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.
Due to progress made in writing this story, I'm returning to posting a chapter every other day. Enjoy!
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Chapter Seventy
Rakurai
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"Kumo." Hinata said as the large structure built around the apex of a mountainous peak came into view, a structure surrounded in turn by various buildings built onto and into the sides of the surrounding peaks.
"You sound… irritated by them." Shion offered quietly.
"Wen I was young, they sent an ambassador to negotiate a treaty with Konoha." Hinata explained. "His task was a ruse, his true mission was to kidnap me for use as a broodmare to allow Kumo to gain their own clan of Byakugan users. If not for Naruto-kun, he would have escaped, aided by one of the elders of my clan. Naruto-kun stopped him and unveiled the treasonous Elder, he whose name is no longer recorded in our records."
"And you agreed to come on this mission?"
"I was the only real choice." Hinata stated. "I am known to them and by having me as the team leader, we are telling them that we are too strong for them to try again. With my Guyver boosting my abilities, they cannot hope to capture me, so they have no real choice but to listen."
"Ninja." Shion sighed, shaking her head. "Always complicated."
Hinata smirked under her helmet as she led Shion down, coming to a halt in mid-air a hundred paces away from one of the watch-posts that ringed the hidden village. The trio of shinobi in the semi-concealed shelter stared at her.
"Envoys from Konohagakure, here to seek an audience with the Raikage." Hinata called out.
The shinobi conferred frantically, then one of them vanished in a cloud of dust.
"What now?" Shion whispered.
#We hurry up and wait.# Hinata responded. #Let me do the talking and just concentrate on looming in your armor.#
#I… haven't had much experience with looming.# Shion admitted.
#Think of your former Guard Sergeant in a bad mood?# Hinata suggested and Shion nodded, trying to hide her giggles.
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It took almost ten minutes before the third Shinobi returned with instructions.
"Lord Raikage sends his greetings and asks you to meet him on the top of the Raikage's Tower." He said, his voice calm despite how his eyes kept darting between the two Guyver-users. "He will be there with his brother and one other."
"Thank you." Hinata said as she began to drift forwards. Shion quickly caught up to her and dropped into position slightly behind her.
#What should I do?#
#I'll probably need to de-armor to convince them I come in peace, so just hover in the air, slightly beyond the edge of the roof and behind me.# Hinata replied after a moment's thought. #I'll do all the talking as this is Shinobi business. If it was religious stuff, you'd be taking the lead while I backed you up.#
#Got it… wow! What a building!#
Hinata turned her attention back to where they were going and se mentally agreed with Shion's comment. Ahead of them was the tip of one of the mountain peaks that Kumo was built in and around, but the peak itself was surrounded by a giant cylindrical building with walls comprised of blue-tinged glass. The roof of the towering edefice was covered in trees, from which the tip of the peak emerged, supporting a large metal structure that looked like a glass bowl supported on three stalks, with the weight being supported by a network of girders. Atop the upper structure, three figures stood, watching their approach.
#What the… look at all those muscles!# Shion gasped and Hinata gave a small nod.
#That would be the Raikage, A. The man next to him is his adopted brother and the Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi, Bee. I don't recognize the third, but she feels similar to Bee, so I would guess that she's Kumo's second Jinchuuriki.#
As they approached, the trio stepped back to give them room to land and Hinata adjusted her angle so that she touched down as lightly as a dancer. Shion simply came to a stop with her feet at the height of the railing as Hinata shed her armor.
"Thank you for agreeing to speak with me, Raikage-san." She said with a slight bow, briefly activating her byakugan as soon as her hair concealed her eyes. In the offices below her, almost a dozen shinobi were poised for action and Hinata carefully considered possible escape plans. "I am Hyuuga Hinata and behind me is my team-mate Shion."
"Interesting armor." The Raikage noted. "These are Bee and Nii Yugito. So, what does the Leaf want from the Cloud?"
"Most of the smaller nations have fallen to an alliance between Otogakure and Amegakure, an alliance that is using beings that seem to be creations of Mokuton, beings known as Zetsu."
"That was one of the Akatsuki, if I recall correctly." The Raikage mused.
"Hey big bro, this may sound whack / Ah think we gotta prep for the Zetsu attack.
"They're attempting the world to overtake / Thinking they'll avoid us is a major mistake.
"We gotta raise our forces and with the Leaf ally / Or we gonna be swamped by this plant-army guy.
"Word!"
For a long moment, everyone simply stared at the shade-wearing Jinchuuriki.
"I hate to say it, but he's probably right." Yugito finally said, looking as if the admission was causing her actual physical pain. The Raikage nodded slowly, then backhanded Bee so hard that the Jinchuuriki was sent tumbling across the roof.
"I TOLD YOU NO RAPPING DURING THIS MEETING!" He shouted, then turned back. "So. What's in it for us?"
Hinata slowly reached for one of the outer pockets of her chunin vest and pulled out a cylinder that was three times the length of the pocket. At the raised eyebrows of the two ninja, she gave an embarrassed smile.
"Fuuinjutsu pocket. It's bigger on the inside."
"Nice." Yugito said as she accepted the tube and flipped open the lid, only to pause. "I think you gave me the wrong tube. There's nothing in here."
