Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Lord of the Rings, they belong to their respective creators and copyright holders.

Summary: The Elemental Lands was not the first place Kaguya went to; no, she had traveled to many different lands and one would suit Zetsu's needs perfectly. They needed a docile, vulnerable, and easily controlled jinchuuriki-what better way to achieve these outcomes than leaving the child among the peaceful, weak-willed hobbits of the Shire. His plan might have worked if any other hobbit had discovered the babe and Konoha wasn't so hard-pressed to recover their stolen Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.

Chapter 1: A New Baggins at Bag End

It had been a little more than three years since Mad Bilbo Baggins vanished in a flash of light and smoke, but already the new master Baggins was proving to be just as odd as the former master of Bag End. The folk of Hobbiton had hoped the young master would settle down and get some hobbit-sense, but no!

The morning of October 11th in the year 3004, Frodo Baggins marched into town carrying an infant—a big folk infant!

"Hello!" he greeted the Mayor of Hobbiton with a cheery smile on that fateful day. "I found this infant in a thicket near the Hill. He is newly born, and I saw no evidence of his mother. Have you heard any reports of travelers?"

The mayor swallowed as he stared at the infant. "The last big folk ter come around 'ere had been helpin' with the party."

Frodo nodded his head and sighed. He had figured as much.

"Beggin' your pardon, Mr. Baggins, but could that Wizard have done somethun? Brought this infant 'ere?"

Frodo refrained from showing his annoyance at the Mayor's disdain toward Gandalf. "Gandalf has not visited since the day I went over Bilbo's will. He left in a hurry even, so he could not have had a hand in this little one's presence."

"Well, then," the Mayor hummed as he shifted uncomfortably, "I 'spose I can send word ter Bree and the other big folk settlements about anyone abandonin' infants."

"That would be appreciated, though I don't suppose you know anyone who could care for him in the interim?" Frodo asked.

"'m afraid not. Who would want ter look after a big folk baby?"

Frodo feared as much, and equally feared the child had been abandoned for the odd markings on his body. While the strange symbols on his stomach had faded during the night, the lines upon his cheeks remained (it made Frodo think of whisker marks).

His heart ached for the child—to be unwanted and alone in the world—that had nearly been his own fate. Frodo bit his lip for a moment as he came to a decision.

"Well then, I suppose I will look after him until his mother can be found," Frodo announced with a determined nod. The Mayor coughed and began to splutter in surprise.

"Well, we best get you some food, little one," the new Master of Bag End said to the babe. He then perked up and smiled to the Mayor. "Do you know of any wet-nurses in need of work?"

Baffled, the Mayor stuttered out the first name he could think of and the new Master of Bag End turned on his heel and left the Mayor's office with the infant held closer to his chest. Said infant curled a hand into his shirt collar.

Over the following weeks, no humans came forward to claim the infant and Frodo grew fond of the babe. He got barely any sleep with the infant's demands for food or clean diapers, but it distracted the young hobbit. He missed his dear Bilbo less with each day and found he no longer regretted staying behind in the Shire.

Folco Boffin and Fredegar (Fatty) Bolger tried to convince Frodo to take a trip up to Bree and give the child away, but, when Frodo looked into the babe's blue eyes, he did not have the strength to part from the little one. His friends meant well, but they did not understand how Frodo could care so deeply for a human child, especially so quickly. At least Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck, and Peregrine (Pippin) Took had taken to helping Frodo with the child rather than encouraging him to abandon it.

One late autumn evening, when the last of the leaves barely clung to the trees and an almost barrenness blanketed the Shire, Frodo invited his friends over for dinner. The food had been warm and hearty to combat the oncoming cold of evening. The drinks left them even warmer and several of the younger hobbits flushed. In fact, Pippin attempted to sweet talk Sally Cotton, the wet-nurse Frodo hired, when she came to bid them a good night and hand over the human child.

She only laughed and passed the sleeping babe off to Frodo. She wrapped a thick wool shawl about her shoulders and left to return home to her family. Frodo had offered to let the Cottons move into a wing of Bag End while Sally was feeding the infant, but they had declined.

Taking Sally's exit as a marker for the end of dinner, the friends moved to the cozy sitting room and lit the fireplace before having nightcaps. Frodo reclined into his favorite chair and stared into the fire as the babe slept against his chest. The flames danced in an almost hypnotic manner.

"I don't think anyone's going to claim him, Frodo," Merry commented once they were all settled with their drinks.

"I am beginning to understand that as well," Frodo replied with a sigh. "It is a pity—he is a sweet child."

"And smelly and loud, and—ow!" Pippin rubbed his side from where Merry elbowed him. "Well, he is!"

The friends laughed, and the little one yawned before opening his eyes blearily. Folco began to cover his ears and Pippin jumped out of his chair to hide behind Merry. Frodo shook his head but also prepared himself for the inevitable cries. The little one did not disappoint and began to loudly bawl from being woken up so suddenly.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have been so loud, Pippin," Fredegar commented with a pointed look. The young hobbit ducked his head and laughed sheepishly.

