Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Lord Of The Rings
Summary: didn't change
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Lord Of The Rings. Wish I did, but I don't.
A/N: PrincessPrincess-Thanks! Cookie for you, and an update!
'Thinking'
"Elven/Shinobi"
"Common"
Chapter Two: Elves
Soon everything was settled, and they had just begun to pick turns for watch when Akamaru barked, and Kiba stiffened.
"People coming!" he said, and scrambled to his felt along with everyone else.
The sight that greeted them was a tall man, who seemed to have some type of chakra plenty strong but unused, and four little people. Neji and the others didn't know what to classify them as, they didn't look like children, but they were not dwarves…and they had extremely hairy feet…And one had a small bundle of chakra that seemed to be pulsing with power, a tainted power that corrupted anything that came into contact with it. The little person's chakra was a good example of this, as it was being slowly tainted even as they watched. Not that they had long to watch, because as soon as the man had caught sight of them he had shoved the little people behind himself, and was now pointing a sword at them. One man hoped to take on four shinobi, and an extremely large dog. He was either very brave, or very stupid. Though they could have taken on this lone man, they were there to learn the area, and the people-not kill them.
"Wait! We mean no harm!" Neji exclaimed, as he saw the man getting ready to lunge. His outburst seemed to surprise the man, and the little people, though they looked confused at what was said.
"You…are Elves?" the man asked, lowering his sword. He had a funny look on his face, and Neji was tempted to hit him anyway. Elves?! What was he talking about? From the snorts coming from behind him he could tell Kiba and Naruto were trying very hard not to bust up right there.
"Sir, we are not elves. We are shinobi." He responded, and it was his turn to receive an odd look.
"Shinobi? I have never heard of such creatures…" that stopped Kiba and Naruto's laughter. Hinata looked taken aback, and Neji was trying desperately not to say something derogatory.
'Shinobi…wait…there was a type of legend that Adar told me about…something about some race of human…but they vanished from Middle-Earth long ago!' Aragon thought, as he noted that upon calling them 'creatures' the two in the back had gone rigid. And not from fear. He could practically feel the anger boiling off of them. That had most definitely been the wrong choice of words.
"I apologize, but shinobi are but a legend…I have only heard pieces of their history from Elrond." At this Neji sighed. Well, that would explain. Still, he glanced back to the others, and they nodded. Yep, they knew what he was going to do, after all this man sounded like he knew the area, and it would be rude to ask questions without some type of introduction. They were the strangers to the land, and it would only be right if they spoke first.
"Legend or not, we are Konoha shinobi, ANBU rank, and we wanted to ask if-" before he could finish his sentence Akamaru growled, and Kiba pulled out a kunai. The man and little people tensed.
"Something's coming…" Kiba warned, and Aragon turned around, just in time to see another cloaked figure come into the area. One figure followed by three more. And suddenly all four shinobi realized why the man had almost attacked them.
The figures looked almost identical to the ANBU-aside from the small fact that the ANBU had masks, and untainted chakra…and that the cloaked figures didn't seem to be human anymore…
Akamaru snarled, and moved to lunge, as Kiba shifted his grip on his kunai. Neji and Hinata took similar but vastly different stances for their defensive moves, and Naruto growled deep in his throat also pulling out a kunai. The figures moved to attack, going after one of the small people, namely the one with the tainted bundle of chakra. The man almost instantly attacked the figure closest to him. It shrieked-in a way that was definitely not human-and backed up. The others did not. So Naruto and the others charged in, swinging the kunai at the figures, managing to cut the cloaks and sometimes whatever was under the cloaks…
Then something odd happened.
The little person that had been the target pulled something out of his pocket, and vanished. They heard the man curse, and one of the little people call for the one who had vanished. But when one of the cloaked figures stabbed at seemingly empty air and there was a shout Neji figured that these figures could see the little person just as well as the Byakugan. Though him and Hinata didn't have time to dwell on that fact, as one of them made a passing swipe at them. Neji retaliated with blocking with his kunai, and waited for the man to show them how to deal with these things because so far it didn't look like they bled.
The man was guarding the little person, and waving a torch around now, and thrust it into the hood of one of the creatures, and it recoiled screaming. So, fire was deadly to them…
"Hinata! Hit it with an explosion tag!" Neji called over to his cousin, who was fast to pull one out and hit it in the 'face' and Neji jumped back just in time for her to activate the thing. That made two down at that one was sent away screaming as well.
