Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or Naruto; both works belong to their respective creators and publishers. I gain nothing but writing and editing experiences from this fanfic.

Full Summary: Ultimately, they would not change what happened for anything in the world. At long last they had a family, a family both had dreamed for since their genin days. Neither of them ever expected to have children together, nor let their pasts go. But here they were: content, and in peace at long last. But now they find their family, their peace, breaking apart due to the struggles of the free peoples against the Power in the East. Will they forsake the world they have so few ties to, or will they become weapons of change? WARNINGS: OC's, character death (not a likable character), gender-bending.

Warnings for this chapter: breast-feeding, Naruto being Naruto the Pupil of the Perverted Sage, and F-bombs courtesy of Sasuke.

A/N: As with the last chapter, there is dialogue and even description from the Fellowship so I do not own that, though they are pretty short parts. Also, I have taken creative liberty of what Gandalf does, though I am using the timeline found in the appendices to figure out where he was when. Second, I began writing this fic before Sasuke became a good guy, so it will be AU from the current manga. Finally, if you're reading both versions of the sequel you will notice more and more overlap especially as the story progresses—don't think I'm copping out, just some scenes need to be a specific way for plot and the story. Anyways, thank you to those that have reviewed, and put this on favorite or alert. Please enjoy ~ with love, depressedchildren Edited: 8/28/2013 based on critics from vincent1875 & Edited 6/14/2015 for craziness and general oocness (because wtf was I think?).

Key:

"Text" westron language

"Text" either japanese or sindarin (both in the case of the girls)

Kusanagi a name/title (i.e. Prancing Pony)

Chapter 2: Journey to Weathertop

3017 October 1

Sasuke was walking through the main road of Bree, yet it did not look like Bree should. No, the sky was blood red while the rest of world was like the negative of a photo. He anticipated seeing his family—his aunts and uncles, cousins, and children—being slaughtered in the alleyways, but no…it was desolate. There was no one at all in Bree.

He slowly looked around as his feet carried him toward his shop. There were smashed in windows and crumbling walls, but no people, no corpses, no bones even. He came to their forge, to his home of fifteen years. It was empty, everywhere, no corpses, just nothing.

As he moved up to the room he shared with the dobe a fire started, he saw it edging in closer around him. He jumped out of the window and landed in the middle of the village. It was all on fire, but again there was no sign of people, no screams—just the crackling of flames.

He looked toward the Eastern gate and froze. Black shapes marched forward, and just above them like some sort of rising sun was an eye wreathed in flames. It stared at him, stared into him, into his soul! Sasuke fell to his knees and stared up at the eye. He was trembling as its gaze tore through him and broke down his very being.

The marching shapes drew closer and he was able to make out the grotesque features of the things. It was an army of the strangest looking things he had ever seen, but he recalled Aragorn's description of these creatures, these orcs.

Sasuke watched as their ranks descended upon the desolate town, but what horrified him the most was the spears at the front of the line. There, skewered upon them, was the family he had built in Middle Earth; Aragorn, the dobe, Minuial, Tinnu, Dawn, even Haldarad who he was going to begrudgingly accept as his son-in-law.

One of the leading orcs tossed something at him and Sasuke numbly watched as it hit him in the chest. When he looked down he covered his mouth to stifle his scream or sob—he wasn't sure what noise he would have made, but there was his newborn son with his head caved in.

They were all dead…all dead. And a voice, cold and rasping, whispered to him Flee or fight, war comes from the East.

Sasuke shot awake and looked over at the dobe who was still sound asleep. Sasuke breathed heavily as he clutched at his head while he shook away the remnants of his nightmare. That had just been a dream. He shuddered and looked blearily around their cold dark room.

He needed fire, he thought suddenly, as if a healthy fire in the hearth would take away the nightmare. He set his bare feet onto the icy cold floor hurried toward the hearth. He felt too drained to start a fire with his chakra and so he clumsily picked up a flint stone. His hands were twitching and shaky but at last a spark caught and he watched as the wood in the fireplace was slowly consumed.

What the hell kind of dream was that? Sasuke looked back over at the dobe who was still snoring away and then he looked over toward the cradle where Dusk still slept. Sasuke took a moment longer before he stood up shakily and walked over to the cradle and stared down at his son…he had a son at last.

He loved his daughters so much but it was almost a relief to have son. He wouldn't have to fend off suitors or be traumatized with talk of the Red Sister. He could almost see himself teaching Dusk how to fend off fangirls, and being confided to about the boy's first crush. He imagined being able to do with his son all the things he missed out on doing with his own father. A though he was terrified of screwing it up, he was looking forward to it too.

But fear clutched at him and he kept whispering the words, what if? What if war came and his family was killed. He was relying on Aragorn to fight off this enemy in the East, but was that enemy so simple to defeat? What was so important about Aragorn's mission; could it be that if he failed that army of orcs would fall upon Bree?

Sasuke gripped more tightly to the cradle and stared down at his son. Other than his Uchiha coloring, he looked exactly like the dobe, the male dobe. Sasuke shook his head, it was so hard to believe she had been a man before, but then again, she had always been the dobe to him, nothing more than a thorn in the side—at least until she gave him children. He stared back over at his wife, his dobe, his. His mouth twitched upward and he scoffed slightly in amusement as he thought of their wedding vows. He was hers and she was his, just as they had stated so many years ago at the altar set up next to the Brandywine. They whispered it to each other like a chant when they were without their memories…when they were still a young family.

Sasuke clenched his eyes closed and moved away from the cradle so that he might lean against the wall. He took a shaky breath and tried to calm down, but he couldn't help but wonder what he, or they had done for the girls to run away from them. Neither of them had parents to raise them to adulthood, and Sasuke had been so young when his parents had died. Gods… had they screwed up in their parenting? Why did the girls have to run away?

No, he shook his head, no they didn't run away because of their parenting; they ran away for adventure. Sasuke repeated this to himself several times as he listened to the autumn night noises and the crackle of the fire in the hearth. That was when he heard a floorboard creak.

His eyes shot open in an instant and he withdrew a kunai from a nearby drawer. He had to resist the reflex of activating his sharingan, for his body could not handle the drain if he did. Sasuke then crept slowly across the room and waited by the door. He glanced over at the dobe to see if she had heard the creak but she was still fast asleep, perhaps the fox was recuperating itself and her, thus had put them into a deep sleep.

Sasuke waited as he listened to someone approaching their room. He slid into crouch so he would not be spotted right away. He remained calm and focused as he waited. At last the intruder pushed open the door. Part of Sasuke wished it was the girls, but another part recalled the rumors they had incurred the night before while talking to the old man—whose eyebrows Sasuke hoped were a figment of imagination induced by his fatigue.

Sasuke's faint hope died as a grisly man entered the room. The former nuke-nin immediately recognized him as the Southern man who communicated frequently with Ferny. Sasuke didn't hesitate to reach up and grab the man's neck before flipping him over and pinning him to the ground with a kunai at his throat. His head spun due to his physical exhaustion, but he had stunned the man.

The dobe was up at last, but so too was Dusk, who had awakened when Sasuke slammed the other man into the ground.

"What the hell?" the dobe hissed as she moved to pick Dusk up and soothe him back to sleep. Sasuke just glared down at the still stunned man.

"Give me one reason not to slit your throat," he growled which caused the man's eyes to widen. He sputtered like a fish before Sasuke closed his eyes tiredly and deftly struck the man in the temple with the end of his kunai.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair as he stood up, but he quickly stumbled backward into the doorjamb as his head spun.

"He assumed we had information and was after it, wasn't he?" the dobe had her serious face on and Sasuke nodded slowly. "Well, there goes leaving Dusk with a neighbor," Sasuke glanced over at the dobe. That had been one of their ideas for what to do with the newborn Naruto need to come with him, but both knew they didn't want to be parted from their son. "That also means I am going with you," the dobe added with a hard look in her eyes. Sasuke sighed tiredly and tipped his head forward.

That was true, Dusk would be used as leverage if Naruto did stay in Bree and Sasuke went on to pursue the girls by himself. "So we all leave then?" He asked tiredly as he pushed himself off the doorjamb and moved to sit at the end of the bed and stare into the fire.

"Yes," the dobe replied before holding out a still crying Dusk, "rock him while I tie up this bastard." She then gestured to the unconscious brute with her head while Sasuke took his son from her and cradled him gently in his arms.

While the dobe was tying up the man she looked back toward the fire, "So you've been up for a while?" she asked. This was her roundabout way of asking if he was alright, and it suited them just fine.

Sasuke just sighed and continued to rock Dusk. She glared at him and tugged at the rope in her hands, "Fine, be that way," she then stood up slowly, wincing slightly, before looking around the room.

"I'm going to make some sealing paper since the girls cleaned us out of everything. I can make some new seals when we camp and take breaks, but you know how hard making the paper is," she stated with a sigh. Sasuke just nodded his head and made a noncommittal sound. Dusk was calm now and blinked up at him with tears at the corners of his eyes before they closed fully.

Sasuke stood up slowly and shakily moved toward the cradle. The dobe was watching him with a hard look on her face, "Teme, sleep, I'll get us packed. It'll be sunrise in three or four hours, and it would be best to leave as early as possible before more people try to attack us."

Sasuke made another noncommittal noise as he set Dusk down in his cradle. When he straightened, he gestured to their unconscious intruder, "And what about him?"

"I'll string him up outside," the smirk on the dobe's face made Sasuke shudder, but not in fear; rather, it was in their mutual sadistic satisfaction. He made a beckoning motion and the dobe sauntered over, her smirk turning into a sly smile that he mimicked.

He set one hand on her waist and the other cupped her cheek, "Good," he murmured as they met halfway and kissed each other. When she pulled back, the dobe was still smiling.

"Now get to sleep" she motioned him away and even swatted at his backside to get him moving. Sasuke shook his head but his body was ready to crash if he stayed up much longer. His chakra had only slightly replenished and he was already pushing himself. With a sigh he lay down and watched as the dobe dragged the unconscious man out of their room. Let that be a warning to all of them, he thought to himself still smiling sadistically. Gods did he love when the dobe acted like that.

…

Aragorn moved slowly around the perimeter of the camp. There was something telling him they were being watched but he wasn't certain. He had heard, smelt, and seen nothing out of the ordinary. Yesterday had been pleasant travel despite the slow and disturbing start, though he was thankful for Dawn's assistance at diverting the townspeople's attention. Her illusion had even fooled Ferny, which was a blessing—to be sure. With the slight lead they had received the previous night, they might reach the end of the Chetwood by the next morning and fully enter the Midgewater Marshes by that noon.

Aragorn looked around once more before he decided to wake the hobbits so they could prepare their breakfast. He smiled fondly and shook his head. Hobbits…such amazing folk, though they might seem obsessed with food, they could be strong and fearless, even forgoing food when the situation called upon it. Gandalf was rightly fascinated by the small people.

Aragorn briefly wondered how his blacksmith friend was. Had the child been born healthy? Was it a girl or perhaps they had finally had a boy. He chuckled to himself as he stirred the hobbits, it would be nice to have a nephew to teach hunting and marksmanship. Aragorn was still not comfortable with his nieces being warriors, yes it was in their culture but it wasn't in his. He knew in Rohan women were taught to wield swords, but they were never truly expected to fight like his nieces were.

