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.

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Chapter Thirty-Nine

The Forest Of Death

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"Byakugan!"

Veins bulged around Hinata's eyes as she used her dojutsu to scan the area, then she sighed.

"I can see two gates either way, but there isn't anyone else in my visual range." She sighed.

"Oh, this sucks." Kiba groused. "I really want to hit someone."

"I wonder…" Sasuke mused. "At least one of the other teams will go straight to the tower and set up an ambush there…"

"And with me to spot them, we can ambush the ambushers and claim their scroll!" Hinata finished. "Brilliant!"

"Well, I was the Rookie of the Year, you know." Sasuke pretended to preen and Hinata rolled her eyes.

"By one point." She reminded him.

"So, we have a plan?" Kiba asked before the two could begin another of their friendly squabbles.

"I think so…" Sasuke said and Hinata nodded. "Of course, we still need to decide who leads us in this test. I vote for Hinata."

Hinata shook her head. "I'm only allowed to use my armour if the situation goes to hell." She admitted. "I can guide us to the ambushers, but you're better at coming up with combat strategies."

"Great!" Kiba interupted. "Hinata gets us into position and you lead us to victory. Can we go now? Akamaru and I just picked up the scent of something big headed this way!"

"Lead the way." Sasuke said and Hinata nodded, then leapt into the trees, followed by her team-mates. Two minutes later, a giant tiger ambled into the clearing and looked round curiously.

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"Come on!" Yoromaru snapped as Fu followed them into the forest.

"What's the plan?" Hoki asked and Yoromaru smirked.

"Simple. We're headed straight for the tower. Once there, we set an ambush and attack whichever team comes through. As soon as we get our second scroll, we get to the tower fast."

"Sounds like a plan…" Hoki managed.

"Fu thinks that…"

"I don't care!" Yoromaru snapped. "Your only job is to kill whoever us real people tell you to kill! You don't need to think!"

Fu managed not to glare at the team leader, then she caught the shamed look on Hoki's face as he turned away.

"Interesting." Chomei remarked in her mind, having seen Hoki's expression through her eyes. "It would seem we are not quite as hated as we thought."

'Then… should Fu stay with Takigakure?' Fu tentatively asked.

"By the Sage, no!" Chomei shot back instantly. "You have a chance at a real family now! Why risk a happy life for one that brings only misery and heartache? Trust Naruto. It was lucky we met him."

'Thank you, Chomei.'

"Come on!" Yoromaru shouted and Fu accelerated to catch up with her (so-called) team.

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Naruto flew over the Forest of Death, his armour hiding him from view. A storage scroll was cupped in one hand, its contents the result of several days of solid work.

Below him, Fu's chakra-signature blazed brightly while far to one side, the blaze of not-light marked Gaara's location.

Naruto adjusted course even as he scanned the area. It seemed that virtually all the teams were heading straight for the tower.

This was going to be… interesting.

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Orochimaru grimaced with annoyance as he checked the readings from the sensor-tags he'd had scattered around the Forest of Death. The tags had been a creation of his one-time friend Jiraiya and relied on several unique seals that Jiraiya had been gifted by Kushina. He had tried to analyze them, but hadn't been able to and when Orochimaru had fled Konoha, he had taken care to grab the main scroll in order to avoid having it used against him.

A shimmering image above the scroll showed the relative locations of all the genin in the Forest of Death, although it failed to show any geographical details at all. Fortunately, it also showed the locations of the tags and Orochimaru had painstakingly mapped the tags onto a map of Konoha which lay just next to the special scroll, allowing him to work out exactly where everyone was, although the shining dots of the genin lacked any real differentiation to show who they were, bar two. One had a single dot above it, while a second was surrounded by seven.

"The Ichibi and the Nanabi." Orochimaru mused, watching the two dots. "I would grab them both, but for the fact that the Ichibi is part of Suna's plan to capitalize on the planned strike… huh?"

A third dot briefly flickered into view above the map, this one surrounded by a ring of nine smaller dots, then it flickered out again as it passed beyond the range of the tag that had detected it.

