AN:
Some of you might be wondering why I didn't update late Friday night. I simply didn't have the time to do so. I might have just dropped a couple readers, but I am just drained.
So yes, more filler. I am truly sorry for the lack of familiar scenes, but I promise that this is the last filler chapter.
Thank you Purple Pallbearer for reviewing, you really are the best. And to everyone else, thank you for simply reading this poor excuse for a cross over. Once it is done, I might upgrade it. If that is popular demand, of course. But enough of me, onto the Story
When Aragorn and Minato were far enough away, the blonde's cheerful face turned serious.
"You have many enemies," he stated quietly.
Aragorn gave him a wry smile. "Aye. It has been this way for many generations."
Minato looked sympathetic. "So is our help welcome? he asked curiously.
"Any help is welcome!" Aragorn declared, throwing up his hands. Minato looked at his normally gloomy 'client'. He was clearly stressed and exhausted, desperate for some form of assistance. Hoshi had mentioned several times that he was the exiled King of some country in the south. "No wonder he is stressed," Minato thought sadly. Aragorn turned his unnervingly old eyes toward the shorter shinobi.
"But...your skills are incredibly strange. Before we work together, it would be preferable that we know the extent of your and your student's skills."
"Fair enough," Minato said reluctantly. It was clear that the shinobi was not keen on revealing secrets. "What would you like to know?"
Aragorn started pacing around. Minato had often heard the short people call him Strider.
"How aptly named," the shinobi thought.
"Intelligence, stamina, skills with different kinds of weapons, special abilities. And anything that you deem necessary to the success of this quest,"
Once again the shinobi felt uneasy when the bright grey eyes turned their gaze to his sky blue ones. The Yellow Flash knew that this Aragorn was determined that his quest succeed. According to Hoshi, their world would end if they failed. Minato took a deep breath.
"None of this is to leave you or your companions. If it does, I will have to get rid of you, understand?"
The man's pale face displayed no emotions, negative or otherwise. Minato continued.
"I will start with Rin. She is very intelligent, but a gentle sour. She is strong in mind and spirit, but not so much in body," he paused before Aragorn waved his hand, telling the teacher to continue. "She is our team's medic. I believe that you call them healers, yes?"
Aragorn gave him a small smile. "I am one myself," he said.
Minato gave him a sunny smile. "You should discuss medical techniques sometime, yes?"
Aragorn gave him a nod and waved his hand, indicating that Minato should continue.
"She has no special skill in weapons. Although, she can heal people by touching them,"
The Yellow flash was doing his best not to mention chakra. It was most likely that they wouldn't understand anyway. Hoshi still had a hard time grasping the concept.
Aragorn had finally stopped pacing. "She has a healing touch?" he looked slightly confused.
Minato fidgeted. "Something like that," he said with a half-smile.
The tall man resumed pacing, satisfied with the answer. The jōnin-sensei was getting agitated by his pacing. Doing his best to ignore it, Minato moved on.
"Kakashi is a prodigy, to say the least. He is a brilliant fighter, one of Konoha's best. Kakashi is able to use a special kind of sword that he inherited from his father. He specializes in creating lightning."
The dark-haired man froze mid-stride. Aragorn turned to face the befuddled shinobi, eyes wide.
"Did you say create lightning?" he said hesitantly. His expression was one of disbelief.
"Yes. It is not uncommon," responded Minato. "Elemental manipulation is often a trademark of a clan, village or country. For example, our country is called the Land of Fire because most shinobi specialize in Fire release techniques,"
Aragorn went to lean against a nearby mallorn. "Sweet Eru," he murmured, running a hand over his face. Minato looked over, concerned.
"Are you all right? Shall I not continue?" he asked.
Aragorn waved him off. "No, please continue. I am simply a little...overwhelmed,"
The jōnin-sensei gave him an unconvinced nod.
"Obito is clever, but rather easygoing; A good fighter, very good with his kunai. He is highly proficient with his Fire techniques,"
Aragorn gave a small nod before turning back to Minato.
"What is that contraption he wears over his eyes and ears? I have never seen anything quite like it,"
The Yellow Flash gave him a fond smile. "That is a pair of goggles and ear protectors. The goggles keep debris out of his eyes and reduce the glare of the sun. He comes from a clan, the Uchiha clan, which has special eyes. So he does whatever he can to protect them,"
Aragorn nodded in understanding. Minato took the opportunity to move forward.
"I am a high ranking shinobi, called a jōnin. Kakashi is a chūnin, or regular shinobi. The rest are genin or junior shinobi," he paused, then continued on. "I am considered to be a good fighter in our village. As for abilities, the one that I am most known for is called Hiraishin, or 'Frying Thunder God'. It is a form of teleportation, where I can appear where ever one of these knives are," he held up his special kunai for Aragorn to see.
"I also can make seals, which can be used for a verity of things. For example, I fashioned a couple that can translate your language and so we can speak it,"
The man's eyes seemed to spark with understanding after Minato showed him the seals on his ears and tongue.
"That explains why you were able to understand and speak to us so quickly," he murmured with realization.
"That brings me to why I wished to speak with you. It has to do with our payment," Aragorn gave Minato a dark look. The blonde unwittingly winced.