It wasn't proper, and though their culture is different they are part of Middle Earth. Part of Aragorn wanted to demand his friend to make his daughters act like they were part of Middle Earth. The twins were already getting quite old by human standards to be unwed. Dawn at least had a serious suitor, but the twins seemed to drive away all potential husbands. He shook his head slowly at that.

If only there were more unwed, young dúnedain for his nieces to marry.

Minuial stood up slowly from her crouch and stretched her arms over her head. Ojisan was now waking up the hobbits so his attention was pulled partially away from his surroundings, which meant this was the perfect time to activate the seal she had finished at last! Tinnu helped of course, but Minuial had placed the finishing touches on it.

She beckoned her sisters over and then gestured for their wrists to be bared. The seal she and her twin had made was one their mother showed them several years ago. Kaasan said the seal was like the seal the famous Tsunade-baachan wore to appear young. This seal held a henge and then cycled back in the excess charka to their reserves, which was where their seal differed from the original. It had taken them months to tweak it but at last they had completed it.

Minuial carefully drew the seal onto the inner part of their wrists before she ran through the necessary hand signs. She then did her own and at last they were all disguised. It would take a sequence of hand signs to remove their henge but each of them knew it.

Minuial smiled as she moved around the forest as what appeared to be a grasshopper. Her twin was dragonfly while Dawn assumed the illusion of a field mouse. It would be in this manner that they would follow their Ojisan and the hobbits. Now they could follow them much closer than they had yesterday. This was going to be awesome!

…

Naruto smiled triumphantly as the completed storage scroll she had started working on that morning. She was still going to prank the girls so bad when they returned, but in the meantime she could work on restoring their seal supply. She had quite a bit of sealing paper but it still needed to dry, but out of the dry paper she had already made a few exploding tags, but it would be nothing compared the variety of secrecy seals she had made with the girls.

She sighed but stood up from her kneeling position and moved around her home, their home of fifteen years. Fifteen out of the seventeen years, she shook her head in disbelief. It was so hard to believe so much time had passed, and she had foolishly missed two, almost three, of those years

She gritted her teeth and shook her head. Yes she was a fool to have missed any time with her family but she wouldn't make the same mistake again, not with any other children she had. And now she had to get her girls back. She had wondered if perhaps she had failed them and they had wanted to leave her. Perhaps they hadn't forgiven her for leaving them all those years ago? Naruto closed her eyes tightly and shook her head to get rid of her self-doubt, but it wasn't working.

Were they bad parents, was she a bad mother now that she had her memories? Naruto gnawed at her bottom lip in worry as she looked around the shop. She moved over to the display counter and brushed her fingertips across it.

She never had any real guardians or parents growing up, so she couldn't help but worry that she was doing a poor job. She wanted to confide in someone about her fears, but the teme was probably worrying about the same thing and then they would both just discourage each other or say some hollow words. Naruto inhaled sharply and held her eyes closed tightly because she realized she needed her Kaasan and Tousan. She needed to talk to them again and have them assuage her fears, but their chakra had long since extinguished from the seal.

Who was there to comfort her? Kurama would just laugh and tell her she was doing a horrible job, and unlike the teme she had no one close to confide in. Ranger-san was a friend to her but he wasn't as close to her as he was to Sasuke. They bonded as men but Naruto wasn't allowed to do that anymore, not in this world where women were care providers and baby makers. She couldn't even confide in the other mothers of Bree because they were all the same, sniveling and simple women. They would be appalled by the fact she was teaching her daughters to fight, and they would be even more appalled that she had the teme "henpecked."

Naruto's lips twitched up at that thought, "henpecked," how pejorative, but it did make her feel better thinking of the teme that way. They all knew she wore the figurative pants in the family and surprisingly the teme was fine with that, maybe because he was the only real man now. She rolled her eyes, if she was still a man they would be fighting over the "pants" constantly and any foreplay would be a full out brawl to beat the other into submission. But, since it was clear with her being a woman what was stuck where, she could be as dominate in the bedroom—and outside of it too—as she wanted while letting the teme have the illusion of dominance. Hmm…speaking of sex there were a few more icha icha positions they had yet to try…

"It's sunrise, don't even think about it."

Naruto whipped her head around to see Sasuke looking at her with a deadpan expression with Dusk cradled in his arms. Naruto looked at him in confusion, what wasn't she supposed to try? It's not like the teme could read her mind or anything. However, the teme's expression turned almost salacious as he smirked at her; "Besides, aren't you still sore from childbirth?"

Naruto wasn't sure how her saliva went down the wrong tube, but it did and there she was coughing and sputtering and blushing bright red. Oh dear gods, he could read her mind! This was bad!

"Don't worry dobe, I can't read your mind," he muttered as he slapped at her back to dislodge the spit while expertly cradling the baby with one hand. By the fourth child they had to be pros, plus having twins helped their one-armed tasking. "I just know that look very well, Pupil of the Perverted Sage."

When Naurto finally got her breathing under control she turned around toward him and glared or tried to. Judging by the slight quirking of the teme's lips, he found her attempt amusing. Maybe they just could read each other's face really well that they could tell what the other was thinking or feeling.

"Shut up and go get some rations from Butterbur, I'll pack up what we need from here," she ordered, but the teme was still smirking. "Give me Dusk, and leave your weapon's pouch here. I'll restock it."

"Yes dear," he replied sardonically as he deposited their baby and his weapons' pouch into her arms. He then turned on his heel to leave, though Naruto wondered if that really was all sarcasm. Perhaps he had actually meant the "dear." She quickly shook her head and slapped her face with her free arm.

The day the teme was affectionate would be the day the sun froze—yesterday was just an anomaly brought on by exhaustion and the relief of having a son, yes that had to be it. There was no chance that the teme could actually be…be in love with or affectionate for Naruto and just Naruto alone. No, she…she was just the mother of his children, that was why he tolerated her, yep, that was it.

But as she had said time and again, their relationship was changing and it frightened her. If Sasuke was genuinely being affectionate toward her, what exactly did that mean? It didn't match up with the teme from their past in the Elemental Lands, and that teme she knew so well she could anticipate his moves, which was comforting. Now he was becoming more of a mystery which both excited and scared her. Then again, there was also the part of her that really liked being treated all lovingly and gently.

Gah! Naruto shook her head violently and began packing up what weapons should could with one arm. It would be best to take all that she could with them, who knew if they would be returning to the Bree.

… … …oh shit.

Naruto continued to stare ahead of her in shock, even as Dusk began to stir in her arm and fuss. Oh gods, they might not return to this place…they might not return to Bree, for whatever reason that was. Maybe there would be an injury or-or…death. Or what if they're dragged into this conflict and they couldn't come back to Bree? They had raised a family in this shop and forge, and leaving it was such a frightening thought.

She could remember Dawn taking her first steps right behind that counter, and she could remember the time the twins got into the cupboards and spilled ink everywhere. She could remember the first time Haldarad came to their shop and asked for Dawn's hand, only to have the teme scare him away with his spinning red eyes. Naruto remembered when the miller's boy came over for Minuial's hand and her darling girl had set up an elaborate prank that involved pig manure and goose feathers. Oh and Tinnu! When she ordered her suitor to duel her for her hand! All of that had happened within this shop, along with so many other firsts and memories. She couldn't imagine leaving this place for good, she just couldn't…

While Naruto was having her panic attack over leaving Bree and their shop, Sasuke was haggling over the price for a barrel of dried meat and a bushel of apples with Butterbur. He was about to lose his temper with the man; he was far too exhausted to deal with this. Why couldn't the dobe just take care of this, she was the people person, but it really wasn't worth the yelling match to see who would get their rations. Speaking of food, he felt like he could eat half a deer, which would certainly help restore his reserves.

"My goodness, do you really intend to bring that all along with you?" Sasuke turned his head slightly to the side to see the old man with those huge eyebrows. Sasuke's eyes immediately focused in on the white caterpillars attached to the old man's forehead and a twitch began to form under Sasuke's right eye. So, that hadn't been his imagination, damn it.

"Yes, my wife eats a lot," Sasuke replied curtly before turning back to Butterbur who finally conceded to Sasuke's price, since it was for Arad. "Also, do you have any leftover stew or breakfast prepared?" Sasuke asked; however, the old man spoke overtop him.

"Y-you are taking your wife with you? What about your newborn child?" the old man looked appalled.

Sasuke just gave the man a blank look, "We had an intruder early this morning; I am not going to risk my only son's life by leaving him here to be used as leverage."

The old man frowned, "The wilderness is no place for a lady or baby," the old man stated gravely and Sasuke scoffed.

"My wife is no lady, and she'll rip your face off if you try to tell her she can't handle a little wilderness," Sasuke was smirking now as he leaned against the counter he had been haggling over. The old man also caught himself, perhaps remember how sweetly Naruto had threatened to behead him.

At hearing what Sasuke said, Butterbur spluttered in shock and it was music to Sasuke's ears. It seemed the whole of Bree liked to pretend the dobe was just some docile blonde, but they all had seen her beat him up—maybe they just forgot about it when she turned her broad smile onto them. Sasuke chuckled to himself as he motioned the still shocked Butterbur to get his purchase.

"But your baby," the old man seemed even more appalled, perhaps even a little horrified.

"We'll protect it," Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes tiredly. He knew they were acting rashly, but their daughters were out there, and… well… They needed to protect them even if it meant bringing their son along; though they could protect him well enough from dangers in the wilds. Well, the dobe could protect it; he was still facing the after-effects of using so much of his chakra. His reserves were miniscule at the moment, granted it was probably the equivalent of an average civilian raised academy graduate, but that was not enough for long bouts of running or using most of his attacks.

Sighing he looked at the old man who seemed a little troubled. "Do you have your own horses?" the old man asked after a long moment of silence.

"Even if we did, the fire scared them all away," Sasuke replied calmly; he had heard rumors of the aftermath of the riot the other night. The old man nodded and looked further distressed.

"I am afraid Shadowfax could not carry all of us," the old man murmured to himself and Sasuke shook his head. He knew that was going to be a probably, and they would be revealing some of what they could do. However, if the old man didn't already know they weren't quite human it wasn't like they would be able to keep it hidden when they came across conflict.

"Can it carry two?" he asked tiredly, already resigned to revealing some of their hand.

"Yes, but—"

"You'll find we are capable of more than seeing energies" Sasuke replied as enigmatically as he could while sighing. He was likely going to have to ride with the old man for a day or so until his reserves were restored more. The dobe could run despite having given birth the other day, simply because of the fox. It had likely healed up most the damage caused from childbirth, and she could tap into its chakra to use as she ran.

Sasuke looked sidelong at the old man, who merely looked Sasuke up and down like he was a puzzle again. "Yes…you and your wife are…peculiar," he commented slowly.

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow in return while the man just kept looking at him analytically. Thankfully the dobe entered the inn at this point with Dusk in a swaddle and strapped to her chest in a leather baby carrier that Sasuke had made for Dawn over a decade ago.

"All packed," the dobe chirped. "So where's our rations?" she asked while looking around, and right on cue Butterbur returned rolling in a barrel of dried meat while Nob carried the bushel of apples, and another worker brought out two plates of food.

"Is that for us?" Sasuke hummed in response to the dobe's question and she rolled her eyes at his response. "Shouldn't we get more?" she asked which caused the old man and Butterbur to cough in shock.

"I do not have a carriage," the old man stated in alarm only to be waved off by both Sasuke and the dobe. The worker set the plates down in front of Sasuke and the dobe eyed it like a starved animal.

