Chapter V – To The Village of Avatars

Next morning, Naruto's first thought was to get some Ramen. He took a ramen cup from his kitchen drawers and boiled some water. His body did this instinctively, so his brain – now fully rested – can think about other things. Like his encounter with Hinata last night.

After pouring the hot water, he waited for the three or five minutes to pass. At the same time, his mind kept rewinding back to last night. He couldn't get it out of his mind.

He remembered how cute she was when she blushes.

He remembered how soft her hands were.

He remembered how adorable her giggle was.

He remembered this strange sensation within him when she was near. He never felt this way before, not even with Sakura-chan. But whatever it was, it felt right somehow.

"You like her." It was Kyuubi.

"What?" he was surprised. "W-what are you talking about?"

"You are so obvious…" Kyuubi snickered. "Hehe… Cute kid."

"HE. IS. LATE."

Kurogane, Huang, Takibi and Matchi are already on the training grounds. His grandafather, Saitou and Feng had to stay behind for some political matters. It seems that they have to meet with the new Kazekage who is arriving this afternoon. Kurogane and his team were given instructions to return to Izanami along with another shinobi team participating in the exam.

Kurogane checked his digital watch and saw that the reading changed from 10:57 to 10:58.

"What's taking him so long?"

Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Huang, and her head was turned to the direction of the village.

"Don't worry, he's coming already."

About time. He was about to ask if she sensed the idiot's chakra when she added. "And he changed his clothes a bit."

After a few seconds, he sensed a familiar chakra heading their way. And in a flash of orange and black –mostly black - Naruto appeared carrying his backpack. The guy changed his clothes alright.

He traded his usual orange jacket and pants for something much more gothic – perfect for wearing when going to Izanami - but still with a pinch of Naruto fashion. He was wearing a black jacket and a black pair of pants. Both clothes have orange flame designs. His shoes were also in the same roadkill fashion. And since his jacket was unzipped, Kurogane could guess that it was a black sleeveless shirt under it. And as the guy put his things down and stretched himself, Kurogane also noticed an insignia of a burning whirlpool at the back of his jacket. It also has the kanji for "Next Fire Generation."

Now this is a first.

"Nice outfit…" said Huang.

"Thanks." Naruto replied.

"Looks like you got rubbed off on someone." Takibi said, before laying eyes on Kurogane.

"Don't blame me on that." Kurogane said. "Orange was more your color. But, that kind of looks good on you. Seriously…"

Matchi watched in perverse fascination as he marveled at Naruto's new ensemble. Like Kurogane-sempai said, it certainly looks good on him. Must be the orange flame thing.

The sound of clapping of a pair of hands caught his attention and he turned to find his sister Huang signaling to the entire group to pay attention.

"Alright, everyone. We are ready to depart for Izanami. Matchi, will you do the honors?" she said.

What? Why me? Was what he wanted to say, but all he managed to get out of his mouth was "EH?"

Oh, no. She's giving him that look again. That same look that she gives him whenever he doesn't want to follow orders, doesn't want to tell the truth, or just doesn't want to go through whatever bizarre punishment she's got in plan for him.

He remembered the time when he was caught throwing waterbaloons at girls back at the Academy. Huang suggested testing a Water jutsu that she's been learning on him as punishment. It was just Water binding jutsu where a thousand hands made of water held down the target, so it wouldn't cause him any harm. But, a few seconds while in the jutsu, he was wrong. Instead of binding him, the hands tickled him all over and he spent a couple of hours laughing his head off – and an extra 30 minutes before Huang could finally turn off the jutsu.

Come to think of it, Huang was never good with Water jutsus since her principle element was fire and wind. Maybe that had something to do with the Waterbind jutsu going haywire.

Or maybe that had been her plan all along.

And then, there have been others but he doesn't even want to recall those.

Snapping back to the present, he noticed that Huang had raised her right hand towards him, palm up, and started curling her index finger towards her – it's a signal telling him to get his butt over here and –with that stern look – or else.

Matchi sighed and nodded in defeat.

From his mentioned experience, the wrath of an older sister isn't really a pleasant thing.

He walked over to her, arms slightly raised up in a don't-shoot-me expression.

