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-Eight
Red Dawn Resurgent
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The prisoner struggled as two of Pein's Paths dragged him into the center of the hall where the remaining members of the Akatsuki were waiting. The man tried to protest, but the gag in his mouth turned his shouts into indecipherable mumblings.
"Yesssss." Orochimaru mused. "He will do perfectly."
"Normally, I would have had him executed for his crime." Pein stated through his newest Deva Path. "But this way, he will truly pay."
Orochimaru nodded as he knelt and unrolled a small scroll on which an unidentifiable smear was located in the middle of a complex seal. His hands formed the tiger, snake, dog and dragon signs before he clapped his hands and slapped them down on the scroll.
"Kuchyose: Edo Tensei!"
The smear on the scroll seemed to writhe and expans outwards into a complex seal that surrounded the prisoner even as the Paths released him and leapt back so as to not be caught in the technique. The prisoner started screaming as dust and ash began forming round his body, encasing him before resolving into the shape of a man in red armour.
"Excellent." Nagato wheezed as his chair moved into the room and the Paths all collapsed as he pulled his chakra out of them. "Naraka Path, Gedo: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu."
A cloud of purple chakra formed on the floor in front of the resurrected person, then a giant demonic head rose theough the cloud. The head opened its mouth and a pair of long tongues lashed out, grabbing the armoured man by his shoulders and pulling him into its mouth, which slammed shut.
"Jashin-sama!" Hidan gasped before he was sent flying by a backhand punch delivered by Kakazu. "Ow, dammit!"
"Shut up." Kakazu snarled at the immortal, then he turned his attention back to the giant head as its mouth opened and it used its tongues to place the armoured man in front of it before it vanished back through the purple chakra. The man opened his eyes, revealing them to be the same as Nagato's.
"Madara." Nagato whispered as his Paths stood up.
"Nagato." Madara nodded back. "I live once more. How goes the plan?"
"It does not." The Deva Path replied. "There is a problem…"
"Oh?"
"Zetsu and Tobi are both dead, as is Sasori."
"Zetsu and Tobi?" Madara repeated, earning a measuring look from Orochimaru. "Unfortunate."
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Hiashi raised his Sake dish in salute to his oldest daughter.
"Now that things have calmed down," He said with a faint smile, "I believe that it is time for me to tell you how proud I am of you, my daughter, as I am certain Inoichi is proud of you, Ino."
"Hear, hear!" Yamanake Inoichi agreed as he smiled at the blushing girls.
"Although we will undoubtedly soon be striking back at Amegakure and the areas of Otogakure that we know about, for now let us concentrate on our own families." Hiashi continued. "Although it is a great shame that Naruto-Sama could not join us this night, we shall nonetheless raise our saucers to him as well, for it was he and his Armour that allowed us to weather the storm.
"To Naruto!" Everyone at the table chorused, raising their glasses or saucers before taking a sip.
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Naruto smiled at the feelings of love and affection that were flowing to him through the link with his fiancees. Far below him the Land of Rice Paddies extended to the horizon and Naruto continued to cycle through his visual modes, locating and examining the various bunkers and hidden bases concealed in the hills and valleys.
"Heck of a lot of hidden dens." Kurama mused thoughtfully, examining the landscape through Naruto's eyes.
"Agreed." Naruto replied quietly. "The trick will be figuring out which ones are the important ones, and which are simply distractions or decoys."
Kurama hmmfed and Naruto felt him drop off to sleep.
#Naruto, can you come back please? The Hogake wishes to speak to you.#
#I'm on my way, Ino-chan.# Naruto sent back. #I'm pretty much done here, anyway.#
Spinning in mid-air, Naruto flattened out into a diving position and accelerated, being careful not to go too fast.
Replacing all those windows had actually put a dent in even his finances.
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"He's on his way." Ino said, sparing a glance at the Oto Kunoichi who was strapped into a metal frame in the corner of the office. "I have to ask, though… why?"
