I do not own these series, nor do I make any money off of this.

"talking"
'thinking'

Chapter 41: Contract

They say things have to get worse before they can get better. This was the worst world they had been in so far. Of course they didn't know about the world that they'd get to eventually. But that isn't the point. Right now, they were in a dangerous situation. Death was close and in all honestly, they were scared. However, to understand the situation, time has to be turned back.

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Rin hugged Naruto goodbye. It was time for Sasuke and Naruto to move on to the next world. Over the last few days, Rin and Naruto had gotten close. Sasuke and Naruto also repaired their relationship. Rin and Yukio were still fighting, but the aura around them had changed. Sasuke and Yukio still didn't like each other. Naruto however had managed to grow on Yukio. They weren't friends per se, but they got along enough. Once again, Naruto's strange power won everyone over, including Mephisto. The man had apologized about Amaimon and had explained that he was just trying to help them get over their fight. Naruto had to stop Sasuke from Amaterasuing Mephisto, but all was well. Naruto and Sasuke stood side by side as green light surrounded them. Sasuke and Yukio's eyes locked as Sasuke mouthed something before disappearing.

Yukio couldn't help but smile. "You should trust him more."

Naruto and Sasuke landed in a gray desert-like place. "It's pretty bleak," Naruto said. Sasuke smirked at that, but the smirk soon disappeared.

Naruto fell to his knees. Red Chakra burst out of his body. He screamed as he felt like he was being torn in two. Sasuke could only stand by and watch as the chakra formed the shape of a man. When Naruto finally stopped screaming, a man with red hair and eyes stared back at Sasuke's Sharingan. He gasped as he realized just who was standing before him. The man blinked as he took in the scene in front of him. He frowned when he saw Naruto on the ground, still clenching his stomach. Then he moved his gaze back to the Uchiha. He smirked as the slight fear in the boy's eyes. The man looked down at his body and frowned. Why was he in a human form?

Sasuke blinked before moving to check on the blond. "Are you ok?" He asked.

"I'm ok," Naruto said taking a deep breath. "But I don't get what happened. Why is Kurama here?"

"I don't know, Kit," Kurama said. "I can tell that something is different. Check the seal." Naruto lifted up his shirt and gasped. On his stomach where the seal usually was, was a different tattoo. It looked like a clock. The hand was two away from the 12-position.

"What does this mean?" Naruto asked.

Kurama shook his head. "I don't know. But whatever this is, it's dangerous. Separating us is suppose to lead to your death. You being able to keep standing is amazing in itself."

"It probably has to deal with something about this world," Sasuke said. "Just like how our appearances changed in Halloween Town." Kurama and Naruto nodded.

"Well isn't this amazing," a man said. "An illegal contractor." He jumped down, cane in front of him. It hit the ground before easing him down. "What do you think Emily?"

"Enemies," Emily said.

Sasuke's eyes shifted to the Sharingan as he focused on the doll. There was no chakra inside of it. He then looked at the man. A strange chakra was coming from just above his heart and something in his pocket. Sasuke glanced back at Naruto to see that the chakra around his stomach was nearly identical to the strange man's. Sasuke began to unsheathe his sword.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled. "I don't know about this illegal contractor thing, but we aren't your enemies."

"He doesn't seem to agree," the man said motioning to Sasuke. Naruto instantly turned to see Sasuke's sword at the ready. He frowned then tried to tell Sasuke to put it away, but the raven refused. He wasn't going to let them get attacked again. Naruto understood that Sasuke wasn't wrong in wanting to protect himself, especially now that Kurama was free. He saw the raven taking steps away from the glaring kitsune. "And since you have a chain, you must know that I can't simply walk away from you." He raised his cane.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled, stopping everyone in their tracks. Both Kurama and Sasuke had moved to kill the strange man. Said main had his eye wide open when he felt Sasuke's sword at his neck and a kunai near his heart. Kurama had taken the kunai from Naruto without the blond noticing. "Everyone should just put their weapons away."

"I agree," a boy said. He was behind Naruto. Naruto turned slightly surprised to see not only the boy that had spoken but a girl and another young man behind him. He hadn't sensed them at all. "Something is off about them." He started walking towards Naruto.

"Oz, wait," the young man began but the boy ignored him.

Oz stopped in front of Naruto and smiled. "Hi there. I'm Oz Vessalius! I'm also an illegal contractor." He held out his hand.

Naruto looked a bit taken back before he grinned and shook the hand. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

Oz nodded. "Break, I don't think these are bad people. Don't you agree Alice, Gil?"

