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 Sixty
Enemies Regrouping
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"In your current state, you are not powerful enough to aid me." Madara declared and Nagato looked at him, noting the new bandage wrapped over one eye. "It is fortunate that Orochimaru has such an adept med-nin in his employ, as it allows me to do this, using my original eye."
Madara raised one hand and peeled the bandage away from his left eye, before he opened it, revealing it to be a Mangekyo Sharingan, three comet-like tomoe forming a circle.
"When Izanagi is used in conjunction with the rin'negan, it can not only be cast on someone other than the user, it can restore what was taken even years before." Madara explained as he began glowing with a chakra-aura. "Although the Sharingan used to cast it is still destroyed, I feel that the sacrifice is worth it. Izanagi!"
The tomoe in his eye span in a rotating blur, then Nagato felt his body waver before he was no longer a prisoner of the life-support chair that had sustained him for so long, but was instead standing tall, returned to full health. A brief spike of agony washed through him and he reached up to feel a set of metal studs set across his forehead, spaced closely enough that they resembled a circlet.
"My… paths…" He said slowly. "I can still feel them…"
Madara nodded as he lowered the bandage back down over his now-empty socket.
"I would not deny you the use of your Paths." He said as he turned away. "Now, though, you can stride amongst them and use all the Paths through yourself as well."
Nagato didn't answer as his gaze was transfixed by his hands, no longer skeletally emaciated but fully formed and fleshed.
"We shall discuss our plans once I have reclaimed my true eye, the one I took from my brother." Madara stated as he walked out of the door, stepping to one side as soon as he was through to allow the passage of the six Paths who moved to surround their controller.
"I… I'm healed…" Nagato whispered. "Amazing…"
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"Amazing…" Shion breathed as she peered over Ino's shoulder at the ground flowing by far below.
"I agree!" Hoki called from where he was clinging onto Hinata's back (the Hyuuga having flatly refused to carry the priestess).
"Is that the shrine there?" Naruto asked and Shion looked at where he was pointing.
"Yes, that is the shrine that holds Moryo's soul." She confirmed. "Without his body, he can survive only moments outside the shrine, but he has the ability to possess anyone who gets too close without protection, meaning that…"
Shion's voice cut off as the shrine exploded in a blast of fire, sending blocks of stone several meters across into the air.
"Oh no!" She breathed in horror. "I can't sense his energy… he must have managed to escape!"
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Yomi smirked as far behind him and his followers, the former prison of the magnificent Moryo was destroyed by the explosive tags he had carefully placed and supercharged with the energy granted him by his new tenant.
Deep inside his mind, he could feel Moryo's satisfaction at having escaped his prison, even though he had been forced to accept refuge inside Yomi in order to avoid discorporating.
"We need to move faster." He declared. "We have to reach the Land of Swamps as quickly as we can, so that our Lord and Master may arise to lead us once more! To the tunnels!"
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Naruto touched down just outside the crater that had once been the shrine that had restrained the ancient demon. Ino and Hinata also touched down, letting their passengers disembark, followed by Fu.
"Chomei says that the demon went into a person." Fu said quietly. "Chomei recognises the feeling of the use of sealing techiques, but this one is new to Chomei."
"We'll need to check this place out to see if we can work out just what happened." Naruto declared as he shed his armour and created several dozen clones who charged into the still-smoking ruins. "Hinata, I'll need your eyes for this. Ino, Fu, find a defensive location and make camp. Hoki, keep watch on Shion and for the sake of the thousand kami's, don't let her do anything stupid like wander off so she can get kidnapped."
Shion glared at the blond Jonin as her bodyguard frantically tried not to laugh. Behind them, Ino and Fu rose into the air while Hinata shed her own armour and moved to stand by Naruto's side.
"My clones found some footprints." Naruto mused. "They don't recognise the pattern on the sandals… assuming that they are sandals and not boots… what do your eyes tell you?"
Hinata took half a step forwards as the veins around her eyes bulged.
"I can see a large shattered crystal… several fading seals that I don't recognise… and a scrap of fabric over there!"
Another clone popped into existance and ran to collect the piece of fabric from where it was snagged on a shattered doorpost.
"White…" The clone called out. "The four!"
"Agreed." Naruto replied, then he facepalmed. "Of course I agree, that's my clone."
Hinata smiled at Naruto, then turned round.
"Shion-sama, watch out! There's a spider in the tree above you!"
Shion jumped away from the tree even as Hoki seemed to teleport to her side, his hand flickering as he launched a kunai into the branches. A high-pitched screech cut across the clearing, then a spider almost as big as Shion's body fell out of the tree, the kunai lodged in its head.
"I… there wasn't a vision to warn me…" Shion whispered in shock as she stared at the arachnid. "I… I don't understand…"
"Don't worry about it." Naruto commented as he turned his attention back to his clones who were rooting around the wreckage. "Just try to avoid those trees if you can. Wouldn't want you to become a spider's snack."
"No vision…" Shion repeated, staring at the still-twitching corpse.
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"Where are we?" Nagato asked as he looked around at the place that Madara had brought him. The walls were smooth rock and rose for what seemed like a mile, opening to the sky, while giant roots plunged into the ground around them, connected to a plant that extended halfway up the shaft, a giant flower at the top of the enormous stem.
