Thank You HeWhoWatchesFromTheMist for reviewing! Glad that you are continuing to read.
Sorry for the length.
But I would like the let you awesome people know that I will be unable to Update on Friday. I got tickets to see The Merchant of Venice. So I don't have time to update. Thank You for understanding, and please review if so motivated.
Obito sighed. He was going to miss the Golden Wood. The people were nice and the food wasn't half bad. The Uchiha leaned against the edge of the boat, trailing his hand in the water. The current was strong, pulling the boat downstream. All Hoshi was doing was steering.
"It's so peaceful," Rin said with a smile. Obito inhaled deeply as a breeze blew. The boy suddenly gagged. Instead of smelling flowers, earth, whatnot; a sour, metallic scent invaded his nostrils.
"You smell it too," said Hoshi. Both Rin and Obito looked at their companion.
"Smell what?" asked Kakashi, running alongside the vessel.
"Uruk-hai," he answered calmly. His three teammates exchanged looks.
"What are Oorook-yes?" Obito asked, befuddled.
Hoshi gave him an irritated look. "It's Uruk-hai, not Oorook-yes,"
Now it was Rin giving Hoshi an odd look. "Hai is yes,"
The tall boy promptly protested. "No it isn't-!"
"Yes, it is," Kakashi said calmly, cutting his annoyed teammate off. "Honestly Hoshi, I thought you had a brain inside your skull,"
"HAI DOESN'T MEAN YES IN MIDDLE EARTH!" he roared, scaring some birds out of the trees.
Then an eerie quiet descended upon the group. Obito looked to see the Fellowship staring at them. Hoshi was beet red, standing up in the back of the boat. The tension in the air was becoming so thick he could taste it. Obito immediately decided that tension tasted terrible.
"Ah, Hoshi," the team turned to see Minato-sensei running toward them. "Would you mind going onshore and 'scouting'? There is a bad smell coming from about two miles deep, parallel to the river. Could you negate it, please?"
Hoshi blinked. "I'm sure that Kakashi would like to go instead-," he tried.
Their teacher gave Hoshi 'the Look'. "Face your fears and they will go away. Besides, I promised to give Kakashi a ride," he finished with a brilliant smile.
The Hatake turned green. "At least I won't have Mr. Long-legs here crowding up the back," he mumbled. Obito laughed as his foster brother became tomato red.
"Don't blame me," he grumbled as he climbed out of the boat. "As you have seen, my Adar is by no means short,"
"True," Obito mumbled as Hoshi ran off into the trees. The Uchiha was then literally shocked in to sitting up by Kakashi.
"What the hell?" he hissed. Kakashi pointed to where Minato-sensei was standing, behind the boat. Obito looked forward, noticing that Rin was tightly clinging onto the sides of the vessel.
"Ready, Set," Obito quickly grabbed onto the edges of the boat. "...Go!" cried Minato, zooming forward.
Eldarion jumped through the trees, his senses on high alert. It was easy enough to track Saruman's beasts by scent. The rotten stench clung to the wind, weighing down the surrounding air. His pointed ear involuntarily twitched when it picked up the grunts of the Uruk-hai and the pounding of their many feet. Eldarion still had a mile to go to reach their position.
"A mile too close," he thought. The boy fought to suppress a tremor that racked through his boy. Eldarion shook his head violently.
"You can do this, Eldarion Telcontar. You have the blood of Kings and elves, you will be fine," he whispered to himself before jumping over to the next branch.
Several minutes later, it took every bit of his strength to not flee in terror as the Uruk-hai approached the tree which he was standing in.
"Let's just get this over with," he thought as he ran through the hand signals for Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings (a C-rank genjutsu). He was surprised by the lack of resistance presented by the minds of the more-intelligent Uruk-hai.
The prince of Gondor ran through his options. "Okay, now I could do a chasm, a wall of rock, or a hobbit," when the leader gave a growl, he quickly made his decision.
"A chasm it is," Eldarion muttered fearfully, completing the genjutsu.
It was entertaining to see the Uruk-hai stop short and mill around in confusion. But he had work to do while the illusion bought him some time. He created a shadow clone, which gave him a look.
"What?" he hissed, unnerved. The other him glared at his original before speaking.
"Do you realize that the clone you created weeks before is still lost?" It scolded.
Eldarion hit his hand against his forehead. "Shoot, I knew I forgot about something,"
His clone shook his head. "Shame on you. Now what do you want for me to do?" he asked.
Eldarion gestured to the fugly creatures. "Keep the genjutsu on them for as long as possible. If they break it, kill as many as possible without the leader noticing,"
The other him paled. "You want me to engage them when they break out?" he squeaked.
"Is that how I look to Minato-sensei and the others?" thought Eldarion. "It's a wonder I have their respect,"
An Uruk-hai slammed into the trunk of their tree, knocking itself out.
"You're a clone. You don't die," the tall boy pointed out before jumping on ahead.
