although the mission meant that he'd miss meeting those who could have been his class-mates had he failed his genin exam, the security of Konoha came first.

And the chance to reclaim an ally was too good to pass up.

Naruto glanced to his side, finding the landmark that he was supposed to pass over and adjusted his course slightly. Although part of him wanted to push himself to the limit and see just how fast he could fly, he didn't dare risk wearing himself out in case it turned out to be a trap.

Forcing his fists to unclench, Naruto checked again to see that he hadn't drifted off course before giving in to temptation and increasing his speed slightly.

After all, the sooner he completed this mission, the sooner he could get back to Hinata.

Oh yeah, and Ino.

#I heard that!# Ino huffed over their link and Naruto laughed.

#I know.#

#Naruto-kun, please don't be mean.# Hinata sent and Naruto sighed.

#Sorry, Hinata-hime. I'm still adjusting to having two fiancees.#

#So are we, Naruto-kun.# Hinata admitted. #I have to go, Ino and I need to prepare the snacks for our guests.#

#Good luck.# Naruto sent and got a complex mix of happiness and loneliness from Hinata. #Miss you too. Both of you.#

Naruto shut down the armour-link and smiled as he headed for the rendezvous.

If he needed them, they'd be there for him.

As he would be for them.

.

.

The ocean sparkled in the afternoon sun and Naruto spotted the banner that he had been told to look for, golden yellow with a trio of symbols vertically arranged on it. Two figures stood by the banner's pole while at the top of the cliff while half a dozen figures stood watch from the edge of the clifftop clearing, standing just in front of the treeline so that they could be seen. Naruto flicked his vision through the different modes, checking for chakra and heat that could mark a trap or concealed shinobi, but there was no sign of anything amiss.

Circling round, Naruto slowly lowered himself until his feet were at the same level as the top of the cliff, but he was still over forty feet in the air. The two figures looked at him and Naruto raised a mental eyebrow at the sight of the hat that the older one wore. Although it was shaped almost identically to the Hokage's hat, it was coloured a light blue and had the kanji for Vortex painted on the front.

"I am honoured to meet you, Uzukage." Naruto said and beneath his hat, the man seemed to smirk, the x-shaped scar on his chin deforming slightly.

"I am honoured that you came, Uzumaki Naruto." The Uzukage replied, then he looked up and Naruto froze as Shimura Danzo met his gaze, looking at him with both eyes.

"How…?" Naruto finally managed and Danzo smirked again.

"There is a clan, the Seikatsu Clan, who can synchronize their chakra to another, allowing them to refill a ninja's chakra reserves at the cost of their own. They worked with a healer, Uzumaki Karin, whose chakra allows her to heal injuries. With the whole clan providing power, she was able to regenerate my eye and heal my arm. I have given orders that none of my ninja are to take any action against you under any circumstances, as you are of the Uzumaki clan, even if you are of the Konoha branch. But that is not important at this time. Honoka, step forwards."

Naruto turned his attention to the Kunoichi who was standing by Danzo's side.

"This is Special Jonin Uzumaki Honoka, another relative of yours." Danzo stated. "I was able to recruit her away from a group who were seeking to create an ultimate weapon against the shinobi. Those scientists have… learned the error of their ways and those who were not killed by the monstrosity they created now work for Uzushiogakure."

"And the… monster?" Naruto asked, causing Danzo to smirk as he ran a hand over his robes.

"No longer a problem, although I lost too many of my ninja having it destroyed."

"Lord Uzukage?" Honoka prompted and Danzo turned to face her.

"You have your mission and the letters for my old friend, Honoka-san. Once you arrive, present the petition to the Hokage and then arrange for a place for Terai and his team to stay."

"As you command, Lord Uzukage." Honoka bowed.

"What about your luggage?"Naruto asked and Honoka laughed, her mirth echoing musically.

"I have it on me now."

"Fuuinjutsu." Naruto realized and Honoka nodded. "Very well. When do you want to leave?"

"I have already said my farewells, so I am ready now, Naruto-san." Honoka said, then her smile changed slightly to become more mischevious. "Please be gentle with me."

Naruto gaped at her for a moment behind his mask, then he drifted forwards to stand on the very edge of the cliff. Honoka stepped up to him and he picked her up in a bridal carry.

"Hold on tight." He warned as Honoka wrapped her arm around his neck. "Uzukage."

"Naruto-san." Danzo said in reply as he stepped back, watching as Naruto rose into the sky, then the armoured chunin accelerated back towards Konoha.

.

Honoka's eyes widened as Naruto rose into the air. Despite her skill at fuuinjutsu, the goal of creating armour that could fly had persistently eluded her ever since the day almost three years ago when Danzo had overseen the termination of the project she had been working on and asked her if it was possible to create another Uzumaki Armour.

And now she was with the user of the original suit in question.

Looking around, Honoka found herself almost entranced by the way that the ground below was scrolling past. The wind of their passage whipped her hair until it threatened to escape completely from her Hitai-ate and her eyes stung from the sheer speed they were travelling at.

Gving in to reality, Honoka closed her eyes and tucked her head against Naruto's neck. Reaching out with her senses, she searched for any clue as to the seals that granted the Armour its miraculous abili…

What?