"We'll just hunt, okay dobe? You did pack the curing necessities, right?" she glared at him but sighed and nodded before she began to inhale her plate of food. Sasuke mimicked her and ignored the shocked looks of the Bree-folk and the old man.

"Fine Bastard," she mumbled after her first swallow. Once she was done she rubbed at her slightly large stomach, "Still hungry," she whined and Sasuke snatched an apple from the bushel to give his bottomless pit for a stomach wife. She grinned at him before biting in while he paid for their meals and rations.

She then gestured for him to roll the barrel out the inn and into the stable while she carried the bushel of apples with one hand and set the edge of the basked against her hip. Groaning and with aching limbs—that ached from how much chakra he had used—he slowly rolled the barrels all the way out side. The old man followed them and kept protesting but they ignored Gandalf.

Once in the stable with only Gandalf to bear witness, the dobe tossed the apple core to the ground and then pulled out a storage scroll with a seal he had not seen before.

"Haven't seen this before," he stated while panting from the exertion.

"It'll keep the food fresh while storing it. It was seal Ero-sennin taught me while we were on the road…" she smile a little sadly at the memory. Suddenly she perked up, "Neh, if we have another son can we name him Jirai—"

"Hell no."

"Teme!" the dobe was pouting at him again, but Sasuke refused to name any of his children after anyone from that land. He wouldn't even name one of his children after Itachi, even though he loved and missed his brother.

The dobe held her pout for a moment longer before her features softened and let out sigh but nodded her head. She then sealed away the food and stood up to cup his face. Gandalf was quiet and his mouth hung open in shock.

"I wish you could let go of your hate," the dobe whispered but just shook her head in defeat. Sasuke sighed as well and tipped his head forward, consequently resting his forehead against the dobe's.

"Why can't you hate them?" he asked in return, but, before the dobe could respond, the old man had left his stupor.

"What magic was that?" He asked and looked intently at the scroll in the dobe's hand. "I've never seen such an array. Does it focus the magic?"

"Why don't we talk about that on the road?" the dobe suggested as she tucked the storage scroll with their food in Sasuke's tunic. "Now, shall we?" she gestured with her head toward the silver-grey horse standing regally in the stable.

"Oh shit! I forgot to tell Butterbur to watch the shop."

"I'm sure he figured that out," Sasuke replied tiredly.

Pouting the blonde nodded in agreement while Gandalf just stared between them practically bursting with questions, but he was holding them at bay. The dobe then spoke up, "So, how are we gonna keep people from noticing us leaving?" she asked aloud as she tapped at her chin.

Sasuke looked over at the wizard, "Can you cast an illusion, or do you not care if someone knows where we're headed?"

Gandalf blinked a few times, perhaps coming out of his thoughts over what question he wanted to ask first when they were finally on the road. He frowned though and thought for a long moment. "I am afraid we must risk for I do not have such skills, though if we could have our passage out of the village hidden…" he trailed off and shook his head because it would have been optimal if it were possible.

Scowling, Sasuke sighed again—he was just too tired to deal with all of this and it was all such an annoyance. "Fine, I'll cast it," he offered, but the dobe immediately turned to look at him incredulously while the old man blinked in surprise.

"Uh huh, that sounds like a great idea chakra-exhaustion-man," the dobe replied sarcastically, before sobering. "I don't want you passing out," she added with what almost sounded like concern.

Sasuke looked at her for a logn moment as he leaned against the stable wall, and the old man numbly moved over to his horse for comfort like he was a child caught between his parents arguing.

"It's that or we leave openly, which do you prefer?" Sasuke snapped back, and the dobe sighed.

"I'd rather have you conscious in case we run into trouble, besides you can't move when using genjutsu, right?"

"Not if you're proficient enough," he agreed, "but we both know I'll be riding with the old man until my reserves are back up anyways; therefore, I can do genjutsu either way." The dobe was glaring at him while the old man stared at them in alarm.

She frowned for a long moment, "Just don't use your eyes to make it, okay, that'll—"

"Drain my chakra faster, I know dobe," she glared at him before sighing again and nodding her head.

"I just don't want you passing out or dying, okay Bastard," she mumbled before adjusting Dusk in his baby carrier. He didn't know what had gotten into her; it was a little annoying but it was also endearing.

The old man was still staring between the two of them before looking pointedly at the dobe. "Forgive me, but you gave birth just the other day."

The dobe looked over at the man blankly, "And my mother fought to death after giving birth to me and having…other things done to her," the dobe shook her head when she realized she could have spilled some vital information to the stranger.

"Was this before or after the Kyuubi was released?"

"After," Naruto sighed and Sasuke was taken aback. Damn. That was hardcore.

"Well…shit. That's intense."

"I know, my mom was a badass," Naruto replied with pride while the old man spluttered at the term the dobe used. She gave Gandalf a toothy smile, "So…I think a little running won't hurt me. 'Sides, I'm mostly healed me down there."

Gandalf promptly closed his eyes and didn't say anything, which only made Naruto grin like the cat who got the mouse. Sasuke realized the dobe had someone knew to torture, and he smirked over at her and nodded approvingly. She winked back at him, before calling out,"We can fuck later; now get on that horse."

Sasuke stared at the dobe for a moment while he processed what the hell she meant by that, but then he gave up and moved toward the silver-grey horse. The dobe was the dobe, and he had learned some of the shit she said he would never figure out. "So, are we going?" he drawled and the old man opened his eyes.

"Yes, yes we are," he said as he mounted the horse. He looked over at Naruto for a moment before shaking his head a few times as he stared straight ahead of him. Almost hesitantly he asked, "Are you certain, my Lady, that you do not require a horse and your husband is to ride with me?"

"Yes!" they both replied curtly. The old man sighed but still gestured for Sasuke to sit in front of him, though it was clear he'd rather be riding by himself at this point. Glaring at the white-slivery-gray horse, Sasuke climbed on—he had never really liked horses or trusted them.

"Okay Old man," the dobe began, "you are going to ride out of here like Bree is going explode with a blast radius of a mile, got it?"

The old man blinked several times in confusion before nodding slowly. The dobe just grinned and then nodded to Sasuke. He shook his head but began to channel his chakra into his hands to create an illusion around them, though he didn't doubt that some of the dobe's exploding tags did have a blast radius that large—she was amazing with fuin that way. Then they were off through the village and out of the gate. The old man made a surprised sound at the fact that the dobe was keeping up with his horse and that the baby was not being jostled or woken from its sleep.

The dobe did have her arms thrown behind her like a true ninja and she used chakra to enhance her speed while reducing jostling. It was a common running practice for when one had to carry an injured teammate. When he shared a smirk with the dobe he noticed a small seal on their son's swaddle. He first wondered what the hell that was, but he also wondered how their child was fairing against the wind created by the speed they were running.

At the speed they were going, they quickly put five or so miles between them and Bree. It was at that point that he dropped the illusion and fell against the horse's neck utterly exhausted; having genin sized reserves sucked! He was panting from the exertion. Seriously, how did genin even function and not die? How had they not died as genin, how had Sakura not died with her puny reserves!?

"Truly what are you two? I felt as if a presence has left us and this presence had been hiding our position. You make things disappear into paper, and you can run with Shadowfax. You are clearly not Istari even though you use magic. I must ask, what are you?"

"Is-what?" the dobe asked as she kept pace with them using the fox's chakra, which Sasuke knew made the old man tense and the horse try to move away from her.

The old man did not answer her question and instead focused on her person. "What is that energy? It is…malicious," he explained slowly and with more than a little worry in his voice.

"…Nothing," the dobe replied lamely, and the old man likely shook his head again because the dobe winced as she was prone to do when she got caught lying.

"I felt this malicious presence the day before in the early hours of the morning through until mid-day. It was nearly overwhelming, and I was still a half day's journey from Bree." The dobe winced at how far away the fox could be sensed, but she didn't say anything. In fact, they both remained silent, which was perhaps more damning.

The wizard made a noise at the back of this throat. "I am no fool; this…malicious presences comes from you," he was likely addressing the dobe and was clearly have a hard time describing the chakra.

The dobe scowled, "It's none of your damn business Gramps."

He could feel the old man bristle at that, and Sasuke sighed tiredly. "Dobe," he interjected, "if we face the Nazgûl, he will probably see more of it. There's really no point in keeping quiet about it if we're going to be traveling with him."

She stubbornly looked ahead of her with her face pinched in displeasure.

"What is it then, Dû?" Gandalf asked him since he was clearly the only one willing to explain.

"Don't tell him," the dobe growled out, and her eyes even flashed red with the demon's chakra. Gandalf saw this and the horse jerked away from the dobe because of it. They were nearly unseated, but Sasuke used some of his remaining chakra to remain attached to the horse while Gandal struggled to stay mounted.

"What…?" the old man seemed fearful, which was probably good. "It is as if you are possessed," he breathed in a horrified awe.

The dobe calmed down and glared ahead of her, but Sasuke had to roll his eyes. "You're being a child about this," he commented which earned him another glare though it was just her disguised blue eyes.

"You tell him about the war then," she challenged with a smirk on her face.

"The war has no pertinence to our traveling together," he replied back. He wanted to switch into Japanese but there must be a reason the dobe was having this conversation in westron.

She hummed, before smirking at him, "I beg to differ. See, you learn a lot about a man when he tells you what he fights for."

He glared back at her. She knew not to talk about the past; it was never a good conversation and it seldom ended well for either of them. It made him go back to those dark days, those days when he was used and not a father. Being a father had changed him, but talking about the past brought forth the cruel man he had once been.

"You're right; it does," he sneered back at her. "What kind of man were you dobe? Hmm?" He scowled at her, and purposely spoke in westron so that Gandalf could understand them. "A naïve, martyr, just a weapon and a tool."

The dobe glared back at him, "Don't mistake me for you."

Sasuke couldn't help but laugh at that, "Excuse me? When was I naïve or martyr?"

The dobe pretended to ponder that before her expression turned cruel, "When you believed everything your family told you and decided to suffer the rest of your life for it. I mean…" she started sweetly, "Itachi was a powerful fourteen year old, but to kill your whole family by himself," she stressed the words slowly, "I mean…you'd have to be a fucking naïve idiot to believe that, and then believe anything else your family said."

Gandalf promptly ordered Sahdowfax to stop and he got off the horse while Sasuke and the dobe just kept glaring at each other. Normally they would have come to blows but there was a baby strapped to her chest, and they tried not to set a bad example for their girls.

"That was low dobe," Sasuke muttered back at her, but she just stood there resolute.

Gandalf moved so he was in front of them. "I understand now that your past and your secrets are your own and they are painful. Forgive me. I will not pry into your matters again," he said this slowly as he looked between both of them. "However, I cannot move on if you two keep this fighting up."

"It's called marriage," the dobe replied sweetly with a matching saccharine smile. "I know his shit, he knows mine…" she turned back to him and her smile fell, "and we know how to hurt each other the worst."

"Yeah...we do."

Dusk chose this moment to begin crying, and—like a switch—the dobe softened and began to check on him. Sasuke closed his eyes and let the weight of the past come off his shoulders, and he felt lighter when he looked back at the dobe who began to feed the baby. He smiled slightly at the sight and knew they were probably confusing the hell out of the old man.

