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 Fifty-Four

Senju

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The blond woman at the bar took a deep swig of Sake straight from the bottle, then absently adjusted her top to restrain her bust once again, causing several of the males watching her to sigh in disappointment.

"Lady Tsunade?"

"What is it, Shizune?" Tsunade sighed as she motioned for another bottle.

"Two people to see you, Lady Tsunade."

"I'll pay them tomorrow." Tsunade slurred as she popped open the seal on the new bottle and started to raise it.

"Still just as drunk as ever, huh, Tsunade-hime?"

Tsunade froze in shocked recognition, then slowly turned to fix the speaker with a glare.

"What the hell are you doing here, Jiraiya?"

"This old drunk is the one we're after?" The armoured figure behind Jiraiya asked. "Are you sure this is her?"

Tsunade almost exploded from her seat, the bottle bouncing off the floor and spilling its contents. "Are you calling me old?"

"Yes."

"Whoah! Whoah! Wait a minute!" Jiraiya said, raising his hands to fend of the furious woman. "He probably didn't mean it that way. I mean, you don't look like you've aged at all."

"You mean she was that wrinkled as a teenager?"

Jiraiya paused. "What? What do you mean? She's not wrinkl… oh hell."

"Explain." Tsunade growled and Jiraiya winced.

"He sees things… slightly differently. And genjutsu don't affect him. At all."

Tsunade blanched. "He… he can see me?"

"You're standing right there." The armoured figure shrugged.

Tsunade shook her head, trying to rephrase her question. A brief burst of medical chakra removed the alcohol from her bloodstream, allowing her clarity to return.

"Listen, you… who are you?"

"Senju Tsunade, be known to Uzumaki Naruto." Jiraiya said in a placating tone. "Naruto, this is Tsunade of the Sannin. Please try to be polite."

"I always am to those who deserve it."

"You weren't to me." Tsunade snapped.

"I always am to those who deserve it."

Jiraiya winced and fought down a chuckle at the same time while Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you are not getting away with talking to me like that!"

Naruto turned so that the lenses in his helmet seemed to fix on Jiraiya. "How about I fly her back and let Jiji deal with her?"

"Not a good idea." Jiraiya said quickly. "You're strong, but I've seen her punch down a castle wall with a single blow."

"Really?" Naruto scoffed. "How can someone as wrinkly as her actually be strong?"

"That's it!" Tsunade growled. "You. Me. Fight. Now!"

"Outside the village." Naruto stated. "I'd rather not waste money on repairing after your temper tantrum when I could be using it on my fiancees."

Tsunade blinked. "Fiancees?"

"Two of them." Jiraiya said with a perverted grin. "Ow!"

Tsunade's anger vanished as Jiraiya rubbed his head where Naruto had dope-slapped him. "This I have to hear. We'll fight afterwards."

Naruto's armour seemed to fragment and vanish. Naruto blinked,then rubbed his eyes.

"Alright." He admitted. "Now I can see the genjutsu. No wonder the old perv was so eager to chase you when you were younger."

"Erm, thanks?"/"Old perv?"

Jiraiya blinked as Tsunade repeated Naruto's nickname for him in a disbelieving voice, then she doubled up with laughter.

"Old perv!" She gasped out. "Old perv!"

Jiraiya sighed as he glared at the grinning boy.

"You realize that I'm never going to hear the end of that, right?"

"Yup."

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"So let me get this straight." Tsunade said slowly as she speared a piece of chicken breast on her fork. "Sensei is going to retire soon and is training Uchiha Itachi as his replacement while Kakashi is taking over Itachi's team… or what would be his team after the promotions and subsequent reshuffles. In addition, Sensei wants me back to oversee that combat Iryonin program I wanted to do decades back."

"Pretty much." Jiraiya agreed. "There're quite a few odd details and Danzo asked if you'd be willing to train his newest ambassador…"

"Danzo? Ambassador?" Tsunade interrupted.

