Naruto groaned as the kyuubi's chakra cloak receded from around his body. He collapsed onto his hands and knees from the strain of using the bijuu's chakra. Pain was radiating from the exposed, skinless parts of him, caused by the corrosive effects of the demon cloak. Naruto panicked as he felt Orochimaru's chakra signature move closer to him. A sharp pain shot through his leg. His shifted his gaze from the ground in front of him to behind him to see a brightly colored snake slithering away.

"Oh shit," He croaked. Naruto instantly felt the effects of whatever poison the reptile injected into him. A sudden wave of lethargey hit him before his arms and legs gave out. He struggled to move his limp limbs in an atttempt to pull himself up. Dark chuckling filled Naruto will paralyzing dread. Orochimaru was now in front of him.

The sannin grinned at Naruto's feeble attempts of movement. "It's no use Naruto-kun, you won't be moving anytime soon. I'll be taking care of you, once and for all." Naruto looked at him in fear. "Don't worry, in long run, it wouldn't be beneficial to kill you, so you're in luck. But I will be getting rid of you." Naruto closed his eyes and prayed his team would get to him in time.

...

Yamato took note of the lack of fighting from the safe distance he, Sakura, and Sai were at. He frowned in consideration. 'If the battle's over, the who's the winner? It's more possible that it's Orochimaru. Even if he's been trained by Jiraiya-sama, I highly doubt that Naruto can take out an S-class nuke-nin like Orochimaru.' Yamaro's eyes widened. 'If Naruto's been defeated then we need to hurry.'

Yamato turned to Sakura and Sai with a sense of urgency. "We need to go. Naruto-san has most likely been defeated by Orochimaru. We need to get to him as soon as possible."

Sakura nodded. "Hai taicho. I have enough chakra to give him medical attention."

The jonin gave Sai a commanding look. "I need you to paint some ink birds and track Orochimaru so my wood clone can follow. Our mission can still succeed."

"Of course." Sai swiftly painted ink birds while Yamao created a wood clone. The birds took to the sky while the clone followed. The jonin made a wooden bridge and the Konoha shinobi quickly crossed.

By the time they found Naruto, he was in the center of of intricate golden seals. Orochimaru was standing not far from him, weaving his fingers through dozens of hand signs. Once he stopped, he slammed his pale hands at the edge of the seals and Naruto was encased in golden light.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed. The kunoichi lunged toward her teammate although she was stopped by Yamato. He made mutliple wooden tendrils to grab the jinchurriki but they passed through his body when it started to dissolve into a shower of gold.

Orochimaru smirked. "At least he won't be a thorn in my side any longer." The sannin dissapeared into a puff of smoke. Sakura fell to her knees in shock before she crawled to where Naruto was previously was. Yamato watched sadly as she kept reating 'no' before thinking, 'What am I going to tell Tsunade-sama and senpai?'

Sai narrowed his eyes. 'Danzo-sama will not be pleased when he hears about this.' He tilted his head when a metallic object that peeked out of some dust had caught his eye. "Sakura, beside you." The medic nin turned beside her and saw an elegant deep red key. The handle looked like two intertwinging fox tails, encircling a red swirl lined with black. The swirl was exactly like the one on the back of Naruto's trackjacket. Sakura closed her hand around it and held the key close to her chest. After a few moments, the same thought crossed the trios's minds, 'What now?'

UNKNOWN PLACE

Naruto Uzumaki awoke with a groan. Suprisingly, he felt rejuvinated . Which was strange since he used the kyuubi's chakra and had been bitten by Orochimaru's snake. He opened his eyes and cursed. His eyes scanned the open areas around him. Outside of the open walls was a weird celestial sky filled with glowing, irredescent stars and planets. The open room also allowed him to see a multitude of silver-white staircases connecting his room to other ones.

