„Huh that´s him?"

„Don´t forget, your jiji was also an old flesh-bag but he was the strongest in Konoha!"

Hearing the name of his old home village still sent stabs of pain into his heart. "Yeah..." he thought despondently.

"Naruto. Look it´s been six and a half years since the plague. Three years of grieving, two years of studying and grieving and one and a half year in this new world. I´m not telling you to forget your friends and basically the destruction of mankind in your old dimension but living in the past isn´t healthy nor will it ever bring anybody back."

"I know Kurama, we had this discussion before, but how to kami can I happily live while everyone else died. I´m useless! I couldn´t help anyone"

" You can honor their memories. They will live through you. And how about you help those new friends you made, they could probably use it. Get to know them better and live for fucks sake. Maybe even get a mate."

"Yeah right. Must I remind you that I still look like I´m seventeen and won´t age."

"So? It´s a bonus. You´ll always have a youthful appearance and be in top shape to fight.

Now it seems we´re going into that airship."

Looking around he noticed everybody was heading towards the zeppelin and he was the last one standing. Searching for his new friends the shinobi stept into the ship.

"Hey what´s going on? Where are we traveling to?" Everyone sweatdropped. "You didn´t listen?" Leorio screamed at him incredulously.

"Maah I was thinking. No need to get your pantys in a twist"

"You..!"

Dodging a fist thrown his way Naruto started laughing.

"Alright everybody: Attention we are on Splitback Mountain. Please step outside."

The hunter wannabes gathered around the edge of a very steep canyon.
"What could possibly be below?

"Relax. There´s a deep river below."Menchi told them while taking her boots of. "But if you fall in, the currents are so strong that you´d bet carried several kilometers to sea."

Then she jumped over the edge.

"What the..." The contestants started screaming.

Chairman Netero spoke up "She must have been looking for the egg of the spider eagles that live in the mountain. In order to protect its eggs from land predators, spider eagles hang their eggs on sturdy threads in between the canyons."

Menchi called up to them while she performed the task. "Hang up on the thread well, pick one egg and climb back up. Here" she showed them the egg "All you have to do is boil the egg"

Some of the examinees looked at her like she was crazy.

Some others on the other side looked exited.

"Ah that´s a relief" Killuah said as he started walking towards the edge. "Yeah! I was waiting for something like this." Gon piped up.

"Yeah! Let´s go!"

All of the five friends jumped down and got themselves an egg. Feeling a little mischievous Naruto climbed the rock up like the tree climbing exercise. He could hear people mumbling about his feat and he did a flip in the air, landing in front of the contestants, Menchi and Netero. The former two were impressed and the latter was looking at him with a twinkle in his eye that reminded him of Lee. Instantly his good mood was gone again. Clenching his fist he turned away and walked to the big kettle holding boiling water and threw in his egg.

After everyone had tried the eggs – and wow were they delicious! - they went back inside of the airship. The second exam, second half ended with 43 examinees passing.

_Ä.Ä_

It was dark outside and everybody was gathered in a room inside the zeppelin. The chairman was upfront and started to reintroduce himself to the waiting hunter applicants.

"Ho ho ho, I feel an indescribable tension flowing! I might as well stay with you guys" he said after his introduction. Naruto snickered. "Want to feel young again, huh gramps?"

Netero just grinned.

A bean like being with a bowtie spoke up "We are scheduled to arrive at our next destination at around eight am tomorrow morning. Please enjoy your free time until we make an announcement."

"Gon! Let´s check out the airship."

"Okay!"

The two boys ran off.

Leorio sighed. "Sheesh, They´re not even tired. Well, I´m going to get some sleep." "Me too. It was a really long day" Kurapika answered him.

"Ah but I wonder… How many more exams could there be?"

A voice behind him answered him. "It differs each year. But on average, it´s usually five or six."

Naruto turned around. "Great that ass again. I thought I scared him of for good in the beginning." he thought and narrowed his blue eyes.

"So we´ve got three or four more to go. It would be a good idea for us to rest for now." Kurapika was contemplating.

