Welcome back to the story my readers! Here we continue the ever-intriguing adventures of Naruto and Team 7! I don't own Naruto & its characters. Pairings will be decided… eventually.

"iii" speaking

iii thoughts

Chapter 2: On The Other Side of the Door

The thing was still cackling when he moved still further into the trees. Just as what remained of Team 7 were about to pursue the perpetrator, Sasuke chose then to give himself a out-of-jail free card. A kunai blade poked through the old fabric, cutting down and across, allowing a very stiff, nauseous, and usually emotionless black-haired boy to climb out with a loud gasp for fresh air. Finally… I can breathe… but why can't I think straight… blurry…Naruto? Kakashi? Someone…help…I can't breathe…

Sasuke fell to the ground; feeling dizzy and gasping for air like a fish, shaking and half conscience of his surroundings. With a burst of chakra filled speed, Kakashi managed to flash by the now outraged being, grabbing his student on the way. Seeing the target was distracted by his loss, Naruto and Sakura moved in for the kill. But it wasn't going down without a fight, or empty-handed. Puffing up, he prepared to counter-attack; to their surprise, he let his breathe go in their general direction. Its color and speed was mind-numbing, and ground eating; because everything in its path was starting to freeze from unnatural frost and ice. Naruto and Sakura managed to get out of the way of the blue colored air but Sakura proved to be a bit slow. As she fell, she screamed in pain as ice formed on her legs. Cursing, Kakashi set Sasuke down nearby and ran to assist his other ailing student, only to be brought to a halt by a shadow blocking his path and knocking him several feet away. Snickering, the shadow leered at him, "Face it human, your little student doesn't have long before she's frozen. It's a shame really; I only come for one and end up with two other possible candidates… Oh decisions, decisions… oh well. Who cares? One's enough… for now."

Producing another sack like the first, the shadow duplicate made its move. Not towards Sakura or Sasuke, but Naruto. A blurry and very angry Kakashi, who struck with his kunai, took down the vile thing, blocking the shadow's path. Once that was over, the original nightmare couldn't be seen anywhere. Looking around, he heard a vicious laugh from behind him. Turning, horrified, Kakashi cursed his own mistake as the thing picked up the unconscious black-haired boy, stuffed him into the sack and headed northeast.

"Naruto! Chase after it and get Sasuke! I'll do what I can with Sakura and report to the Hokage. Go now before it gets away!" Kakashi yelled as he rushed to Sakura, who was screaming and crying in pain.

Grudgingly, Naruto only nodded and started once again after his teammate's captor, hoping he could catch up in time. Running as fast as his legs could carry him, Naruto tried to ignore the pain the cut that weird sword gave him was causing. The thing once again in his sights (for the umpteenth time), he tried to think of something to use against it to get his teammate back. Coming up with nothing, Naruto could only pursue the creature until a miracle popped up somewhere. The gods of the ninja world were napping in response, oblivious to the havoc being caused by an unnatural life form.

Back with Kakashi (finally!), he carefully ran with a moaning Sakura in his arms, bridal style, toward Konohagure No Sato(1). After nearly an hour's run, he finally saw the village gates and rushed straight through, ignoring the angry protests of Jounin and ANBU guards who just so happened to get in his path towards the Hokage Tower. Busting down doors and running up steps, he finally reached the Third's office doors. Not even bothering to knock, he smashed them to pieces in haste of reaching professional help. Standing up in shock and anger, the Third was about to protest to the break in only to bite it back at the look on Kakashi's face and the state of his student. Holding up his hands to stop the mumbled and panicked explanation that was thrown at him as well as advancing guards, he calmly said, "Tell me what happened and be slow! I can't understand a word if you just blurt it out."

Nearly collapsing in exasperation, Kakashi managed to take a few deep breathes, set his student down in a nearby chair, he began his tale. -- --;; totally skipping ahead here people 'cuz it takes forever!— The Third had blanched at the extremities taken in that of the story. Those also in the vicinity had paled at the creatures' description. Pulling himself out of his astonished trance, the Third finally responded. "Now you saw all of this yourself? Can you confirm this?"

"Yes and my student can whenever she can be treated for whatever it is that thing did to her, let alone Sasuke, that is if he's still alive or Naruto was successful."

