Hello. Thanks to all who reviewed!

-Warning: There is swearing in this chapter.-

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the anime/manga "Naruto"; Masashi Kishimoto owns "Naruto". Any trademarks, characters, storylines, plots, etc. from the anime/manga "Naruto" belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I would also like to say that ratings, page formats, chapter scroll bars, etc., (this goes for all of my stories and this one as well) that my stories are using are all thanks to the base website. Information that helped me with attacks and characters come from

---Closed Curtains---

---Normal POV---

A groan escaped from Sasuke as he rolled onto his back. He rested in the quiet; which wasn't usually what he was surrounded by unless he was in his large, vacant home.

He felt numb and sore, and then remembered fighting that beastly thing. His brows furrowed. What was it, anyway? It wasn't human, as far as he could tell.

He heard a quiet sound, dripping, and then was woken from his thoughtful trance when a drop of water splashed on his nose. His arms twitched, the numbness just beginning to wear off. Once they were completely free of the icy sensation, he slowly sat up. He blinked, and noted the complete change of scenery.

His dark eyes scrutinized the dark environment carefully. They were in a large room. The walls were made entirely out of jagged, purplish-black rock. The higher part of the room curved in to meet at a point. At that point was a sort of crystalline light, which illuminated the room slightly. 'Where does that come from?' He thought, squinting at the light curiously. 'It seems almost like sunlight.' He thought. 'Weren't we in the desert? Judging by the walls, we're in a cave. So that means we're underground.' The numbness in his legs was just beginning to seep away.

Thick, old-looking books and scrolls decorated the room, like an ancient library. Bookcases and shelves stored them neatly. There were a few desks and chairs, documents and opened books splayed over the worktops. Interesting enough, there were lantern-like confinements that held glowing fireflies in them, illuminating the darkness further with a soft, green-yellow light. Uncoiled scrolls, documents, and tapestries decorated the walls here and there.

'This is weird.' Sasuke thought, but immediately lay down and closed his eyes the exact way he had woken up. He had a feeling that some presences were approaching, and he sensed them getting closer. Sasuke guessed they were near the entrance of the room, wherever that was.

A deep, monotone voice echoed through the room. It was cold and seemed as though it was drained of soul. It almost seemed transparent, hollow. It spoke a language that was foreign to Sasuke.

Another voice like the previous one replied. Not one word sounded familiar to him.

They continued their conversation, unaware of Sasuke's consciousness. The hair on Sasuke's neck stood on end as he heard their wispy voices. Their presences were so strong to him, that it seemed like the air was filled with electricity. They were standing- no, floating- well, whatever they were doing- near him. He tried to control his breathing; he tried to seem like he was unconscious. Who knows what they would do if they found him awake?

One of them stated something, and the other responded. A question was asked, and answered again.

The electricity seemed to die down, and then simmered to nothing as they left. He strained his ears, hearing nothing but silence, and quickly got up.

'I have to find out where we are. I need to find a way to wake them, or we could be trapped in this damned place for the rest of our lives!' He thought, his heart beating frantically. Maybe they were stolen as hostages? Nothing made sense to him. He let out a frustrated growl under his breath, and tried the first thing that came to mind.

He went over to Naruto first. "Wake up, moron!" Sasuke hissed at him, shaking Naruto's shoulders. Becoming irritated, he smacked the blonde across the face. "Wake the hellup, you stupid baka!" He exclaimed, smacking him again. It was no use; he was out cold. He sighed, dropping him back onto the ground. He made his way over to Sakura. Maybe he'd have more luck with her.

"Sakura, wake up!" He said, shaking her shoulders. He slapped the side of her face not quite as hard as he had to Naruto. The blonde could've slept through a tornado, for all he knew. "Argh… this is the best time for everyone to take a nap!" He said sarcastically to himself, before moving on to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-Sensei, wake up! This is important!" His last hope was to wake the silver-haired Jounin, but it was slowly fading. One more try couldn't hurt… "Somebody stole your Icha Icha Paradise book!" …Nope, no response whatsoever.

Whatever they had done to them hadn't worked on him very well, but that left him alone. He didn't want to seem like a chicken, and he hated to admit this to himself, but he would probably need the help of another if one of those weird presences came into the room again. He couldn't fight them by himself; he had already tried before.

