AN:
Thank You Purple Pallbearer for reviewing! No need to apologize :D.
I nearly hit a writer's block on this chapter, so I apologize if it is poorly written. Yes, this is basically another boring chapter. If any of you have suggestions, don't hesitate to review!
Legolas felt uneasy, despite the lack of danger presented to him. It might have been because Hoshi began singing the Lay of Luthien at the top of his lungs in Sindrian. It was clear he did so to annoy Estel. But it seemed to have failed, as the Dúnedain joined in on the second stanza. But it did not seem to bother the child, as he switched from solo to duet. If anything, Hoshi appeared to be delighted. Legolas rowed the boat up to Aragorn's, so the odd child wouldn't have to shout. They sang for several minutes, until Hoshi abruptly stopped mid-verse. Aragorn continued to the end of the stanza, before turning to face the silent child.
"Why did you stop?" he asked kindly.
Hoshi blushed with shame. "My knowledge of the Lay ended there. Try as I might, I never seem to remember past that verse,"
Aragorn nodded in understanding.
"Who taught you Sindarian?" asked Legolas. He was curious as to where Hoshi learned the language.
"My parents," he answered smoothly. The boy removed his cloak. Holding it over the river, he wrung the damp object out.
"And who are your parents?" Aragorn asked. It was clear that he had wanted to ask this question for some time.
Not looking up from his task, Hoshi replied:
"It is my firm belief that you should not judge a child by their parents,"
Legolas raised an eyebrow. He wondered just who Hoshi's parents were.
"Besides, I am from another Age. Knowing who sired me and who gave birth to me won't make a difference," the boy pointed out.
The elf had to admire Hoshi's skill in dodging questions. The stranger willingly answered their questions. However, none of his answers were straight.
"Where are you from?" asked Sam.
Hoshi responded immediately. "Gondor," he said with a hint of pride in his voice.
Legolas was confused. "Gondor? You don't look Gondorian,"
The boy removed the headband that all the shinobi wore. He started to braid back the sides of his dark, wavy hair.
"Both of my parents hail from the North," he responded.
Aragorn frowned. "Where in the North?"
Hoshi raised an eyebrow. "Is this an interrogation?" he asked.
Gimli laughed. "Tell me Hoshi, do you know any dwarves?" he said, deciding to join in on the fun.
The boy gave him a wide smile. "While I do not know many, the few I do know have always been pleasant to me,"
"Do you know any Hobbits?" asked Pippin, as Boromir guided his boat next to Legolas'.
"My father is good friends with three of them. My sister and I always look forward to their visits,"
Aragorn looked like he was going to ask Hoshi another question before a voice cut through the air.
"Hoshi! We have a change of clothes for you!"
It was Rin, waving cheerfully from the riverbank further downstream. The tall child leaped out of the boat, tearing across the water to go change his clothes.
"I think that it would be wise to stop there and stretch our legs," said Boromir. The man turned to the de facto leader of the Fellowship. "What say you, Aragorn?"
Aragorn nodded. "Agreed, Boromir. We have been sitting in these boats for some time. We have the rest of the day ahead,"
As Aragorn paddled toward shore, Frodo leaned toward Sam.
"Am I the only one who noticed that Hoshi's ears are pointed?" he whispered.
His loyal gardener shrugged. "I saw them, Mr. Frodo. But I don't think Strider did,"
Rin was glad to be back on the River. The Uruk-hai were terrifying, and smelly. It also took a long time to drain them of their blood. Out of the thirty-some of the fugly things, Minato-sensei Kakashi, and Obito suffocated ten of them. And they couldn't return to the riverbank to drain the blood, as the Fellowship couldn't know about the Uruks until later.
"I still fail to see what is so awesome about this black blood," said Obito when they were at the riverbank. Hoshi nodded in agreement, drying by Sam's cooking fire.
Rin groaned, as did Kakashi. Minato flashed the two Uchihas a malicious grin.
"Oni blood is filled with chakra. The chakra is lying in a dormant state, allowing the blood to act normally. However, when chakra is run through the blood when it is written out as a seal, the native chakra activates. Because of that, it takes less chakra to make a seal work, and the seal is a lot stronger due to amount of native chakra already in it,"
Rin and Kakashi were surprised (and annoyed) that the Hoshi and Obito got the abridged explanation. They had to suffer through the long winded ode their teacher composed to Oni blood.
"What would happen if you ran chakra through the blood when it is not written out?" asked Hoshi.
Minato frowned. "That is a good question. Orochimaru-sama probably knows that answer. I will have to look into that,"
Rin noticed that the Fellowship was giving them strange looks.
