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-One

Demon Rising

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"We're here!" Yomi exulted as he beheld the shrine that was built into the side of a volcano before him. Behind him, his followers collapsed onto the ground, even their own demonically-enhanced endurance having virtually given out. Yomi glanced at them and sighed.

"Rest here while I finish the ritual to resurrect our Master." He said and Gitai nodded as even he dropped to his knees, sweat pouring down his face.

#They are weak.# Moryo rumbled from within him and Yomi gave a slight head-shake.

"By the standards of humans, they are strong, great lord, especially when empowered by your imperious might. The journey has, however, been long and arduous, even with the ancient tunnels that you had caused to be constructed during your magnificent reign."

Moryo remained silent as Yomi approached the Shrine.

"It is almost time for your resurrection, mighty one."

#Excellent. Soon, the world shall once more be mine to command and none shall stand against My Chosen!#

"As you will, great lord," Yomi responded as he entered the Shrine, "So it shall be."

Moryo's silence was one of smug triumph and Yomi strode fearlessly into the dark recesses of the building.

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"Still no sign of them." Naruto mused as they crossed the border into the Land of Swamps. "None of the villages that we checked saw them and they haven't left any tracks."

"Perhaps they got lost?" Hoki shouted from Hinata's back.

"Unlikely." Ino commented. "These people planned it out too well, they made it to the first Shrine faster than we did, what if they had a shortcut?"

"Shortcut?" Shion scoffed. "We're headed straight for the Shrine without needing to detour around anything! There is no shorter route than this."

"Much as I hate to admit it, I agree with the Shrine-maiden on this one." Hinata sighed.

"Priestess!" Shion half-howled. "Not Shrine-maiden, Priestess!"

Behind the cover of his helmet, Naruto rolled his eyes. The instant dislike Shion and Hinata shared seemed to have got stronger.

He could only hope that it would not interfere with the mission.

"At least he hasn't summoned his army." Shion called. "The valley I insisted you flew over was where his army was halted, there was no sign of any disturbance."

Naruto nodded. Suddenly, one of the demands that Shion had made now made sense.

#...and I thought that she was just being a spoiled bitch.# Hinata admitted.

#And now?# Naruto prompted.

#She's still spoiled and bitchy, but at least she can think." Hinata responded. #I still don't like her, though, and the feeling seems mutual.#

#Just as long as it doesn't interfere with the mission.# Naruto stated.

"There's the volcano!" Shion shouted, pointing to the horizon. "We're almost there!"

"Oh hell." Ino said in a shell-shocked voice. "The slope in front of the Shrine."

"Fu sees them!" Fu called from her perch on Naruto's back. "Fu thinks that they are the Four from the Shrine!"

"How the hell did they get here so fast?" Hinata and Shion both asked simultaneously, then they glared at each other while Hoki crammed his fist into his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"Not important right now." Naruto said. "We need to stop them."

"We're too late." Ino contradicted him. "They're spread out in a defensive posture, that means that there's someone already inside."

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed, his mind already forming, analyzing and discarding plans. "Fu, armor up and team up with Hoki, take the two on the left and keep them distracted. Hinata, you and Ino take down the two on the right, then help take down the other two. Shion and I'll head into the Shrine to try and take down whoever is in there."

#Hey, let me out so I can have some fun!#

"Slight change of plan." Naruto said. "Kurama'll take down the one on the extreme left."

"Who's Kurama?" Shion asked, then she bit down a scream as Ino followed the others into a steep dive towards the ground.

Naruto felt Fu let go of him and her wings hummed as she adjusted her course to land in front of him, protecting him for long enough to let him release Kurama. Shion scurried across to place him between her and the advancing enemies, then the Four leapt back as Ino unleashed a blast through their formation.

"Feels good to be out again." Kurama rumbled as he finished forming. "Which one's mine? I have some serious tearing and rending to catch up on."

"That one." Naruto said, pointing at Gitai and Kurama growled with happy anticipation.

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Gitai's eyes widened in shock as one of the armoured figures seemed to peel open its chest and summon an armoured beast with multiple lashing tails.

"What the hell?" Kusana muttered from his left. "They have a Demon on their side?"

"Heh, so what? Lord Moryo'll take care of this thing, assuming it lasts that long." Setsuna growled as his hair started to rise, forming three triangles. "Let's take them down!"

"Hell, yeah!" Shizuku crowed as lines of blue extended down her face.

"Let's do this!" Gitai growled as rock flowed up his legs to encase him from the neck down, forming an armoured shell.

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"They're using that odd dark chakra." Hinata reported as three of the four in front of them began to change. "Do we need a new plan of attack?"

"I have a plan!" Kurama growled as he crouched. "Attack!"

Kurama's sudden rush blasted the rock-encased ninja off his feet and sent him tumbling across the ground.

"Hell… alright! Go!" Naruto shouted as he felt Shion clamber onto his back, then he launched himself into the air, arcing over the combatants and aiming for the entrance to the shrine.

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"Attack!" Kusana shouted as Gitai was slammed backwards by the summoned animal, then he dived sideways as a trio of spinning chakra spheres hurtled through the space he had just been occupying.

"Fu will defeat you!"

"I've got your back!"

Kusana mentally swore as he realized that he was fighting not one adversary, but two of them, then he spun out of the way of another barrage, flinging a chakra scalpel at one of the spheres. The resulting explosion catapulted him into a tree and he staggered for a moment before recovering.

"Note to self." He muttered even as he took a defensive stance. "Do not do that again."

