AN:

Thank you Anonymous reviewer, Fireheartninja, e7cg13, Deadzepplin, GlidingOne and DreamingIn2Eternity for the awesome reviews!

Anon Reviewer: I hope any reaction towards summons will live up to your standards! It will take place after Helm's deep.

Fireheartninja: No need to apologize! I spend too much time around the computer and everyone says that it is changing my personality _... As for more characters, other than the ones from RoTK, I am done. These guys are pulling me in so many directions that I am beginning to lose track of them.

e7cg13: Thank you! As for the tagging, I was always a bit iffy on the concept. I (sort of) explain my reasonings. I always figured that tagging was weaker than useing the Kunai. But thank you for reminding me that it existed, because I completly forgot about it!

Deadzepplin: A very valid guess. However, I am not sure if he knows the elves are immortal yet and when in the timeline he began to experiment on humans.

GlidingOne: Thank you and no need to apologize! I do enjoy cliffhangers. :D

For all my complaining, It took me far too long to write this chapter, so I apologize.

Eldarion moved across the plain, laying as many traps as he could as fast as possible. He started setting simple explosive traps as far away from the Hornburg as he could, then moved further in. The tall shinobi carefully set up the boundries for genjutsus, which Eldarion had a morbid love for. Due to the sheer size of Saruman's army, the illusions would only be able to entrall roughly twenty to thirty Uruk-hai, eventually killing them. The explosive tags would get rid of of the entire first two lines. But little things like psycological warfare wouldn't do much to stop Saruman's beasts. Eldarion sighed as he scattered Makibashi across the short grass.

"At least they will have incredibly sore feet," he thought grimly, as he strained his eyes to see with the rapidly failing light. The dark-haired genin nearly groaned when he saw how much space he still had to cover.

"I'll still be setting traps while the battle is underway," he moaned aloud, before returning to his work.

Susano'o blinked at Minato, who was waiting for an answer from him. The Yellow Flash was a bit annoyed that the bandaged boy didn't respond immediately.

"Orochimaru-sensei," he paused to wipe his mouth. "Returned to Isengard to contact Hokage-sama,"

Multiple heads turned in Susano'o's direction. Anko looked especially baffled.

"Why would Sensei need to return to the Orthanc?" she asked, moving closer to her teammate. The Konoha shinobi had huddled into a corner as the Elvish troops moved into place.

Her teammate gave the loud kunoichi a disbelieving look.

"You didn't see the black, marble-esque sphere placed on a stone pedestal? It's really similar to the Crystal Ball Sarutobi-sama uses for Tōmegane no Jutsu. Sensei tried the jutsu on the ball to find you guys, but ended up seeing Hokage-sama instead," Susano'o paused to down his sake. "They were able to communicate with one another, so that is why Orochimaru-sensei returned to Isengard. Hokage-sama needs to know that you were found, or he will send out the ANBU and Jiraiya-sama,"

Minato and his students suddered. "Hoshi would be beyond pissed," remarked Obito.

Kakashi nodded. "Indeed," he murmured. Minato was a bit surprised that they found the tall, thin foreigner's anger more terrifiying than the ANBU. That made the jonin wonder just why the two were so wary of Hoshi's wrath. He looked up to the ramparts of the stone walls, seeing Hoshi move along the outside. The genin was holding a coil of wire.

*"Kakashi, Susano'o!*" he called over the two boys. *"Could you come over here, please?"*

With a sigh, the two ran over to assist their comrade. Both Obito and Anko turned to Minato at the same time.

"Sensei," asked Obito. "Why didn't you tag the walls instead of using your Kunai?"

Anko nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean, that way you wouldn't have to waste your kunai,"

The yellow-haired man shoved his hands into his pockets, a pensive look on his face.

"You know how I placed a tag on Hoshi?" he started. Both genin nodded. "Well, It has been acting funny, sending me a good distance away from him. It is reasonable to conclude that all tags would act like that. Also, tagging is too unreliable in poor weather,"

Obito and Anko gave Minato a look. "Poor weather?" the said in unison.

