Note: I don't own any characters from Naruto or The Hobbit! I only own Raven! This crossover is a story between a show and a movie I both love! Naruto fans will even love this story! I wanted to introduce the background of how and why Raven is chosen to go on the quest! I also wanted to mention her feelings and her emotions and pent up anxiety -- get her feet wet, if you will. I love feedback and comments! So please post!

Early afternoon has basked the whole Leaf Village in warm summer rays of light! But for Raven Uchiha, the warmth of the summer rays didn't even touch the cold dread that had turned her blood to ice!

Raven had returned from her mission not long ago, and had been welcomed by the cold, angry attitudes of the multiple Jonin now flanking the Hokage on either side while she stood in the office before the desk with the Hokage herself sitting opposite her.

Lady Tsunade, the Legendary Sanin - Hokage of the Leaf Village; her master, practically glared at her with a seething anger! Raven hadn't failed not one, not two - but five missions: all ending worse than the one before. However, Lady Tsunade's anger was beyond seething now; boiling, more like, because the severity of the out come of the A-rank mission had ended with multiple lives!

Raven failed the A-rank mission and now waited for her punishment because the outcome had ended so severely: a lot of people dead, the client demanded for Raven's title to be stripped so he could haul her back to his village and put her on display to show what a huge failure she was before punishing her even further! Wait, punishment was an understatement for the client! No! He wanted her life! A life for a life all because he had been the stupid one to personally assign his son as part of the mission when his son should have been put on a D-rank or C-rank mission instead because of being a Genin who had only become experienced enough to be put on easy C-rank missions before the harder C-rank missions were given! But her client wouldn't listen to reason; he was so arrogant!

Lady Tsunade studies Raven while her student silently stands before her; head bowed. "Raven, you have failed yet another mission! What's worse is this is the fifth mission you have failed! And what's worse than that, the outcome resulted with everyone winding up dead! And now your very client not only wants your ninja title stripped; he wants your life!"

Bowing her head further, Raven can only listen to her master verbally state the outcome of the A-ranked mission she had been given! There are no words to argue against the outcome now verbally being told to her!

Raven could say she did her best.

Raven could say she had let a seasoned ninja take the lead due to thinking she and the other ninja were just going to scout out the enemy - not knowing they were going to be ambushed!

Raven could say she messed up royally.

That last idea would be better to admit than not say anything at all. She should have been the one to scout out the enemy, not a seasoned ninja!

She should have grabbed the arrogant ninja by his collar and pull him back behind her and scout out the enemy to see where they were positioned so she could figure out how to avoid an ambush!

Stupidity had been a playing factor not only for her, but also for her client who was demanding the death of his son be paid with her life; her blood, all because he wanted his son: a seasoned ninja who still had been inexperienced, part of the mission. His son had died because of arrogance. His father was arrogant!

Seasoned ninja were only supposed to be kept on D-rank missions and C-rank missions until more-than-enough-experience was gained before being put on a B-rank mission and an A-rank mission!

A-rank missions are only for very experienced Jonin because they usually require dealing with village-level-matters and or state-level-matters! So why did the client request his son be put on an A-rank mission?

Raven looks up when she realizes Lady Tsunade had stopped talking and was looking at her expectantly. She takes in a deep breath to calm her nerves!

"I know I have failed horribly. I was there, mourning the lives lost because of letting someone else scout out the enemy, instead of going with my gut feeling: hold him and everyone else back and scout out the enemy to see where they are - were, positioned before figuring out how to keep everyone out of an - the, ambush. I realize I made a grave mistake that has permanently tainted my hands with blood and my ears of the horrific screams that keep me up at night. I'm already punishing myself for it. I have been having nightmares for weeks now because of the horrific outcome. All I can say is I'm sorry."

"SORRY?!" The client screamed from where he stood beside one of the Jonin. "SORRY?! Sorry won't bring my son back! My son who is dead because of YOU!" The client spat at Raven.

There was a brief flicker of sorrow flashing in Lady Tsunade's eyes before disappearing.

Lady Tsunade wanted to be angry with Raven - she should be angry with Raven, but her heart beat with compassion and sorrow for the mature Kunoichi.

A few minutes of silence ticked by while she weighed the situation and the consequences - blatantly ignoring the client's demand for her student's life so the death of his son could be repaid with her blood.

"Raven Uchiha, you are hear by--,"

Lady Tsunade didn't get the chance to finish her sentence! The private meeting was all but interrupted by a strong looking man who practically broke down the office door!

