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 Forty

Snake In The Forest

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The woman raised her hands to her face and pulled it off to reveal another, paler face underneath. "I am… Orochimaru!"

Hinata snarled as she moved sideways. "You want to use me to force Naruto-kun to surrender his Armour to you?"

"Very good." Orochimaru smirked. "I feel certain that he will swap his armour for your continued well-being."

"Not if I stop you." Hinata stated and Orochimaru laughed.

"I am one of the Sannin." He sneered. "I have studied every single fighting style used by Konoha and know how to counter them all. What can you do that I have not already planned for?"

"Simple." Hinata said with a thin smile. "Armour on!"

Orochimaru's eyes widened in shock as a sphere of energy surrounded Hinata. Inside it, armour plates appeared and slotted into place on her, bound into position by entwining tentacles.

"You… you… you…"

"Naruto-kun is not the only one with the Uzumaki Armour." Hinata stated, then the gem on her forehead flashed and a beam of red light slashed vertically through Orochimaru, bisecting him. The two halves of his body peeled away from each other, then turned into mud.

"Damn, he's fast!" Hinata growled as she looked round. "Can you fly?"

"Fu can fly." Fu confirmed. "But Fu and Chomei are ready to fight."

Hinata nodded, then spun sideways, swinging her arm down. Her elbow blade slammed into a long sword that had extended to lance through the space where her spine had just been, then with a tooth-twisting whine, it sliced straight through the chakra-infused metal. The sword seemed to shake, then the blade exploded into thousands of metallic specks and Orochimaru's voice sounded.

"You are annoying me. I was very fond of that sword."

Fu half-turned and her right insectile-arms flexed, hurling a spherical red-chakra ball at the source of the voice. The ball slammed straight through a tree before exploding.

"Did Chomei get him?"

"No, but that was a very interesting move." Orochimaru said from the other side of the clearing. "A Bijudama, if I am not mistaken."

"Brace!" Hinata shouted as she leapt to stand between Fu and Orochimaru, then a giant spear of pure energy lashed downwards, slamming into Orochimaru and gouging out a huge crater. Fu and Hinata crouched together, holding onto each other for stability as the ground seemed to flex and quiver, then everything went still, except for the shower of debris kicked up by the blast.

"What… was that?" Fu whispered.

"Thanks for locating him for me, Hinata-hime." A new voice said and Fu looked up at the new arrival. "You made the right decision. Fu… nice armour!"

"Fu is glad you approve." Fu smiled as she accepted Hinata's armoured hand and used it to climb to her feet. "Fu and Chomei based it on yours."

"It looks amazing." Naruto said as he shed his own armour and reached into his haori to pull out a black-bordered scroll. "Hina-hime, please stay armoured for now. Fu, I need you to drop your armour."

Naruto unrolled the scroll and unsealed the contents, revealing an unmoving duplicate of Fu with several items of clothing resting on her.

"Fu, I need you to get changed and help me dress your chisio bunshin in your old clothes." Naruto explained. "Once that's done, pump as much of Chomei's chakra as you can into the clone. Hinata-hime, you may want to look away, it'll get… messy, after that."

"Fu understands! You are faking Fu's death!"

"And who better to take the blame than Orochimaru?" Naruto grinned.

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"Where is she?" Hoki fretted as Yoromaru glowered at Kiba and Sasuke."She's a Jinchuuriki. No-one could defeat her…"

The foliage around the tower rustled and Hinata staggered into view, her clothes torn and stained while several cuts and bruises were visible. In her hands was a black-bordered scroll.

"Hinata!" Kiba shouted. "What happened?"

"It was… Orochimaru…" Hinata panted. "He attacked… Naruto used his Armour, but Fu…"

With slightly-trembling hands, Hinata pressed the scroll into Yoromaru's hands, then let Sasuke support her. Yoromaru knelt and slowly unrolled the scroll. Placing his hands on it, he used a chakra pulse and a cloud of chakra smoke formed.