"We are in the Mountain Graveyard." Madara commented as Nagato's gaze was arrested by the sight of what appeared to be a man half-sunk into the plant with eight hands extending out around him. "This is the Shinju Regrown, the Divine Tree from the dawn of the age of Shinobi. It is also the source of the Zetsu."
"Madara-sama." A voice said and Nagato's eyes widened as two white humanoids appeared from behind one of the roots. "You have returned."
Madara nodded regally. "I have. How goes the White Army?"
"Ten thousand are ready now, Madara-sama." The Zetsu on the left stated. "The others need a few years yet before they are ready, only five thousand will ripen each year for the next five years and then the rest will mature."
Madara turned to Nagato. "Choose your people to lead the White Army. With a force of ten thousand Zetsu now and more to follow, we can overcome any enemy."
"…ten thousand…" Nagato whispered.
"Choose your commanders wisely."
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The dawnlight illuminated the campsite, reflecting off the kunai that had been placed in a circle round it, kunai that each boasted a sealing tag tied to the pommel-ring.
Above the camp, an armoured figure lowered itself to the ground even as the flaps of the largest tent opened to disgorge two people.
"No action?" Naruto asked as he stretched and Ino shook her head as she shed her armor.
"Nope, nothing more than a couple of wild deer and some squirrels." She replied, glancing at the next-largest tent where Fu had stuck her head out to listen. "Just like your watches, quiet."
"Good." Naruto stated. "It's when things get interesting that you know that you're in trouble."
"I know." Ino said with a slight wince. "Wave."
"Don't I know it." Naruto agreed.
"I don't see anyone nearby." Hinata said as she deactivated her byakugan. "We're clear for a kilometer in all directions."
"Then once everyone's awake, I'll take down the barrier." Naruto decided. "How long will it take the Four to reach the other shrine?"
"Good question." Ino mused as she pulled out a sealing scroll and unrolled it. "Hold on, let's see… nope, that's the medical kit… diary… whoah! I'd forgotten I had this…"
Naruto stared at the photo album with stars, hearts and the kanji for love on it, all arrayed artistically around the name "Sasuke". Ino saw his incredulous look and blushed.
"I used to be a fangirl?" She weakly offered even as she tried to re-seal the book, only to drop it. The book hit the ground and opened, its pages fluttering in the morning breeze to reveal pictures of Sasuke in it, pictures obviously taken without his knowledge as they showed him training, standing on a short pier, pulling on a shirt as he chomped on a slice of toast…
Ino managed to grab the book and shove it back into its seal matrix, her face so red that it was almost glowing.
"Don't. Say. A. Word." She growled as she unsealed a map and thrust it as Hinata.
"I didn't say anything." Hinata smirked.
"That crush is dead and buried." Ino muttered. "Besides, I know about the book you have, remember?"
Hinata lunged forwards and tackled Ino to the ground, clapping her hand over Ino's mouth while Naruto stared in confusion.
"What the heck are you… no. I don't want to know. We have a mission, we can discuss this later, if it actually needs to be discussed."
Both girls nodded and slowly climbed to their feet.
"What's going on?" Shion asked as she crawled out of the tent that she and Fu had been sharing.
"Map." Ino declared, unrolling it. "We're here… Shion, where's the other shrine?"
Shion stumbled over, fighting down a yawn, then knelt down beside Ino.
"Hmmm, land of gentle breezes… land of white rock… land of swamps… river… forest of giant rodents… here."
Ino walked her fingers across the map, slowing slightly as she passed the symbols for cliffs and rivers.
"Assuming they went for the fastest route… minimal resupply… jonin-level reserves?"
Hinata shook her head. "Closer to Kage, but it was… different…"
"Kage level… rivers won't be an issue due to water-walking… high-Jonin speed, assume they can run for eighteen hours straight and rest for six… we have another three days before they can get there."
"Then we head out tomorrow." Naruto stated. "That should give us a day or two to find the shrine and destroy Moryo's body. Once that's done, we can backtrack, find the Four and stop them."
"Sounds like a plan." Ino agreed.
"Fu thinks it is a good plan." The green-haired Jinchuuriki agreed. "But Fu has to know, what was that book you had?"
Ino flinched, then glared at the oblivious girl while Hinata started giggling.
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Nagato watched from the balcony, flanked by all of his Paths, as the ground started to crack and shudder before the first Zetsu emerged. For a long moment, only one white being stood in the middle of the parade ground, then more emerged, a few at a time, then by the dozen and then the hundred, turning the pounded-earth surface into an ever-growing mass of Zetsu. Soon, the entire field was covered and the pressure of the Zetsu was pushing them out of the archways and into the surrounding streets.
"Magnificent." Madara said as he walked up behind Nagato. "With an army like this, none of the Hidden Villages will be able to resist us. We will bring peace at last to the Elemental Nations."
"Indeed." Nagato said, revelling in the ability to speak without pain. "This is the start of a new era. At long last, war will be ended and we shall have peace… this will be peace in our time…"
"Indeed, but we must plan our actions carefully." Madara said. "Ame and Oto must be linked for this to work, meaning that the first two villages we must seize will be Kusugakure by your forces and Takigakure by mine and Orochimaru's. After that, the Land of Earth will be our next target..."
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Author's afternote: The reason Shion didn't get a vision about the spider was that she wasn't going to die and thus didn't need to change her actions to avoid it.