AN:

I would like to thank TechnoFire, HarbingerLady and anyone reading this story for their support. I apologize for the grammar and spelling errors. Each chapter will be cleaned up whenever I spot a problem. Please Review, I need feedback! Thank you!

Minato was not sure when he realized that he and his team were not in the Land of Earth. Was it when he and Rin saw skeletons of people too short to be human, but clearly so? It could have been when they were attacked by hideous, smelly fiends with strange weapons and armor. That was a horrible moment when he and Rin realized that Hoshi was not kidding about the Cave Oni. They had been chased further and further down the tunnels until they came to a large cavern. Within the cavern was the most terrible creature he had ever set eyes upon. It was enormous, larger than Gamabunta by far. It looked like a volcano come to life, with chakra to rival all nine bijuu. The most terrible thing about it was the fact it was looking right at them. Minato had not been nicknamed the Yellow Flash for nothing. He grabbed for Rin and took off.

~•~•~•~

When Rin had seen the fire demon, she did not hesitate to jump on Minato-Sensei's back. She was glad that Sensei was fast, because seconds after they had left their spot, a fiery whip cracked through the air. The flaming weapon just missed her back, but singed both her clothes and hair. The thing moved surprisingly fast, cutting the two off from the exit. Minato-Sensei was looking around for another exit. Fortunately Rin found one. Unfortunately, it was near the thing's head.

"Sensei, look near its head," she shouted over the noise of the fiery creature's movements.

Minato-Sensei looked up, and suddenly jumped onto its knee. Rin was so shocked that she forgot to scream as her teacher ran up the thing. The heat radiating from its body was so intense that parts of her clothes caught fire. Finally, Minato-Sensei jumped off its head and into the tunnel.

~•~•~•~

The Yellow Flash was a little annoyed that the thing decided to follow them. But the annoyance turned into fear when he realized that he couldn't shake it off his tail. He had use Hiraishin multiple times, but the creature was always one step ahead of him or directly behind him. Minato remembered that he had put a Hiraishin seal on Hoshi the Stranger for security reasons. But he was reluctant to use it because it might lead the thing to Hoshi and Obito. He groaned when he remembered that Kakashi was standing guard at the underground lake. Minato realized that he had little choice but to hope that Kakashi was somehow with the others, for the odds of returning to that lake were rather slim. He was snapped out of his reverie when a giant fiery foot slammed down in front of him.

"That's it!" he screamed mentally. Without another word, he teleported.

~•~•~•~

Rin was surprised when they landed on the ceiling. Minato-Sensei looked confused. Looking around, she saw a strange and motley group being surrounded by the Cave Oni. That was when Rin heard a familiar voice...

"Sensei! Rin! Down here!" shouted the enthusiastic Uchiha.

Rin couldn't help but smile along with Minato-Sensei at Obito's antics. But then Sensei sniffed the air.

"It's coming here, Rin" he stated as he ran along the ceiling. While Minato-Sensei looked calm, the medic could tell that he was actually terrified. This was one enemy that he hadn't been able to defeat or outrun. Rin hoped that there was someone in that group that knew how to fight the creature.

When they landed, Rin noticed that: a) The Cave Oni were gone, b) Kakashi was there and c) She was the only girl there. All the strangers were dressed oddly, and spoke a guttural language. What was almost stranger was that Hoshi understood and spoke to them. She then recalled that she had seen him in a set of clothes not unlike the ones the man standing next to him was wearing. When the unspeakably ancient man spoke, Hoshi translated.

"That," he gulped. "is a Balrog,"

"A what now?" Rin thought.

"I suggest we run," Hoshi whimpered before running after the group of strangers.

~•~•~•~

Minato was slightly peeved by Hoshi's cowardice, but now was not the time to fix that. Team Minato followed Hoshi as they reached a crumbling stairway.

"We have to cross that bridge over there!" Hoshi said, pointing to a bridge parallel to where they were standing. The strangers were having trouble crossing a gap on the steep stairway. It wasn't helping that the fiends were shooting arrows at them.

"Obito, Kakashi," Minato called his students. The two snapped to attention.

"Take out the oni on both sides," he commanded. The two nodded. Obito took the side they were standing on while Kakashi vaulted over the group to the other side. He turned to his other two students.

"Stick with the strangers," he commanded. The other two nodded, before joining the tall, dark-haired man and the impossibly short person on the steps.

Minato judged the distance between the bridge and his current position.

"It will probably take about three jumps to get over there," he thought. But as he prepared to throw his kunai, the stairway began to crumble. He immediately threw it to the opposite wall and Hiraishin-ed over. As soon as he landed he threw his other kunai to the bridge. Luckily it hit, and then he teleported over.

Obito and Kakashi were done with their job. Kakashi hopped over to a stairway leading up while Obito ran to the bridge and crossed over. Minato, hanging on the underside of the bridge, waited for Obito to pass over him before he followed the two. When he had a good look at them, he was a bit surprised.

"You both look as if ink flasks have been spilled on you!" Minato exclaimed.

Obito frowned. "The Cave Oni have strange blood." he remarked.

Kakashi motioned for the other two to move up the stairs. The strangers were crossing the bridge, and just in time. The terrible thing had caught up, and the old man was guarding the bridge from it. The strangers had stopped moving up the stairs to look at the man dressed in gray. Hoshi looked distressed. He was going from person to person, trying to get them to move. But they seemed frozen in fear. Minato didn't blame them. It was obvious that the old man was going to die because of the terrible thing. It was clear that he was the leader of the group, and everyone admired him. The old man was shouting at the thing in the strange language. It was obviously an intimidating command, but all the thing did was brandish his whip. Than the man gave a loud, powerful command. Slamming a sword and staff against the bridge, it emitted a bright light. For a second, Minato thought that nothing had happen. But when the terrible thing took a step forward, the bridge broke. The terrible thing fell down into the abyss below. Minato noted that the terrible thing had wings, but clearly didn't know how to use them. He also looked at the man with respect. He had defeated the terrible thing, and had done it to buy time for his companions. Granted, they weren't moving but that was beside the point. But as he turned away from the edge, the whip flicked out and caught the grey man's ankle. The old man was dragged to the edge; manage to tell them something before being pulled in along with the terrible thing. It was only then that the strangers began moving. He could hear that someone was upset, but he didn't check to see who. Minato gathered up his team before they went out of the caves. He needed to have a talk with Hoshi.