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Hinata spun and dodged as she engaged in a deadly taijutsu dance with the enemy kunoichi. Blows missed by fractions of an inch as they wove around each other, straining their skills to the limit as they fought to inflict damage while not taking any themselves.

"Fuck, you're good." Shizuku admitted as they briefly drew away from each other.

"You're not too bad yourself." Hinata admitted in turn. "I don't suppose I can convince you to switch sides?"

"And miss out on ruling part of the world when Lord Moryo arises?" Shizuku laughed scornfully. "No."

"I was afraid of that." Hinata sighed as the two of them resumed their fight.

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Setsuna growled as he used his futon abilities to increase his speed enough to avoid another slash from the humming blades mounted on his opponants arms. His only attempt to attack her from behind had almost finished him as she had spun and almost disemboweled him, slicing through the armoured cloth of his tunic.

Ducking under another attack, Setsuna thrust forwards with both of his dual-bladed kamas, only for a back-slash to slice all four blades in half, rendering the weapons virtually useless.

"Damn you!" He snarled as his opponent pressed her attack, forcing him to retreat. "Lord Moryo will destroy you!"

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"There's the chamber!" Shion pointed at the door outlined by glowing red light. "The door's closed, it'll take me a few minutes to…"

Shion trailed off and held on as tightly as she could as Naruto slowed and rotated back to nearly-vertical, then she screwed her eyes closed as a blast tore through the reinforced stone door.

"We have entry." Naruto stated, letting his chest-plate close.

Shion felt the air around her change even as she continued to try and blink the spots out of her eyes, then she heard a gloating voice.

"You are too late, Lord Moryo has arisen once more!"

A roar echoed around the large chamber as a multi-headed shape emerged from the giant pit in the middle of the room and Shion gasped in horror.

"Well, this isn't good."

"You think?" Shion gasped as her eyes briefly flashed with a complex kaleidoscopic fashion before she jumped backwards, dodging by bare inches the shadowy tail that slammed into the ground.

"I need to seal him!" She shouted, hands reaching up to the talismanic bell on the string around her neck…

…only to be slammed back into the wall by a kick that crushed the spherical bell.

"I can't let you do that." Yomi stated as he pushed his heel harder against Shion's rib-cage, driving the air out of her. "I don't know just what you had planned using that bell, but…"

Shion gasped for air as Yomi vanished, reappearing on the other side of the cavernous chamber even as Naruto's blade scythed through the space where his neck had been. The noise of glass hitting the ground made Shion look down and she felt her body slump with despair.

"…no…" She whispered. "…mother… what do I do…?"

"YyOoUu DdIiEe!" Moryo roared, his heads arcing up to strike her and Shion froze just before a pair of arms wrapped around her and pulled her out of the chamber. The corridor seemed to blur past as Naruto flew her out of danger.

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"I expected more of a challenge." Kurama grumbled, blood dripping from his jaw. "But no, you had to drop that armor, pull out a damn snake and try to eat it. What's with you hairless monkeys and your need to pose?"

The motionless corpse didn't answer, although having had its neck almost ripped in half would have made answering incredibly problematic for anyone who wasn't a disciple of Jashin.

An explosion made Kurama look up, just in time to see Kusana fall to the ground, his torso caved in by a Bijudama which he hadn't been able to avoid because of the kunai in his eye.

"Done." Hinata stated, strolling towards him with the bisected corpse of her opponent behind her. "Good job, Kurama."

Kurama grinned, then his gaze snapped to the Shrine entrance.

"That doesn't feel good…" He began before Naruto and Shion rocketed out of the archway, swerving to one side to avoid the torrent of flames that blasted out behind them.

"We were too late and my talisman's been destroyed!" Shion shouted, her eyes wide with fear. "I can't seal him!"

"But we can!" Kurama gloated as he faded. "Brat…"

"Let's do this!" Naruto responded even as he dropped Shion into Hinata's arms and rose into the air even as Moryo's first two heads emerged into the open. "Guyver o kyoka!"

Energy swirled around Naruto, solidifying into an almost crystalline sphere before it shredded to reveal Naruto's enhanced armor form.

"SsOo, TtHhEe BbUuGg TtHhIiNnKkSs IiTt HhAaSs CcLlAaWwSs." Moryo roared in his multiple voice. Naruto didn't bother to answer, but his hands shot out and grabbed two of Moryo's necks before he shot upwards, dragging the multi-headed demon with him.

"Lord Moryo has arisen!" Yomi exulted from the doorway, then he cast his gaze over the deceased forms of his former team. "I see that my minions proved to not be a match for you. Pity, they should have managed to kill at least one of you."

"You monster…" Shion gasped and Yomi laughed.

"Monster?" Yomi gloated. "I am no monster, I am an Onryo! I am Lord Moryo's vengeance manifested, his herald to those who will serve him as he establishes his empire once more! His right hand and his voice to his subjects…"

Yomi dived to one side as two beams of red light slashed through where he had been standing, then he blurred forwards, only to screech to a halt as Fu stepped up behind Shion and spread all eight arms, forming a sphere of whirling chakra around them both.

"Nice trick." He said with a slight nod, then he vanished, reappearing behind Hoki and slicing across his throat with a chakra scalpel. "But how long can you keep it up?"

"HOKI!" Shion screamed as Yomi let Hoki's body fall to the ground. "NOOOOOOOO!"

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Author's Afternote – Grrr, Moryo's voice is a pain to write. Damn the fillers and their multi-headed adversary…