Wazzup bros, ah'm Killer Bee / Doin' this authors note ya see
This Kishi dude owns Naruto / And Yoshiki has Guyver, now ya know
The righteous dude, TheBeardedOne / Writes this story to have some fun
That's all ah got for this news / So remember ta leave him good reviews!
Word!
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Chapter Sixty-Eight
Stone
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Pein stared at the blue-glowing rock in fascination, its glow reflecting from his rippled eyes.
"Incredible…" He breathed. "The energy in this stone, it's almost like Chakra, yet slightly different…"
"Chakra would be how you power your moves, yes?" Haido asked and Deva Pein nodded. "By implanting a stone like this into someone, their powers and prowess both increase amazingly."
"How much of this… Gelel stone do you have?" Pein asked.
"Alas, not as much as I would like, not by a long shot." Haido sighed, then he brightened. "However, there is apparently an entire vein of Gelel not far from here, somewhere on the border of River and Wind according to your map, and my Squire, Temujin, has the bloodline that allows him to work the stones so that others may use them. I myself can also forge the stones, but not nearly to the levels of refinement and power that Temujin will be capable of with but a little practice."
Pein glanced across to the fore-deck of the metal vessel where the warrior in question was sparring with one of the female knights and barely holding his own, much to the derisive amusement of the other two.
"If you are willing to send two of your Knights to join with My forces and lead them to victory, then I shall aid you in locating and uncovering this Gelel vein you seek. I shall also see if the greatest of my allies, Uchiha Madara, wishes to aid you."
"I have listened to your description and I shall see this stone first." Madara stated and he appeared in a spiralling distortion, causing Haido to gasp and step backwards. "…fascinating. If this is what it appears to be, then I will be happy to offer the Land of Rivers as your new homeland…"
Haido glanced at the forested shoreline and his expression morphed into a slightly-predatorial smile.
"The Freedom Army would be happy to accept."
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"Why did you offer to help?" Nagato asked as Madara appeared in his usual time-space swirl.
"The stone." Madara replied and Nagato cocked an eyebrow at him.
"The stone is solid energy." Madara expanded. "It is unrefined chakra, chakra that has not been used by humans nor filtered through the natural world to become Sage chakra. It is pure, solid chakra in its original form.
"It is the chakra of the Rabbit Goddess."
Nagato stared at him. "…how?"
"While he still lived, Zetsu showed me a tiny stone." Madara stated. "It was all he had of the energy of the Rabbit Goddess, the first one to use Chakra and who sealed the Juubi into herself before she was defeated by the Sage of the Six Paths.
"If the vein is as large as Haido says, the Moon's Eye Plan will be able to proceed even without a single one of the Biju to power it!"
Nagato's eyes widened in shock, then he grinned.
"Should we cease the assaults?"
"No." Madara replied after several moments thought. "To do so would cause questions as to why we stopped and might clue them in to our plans. We shall continue the war until the Moons Eye renders the need for it obsolete."
"As you command, Madara-sama." Nagato said with quiet reverence. "As you command."
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"The situation is dire." Itachi said glumly as Naruto and his team entered the war room. Naruto looked at the map on the wall and winced at the rash of red pins surrounding the Land of Fire, pins which each represented the last known location of an enemy formation.
"There seem to be quite a few notable incidents near Wave." Tsume said, glancing up from the pile of reports she was reading. "They could be trying to cut us off from our remaining allies."
"Agreed." Shibi said from behind the pile of reports that he was working through. "Divide and conquer is a logical strategy and one which our adversaries have utilised very efficiently."
"How can we help?" Naruto asked.
"We need more allies and messengers who cannot be intercepted." Itachi stated. "I am already deploying forces to slow the advance of the enemy forces in order to buy time for forces from Uzu and Kiri to join us, but we need more axis of attack if we are to truly hold our own. The two places which have the greatest military potential that are not already allied with us are the Land of Iron… and Kumo."
Naruto could feel Hinata stiffening.
"Kumo has suffered from a severe drop in income due to the aftereffects of their attempt to kidnap you." Itachi said, directly addressing Hinata. "Although they have managed to offset it somewhat, their misjudgment has led to their forces being unwelcome outside the Land of Lightning.
"It may be time for us to finally extend the hand of friendship to them, while showing we still carry a Zanbatou in the other."
"Who is the messenger then?" Hinata asked. "Me?"
"And one other." Itachi said. "However, I cannot send Naruto with you as I need him for the mission to Iron where he will meet with an old friend of his father's."
"I understand." Naruto said."
"I would advise taking Hoki with you." Itachi added. "As a former Taki ninja, his presence would demonstrate the scale of the threat."
"I'll take Shion with me." Hinata said, then looked round at the surprised looks she was getting. "What? She and I need to finish our discussion and a long flight to Kumo would be just the occasion."
"I'm not even going to ask." Naruto declared, raising his hands defensively.
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"Hey, big bro." Hoki said with a slight smirk. "I'm packed and ready to go."
"I know," Naruto shot back, "Considering it was my clones who did all the hard work."
"Hey, I helped." Hoki protested before he lost his battle against laughter. "Sorry. Okay, seriously, I'm ready to go."
"Good." Naruto replied as he stepped onto the edge of the balcony. "Then let's get moving. Guyver!"
"Guyver!" Hoki echoed as he hurled himself off the tower to follow Naruto. For a brief instant, his form was concealed in the sphere of energy that marked his transformation, then he rose into the air, the light glinting off his night-black armor.
"Which way?"
"West north-west." Naruto replied as the two of them continued to climb into the air, Konoha starting to shrink below them. "Try to keep up."