"It was created in Uzushiogakure." Hinata explained. "It will self-destruct if you try to analyse it, but it transports messages. Place a message in it, apply chakra to both ends and the message will be transported to a special office in Uzushiogakure to be relayed to its final destination. Just make certain you put the symbol of the location you wish to send it to on the outside of the roll of paper. Currently, the locations are Uzushiogakure, Konohagakure and Kirigakure. My fiancee is currently on a mission to the Land of Iron to try and persuade the Samurai to join us as well."
"Not cool, bro." Bee grumbled as he ambled back to rejoin the Raikage, his face unmarred by the impact.
"No. Rapping." The Raikage ground out. "So, why shouldn't we simply reinforce our border with Frost and let you lot fight it out?"
"Message from the Border!"
The Raikage slumped as the messenger almost hurtled out of the trapdoor leading to the lower levels. "Why do I think that the decision has just been taken out of my hands? What's the message?"
"The border has been breached by three attacks, each led by someone using attack like nothing that's been seen before." The man said, the urgency showing despite the forced calm of his voice. "One of them is using a strange form of Raiton, but it's more powerful. A second is using sonic attacks while the third can transform into a flying beast and direct the forces from the sky."
"Damn." The Raikage grumbled. "Alright, you have that damned alliance, but we're going to be busy for a while. I'm going to need an ambassador in Konoha for this to work… Darui!"
"Hai, Raikage-sama?" The messenger asked curiously.
"Grab an Emissary-scroll and prepare for a trip to Konoha." The Raikage said. "Don't do anything that my father would have approved of, you're simply there to facilitate communications. I expect daily reports on everything you can find out about these attacking forces."
"Hai, Raikage-sama!" The white-haired man saluted before vanishing in a crackle of electricity.
"I may be a bit late, but you can take him back with you, can't you?"
"Yes, Raikage-sama, we can." Hinata stated, then her eyes widened as the Raikage dropped to his knees and formally prostrated himself.
"Hyuuga Hinata, I hereby apologize for the attempt my father ordered to seize you from your family." The Raikage said. "I cannot offer much, but know that the Hyuuga Clan may call upon me for one favor that will be granted, so long as it is within my power."
"I… I… thank you." Hinata finally managed.
"I'm ready, Raikage-sama!" Darui exclaimed as he reappeared with a large scroll slung over one shoulder, then he paused at the sight before him. "Ummmm, what did I just miss?"
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"OoooOOOooooOOOoohhhhhhhhh…"
"You don't sound like you're enjoying this." Hinata noted, trying hard to keep her sense of vengeful satisfaction hidden. "I thought part of being a Kumo-nin was being good with heights?"
"Yeah, but that's solid heights, not… not floating…" Darui groaned, keeping his eyes screwed tightly shut. "Uuuurgh, this feels… it don't feel good…"
Shion chuckled at Darui's queasiness, although her humor was tempered by the fact that the shinobi in question was clinging onto her as tightly as he could.
"As long as you don't try to re-paint my color scheme, I don't mind." Shion supplied and Hinata laughed at the thought.
"Don't even say things like that." Darui pleaded.
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A watched his ambassador vanish into the afternoon sky.
"How is he going to file the reports, A-san?" Yugito asked and A smirked.
"In that scroll is one of the Transfer Stones that Mabui made at my suggestion. Once he unseals it, she can use it to target her Tenso no Jutsu and every day at three, she'll do a switch, swapping whatever's on the stone there for whatever we want to send to him."
Yugito nodded in understanding. "Nice, means we don't have to rely on that message tube that the Hyuuga gave us."
"That's going to be useful as well, but we can't trust it." A agreed. "Anything we put in it will be read in Uzu and copies will probably be sent to the other members of the Konoha Alliance."
"If you say so." Yugito agreed.
"It ain't cool, I gotta say / I wanted to fly 'stead of Darui.
"See the world from way up high / It'll look cool from up in the sky.
"But now I'm stuck on boring ground / 'cause a better chance just won't be found."
"IRON CLAW!"
Yugito's eyebrows rose in appreciation as Bee slammed into the next peak over.
"You've been getting more exercise, Raikage-dono."
A smirked as he flexed his arms, showing off his bulging biceps.
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"There it is. Konoha." Hinata announced.
"Pardon me for not opening my eyes to check." Darui whimpered, causing Shion to twitch in a manner that suggested that she wanted to shake her head, but had remembered that her head-blade would cause problems for her passenger if she did. Choosing not to tease him any further, she altered her flight-path to aim for the top of the Hokage Tower where, alerted by Ino, the Hokage and several of his subordinates were assembled.
As they touched down, Darui released his death-grip from Shion's shoulders and dropped to his knees before rolling onto his back, spreadeagling himself on the wooden surface.
"At last! A solid surface!" He gasped. "Something that doesn't move underneath me and means I won't splash if I fall off!"
"You were above solid ground most of the way here." Itachi noted, amusement dancing in his eyes and Darui shrugged without bothering to open his own eyes.
"I know what I said."
"…true." Itachi allowed. "Anyway, welcome to Konoha."
Darui froze, then he cracked one eye open, his gaze darting around until it came to rest on Itachi, especially his robes and hat. With a muffled eep he scrambled to his feet and bowed deeply.
"Hokage-sama! My apologies! The trip here was…"
Behind Itachi, Tsume lost her battle against laughter while Shibi simply allowed one eyebrow to lift slightly.