He ran his fingers through the left side of his bangs, as he tried to think diligently.

'This is a mess.' He thought coldly. 'There are not too many pleasing options for me. One; I run out of here and try to find the exit- but I'd probably get caught by one of those weird things. I have no idea where I am. Two; I look around this place, and try to find out where we are.' He decided the second option was more appropriate, and walked to the first bookcase. He begun to analyze the spines, but stopped and frowned.

Most of the books were written in a language he couldn't understand. Strange, confusing symbols made up the titles. 'Well this is a big help.' He thought, shaking his head. 'I'm beginning to wonder if there's any point in trying.'

He wandered down the aisle, his eyes raking the shelves for anything he could understand. 'Finally, a little good luck.' He thought, as he pulled a thick book from the shelf. He could understand what was on the spine and cover. He sifted through the pages, pictures catching his attention. It was a book about Konohagakure. Why would it be here, though? What would they need to know about the Land of Fire?

Sasuke continued to analyze it. The book seemed to be written by hand… somebody who was very familiar with Konoha. Then it hit him- There was probably a spy in Konoha from another land, giving out information.

He raised an eyebrow, confused, and put it back in its spot. Beside it was a book about Sunagakure. He continued down the aisle, until he reached the end. One of the desks was placed there, with many scrolls and parchments scattering its surface. He looked at them, not recognizing the language it was written in. It was the same one that the books were written in. He gently moved some of the pages aside, and plucked certain ones out. The sketches that adorned them had caught his attention.

'Jackpot.' He thought, feeling somewhat relieved. Maps were drawn on them. He only hoped that they were of the place they were in; otherwise they would be of no help.

He folded the papers and placed them in his pocket. As soon as he had done so, he turned around quickly, a kunai in his hand.

"It's just me, Sasuke." Said teenager sighed and put his kunai away.

"Took you long enough to wake up, Kakashi-Sensei."

The silver-haired Jounin sighed. "I only remember that beastly thing coming after me." Sasuke noted that he sounded worn out, weak.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"That creature did a lot of damage… I'll be fine eventually. I'm glad I took those classes in healing." Kakashi said, wrapping an arm around his middle, where he was obviously hurt.

Another spark of worry flared through Sasuke's mind. If their leader was hurt and not fully functional as usual, how would they fare against enemies that they hadn't even known of before?

"Listen. We have to get out of here. I don't know what they're going to do to us, but I don't want to wait and find out." Said Sasuke. "I found some documents with some maps on them; they might help us. The problem is that they're in a different language."

"That's not good." Kakashi said, stating the obvious. "Could you tell me what happened while I was out?"

"These two presences appeared in the room, but I didn't look at them because they would've known I was awake." Sasuke explained. "They were talking in a different language, so I couldn't understand them. The voices they had seemed soulless. Something's not human about them, but we don't have time to figure it out."

"That creature that attacked us," Kakashi said, thinking. "It's probably the one that brought us here. So this place is probably crawling with them."

The raven-haired teenager suddenly caught on to a wave of electricity in the air. "Do you feel that?" He asked.

"Yeah. I see what you mean." Kakashi said, looking around suspiciously. "They must be coming for us. Here's the plan. We pretend that we're still unconscious; then, when we get carried out, we attack them."

"But they'll probably be a pack of them…"

"We're both conscious right now, so why not ambush them at once? It's not like we have another option. Now, hurry up!" He exclaimed, already heading towards where they had emerged from. Kakashi and Sasuke fell to floor in their respective spots as quietly as they could, and pretended to be knocked out.

Sure enough, the electricity in the air thickened, and the presences appeared in the room.

A low, melancholy voice spoke few words, and Sasuke was instantly lifted up. He didn't dare open his eyes. The iron grip that supported him was icy cold.

'How do I know when Kakashi's going to attack? This could end very badly…' He thought, anxiety filling his mind. They were carried for ten minutes, before being dropped on the floor. Sasuke resisted the urge to break his fall, and almost groaned as his head hit the floor.

"Now!"

