AN:
Thank you DreamingIn2Eternity, FireheartNinja, Metoochocolate for reviewing! Also thank you kupochan14 and PhantomWorlock for favoriting! And another Thank you to Metoochocolate for the Author Alert!
I am glad that Kuro and Susano'o aren't grating on anyone's nerves. Orochimaru is actually my favorite character, which is why I slipped him in.
This is a day late, so I apologize. Updating is going to be rare this week, due to real life obligations slapping me across the face.
Thanks for the support and please tell me what you think!
*Japanese*
Kakashi pulled at the green cloth around his neck. He had taken a liking to Rohan's standard, and also had neglected to return the banner. Minato was going through the scroll compartments on his flak jacket as he ran alongside Kakashi's warg.
"What are you looking for?" asked Anko, riding up to them. Rin sighed, looking very annoyed.
"I gave Aragorn a tracking scroll, and he forgot to return it," Minato said while pulling a scroll and unraveling it. "Fortunately, we have about 20 hours left on the scrolls,"
The jōnin took a quick glance at the map on the scroll and gave it to Kakashi.
"Anko, can you go with Kakashi?" he commanded more than asked.
The hyperactive kunoichi sighed and turned to her passenger. "Oi, Rin. Do you want to come or not?" she asked.
Rin shook her head then jumped off the galloping warg onto the back of Obito's warg.
Anko rolled her eyes. "C'mon Scarecrow, lets go find this guy's corpse,"
Kakashi gave her a glare as both shinobi redirected their wargs to the direction the tracking scroll was pointing them to.
"I don't think he is dead," he commented, eyes glued to the map.
Anko looked at his as if he removed his mask. "He fell off a cliff, as did Hoshi,"
The chūnin shook his head. "How odd would it be for the corpses of the afformented people to be together in the same place as the rest of your team?"
Anko's pupilless eyes widened. "Not as odd as you think," she said as the wargs and their shinobi galloped off toward the unsuspecting group.
Aragorn grit his teeth. Out of all the shinobi he had ever met (which wasn't many), he hated Orochimaru the most. The serpentine man had asked a fair question, though. Why should they help the Rohirrim or the Gondorians? But the shinobi asked he why he should help him regain his throne, which was suspiciously specific.
"What would you gain by allying yourself with Sauron?" Aragorn returned. "Although the scum would definately fit in with the orcs," he thought darkly.
Orochimaru blinked, closing his amber eyes for a moment. "Nothing. What I am asking you to do is convince me that we should stay and help you out with your cause. I came here to find Team 7 and take them back to Konaha. We all go or we all stay. Tell me why should I allow nine shinobi to run around Arda,"
Hoshi leaned forward, deciding to add his two cents.
"Once we get rid of Saruman and Sauron, the library at Orthanc will be yours,"
Aragorn was stunned by the offer. It was by no means a wise decision, seeing how the man's serpentine eyes lit up with a malignant greed.
Susano'o gave a soft snort. "And how could we hold you to your promise? You have promised many things, only to fall short in the end,"
The ranger's grey eyes narrowed as Hoshi clenched his fists.
"If you have something you want to say to me, then say it to my face, you coward!"
The boy's steely eyes turned to slits as he looked at Hoshi.
"Says the boy who couldn't protect his so-called friends from being killed,"
Aragorn had to admire the grey-eyed boy's composure as he displayed no emotion on his face. Orochimaru turned his amber gaze towards Susano'o. The bandaged boy immediately stiffened, and turned a pair of terrified eyes towards Hoshi.
"I am terribly sorry for having offended you, Hoshi-san," he said rapidly.
The shinobi turned back to Aragorn. "Why do you think we should help your allies?"
Aragorn leveled a stony gaze at Orochimaru. "This war decides whether Arda shall stay in the light or be consumed by the shadows. While I believe that we shall prevail, such an alliance will give the people a boost in morale and lower our casualties considerably,"
The shinobi looked rather disappointed. "You are asking us to do something that you are very capable of doing yourself. From what I have read, you are a very capable commander and the Rohirrim look up to you,"
Aragorn sighed through his nose. While he did have confidence in his abilities, the shinobi had the uncanny ability of making him feel very incompetent. He appriciated Orochimaru's backhand compliment, but that didn't make the ranger like him any more.