When Hoshi finally emerged from the forest a half hour later, Minato promptly pulled his student into a hug.
"Congratulations, Hoshi-kun. Never in my life have I seen someone set so many traps over such a long stretch!"
The crushed boy wheezed in response, unable to breathe. The Yellow Flash put the lanky boy into the boat.
"You need more muscle, Hoshi," he cheerfully commented. The child in question scowled.
"What about Kakashi or Obito? They are just as thin as me," Hoshi gestured to the snoring Uchiha and the green Hatake.
"Well," Rin started with an apologetic smile. "You are taller than them by quite a bit, so being thin at their height is not the same as being thin at your height,"
Hoshi gave the medic a mock hurt look. "Who's side are you on?" he asked.
Minato laughed and gently pushed the boat forward.
"So what are the upcoming events, Hoshi-kun?" he asked. The tall boy gave him a sad look.
"In a few days, Boromir will succumb to the lure of the Ring and attempt to take it from Frodo. The Uruk-hai will arrive, looking for Frodo. The result of the battle is the death of Boromir, the capture of Merry and Pippin by the Uruks and the scattering of the Fellowship," Hoshi's voice was barely above a whisper when he ended.
Minato had a thoughtful look on his face. "So should we save Boromir?" he asked. The boy's eyes widened in horror.
"Denethor's madness,
His death by fire cleared
the path of the King."
Rin gave Hoshi a false smile. "I take that as a no," she said, her face falling a bit.
Kakashi was looking much better, now that they weren't speeding along.
"Why does he want the Ring anyway?" he asked, looking at the Gondorian.
Hoshi paused for a bit before responding. "He and the rest of his family are under the impression that the Ring will save Gondor. As of now, it is besieged by Mordor and its allies. The people are beginning to lose hope,"
Minato sighed. "It is tragic. But I think thinning the ranks of the fugly Onis wouldn't change the course of history, not too much at least,"
Obito gave a loud snore and punched the air. "Let's give them Hell!" he slurred half-heartedly. Hoshi laughed. "We can thin the ranks later, I don't think that they've broken out of the genjutsu yet,"
An hour after having the discussion, Eldarion was unceremoniously tossed off the boat while Sensei was doing one of his runs. The whole team was incredibly lucky that he waterproofed his armguards, or otherwise the river will be blue and red.
Gasping, the half-drowned boy pulled himself up onto the river.
"Hoshi! Are you okay?" Obito yelled. Despite seeing red, the honorary Uchiha knew that Obito was being genuine in his concern. The others, however...
"I am half-drowned and my clothes are soaked. Yes, I'm. Just. Peachy!" he screamed as loudly as possible.
Eldarion grit his teeth as he heard Kakashi's snickering. He could just make out Sensei's grin.
"Remember," the jōnin yelled in his native language. "You have to keep them off the land until we return, Okay?"
His team left without another word. Sighing, he turned to the Fellowship while addressing Legolas and Gimli.
"Is it alright if I join your boat? Minato-sensei and the rest of the team are going to go on land and scout the place out,"
Legolas nodded his consent and Gimli gave him a friendly grin.
"Of course, laddie. Hop right in!" he said cheerfully.
Eldarion gave the generous dwarf a weak smile in return. At the moment he was feeling rather useless and weak.
"Why are you not going with them?" he heard Aragorn say.
Eldarion nearly flinched. "Because they think that I cannot stomach it," he thought bitterly.
It seemed that his entire team thought that he couldn't kill the Uruk-hai. That everyone thought that he was a coward just for that one incident... Well, it seemed that Aragorn thought he should be going along.
"I was told to keep an eye on you all, just in case," he responded. The tall child was not in the mood to look at anyone. He nearly jumped when he heard Ada's voice.
"Look me in the eye and tell me that is true," the adult said in a quiet snarl.
Eldarion cursed himself internally for not realizing that the Chief of the Dúnedain clearly distrusted him.
"No unconditional love from him yet, 'Dari," he thought darkly.
Composing himself mentally, Eldarion looked up into his father's eyes.
"I swear upon my honor that what I told you is true," he said clearly.
After a minute, Aragorn broke eye contact, satisfied that he was telling the truth. Eldarion couldn't lie, saying that his' father's inherent distrust did not hurt. He was also hurting from last afternoon. It was Boromir who comforted him, not Aragorn.
Inhaling deeply (and nearly gagging due to the Uruk-hai), he began to sing.
"Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet..."
"Did you hear that?" Eldarion heard Pippin say. "Hoshi knows the Travelling Song!"
That brought a smile to his face. It was Pippin who taught him the song. But the next words he heard wiped the smile off his pale face.
"I do not care if he knows the Lay of Luthain," Aragorn said, his voice hinting of anger. "I would not trust him as far as I can throw him,"
"A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower, leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!..."
It was a pity, really. Eldarion believed that he knew the Lay quite well. He was also sure that his Ada could throw him quite far.
"Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!"