AN:

Thank you to DreamingIn2Eternity and GlidingOne for reviewing! Thank you for the well wishes, Midterms are nasty. (But as a note, I have nothing more than several clubs, a paper, an English test, and Obscene amount of homework this week. Sorry, that isn't much really.) While I normally have fun writing this story, (hence the many updates and errors.) this chapter gave me a hard time. I am glad that I am consistant, because it isn't very easy. I hope you all will enjoy it and please review!

*Japanese*

Elvish

When the Riders and the three shinobi arrived at Helms Deep, Minato was rather impressed by what he saw. The whole place was massive, made entirely out of stone. The land in front of the fortress was very flat, and there appeared to be no blind spots. His blue eyes, however, were quick to spot the large drain in the thick walls. Obito's eyes followed his teacher's.

"A couple well-placed bombs will bring down the entire wall," he commented.

Legolas gave him an odd look. "Bombs?" he asked, bewildered.

"You know, explosives. Like dynamite, fireworks," Obito said, listing different types of explosives. A flicker of recognition crossed the elf's face when the Uchiha mentioned fireworks.

"Ah. So they are colorful?" he asked.

Obito looked at the elf, stunned. He promptly turned toward Thèoden, searching for someone who knew about bombs. It turned out the very idea of an explosion was rare. Since they were still quite far away from the fort, Minato asked for Thèoden King to call for a stop.

"Is there something you would like to show us?" he asked, slightly bemused.

The yellow-haired jōnin smiled slightly. "Since we are to fight beside you, it would be best if you were familiar with one of our most common weapons," he removed an tag from his supply pouch and displayed it to the Ardians. "This is an explosive tag. We often attach it to our kunai or to a trip wire," Minato tied it to a regular kunai, curtusy of Obito. "Be careful," he warned. "Your horses might spook," The jōnin then threw the kunai as far away as possible.

In a matter of seconds the tag blew up, sending a good chunk of earth and stone as well as smoke and light into the air. The thunderous sound shocked the Rohirrim, Legolas and Gimli, striking them dumb. Gimli was the first to regain his voice.

"Why did you not use them before, laddie?" he cried, an accusating look on his face.

Minato felt sheepish. "It would have been overkill to use them before this," he said, rubbing the back of his head in embarressment.

"It would have spared my poor heart from stopping!"

Legolas looked at the shinobi with well disguised horror.

"You fight with these?" he asked, his voice shaky.

Rin nodded. "My Uncle had his leg ripped off by stepping on one of those by accident,"

Now even the Riders looked squemish. Admirbly, the display of power didn't seem to affect Thèoden at all.

"As long as you use those weapons wisely and inform all my men about them, I have no problem with your explosives. Come, we are late!"

With several spooked horses, the company moved on to Helms Deep.

Aragorn did not like the idea of leaving Hoshi behind with the other shinobi, even if they were from the same village. The serpentine teacher left a bad taste in his mouth, even if they convinced him to join their side. The ranger was also sure that it was Susano'o's voice that he and Team Minato had heard the night before they encountered Eomer and his men. He couldn't tell if it bode well or didn't. Sighing, he looked around in an attempt to find his bareings. Much to his dismay, he saw what had to be at least 100,000 Uruk-hai marching in his general direction. Wisely, Aragorn urged his horse off in the direction of Helms Deep.

"At least I now know which direction to take," he thought darkly.

"Where would you like these, Miss Rin?"

The petite medic turned to the young woman who was holding a pile clean blankets.

"Could you place them right next to the bandages, please?" Rin said, pointing to a basket sitting in a corner. The woman nodded and went over to put the blankets in their desired spot. Rin had decided to set up a sort of field hospital for the battle, and the King had readily agreed. The brunette had already recruited a slew of women to assist her, wheather they had medical knowledge or not. Lady Eowyn had been shoehorned by her Uncle into helping out in the hospital, and was currently gathering herbs. The White Lady had a cold, sour look on her face that just wouldn't leave.

"Jeez, what's gotten into her?" asked Obito as he walked over to his teammate. "Before she was all smiles and now shes a complete sourpuss,"

Rin gave Obito a look. "Gimli just told her that her crush fell off a cliff and her uncle has banished her to help out here," she said while arranging a cot. "She is able to fight, so why can't she fight?"

Obito frowned. "Is it because she lacks in experience?"

Rin shook her head. "I do not think it is that. Since you are here, could you straighten out some of the cots?"

The Uchiha huffed. "Fine," he said, while walking over to some of the messier cots. Rin knew for a fact that Obito hated making his bed so much that he slept in a sleeping bag instead of one. "You know Sensei left," he remarked casually.

Rin was surprised. "Really? Why?"

The boy gave her a large grin. "Frodo called for aid," he said, before giving a yelp and stabbing something near the cot. Rin hurried over, as did Eowyn.

