It was dark in the tunnel. Too dark. It seemed to go down and the air held the foul smell of death. Uchiha Obito sneezed and came to a halt as the tunnel ended abruptly, opening to a large chasm. He looked around, than turned to his teammate.

"Where the hell are we?" he all but shouted.

Hatake Kakashi glared at him. "How should I know? Ask Hoshi, he seems to know"

The two Konoha shinobi turned to their third teammate, looking for answers.

The dark-haired boy stood near the edge of the chasm, looking rather ill. It wasn't for the first time the two noticed a faint glow around Hoshi, but it seemed to have dimmed.

"Moria," he whispered.

"Huh?" Obito looked befuddled

"The name of the place we are at is called...'Moria', " said Kakashi as mockingly as he dared.

"I haven't heard of places like this in the Land of Earth," said a pleasant masculine voice.

The three boys jumped, turning to see a yellow-haired man standing at the mouth of the tunnel.

"Sensei," Obito breathed, looking relieved. Kakashi simply rolled his eyes

"Is Hoshi okay?" another voice came from the tunnel. This time it was female, and laced with worry.

"Rin!" Obito cried out with joy. The loud noise broke Hoshi out of his stupor. The pale child whipped around and tore to the tunnel.

Their teacher grabbed Hoshi. "Whoa, slow down!" he said good-naturedly.

Hoshi shook his head. "You understand not. 'Tis dangerous here, we have to go back!"

The four shinobi looked at their companion, concerned. Hoshi's gray eyes were wide with terror, and he was shaking with fear. When team 7 had first met the strange boy, he was quite skittish and terrified of the yokai masks. That had changed to a rather unflappable shinobi who secretly feared the yokai masks. But now...

Obito was just about to ask what was so terrible when the group heard a screech, coming from within the tunnel.

Hoshi shot out of his teacher's grasp up the walls of stone. Rin looked incredibly unnerved and followed Hoshi. Obito took one look into the tunnel, squinted, and quickly followed his friend. Kakashi noted his they comrades' pale faces bemusedly. He peered down the tunnel, unruffled. When he turned back toward the rest of his team, he discovered that they too were clinging to the wall.

"Come along Kakashi!" commanded his bright-haired superior. The Hatake sighed and joined his team away from the tunnel.

~•~•~•~

The network of caverns was enormous and dark. Thankfully, Rin had brought a couple flashlights, so the shinobi could see. Hoshi lead the around, telling his team about the place.

"These are the Mines of Moria, a former dwarf kingdom," he paused, pressing his ear against the wall. "They're all dead now," he added while bounding down to a path.

"Dead?" asked Kakashi, "What killed them?"

Hoshi looked both ways before climbing over the edge.

"Goblins," was his simple reply.

"What are ...Gob-rins?" asked Obito, trying to pronounce the foreign word.

"Cave Oni," Hoshi began sniffing the air and leading Team Minato down a smaller tunnel.

Obito and Rin exchanged looks while Kakashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Where are you leading us, Hoshi-kun?" asked Sensei.

"There is a path leading to a path out," he answered. "I just have to find it first."

~•~•~•~

Thud

Thud

Thud

*CRASH*

Thud

*SPASH*

Eldarion, or Hoshi as he was known among shinobi, visibly brightened at the sound. He led the group across an underground lake and scanned the ceiling.

"Found you," he whispered triumphantly. Team Minato simply gave him blank looks.

"We need to reach that hole," he said, pointing to the slightly darker spot in the general darkness.

Sensei nodded. "Is it large enough?" he asked.

"Methinks," responded Eldarion. He was on edge. The boy wanted to get home, but not like this. And if he was correct, it wasn't even the right age.

"Curse the powers that be," he uttered darkly. Luckily, the ceiling wasn't very high and he could easily reach the entrance to the well.

"Obito, you go with Hoshi. Rin and I will scout out an alternative route while Kakashi stays here." commanded the Jōnin.

Eldarion nodded and Obito flashed a grin, before the two climbed into the well-shaft.

~•~•~•~

"Just how long is this shaft?" thought the Uchiha. He was pleased that he put on his goggles before he climbed in after his good friend. All sorts of things were raining down on his face, none of them pleasant. Suddenly Hoshi yanked him up beside him. Obito nearly cried when he saw light, but Hoshi looked up anxiously. Then he heard the noises. Screams, shouts, gargles and roars all assaulted his ears.

"What on earth?" he whispered, horrified.

"I had feared this," muttered Hoshi. He turned to face Obito. "Are you prepared to fight if the need be?"

Obito gave him a scared look. "Can't we just stay here?" he pleaded.

Hoshi frowned at him, thinking. It was then Obito's ears picked up the faint sound of footsteps in the well. The sound of panicked gasps floated up as well. Obito looked down to see a wild-eyed Kakashi tearing up the well at a break-neck pace. He was covered in what appeared to be ink, and held a kunai in his hand.

"Hoshi..." Obito cautiously turned to his teammate.

The grey-eyed boy looked down, confused.

"What is wrong?" he called down to the climbing boy.

"It's after me! They're crawling behind me! We have to get out! They're coming!" Kakashi cried back.

Obito looked at his teammate. Kakashi was getting closer and showing no sign of slowing down. Hoshi seemed to have realized this, as he looked alarmed.

"Obito, only attack the cave oni, alright?" he whispered harshly.

The Uchiha turned toward Hoshi incredulously. "Oni don't exist," he hissed back.

Before his friend could retort, Kakashi slammed into them, forcing them back and out of the well.