Sasuke jumped up, already forming hand signs. Kakashi had his kunai out. The figures were hard to see in the very dim light. They were deformed, their joints bony and sharp. They emitted the same dark energy that Sasuke had seen with his Sharingan. Black bands were wrapped around their limbs. They were the ninja of the land upon which they were now.

"Fire Style – Art of the Phoenix Flower!" Sasuke said, blowing through a loop formed by his fingers. Fireballs shot out, almost as though they were locked on to their targets. He was sure they were going to hit, but somehow the targets managed to move evasively. One was approaching him, and he knew he had no time to form hand symbols.

"Lion Combo!" He went after one of the enemy, doing all of the different styles of kicks. He crashed it into the floor, and prepared to shower it in more flames.

Kakashi grasped his right wrist with his left hand, electricity entwining around it. He let out an angry growl, before running forward to pierce the creature in front of him.

The deformed human dodged out of the way easily. Sasuke took the moment to blow a long flamethrower at it, catching it off guard. It was burnt badly by the attack. Sasuke took out his kunai, and flung it at the same target. It whizzed past, being narrowly missed.

Cold, sharp fingers were placed on Sasuke's shoulder. A chill ran up his spine, and he took a sharp intake of air. 'Was there somebody behind me the entire time?' He thought feverishly, turning to punch it. His fist was caught and twisted.

"Argh!" Sasuke yelled in pain, then clenched his teeth together and tried to get the attacker away from him with his other fist. The figure was knocked backwards by Kakashi before Sasuke got to hit it. Kakashi was pinned down by another creature, and had no chance to escape. He tried to get it off of him, but it wouldn't budge. He was trapped.

Sasuke lunged at the captor, but was caught by both wrists with icy grips before he could hit his target. There was a poof of smoke, as Kakashi's captor held down a log.

'The Substitution Jutsu,' Sasuke thought. 'Thank God for whoever invented that.' Another puff of smoke appeared where Sasuke had stood, and replaced with the boy was a log, just like what Kakashi had done. Sasuke appeared behind the figure, punched it with his untwisted fist, and kicked it to the floor with a harsh blow. The two logs disappeared in their own puffs of smoke.

Star shaped kunai flew past the enemy that Sasuke had just escaped from, missing it slightly. However, the blades hit the floor, and the being roared in pain, falling. Sasuke had no time to be baffled by its weird behavior. He looked towards the thrower, and saw Sakura stagger up, standing on her feet. The enemy had stopped moving.

Sasuke was a bit surprised to see her up. 'Naruto might wake up soon, then, since Sakura's conscious now.' The raven-haired teen thought. 'This fight's beginning to seem a little fair.' He made sure that the other one that was lying on the floor was unmoving, and turned to see Kakashi firing up his thunder fist again.

The vivid, purplish-blue electricity glowed around his hand, and he ran forward to pierce the target again.

"You won't achieve the same result twice, Kakashi..." The venomous voice was hollow. Kakashi's fist was caught in the clutches of the creature he was aiming for. The electricity died away.

The silver-haired Jounin cried out in pain, before being thrown back. He landed on the floor, immobile. Sakura threw her star-shaped kunai at the still creature. It caught them easily, as though it didn't cut at impact, and threw them back at Sakura. She dodged all but one, which stuck into her arm.

Naruto groaned, rolling over. After a moment, he opened his eyes and got up. "What the..?" He asked, squinting. "I can hardly see! What is this place? Where are w-" "Naruto, look out!" Sakura cried, before Naruto was trapped in the clutches of the same creature that Kakashi had tricked. Another being pinned down Sakura.

"Hey, bozo! Get the hell off'a me!" He hollered, squirming with his somewhat renewed strength. He managed to pull loose a kunai from his pocket, and tried to slash at his captor. The figure caught his wrist, stopping his attack.

The enemies beaten to the floor got up, joining the other ninja, as though they were not harmed in the first place. More emerged from the darkest crevices of the room, and they formed a circle around the four captured.

"Congratulations…"

A different figure emerged from the darkness in front of them. It seemed to float.

"You were close in escaping. It's a shame you didn't." The voice sounded hollower and more echo-like than the others. It was chillingly malevolent; whispery, but baritone, and it caused anxiety in each member of team seven.