You can hear only a pin drop in the now-graveyard-silent-office thanks be to the strange man with a strange appearance:

About seven feet tall with very muscular arms, long and wild obsidian black hair and matching beard with smoking ends, ivory skin with strange ruins inked into the ivory flesh of his bare muscular arms and chest - even his muscular torso with only a pair of dark trousers covering his thick, defined muscular legs. But the attention catcher was the man's face: bright gold eyes with flames of red, orange and blue dancing across the gold depths, thick, bushy, obsidian black eyebrows framing his gold eyes, strong face and a strong jawline, a long aquiline nose set above an average-ish mouth. Thick iron-forged wrist cuffs circled his thick wrists. His demeanor was very intimidating. A giant axe was held in one huge, thick, giant hand with equally thick, giant fingers. His hand looked as if it could squeeze all inner organs out of someone's body if given the chance.

Very intimidating, very powerful - yet, very handsome with his rugged looks that would make any - if not every, woman melt into giant liquid puddles.

Raven looks at the strange man in awe instead of being filled with fright like all of the Jonin in the office. She secretly wonders if the area between his legs was equally thick as his hands and body.

Lady Tsunade - the only other person who isn't shaken by the strange man's intimidating appearance, breaks the silence.

"Excuse me, but I think you are in the wrong place! This is a private meeting!"

When the strange man speaks, his deep voice is just as intimidating and powerful as his appearance. "I care nothing for private meetings when a woman is being wrongfully punished!"

Oh, boy! That deep voice would definitely make every woman melt into a pile of liquid and innards! Where all of the Joinin trembled at the sound of the man's deep voice shaking their very skeletons, Raven and Lady Tsunade remained unfazed. And Lady Tsunade wasted no time delivering her response - as did the client when he regained his composure!

"'Wrongfully punished!'" Lady Tsunade slams her hands down atop her desk and stands simultaneously with a very beet-red-fuming-client with bloodthirsty eyes! But the strange man remained unfazed by their actions and the following responses. "I don't know who you think you are, but I am the Hokage, and I decide the punishment of my people! YOU. Are just a man with no right to tell me how to run my village and deliver the consequential punishment to those who fail to uphold their oaths in missions more than two times!" She shot Raven a pointed look before turning to the stranger.

"This woman killed my son during a mission because she was careless! My son wasn't the one who deserved to die! This woman was the one who should have been killed, not my son! Her life: her blood, as payment for my son's life!"

The strange man's voice boomed with power! "I don't care what you call yourself! What I care about is the fact: this woman is being wrongfully punished all because a seasoned warrior was put on the quest assigned to her - the seasoned warrior who grew arrogant by not listening to her words when she told him he had no business leading a scouting party because he wasn't experienced enough! Now, Raven is standing here, being unjustly punished for a situation she shouldn't have been put in the first place! And all because her so-called leader arrogantly gave her a quest that should have been given to someone else with more experience than her!" His eyes pointedly met each Jonin in the room while they backed up against the wall like mice being cornered by a ferocious cat!

Turning his eyes onto the client, the strange man bellowed! "And you! If you hadn't been so arrogant as to put your son on the quest, he might still be alive! But because of your arrogance, you lost your son! Raven controlled him, but he wouldn't listen because he was just as arrogant as his dad! So if anyone is responsible for your son's death, it's you!"

Turning back to Lady Tsunade, the man spoke. "I am a Valor who has been searching for someone to take part in a quest in my world and I have chosen Raven to take part in the quest! She has so much potential and skill with honed gifts that will be a perfect asset to the quest!"

Lady Tsunade took in all information she had learned and mulled over every piece of information!

Raven bravely meets her master's stern eyes to find them studying her. She didn't get the chance to change so her poor appearance was: a sleeveless kimono dress with A-line skirts covering loose, dark pants tucked into earth-tone-brown-boots with knives hidden inside! Blood and dirt matted her long Snow White hair mixed with ice blue and pearlescent streaks weaving through her long strands! Her ice blue eyes had a pearlescent hue shadowing the blue to give them a beautiful - yet hard look; hue colors of red and blue ringed around her eyes and the beginnings of dark bags had formed underneath her eyes! Her ivory skin was covered with blood seeped from cuts and gashes mixed with various bruises! The only decoration she wore was the pink diamond center of her forehead where she kept chakra stored.

