Chapter 3: Contact

They looked up at the mountain and saw five faces, four men and one woman.

"Where are we?" HoroHoro asked. "And who the hell are these people carved into the mountain?"

"I haven't the slightest clue but it looks like we're in some sort of village. The atmosphere here is different too, it isn't the same as our world." Yoh said, calmly. "Although, it looks like everyone made it here safely…wait, where's Hao?"

"He must've woken up before everyone else and run off. Coward." Ren replied.

"Before we go searching for Hao, can somebody please explain where we are?" whined HoroHoro.

Silva nodded.

"The portal is an ancient tool used by the Patch. Only a select few are allowed to know about its existence, and even fewer its whereabouts. This portal, which is powered by the Great Spirit, has the ability to send its travelers to any of its thousand different worlds. We are fortunate that we were all brought to the same one. The purpose of the portal is to send the traveler into a different world in order to test his or her skills against the warriors it contains." Silva explained.

"So, how do we get back home? And why are there spirit orbs everywhere?" Marco asked, angrily.

"Fortunately, the Patch have built doors in each of the worlds. It is a part of the trial to find the way home." Silva answered. "The Great Spirit brought us here because there are formidable opponents. The door will not reveal itself until we have proven ourselves worthy, so I suggest that we all start looking for an opponent. It has bound your destiny to theirs, so they will be easy to find. As for the orbs, The Great Spirit has turned all innocents into spirit forms in order to ensure their safety."

"Redseb. Seyram. I will not be with you this time." said Mikihasa to his young wards. "Trust in Golem's abilities and prove your worth."

Everyone looked at each other, nodded, and went their separate ways in search of their opponent. Meanwhile, in The Valley of The End, Hao stood upon the statue of Hashirama Senju thinking to himself.

"It seems that even though this world is full of spirits, my Spirit of Fire cannot ingest them. Quite interesting indeed." Hao said, disappointed.

Suddenly, Hao began to sense a presence unlike any he had felt before. This presence did not fear death, nor did it value life. It was cold and merciless.

"Whoever you are, come out quietly and I won't rip your soul to shreds." Hao threatened. "Hiding won't do you any good, seeing as I can read your mind."

A mysterious voice echoed throughout the valley.

"I am not a man to be threatened, stranger." The mysterious voice said. "Yet, I sense a great power within you."

"You're absolutely right." Hao replied. "I wield the Spirit of Fire. One of the five grand elemental spirits of the Great Spirit."

The mysterious voice then appeared out of hiding and revealed himself to be Madara Uchiha, the greatest enemy that Konohagakure has ever known. In spite of his bone-chilling presence, Hao remained unfazed.

"You are not from this world." Madara said. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know why I'm here." Hao replied "But I can sense your raw power as well. You truly aren't a man to be reckoned with. With your soul, my Spirit of Fire would be more powerful than ever. What do you say you give me your soul?"

"Tch. If you want my soul, you'll have to rip it from my body." Madara retorted.

"If that's the way you want it, I'll happily oblige." Hao said, with a dark grin.

Almost immediately, Hao made the first move. Using the air as his medium, he formed his OverSoul "Spirit of Fire". Attacking powerfully and quickly Hao proved to be no weakling, easily destroying hundreds of acres with each punch. But Madara was no weakling either, dodging every attack Hao dished out.

"You're strong." Madara said, condescendingly. "But you lack accuracy."

"DO NOT LOOK DOWN ON ME!" screamed Hao. "MY SPIRIT OF FIRE WILL FEAST ON YOUR SOUL!"

Madara continued to dodge Hao's attacks waiting for the right opportunity to strike back, slowly biding his time, studying Hao's movements. Madara then found and opening and attacked! Rushing towards Hao at a blinding speed, Madara delivered a kick that Hao would not soon forget.

"How!? How is he able to move that quickly!?" Hao thought to himself. "I've never seen speed like that. Even from Chocolove."

"You've left yourself open for too long!" Madara screamed. "FIRE STYLE: PHOENIX FLOWER JUTSU! "

A huge explosion resulted from a direct hit to Hao, smoke and ash flying in each direction. As the smoke cleared, much to Madara's surprise, Hao emerged unscathed. Hao had the ability to change the nature of his spirit to any of the five elements: Fire, Water, Metal, Wood, or Earth. By changing the Spirit of Fire's nature to water, Hao was able to nullify the gigantic fire ball thrown at him.

"It seems we are at a stale mate." Hao said, begrudgingly.

"If you think this is a stale mate, you're still too naïve." Madara answered with a cold look in his eyes. "I have yet to get serious."

Meanwhile, Naruto and the others planned their next move.

"If this is an attack on Konoha, we can't just sit here and let it happen. We need a plan." Shikamaru said.

"He's right." Asuma agreed. "If Madara really is behind this, we need to find him as soon as possible. We still don't know why he turned everyone into orbs of energy either."

"Although our main priority is finding Madara, we have another problem." Shino said. "I don't know if any of you noticed, but there has been a change in our atmosphere. There are eleven new beings within our village walls. And they're pretty powerful too."

"How do you know Shino?" Naruto asked, confused.

"My bugs have been acting up ever since the strange light faded." Shino replied, anxiously.

"They must be Madara's subordinates!" Might Guy screamed. "I think we should go find them! There are eleven of us, and eleven of them! Each of us gets an opponent! THIS IS THE POWER OF OUR YOUTH. TO FIGHT STRONG OPPONENTS AND TO DEFEND OUR VILLAGE!"

"I AM WITH YOU MASTER!" screamed Rock Lee.

"That isn't a bad idea, Guy." Kakashi said sternly. "Okay. Is everybody okay with this plan? We'll each seek out one of Madara's subordinates, take them down, and meet here to regroup. Be very careful, we don't know who they are or what they can do. Try to take them down as quickly as possible."

The group quickly dispersed in search of Madara's subordinates, each with a resolve that could not easily be broken.