"Where the hell are we?" Naruto yelled. "Whoever the heck you are, I'm'a KICK YOUR BUTT when I get the chance!"

"You're certainly feisty. That will do us good."

"Do you usually not make sense, or is it a one time thing?" The blonde fired back.

It spoke with a growl rumbling in its throat. "Don't talk back, you insolent, infantile idiot!"

While Naruto thought of something else to say to tick off the new enemy, Sakura interrupted.

"Would you mind telling us where we are, at least? Or what we're doing here? Or what you're going to do to us?" Her voice seemed to waver.

"You'll figure out what you're doing here soon enough. Take these three to their cell, and make sure that you remove all of their weapons this time. Take the Copy Ninja to get treated for his injury."

In the blink of an eye, its silhouette had disappeared. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were each lifted by one of the ninja, and carried away, struggling.

---

The red-haired ninja glanced suspiciously around him at all times. It was strange… it was almost like he could see better, clearer, although the lighting of the atmosphere was barely present. He didn't think further about it, though. The tunnel that they were escaping through split into different passageways; one to the left, one continuing up, and one to the right.

"Let's just continue through the middle one; it's not like we know where we're going anyway." Kankuro said quickly, and the three set off for that tunnel. Soon, they came upon another decision, which looked similar to the one they had just solved.

"Just take a right." Temari muttered, and they turned to the right. The tunnel began to curve inwards, and they turned another right.

"There's an entrance to a room over there," Gaara said, hiding behind the wall of the tunnel they were about to leave.

"Should we take our chances?" Kankuro asked under his breath. Just then, Gaara held up his finger to symbolize quiet. "Listen."

"Congratulations… You were close in escaping. It's a shame you didn't."

"It's him!" Temari said, her eyes widening. "That thing you fought against."

The redhead nodded, remembering.

"Where the hell are we? Whoever the heck you are, I'm'a KICK YOUR BUTT when I get the chance!"

"Who's that?" Kankuro asked to no one in particular.

"They've captured more people." Gaara said, thinking about who it could be.

"You're certainly feisty. That will do us good."

"Do you usually not make sense, or is it a one time thing?"

"Don't talk back, you insolent, infantile idiot!"

Suddenly, Kankuro turned to look back into the tunnel they were about to leave. "Do you feel that?"

The other two also looked back, feeling the energy in the air.

"We have to leave this passage!" Temari said, looking for another option. "Where do we go?"

"Let's just go into that room! We might be able to blend in with these." Kankuro said. He pointed to the black band wrapped around his arm. The other two nodded, and quickly fled. The presences that were coming towards them were drowned out as the energy became thousands of times stronger. The room was filled with at least a hundred silhouetted figures; the ones that the Sand Siblings had faced earlier.

"Let's sneak around the back. Try not to get noticed!" Temari whispered, and her brothers nodded. They analyzed the ninja carefully, not sure if they were watching or not.

"Would you mind telling us where we are, at least? Or what we're doing here? Or what you're going to do to us?"

"You'll figure out what you're doing here soon enough. Take these three to their cell, and make sure that you remove all weapons this time. Take the Copy Ninja to get treated for his injury."

'Copy Ninja…' The words reverberated through his mind, as he tried to recall where he had heard those before. The shadowed ninja suddenly moved simultaneously. The siblings hurried, while everyone was moving, and found an exit. It was a short tunnel, and another large room emerged from the end. It seemed to glow slightly, like in the room they were just in. They were about to enter it, when the leader popped up in front of them.

"Where do you think you're going?" It asked.

"Other way!" Kankuro exclaimed, and they turned, ready to run. They were blocked off that way too, by a doppelganger.

"You three have caused a lot of trouble. But, you actually sped up the process by putting on those bands by yourselves, instead of making us do it for you!" Its voice was smug.

The doppelgangers clutched at their arms and shoulders, dragging them back to their cell.

---

"Well, that was a failed attempt." Temari muttered with her arms wrapped around her knees. She was fan-less.

"Yeah, they even took Karasu away!" Kankuro whined. There were now three guards stationed outside their cell, so even if they tried to escape, they would be caught instantly.