"Can I annihilate armies with the wave of a hand? No, I cannot," Aragorn said testily. "If you are valiant enough to face the unknown and aid us, I will personally give you the keys to the Orthanc,"
The man closed his eyes, folding his white hands under his nose. Hoshi and the two other shinobi waited with bated breath for Orochimaru's answer.
The shinobi's eyes flashed open and a twisted smirk crossed his face behind his hands.
"You have flattered me, questioned the abilities of my team, and have succeeded in winning yourself an ally. Aragorn, it would be an honor to work alongside you,"
The three boys exhaled, a look of relief on Hoshi's face. But then his left ear twitched and he made a face.
"So now what?" he asked.
Kakashi felt his eyes droop as he and Anko sat down by a small pond. Anko was glaring at the tracking scroll like it had stolen her Dango. The thing kept making mistakes, such as sending them in the completely wrong direction for several miles. They had stopped to feed and water their wargs, who had faithfully carried them for miles. Kakashi had some extra dog chow left in a scroll from when he purchased his pug, Pakkun. The dog promised to be an extordinary ninken, as he had just learned to say his master's name.
"Oi, Kakashi," Anko called to him. "Can you give Pakkun some chow?"
Kakashi's eye twitched. "Can't you call it something else?" he asked while dumping half of the large bag in front of his warg. After a couple sniffs, it dug in with entusiasim.
"Fine," Anko said with a huff, snatching the bag from the chūnin. "Cookie! Come here, girl!"
The pug colored warg trotted over to Anko, wagging it's tail. The kunoichi cheerfully dumped the rest of the chow at Cookie's dark paws. Kakashi watched with mild revulsion as the slobbering animal finished the pile in four large bites. He turned to his warg, who was taking a brief nap.
"I don't think that the scroll is in the tall guy's possession, Scarecrow," said Anko as she handed the malfunctioning object back to Kakashi. The Hatake's eyes narrowed.
"Why do you think that?" he asked, taking the scroll from her.
The kunoichi when through her food scrolls and removed an Origiri. "He isn't on the map anymore," she said taking a bite out of the riceball.
Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated. "Then who has it?"
Eldarion stared at the damp tracking scroll with a bit of confusion. Aragorn had left several minutes ago to Helms Deep with the horse that had found him. Eldarion wanted to follow him, but Orochimaru held him back.
"Can you explain why Strider has a tracking scroll on him?" asked Kuro with a raised eyebrow.
The tall boy sighed. "We split up when we encountered Fangorn forest. It was not wise for us to venture into the place so we gave A-Aragorn the other half of a tracking scroll so we could find them again without much work. It was a four-day scroll, so it's time is nearly up,"
His 'cousin' looked satisfied by his explanation. Susano'o had lifted his head from his sake flask mournfully, turning a pair of glassy eyes towards the two Uchiha.
"Do you think anyone is looking for him?" he asked as he took another swig of the alcohol. Orochimaru promptly snatched the gourd flask from the severely underage shinobi.
"Definately," Eldarion said as he reclaimed his miraculously dry backpack. "Minato-sensei probably sent out Kakashi and Anko,"
The entire team's eyes turned toward him, displaying various degrees of surprise.
"She left Isengard?" Orochimaru stated more than questioned. The lanky shinobi nodded.
"She took a warg and ended up leading a whole cahort to us. That is how we ended up here,"
Kuro laughed, turning to Susano'o and poking the copper-skinned boy in the arm.
"I told out that she'd break out of that place!" he said quite smugly. His bandged teammate sighed.
"We should get moving. According to Strider, Helms Deep is quite far from here," he suggested, while eyeing the gourd in his teacher's hand.
Orochimaru nodded, then took the scroll from Kuro. The Sannin then bit his finger and unfurled the scroll. He began to write on the scroll using his blood. When he finished, the scroll was rolled up then he activated the seal with a hand sign.
Eldarion was amazed. "Is our scroll tracking their scroll now?" he asked.