Gandalf was confused as he watched the married couple. They had been warriors then, opponents at one point on different sides of a war. The man had been betrayed many times before, as had he woman likely been…perhaps even betrayed by her own husband. But those were all acts of the past and this couple only looked toward the future now; in the future and present they were happy, but in the past they were bitter enemies.

What they were, Gandalf could not say, but he did recognize two battered warriors who had seen too much war to ever want to enter it again. These two longed for peace, and they had that when they were with their children—children they clearly loved with their whole beings. To regain their children, they would even go back into the roar of battle. Despite their fantastical abilities, Gandalf understood their reluctance to share; they had said it, had they not? They had both been manipulated and treated as weapons by their own people, and the same could be done to them here. No wonder Aragorn never mentioned them, not even once.

Perhaps progress would be slow with the baby, but Gandalf understood now to what extent they would risk their own lives for the lives of their children. He wished these two peace, though in his heart he feared they would have to face war once more before they could finally rest.

…

After the first tense break, they traveled for two or so hours in a tense silence. Dusk cried again and needed to be changed. They were fortunate a stream was nearby to clean the diaper as best they could. The dobe looked at Sasuke when he crouched down beside her.

She was rocking Dusk and humming a lullaby she had learned while in the Shire. He couldn't help the slight smile that spread across his face. "Tomorrow I should be able to run, I can carry Dusk then,"he offered casually and she looked over at him blankly before her lips twitched upwards. They shared a moment of companionable silence and listened to some lone birds cry int the wild as they moved south.

"Gods we're fucked up," she mumbled. Perhaps she was amused at how they had managed to rear three children considering all the animosity they had and occasionally still had for each other.

"Only about the past," he replied softly, though his smile fell. "Do you suppose…" he shook his head; it would do no good to bring that up to the dobe.

She looked over at him thoughtfully in return, "What?"

He sighed but decided to get his concerns out, "Did the girls do this because of our parenting?"

The dobe wasn't surprised by this and likely had been thinking the same thing. "Maybe…Maybe to spite me for abandoning you all…" the dobe's words came out shaking and Sasuke frowned slightly.

"They ran away from me too…perhaps I've been too controlling or protective…"

The dobe scoffed and looked over at him with a sad smile. "What would we know about parenting? Good or bad? Maybe…" Naruto trailed off and laughed incredulously. "Maybe this is that teenage rebellion thing parents always complain about?"

Sasuke did not recall hearing any such thing from their neighbors, and he was sure his confusion showed because the dobe began laughing at him. "I'm talking about in Konoha, though…" she sobered as she trailed off, "you wouldn't have been there to hear Inoichi-san complain about Ino-chan's rebellious streak anyways…"

"I thought you were gallivanting across the world with your perverted teacher." He glared back at her as he said this, and frankly he didn't care if he missed out on those Konoha wretches' lives.

The dobe gave Sasuke a lopsided smile despite how sour his mood had turned. She shook her head and pushed her shoulder against his playfully, "I was filled in thoroughly by everyone. Ino-chan was gone when I first came back, but her father filled me in on plenty of things I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted me to know."

Sasuke scoffed and shook his head. It was fun to embarrass his children in front of their friends sometimes… It wasn't that he got any sadistic satisfaction out of it, but it was cute how his daughters would react, though…they didn't have many friends in Bree. The few they had were scared away at one point or another, either by them, the girls themselves, or the friends' own parents.

He looked over at his dobe with his brow furrowed, "Do you ever suppose they're lonely?"

The dobe looked over at him with her eyebrow raised before she understood. They were a fairly insular family as far as who they associated with…well, the rangers were really the only people they actively built relationships with. And as with the dobe, the girls had a hard time relating with other girls in the village.

"They have each other," the dobe stated with a frown on her face. "And Haldarad, I guess," she added with a shrug. Sasuke laughed briefly before he sobered.

The dobe narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and pursed her lips together, "Ya know what?" she started rhetorically, "I've realized something."

This ought to be good. He looked over at her with both his eyebrows raised in anticipation "We're too fucking progressive for this world." Sasuke began outright laughing because it was so true. The dobe looked at him excitedly while nodding her head, "I'm right aren't I?"

Sasuke began nodding his head and genuinely smiled over at the dobe. "We are too fucking progressive." The dobe began to chuckle when he repeated her words.

"I am glad to see you two have worked out your quarrel; may I know what is so funny?" They heard Gandalf from behind them. He had gone walking to look for signs of Aragorn and the hobbits, although Naruto had told them they were still some ways ahead of them, though they should possibly catch up with them by that evening or the next morning.

Sasuke looked at the dobe, his face still stretched in a smile and she looked back at him grinning from ear to ear. She shrugged and nodded, so they turned back to the wizard as they got up. Dusk was quiet and staring out at the world, so they might as well keep moving.

"Well," the dobe began frankly, "we think we fucked up our kids."

The old man was of course taken aback by the phrase, swearing, and blunt honesty, but he realized what was being implied and began to reassure. "Oh, I am sure that is not the case," he said with a genial smile.

Sasuke stretched his arms above his head even as his sight swam from suddenly standing up. "Oh…?" Sasuke began and gave the old man a grimace, "well they've runaway from us the first literal chance they've had, and…what else…" he asked himself slowly as he approached the white-silvery-grey horse. He snapped his fingers. "Right," he said as if he remembered, "they have no friends besides our eldest child's beloved, and the only people they openly associate with are rangers because all the other villagers stay away from them."

"Plus they have us as their parents," the dobe added with a shrug. "I mean…we're orphans, how do we know if we're doing things right." Sasuke nodded and the old man just stared at them as he tried to think of what to say; he was also looking at Sasuke with some confusion.

Right, the dobe had talked about the massacre. Holding back a grimace, Sasuke tried to rectify the confusion. "My family doesn't really count because I was kid when I lost them," he said with some anger behind his words. "We were an insular clan who inbred and cared far too much for propriety to actually live, so…" Sasuke shook his head while the dobe looked at him in surprise.

"Seriously? Where did that come from?" she asked almost awed, and for a moment he feared she might jump him based on the way her eyes gleamed.

"Raising our delightful girls and then comparing it to how I was raised," his frank replied received a thoughtful hum before the dobe impulsively reached over and kissed him on the cheek. At least she didn't jump him, that might have been too much for the old wizard, and Sasuke was pretty sure his legs would have given under their combined weight.

"So on top of that," the dobe added as she turned back to Gandalf, "we're just too fucking progressive for this place."

Gandalf raised an eyebrow at this even as he was appalled at the dobe's choice of words. "Really?" Gandalf started to move toward his horse and once he was on Sasuke climbed on after him.

"Oh yes," Sasuke assured as the horse began to move and the dobe ran beside them. Dusk was turned to face her chest so he was not being blasted by the wind—though Sasuke worried about how he was fairing in the cold.

"We taught our daughters to fight and kill. He does the cooking and sewing, and we both work the forge," the dobe rattled off casually.

"Sex too," Sasuke added in there and the dobe nodded adamantly.

"Oh yeah, we know a lot about that," she snickered and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"All thanks to your teacher, which is why we will never name a son after him." The dobe frowned slightly before laughing. Sasuke glanced behind him and covered his own laugh. Gandalf was horrified and wasn't even steering Sahdowfax—or whatever people did with horses.

"I wonder when he'll break?" the dobe said playfully and Sasuke agreed. This would be fun little journey if only for the old man's reactions. "Oh I know what will make it even better!" the dobe cackled.

She then looked over at the old man innocently, "I also was a man for half my life, so I guess I'm…transsexual?" the dobe asked him as she code-switched, and Sasuke shrugged.

"Oh by the Valar…" Gandalf breathed behind Sasuke and the former missing-nin looked over at the dobe.

"Mission accomplished." The dobe cackled for a good minute before she focused her attention on Dusk who was fussing. She then began to sing to him, but other than that, they were silent until their next break.

No matter how much he could fight with the dobe, he could also have just as much fun with her.

…

At the next break, in which Dusk needed to feed. They stopped to feed the horses and themselves as well. It was already the afternoon, and Gandalf did not want to talk to them at all. He just kind of ignored them, as if he was telling himself they were not real and not really there. It made Sasuke feel accomplished.

As Sasuke ate his share of the dried meat, he examined the dobe and the baby. It was at this point that he noticed the seal on the swaddle. "Neh, what is that seal?"

The dobe looked up at him with her eyebrow raised before recognition lit up her face. The blonde then began to grin broadly in excitement.

"These, Teme," she began boastfully, "retain heat and act as a barrier against the wind," she gave him a cocky smile and he grinned at her in return.

"Brilliant, but did you make any more?"

The dobe instantly deflated and frowned. "The others blew up; this was the first one to work," she said as she scuffed her foot in the dirt.

Sasuke stared at her for a long moment, "When did you have time to do that?"

She shrugged, "I sent a clone to the forest to try out the different designs while you were sleeping. See," she started in excitedly, "I had this idea of modifying a barrier seal with—"

"Okay, got it. You can stop." She began to pout as if her fun was ruined, which it was. The dobe could go on these theoretical tangents that left him dizzy if he let her go on too long. He got where she was going with it though. Often the dobe would complicate it by saying what arrays she did differently and so forth, and how she thought of this one principle and applied it there. Her brain worked differently from his and so when she started explaining seals…it was just best to cut her short once he got the vague idea of it.

The dobe sighed but then sat down next to and leaned against him. They sat there and he began to pick of pieces of his rations to give to her, just sort of feeding her while her arms were full of baby.

"You know…" Sasuke began after a moment, "We should tell him about the fox."

The dobe pulled away from him to glare. "Tell him about the war," she challenged back.

Sasuke sighed, "The hobbits and Aragorn already know, and they'll probably tell Gandalf when they see him."

The dobe stared at him in disbelief for all of a second before her face contorted in anger. "When the hell were you going to tell me?" she hissed.

"The girls let it slip because the hobbits asked if there were really demons in Crickhollow."

The dobe closed her eyes in annoyance and breathed deeply a few times. "What all did you tell them," she asked at last.

She was taking this better than he thought, though Sasuke still proceeded cautiously. "Enough to do damage control, but not more than necessary."

The dobe's expression became pinched and she made an annoyed noise at the back of her throat. "Hey Gramps!" she called out in the clearing, her eyes still closed. Sasuke heard the old man jump and could practically feel his wariness as he started to approach them. Naruto must have sensed he was close enough because she neither opened her eyes nor turned around to face him. "You can sense energy right?"

"I have some limited skill in that, yes," he replied slowly.

Sighing she opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him, "What can you sense about me?"

The wizard frowned but concentrated on her for a long moment. His frown deepened and he seemed puzzled. "You are like a storm…" he murmured. "Like Nature's wrath barely restrained."

The dobe nodded her head slowly, "Tom Bombadil found us and he said I was Narture's Daughter and the Bastard was my protector." She gestured over at him with her head and he had to pull back to miss her bashing him in the head.

Gandalf hummed and continued to examine her, "Yet you contain something else, something separate from you; it is that malicious presence."

"Yeah," she confessed "I do contain it." She seemed to be pondering how she could explain it. "I keep it from wreaking havoc and destruction because like how we store our food, it is stored in me." The dobe gestured to the storage scroll and their rations.

Gandalf frowned slightly, "Which means it could be released and its ill-will let loose?"

"If it were completely released it would kill me, but I can harness the power as my own, and I can let the power experience some freedom through me, but I control it."

The wizard nodded and his expression was grave, "Then you carry a great burden and hold a great responsibility."