"You mean that a thunder storm is supposed to happen tonight?" asked Susano'o eagarly. Kakashi rolled his dark eyes. He and the storm-loving alchoholic were helping Hoshi rig up a border of barbed, electric wire around the ramparts of the keep. His teammate had already done the entire outer wall (or the Deeping Wall, as the King had called it.), but needed one of the Lightning users to provide the charge for the right half of it. The wire they were working on at the moment was already prepped by an Uchiha back at Konoha, so neither the Hatake nor Susano'o needed to run chakra through the already humming wires.

Hoshi nodded, not even looking back up. A feral grin appeared on the black-haired boy's dark face.

"This is perfect!" he just about hissed. Kakashi sighed. He, like most of the genin and chunin, believed that Team Orochimaru was batsh!t insane. When the trio finished outfitting the wall, Hoshi turned toward Theoden and the men in the Keep.

"Do not touch the wire!" he warned. "It can kill you,"

Everyone nodded and took a (small) step back from the killer coils.

Hoshi, Kakashi and Susano'o bowed before moving to right end of the Outer wall. Susano'o promptly ran over to Haldir, who, along with his soldiers, was defending the area.

"Did you know it is going to rain tonight?" chirped the bandaged boy to the Marchwarden. Haldir raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked. Susano'o nodded, the feral grin still on his face. Hoshi put a hand on his shoulder, causing the shinobi to tense briefly.

*"Could you explain to Haldir about the wire?"* he whispered into Susano'o ear in a commanding tone. Before he could respond, Hoshi moved further down the line. The bandaged shinobi gave Kakashi a questioning look. The masked boy simply shrugged and followed his teammate between the rows of elves. He saw their destination in the form of a certain ranger, dwarf and elf.

"Ah, Hoshi, Kakashi" said Aragorn as he caught sight of him. "Are you stationed here?"

"Not exactly-"

Hoshi's reponse was cut off by a series of explosions, which caused the walls to shake a little. Kakashi quickly ran to look over the edge of the wall and was stunned by the sight he saw.

"Hoshi," he murmured. "How many tags did you use?"

Bursts of white flame had colored the inky sky, one after the other. From the looks of it, that was the end of the little light show. Kakashi turned back to congradulate Hoshi when a thunderclap made him and almost everyone around them jump.

"I suppose it's going to rain," muttered the Hatake. Soon after he stated those words, raindrops fell from the dark, starless sky, followed by a flash of lightning and another thunderclap. He was rather surprised that Hoshi, Legolas, and the other elves had covered their ears in one form or another. They were slow to uncover them, but some of the first-row soldiers did as a message was passed down the line. The elf next to Kakashi gently touched his shoulder.

"The wire is humming," he whispered in his ear, in an accented and mildly confused tone. Kakashi nodded in thanks before turning to Hoshi, who had just uncovered his ears.

"The wire is live," he said to the tall boy. His teammate rubbed his ears, a grimice on his face.

"Alright," he said briefly. Aragorn was staring out at the plains, which occasionally lit up eith the odd explosion.

"This is normal warfare?" he asked quietly. Kakashi nodded. The man seemed to dislike the tags as much as the elves.

"Look," Hoshi said with a hoarse laugh. "They still march forward, though at a slower rate,"

Kakashi hated that his teammate was correct. No matter how many of their number got killed, the horde still pushed forward.

Legolas appeared to be shaken by the explosives, while Gimli was less unnerved.

Gimli turned to Aragorn, who wore a worried look upon his face.

"Well lad, that luck you live by, let's hope it lasts the night,"

A faint smile crossed Hoshi's face and a flash of lightning threw his features into relief.

Kakashi turned to the shaken archer. "Your friends are with you, Legolas," he said softly as he looked out at the approaching army.

"Let's hope they last the night," added Gimli. The blonde elf cracked a smile, as did the two shinobi. Hoshi's eyes glazed over slightly and his mouth dropped open.

"Broken bones upon shattered stones,

The sky cries above us.

Hope comes at dawn, with warrior withdrawn,

Returning to us dauntless."

Looking at the size of the army, Kakashi prayed that Hoshi was correct in predicting the arrival reinforcements.