"A rat," Obito said with disgust. "Flilty little buggers,"

Eowyn gave the Uchiha a cold look. "Why are you here?" she asked.

Rin gave the blonde woman a stony look in return. "He is my teammate, and will be bringing the injured here, along with my other teammates. Is there such a problem with having an extra pair of hands?"

Eowyn became silent and rather sullen. Rin shook her head and turned to a grey-haired woman.

"Lady Bisgu, I am in need of your guidence!" she called the older woman. The grey herbalist strode over to the young medic, a gap-toothed smile on her face.

"Ah, so Lady Eowyn has already gathered all the herbs, yes?" she rasped. Bisgu had taken to smoking a strange weed, and it had quickly ruined her voice. The smoke smelled terrible, but oddly enough, it made her breath smell sweet.

The noblewoman reluctantly shook her head no. The herbalist smiled while Rin sighed.

"Show me where you put them, then finish collecting all the herbs I asked for, please," Rin said while pinching the bridge of her nose. Eowyn quietly lead Rin and Bisgu over to a rickety table that was covered with carefully organized herbs. Two blonde teenagers were placeing each herb carefully in an assigined spot.

"Thank you Eowyn," Rin said absentmindedly. "Obito, would you mind helping Lady Eowyn with the herb gathering?" she asked her teammate, who was currently killing any rat that triggered his senses.

"Eh, What? Oh, sure," he said as he slew another one of the vermin, picking himself off the wall the follow the silently fuming Eowyn, while many pairs of astonished eyes followed him out.

Kakashi was surprised to bump into Aragorn while they the three genin and one chunin traveled to Helms Deep. The horse seemed to be doing surprisingly well, considering how far away they were from the fortress.

"Where is Susano'o and Orochimaru?" he asked as they approached him. The ranger gave Kakashi and Anko another look. "Weren't you both with Theoden and the men?"

"Yes, but Minato-sensei remembered that you had forgotten to return the tracking scroll that we had given you, so he sent us out to look for you," explain Kakashi.

"Or retrieve your cropse if you were dead," added Anko. "He wasn't very specific,"

Aragorn merely raised his eyebrows, declining to comment. Hoshi and Kuro were standing by the ranger's horse, looking out at the land below them.

"Can we race now, Kakashi?" asked Kuro. "Helms Deep is just over there,"

The Hatake squinted, trying to locate the place. Hoshi pointed toward it.

"It's down there," he said. "Can we, Kakashi?"

The masked shinobi was antsy. He really didn't like the idea of two wild genin racing towards what appeared to him as a minefield.

"You can relax," Hoshi said soothingly. "The traps will be set last minute. Minato-sensei is out, and he wouldn't attempt to blow us up, anyway,"

"Yeah," Kuro said enthusiastically. "So no need to worry!"

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. Of couse Hoshi was right. The lanky boy had an uncanny ability for setting traps, so he would be the one to set the traps.

"Knock yourself out," he said, defeated. Both Uchiha grinned.

Aragorn gave him a look. "Knock yourself out?" he asked, concerned. Kakashi shrugged.

"Its a figure of speech, it basically means 'do whatever you want, but I am not looking out for you',"

Aragorn nodded, with a slight frown on his face. "Just what do they want to do?" he asked.

This time, Anko answered.

"They want to race to Helms Deep. I bet that Hoshi will win, what about you, Kakashi?"

Kakashi raised a silver eyebrow. "You know what my answer will be, Anko,"

She rolled her eyes. "What about you, Mister?"

Aragorn responded without hesitation. "I believe that Hoshi would win in any foot race,"

Kuro wore a look of mock offence while Hoshi stared at the ranger, touched.

"It looks like I'll have to beat you, Long-legs," Kuro said with a grin.

Hoshi pat the shorter Uchiha on the head. "Someday, my friend," he said.

"And GO!" cried Anko, in an attempt for them to get moving. Both were gone the second the words left the kunoichi's lips.

She blinked. "Wow. They actually took that seriously,"

Aragorn chuckled and urged his horse foreward. Shaking his head, Kakashi followed him.

Obito did not like following the Ice princess around, as he had dubbed Eowyn as such. He ended up doing the most asking, instead of the blonde who knew the people better than he did. Obito really did not like the looks shot in his direction. So what if they didn't have goggles? It was not polite to stare.

"Why do you follow me around?"

Obito was surprised by the Ice princess' question. She did not turn around to face him and her voice did not break from it's monotone.

"Well, Hoshi did tell us that she learned to lock up her emotions due to Grima's...advancements," he thought.

"Rin asked me to. Besides, you did not complete your job," Obito responded politely.

Eowyn then turned around, her icy blueeyes blazing with fury. The Uchiha quickly put up his hands in a sign of surrender.