"Oh kamis!" Hoki choked as he saw the unmoving form of Fu on the scroll, her head separated from her body and blood starting to pool around her. The body vanished in another cloud of chakra smoke as Yoromaru re-sealed the corpse, then he sighed.

"Sensei is going to be furious with us for losing our main village weapon." He sighed, then he was sent flying by a backhanded punch from Hoki.

"Weapon? Weapon! Is that all you think she was?" He raged. "She was a girl! A person! Her name was Fu and she was loyal to the village, even though we treated her like shit! Taki didn't deserve her loyalty and I'm happy she's in a better place! She deserved better than what we gave her!"

Hoki stormed into the tower, the scroll held tightly in his hands as Yoromaru stared in shock at him.

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"Here we are, home sweet home." Naruto said as he landed in front of the cliff-side house and lowered Fu to the ground. The front door opened and a clone looked at them before smiling.

"Hey Boss, I see it worked! Uzumaki Fu, welcome home!"

"Fu thanks you." Fu said as she stared at the house.

"We've set up your bedroom for you, but you'll probably want some food and a wash first." The clone continued. "Okay boss, you can return to your patrol now."

"Fu, you can trust my clones." Naruto said as he rose into the air. "Welcome to the clan."

"…thank you." Fu whispered, her eyes brimming with tears and a wide smile on her face. "Thank you."

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"If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher.
"If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack.
"When heaven and earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever.
"This something is the secret way, that guides us from this place today."

Hinata finished reading the poem mounted on the wall and Sasuke frowned.

"Interesting… Heaven obviously relates to wisdom while earth to body… mind and body. If you are strong but not wise, you need to study and if you are skilled but weak, you need to train more."

"And if you are both, then you have the potential to become a chunin." Hinata agreed. "But to open mind and body…"

"Hey, what should we do with the scrolls?" Kiba asked. "I mean, we're in the tower…"

"When heaven and earth are opened together…" Sasuke quoted as he face-palmed. "We open them together. Together… overlapping… Kiba, toss me a scroll!"

Kiba threw the heaven scroll to Sasuke.

"Good, now, find the flap, kneel and place the scroll like this… now, unroll!"

Both scrolls unrolled smoothly, the Heaven Scroll passing over the unrolled Earth scroll. Hinata spotted the fuuinjutsu inscribed on the scrolls before they were engulfed in a cloud of smoke that dissipated to reveal a smiling chunin.

"Funeno Daikoku!" Sasuke gasped and the man's smile widened.

"Uchiha Sasuke! You've passed this portion of the test, well done!"

"Wait…" Kiba said. "You know this guy?"

"He was my first teacher at the Academy before the classes were merged due to dropouts." Sasuke explained. "He taught my brother as well."

"Itachi is waiting further inside to congratulate you." Daikoku said. "I was listening in and you got the meaning of the poem exactly right."

"We're awesome like that." Kiba preened and Daikaku laughed.

"Okay, head in and claim a room." He said. "At most, you have another four days before the test ends."

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"Orochimaru-sama?"

Guren stared at the scorched and bleeding form of her leader.

"What happened, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Why did no-one tell me that the Hyuuga had armour of her own?" Orochimaru asked rhetorically. "Why did no-one warn me about that overkill attack that would have killed me had my Kage Bunshin not switched with me the instant it realized what was about to happen? KABUTO!"

"Yes, Orochi… maru… sama…?" Kabuto trailed off as he appeared. "Um, what happened?"

Orochimaru glared at him. "I need all the information you have on Naruto now! I think it's missing a few facts."

"Right away, Orochimaru-sama!"

"Then when you're done, head for the tower. I want Naruto and Hinata watched!"

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama!"

Orochimaru watched his underling scurry away, then motioned for Guren.

