Not beta'ed. Though I tried to read through it, there will be mistakes.

Also, fair warning - this is AU. There will be changes to events, and this will stray from canon.

There was a sense of movement. Almost like he was on a wagon, being carried across the countryside towards the medical compound. Naruto had suspected as much. The battle against Sasuke had been hard-fought, and he vaguely remembered losing an arm, that being the most prominent among a plethora of other injuries. If he was being taken somewhere, it would've been there. Should've been there.

Though something about the way it moved was off. Naruto never thought of himself to be the most intuitive person in the world, but even he realised that this was different from being pulled by a horse...After a minute. The movement here was smoother, less pull and more of a push. And the smoothness of the venture was odd - even on the best of tracks, there were always plenty of bumps on the road. There wasn't much of that here.

When he finally did decide to open his eyes, he was greeted by near-complete darkness. The only thing that did give out any sort of shine were the odd circlets of blue lights. There were dozens of them lined unevenly across him, and they illuminate the faces of...people?

Naruto blinked.

With that realization, he began noticing other things. There were other people on either side of him, all collared and visibly distraught. Most seemed to closer to his age, but there were others who looked to be in their twenties and some who looked to be as young as Konahamaru. That made him more than a bit uneasy.

Where was he?

Kuruma?

Nothing.

'He must still be regenerating his chakra,' Naruto's own chakra was ridiculously low. The lowest it's ever been, and he couldn't say that honestly surprised him. With all the fighting he had done, he shouldn't even be awake to think about it. Still, it made him more than a bit worried. If this was trouble, how was he going to be able to do anything?

The exhaustion was still there. He could feel it. Even thinking seemed to take a great effort, and he had to fight to keep his eyes open. When he shifted and felt something on his neck beyond the crippling pain, he was quick to understand that he had this collar too, like everyone else here.

He heard a muffled cry to his right, and he was quick to turn in his concern. The pain that erupted from what felt like his entire body almost made him squeal and brought about a fit of coughs from him.

Naruto tasted blood.

"You okay there buddy?" The voice came from across him, and Naruto looked to the man with his eyes.

He took a moment to have the pain die down, and he swallowed whatever blood had come into his mouth, "Where... the heck am I?" Getting the words out took way too much effort, but he endured it - everything about this was far too confusing to let be.

"Wow, another genius?" A voice from a bit further down his row came, more feminine and a lot more spiteful, "You were kidnapped and you're in the same position as the rest of us, but somehow you think we know where we are?"

"Hey, you don't need to be a bitch about it. He's one of the guys they brought in unconscious, remember?" The man's voice spoke for him, "He's just confused."

Kidnapped? Naruto thought, He had been kidnapped? No... He would remember ever being taken against his will. Well, if he had been conscious. Had someone grabbed him when he had passed out after doing undoing the Infinite Tsukiyomi with Sasuke?

"And I'd watch my mouth if I were you," Another girls voice interjected, "You saw their condition when they came in. They must be pretty powerful to warrant that kind of force."

"You're an idiot too. It doesn't matter how strong they are. With these around our necks," Naruto didn't force his body to turn to her, but he got the sense she was pointing to the collars, "We're all in the same boat."

Naruto's mind couldn't even comprehend all of this, What's going on?

"Why is it every time I check on you," The voice was like a growl in his mind, "You're always confused?"

The blond grinned broadly when he suddenly found himself standing on the water's of a sewer-like environment, looking past the open gates of the Eight Trigram Seal to the red visage of the Nine-tailed Fox.

"Hey," he said tiredly, working his best to stay standing there.

The fox peered closer to him, gaze examining, "You look different, Naruto," he growled, glancing at his missing limb, "Did you cut your hair?"

"Very...Funny," Naruto would've laughed if it wouldn't have hurt. Instead, his legs gave out on him, and he fell back, but he didn't hit the hard, metallic floor and instead landed on something soft, warm and furry.

"Thanks," he muttered to Kuruma, who had caught him in his paw. He got no response, and was instead brought back to the outside world.

"...We all know the stories about what happens to people like us! We're screwed," It was the same angry girl.

"I'm just saying if one of us can break off their collar and get their powers back...Any of us -"

"You'll get electrocuted if you try."

"I know that! What I'm saying is if one us somehow managed to get theirs off, they'd free the rest of us and then we'd be able to get out of here."

"Fat chance of that."

The man bristled but did not refute that as they descended into silence.

"What's going on, Naruto?" Kurama questioned, his own confusion clear.

I don't know, He retorted, sighing and wincing, I woke up with all these people, with the same collar as them around my neck.I...think we're on the back of something moving. I don't... I don't where we are. They say we've been kidnapped.

"Don't fall asleep!" His voice grew loud, and jerked Naruto from his reverie, "We're in a dangerous situation, Naruto. We have to deal with this now."