The dobe exhaled and nodded slowly. The tense atmosphere broke and turned to look down at their son "Neh, watch Dusk for me while I eat?" she chirped at him as she pulled the baby away from her and held him out Sasuke.

"Truly your language is fascinating," Gandalf murmured from behind them. "By any chance is your language structured with the verb first before the object?"

"Verb before object?" the dobe asked in confusion while fixing her dress.

"Yes our language is structured that way, how did you figure that out?" Sasuke responded with a tired sigh as he began to rock Dusk.

"Ah, you mentioned your son's name, and based on the location in the sentence I made a simple deduction. I am versed in all the tongues of Middle Earth and not all of them have the same sentence structure."

Sasuke and Naruto just stared at the old man blankly, the dobe because the was confused and Sasuke because why the hell would anyone want to know all of the languages? Gandalf coughed slightly in discomfort, "Well, we should probably get back on the road soon." He sounded awkward and uncomfortable which was probably a first for him.

"Sure, just let me eat," the dobe stated and began to literally inhale food. Gandalf promptly turned around with a look of horror on his face.

The dobe was a horror show when she ate, but it was amusing to watch others' reactions. Between mouthfuls, the dobe spoke over at Gandalf,"Hey, Gramps, what did you do to that Bilbo guy?"

Gandalf looked back over at her in surprise before turning away with a shudder, "I will share that tale when we get back on the road." Sasuke just looked over at the blonde who shrugged. He was not looking forward to a long winded story, but the dobe just asked for one.

3017 October 2

To make up for all their stops, they had ridden through most of the night and had only made camp for a short few hours.

The dobe's seals were truly a gift, or Dusk barely fussed about the cold, and their rations kept fresh. Though…the dobe always made a dent in their rations when they stopped, but she needed it to produce milk for their child as well as restore her reserves, so it could be forgiven; however, at this rate they might have to start hunting soon.

It was sunrise on their second day from Bree and they decided to rest for a short while after traveling for the last few hours. Shadowfax's coat gleamed with sweat and steam rose off of its body. Sasuke couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the creature.

He winced as he dismounted. He truly did not know how that old man could stand being on a horse for so long. In an attempt to lessen his aching hips and other muscles he began to stretch. The dobe was watching him as he did so and she shook her head, though she too slid into a leg stretch where one leg was bent under her and the other leg stuck straight out to the side.

When the dobe was done with her stretches she sat back and arched her back. "How are your reserves teme?"

"Genin level," she nodded as he continued to stretch out his hips. After the genjutsu his reserves got back up to where they had been before, so he supposed he'd be riding with Gandalf for a while yet—at least until he was at chuunin levels. Gandalf watched them with his head cocked to one side before his gaze flitted out to the horizon.

The dobe sighed and slowly laid back. "Mah! My feet are tired!" she even wiggled her feet back and forth and likely had a pout on her face. "And my back hurts," she whined.

Sasuke felt his lips quirk upwards but he slowly rose from his stretch and walked over to where she lay. She looked up at him and wiggled her eyebrows with a salacious smile on her face, "Still pretty flexible for an old man, teme."

He scoffed and crouched down by her feet, "I'm sure Gandalf doesn't want hear your perverseness, darling—not after yesterday," he said the endearment mockingly and she covered her mouth to keep from laughing too loud and waking Dusk who was still blissfully asleep.

"Me perverse?" she replied in an innocent tone. "You look perverse down by my feet. Whatchya planning, hmm teme?"

It took a moment for what she was implying to sink in and he began to choke on air as he tried to fight his blush. Based on her sadistic cackle, he failed. "Just give me Dusk and take off your boots," he was looking away from her with his arms folded over his chest, so he missed her surprised look, but he did catch the dobe siting up out of the corner of his eye.

She carefully unstrapped the baby carrier from her body, and handed their son over to Sasuke who then strapped Dusk to his chest. As he was doing that she began to fight off her boots. Sasuke knew they were off when he couldn't breathe but he pushed aside his discomfort. He remembered that during and after all of the other pregnancies the dobe's feet would swell and ache; he could only imagine how much pain all this running was causing her.

When they were without their memories he would massage her feet, especially after she had a long day in the forge. With those memories in mind, he swallowed his pride and reached toward her sodden, wool clothed feet. The dobe was leaning back on her hands and she was watching him with a soft expression on her face.

"You used to do this all the time when I was pregnant with Dawn and then after…" Sasuke just nodded and focused on soothing the cramped and swollen muscles; he even circulated a little healing chakra into his fingertips.

The dobe tilted her head back and sighed in relief. "Where did you learn to do this?!" she moaned and Sasuke couldn't help but frown because of who taught him how to massage sore muscles.

"You don't want to know dobe."

Naruto shot her head up and her expression became hard, "Kabuto?" Sasuke nodded slowly and she looked away but didn't tell him to stop. "Well, he knew his shit." Sasuke scoffed, that was an understatement.

Gandalf was watching them with slight smile on his face. Though it was clear he wanted to move on, he was hesitant to do so, especially with them acting as they were. Perhaps this tender interaction shocked him, perhaps he thought such moments were rare between Sasuke and Naruto given what all had happened the day before.

"Alright, turn over," Sasuke ordered and the dobe shot him one suggestive look before gingerly turning around to show him her back. Sasuke moved so the dobe was sitting between his legs and she threw him another suggestive look while he just rolled his eyes. Sasuke tried to ignore the fact that Gandalf was choking because he had likely seen the look the dobe had given Sasuke.

Like with the dobe's feet, Sasuke began to slowly massage the dobe's lower back while he used healing chakra in his finger-tips. The dobe let out little sighs like she had when she was just Arad. However, unlike before, the dobe began to speak.

"Our girls are to the North right now but there's a this really bad…presence off to the south and another in front of us."

"Presence?" Gandalf asked as his expression turned almost deadly serious. The dobe just hummed in affirmation.

"They're the riders, right?" Sasuke asked for clarification and the dobe nodded her head as she hummed.

Gandalf had been informed earlier of the dobe's ability to sense energies and had been understandably intrigued. "What seems to be their behavior?"

"They're looking around, but I think they will be heading for that Weathertop place you mentioned the other day."

"And that is where your daughters are going…" Gandalf was understandably worried and Sasuke was as well.

"We'll have to draw their attention to us," Sasuke stated quickly as he finished up the dobe's massage. "Preferably when they're far away from our daughters."

Gandalf nodded, "Then we make for Weathertop with no divergences."

Sasuke hummed in agreement as he helped the dobe to her feet after putting her boots back on. The dobe just nodded to both of them before she held out her arms to receive Dusk, but Sasuke shook his head, "Ride with Gandalf, we'll switch at noon."

"No," the dobe responded immediately and began to reach of the baby carrier straps.

"Idiot, you might have the cha-energy, but your body is still getting over the pregnancy; you need to get off your feet for a little while,"

She glared at him with her lips pursed in disapproval while her arms were crossed over her chest, "And you're at genin level with your reserves."

"Which will be enough for me to run on until noon. You know I am naturally fast, so I will hardly have to augment that to keep up with Shadowfax. Then at noon, I will ride with Gandalf for the rest of the day."

"I must agree with Dû," Gandalf piped in, "you should rest for this short time." The old man had added his two cents, though he looked a little affronted at Sasuke's comment about naturally running as fast as his horse.

After a few more seconds of glaring, the dobe relented. "Fine, but if you pass out, Bastard, I am kicking both of your asses!" Gandalf spluttered at the dobe's behavior but Sasuke just shook his head with a slight smile tugging at his lips.

…

Their third day out from Bree they had fully left the Chetwood forest and had entered the Midgewater Marshes. Minuial and her sisters skittered across the boggy water's surface in their illusions. The company of hobbits had slowed down even more as they tried to pick their way through the shifting quagmires and sulfuric pools, even Ojisan had difficulties finding a path.

Then there were the bugs; they hovered in great clouds over all of them. They crawled up their sleeves and dresses, and they wove into their hair. Minuial had to restrain herself from scratching violently at herself from the various bites the midges had given her, in addition, their tiny legs and wigs tickled her too.

"I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippin, the young Took that had apparently danced with Kaasan at her wedding. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!" the youngest hobbit in the group complained. Minuial caught her uncle's slight endearing smile as he continued to trudge through the marshes. He seemed to be ignoring the clouds of midges in his face, and if Ojisan could do that, then she could too!

"What do they live on when they can't get hobbit?!" asked Sam as he scratched at his neck; the poor stout hobbit. Minuial really did sympathize with them, but there truly was little any of them could do about the annoying bugs.

Aragorn shook his head and couldn't help but chuckle at the youngest hobbits' complaints. They were taking the ranger routes which were less than glamorous; what had they been expecting? But it was good to hear their voices through the gloom they had been traveling in. It was dreadfully frightening and stressful to be pursued by Nazgûl, but these hobbits were able to find something light to complain about and that was heartening in its own way.

Aragorn looked over at Frodo who had been very quiet all through their travels. His gaze flickered over to his left before he looked forward again with his brow furrowed. Aragorn motioned for the eldest hobbit of the company to walk abreast with him and Frodo was quick catch up with him.

"Frodo, is something the matter?" he asked calmly in a low voice.

"I am not sure Strider, I feel as if we are being followed but…" the hobbit shook his head as he frowned and his gaze flickered to the right this time.

Aragorn did his best to give nothing away, but he was deeply concerned. It was one thing for him to feel they were being watched, for that could be easily passed off as paranoia, but for Frodo to also feel they were being followed…well perhaps they truly were being followed. Had Gollum found their trail already? Aragorn had heard news of the creature's escape from Mirkwood, but no, that was far too soon. Then was it the Nazgûl? But they would have heard their screeches as they communicated with each other, and they would have heard their horses. Then could it be some other spy? Birds perhaps?

"Perhaps it is all the stress of knowing there are riders behind us, and searching for us," Frodo replied after a pause. He sighed and shook his head. "There is nothing when I look at where I believe we are being watched from. There are just insects or mice." He shook his head again, "I am sorry to trouble you Strider." Frodo gave a weak smile and Aragorn shook his head slightly.

"There is no trouble Frodo," he paused before he spoke again, "A ranger's best tool is his instincts, and if your instincts are telling you we are being watched, perhaps we are. There are more than just riders that work for the enemy, there are other spies too."

Frodo nodded slowly but his brow furrowed more in thought. "I do not think what is following us means us harm…" the hobbit trailed off and shook his head again. "Perhaps I am just tired," he gave a weak laugh and a small smile.

"Perhaps…" Aragorn looked forward with his brow furrowed this time. He glanced around their company but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He might have almost wondered if his nieces had followed them, but he saw now shifting shadows that suggested they were flitting around them. No, there were just tall rushes and reeds and clouds of insects. There was nothing amiss, yet Frodo believed there was, and he had felt the same the day before… It was at least something to look for in the future.

3017 October 3

Sasuke looked off toward the horizon, it was midday already and they had stopped to feed and change Dusk. Off in the distance was a line of hills, one of which was set a little off from the others and had a conical top. Gandalf named this offset hill Weathertop. They were nearly there, and would likely make it to the hill by sunset.

Their enemies would make for Weathertop as well, and for one moment fear gripped at Sasuke like a cold hand on his heart. His gaze shifted over to Dusk suckling at the dobe's breast. She looked up from their son to give him a questioning look.