"But you better be careful" Tonpa grinned "The organizer only mentioned something about the next destination" so the ship itself might be the third exam site. And we can´t really trust what he said about "8 am" either. You might wake up and the exam might have already ended while you slept. So if you want to pass the next exam… You shouldn´t let your guard down even here inside the zeppelin."

"You know, you remind me of somebody I used to know… He had a nasty habit of tricking and lying to people, it caused a lot of problems till he died. I´d be careful not to piss of the wrong person if I were you." Adding a bit of KI Naruto stared at the now sweating Tonpa, who upon feeling said intent ran away yet again.

Leorio and Kurapika exchanged glances.

"Hm I think I´ll go exploring. Weasels like him make my blood boil and I need to calm down."

"Ah...alright. See you in the morning."

_5.5_

Somewhere on the airship the examiners were eating together and talking about the contestants.

"The rookies are very good this year. I personally liked number 294 – the baldy. How about you Satotz-san? There were two actually who stood out to me. Number 99, the silver kid. He kept up very good, didn´t even sweat." Here he paused.

"The other one is number 122. The blond with the whisker marks. During the first part of the exam he was following easily. First he was making jokes then suddenly there was this oppressing aura of sadness and loneliness around him. Also during the second part he had no problems following in the beginning only to dash away later on. But that wasn´t what picked my interest that much. It was when we stopped at the site of the second exam. I´m sure he wasn´t there and then I blinked and he and three other people were standing there, chatting with number 99. But I´m pretty sure he has no Nen."

"Yeah I remember him, too. He was the one who climbed the canyon walls with no hands!"

"I am curious how he will perform in the next tasks"

Menchi shrugged and turned to Buhara. "What about you?"

"Hmm...the one that caught my attention isn´t a rookie. I think it was number 44. I´m sure you noticed too, Menchi… But when 255 was raising a fit, the one giving of the most murderous energy way actually number 44."

"Of course I knew. It was so intense he couldn´t hide it if he wanted to. But Buhara, did you know? He was like that from the beginning. From the moment we showed up. He was the reason I was being so bitchy. He wouldn´t stop trying to pick a fight with me."

"He did that to me as well." Satotz replied." He´s an individual to watch out for."

_Q.Q_

Naruto was agitated and started cursing "Stupid Tonpa, Kami I hate that rat. He just reminds me so much of Kabuto"

"Kukukukukuku"

"What the fuck was that?"

"Oh my. It seems some has quite the grunge. How...exciting..."

"Oh come on – can´t I get a break? Okay I bite. What´s up Hisoka?"

"I felt that bloodlust from all away over here. It´s quite thrilling. It makes me want to...do naughty things…" Hisoka started trembling.

The blonde ninja took a step back. "Sorry your not my type. Well gotta go."

"Don´t be like that my little fox." Naruto shifted "You don´t like my nickname for you? It fits so perfectly with those marks of yours."

"He´s starting to freak me out."

"Only now, Kurama? Yeah I´d better be leaving"

"Whatever you perv. I´m taking my leave now." He took two steps only to come to a halt. He had felt something connecting to his tenketsu. It felt foreign. He couldn´t move. Ever so slowly Hisoka moved in front of him, cupped his cheek and leaned forward to Narutos ear.

"Never run form anything that could attack you. It only attracts attention." he whispered and licked the blonds earlobe.

"Naruto – you better get the hell out ouf here. Remember, you´ve still got an Hirashin seal on Killuah."

Freaked out Naruto activated the seal with his chakra. With a yellow flash he was gone, leaving behind a madly grinning magician.

"Interesting ~~!"

_5-5_

Okay another chapter – shorter but whatever ^^ I was so happy to see that so many people read this story! I ´mean it is a pretty obscure crossover… But hey over 250 views already! And I really like Hisoka for some weird reason, it was fun writing him - expect more interaction with Naruto ;) No this will not be yaoi. Actually I don´t think there will be romance...maybe some flirting but that´s it. I´m just not comfortable with romantic stuff...