The Fellowship track the Orcs with Aragorn in the lead. Forest eventually gives way to treeless mountainous land of grass, shrubs, and boulder. Tsunade is impressed by Aragorn's tracking skill, given that he does not use chakra. She on the other hand can see the Orc's trail as easily as if they had painted the bottoms of their feet.
It was at one point that Tsunade had thought about running on ahead, knowing that she could easily catch up to the Orcs. She decided against it, however, because she also understood that the Orcs could easily force her surrender by threatening the Hobbits.
Aragorn stops to take a moment to lie against a rock and press his ear to it.
"Their pace has quickened," he said, then rises. "They must have caught our scent. Hurry!"
"They can actually smell us?" Tsunade asked as she runs with him.
"That they can," Aragorn answered.
"Come on, Gimli!" Legolas shouted back.
"Three days and nights pursuit," Gimli gasped. "No food. No rest. And no sign of our quarry, but what bare rock can tell."
The Fellowship keep running, traversing alongside the edge of a fiord. Eventually, Aragorn stops to kneel down and pick up something.
"One of the Hobbit's cloak brooch!" Tsunade gasped.
"Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall," Aragorn mused.
"Why do I get the feeling that was not left behind by accident," Tsunade pondered aloud.
"They may yet be alive," Legolas said eagerly.
"Less than a day ahead of us," Aragorn said. "Come."
Tsunade turns to the sound and sight of Gimli tumbling down the slope. With a sigh, she turns around to run up to him.
"Come, Gimli!" Legolas shouted. "We're gaining on them!"
"I'm wasted on cross-country," Gimli gasped as he gets back up and Tsunade is standing before him. "We Dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances."
"So you're saying that your kind are weak over long distance runs?" Tsunade mused playfully.
"Of-Of course not," Gimli sputtered indignantly.
"Then come on, slowpoke, you're slowing us down," Tsunade said as she grabs hold of him with both hands. She quickly bounds onward carrying a complaining indignant Gimli along. They overtake Legolas, who ends up laughing. She puts him down.
"There, you're ahead of Legolas-sama," Tsunade said, then continues onward.
Aragorn stops upon the crest of a rocky hill, making the rest stop with him.
"Rohan. Home of the Horse Lords," Aragorn said.
"So we've entered a country then," Tsunade said without it meaning to be a question, seeing only more of the same land they had been tracking through.
"Yes, but there's something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures. Sets its will against us."
"I too have been feeling a genjutsu at work here, Aragorn-sama."
Legolas runs ahead of them.
"Legolas, what do your Elf eyes see?!" Aragorn called.
"The Uruks turn northeast. They are taking the Hobbits to lsengard!"
"Saruman," Aragorn said.
"Now I get it," Tsunade said with lazy exclamation, "Saruman thinks one of them has the Ring."
"Keep breathing," Gimli is heard gasping as he comes running. "That's the key. Breathe."
"They run as if the very whips of their masters were behind them!" Legolas called.
"At least were catching up with them," Tsunade said.
They continue their pursuit, even into the night and beyond as the day dawns with a pinkish sky.
"A red sun rises," Legolas noted. "Blood has been spilt this night."
It is an hour into the day as they continue to track when Tsunade gets the feeling of multiple presences coming closer, and catches up to Aragorn.
"I sense horse riders approaching up ahead!"
"Hurry, over there," Aragorn said as he points, then runs to hide behind some rocks. The others join him.
Several seconds later, a large group of men riding horses come cantering past their hiding spot and through where they previously were.
They seem like samurai. Tsunade noted as she watches them pass.
Aragorn comes out of hiding. "Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?!"
The commander raises his spear and the horsemen circle around and canter back to the Fellowship. Tsunade can feel their agitation, though not any Killing Intent. The horsemen force them into a tight circle and finally stop to face them. They lower their spears to point at them.
Oh yeah, they're on edge. Tsunade thought.
The commander rides up to them
"What business does an Elf, a Man, a Dwarf, and a Woman have in the Riddermark?" Their commander demanded. "Speak quickly!"
"Orc hunting," Tsunade answered. "They seized two of our comrades."
"You're leading this group?" The commander asked with a touch of bewilderment.
"Actually he is," as she pats Aragorn's shoulder. "I just feel that a woman's voice should diffuse this tension."
Aragorn speaks up. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. She is Tsunade. He is Gimli, son of Gloin, and Legolas of the Woodland Realm. We are friends of Rohan and of Theoden, your king."
The commander motions for his men to raise their spears and they do so. He then dismounts and removes his helm.
"Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his own kin," the commander said. "Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over these lands . . . My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we are banished . . . The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there, they say, as an old man hooded and cloaked. And everywhere, his spies slip past our nets."
"We are no spies, it is as Tsunade had told you," Aragorn said.
"The Uruks are destroyed," the commander said. "We slaughtered them during the night."
Tsunade gasped as her heart skipped a beat and her pupils shrunk.
"But there were two Hobbits," Gimli exclaimed. "Did you see two Hobbits with them?!"
"They would be small, only children to your eyes," Aragorn explained.
"We left none alive," the commander said as he shakes his head. "We piled the carcasses and burned them." As he points to smoke in the distance.
"Dead?" Gimli gasped in disbelief.
"They could've escaped unnoticed," Tsunade stated quickly with a tone of hope as she clasped his shoulder. Though she personally doubts that.
"I am sorry," the commander said empathetically, then turns and whistles. "Hasufel! Arod!" Two horses walk forward. "May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters. Farewell." The commander puts his helmet back on and mounts his horse. "Look for your friends, but do not trust to hope . . . It has forsaken these lands. We ride north!" Shouting that last part to his men.
The horsmen ride away. Aragorn mounts one horse and Legolas puts Gimli up on the other, then gets up as well.
"I can easily keep up with a horse," Tsunade said.
The Fellowship head toward the smoking pile. Tsunade proves to be correct in being able to keep up with them as she bounds alongside them. Once at the charred pile of dead Orcs, they begin their gruesome task of searching, with Gimli digging through the pile of burnt bodies with his axe and finds something.
"It's one of their wee belts," Gimli gasped as he holds it up.
Legolas bows his head and mutters a prayer in Elvish. Aragorn kicks an Orc helmet and shouts with outrage, then falls to his knees.
"We have failed them," Gimli gasped with sorrow.
Tsunade lowers her head as she frowns and hides her eyes. Tears flow down her cheeks as she clasps her fists. Now she is no longer so sure that the Hobbits had escaped.
"A Hobbit lay here," Aragorn said, causing her to look up curiously and see him touching the ground. "And the other."
She watches as Aragorn goes to work tracking and falls in step with him, along with Legolas and Gimli.
"They crawled," he continued as he touches the ground. "Their hands were bound."
He picks up a piece of rope. "Their bonds were cut."
Tsunade feels renewed hope once again as she eagerly follows after Aragorn with Legolas and Gimli.
"They ran over here," Aragorn continued. "They were followed."
Aragorn breaks into a run as he continues examining the ground, causing the rest to run with him.
"Tracks lead away from the battle!" Aragorn shouted with renewed hope.
Tsunade is now beaming with joy and stops as Aragorn stops before an old growth forest.
"Into Fangorn Forest," Aragorn concluded.
"Fangorn?" Gimli gasped. "What madness drove them in there?"
"Wasn't it obvious, Gimli-san?" Tsunade asked dryly. "And at least we now know they're alive."
"You were right, lass," Gimli said as he looks back up at her.
"What's wrong about this forest anyway?" She next asked.
"Fangorn Forest is said to be a haunted forest," Gimli answered. "Any who enter are never heard of ever again."
"Come," Aragorn said as he hurries into the forest, and the rest of the Fellowship follow.
Aragorn continues to track the Hobbits. Tsunade looks about them every now and again. The plants and trees seem so ancient to her. And she can feel someone, or something . . . watching.
Gimli touches a leaf splattered with black liquid. He tastes it then spits it out. "Orc blood."
Tsunade winces at that leaf. Although she had gotten over her fear of blood, it still bothers her somewhat. She follows with the rest of the Fellowship and Aragorn stops before a section of ground as he examines it closely. She notices the remains of the owner of that blood in a large indent.
"These are strange tracks," Aragorn noted.
"And whatever made them was huge to squash that Orc like a bug," Tsunade noted as she emphasized, huge.
"The air is so close in here," Gimli gasped as he looks around.
"This forest is old," Legolas said as he also looks around. "Very old . . . Full of memory . . . And anger."
Deep groaning and creaking is heard from all around. Tsunade now feels a Killing Intent. She cannot discern from where it is coming or what intensity it is, only that it is there.
"The trees are speaking to each other," Legolas said as he looks up and around.
"Gimli," Aragorn whispered, then gestures. "Lower your axe."
"They have feelings, my friend," Legolas said. "The Elves began it: waking up the trees . . . teaching them to speak."