"I will tell you and Naruto-kun once he arrives." Hiruzen smiled as he tapped some tobacco into his pipe. From his desk at the side of the office, Itachi glanced up briefly before returning his attention to the giant pile of paperwork on his desk.
"That's almost as much paperwork as Naruto-kun has to deal with." Ino finally noted and Itachi froze.
"It is?"
"He uses his clones…" Ino began and Itachi slammed his head onto the desk as Hiruzen chortled.
"Dammit." Itachi growled. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Three copies of Itachi appeared, each one grabbing a stack of paper and vanishing in a shunshin while Itachi glared at Hiruzen.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Hiruzen gave him an innocent look.
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Madara smirked as the pools around the roots of the giant plant rippled and the first white humanoids began to emerge.
"Impressive." Deva Pein said and Madara nodded.
"With the Nanabi almost certainly gone, the Ichibi in an unknown place, the Kyuubi beyond our reach and the Sanbi currently hiding, half the power of the Biju is unclaimable."Madara stated. "With the power of my Mangekyo Rin'negan, I can control those that remain should they be deployed against our army."
"I see only white Zetsus, though."
"They will suffice for our purposes." Madara stated. "Soon, we shall have enough of them to begin the conquest of the world, the Land of Wind and their new Hidden Village will be especially easy."
Pein nodded in agreement. "If the Moon's Eye will not open to bestow the way of peace, then the path of unification is the greatest chance we have."
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"I'm here." Naruto said as he flew in through the window, shedding his armor in mid-entry and landing in a controlled roll that left him standing in the middle of the room. A clone popped into existence and scurried out of the office, causing both Hiruzen and Itachi to raise querying brows at him.
"Mission report write-up." Naruto explained and both men nodded in understanding. "So, what… the heck?"
Naruto half-turned to stare at the bound kunoichi.
"I see you have spotted our guest, Tsuchi Kin." Hiruzen said. "She was part of the invasion force…"
"She was one of the ones who tried to attack me for the Guyver." Naruto supplied.
"…and since you defeated her, she currently falls under the War Captives regulations." Hiruzen continued. "Her skills are predominantly genjutsu, meaning that if we put her in the Correctional Facility with its chakra-dampening seals, she'll probably be raped to death by the inmates."
Kin whined in protest through her gag.
"Inoichi and Ibiki have already… debriefed her of all her knowledge about Oto and Orochimaru." Itachi added. "This means that from a resource viewpoint, she is useless to us now. She doesn't even have a Kekkei Genkei which would allow her to bargain for clemency in exchange for producing children with the bloodline for our forces."
Naruto blinked at the sheer cold-bloodedness that the explanation demonstrated.
"Normally, we would either jail her or simply execute her." Hiruzen stated, causing Kin to shrink against the straps holding her immobile. "We cannot allow her to leave Konoha since she is an enemy, nor let her act against it."
"What does this have to do with me?"Naruto asked slowly.
"You have the Uzumaki seals to draw upon." Hiruzen shrugged. "If she agrees, you will place a loyalty seal on her and take her into your house as a servant. The seal is to prevent her using her techniques against anyone from Konoha except under the supervision of an Uzumaki. You will be held financially responsible for her actions and be in charge of disciplining her if necessary."
"So… either I force her to serve me or she dies?" Naruto asked and Hiruzen nodded.
"Yes."
"Mmmmph! MmmMMMmmph! Mmmmph?"
Naruto walked over to Kin and worked the gag loose.
"Don't kill me!" She half-shouted, half-begged. "I'll serve! I'll take the seal!"
"Naruto." Itachi said and Naruto turned to look at him. "I've read the report on how Orochimaru treated her. I'll forward a copy to you,but if you do take her in, the fact you won't experiment on her will make her think that she's living in paradise."
Naruto turned back to the panting kunoichi and stepped forwards.
"Are you sure?" He said quietly and she nodded frantically.
"I'll make the arrangements." He sighed. "Thank the Kami's I finished extending the house."