Frodo stood and gave his young friend a playful smile. "Well, I suppose then you should have the honor of lulling him back to sleep."

Pippin hung his head for a moment before perking up and taking the infant into his arms. The young hobbit began a well-known nursery rhyme that soon had all of the hobbits singing along. The friends then went around singing their favorite lullabies until, eventually, the little one drifted back to sleep and was handed back to Frodo.

The friends settled back into their chairs and regarded both the sleeping child and the way Frodo held him so carefully.

"You really love that child," Folco commented with a shake of his head and a fond smile.

"I suppose I see something of myself in him," the hobbit replied.

"Perhaps his appetite!" Fredegar said with a laugh. While the friends laughed along, Frodo just smiled more gently down at the sleeping child.

Merry was the first to sober. "Perhaps you should start thinking of formalizing your relationship to that little one."

"I think he needs a name first," Folco commented dryly. He and Fredegar were laughing again and seemed to view the suggestion as a joke.

"His parents should be the ones to name him," Frodo replied with a slight frown.

"He either does not have parents or they do not want him," Merry countered. "As such, Frodo, it falls to you to name him. You have been caring for him like a parent."

"Are you serious!?" Fredegar asked incredulously—nearly choking on his drink. "A hobbit adopting a big folk child?"

"Well, he is raising the baby," Pippin chimed in with a shrug.

"Has this ever been done before?" Folco asked. "It seems wrong for one of us to raise a big folk, doesn't it?"

"Yet here I am, caring for this little one," Frodo retorted. The idea was not new to him—in fact, he knew he would be adopting the babe from the moment he had decided in the Mayor's office to care for the child until his parents came forward. Part of Frodo had known (or perhaps hoped) the babe's parents wouldn't come forward.

"He's not going to be a little one for long. He'll be bigger than you in only a few short years!" Folco pointed out.

"But he's just a baby and doesn't have anyone," Pippin practically whined. "Surely it only seems wrong because it has not happened before." Frodo gave his distant cousin a thankful smile.

Fredegar hummed and shook his head. "It's only been a month, perhaps word hasn't reached his parents yet?"

"Five weeks," Merry corrected, and Frodo gave his other distant cousin a nod in appreciation.

Folco and Fredegar sighed dramatically. Frodo looked down to the babe in his arms and frowned. As much as he didn't want to agree with Folco and Fredegar, they did have a point.

"You're right, I should wait at least a few more months before I make any moves to adopt," Frodo conceded reluctantly. "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to think of a name to call him beside 'little one.'"

On this, at least, all the friends could agree. Of course, that led to a long conversation on what to name the child. Pippin kept suggesting Bard after the human from Bilbo's stories, while Folco suggested names derived from Frodo's own name just to tease him. Yes, Frodo was named after his father Drogo, but not all parents used such naming schemes! Fredegar rattled off various human names he had heard before, including what were clearly names for women. Meanwhile, Merry suggested hobbit names, including further variations on Frodo's name (which made Folco push all the more for Dolro and Bogo). Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, none of these seemed right to Frodo.

Eventually Pippin began suggesting the names of the various dwarves that had gone on Bilbo's adventure, which led to a retelling of the beloved story. By the time the fire burned low, and the decanter was nearly emptied, the friends were no closer to naming the sleeping child. In the end, the friends stumbled off to their guest rooms while Frodo put the babe in his cradle. He stared down at the infant and gently brushed his finger over one scared cheek. The name would come to him someday.

The next morning, Fordo saw his friends off after a filling first and second breakfast. Sally arrived not long ago after with her youngest perched against her hip. It was a well-timed arrival for the infant in Frodo's arms was refusing to eat the warmed cow milk while hollering his desire for food. Sally shook her head and set her youngest on the ground before relieving Frodo of the human child.

"Such a picky-eater, this one is," she muttered.

"And he never seems to be full either," Frodo said with a tired laugh. He then crouched down and greeted the youngest Cotton. "Hello, Georgie, how are you today?"

The little hobbit quickly ran to hide behind his mother's skirts. Sally gave a little laugh, and Frodo pretended to not know where Georgie had gone. The toddling child peeked out from his mother's skirts with a giggle before hiding again. It was a routine at this point for Georgie and Frodo. Whenever Sally came over in the morning with her youngest to feed the human infant, Frodo would occupy the little boy with games and stories. Eventually Mr. Cotton would come and collect his child, and Frodo would assist Sally in going to the market since the blonde human babe had a truly voracious appetite.

Sometime around dusk, Sally would leave Bag End and they would try to ween the human infant off the breast milk and toward goat or cow milk to hold the babe over until Sally would return in the morning. It never truly worked.

This evening, Sally left just as the sun was setting, and not two minutes after her exit, there was knock at the door. Frodo frowned and glanced about the immediate rooms—Sally did not seem to have forgotten anything. Then there came a tap at the study window and Frodo jumped before he caught sight of Gandalf.

Frodo hurriedly opened the door to greet the wizard. The gray cloaked man looked troubled still—as if the burden he had carried the last time they met still weighed on him.