Orochimaru smirked at him. "We will meet up with them before deciding our next move,"
The White Snake turned to his team. *"Lets go,"*
Kakashi officially hated the tracking scroll. It was decided that they should least meet up with Orochimaru, mostly because Hoshi was with them. But the kami-be-damned scroll lead them right in the path of the entire army of Isengard.
"Well?" asked Anko.
"Well what?" Kakashi hissed back.
The two had hidden themselves and their wargs behind a group of rocks. So far, nobody had seen them.
"Well will you let me conduct my genjutsu?" she whispered angerly. They had to cross this area and the army was nearly upon them. Anko wanted to place a variant of Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu upon the first few coloums so they could cross the area without the Uruk-hai noticing.
"It's too risky," Kakashi muttered. "Maybe if we use Shunshin..."
Anko slammed her fist into a rock in anger. "I am not leaving Cookie behind!" she snarled.
Kakashi flung his hands in the air. "Fine, have it your way!" he said, defeated.
Anko smirked. She conducted the jutsu then mounted her warg again.
"Everything's set, now lets go,"
They barely made it across before the technique wore off. Fortunately, they still managed not to be noticed. Unfortunately, they nearly didn't notice someone else.
"Kakashi! Anko! Over here!"
Kuro yelled at the top of his lungs. Eldarion was not pleased with their position at all. He could hear Isengard's army marching, just over the rocks they were near. It was a wonder that the other two shinobi weren't spotted. Kakashi and Anko urged their wargs forward to them. Susano'o was the one to greet them.
"It seems that both of you have become quite lazy, forcing a dog to carry you around," he said, leveling Kakashi a baleful gaze.
"Oh, shut up, you bird-flying nutjob," Anko said as she jumped off her warg. "From the looks of it, I assume that you met up with that really tall guy... Oh, what's his name?"
"Aragorn," supplied Kakashi in a monotone.
"Yes, him!"
Orochimaru gave his student a smile. "Indeed we did, Anko. We ended up forming an alliance with him,"
Anko looked pleased. Eldarion decided that now was the time to jump in with a perposition.
"Saruman's army is just over the crest of that hill. I suggest that we stage an attack at the rear to lower their numbers,"
Kuro raised an eyebrow. "Why can't we just wipe out the army?" he asked. Eldarion sighed with irration.
"The Battle of Helms Deep needs to occur. It cannot occur when Saruman's army has been made nonexistant," he said as calmly as he could. Kuro was still baffled.
"Why does it need to occur?"
"It just needs to!" snapped Eldarion. He breathed in deeply to calm down. "Things have been set to play out in a certain order in certain events. We should not prevent these events. Instead, we should lower the death toll and ease the passage of victory,"
Kuro, Anko, and Susano'o gave him an odd look.
"Why are you so defensive?" asked Susano'o. Before he could reply, Kakashi answered for him.
"Eldarion is from a future time of this world. I believe that he wants things to remain as unchanged as possible," he said.
"Oh," The entire team nodded with understanding. Kuro and Anko shot Eldarion knowing looks. Susano'o gave the tall boy a look.
"You are related to Aragorn," he said, raising an eyebrow. Eldarion frowned at him.
"Does it matter?" he asked.
Orochimaru cleared his throat, causing everybody to turn their attention back to him.
"Susano'o and I will do as you suggested, Hoshi," he said. "Kuro and Anko will join you and Kakashi to Helms Deep. Do not expect to see us for awhile,"
*"Hai, Orochimaru-sensei!"* they said, nearly saluting the Sannin. With that, Orochimaru and Susano'o shunshined away. Kuro turned to Eldarion and gave him a feral grin.
"Race you to Helms Deep," he said confidantly.
Eldarion couldn't help but smirk. "See you there, slowpoke,"
But before either one could get moving, Kakashi grabbed their collars.
"Hoshi is the only one who knows the way to this place. You two can race when Helms Deep is in sight,"
Both Uchihas let out a defeated sigh. "Fine," said Kuro. "But can we get going?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes and mounted his warg as did Anko. "Lead the way Hoshi," he grumbled.
Eldarion gave the masked shinobi a look before scanning the horizon.
"This way," he said, as the group of shinobi set off into a run.