"Excuse me, Miss Rin," she looked up to see Sam. "But Mr. Frodo and I are both wondering what chakra is,"
Rin did not know how to answer. "Umm, chakra is a mix of physical energy and spiritual energy," she said.
Both Hobbits looked even more confused.
Rin turned to Hoshi. "Could you help me explain chakra to Frodo and Sam?" she asked.
The boy raised a dark eyebrow. "Remember how long it took for me to understand the simple concept of cells?" he pointed out while unwrapping a piece of bread.
"How is it difficult to understand cells?" asked Pippin, listening in to their conversation. "They are a place to store things, like food and beer."
"Not that kind of cells, Pippin-san," Rin replied gently.
"What do cellars have to do with chakra?" asked Frodo.
Hoshi had eaten two thirds of his bread before wrapping it up again.
"Nothing, Frodo. It refers to the makeup of a living thing, in your case, a hobbit."
A look of understanding flickered in the Ringbearer's eyes.
"So, cells are like building blocks for a living thing?" he asked.
Rin noted that the rest of the Fellowship had quietly settled down to listen.
"Yes. They are very, very small so you can't see them. Your skin is made out of them; your bones are made out of them,"
"Are they all the same?" asked Aragorn. Hoshi looked to Rin.
"Not quite," she said. "Just like there are different building materials, there are different types of cells. Like bone cells, brain cells, and skin cells,"
"Does chakra come from them?" asked Sam.
"Part of chakra, physical energy, comes from them," Rin answered.
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Then where," asked Legolas. "does spiritual energy come from?"
Hoshi twitched his ear, and began rubbing it thoughtfully.
"I was told that it comes from exercise and personal experience,"
This time he turned to Kakashi, who nodded thoughtfully.
"You combine the two, molding it through hand seals," he put his hands in the tiger seal. "to execute a technique." he henged himself into Obito, who had just fallen asleep.
Aragorn had a look of understanding on his face. "Is that why you train so young, so you could use chakra?" he asked.
Kakashi nodded. "Once someone hits puberty, they lose the ability to access chakra,"
"And also so they become more disciplined," added Minato.
Boromir frowned. "What exactly do you mean by disciplined?" he asked.
Before Minato could answer, Hoshi intervened. "When you put extreme power in somebody's hands, you have to put down some rules. Shinobi are given a guideline on how to act. Kakashi here could tell you a few. He's memorized the entire handbook,"
The Hatake glared at him before starting. "Some rules are simple, such as ''Look underneath the underneath.'' and ''Prepare before it is too late to,''. Others are ''Never question your commander.'' and ''Always put the mission first,''. Shinobi rule number 25 is "Never show emotion.","
Legolas looked troubled. "Never show emotion? Why?"
None of the team responded at first. It was Minato who spoke.
"While shinobi are able to perform many tasks, the one we are most recognized for is assassination. The rules guide a shinobi toward extinguishing their emotions. I have seen many a shinobi lose control of their emotions, only to kill themselves and many others in the process,"
The entire Fellowship was silent. Then Hoshi spoke.
"It is better in Konoha than in Kiri. I heard that they force students to battle each other to the death in order to become a shinobi,"
Minato cuffed the boy on the back of the head. "Don't spread rumors, Hoshi,"
Rin did not like the looks the Hobbits were giving them. Boromir and Legolas had identical looks of pity and disgust. Aragorn appeared to be struggling to be neutral. Only Gimli's opinion seemed to be unchanged.
"Are there any orcs around?" he asked.
Much to everyone's' surprise, Obito responded.
"There were a couple, but we took care of them. And shouldn't we get going?"
The Uchiha's ending statement seemed to snap Aragorn to attention.
"Obito is correct. We have lingered here for too long,"
Immediately Sam put out his cooking fire and packed up his cooking supplies. Rin was a bit bemused, wondering when the hobbits ate.
"Rin!" called Obito from the boat. She realized that she was the only one left onshore.
"Coming!" she yelled back, running over to her team.
When she got in the boat, she saw a scroll left on the riverbank.
Kakashi seemed to notice it too. "Leave it," he said before she went to retrieve the item. "It's a Tracking scroll. Susano'o planted it on us back at home,"
Rin scowled at him. "But that means that there is a life line! We could contact the village and-"
Kakashi raised his hand, stopping her.
"It died around an hour ago. It was the right thing to leave it behind,"
Rin sighed sadly. "Do you think that someone will come after us?"
Kakashi nodded. "I would say so,"
She turned to face the horizon. "Who do you think would come?"
Kakashi's face turned into a grimace. "I can only pray that it won't be that team,"