"Interesting…" Orochimaru mused. "It would appear that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is flying over the forest… now, who could he be watching…"

"Sir?" A new voice intruded and Orochimaru looked up to see Kabuto entering, followed by his two team-mates. "I have the list of who went in which gate."

"Excellent. Do you have the information on the Hyuuga's team?"

"Which Hyuuga, sir?"

"…what?"

"Which Hyuuga, sir?" Kabuto repeated. "The older one, Neji, on Team Nine, or Hinata on Team Seven?"

"Team Seven."

Kabuto smirked as he pulled out a small pack of cards, extracting three of them with a well-practiced movement and chakra pulse.

"Team Seven, led by Itachi, formerly the Heir of the Uchiha Clan. Team Leader based on Academy rankings is Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother, who has a raiton affinity. The other members are Inuzuka Kiba with his ninken Akamaru and last but not least, Hyuuga Hinata, practitioner of Juho and the fiancee to Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yes…" Orochimaru hissed. "She would be one of these three dots. It looks like they're setting up to ambush one of the ambushers… shame that they won't be passing the test. Which scroll did you get?"

"A Heaven scroll, sir."

"I got an Earth." Orochimaru said, handing it to his spy. "Wait for three days, then head for the tower. As for the Hyuuga, I'll deal with her… personally…"

"As you command, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto bowed as Orochimaru vanished into one of the tunnels. "Ah, Guren, a pleasure to see you again. Perhaps you can help me to my bed? No? Oh well, maybe next time…"

The leader of the Sound Five glared at the chuckling Kabuto, but refused to rise to the bait and he smirked before turning to leave through a different tunnel, his two team-mates following.

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"You may as well hand over your scroll now." Shigure gloated, his hand caressing one of the six umbrellas which rose behind his caped shoulders. "You only have melee weapons, they are no match for our area-attack skills."

"You are mistaken." Kimimaru said calmly. "It is you who shall relinquish your scrolls. If you are fortunate, you will survive the experience."

Shigure glanced at his two team-mates, each of whom smirked as they stepped back, then in a single, flowing move, Shigure unslung one of his umbrellas, unfurling it even as he flung it into the air.

"Jouro Senbon!"

The seals applied to the inner surface of the spinning umbrella activated, sending a veritable cone of senbon slashing down at the three Kiri genin. Chojuro reacted by unslinging his sword and holding it up as a shield, sheltering in its shadow. Kajika did the same while Kimimaru simply bowed his head. The sleeting senbon briefly blocked the view of the trio and when it stopped, Chojuro and Kajika were both virtually uninjured, boasting only a few minor rips in their clothes. Kimimaru, on the other hand, was a covered in senbon to such a degree that he looked like a silver humanoid shape, then he shook himself and the senbon cascaded to the ground, the pinprick wounds they had inflicted healing up within seconds.

"…what the hell?" Shigure whispered as Kimimaru reached up to his shoulder. As he did so, a bone extended out of his skin and he pulled it, revealing it to be a katana of bone.

Shigure stepped back, his face a mix of horror and shock. "What the… how…?"

"There is a reason that I am the leader of Team Sword." Kimimaro said calmly. "My kenjutsu is, as my master once said, in my bones."

Chojuro and Kajika both rolled their eyes at the statement, then Kimimaru seemed to blur forwards. Shigure screamed as his right arm landed on the ground.

"Get them!" He shrieked even as he grabbed at his stump in an attempt to stop the blood, then Kimimaru kicked him into a tree.

"Good work." He said to his team-mates, who had taken advantage of the distraction to hold the other two Ame ninja at sword-point. "I will bind his wound, then we shall take their equipment."

"My one has the scroll!" Kajika grinned, his sharpened teeth glinting. "Hey, we're in luck, it's a Heaven scroll!"

"Then we shall head to the tower." Kimimaru decided as he finished applying the tourniquet. "I see no reason to prolong our stay out here."

"Has my vote." Chojuro said diffidently."I don't want to meet the Suna team, I hear the red-head's crazy."