Sasuke looked away toward Gandalf who was astutely looking at Weathertop. The Istar had been appalled when the dobe had thrown her dress off of her shoulder several days before when she fed Dusk for the first time, but the old man had become used this by now. It had been comical but then again, the dobe frankly did not care about decency; she never had.

Sasuke sighed and walked over to the old man, "Can you tell us about these riders? What will we be facing?"

His reserves were building back up, and after resting most of the other day he had gotten up to Chuunin level in reserves-well an average Chuunin's reserve level. Due to this, he had begun running beside the dobe or made her ride with Gandalf if her feet were hurting. Sasuke hoped the chakra he could access would be enough to handle the riders, since the dobe was to protect their son. She was stronger than him, as much as he might hate to admit it, especially with access to Kurama's chakra—even if it was more difficult in this world than in theirs. Hopefully by evening he'd have a Jounin's level in reserves if not a Kage's level; which would be sufficient to use some of his attacks.

Regardless of his reserves, the dobe was their first line of defense between their son and whatever may come. She was also to survive and run away with him if things went bad. She had teased him relentlessly when he confessed that she was stronger than him—at the moment—but then she realized what he was implying and she was not pleased. Either this was because she was being left on the sidelines while he fought, or it was about the dobe's martyr complex and she just couldn't sit by and let him lay down his life for their family.

Sasuke was pulled from his thoughts by Gandalf's response.

"They are Ring Wraiths, Nazgûl," Gandalf began as he glanced over at the former missing-nin. Sasuke knew his expression showed no signs of recognition for the terms used. The dobe glanced up once more from Dusk who was still feeding; she too showed no recognition and was about to ask, likely, what Ring Wraiths were, but the old man sighed and shook his head. "You know nothing about the Ring of Power, the One Ring?"

Sasuke snorted slightly at the name of this supposedly fearsome article and the dobe outright giggled. "Ring of power?" she asked incredulously, "What, does it grant its user, like, I dunno, fire breathing powers or something. Is it magical or something?" the dobe was still laughing but Sasuke had to pause. Gandalf was just gaping at Naruto in horror, seemingly forgetting that one of her breasts was hanging out as she fed Dusk. For the wizard to disregard that fact meant this Ring of Power was serious.

Sasuke wasn't going to be as quick as her to completely discredit this ring. When he thought about those hobbits Bombadil had been talking with... There had been a foul chakra he could faintly feel in the eldest hobbit's pocket. "Dobe what if this Ring of Power was the foul chakra that got the fox excited?" Sasuke asked slowly and Gandalf turned to look at him quizzically.

"Huh? But that doesn't make sense, Bastard," she had her serious face on, and responded in westron for Gandalf's beneifit. "Only living things can have…energy, and that foul energy had a will of its own that twisted our neighbors into rioting. Are you trying to tell me that a Ring could do all that? I mean, Samehada was one thing, but it alone couldn't cast jutsu."

Gandalf had a grave face on and he held up his hands to stop the dobe and Sasuke from continuing their argument, "That sounds like the Ring of Power. It does have a mind of its own and it does store a great amount of energy within it, though I do not know about this Samehada you speak of." Sasuke just waved his hand at the wizard's last comment and the wizard frowned.

"Is a dem—I mean…" the dobe was getting frustrated and started again. "Could a sentient presence be sealed inside of it, and is that even possible here?" the dobe asked once she worked out how she could safely say her question without divulging information. Sasuke thought it was unlikely for the ring to have been able to do all those things, yet if it was a sealed demon...that might be more plausible.

Gandalf looked at Sasuke because he was giving the dobe privacy, and seemed to be pondering something. "Arad," he began slowly, "By sentient presence you are referring to your own situation, yes?"

The dobe's shut off expression was answer enough and Sasuke nodded slowly for the old man's benefit. "Could you clarify the details of this…containment, for me?" Gandalf was looking at the dobe to answer but she dobe refused to look at him and instead focused on Dusk. She stroked his head while he continued to feed.

Sasuke sighed and answered for her, much to her protests, though she did not come over and physical stop him. "The presence is a sentient construct of pure, destructive energy that can't actually die, just dissipate before reforming."

"It's not all destructive energy," the dobe whispered and Sasuke grimaced slightly.

"I know, Dobe."

Gandalf was frowning but then his eyes lit up as a thought came to him, "Lady Arad, I believe you were correct in saying a sentient presence is sealed inside the ring. Think of this," he began "one of those energy constructs, say the strongest, has been weakened but a large part of that construct resides within a ring. Should the ring be returned to the damaged construct, it would regain all its former power."

Sasuke could see the gravity of the situation Middle Earth was in, but he didn't understand what exactly this had to do with those black riders.

"On top of that, think of this construct being in control of a vast army of enhanced warriors, as well as being able to twist one's mind to do its bidding," Gandalf added to provide more context, but again Sasuke had to wonder what this had to do with the black riders, though he was also reminded of that dream he had the morning they set out. Flee or fight, war comes from the East.

"Sounds like Obito and Madara all over again," the dobe stated dryly with a frown on her face. "But then again," she started with a foxlike smile, "We kicked his ass, didn't we Bastard." She winked at him, and Sasuke sighed slightly as he nodded his head.

He really hated being reminded of the times he had been played, manipulated. Teaming up with the dobe against Obito had been the first action of his own choosing in what had felt like ages, but he still hated Konoha... He just shook his head; they didn't talk about those days for a reason—it was confusing and painful to remember, and they always found themselves emotionally transported back to there (and Sasuke did not like the person he had bee).

He glared at the expanse before him, and could almost feel the dobe looking at him with concern while Gandalf looked at them like they were going to fight again. Sasuke growled under his breath in annoyance. "Well get on with your story," he snapped, and the old man jerked back in surprise. "What exactly does this Ring of Power have to with the Black Riders?"

Gandalf nodded slowly, "Of course, but before the significance of the Ring Wraiths makes sense I need to explain more of Middle Earth history. The construct I mentioned is called Sauron. He created rings of power which he gave to the various races:

Three for the Eleven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,

In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,

One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,

In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie."

Sasuke felt a chill run up his spine as the old man recited the poem and he saw the dobe visibly shudder while Dusk began to cry. "Creepy!" the dobe exclaimed as she tried to calm down their son.

Sasuke knew people here talked a lot, but he was beginning to wonder if perhaps…if perhaps there was power in their words. Aragorn's song had practically cured the dobe of her depression, well that and the scent of that Athelas plant. But then there was just the other day when Sasuke sang the song to the dobe as they walked away from the village to calm Dusk down from the Ring's influence—for he deduced the bad chakra with the hobbit was this One Ring. Perhaps there was power in speech, especially in that elvish language, and perhaps for men like Gandalf, for Istari…which might explain why he learned all the languages in Middle Earth.

"These rings Sauron made gave him power over the other races, especially over men," Gandalf continued in his grave tone. "He knows always where the other rings are, but not his own; only when it is worn does he know where it is. The ring bearers are tied to him, especially the longer they have been with their rings."

"And you know this how?" Sasuke asked slowly over Dusk's wails. The dobe continued to hum and rock the baby; she even offered her teat to Dusk but he kept crying.

"Because I bear one of the three," Gandalf replied almost hesitantly, but Sasuke caught what he had said along with the dobe.

The dobe understandably looked befuddled, "Um…aren't elves supposed to be eternally young looking or something?" she asked with her head tilted to one side, however she grimaced as Dusk continued to cry.

"Come on Dusk, shh," she tried to plead with their baby before she turned him upright with his head over her shoulder and she began to stroke his back. "Come on Baby, shh, it's all right, the creepy poem is over."

Gandalf gave a small smile held out his arms to take the crying child off her hands. Both he and the dobe looked at him uncertainly before the dobe just shook her head and handed over Dusk gingerly.

"Drop him and I'll kill you," Sasuke stated as he watched the old man handle his son; of course, he was whacked by the dobe for his threat but Sasuke couldn't care less. So far the old man was doing everything correctly. Gandalf then began to murmur something in that strange language the girls and Aragorn spoke.

After anther few verses of whatever the old man was muttering, Dusk calmed down and was handed back to the dobe. "You've got to teach us that!" she exclaimed as she looked down at their son. He was calm once more and groping outwards with his mouth open, searching for his mother's breast. She smiled and began to feed Dusk again.

Gandalf smiled slightly as he turned away from the blonde to give her more privacy. "No, I am not an elf, though I am well versed in their language." He sobered and regarded Sasuke, "I was gifted my ring from one of the elven kings. But to come back to our story," he began again, his tone more serious, "the nine men were corrupted by their rings and quickly fell under Sauron's control. Now they live to serve him as wraiths, ever in search of the One Ring their master desires."

"Why do the other races continue to use their rings after they were betrayed?" If this Sauron was so evil and corrupting, why keep the rings, why not destroy them all so there would be no chance for him to influence them? Sasuke had to wonder and the dobe seemed to as well for she was nodding her head with her brow furrowed.

"Yeah, that just seems stupid to keep them or use them."

"For the men…" Gandalf began with a sigh, "well, all men desire power, but what they fear even more is weakness." Sasuke shut his eyes at the truth of that statement. He had always been driven by gaining power, but he was equally afraid of weakness, of being too weak to avenge his clan. But now…now he was afraid he would be too weak to protect his family. He could imagine why the men would continue to use their rings even as it corrupted them.

"Even after Sauron's betrayal was learned of, the men continued to use his gift. They were afraid to become weak, for their rings gave them strength, or rather, what they perceived as strength. As for the Dwarves, most of their rings have been lost, and as I'm sure you can imagine, the Elves are…more resilient to Sauron's evil."

"And what of you?" Sasuke eyed the old man warily, one hand had begun to move toward his sword. He did not want this man near his son and wife if he could become one of those wraiths.

"Teme! You have chuunin level reserves, leave that shit to me!" the dobe protested his behavior but overtop her screaming at him, the old man responded.

His eyes crinkled up, "Nothing to worry of. I am not a normal man who is easily corrupted, though the One Ring would corrupt all who tried to wield it." Gandalf's expression darkened as he stated the last part about the One Ring. "Even if for good," he murmured before shaking his head again and the dobe frowned.

Sasuke glared slightly at the horizon as he pieced together the information he had received, "So…these Ring Wraiths, were the nine men?" Gandalf nodded and Sasuke hummed, "What abilities do they have?"

"Their blades are poisoned and could turn any victim that lived into one of them: a wraith at the service of the Dark Lord. They have some wariness to light and fire, and so usually travel by night. It is also said that no man can kill them, or rather, kill their leader. In the hundreds of years they have existed, and all the battles they have fought in, none of them have been defeated. Driven away, yes, but defeated…" Gandalf shook his head gravely.

So they were immortal… well…Hidan was supposedly immortal but that lazy Nara had defeated him. Sasuke looked over at the dobe who had a thoughtful yet serious look on her face, perhaps she was wondering if they could seal the wraiths like the Edo Tensei corpses.

"Will Mr. Ranger be able to drive them away?" the dobe spoke up, "If these wraiths escape us somehow?" Sasuke hoped his girls would be clever, that they would be prepared to fight with all they had should they not make it to them in time.

"Yes, he knows fire will drive them off and he is resourceful," Gandalf replied and Sasuke nodded along with the dobe. That was a relief, he supposed, but it would be better if they could figure out a way to seal these wraiths away.