"I know you want to fight, but wouldn't it be nice to have a strong person to hold down the more resistant patients?" he added rapidly. "The men respect you, and they listen to you. That will definately help maintain order in the hospital,"

Ice princess melted a bit, her harsh eyes softening. "Lord Aragorn is a healer. Do you think he would help us?" she asked.

Obito shurgged. "Probably after the battle," he said. "Otherwise, no."

She seemed to deflate at bit. Rin had refered to Aragorn as Eowyn's crush. The medic was absolutely correct. The young lady was infatuated with him.

But before the Uchiha could address the topic with her, he was tackled by a U.F.U. or and Unidentified Flying Uchiha.

"Obito!" cried one of his many relatives. That relative picked him up off the ground, and gave him a grin. "How are you, cousin?"

Obito rubbed the back of his head, which ached quite a bit. "Kuro?" he asked. The Uchiha peered at the thick-lashed, pony-tailed cousin that stood before him. "How did you get here?"

His cousin simply gave him a bigger grin. *"Hoshi!"* he called. *"I found Obito!"*

Obito gave the wide-eyed Eowyn an apologetic look. "Lady Eowyn, this is my-"

"Bastard cousin, Kuro," finished the other Uchiha, holding out his hand. "Pleased to meet you,"

Ice princess slowly took Kuro's hand and shook it. Hoshi arrived at the spot seconds later.

"Oi, Kuro. Rin wants to see you," he said, before giving a nod to Lady Eowyn.

Kuro groaned. "She set up a hospital, didn't she?" he asked miserably. Hoshi gave him a disapproving look.

"You are a medic, so be a good little healer and go help Rin with the field hospital,"

The black-haired boy sighed. "Well, I do own over half of Konoha's painkillers and disinfectants. Might as well put them to use," he jumped up the wall and headed up to Rin's hospital.

Hoshi's grey eyes followed Kuro's backpack until it was out of sight.

"I could never tell if he was exaggerating or not," he said with a sigh.

Eowyn gave Hoshi a small smile. "Would you like to help us find herbs?" she asked him.

Obito successfully attempted to keep his jaw from dropping. It seemed that her infatuation almost extended to Hoshi, simply because he shared some of the man's features.

"Sure," he said brightly. "Where do I look?"

Kakashi followed Aragorn around the fortress to see Theoden King, while Anko found housing for their wargs. Gimli's enthusiastic greeting reminded him of a different greeting between Minato and Kushina, with her calling him the stupidest, most foolhardy shinobi she had ever met. Kakashi never got the full background to the situation that made her say that. All he knew was that it involved a village, a corrupt government and a whole bunch of turtles. Aragorn seemed to be quite out of it, despite Kuro's medical care. In fact, the ranger nearly ran over Legolas, who was standing in front of the door.

"You're late," he said in elvish. The elf looked him over, concerned. "You look terrible,"

"Kuro must need to improve his jutsu, then," thought Kakashi.

Aragorn refrained from a verbal response, giving Legolas a large grin. The blonde elf looked at Kakashi briefly, and gave the Hatake a small smile.

Kakashi noticed Eowyn and Obito standing a ways off. Obito was talking with one of the Eorlings, while Eowyn was picking up a blanket when she spot them. Her eyes widened and she ran forward, tossing the blanket aside in the process. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. The White Lady was clearly infatuated with Aragorn, Hoshi's father. And she was most definately not Hoshi's mother. He squeezed harder, sighing with annoyance. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Legolas hand Aragorn something. The masked boy turned his head slightly to see it.

It was a necklace that he saw Aragorn wearing all the time. It was also the same necklace he saw Hoshi wearing all the time. Kakashi remembered that the oni who told them about Aragorn's tumble off the cliff had the necklace. He also remembered that Obito blurted out that Hoshi had that same necklace. The Hatake supressed another sigh. He hoped that this war would be over with soon. He did not want to be around when Aragorn discovered Hoshi's linage.

Obito saw that Aragorn had gotten his engagement necklace back. The man seemed to be very pleased that Legolas had rescued the piece of jewelry from the orc's clutches and returned to him. The ranger looked at it quite fondly, and carefully fixed the broken chain so he could hang it arounf his neck again. Obito watched Eowyn's face the entire time. It went from immense joy from seeing that her crush was alive to one of slightly crushed happiness upon seeing how gratefull he was for the return of the necklace and how tenderly he handled it. Hoshi arrived just in time to see the situation.

*"A crush is called a crush for a reason,"* he said quite wisely, as Aragorn headed inside to talk with the King.

Obito nodded, and turned to look at his tall foster brother. "Shouldn't you be in there?" he asked.

Hoshi nodded. "Yes, I should," he said, before handing him a bucket of crushed herbs. He then jumped up the wall to crawl through the window.

"By the way," he asked. "Where is Minato-sensei?"