Gaara sat against the wall in a corner. He hadn't spoken since they had been caught.

"Do the words 'Copy Ninja' ring a bell to either of you?" He asked curiously.

"Come to think of it… It seems familiar, but I don't know…" Temari said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I'm actually drawing a blank." Kankuro nodded in agreement, staring off into space.

"Yeah, it seems to be on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember."

"That's weird." Gaara muttered.

"This might sound strange, but I think that my sight has gotten better since we've been down here." Temari stated suddenly.

"You too?" Kankuro asked, surprised. "I thought that was just me!" They both looked at Gaara curiously. He nodded, and the air grew thick with suspicion.

"Do you think… it's because of these bands?" Temari flicked the one sealed to her right arm.

"Yeah. What other explanation could there be?" Kankuro said, scrutinizing his.

"Why would they want to make us stronger, though?" Temari asked again.

"Maybe they're planning to use us for something." Gaara said, looking at the guards outside.

Temari began to pull at one of her black bands. "Argh, it won't come off!" She hissed angrily. She tried banging it against the stone wall, scraping it, pounding it, and just simply sliding it off, but nothing worked. "It's like it's sealed to my skin!" She said, huffing.

"I guess we're stuck with them, then." Kankuro stated dully, as if there was no other option for them. And at the time, it didn't seem like there was one.

"I'm really tired, for some reason…" Temari muttered, her eyelids drooping. She lay down from her sitting position, and seemed to fall asleep instantly. Kankuro and Gaara exchanged glances at the weird behavior. Soon enough, Kankuro began to fall asleep, too. Gaara looked at both of them, confused.

'Something's obviously wrong with them.' Shukaku stated in Gaara's mind.

'Yeah.' Gaara thought, agreeing with the monster for once. After a moment, his eyes kept unwillingly closing. 'Why can't I keep my eyes open?'

'Something's obviously wrong with you.'

'That helps.' He thought sarcastically, before falling to the floor as the other two had done. His thoughts became heavy, and he drifted off into unconsciousness.

---

Naruto huffed, sitting cross-legged. "Man! This STINKS!" He crossed his arms, and pouted like a little kid. "And I am NOT infantile!"

"Sure you aren't, Naruto." Sasuke muttered, rolling his eyes. He shuffled around and reached into his pocket.

"Look. While you guys were out, I managed to find these." He put them down on the floor. Sakura looked up from her thoughts, and crawled over to have a look at them. Sasuke sat down. Naruto wiggled his way over, sitting all the way.

"Where'd you get these?" Sakura inquired. Naruto just stared at the papers with a blank expression on his face.

"When I first woke up, we were in a big library. I think it had some sort of sunlight filtering from above, so I know we're underground somewhere." Sasuke explained, shuffling the papers. "I went looking for some clues as to where we were. I crossed these on a table. Most of the books are in this language." He pointed to the script on the page.

"So what good does that do?" Naruto complained. "If we can't even read those papers, how the heck are we supposed to use them?"

Sasuke sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Naruto, will you get a brain already? It has pictures on them. That's how!"

"…Oh."

"Okay, enough, you two." Sakura said, holding her hands out between Naruto and Sasuke. "Let's analyze these, and try to figure out where we are." The raven-haired teen and the blonde nodded in unison, before each of the trio picked up a page.

After five minutes, Sakura straightened up, her eyes wide. "Do you feel that buzz in the air?"

Sasuke paused, and then quickly grabbed the pages from their clutches. "Quick, lie down! Pretend you're asleep!" He stuffed the documents in his pocket, before collapsing, and pretending to be unconscious for the second time. Sakura and Naruto copied him.

The electricity in the air thickened, and sure enough, a ninja entered the cell. It grasped onto each of Naruto's arms, holding him still.

The blonde snapped his eyes open, snarling. "Hey! Get'cher filthy claws off'a me!" He hollered, making Sakura flinch. Sasuke stayed frozen. What were they going to do with Naruto, of all people? Deciding he had nothing to lose, he began to form hand signs. Once he was done, he jumped up, facing the enemy.