"How the hell am I going to get back to Konoha now?" Naruto grumbled before he fell back on the the extremely soft bed. But when he did, a sharp pain shot up his back. "What the..." Blue eyes widened with horror after he swiveled around to see nine, long red-orange tails tipped with white. He reached under the cream pants he was dressed in to feel all the tails' bases coming from his lower back. He reached up to run his fingers through his hair. "All I need is a matching set of..." Naruto cut himself off when his fingers two furry upright ears. After hesitantly giving them a gentle tug, a horrified scream burst through his mouth.

...

"So I'm basically going to be someone's tool for them to use as the please if they get my key?" Naruto growled, his hands tightened around the aforementiomed key. Behind him, his tails lashed to accent his anger.

The massive spirit before him with a rather prominent mustache shook his head. "It's not always like that, old friend. Celestial mages of today just don't have the same understanding and respect for us as they did in the past. All you need to do is to find the right person."

Naruto arched his eyebrow and gave him a disbelieving look. "Look Mustache Man,"

"That's the Celestial Spirit King." Interjected a humanoid goat-man.

"Look Mustache Man," Naruto repeated after rolling his eyes at the goat-man. "I'm not going don't want to be used by anyone. Where I come from, I'm a ninja. Ninja are used as tools by the people who hire them to kill, steal, and array of other things. I refused to be someone's tool then and I refuse to be one now."

The Celestial King gave a warm laugh, startling Naruto. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. When a celestial mage finds your key and opens your gate, you choose to make a contract with them. Though most spirits forget about that option."

"Oh," Naruto loosened his grip on his key and showed the Celestial Spirit King his key. "How would someone summon me if I have this?"

"Well old friend, you could always just drop your key in Earthland, where the mages are." The Celestial King chuckled at Naruto's horrified face. "Or you could entrust one of the contracted spirits to find you a good summoner."

"Do I have to have a summoner?" Naruto grumbled.

"It's nice to have something to do to pass the time. Enternity is a long time; you are immortal. You know that, right?" Commented a long, blue haired meremaid.

"What?!" Naruto shouted. "I don't want to live forever. What about my friends?! My home?!" Immortality was something Naruto never could understand why people wanted. They would see all their loved ones grow old and die, and they could never join them in the afterlife. That's something Naruto never wanted, but ironically, now he had it.

"You will simply outlive them if you see them again. There's nothing I can do to change that for you, old friend."

"If I see them again?"

The king gave Naruto a sad look. "I don't know what world or deminsion you come from. And when I do find it, it will take me a while to craft a key to give you a doorway to your home. I don't know how much time passed between here and there."

Naruto nervously ran his fingers through one of his tails. "So what do I do now?"

"If I may," The meremaid interjected. "My summoner is a very kind girl. She would happily care for your key for you. It would help take your mind off of things."

"If it will clear my hear head, then sure." 'It couldn't possibly get any worse.'

...

Naruto curiously stared at the teenager that sat diagonally from him. Her feet were submerged in the water of the lake. Aquarius had refused to be summoned in anything smaller. The meremaid had threatened murder if it happened.

"I think we would make great friends." The blonde haired girl offered with a warm smile. "And since you are a ninja, you could teach me some things."

"All my techniques require chakra, which I don't have any longer..." Naruto sadly trailed off.

"I'm sorry for mentioning it. Aqarius told me that you can't return to your home at the moment. I know you want to return there when you finally get the chance, but I think you should make the best of this oppurtunity and have some fun." She wickedly grinned. "And when you get back to your home, you'll have some fun stories to tell."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "I don't understand why you want me to form a contract with me so bad. I really haven't gotten a good grasp on any of my abilities yet. Eventually, I do want to go home. So, what would be the point. Naruto's eyes were watching a few emotions cloud the other blonde's chocolate eyes.

She surprised him with another warm smile. "Because it sounds like you really could use a friend. I'd be happy to be your friend, even if you're going to eventually leave." She paused before thrusting her hand out. "So shall we make a contract, Mr. Naruto Uzumaki?"

Naruto hesitated before shaking her hand. He gave her a shaky smile. "Alright, Miss Layla Heartfilia."

(A/N: So this yet another one of new stories. I haven't decided if this is going to be a one-shot or a full length story. So tell me what you think.)