Honoka frowned in concentration as she tried to decipher what her senses were telling her. The sensor arrays that she had summoned onto the palms of her hands were reporting that there were no seals involved. Mentally re-configuring the chakra seals, Honoka barely managed to avoid gasping as she discovered a fact that she hadn't expected.

The Armour was alive!

Her scans indicated that the armour was incredibly large, yet it wasn't at the same time. The measurement of height was almost two meters, but it was also registering at four meters and even a weak reading of fifty, which simply wasn't possible!

The armour plates were another mystery. They registered as similar to chitin, but also to chakra metal, something that Honoka found hard to visualize. The cables between the plates were similar to both flesh and chakra wire whilst simply trying to scan one of the orbs gave her a headache at the sheer complexity involved.

Abandoning her attempt to find something that she could use for the armour that she was working on, Honoka shifted slightly and relaxed in her distant cousin's arms.

.

Naruto hid a smirk as Honoka curled against him. He had been able to feel every single one of her scanning techniques and had been tempted to tell her to stop, right up to the point where he realized that as she was using them on him, his forehead metal was analyzing the scans being used, duplicating them and incorporating them into his own head-sensors!

As the new techniques settled into place, Naruto felt the world around him seem to refocus, allowing him to detect things on a finer level, yet without causing him any mental strain like he would have expected given Hinata's description of how her clan utilized their byakugan.

His new senses seemed to spread out and he lowered his flight path slightly, allowing his new-found abilities to sample the things below him, reporting back on the types of plants and occasional animal flashing by underneath.

This was awesome!

Rising up again, Naruto found himself wondering what abilities he would gain if he met his other distant relative that Danzo had mentioned.

.

.

Honoka watched Konoha growing as they swooped down. The ground seemed to leap up at them and Honoka tightened her grip on Naruto, then they were suddenly hovering bare inches above the ground while two chunin watched them from an open-fronted guard post.

"Naruto." One of them said with a grin. "A third one? I don't even want to think about what Hinata and Ino'll do to you."

Naruto lowered Honoka to the ground and took a step away from her. As his armour seemed to separate and vanish, he glared at the chunin who had spoken.

"Dammit, Kotetsu." He grumped and the chunin with the bandage across his nose laughed. "Don't even think about suggesting that again."

"He's got a point." The other chunin said, brushing his hair away from his eye so he could get a good look at the new arrivals. "I mean, if he ends up with a harem, that means less delectable Kunoichi for us to try and romance."

Honoka stared at the two in confusion as Naruto grabbed the clipboard from Kotetsu and started to fill it in with quick motions.

"You know, Izumo," Kotetsu said in a thoughtful tone, "Seeing what sort of beautiful lady Naruto can bring back, we should start a petition to send him on more missions."

Honoka blushed even as Naruto growled, then he slapped the clipboard back into Kotetsu's hand.

"There. Done. We're going. Honoka-san?"

"Huh?" Honoka asked, then she realized what he was saying. "Oh, yes. Going. Nice to meet you both."

Honoka bowed quickly, then scurried after Naruto as the two chunin on the gate grinned.

"I apologize for those two." Naruto sighed as he led her through the streets of Konoha. "They're pranksters at heart and it shows."

"I didn't mind." Honoka said, fighting down her blush at how Kotetsu had referred to her as being beautiful. Mentally scolding herself, she tried to change the subject. "Danzo-sama has briefed me on the Hokage, but he has admitted that he is biased. Is there anything you can tell me about him?"

"Oh, the old man's great!" Naruto enthused and Honoka felt her eyebrows rise at how Naruto had referred to the village leader. "He only gets angry if someone lies to him or tries to do something that would hurt Konoha, otherwise he's one of the nicest guys around. He even buys me ramen!"

"You have ramen here?" Honoka asked before she could stop herself and Naruto nodded.

"Better. We have Ichiraku's Ramen." He declared in a reverant voice. "There is no better food in the world!"

"Really?" Honoka asked curiously. "I will have to try it out after the mission."

Naruto grinned at her, then concentrated on leading her to the Hokage tower. All too soon, Honoka found herself outside the door to the office of the one man that the Uzukage respected.

"Enter!"

Honoka squared her shoulders and followed Naruto into the office, where Sarutobi Hiruzen, also known as The Professor and The God Of Shinobi, was sat behind a large desk.

"Lord Hokage," Naruto said with a formal bow. "I am honoured to present the ambassador for the resurgent village of Uzushiogakure, Uzumaki Honoka."

Honoka bowed deeply and when she straightened up, it was to find that Hiruzen had transformed from his genial old man persona to the Hokage who had led Konoha to its preeminent position after the death of his predecessor.

"Chunin Uzumaki, you are dismissed with my thanks." Hiruzen said and Naruto bowed before leaving the office. Hiruzen turned his attention to Honoka and the kunoichi barely managed to avoid swallowing nervously.

"Lord Hokage," She managed despite her dry throat. "I carry a missive to you from Shimura Danzo."

Hiruzen raised a single eyebrow and accepted the scroll before motioning to his Anbu.

"My Anbu will take you to the Gentle Leaf hotel." He said. "We will talk tomorrow, after I have read the letter."

"Of course, Lord Hokage." Honoka bowed and she let the Anbu lead her out of the office. As the door closed, she saw Hiruzen open the scroll.