"Fire Style - Art of the Phoenix Flower!" He cried, blowing the fireballs at the ninja. It vanished, and the fireballs fizzled out when they hit the walls. Naruto gave him a wide-eyed look. Sakura jumped up, star-shaped kunai in her hands.

"Are you trying to fry ME or somethin'? Watch where you're AIMING!" The back of his orange uniform was singed, as were some of his blonde locks. He unhappily brushed at his hair with his hands.

Sasuke looked around the cell for the intruder, but couldn't find anyone other than the three of them.

"Naruto! Look out!" Sakura cried, and threw kunai which whizzed past Naruto's head. The kunai hit the enemy, who had just appeared behind Naruto.

It fell down, before retrieving the kunai, and standing back up again.

"What? Why didn't that work?" Sakura asked, backing up. The ninja threw the kunai back at her, and she managed to dodge them all this time. Naruto tried to scramble away from the captor, but it caught him by the back of his jacket. Naruto kicked with his feet and squirmed. Another ninja came into the cell, and rolled up the blonde's sleeves. It clasped a black ring around each of Naruto's arms, which shrunk to fit perfectly around them.

"What are you doing?" Naruto yelled at them. "I don't want those stupid things! Lemme go!" They carried him through the barrier. Sakura and Sasuke could hear Naruto's yelling becoming fainter and fainter as he was carried farther away.

"How could he go through that barrier?" Sakura asked, breaking the silence.

"That's probably why they made him put on those bands." Sasuke replied, sitting down, and resting his head on his knees.

"What do we do now?" Sakura replied, hopelessness resounding in her voice.

"There's nothing we can do, Sakura."

He retrieved the documents from his pocket, and looked at them without life in his eyes. Sakura took one of the three, and the hours ticked by as they stared at the foreign symbols and pictures endlessly.

---

Gaara awoke in a strange room. There were no lights, but he could see perfectly fine. He glanced around; machines were attached to him. There was a beeping that filled the room, and he looked at one of the machines hooked up to him. It was a screen that showed his heart rate. It beeeped every four seconds, the lines jumping along with the beep.

He blinked, and then blinked again to make sure he was seeing correctly. 'One beat per four seconds?' He thought, feeling a cold sensation of panic rush through him, which was rare. He felt fine, but his limbs felt heavy to move.

"Hello." He glanced in the general direction of the voice. The figure stepped closer to him. It wasn't the leader they had encountered before, but one of the regular ninja.

"What am I doing here?" Speaking was becoming more difficult.

"That isn't for you to know." Before Gaara could question farther, he was pierced with an acupuncture needle.

"There. Now you're paralyzed. You won't be able to move greatly, so don't try. You'll just end up hurting yourself."

The redhead wanted to say something back, to question him, to find answers, but it was increasingly hard to move. He watched the figure disappear, and then reappear with more black bands.

"You'll need more than two of these." It said. It clasped two others on each arm, so that Gaara was in possession of six.

When Gaara blinked, it was gone again. This time, it didn't reappear. He felt extremely tired, and closed his eyes. The beeping resounded in his head. Once every five seconds… six seconds… seven seconds… He fell unconscious again.

---

Naruto woke up, attached to many machines. A heart meter, which was pounding away wildly; other machines surrounded him that he had no idea existed.

"What IS all of this stuff?" He exclaimed, pulling at some cords.

"You shouldn't do that." A voice made him look up, and drop the electrical wires.

"Who's there?"

The figure stepped up beside Naruto. Before he could say anything, he was pierced with an acupuncture needle.

"You're paralyzed. Don't try to move."

His heart rate slowed, and he blinked at the sudden event. 'Woah…'

The figure disappeared and came back with four more black bands. It clasped them onto his arms.

Naruto frowned, squinting in the darkness to see the figure before it disappeared for good. His vision had somehow improved in a short amount of time…

He scrutinized the figure's pale face, and expressionless eyes.

'He seems familiar…' Naruto thought.

His eyes suddenly widened in disbelief.

"No way!" He searched frantically for another answer in his mind, but remembered the figure as only one person.

"You're-"

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BWAHAHAHAHA! CLIFFHANGER!

:) Ahem, anyway…

Fwee, this chapter was as long as the last one. I hope you all enjoyed it!

Please review:D Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Phoenix-Roar