Two more to go.
Naruto quickly formed the seals to his Kage no Bunshin, and it promptly attacked the nearest figure, and that left Kiba with the last one. He tossed another exploding note at it, and it detonated at the same time Naruto's clone did. Naruto had planted an exploding note in it.
As soon as the cloaked figures were dealt with the man turned back to the ANBU with an odd look.
"I'll ask later, but we have to get Frodo help. Introductions can wait." The man said as he picked up one of the little people-Frodo-and began walking off at a pace that surprised the ANBU. Though the man didn't seem to have any training he really could set a fast pace after a fight. Not that they were going to complain. Though as soon as they got to the bottom of the hill they saw two people mounted on horses. The man quickly ran up to one, said a few things, and handed Frodo to him. Then he looked over to the other three little people. Kiba sighed, as they noticed something. The other little people would just slow them down on foot, and there wasn't enough room for them on the horses…
"Hey, Akamaru can keep up with a horse, they can ride him." The man sighed, and nodded, before turning to the little people and saying something. They gave him odd looks, but nodded, and Akamaru lay down so they could get on. Still, the man gave them a worried look, but Neji waved it off.
"Get moving. We can keep up." he said, and the man gave him an odd look, but nodded. The two people on the horses looked to each other, and Neji noted that they must have also been twins. Still they gave the man a look. He simply waved it off in a 'I'll answer later' gesture, and got on behind the person not holding Frodo. And with that they took off, Akamaru following behind. The ANBU followed close behind, much to the surprise of the mounted people. But when an unearthly screech resounded through the area, they all turned to see the cloaked figures again. Neji swore. They had horses.
"Didn't we get rid of them?!" Naruto demanded, annoyed. Kiba was openly swearing, and Neji knew that under the mask Kiba's expression would have been one of fear. Hinata was busy pulling out kunai and attaching something to them. She then flung them at the one figure in the lead, and detonated the exploding notes that were attached. Neji, and the rest stared at her. That had been over-kill, even the horse had gone down! Still, that left three others.
"Keep moving!" Neji snapped, as he saw Kiba and Naruto turn and get ready to deal with the other three. The halted their movement, for a split second, before twisting back around and following Neji and Hinata, who were beside Akamaru and the others.
"Almost there!" one of them men yelled, and the one that they had fought beside yelled something to the little people. Soon they knew what they had been running towards, as they heard the sound of running water. Soon they were splashing through the water or, in the shinobi's case, running on top of a river. The received a few odd looks for this, but they paid no attention to that, it was second nature by now to do this type of thing with water by now. They raced to the other end of the river, and for some reason the others halted and turned back to the black riders. Neji was about to scream at them to get moving, as the black riders charged into the river, before he heard a dull roar. He, and the others, turned to see the river had risen out of its banks, and was bearing down on the riders in the river with more force than any water jutsu they had ever seen. Neji, and the others scrambled away from the banks, and watched the water slam into the riders, and wash them away. When the water had returned to its banks Neji and Hinata turned to the two riders with them. One shrugged, and his twin motioned for them to get moving again. Naruto and Kiaba were stock still and staring, and Neji sighed.
"Naruto! No time to act like a fool! Kiba, that goes for you too! We're moving on!" Neji shouted, as he and his cousin turned to follow the riders. Naruto started first, covering the distance between himself and his boyfriend in one bound, and almost tackled the smaller male. Kiba was a bit slower, but ran up to trot alongside his dog and Hinata all the same.
--
After they had been running for a time, the riders slowed to walk, and then the shinobi knew they could breath a bit easier. For now. Soon a city came into view, and the four, five if you counted Akamaru, stared in awe.
"K'so…it's beautiful…" Naruto muttered, and Neji agreed. Hinata was silent, and even Kiba was quiet for once. They heard that the place was named Rivendell, and other things, but right then it was only habit that tuned them into what was said. The followed behind the people, listening to the ones that saved them, and trying to understand what the little people-and the other man-were saying. Still, as they got closer to the city they all had the feeling that they did before a mission would usually take a drastic turn that wasn't foreseen in the slightest.
And sometimes it wasn't always a good thing to be correct.
A/N: Okay, second chapter done…finally.