"Dobe, do you think you could reconstruct the Edo Tensei seals you made?" The dobe looked over at him before looking back at Dusk who had stopped feeding. She smiled at him and began to burb the baby as she thought about how to respond.

"I've been wondering the same, and I won't know until I can see them and see what makes them tick. It might be a deadly waste to try the Edo Tensei seals on them without really knowing what exactly they are." Sasuke nodded, he had guessed as much.

"Mah, Bastard, it's your turn to carry Dusk while I ride with Gramps," the dobe stated cheerfully as she stood up, "My feet are so swollen right now!" she exclaimed as she fixed her dress and passed off the baby.

Gandalf chuckled while Sasuke just smirked slightly. "Yes Dear," he mockingly cooed and she gave him a mock glare before swatting at his backside.

"Shut it Bastard, and start moving your sexy ass," Sasuke choked slightly like Gandalf at the dobe's choice of words. She was just snickering as she got onto Shadowfax and Sasuke just stared down at his son in his carrier. She then pointed off toward the separated hill, "We're heading for Weathertop!" she shouted.

"Your mother…" he began while shaking his head "I'm amazed Dawn doesn't jump Haldarad every time she sees him." Sasuke sighed as he glanced warily back over at the dobe.

"Heard that teme, and I don't think you have to worry about that with Dawn; Halbarad keeps those two in line. Then again, I think I may have scarred her for life with my discussion with her on the best positions—"

"You did what?!" Sasuke cut her off, completely scandalized. Oh gods… his baby girl had been exposed to the dobe's perverseness.

"Well, what is it you always call me, hmm? Pupil of the perverted sage? How could I not educate our daughter—"

Sasuke didn't care that Gandalf wasn't even on Shadowfax yet, he had to get away from this—it was worse than the Red Sister talks. Sasuke pressed his hands to his ears and began to run toward Weathertop, all the while knowing the dobe was just laughing her head off at him.

…

Minuial frowned, the night before had been cold and damp and loud. She couldn't agree more with the hobbits about those insidious Neekerbreekers—name courtesy of Sam—that hid in the tussocks and kept them all up with their neek-breeking. She pinched the bridge of her nose as one of the hobbits complained about the bugs again and then complained about getting swap water on his clothes. It was just a shame they couldn't water walk like her and her siblings, then perhaps their complaints would drop a little.

She sighed, no, she shouldn't be getting annoyed with the hobbits; she was just hungry and tired from all their covert running and protecting of the company. But she needed to do this, not only to prove she could be a ninja, but because she needed to get out of Bree. There was this whole big world outside of the walls, and until now she and her sisters had only been allowed to go hunting in the surrounding forests.

Minuial was practically a woman, in fact she should be considered a woman since the Red Sister visited her all those years ago! She would be getting married someday, and it would kill her to have to stay locked up in Bree. She was meant for more, she deserved to live more than some sheltered, simple life.

She was a kunoichi, and she knew from overheard conversations that her Ojisan was fighting against something evil. She knew he would never ask her family to help him, even though it was clear their special skills could be tide-turners. So she knew she had to help, she had to help no matter what. What Ojisan was fighting affected all of Middle Earth, which meant it affected Bree and their family. She had to help, especially if their abilities would be such an advantage.

Minuial knew her sisters felt the same, which was why they had all agreed in the end to help their Ojisan from the shadows. They were going to do something big, something good, and-and frankly, she didn't care if she died in the process. Ninja protected their precious people, they protected their village, and that was exactly what she would do. She couldn't bear the thought of being stuck in some cage like a bird, to be something pretty to look at but utterly useless in the end.

Her parents had taught her skills; they had taught her how to fight, how to kill, how to deceive, how to defend. She would not have these skills be wasted in some small cage where they would eventually rust and be forgotten. She would not be some simple wife, she would be a warrior, she would be a kunoichi. When Dawn gets married to Haldarad she will at least have some excitement in her life. She'll get to travel with the Grey Company, she'll get to hunt and fight alongside her beloved, but what about Minuial, what about Tinnu?

No…they'd be wed off to some simple-minded Bree boy who would treat them like some baby machine. She glared out at the marshes at that thought. Minuial and Tinnu wouldn't be allowed to hunt anymore or practice kenjutsu. They'd be stuck knitting clothes and cooking meals. They'd be trapped in their homes to care for some sniveling man with bad hygiene.

So they needed this. They needed this chance at freedom, this chance to be do something meaningful in their lives before they were caged up.

Ojisan wouldn't understand if he found out, and she didn't expect him too. She didn't expect her Tousan or Kaasan to understand either, even though they'd do all they could to keep their daughters from such a dismal life of subservience to a useless simpleton. But eventually, Miniual and Tinnu would be ostracized, called spinster, and to escape the social humiliation they would marry—likely to man twice their age. They'd likely die in labor too, and what should have been a long full life would have been empty and short. That was why they were doing this, why they had to do this. This was their once in a lifetime chance to be something more, to be important.

She looked to the horizon and wondered if there would ever be an end to this stupid marsh with all of its bugs. It was cold and damp and so slow going. She wouldn't be able to take another day in this dreadful marsh, she just couldn't.

She glanced over to her sisters and lamented that she couldn't even communicate with them in their sign language unless she wished to lift the genjutsu on them. She held back her sigh and just shook her head. This was what being a ninja was about. They were quiet even when they didn't want to be, and they persevered through the dull parts of missions. She'd use her skills before they rusted in that cage awaiting her, and she shouldn't complain because for once she was flying how she was meant.

…

The sun was beginning to set as they reached Weathertop. The dobe looked at it with her mouth wide open, "Woah! Race you to the top, Bastard!" she called before racing up the side of the hill. Sasuke just stared after her and shook his head. Well, he supposed that trick was out of the bag now…though running as fast as a horse could have tipped the wizard off to some of their other feats.

"Need to conserve chakra, Idiot," he replied, "Besides, I have Dusk," he gently touched at the baby's head as he and Gandalf began to walk up the winding path to the top of the hill.

"Fine, be that way," the dobe retorted childishly form somewhere above him. "I'm going to set up a few traps," the dobe stated, apparently already halfway up the hill. She could feel the Nazgûl approaching, and for the last few hours they had seen one off toward the horizon and now it was coming closer and closer towards them.

"No trap can contain the Nazgûl" Gandalf stated seriously and Sasuke shook his head.

"Lethal trap," Sasuke replied for the old man's benefit. "Dobe, don't use too many explosive tags, we have Dusk with us," he reminded her and she just nodded her head.

"I have a sensory deprivation seal I've been working on, I might use it on Dusk to reduce —"

"You are not using an experimental seal on our—"

"I'm not, Teme!" she interrupted his interruption with an annoyed yell and expression, "I just have the sound deprivation part figured out. I still need to work on the other senses, so!" She likely stuck her tongue out at him, and Sasuke shook his head.

"And there aren't going to be any lasting effects?" Sasuke asked incredulously while Gandalf listened to their speech fascinated—almost as if he was trying to figure out what they were saying.

"I've tested it on myself—"

"The fox heals everything for you!" Sasuke replied just as quickly, and the dobe dropped down onto the path in front of them and gave him a wide-eyed look before dropping her head and sighing.

"Fine no traps or explosions, hope you're happy!" she groused with a pout. She then vanished as she made for the top of the hill.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head. "Dobe, set up some barrier seals for you and Dusk, that way you'll be safe inside it when the Nazgûl come."

"Fine" came the dobe's disembodied voice. "I'm gonna have to make them so don't bother me when you get up here. We probably have an hour or so until the wraiths show up." She announced for Gandalf.

"Thank you Arad," Gandalf replied before turning to Sasuke. "Dû, do you have any mastery of the elements perhaps, fire possibly?" he asked and Sasuke nodded his head slowly. His affirmative response did not really surprise the old man, so perhaps he suspected Sasuke as capable of more than just illusions. "Good," he said with a firm not.

As Gandalf and the teme discussed their plans, Naruto was busy recreating a barrier seal that she and Dusk could stay within. She would need four clones to help operate the seal and then fight if it must come to that. She was not happy with the teme for making her the last line of defense for Dusk's safety but she saw the logic in it.

It was kind of funny how different the teme was from just seventeen years ago. He was willing to lay his life down for her and their family. It was unbelievable, but she felt both annoyed and ridiculously happy about it.

When Gandalf arrived alongside Sasuke, Naruto was working on the seals. He watched her amazed and almost analytically which made her self-conscious. She had made many of these seals before, even had a stockpile of them the girls took, but the wizard's interest was disturbing. Still…as the minutes ticked by and she made the arrays, she felt the wraiths drawing closer and closer. She finished up the last one and moved to a ring of stone that was once the foundation for the watchtower that had resided on Weathertop. She placed the seals down and made a familiar cross hand sign.

Gandalf gaped at Naruto and her four copies, "Are those an illusion, Lady Arad?"

She looked over at him with a pinched expression before relenting. What was the use? He'd find out anyways once they started fighting, and that could distract him. "Normally they are," Naruto reluctantly replied before one of her clones spoke up.

"But we're solid, 'cause the boss is just that awesome!"

The teme scoffed and shook his head, "Oi! Bastard, say that to my face!" all of her clones replied while she just chuckled.

"Neh, we can always get back at him by teaming up on him," she began with a salacious smile "and trying some of those scenes from Icha Icha: Team Edition Extra Kinky." Her clones began to laugh with her as the teme paled and took a few steps backward in fear. Really, she just said it for the shock factor and to make the bastard uncomfortable because it served him right. Plus…it lightened the mood a little.

However before they could continue joking, Naruto felt the wraiths closing in. They began to screech all around them and she moved to retrieve Dusk from the teme, "Don't you die on me, teme," she threatened as she retrieved her son and strapped him to her chest. She wasn't sure what she would do without the teme. He stabilized her in this world, and...well, he had shown her more kindness and affection than she had ever expected to see in her life.

"Keep him safe, dobe," was all she got in reply. She glared at him but moved into the ring of seals with her clones. Why didn't he threaten her either? Why did he have to say that? Now she was going to worry about his safety because he wasn't being cocky!

Her clones each activated a seal and soon Naruto and Dusk were protected by a nearly impregnable barrier, which consequently deadened and warped exterior sounds. She wrapped her arms around Dusk and waited for when the attack would begin. Dusk was fussing already due to the shrieking and she knew he would soon be wailing.

It wasn't long after sunset when the Nazgûl arrived. Instead of coming up the main path where they might have ended up in a bottleneck as Sasuke had hoped they might, the Nazgûl came up from all sides. Sasuke's sharingan began to spin with the eternal sharingan and he set the first one he saw ablaze with Amaterasu, however it just gave an inhuman shriek of pain. He panted slightly after the attack, an average Jounin was not meant to use such techniques casually—again, how did normal jounin live with such reserves?

The black flames consumed the creature's robes and did burn the creature, yet it was still alive! He could see it as some shimmering ethereal being, an aged human with a long beard and sunken dead eyes. He couldn't hear the dobe screaming about ghosts, so she clearly could not see it for what it was, but that was for the best. He couldn't afford her to be distracted if this all went south. Sasuke did notice, however, that two wraiths were trying to attack the dobe and her clones but their swords just bounced off of the barrier, while the clones dodged them and placed some low grade explosives on their robes—that really would just catch fire and had no concussive force. They screeched in frustration which made Dusk begin to scream loudly.