Huang patted him on the head. "Good boy. Matchi, you do the Wings of Flight jutsu."

"Are you sure about that? I haven't perfected it yet."

"Just do it." She said, and then she turned her head towards the crowd. "Ah, yes. You have a question?"

Matchi turned his head to that direction and saw that the white-eyed girl had raised her hand. It was that Hyuuga Hanabi whom he met yesterday. And for some reason, he was getting nervous. And it had nothing to do with the worry of casting the jutsu.

"I've been wondering about this, how exactly we are going to your village?" she asked.

"Good question." Huang answered. "We'll be using a special teleportation jutsu to get us there. Matchi will be casting it." She nuzzled his hair a bit. "Go, little bro."

Matchi gave her a worried look and turned to the others with a face that certainly says "Help me!"

"You'll do fine, Matchi. Just don't drop us off at the wrong grate." Said Kurogane-sempai.

"You're not helping…" Matchi muttered under his breath.

As Huang stepped away from him, Matchi took a deep breath – twice – and concentrated on performing the jutsu. He took a matchbox from his left pocket, shook it, took three sticks and simultaneously lighted them. The heat from the matchstick flames seemed to comfort him from the stares he was getting from the crowd, actually from Hanabi's stares.

Dammit, gotta concentrate. He thought. Remember what Kurogane sempai's words: set your sights on the goal, ignore everything else, and go straight in for the kill.

Matchi threw the three matches into the air and the flames consumed them. Not that it really mattered anyway, the fire was the most important part of the jutsu.

He began to perform the seals as the red and orange flames began to encircle the group. He could hear the gasps from his audience. He ended the jutsu with a seal that can only be used by the Hanabishi clan, the ones chosen by the Phoenix Guardian FengHuang.

The flames were going faster now, enveloping them in red and orange. Then, after a few more seconds, they were gone.

"Here we go again." Naruto thought.

They were falling down a tunnel of sorts, made out of orange and red flames. The wind was deafening, as was the screams from his companions.

He was a about to throw up but he held it in. If he did, it would be a messy landing. His breakfast of instant ramen, churning around in his stomach and, for a split second, it felt like it got lodged up in his throat again.

"If I knew we were going to do this, I should've skipped breakfast."

Then, he saw the end of the tunnel. The exit.

Next thing he knew, he landed feet-first on solid ground.

Someone, he wasn't sure who, near him cried out. "Land! Solid land!"

He's never gonna get used to that.

He glanced a look around. Yep, this was certainly Izanami. Lots of tall buildings, light mist, an impression of immense dread. This was certainly the place. And it hasn't changed a bit. Well, duh, he had only left this place with Jiraiya a few weeks ago.

They were in the Deity Square, in the very middle of the village – actually, the place seemed more like a city. The registration hall should be a few blocks away from here. Naruto glanced at the ground to look at the ever-so-familiar mosaic of the four Guardians of Izanami. There was a depiction of two deities holding hands, one male and one female, trapped in a circle. Their positions seemed to resemble the yin and yang symbol. They were surrounded by the four animals that represented the Four Clans that ruled over Izanami: a turtle on the north side of the mosaic, a phoenix on the west, a tiger on the south and a dragon on the east.

"Alright, everyone." It was Huang. "We'll escort you to the registration hall for the exams, please follow me." She motioned the group to follow her.

Naruto stopped looking at the mosaic and began to follow them. But he stopped, he sensed something-no, someone.

Kyuubi-enhanced hearing confirms heartbeats and breathing. But it couldn't be from the group or from the people around. Their heartbeats and breathing were normal. But this heartbeat and breathing were different from the others. They were trying to conceal themselves.

He turned to the direction of those certain sounds; he stared suspiciously at the trees near him.

"Ignore them." It was Kyuubi. "We'll deal with them later."

Naruto agreed and ran to catch up with the group.

Meanwhile, someone watched Naruto from the trees.

So that idiot managed to sense him, even with concealed heartbeats and breathing. The guy must've improved.

And with that, the figure smirked.

And his eyes flashed in a red color.

A very familiar red color with three tomoes encircling around the pupil…