"Is that a challenge?" Hoki retorted. "Bring it!"
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"There they go." Hinata sighed and beside her, Shion nodded.
"Boys." She said, rolling her eyes. "Always have to make everything into a competition. Why they can't just get along, I don't know."
Hinata carefully didn't comment, but Shion gave her a glance that told her that she'd picked up on the unvoiced thought anyway.
"Speaking of getting along, I feel that I have to apologize." Shion said quietly. "When we first met, I was rather…"
"Prickly?" Hinata asked and Shion gave a small chuckle of laughter.
"Prickly." She repeated. "Yes. Very much so. But that was before my fractured visions and the scroll in the Uzumaki Shrine. The one explaining my gift."
Hinata blinked. "What?"
"My gift." Shion repeated. "My ability to see the future and alter it. The scroll was made by one of my great-grandmother's guards, an Uzumaki. When he returned to Uzushiogakure before it fell, he took the scroll with him at my great-grandmother's command and gave it to his niece to place in the Mask Shrine's library.
"My Gift has three ways of activating. The first is if I am to die, my Eyes will show me my fate so that I can change it, although it's generally limited to only a day at most.
"The second is my fractured visions, hints of what the future holds or may be.
"The third is one that any ninja would love to have and I only discovered it a few days ago. By channeling chakra to my eyes, I can see up to three seconds ahead while still seeing the present. I can only see what will be in the arc of sight that I have in the present, but it still gives me an invaluable warning of any attack."
"So… you can see an attack and dodge it… but wouldn't that mean that the attack wouldn't happen as you've foreseen?"
"It would." Shion agreed. "I gave myself several headaches trying to work out how it could work logically, but I had to give up. Just accept it."
Hinata rubbed at her forehead. "Urgh, that just doesn't make any sense!"
"Shion, Hinata, your scrolls." A clone said from behind them and both Kunoichi accepted the scrolls that contained all the equipment that they might need for their mission.
"Thank you." Hinata said, sliding the scroll into one of the pockets on her chunin vest, then kissing the clone on his cheek. Shion followed suit and the clone stepped back, blushing furiously as Hinata turned and leaped off the balcony.
"Guyver!"
Shion copied her actions and used her armor to rise into the air, wobbling slightly.
"Still not used to it yet?"
"With sorting out the Mask Shrine and going through basic emergency kunoichi training, I didn't have the time to fully learn how to use the armor as well." Shion admitted, shen she felt a surge of information flow through her head-metal and settle into her mind.
"That should help." Hinata said, her metal dimming from the bright glow it had boasted. "Now let's go."
Shion let her newly-granted reflexes guide her as she followed Hinata through the skies above Konoha.
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"There they go." Itachi said, watching the armored figures vanish into the distance. "Four of our strongest warriors being used for diplomacy…"
"But if it works, our forces will be enhanced considerably." Hiruzen said as he limped forwards, leaning heavily on his cane. "Let us hope that the Samurai will decide to ally with us."
"They are well-positioned to help us pincer Amegakure, assuming they can fight through the Land of Stones." Itachi admitted.
"As Kumo can strike through the Lands of Frost and Hot Springs, should Hinata's mission be a success." Hiruzen added.
"If…" Itachi mused. "If…"
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Madara landed beside Nagato and his purple-ripple eyes faded, turning into red eyes with a trilaterally-symmetrical circle-and-bar pattern.
"The Gelel Vein is over there." He said and Haido glanced at him.
"You could see it?"
"My eyes grant me great power." Madara stated. "Nagato, if you would be so kind as to open that hill?"
Nagato nodded and shed his red-cloud-cloak, revealing that he had six arms. Pointing them all forwards, he frowned in concentration as his hands seemed to fragment and fold away, revealing metal cones that ended in small tubes.
"Guns?" Haido asked curiously, then he stepped back as six blasts of pure energy were fired from Nagato's arms, gouging a huge trench in the hill, a trench through which a pale blue glow could be seen.
"Sir!" Temujin gasped as he pointed with one hand, while the other pressed against his chest. "That glow…"
"I know." Haido said in a genial tone through which avarice leaked. "I can feel its effects too. That is the Gelel Vein spoken about in legend and…"
Temujin gasped as Madara decapitated Haido, then tried to run, only to be sent flying by a missile barrage from Nagato. As his flailing form vanished over the cliff, Madara nodded.
"Excellent work, my apprentice, they had both outlived their usefulness to us and by telling the other three that our enemies struck at us, we shall have their service for as long as they live. Now, let us seize and seal these rocks, so that we can make our dream a reality."
Without bothering to look back, Madara and Nagato strode towards the now-revealed source of power.
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Temujin gritted his teeth against the pain he felt as he clung onto the cord attached to the grappling hook that was fastened to the cliff above him. Although he could feel the energy of the Gelel Stone that his Lord had implanted in him beginning to heal him, the wound to his soul of seeing his saviour and master slain before him would never heal.
Shifting his grip slightly, Temijin began lowering himself to the shoreline below, the waves crashing against stones filled with sparkles of blue.
He would avenge his master by joining those opposed to Madara and his minions.
His honor as a Knight of the Land of Mystical Stones demanded no less.
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Kurama looked curiously at the formation of blue and red plating. It had extruded enough out of the ground that he could see that it was not a dome as he had thought, but an ovoid.
And it seemed to be twitching occasionally.
Kurama laid his head on his front paws and watched the odd spheroid curiously.
He had no idea what it was, but it was obviously linked somehow to the armor that his host was bonded to.
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Author's Afternote: What? You really expected the third-rate villain Haido to become Madara's equal as part of a Big Bad Duumvirate?