"Yeah, I know. It's just," He stifled a yawn, even that was painful, "I'm too tired to think too much now. Everything hurts. Everything is confusing. "

"I'll do the thinking," Kurama said, "A fight now could be the worst thing for you. Nevermind your chakra, your injuries would kill you long before anyone else could. You did well to keep as you are now with everyone else... But we need to understand what's going on."

For a moment, the fox grew quiet and Naruto knew he was contemplating. But the quiet drew Naruto back into the abyss...

"The collars," He started, bringing him back, "With what they said about them, they must affect your abilities...But your chakra flow is as it should be. Aside from your injuries, and your low reserves, you're fine."

I told you...confusing.

"You must've been taken after your fight with that Uchiha, after you undid the Jutsu and lost consciousness."

I figured that much, at least.

"The people here spoke as if you were brought in with someone in a similar condition as you... The Uchiha must be close too."

"I don't sense him..." Naruto used his eyes to scan the faces of the people he could see without moving, and found none of them to be Sasuke, though he knew that was pointless. If he had been here, he would have felt him. Come to think of it now...

"I can't sense anything from anyone here," Kurama spoke as Naruto came to the same realization, "It's as if they have no chakra at all... Not even a small hint of it. That should be impossible."

The more they thought about anything at all, the stranger this seemed to get. Why couldn't they sense any chakra from the people here at all? Naruto had only just recently come into using Kurama's chakra effectively, and that alone had given him incredible sensory abilities. Never mind the boost he had gotten from the chakra Old Man Six Paths gave him, at this close range, it should've been easy to sense their chakra.

What...what if they don't -

Whatever they were travelling in came to a stop, and Naruto heard a creak moments later. There were whimpers from others inside with him, and cries from some - but most were shushed by any close enough to help.

People spoke outside, but their words were too quiet to make out clearly. There were some crunching sounds. as if someone big just took a step on some gravel and then another creak.

This is -

A door opened at the end of the rows of people opened, and the light from the sun breached into the metallic container - which only now could Naruto see. There was nothing in it except the long benches that were the seatings for them.

A masked man stepped up into it with a grunt, holding something dark and metallic that Naruto had never seen before, but he was almost entirely sure it was some sort of weapon.

"He must be with the people that took you, but... I've never seen someone like that."

Neither had Naruto. The vest he wore over his clothing almost looked like the Chunin jacket, but it had slots and pockets bearing things Naruto could not begin to explain.

He walked down the container, glancing at everyone he passed - as if to make sure they were all there, but then he finally reached Naruto, stopped and pointed his weapon to him.

"You, up and out," His voice was deep.

"Listen to him...We don't know what they're capable of, only fight as a last resort."

Naruto didn't need to be told twice. Standing was a slow and painful thing, and walking all the worse. He tried to take a glance at what was left of his right arm and found it covered by a loose green hoodie they had put on him. There were some red spots over where the cut of his arm was.

He almost felt violated.

Men wielding the same weapons were outside, all of them pointed at him and waiting. There was a woman there too, dark-haired, wearing glasses and in a purple lab coat. Behind them was a sandy, barren landscape - illuminated by the moon.

She stared at him unnervingly as he slowly made his way down the steps, and when he finally reached the bottom she drew closer to him.

"Can he walk it?" The man behind Naruto spoke, and she gave no answer for a moment - merely raising a hand to hold open Narutos eye and bringing up a torch the size of pen to it.

"He's exhausted," She finally spoke, frowning and dropping the hand with the torch. The other hand moved down to his lips, and she took a wipe at them with a finger.

"H-hey," He mumbled, but could not get out the annoyance with his voice.

They paid him no heed, however, and the lady inspected the finger she had used on his lips - which had come up red with his blood.

"Bring out the others and send them to the stage...They're already late," The man spoke again, and some of the others obeyed - shouting down the container for them to get out, "Can he attend, or should I send him around for medical?" He asked her again.

"He can barely stand," She retorted, pocketing her hand, "But maybe. I suggest sending having whoever buys him send him back to me for some attention. Don't be too rough with him on the next transfer."

"We won't have to. If he listens," He finally shifted his attention to Naruto, "Fall into the line with the others. Obey and you won't get hurt."

Kurama growled in his landscape.

Naruto listened still, getting into the thankfully already slow-moving line and walking amongst the people he'd been in the container with moments ago. He tried to glance at whoever was close and find if Sasuke was here, but as far as he could see, his friend was not. Though he didn't dismiss his presence entirely. He didn't look about as well as he could have.

On either side of him was a fence that split them from odd-looking metallic boxes with rubber wheels and tinted windows. Most were long and black, and far more fancy looking than the one that been carrying the box they had been brought in with.

"This is strange".

The blond agreed wholeheartedly.

"Stand still and look to the crowd," A guard at the entrance of the building brought the line to a halt, "Only move passed to the other side when you're told to, and only two of you shits at a time. Go."

Two went in, and only then did the building seem to come alive. There was a loud voice resounding from the building the first group of two had walked into, one obviously magnified by speakers.