The girl behind Oz stepped around Oz and looked up at Naruto. She suddenly frowned. "Hey Oz! Why couldn't you be as strong as him?" She pointed at Naruto. "Why did I have to get a weak-ass manservant like you?" And so started a yelling match between Oz and Alice. Gil tried to calm them down only to get an elbow to the stomach and a kick to his... let's just say he wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. Break just shook his head and walked towards Gil, his cane down. In the wake of Oz's arrival, Kurama and Sasuke had also put their weapons down. Kurama and Sasuke looked at each other, glared, then appeared next to Naruto, taking in the scene of the two children rolling around in the sand.

Finally, what felt like an hour later, everyone was sitting in a little house at a table with tea and some cakes in front of them. A beautiful girl that looked to be about twelve stood, pouring the tea. "I'm sorry that Break attacked you."

"Now Sharon," Break began. He suddenly stopped when he saw her harisen. There was no way he wanted to be hit with that paper fan again.

"So," Sharon said as she sat down. "Tell me what I can do for you."

"Um..." Naruto looked down at his tea. "Can you explain this contractor thing."

"Oh," Sharon said. "That is a surprise. A contractor that doesn't know what a contractor is. Well, to put it simply, You have a contract with your chain." She motioned to Kurama. "This allows you to use his powers to get what you want. However, since you have a clockwise seal, you are an illegal contractor. Once your contract expires, you and your chain will be dragged into the depths of the Abyss." She took a sip of her tea. "But I am surprised that your seal is on your stomach instead of your chest. The seal is suppose to be connected to the heart."

"How do you become a contractor or a chain?" Kurama asked.

This time, everyone looked surprised. "Well, chains are born so I can't tell you much about them, but as for contractors, there are two ways. One is to use a Carcere in making a contract with a chain. The item takes in the blood of a chain instead of one's body negating the risks illegal contractors have. Illegal contractors drink the blood of the chain and as I said before a seal appears on their chest."

"Then I can't be an illegal contractor," Naruto said. "I've never drank Kurama's blood before."

"And I'm not a chain," Kurama said. "I'm a demon." Sharon and Break looked at each other.

Alice suddenly stood up and got in Kurama's face, using the table as a place to stand. "A chain is born from the Abyss. We were either objects given consciousness from the Abyss or Illegal contractors whose seals were completed. So you have to be one of those to be a chain. And since he had a seal, he's a contractor and you are his chain." She smirked. "So get ready to bark when your master says to."

A clawed hand reached out and grabbed Alice's collar. "I'm not some pet little girl. And I sure as hell am no dog." His grip tightened as he lifted her into the air. Naruto and Oz looked about to interfere. "And you will do well to learn who is has the most power." He tossed the girl towards Oz who caught her. Gil had to stabilize them. The two looked at Alice whose fear was evident on her face.

"Kurama," Naruto said. "That wasn't necessary."

"The girl had to learn her place," Kurama said. "People should know that it's foolish to take on a kitsune." Silence filled the room as the tension level rose. Sasuke prepared himself once more in case if the others saw Naruto or himself as a threat. Sure he was, but he didn't need them to know that. As for Kurama, he knew the demon could protect himself. Sasuke also made sure he was ready to take on Kurama since the demon hated Uchihas, probably him more than most. Sasuke knew that the only reason Kurama hadn't killed anyone was because of Naruto, but he didn't know how long this would stay true.

As Sasuke glanced around the room, his eyes fell on Naruto. Something came to him as his mind went towards the seals. "How much time?" The tension seemed to vanish as all eyes were now on Sasuke. Ignoring the looks, he continued his question. "How much time does he have before the contract expires?"

Sharon turned to Naruto. "May I see the seal?" Naruto nodded, lifting his shirt up. A sad look appeared on her face. "Two away. This means you only have two more times to use the chain's power before the contract expires." No one spoke as the three new arrivals took in this information. From the way Sharon had said it, being pulled into the Abyss was as good as being killed. That meant that Naruto wouldn't be allowed to use Kyuubi's power more than once in this world. But wait! Why was the hand in the tenth position? Naruto hadn't used Kyuubi's power even once. If you count their separation, that should only be one time. Sasuke began to do math in his head, unknown to the fact that both Kurama and Naruto were doing the same thing. Then they frowned. Naruto had used Kyuubi's power more than ten times since they left their world. In fact, if you counted the times Naruto used if before then, it would be well over thirty times. Did it have to be a certain amount of power to count? They didn't know.

"So I just can't use that power," Naruto said, taking a sip of his tea. "That's fine." Sasuke just stared at Naruto then glanced at Kurama who had been doing the same. When Kurama's eyes met Sasuke's, a silent sentence went through their heads: "we need to talk." The two then turned back to their tea as Naruto turned the conversation around onto the more happy things of this world.

Let me know if anyone who saw the title of the chapter thought this was gonna be a different world. It was done on purpose to keep the mystery.

So, I split this into two chapters. The next chapter will be out very soon.