"Talking trees," Gimli said skeptically. "What do trees have to talk about, hm? Except the consistency of squirrel droppings."
Legolas walks past Aragorn while calling him along, then speaks to him in Elvish as they look into the forest. That is when Tsunade feels another presence behind her, albeit stronger.
"The White Wizard approaches," Legolas finally whispered.
"Do not let him speak," Aragorn whispered. "He will put a spell on us."
Tsunade watches as the others ready their weapons, compelling her to power up her jutsu. Though oddly she does not feel a Killing Intent.
"We must be quick," Aragorn whispered.
They quickly turn around and are greeted by a brilliant white light. Gimli throws an axe, which is deflected. Legolas fires an arrow, only to have that deflected. Aragorn drops his sword in pain as it glows red hot. Tsunade is unable to do anything due to that dazzling white light. She can make out someone within that light though.
The White Wizard! Tsunade thought fretfully.
"You are tracking the footsteps of two young Hobbits," the White Wizard said in a smooth baritone without it meaning to be a question.
"Where are they?" Aragorn demanded.
"They passed this way the day before yesterday," the White Wizard answered. "They met someone they did not expect . . . Does that comfort you?"
"Who are you?" Aragorn demanded. "Show yourself!"
The light disappears to reveal Gandalf, dressed in white robes and carrying a white staff. Tsunade gasps with shock as her irises shrink.
Is this the Impure World Reincarnation Technique! She found herself wondering.
"It cannot be," Aragorn gasped with disbelief.
"Forgive me," Legolas said humbly as he lowers himself, followed by Gimli. "I mistook you for Saruman."
"I am Saruman," Gandalf answered. "Or rather, Saruman as he should have been."
"You fell," Aragorn gasped with disbelief.
"Through fire . . . and water," Gandalf began, "from the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought with the Balrog of Morgoth . . . until at last I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside . . . Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time. The stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as a life age of the Earth. But it was not the end. I felt life in me again. I've been sent back, until my task is done."
"Gandalf," Aragorn sighed as he moved toward him.
"Gandalf . . . ? Yes . . . that was what they used to call me . . . Gandalf the Grey. That was my name."
"Gandalf," Gimli sighed.
"Gandalf-sama," Tsunade sighed with shimmering eyes and a smile, now knowing that this was not that forbidden technique as his eyes are still normal.
"I am Gandalf the White . . . And I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide . . . Tsunade my dear, this should help you." As he lifts his hand and touches the mark on her forehead.
In that instance, Tsunade gasps with shrunken irises as she feels her jutsu being higher.
"It may not be to where it once was," Gandalf said. "But it should still be of better aid, don't you think?"
Tsunade looks around and sees another boulder. She goes up to it and with all of her strength punches that boulder, splitting into two this time instead of leaving only a small crack in it. She turns to Gandalf with a joyous expression.
"You're quite welcome, my dear," Gandalf said with a smile, he next turns serious. "Now, come everyone, we have work to do." As he dons a grey cloak and begins walking, causing the rest of the Fellowship to fall in pace. "One stage of your journey is over. Another begins. We must travel to Edoras with all speed."
"Edoras?! That is no short distance!" Gimli exclaimed.
"What is this Edoras?" Tsunade inquired.
"The capital city of Rohan," Gandalf answered.
"We hear of trouble in Rohan. It goes ill with the king," Aragorn said.
"Yes and it will not be easily cured," Gandalf said.
"Then we have run all this way for nothing?" Gimli lamented. "Are we to leave those poor Hobbits here in this horrid, dark, dank tree-infested-?"
Groans are heard once again throughout the forest. Again, Tsunade feels a mild Killing Intent all around.
"I mean, charming," Gimli quickly corrected himself nervously, "quite charming . . . forest."
"Twas more than mere chance that brought Merry and Pippin to Fangorn," Gandalf said. "A great power has been sleeping here for many long years. The coming of Merry and Pippin will be like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains."
"In one thing you have not changed, dear friend," Aragorn mused. "You still speak in riddles."
Tsunade chuckles, along with the others.
"A thing is about to happen that has not happened since the Elder Days," Gandalf said. "The Ents are going to wake up . . . and find that they are strong."
"Strong?!" Gimli exclaimed.
The forest groans yet again.
"Oh, that's good," Gimli fretted.
"So stop your fretting, Master Dwarf," Gandalf grumbled. "Merry and Pippin are quite safe. In fact, they are far safer than you are about to be."
"This new Gandalf's more grumpy than the old one," Gimli said to Tsunade, prompting her to chuckle softly.