"You missed that news, didn't you?" Jiraiya guessed. "Danzo rebuilt Uzushiogakure. He's probably the reason that Konoha didn't get even more damaged, his ambassador shielded several hundred civilians with help from the Kiri delegation, then took down Suna's Jinchuuriki as it rampaged through Konoha and claimed their Biju for Uzu."

Tsunade whistled. "That will change things."

"Yeah." Jiraiya sighed. "I still can't believe that Suna tried to betray us. Sensei's planning a strike against them, but we'll need to keep most of our forces back in case Oto and Ame try to attack again. We also have a lot of casualties that need your help."

"I said when I left Konoha that I wouldn't return." Tsunade sighed.

"You don't have a choice." Jiraiya said gently as he handed over a scroll. "Sensei's been buying up your debts over the last few years. If you don't return, he'll sell them to the Daimyo and you know how much he wants you as a permanent fixture at his court…"

Tsunade winced. "He wouldn't!"

"He would." Jiraiya said, motioning to the scroll that Tsunade held. "There's the proof."

"Damn." Tsunade sighed. "That old bastard."

Naruto bristled slightly and Tsunade gave him an amused look.

"Stop trying to glare at me." She said with a wry smile. "I've been glared at by experts. Hell, I still remember Hanzo's glare."

"Yeah, that was a real glare." Jiraiya agreed with a shudder. "I still occasionally have nightmares about that fight."

"And the amount of healing we all needed afterwards…" Tsunade remenisced, then her gaze re-focused.

"Alright, so Sensei's ordering me back and threatening a fate worse than death if I refuse. Has the Senju mansion been fixed up?"

Jiraiya opened his mouth, then froze.

"My house has a couple of spare bedrooms." Naruto offered. "I can put you and… sorry, the old perv told me your name, but it's slipped."

"Shizune." The dark-haired woman smiled. "And the pig is Tonton."

"Thanks." Naruto nodded. "I can put you both up for a while, but you'll have to decide if you want to share a room, or if not, who gets the larger bedroom since two of the three are already in use."

"We'll decide when we get there." Tsunade smiled, then she stiffened and turned towards the door, as did Jiraiya. A moment later, a large shape wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it appeared in the doorway, a bandage-wrapped handle protruding over its right shoulder.

"Kisame." Jiraiya whispered in recognition.

The now-named blue-skinned man grinned, showing his triangular skark-like teeth.

"We're just here for the kid with the Biju." He stated.

"We?" Naruto repeated carefully as several other cloaked figures appeared at the other doors and windows.

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Sakura blinked as Ino and Hinata thundered up the stairs, followed closely by Fu.

Running up after them, she burst out onto the rooftop, only to find it empty. Looking round, she spotted three armoured shapes rapidly heading to the horizon.

"What the hell?" She asked herself.

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"We." Kisame repeated with a bloodthirsty grin. "You should feel complimented, kid. Normally it would take two of us to capture a Jinchuuriki, but with your armor, you got the attention of eight of us."

As Kisame spoke, Tsunade, Shizune and Jiraiya had all risen and moved to stand back-to-back.

"Kisame… Deidara…" Jiraiya noted. "Sasori… and our old team-mate."

"Orochimaru." Tsunade hissed and the pale man at the rear door nodded.

"Hello, Tsunade-hime. Fancy meeting you here." Orochimaru smirked. "I see Jiraiya has identified most of my colleagues, so I don't really need to introduce them."

"Madara." Naruto said as he rose from his seat, staring at the masked man next to the dual-colored part-plant man. "I see you got a new arm."

The masked man reflexively grabbed at the aforementioned limb as if reassuring himself that it was still there.

"But I don't recognize the plant next to you."

"I like him. That's your opinion."

"His name is Zetsu. While the other two are Deidara and Kakuza" Orochimaru supplied. "Each of us are equal to you and there are eight of us, all at full power. If you come quietly, we'll let the others go."

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Shit!" Orochimaru cursed as he spun to face the window. "He had a clone and switched with it! After him before he… oh shit!"