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Gaara gazed dully at the bloody remains that had previously been a team from Iwagakure. Kankuro held up a blood-covered scroll with an air of aggrieved triumph.

"We're in luck." He declared. "Earth. We can head for the tower now."

"Good." Temari griped as she tried to brush some gore off her sash. "I really want to get changed."

"Mother is happy… for now…" Gaara droned listlessly. "We shall go."

The sand covering the clearing rippled and flowed away from the mangled remains of the Iwa genin, leaving only tattered flesh and shattered bone.

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"Two o'clock high." Hinata whispered. "Three of them, two male, one female. The female has the most chakra but one of the boys is the leader… they're wearing Takigakure headbands…"

Sasuke nodded, careful not to disturb the bush that he was hiding in. "Who has the scroll?"

"The leader keeps caressing one of his pockets…"

"Then he's our prime target." Sasuke agreed, his eyes turning red for an instant as he scanned their surroundings. "Hinata, can you give us a map?"

Hinata quickly poked several holes in the ground with her finger. "This one's us. That's their leader, their kunoichi and the other. They're quite high in the trees and have set up a kunai trap here, angled to slash across the clearing at knee height and above…"

Sasuke turned to look at Akamaru, who was perched on Kiba's head. "Does the trap auto-reload?"

"…no." Hinata said slowly.

"Kiba… you had Akamaru in your jacket during the first test, right?"

"Ummm, yeah?"

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"Movement!" Hoki whispered and Yoromaru grinned, a grin that vanished as a small dog ambled out of the undergrowth. The canine paused to urinate against the base of a tree, then strolled across the clearing, pausing to sniff at various tufts of grass. As it reached the midpoint, it stumbled over one of the threads stretched across the clearing and the Kunai launcher fired, the projectiles passing above the dog by several hand-widths. The dog yelped, spun round and fled.

"Dammit!" Yoromaru growled as he dropped out of the tree. "Now we have to reset the trap again."

Walking around the edge of the clearing, he started to pull the kunai out from where they had embedded themselves, then he found himself looking into the lavender eyes of a kunoichi.

"…wha?"

"You are within range of my divination." She whispered and Yoromaru's world exploded into pain before he slumped to the ground, unable to move. From the corner of his eye, he saw Fu dodging an ariel drill by vanishing into the woods while Hoki was meeting the gaze of a black-haired ninja.

"Thank you for the scroll." The kunoichi said as she extracted it from his pocket, then she spun round, throwing the scroll.

"Kiba! Sasuke! Incoming, very very strong! Kage level! Get to the tower, I'll meet you there!"

The drill turned into a genin with red markings on his cheeks while Hoki collapsed, only to be caught and slung over the black-haired genin's shoulders.

"Grab the other!" He shouted and Yoromaru found himself grabbed just as a massive blast of wind hurled him into the air.

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Hinata turned to face the person who had unleashed the blast even as Fu landed by her side.

"Fu asks if you know Naruto-san's plan?" The green-haired Kunoichi asked quickly and Hinata shook her head.

"Just he wanted to help you. What plan?"

"Fu does not know, but Fu trusts him." Fu replied as their attacker stepped out from behind the treeline. "Fu will help you."

Reddish chakra formed around Fu, condensing and changing to create a suit of armour. As the details firmed, Hinata stared at the six wings extending from Fu's back, as well as the six insectile arms that extended behind her normal arms from the pauldrons.

"An interesting trick." The unknown woman smirked. "Jinchuuriki armour… I've never seen that before."

"Fu was inspired." Fu admitted, flexing her fingers and taking a defensive posture. "Why did you attack us?"

"Simple." Came the answer. "I want the Hyuuga. She is the key to claiming the Uzumaki Armour. It… interests me."

"It does?" Hinata asked in a too-calm voice. "Who are you? I can see that the face you wear isn't your own."

"Who am I?" The woman asked, raising her hands to her face and pulling it off to reveal another, paler face underneath. "I am… Orochimaru!"

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Author's afternote – Dun dun duuuuuuuun!

And yes, Fu has managed to create her Stage 2 armour (image on Deviantart page)