"It is early to speak about, I know. But I was wondering if half our pay could be in Oni blood," Aragorn looked surprised. "You can have all the...Oh-nee...blood you want. If you are referring to Orcs and Goblins, of course,"
Minato gave him an eager nod. "Thank you. You are most generous," he declared.
Aragorn stopped leaning on the tree and returned pacing. "You have neglected one thing," The intense grey eyes returned to his face. "What about Hoshi? Do you know his actual name?"
Minato cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy. "His Middle Earth name? Yes, it's completely beyond our ability to pronounce,"
Aragorn sighed. "And what of his abilities?"
Minato sighed. "He is an odd duck. Hoshi prefers to fight with a type of polearm called a Guan Dao and use a type of needle called a sebon. He is fairly skilled with both. He knows a couple of Fire techniques and a couple Water-based ones."
Aragorn nodded. "Is that all?"
Minato gave a strange laugh. "I am not quite finished. He is skilled in something called genjutsu. It involves illusions and tricking the mind of the target into thinking something is happening or is present when it isn't. An example of this is creating the illusion that the target is on fire. They will think they are on fire, and so they will feel pain. There is a way to break out the illusion. That is to inflict pain on oneself."
Aragorn looked uneasy. "What do you know about his heritage?" he asked.
Minato was slightly confused. "Do you mean his family? I know he has an older sister and both his parents are still alive,"
Aragorn snorted in annoyance. "Never mind. Does he say strange things often?"
Minato thought about it. "Does it matter?" he asked, his tone rather chilly.
The Yellow Flash was surprised to see a brief flicker of fear in the man's eyes.
"No, it does not," Aragorn clapped the shinobi on the shoulder. "Thank you for the information. Please let me know if you need anything." With that, the gloomy man walked off somewhere else. Minato sighed. He had lingered around the lunch table for a few minutes before making his presence known after returning from his morning trip.
"So we are staying here for a month, huh?" he thought. Minato had returned to the mouth of that cave early in the morning to investigate the surroundings. Of course, the area was swarming with Oni. But he had learned earlier while they were traveling to the forest that the Oni's blood was special.
He allowed himself to sit down before pulling a whistle out of his pouch. Minato blew it, summoning his students. He was not disappointed.
"You summoned us Sensei?" asked Kakashi. Rin was with him, with an excited look on her face.
"Sensei! We found someone who could out-eat Chouza-sempai!" she was practically jumping up and down.
Minato was amused and interested. "Who would that be?" he asked.
"Pippin! Or Merri. Or Frodo. Or Sam. Anyone of them really!" Rin was grinning from ear to ear.
Minato raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he skeptically asked.
Rin nodded enthusiastically. Kakashi also nodded his head.
"They seemed to be able to handle anything. Hoshi gave them a Fireball Origiri, and they didn't even flinch,"
Their teacher felt his jaw drop. The Fireball Origiri was an old Uchiha recipe that involved stuffing the rice with every possible hot spice and then soaking it in spiced alcohol. The clan claimed that it improved their fire techniques. After seeing Obito eat one then preform Gōkakyū no Jutsu, he was inclined to agree.
"Nah, they are just better at hiding their discomfort than I was," heads turned to see Hoshi walk over alongside Obito.
"You jerous!" teased the Uchiha.
"Am not!" Hoshi yelled indignantly.
"Settle down, you two," Minato said to the arguing boys. Hoshi and Obito quit their squabble and sat down. So did Rin and Kakashi.
"I have news," He declared when everyone was settled. "Those tunnels we came out of are completely inaccessible because of the Oni."
The younger shinobi looked at one another.
"So we have no choice but to help these people," concluded Kakashi. Minato nodded.
"But on the plus side, I have found something that improves the efficiency of seals," the four students watched as their teacher pulled out a flask filled with black liquid.
"Oni blood," Minato said like a child receiving candy. His students gave him a nod. Then the Yellow Flash turned to Obito with a grin.
"I still have to fix your tongue seal, Obito-kun,"
The Uchiha turned green and promptly ran in the opposite direction of his teacher. Minato promptly stood up to give chase. Rin, Hoshi and Kakashi looked on, amused.
"You'rr never take me arive!" cried Obito, seconds before Minato tackled him.
"Hoshi, could you send him to sleep?" he called while holding down the struggling Uchiha.
Hoshi complied and formed the seals. While he activated the genjutsu, his eyes glazed over slightly and he spoke.
"One dead, Another burned.
Succumbing to madness,
the Steward of Gondor."
Hoshi then shook his head to clear his mind. The rest of the shinobi team (bar the now snoring Obito) was staring at him.
"What?" He gave them a nervous look.
"You were predicting things again," stated Kakashi. Hoshi's face went from nervous to annoyed.
"I was? Dammit!" he quickly stood up, his eyes scanning the treetops and trunks. Minato relaxed and turned back to Obito, prying open his mouth to correct the seal on the Uchiha's tongue. Rin and Kakashi were also standing up, looking for any eavesdroppers.
"How bad would it be if anyone heard you say that and understood it?" asked Rin, her lively eyes darting around.
Hoshi chewed his lip anxiously. "Very bad," he responded, turning to face his teammates. "Fortunately, it seems that no one heard that."
None of the shinobi seemed to notice the golden hair of a certain Mirkwood elf, just peeking out behind a tree trunk, as he retreated to tell the Fellowship what he had heard.