"With those two, anything's possible if they get along well enough for more than five seconds." Sakura groaned from her chair, feeling dizzy and cold, her words dripping with sarcasm. The ice had traveled some distance up her legs and was still slowly advancing all the more. The Third sent one of the ANBU to retrieve a water jutsu specialist cough Haku cough cough --I decided to let Haku live in this one, he's too great of a guy to leave out—to deal with the problem.

Since the Ex-Mist ninja joined the Leaf, he'd proven to be a great help to all, showing he was dependable and loyal, though still a little out of it due it Zabuza's passing. Running into the office, he too paled at Sakura and her current problem. He approached, poking and prodding, even performing all sorts of water jutsu's to see what result would occur. After nearly twenty minutes of hard labor and no end in sight, the Third finally called for Haku to stop.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Haku turned to the two men, a look of worry on his face. "I'm sorry, my lord, but this may take a while to understand, let alone reverse. Master Kakashi?"

"Yes?"

"Did the creature that did this perform any seals or katas? A spoken word perhaps? Or anything in relation to a jutsu?"

"Afraid not. It all happened so fast really. Come to think of it, when he formed the sword out of his arm, I didn't see any kind of preparations made to so much as create the thing, before or after it started to defend itself."

"What are you getting at Haku?" The Third queried. "Is there something we should know?"

"Can't say for sure, but we should get Sakura to a better place where I can work, just so that she won't freeze to your chair." Haku snickered despite himself and the situation at hand.

"I see your point." The Third said chuckled, seeing his reason for the request. Waving them out of his office, Kakashi, carrying Sakura, followed Haku out of the Hokage's office and to the infirmary.

--Meanwhile somewhere in Konoha forest--

The thing was still on the run, and Naruto was getting pissed. First it stole his rival/friend, injured his other teammate, and then kidnapped his rival again! As if it couldn't get any worse. He thought angrily as he trailed his ever-agile target. Feeling stupid for not stopping to deal with his strange cut which was now bleeding like crazy, causing him to feel nauseous and wanting to hurl, maybe even faint from the lose. Even Kyuubi seemed to be having trouble getting rid of the wound. Having no choice in the matter, he could only press on, hoping to stay conscious enough to help his teammate.

What happened next made him think that he spoke too soon on the 'get any worse' concept, because yeah you guessed it, things got the hell of a lot worse. Not just for Naruto, but Sasuke as well. The thing, having long since learned to ignore his persistent pursuer, turn sharply to the left, right, left, right again, a bit more to the left, past the dancing Jewish milk cows having a bar mitzvah (wait… what?), right yet again then finally straight on to a clearing. Night was beginning to fall, and the world was giving in to the nocturnal beings. Taking note of how time had flown since this whole ordeal began, Naruto still followed the wrongdoer into the clearing, more curious than pissed by now about the strange light coming from the clearing's far side.

Pushing back branches and bushes, Naruto gazed forward and gasped in amazement at the sight before him: a large blackish/navy blue vortex swirled slowly in the air, inches away from the ground, proving to lack the need for support of any kind whatsoever. Seeming to having forgotten its pursuer, the creature proceeded to walk calmly towards the floating phenomenon, preparing to step through as though it were a door of some kind. Snapping out of his amazed trance, Naruto rushed out of the bushes, ignoring his present condition, and along with tapping into the Kyuubi's power, Naruto attacked the thing with a war cry in his wake. Turning to face his relentless shadow, its eyes widened at the fox boy's persistence and sudden show of ancient power.

So he's the lucky bastard that received the Nine-Tails. I wonder how…regardless… Impressive, and not as weak, let alone as pathetic as I thought… Master will reward me greatly for his capture… maybe even gaining control over them both. Grinning like a madman on the inside, it prepared to parry any attack the boy might unleash. Only problem was was that Naruto's fatigue, blood loss and natural ability to be clumsy for the right reasons at the wrong times, ironically kicked into gear. To make things clear: Naruto's 'attack' per say, proved to serve as a full body tackle, knocking them both with great velocity… toward the big ass vortex right behind them. Vision blurred and a migraine with a feeling of lightheadedness, Naruto nearly fainted, but was just awakened by the fact that he, a humanoid zombie thing, and his friend/teammate/rival stuck in a weird sack were headed straight at a thing of which he knew nothing about, let alone in as to its function. So pretty much Naruto's thoughts on the matter were like this before hitting its surface: oh fuck. I'm in biiiiig trouble.