Her throwing knife holster was still strapped to her upper right thigh with many other weapons hiding on her person. Besides the pink diamond on her forehead, Raven's ears bore various piercings of metal rings and ear cuffs. "Go home, Raven. We will talk about this later."

Raven bowed her head to her master then took her leave. On the way out, she hears the loud banter carry on between her master, the client, and the strange man while she exits the building for home.

During her walk, Raven reflects on how her reputation has been damaged! She remembered all of the cold shoulders her fellow ninja have been giving her! Gossip had soon begun to spread through the Leaf Village like wild fire!

"Did you hear that Raven Uchiha has failed yet another mission?"

"Seriously? Why hasn't the Hokage stripped her of her ninja title and gear along with her head band?"

"Lady Tsunade is her master as well as Sakura Haruno's."

"That's dumb! The Hokage shouldn't play favorites because of her student!"

"Lady Tsunade isn't playing favorites! Sakura Haruno keeps going to bat for Raven all because the two Kunoichi are:

A. Best friends

"B. Sakura claims to know raven better than anyone — other than the Hokage, since Raven only confides in her master and best friend.

"And C. Raven is the only other living Uchiha, and Lady Tsunade keeps putting hope in her student because she and Sakura don't want the Uchiha Clan to be down to one member again."

"The Uchiha Clan has always thrived with only Sasuke! Better to have the Clan thrive on one outstanding ninja over another ninja who has only repeatedly soured the Uchiha Clan's strong, resilient reputation!"

"That strong resilient reputation was all but squandered the night the whole Clan — except Sasuke, was wiped out by Itachi Uchiha."

"And Sasuke killed his older brother."

"Sasuke Uchiha as in the ninja who betrayed the Leaf Village for Orochimaru — one of the three legendary Sanin who waged a third war on the Leaf Village? That Sasuke?"

"Orochimaru wasn't the one who waged war on the Leaf Village! Sasuke was the one who sought vengeance against the Leaf Village, but he couldn't bring himself to destroy the one place his older brother Itachi died protecting! And Sasuke killed Orochimaru and redeemed himself."

"Sasuke already redeemed himself! Now Raven needs to redeem herself — and she will! She has failed more than two missions, yes — she's not perfect, but from word getting about, the mission only failed because a seasoned ninja was put on the A-rank mission that should have been given to a Jonin. Had that happened, the outcome would have been much different. As far as I'm concerned — as all of you should be, Raven was put on a mission she shouldn't have been put on! The only reason why the Hokage did such a thing, was because the client was a good convincer who figured the remarkable reputation of the Uchiha Clan was more important than skill and ability. So really, the one to blame more is the arrogant client who requested his son be part of the mission! Apparently the son was just as arrogant as his father because he wouldn't listen to Raven when she tried telling him no when he wanted to scout for the enemy."

Raven felt a raging storm brew in her breast! It didn't matter if it was her fault or not! She had already failed four missions! It didn't matter if her friends went to bat for her! She still saw the fear so clearly visible on the face of the client's son because that was the last emotion to permanently etch into the young warrior's face as his life was ripped away!

It didn't matter because that same emotion of fear was the same emotion to permanently etch into her memory so she would never — could never, be able to forget the horror she had witnessed during the brutal slaughter the enemy delivered! And it didn't matter, because the constant nightmares would always be a reminder of that horrific evening!

Raven wished the strange man going to bat for her against her master and the client was all it took for a crater of hope to fill her soul! But there is no hope for Raven — even if the strange man has chosen her to take part in — what was it he said: a quest?

He made a mistake! Her reputation was all but shattered! She wasn't trustable! Her brain wasn't firing on all cylinders because of having dreams — dreams or nightmares before the mission. Raven didn't even get rest in weeks! She was slowly becoming unhinged and unbalanced!

A nap! Raven decided an afternoon nap would be best to take! Hopefully a nap could calm the raging storm inside of her so she could regain her energy and strength — and possibly get her brain working the way it's supposed to so she could:

D. Shower and change clothes.

E. Eat something for dinner.

F. Mentally prepare herself for the outcome of the discussion between Lady Tsunade, the client, and the strange man.

While tearing her clothes off to change into a very loose cotton shirt after walking into her apartment, Raven recalled the man saying:

G. He was of the Valar

H. He has been searching for someone to take part in the quest in his world.

I. And he had chose her.

"But why me?" Raven voiced her curiosity out loud.

"Why me?"

J. 'She has so much potential and skill with honed gifts that will be a perfect asset to the quest!'