"What?" Kin gasped. "I thought Orochimaru destroyed it when he took his archive back?"
Naruto smirked.
"He didn't?"
"I altered the self-destruct array years ago to cast a genjutsu of the area being destroyed." Naruto explained. "Plus the scroll he snatched wasn't the library, it was my Banquet of Ramen scroll. I was quite annoyed over that, actually."
Kin gaped at him in shock.
"But thanks for confirming where all the stuff came from." Naruto laughed. "I wonder why he didn't use the armor himself, though."
"I think you just broke her." Ino laughed as she waved her hand in front of Kin's face. "Let's get her home so you can apply that seal. Hinata's joining us."
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"Uhhh, huh?"
Kin looked around in shock. One moment, she had been captive in the office of the incredibly scary old man, but now, she was…
…in the arms of the armoured Naruto, who was flanked by two others in armor!
Only the fact that she hadn't had anything to drink for a while stopped her from wetting herself in terror, then she felt Naruto landing and was lowered to the ground. For a moment, it seemed to sway and side under her feet, then her balance reasserted itself and she looked at the large house in front of them.
"Come on, Kin." Naruto said as the door was opened by another Naruto. "The sooner we get this bit over and done with, the sooner you can get settled in and have Ino get you a new wardrobe."
"Yeah, that outfit does nothing for you." Ino agreed.
Kin let herself be steered in through the front door and paused at the sight before her. A giant scroll had been unrolled to cover most of the main room and a dozen clones were painting complicated sealing formulas onto it. In the middle, a silhouette showed where she was expected to lie.
"Alright." Naruto said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Me and my clones are going to leave you with the girls for a moment. You need to strip naked and lie face-down in the center. Hinata, once she's lying down, cover her with this."
"That's barely a handkerchief!" Kin protested and Naruto's blush increased.
"It's to cover your.. ahem… I'd give you a bigger towel, but I need to put seals across your back, arms and legs for this, so…"
Kin growled as Naruto and the clones filed out, then she started to lift the hem of her prison smock.
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"She's ready!"
Naruto leaned round to look into the room where Kin was lying in the center of the scroll, her modesty protected only by the small rectangle of fabric. Accepting a pot and brush from one of his clones, Naruto walked over to beside Kin and dropped to one knee.
"Please don't move." He said quietly and Kin closed her eyes.
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Kin closed her eyes as the brush began to dance down her spine, leaving cool trails of ink in patterns that seemed slightly familiar, yet were far beyond her comprehension. Each touch drove home the fact that she had been transferred from one type of slavery to another. Although her new master apparently wasn't the sort to randomly decide to use her to test new medicines or techniques on, she would be even more under his control than she had been under Orochimaru's.
The brush almost danced down one leg, then the other before going back up her spine and down her arms.
"Done." Naruto said and she felt his hand settle between her shoulder blades. "Now… this may feel strange."
Kin opened her mouth to ask if he meant painful, like many of Orochimaru's experiments, when suddenly she felt the ink writhing across her skin. Before her eyes, the seals on the scroll started to glow, then flowed inwards, covering her body in a sensation that was somehow relaxingly warm and simultaneously refreshingly cool before the feeling vanished, lingering briefly as a circled spiral.
"And done." Naruto sighed as he removed his hand and a kimono was placed over her. Moving carefully, Kin managed to slide her arms into the sleeves and wrap it around her without flashing anyone in the room. A moment later, a sash had been tied around her waist to hold it closed and she was helped to her feet by the two girls.
"Hina-hime, give her the bedroom by the balcony and get her settled in. Ino-chan, she'll need at least one new change of clothes before you can drag her out shopping." Naruto said and both girls nodded. "Good. I'll leave her in your capable hands."
Kin stared at the departing ninja in confusion. Why hadn't he tried to take advantage of her, like many others had done in Oto?
She really didn't understand Konoha at all.
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Author's Afternote- Madara's arrived!
Dun dun DUUUUUN!