"You killed one of them!?" Gandalf asked in surprise from where he had his staff raised and a bright fire leapt from the end of it. He must have done a head count and saw that only eight of the nine were visible. Gandalf also had a sword drawn and it shone in the fire's light.

"No," he gritted out before launching a kunai at the uncloaked wraith. It shrieked as the kunai embedded where its heart ought to be, but what horrified Sasuke was that the kunai burst into a million pieces on impact and the thing still wasn't dead. However, he noticed the uncloaked one was no longer moving toward him and was taking agonizingly slow steps backwards. In fact, the uncloaked Nazgûl seemed to have a hard time moving and staying in one piece, like it might disperse into the wind without its cloak.

He saw two more wraiths coming closer, but he dared not draw Kusanagi lest it shatter like his kunai. His chokutō was just a normal sword with no special properties, but the only sword he had. He could add charka to it to make it cut through anything, but it was not like his original. If his kunai could be destroyed so easily, his precious sword could be too.

He watched as half of the cloaked things were focused on Gandalf who dual wielded his sword and staff. Fire burst in an inferno from the end of the staff while the old man blocked their poisonous blades with his sword. He was deceptively agile and skilled, not as skilled as Sasuke or Aragorn, but he was certainly better than the dobe could ever hope to be at kenjutsu.

Sasuke glared at his portion of the Nazgûl and began to run through the familiar hand signs for the katon: gōkakyū technique. It felt so good to have his fire aligned chakra build in his throat and then to expel the chakra out through his mouth and focused through his hand. This must be what an addict feels when taking a hit after a very long time of sobriety. His throat even tingled a little after he expelled the chakra. However, he could feel the drain on his reserves very clearly. He wouldn't be able to use many more jutsu like that if he wanted his reserves to keep above genin level.

The two Nazgûl it hit shrieked as they were thrown back toward the edge of the hill. Gandalf pushed back one of his own opponents and the whole of the hilltop was filled with their piercing screams along with the screams of Dusk, who the dobe was desperately trying to quiet. Sasuke could felt as if a cold hand was closing around his throat. His family...they were going to be in danger if he failed, but so far all he threw at them did nothing...he hadn't felt true fear in so long but he was beginning wonder if he was now.

Sasuke glared at his opponents, who were now on fire but still advancing. What the hell!? Already, after his two fire techniques and all the fire the old man was making, the atmosphere was clouding up. One more fire aligned technique should be enough to create a natural storm cloud. He doubted it would help him but he may as well try. He had to protect his family, he had to drive them away! The clones being ignored in favor of him because he appeared more dangerous with his weapons and fire and they likely anticipated taking him out before focusing on the dobe and her clones.

As Sasuke ran through the hand signs and drew on his fire aligned chakra, he could hear a rumbling begin in the clouds above them and he could smell ozone in the air. He finished the signs for the katon: hōsenka technique and watched as the Nazgûl tried to bat away the flying balls of fire racing toward them. They failed and their screeches rose high into the air. These creatures were not quick and agile like a ninja, therefore there had been absolutely no hope for them to dodge his attack. Sasuke panted for a few moments, sweat matted his hair into clumps and he shook his head to push through his fatigue. For the first gōkakyū he might have used too much chakra but he had to push through it now.

"Old man, you stay close beside me for my next attack," he hissed out as he began to prepare for one of his strongest lightning attacks; however the storm above them was fairly weak. He just hopped it might scare away these things or at least stun them. He couldn't let them get to his family; he had to do something to drive them away. They moved closer to the dobe's clones and her barrier so they would not be caught in the attack too.

The dark sky began to light up with the occasional lightning flash. He grinned and ran through the appropriate signs for the kirin. It would be the weakest kirin he had ever made, but at least it should stun them if not scorch the area they were around; in addition, it was one of his least chakra intensive attacks for the power in the attack was generated by natural lightning. Gandalf gasped as he looked up, but he quickly focused back on his enemies who had paused at the change in weather.

"Are you the one doing this?" the wizard asked in a whisper before he began muttering a long string of words under his breath. Sasuke hadn't heard him earlier, but now he deduced that the man had to say some sort of incantation to make his attacks work.

"Yes and no. We've both released enough fire into the atmosphere to generate these conditions; I'm just taking advantage of it." He snagged onto the natural lightning in the air and channeled a scant amount of chakra through it to form his technique. "Let's see if they can fear?" he smirked as the giant creature of electricity appeared from the sky and charged down at a cluster of the creatures, though he was making a desperate attempt with this and his own bravado was wavering.

Gandalf gasped again but this time at the sight of the lightning creature as it raced to the ground. He pressed closer to Sasuke and the former nuke-nin smirked to himself; however, it faltered when one of the Nazgûl got back up and gave a screech to the now cowering creatures. It was as if this Nazgûl was their leader and it was ordering the rest them to keep fighting.

How?

In his anger, fear, and desperation he began to form a chidori in his hand and raced toward the closet Nazgûl. In the background he could hear the dobe screaming at him over their child's wails and rain pelting down on them.

However, Sasuke was satisfied when his fist sunk through where its heart should be, but then as his lightning aligned chakra dissipated throughout the creature he felt a stabbing cold run up his arm. He had spent at least half of his remaining reserves already and now he felt as if his chakra was being sucked out of him along with the lightning aligned chakra.

He pulled his hand back and cried out in pain. Gods! It radiated up through is arm and across his chest like when one stuck their hands in snow for too long. The cold raced up his body to grip at his chest and steal his breath. It was suffocating. Vaguely he heard the dobe scream something, scream "Teme!" but then dark spots began to appear across his sight and he pitched forward against the scorched ground. He had spent too much chakra and the pain...oh gods...

…

Aragorn stared off into the Eastern sky. There were flashes of light that faded off and on many times. It was not the dawn, for that was still many hours off. Aragorn turned to his left to see Frodo blinking up at the sky blearily. "What is this light" he asked a little groggily.

"I do not know," Aragorn replied, for truly he did not, "It is too distant to make out. It is like lightning that leaps up from the hill-tops." But could it be more? What was this light? And then a great creature came down from the sky; it almost looked like a cat made out of lightning.

He gasped and held his breath. Could that be…he had heard his friend speak of some of his attacks, one of which—that the smith took great pride in—was a creature made of lightning that he took straight from the clouds. Dû was out there, or at least that was what Aragorn assumed. Why would he be? Then fear clutched at his heart, what if the girls…he looked about him and wondered if they were there.

Tinnu stared up at the sky and wished she could be with her sisters openly again. She recognized the kirin from her father's stories. Oh gods, he was out there fighting some opponent strong enough that he felt needed to be taken out with a one-hit overkill attack. Why? Did they know? Had they figured out where Tinnu and her sisters were heading, and had they come across some foe?

Tinnu closed her eyes tightly even as the flashes continued to appear behind her eyelids. Oh Tousan, be safe, she prayed. Tousan. Oh gods, was Kaasan with him, what about their new sibling, or had that died?

She stifled her fearful cries, oh please be safe Tousan, Kaasan, she whispered to herself as she gazed up at that light in the distance. Please…

…

That stupid, stupid teme! When she saw him beginning to form the chidori she wanted to scream at him, but with Dusk crying his head off and those Nazgûl screaming, she doubted he heard her. What was he thinking!? She had seen his own kunai explode inside as it hit some invisible entity—and it took all of her self-control to not scream about ghosts!—what was he expecting to happen when he shoved his fist inside of those creatures!

When the teme pitched forward unconscious she lost it. She could see the one he had stabbed with his lightning fist raise its sword to hack him to pieces. NO! NO! That was her bastard, her husband, hers!

The clones dropped the barrier around her, and a giant, red, clawed chakra hand shot toward the wraith trying to attack her teme. Naruto remained crouched in the middle of her clones as the demon's chakra surged through her. She wouldn't let it cloak her lest the demon only let out caustic chakra and hurt her child. No, instead she used enough to create chakra arms that grabbed all the Nazgûl in its caustic clutches and threw them from the hill.

"Get away from my husband!" she screamed at them overtop of Dusk's cries. She dropped to her knees panting from the control she had to exert over the fox's chakra. It was so tempting to just completely dive into it, but she had to restrain herself lest she destroy everyone. Due to constantly being in sage mode, it was more difficult to control the fox's chakra and she seldom practiced with it anyways. She wouldn't risk her child or the teme by letting herself go in demon's charka.

"You literally threw them off of Weathertop…" Gandalf just stared at her in amazement while she rushed toward the teme and rolled him onto his back. She could hear the Nazgûl screaming in the distance but she could sense they were running away. Perhaps she had scared them?

She could barely think with Dusk crying his head off, the wraiths screaming, and her own panic suffocating her. She shook her head and pulled the boy out of his carrier, "Would you calm him down again," she asked as she looked back down at the teme; he looked paler than usual and not just from chakra exhaustion.

Gandalf took Dusk from her gingerly and began to sing to him while Naruto brushed back some of the teme's hair. His head was hot and not just because of sweat. She then looked down at his arm and surprisingly it was there in one piece, but when she touched it; it was like ice. "What's wrong with him?" she asked the fox mentally.

Kurama laughed at her and in her mind's eye she could see the demon smirking at her. "Why should I tell you? And no, I won't heal that Uchiha, so don't bother asking."

"Tell me! We've had an agreement in the past Kurama!"

"Well you no longer have the threat of extraction hanging over your head, so why should I continue our agreement, hmm?"

"We've worked together in the past Kurama, work with me now, please!" When the fox remained silent she cursed and shook her head, "If he dies you will never have another chance to escape!"

"He won't die from this."

"Well how am I to know that if you won't tell me what's wrong!?" she shouted back, but this only seemed to amuse the fox.

"The tenketsu and some of the nerves are damaged in that arm."

"Wh-what? So he can't use that arm anymore?" oh gods, that could kill him if he couldn't defend himself properly. "You have to heal him! I know your chakra can heal just as much as it can destroy!"

"Yes but why the hell should I do that for an Uchiha?"

"Kurama!" why was the fox being so damn, ugh! Pulling at her hair in frustration, she gave in. She looked down at the ground as she gritted out, "Name your price."

"Ooh!" the demon cooed "I get to name my price?" he asked mockingly, "Freedom," he stated dryly.

She gave the fox a deadpan look, and Kurama returned the look. After a few more moments Naruto's eyes widened and she nodded her head, "You will get to control nine of my clones, each one will have only one tail of your charka, and you are to chase after those wraiths we threw off of Weathertop. That's your freedom, sound good?"

The fox did its best to pout. "I was hoping for something more permanent, but throw in that I can kill whatever comes across my path, then we may have an agreement, though of course, there's no guarantee I'll actually heal him, you know," the demon cackled.

"I know, which is why you'll be healing the nerves before you leave, oh and you can't kill my children, Ranger-san, or the hobbits with Ranger-san if you happen to come across them."

"Hmm…that's reasonable…" the fox smirked, or tried to—it just looked like it was barring its fangs.

"Then we have an agreement?"

"We have an agreement,"Kurama replied with his attempt at a smile before his expression became serious, "Now to heal the stupid Uchiha's nerves…"

TBC

A/N: As I'm sure you've all guessed, I am an introspective writer, so my action scenes have much to be desired. If you have pointers or know any good stories I should look at for action sequences, I'd appreciate it (To be truthful, I usually skim over actions scenes 'cause they're boring to me, but that is a large part of this story). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter ~ with love, depressedchildren