--Konoha village--

At the same time as the two (pardon three) hit the vortex to go through to wherever, Kakashi still had yet to receive any news on his remaining student from Haku and other ninjas of the medical field. Watching anxiously from over the top of the latest issue of Come Come Paradise (2), he carefully observed as Haku did his best to understand the strange spell that seemed to be consuming the poor girl. So far, they had succeeded in stopping the ice from traveling further, let alone attaching itself to anything else. The Third smoked his pipe patiently since he'd long since decided to watch the measures taken to keep one of his subjects from falling victim to another strange and unusual attack. But as luck would have it, as soon as Naruto's supposed 'random' act of 'stupidity' sent himself and his targets at and possibly through the peculiar floating hole, a chain reaction occurred, creating a chain of events that would be remembered for centuries to come: as if by chance, the ice on Sakura's legs suddenly began to melt and become nothing but water on the floor. Staring in amazement as Sakura got up from her chair, Haku managed to stutter. "W-what just happened?"

Eye narrowing in calculation, Kakashi answered Haku's nervous question. "Naruto must have succeeded somewhere along the line in either subduing the creature or at least found a way to knock the concentrated waves needed to make the spell work. Like any spell or jutsu, the caster needs full concentration or at least enough range to bring out the full and utmost performance of whatever was cast at the target."

"So if what you say is true Kakashi, to say the least, Naruto has done something to distract or maybe even exploited a weakness of some sort to destroy anything allowing it to keep the spell active, thus saving one member but only to in all probability doom another. Sakura how do you feel?"

Looking up in her wonder, Sakura bowed and replied. "Better I guess, it's almost as if it never happened. Though I do still feel a little dizzy still."

"I see. Kakashi, I want you to start making arrangements in assembling a retrieval team. I want the best of the best of genin and chunin alike. If it's anyone, only those closest to these boys can help and by that, I'm putting you in charge of it all. I want your report for me to read and approve of ASAP. Until then you're dismissed. Haku, make sure Sakura gets some rest before her release, then you both can hop to this most grievous matter."

"Yes Lord Hokage." They all responded in unison. With a salute, Kakashi poofed out of existence and on to business (yeah, who knew?), Haku and Sakura to do tests and maybe some sleep before getting involved in getting their friends back. At the moment, all could only hope that things would turn out okay in the end. Just another occupational hazard to deal with, another bump in the road. Those who actually cared let alone knew about this event silently prayed for the best outcome possible. Sadly, any god or goddess that of ninja worship was too busy getting some beauty sleep to so much as hear anything being sent their way. Oh crap.

To Be Continued…

Whew, my finger hurt from all the typing I've been doing lately. Yet another cliffhanger for anyone bothering to read my work to deal with. But worry shall soon be diminished with my next chapter. Updating can be a bitch sometimes. But in this chapter, I think I went to far when it came to Sakura's situation. Don't worry Sakura fans, I have repented but this writer can't help but hate the pink haired bitch with a passion. Why? 'Cause she can be such a BITCH sometimes, especially to Naruto. Go suck up to Lee and let Sasuke do his thing! Damn! Sorry… angry rant… anywho, please read and review, no flames accepted. Have mercy on a poor first timer. Gah!

1) Book 2, chapter 9: The Worst Client (Village Hidden in the Leafs) Do your homework people! Damn!

2) Come Come Paradise: seen at a constant when not dealing with a battle or other scenes of importance. Personally, I despise this book (all depending on content) but as a fan of yaoi fanfics and what have you, my true opinion has yet to be conclusive.

Next Chapter:

Ch 3: City of Lost Societies

Things are just getting worse with each minute that goes by. Kakashi and the Third work their fingers to the bone in the struggle to find our two handsome heroes (I said handsome haha funny) while Naruto is working his ass off to get both him and Sasuke out from over their heads. Will Naruto succeed? Or will his attention span end too soon for anyone's comfort? And what the hell happened to the Jewish cows? Find out in

Ch 3: City of Lost Societies!