Orochimaru dived out of the way as a red beam of light lashed through the place that he had been occupying, leaving a scorched trail behind.

"He's on the roof!" Kisame shouted as he smashed through one of the previously-unbroken windows and the other members of the Akatsuki followed him, leaving three ninja (and a pig) blinking in confusion.

"Did… they just ignore us?" Tsunade managed to ask in a tone midway between confusion and annoyance.

"I think they did." Jiraiya groused. "I'm the Toad Sage! How dare they just ignore me!"

"So… what should we do?" Shizune asked.

"I'll try to deal with them." Jiraiya grumped and he started to walk towards the shattered window, only to stop as Tsunade put her hand on his shoulder.

"You'll deal with them?"

"Any one of them can take you down in one move, Hime, thanks to your fear of blood." Jiraiya stated. "I can't afford the time to drag you to safety, you and your apprentice have to stay out of this."

"Hell, no…" Tsunade started, then she froze as Jiraiya nicked his thumb on a kunai and smeared his blood on her hand. Tsunade gasped, her eyes transfixed on the red trail, then she collapsed onto the ground, trembling and sobbing quietly.

"Look after her." Jiraiya said gently to Shizune, then he leapt through the window. "Dammit, Naruto, if you die before I can save you, I'll kill you myself!"

Shizune watched him go, then scurried over to where Tsunade was half-curled on the floor, whimpering.

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Naruto rolled and dove as a large white bird slashed through his planned flightpath, then he was knocked out of the air by an explosion. Before he could recover, he smashed through a wall and rolled to a stop, ending up against another wall.

"…ow."

Reflexes screamed at him and he rolled sideways just as a giant bandage-wrapped sword slammed down where he had been lying.

"Hold still so I can shred you!" Kisame growled and Naruto activated his arm-blade, bringing it up to block the follow-on strike. The sound of his blade slicing into Kisame's was drowned out by the wailing screech the sword itself made as ichor splattered on the ground.

"Samehada!" Kisame shouted in horrified rage as he pulled back the truncated, bleeding sword and Naruto kicked upwards. Kisame paled as the boot hammered between his legs and with a strangled whimper, he collapsed.

Naruto didn't have time to celebrate as he spun and caught a three-bladed scythe that had been thrown at him, then hurled it back twice as hard. The man who had thrown it failed to dodge as the blades pierced his chest, the impact hurling him off his feet.

"Mokuton: Chika rutsu!"

Naruto cursed as his legs were caught by roots lashing up from the ground. Looking at the writhing wooden tendrils, he used his head-beam to slash at them enough that he could pull free, then suddenly new tendrils wrapped round him and hurled him into an arc that ended with him slamming into the ground.

"Again, Zetsu!"

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Jiraiya drop-kicked Deidara off the giant white bird, then he hurled himself into the air, making hand-seals as he did so. Landing, he slammed his hand onto the ground.

"Kuchyose no Jutsu!"

Two small clouds of smoke formed in front of him, resolving into two head-sized toads.

"Ma, Pa." Jiraiya said quickly. "Naruto's in trouble and I need your help to save him."

"That nice little boy's in trouble?" Shima asked, then her eyes narrowed as she leapt onto Jiraiya's left shoulder. "Come on, let's help him!"

"I'm coming, woman!" Fukasaku grumpled as he took his position on Jiraiya's right shoulder. "You ready, Jiraiya?"

"I am."

The two toads looked at each other, then closed their eyes in concentration and spoke at the same instant. "Senpo: Ryosei no Jutsu!"

The red lines under Jiraiya's eyes spread outwards and upwards, surrounding his eyes like a half-mask while his nose expanded slightly, several warts appearing on it.

"Alright." He growled as he crouched. "Time to save my godson!"

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Author's Afternote: Yep, the Akatsuki are trying to grab Naruto!
And Jiraiya's entered Sage Mode!
Dun, dun duuuuun!