"I need to report this to Pein-sama." He sighed. "When Kabuto returns with the file, you look through it and note anything unusual about it."

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama."

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Anko motioned furiously and Naruto swooped down.

"Yes, Anko-san?"

"We have a problem." She stated. "We just found three bodies with their faces removed using a technique that Orochimaru is known to use…"

"Yes, I tried to kill him, but his clone kawarimi'd with him and he escaped before I could line up a second shot." Naruto stated. "…Anko?"

Anko stared at Naruto in shock, her mouth agape as she fought to parse his statement into something that she could actually comprehend.

"You… fought Orochimaru…?"

"Just one shot." Naruto admitted.

"…he ran…?"

"Into a tunnel that collapsed after him."

Anko stared at him and Naruto carefully waved his hand in front of her face.

"Anko?"

"I don't know what you said, but I think you broke her." Uchiha Fugaku noted as he walked up.

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Fu took a sip from the beaker of mixed fruit juice, luxuriating in the complex intertwining of flavors, then she placed the drink on the floating tray and leaned back, enjoying the heat of the onsen.

"Fu likes this." She sighed. "Fu could get used to this."

A noise caught her attention and she opened her eyes to see one of Naruto's clones entering, carrying a bathrobe in his hands.

"Your dinner is almost ready, Fu-hime." The clone announced and Fu pulled herself out of the sinfully luxurious pool, accepting the robe and donning it over her wrap. The soft fabric rustled slightly as she followed the clone into the house, where another clone was placing a tray of food on the table. Allowing herself to be seated, Fu found her mouth watering as her gaze traveled over the numerous small dishes of food that she had heard mentioned, but never actually tried.

"Itadakimasu." She managed before picking up the chopsticks and starting to eat. Behind her, the clones grinned at each other.

"I think she likes it." One whispered.

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Hiruzen looked round at the shinobi in his office. Although most were Jonin, there were a few Tokubestu Jonin and one Chunin, the latter being Naruto, who was included primarily because of his special armour.

"We estimate that by the end of the day, the second round will reach the point where we can hold the preliminary elimination round." Hiruzen stated. "However, we have received proof that Orochimaru has infiltrated Konoha and has tried to seize Hyuuga Hinata in an attempt to blackmail Naruto into handing over his armour."

Naruto gave an embarrassed chuckle as everyone looked at him.

"I can now confirm to you all that Hyuuga Hinata is in possession of an armour of her own." Hiruzen continued. "She used it to delay Orochimaru long enough for Naruto to try and destroy him. Orochimaru escaped, but only barely."

A susurration of shocked whispered swept the room, then Hiruzen held up his hand for silence.

"Both the military police and ANBU are being alerted." The Hokage added. "If anyone spots Orochimaru, they are not to try and engage, but are to summon aid. Of all you here, only three of us can possibly match Orochimaru. Myself, Jiraiya and Naruto."

"Kid's got potential." Jiraiya noted. "With his armour, I'd be hard-pushed to beat him if he went all-out."

"He stopped Itachi when he was younger." A voice called and Naruto shook his head, but it was Itachi who replied.

"Naruto-san and I have discussed that event. Both Madara and myself assumed that he was a fully-trained Jonin using a style that neither of us had encountered before, which is why we held back in order to try and learn the fighting style he was using. In reality, he was merely flailing around almost randomly."

"The best swordsman in the world doesn't fear the second-best." Kakashi quoted from where he was leaning against the wall, his gaze on his book. "He fears the worst because he can't predict what the idiot is going to do."

"Indeed." Itachi agreed. "I hope you are teaching him well?"

"We are." Jiraiya said, catching everyone's attention. "Little brat's an information sponge, especially when he uses Kage Bunshin. He'll be proper Jonin level soon."

Naruto blushed under the weight of the measuring stares.

"Tomorrow, we'll hold the preliminaries." Hiruzen said. "Those of you who wish to attend, please remain. Everyone else, dismissed."