"A metahuman from Africa, he can change the molecular structure of any mental into another! Simply put, be it iron, bronze or silver, he can change and transform it into Gold!" There was a long expectant silence, "A million dollars! Do I hear two? Two million dollars. Woah, we've got a jumper here folks - fifteen million dollars!"

We're going to be auctioned off, Naruto thought, stomach clenching, Like... slaves.

"We aren't home Naruto," Kurama said, dismayed, "Nothing here bears resemblance to anything I've seen. Those transports, those weapons and how no one but you seems to have chakra. I don't know where we are, but I don't believe we're in the same world somehow..."

Naruto was hard-pressed to refute that. Nothing here seemed familiar. No one even wore headbands to display their allegiance. They weren't shinobi, nor were they even normal civilians in the sense that he knew. The civilians he knew of had chakra too, but the people he was captured with had none.

"The speaker said one of them was from Africa... The Old man explained my origins to you - in all my time living, I've seen all of the known to the world. No such nation exists or has ever existed. "

That further drove the point home for Naruto, "Before, they spoke as if I was brought in with another person. Sasuke should be here too. Do you think they already?..."

"Maybe," Kurama answered, "But focus on yourself for now. We can't afford any distraction."

Yeah... I just realised no one here has chakra, The blond thought, But they somehow have abilities...Like the guy that got in first. They said...Uh...

"He can change one metal into another," Kurama huffed in understanding in his landscape. Both of them asking them the same question: If the people had no chakra, then how did they have abilities like that?

Maybe it's us? We're just reading things wrong...

"No. They have no chakra at all, Naruto. Trust me."

I do, Naruto responded tiredly, I just don't know what's happening.

"Go," One of the guards beckoned a girl in front of him onwards, and Naruto himself after reciting what they should do when they get to the stage. With a breath, the blond made the terrible climb on the stairs.

The light on the stage made Naruto blink. The stage was a light shade of brown, from freshly carved wood. It was backgrounder by red curtains, whose purpose Naruto wondered about because they couldn't even close the stage.

The man waiting for them looked to them with a smile, and it looked almost welcoming. But Naruto could see the subtle insincerity there - something lingered there, it was black, twisted and vile. He looked to a paper in his hands after regarding them, before turning back to crowd as both the girl and Naruto did so too.

The people were masked and hidden in darkness. Obscuring both their physique and their faces. Naruto was too tired to think on it. The world felt like it was tilted before him.

"It is...The missing arm is throwing off your balance. Your fatigue isn't helping either."

He didn't need to be told that. Naruto could feel it. But he held onto his bearings. He had to see this through for his understanding.

"A girl, whose origins are closer to home. Metropolis! She has the ability to disappear from sight. To be completely invisible to the naked eye -"

"Another one?" Came an irritated shout from a man in the crowd.

"That's the fourth one today!" Came another from a woman, "Move on already. Give us something new! Or I'd sooner take my business elsewhere. "

There were other words of approval to her statement, and Naruto could barely hide his own disgust at this all. What was wrong with these people?

"Ah, well," The speaker said, pulling him from his thoughts, and he raised a hand. A black substance roared out of it, contorting and shifting in the air as it enveloped the girls head, who, for a moment, screamed until -

The blood-stained his face before his eyes widened. Her body went limp, and when the dark substance vanished, she fell on the wood with a thud, her collar rolling of of the remains of her neck. A guard had already moved in to pull her body away.

There was a snort from the crowd.

Naruto had seen people die. Even people he loved and cared about. It was a shinobis life. They had died fighting for a cause, their village and their loved ones. Even those that killed had a reason, had a cause - no matter how evil that cause was. But here, why did this girl have to die? For what reason was she killed?

"This boy here is a mysterious one," The man went on as if he had just not taken a life, "But his power is unquestionable. He's the one responsible for the destruction of the Grand Canyon -"

"He'd be the seventh one," Came another interjection.

"And this one's a cripple to boot."

"Next!"

Some of the people had stood up already as if to make to leave. He could feel his own heartbeat in his ear.

I can't fight, Naruto spoke frantically in his mind, My chakra...

"End it quick -

Before Kurama could continue, Naruto felt the shift in the air behind him. He was quick to steel himself, ignoring the pain and fatigue, going past the protests of his body - he pulled on Kurama's chakra.

The world exploded in an orange blaze. The ground shook as he rose into the avatar, the clouds directly above him retreated beyond the hills and the building below was blown to nothing by the wind caused by the violence of his transformation. For a second, Naruto felt fine and energetic, and a worrying thought crept into his mind when he realised he had forgotten to control the strength of the change in his effort to end it before he could be hurt or killed.

The others...

But no sooner was Naruto was up there, towering over mountains and hills, did the form fade, and with the smoke and fires of the ground seeming to rise to meet him - so faded his consciousness.

He was enveloped in a stream of red and blue before his world turned black.

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Don't forget to let me know of your thoughts.