Gandalf ducked into the entryway and stared at the human infant in Frodo's arms.

"Oh Gandalf! I had hoped to see you sooner. How are you?" Frodo asked as he shifted the babe and gestured for the Wizard to come further into Bag End.

"I am fine," Gandalf muttered distractedly—his gaze was fixed on the child in Frodo's arms. "You have a child," he commented as he entered the hobbit hole.

"Yes! I found this little one hidden beneath the brush in that small patch of trees just off the Hill." Frodo was busying himself with preparing tea for his unexpected guest. "I have been trying to find his mother, but it is as if he came out of the ground!

"We've sent messages to Bree and even out west toward the Grey Havens, but there are no mothers missing newly born babes. I fear perhaps he was abandoned, the poor thing, and I just cannot leave him alone in the world—not like I found him."

"Frodo," Gandalf interrupted him. The hobbit blinked and turned around to find Gandalf had not moved from the entryway. "When and where exactly did you find this infant?" there was a seriousness to his expression that made Frodo's heart seize. Folco and Fredegar kept telling Frodo it was a bad idea to keep a human child but now it seemed Gandalf did too.

"It was October 10th of this year. I had gone down to the Green Dragon for a drink and decided to go for a walk on my way back to Bag End. I found him in the cluster of trees that separates the field of sage from the heather just there," he pointed in the general direction of the copse. "I had to search with my hands for the trees blocked out what moon and starlight there was and he was hidden beneath the brush."

Gandalf slowly moved further into the home—his eyes still locked on the infant. "And was there anything peculiar about the infant?"

Frodo's shoulders dropped and he nodded slowly. "Yes," he admitted quietly. The Wizard was now standing before him. "As I was cleaning, I saw these strange symbols on his stomach. I had never seen the like of these symbols before. They glowed blue that night but have since faded. He also had the scars on his cheeks even then. I wondered if perhaps he had been abandoned because of these markings."

Gandalf frowned further and slowly sat himself in a sturdy chair within the study. He then gestured for Frodo to hand the infant to him. Reluctantly, Frodo did and watched anxiously as the Wizard handled the babe. The infant was not pleased with being held by a stranger, but Gandalf muttered a few words in a strange tongue that quieted the child. The Wizard then carefully unwrapped the swaddle and examined each limb.

Every now and then, Gandalf would hum as he tested the infant's range of motion. Then he gently began pressing the babe's stomach. Frowning when the desired result did not occur, he muttered more words—perhaps a spell—and pressed again. Now Frodo saw the blue symbols appear upon the babe's stomach in an intricate spiral. The infant squirmed and began to cry in protest.

Gandalf relented and let an anxious Frodo take the babe back. As Frodo soothed the infant, he gave the Wizard a questioning look, as if to ask "Well?"

Gandalf sat for a long moment before he began to pull his pipe from within his robes. Frodo huffed in exasperation. "What were those symbols, Gandalf? What has you so troubled?"

"I do not know yet, and I would not burden you with my theories."

Much like when it came to the Ring, Gandalf would remain silent until he knew for certain. Frodo sat down and cradled the infant protectively to his chest. "But is he healthy, is he safe?"

Gandalf gave him a fond smile. "Yes, he is."

Frodo felt a tension he had not realized he had leave him. The babe was healthy, no matter what those strange symbols were. It was a relief.

"You care a great deal for this child," Gandalf observed after he finished packing his pipe.

"I can't help but see myself in him. He was alone…unwanted," Frodo frowned and looked down at the child sadly.

"Perhaps you were meant to find him…" Gandalf muttered so quietly that Frodo imagined he meant to keep those words to himself.

"How do you mean?"

Gandalf blinked in surprise, confirming that he had not meant to speak out loud. He shifted and coughed slightly as he lit his pipe. "How are you feeling Frodo?"

"I feel well," the hobbit replied with a slight narrowing of his eyes. The Wizard was trying to dodge the question! Frodo huffed and decided to let the Wizard be secretive for the time being.

"I am tired of course," he continued with a fond smile directed to the child.

Gandalf chuckled before taking a draw from his pipe. "I would imagine so," he said on his exhale. "What have you named him?" he asked after a beat.

"I have not named him yet," the hobbit admitted with a sigh. "Nothing has seemed quite right."

Gandalf hummed and nodded in agreement before saying, "Names have power." The Wizard paused for another moment. "You said it was as if he had come out of the ground?" Frodo nodded his head and the Wizard hummed again. "Perhaps Dôranna or Erynanna?"

"You think he is a gift? From the land or the woods?" Frodo asked, and Gandalf nodded slowly. The hobbit smiled down at the infant in his arms. "Dôranna," he tested the name. That was it. That was the name he had been waiting for.

Gandalf remained quiet and watched the hobbit coo at the now named Dôranna. He watched Frodo intently and remarked where stress might have accumulated and in what ways the hobbit might have aged. He also looked deeper—looked for something that would tell him if the Ring in this hobbit's possession was truly the One Ring.

However, the Wizard's focus was pulled from the hobbit to the infant as it began to fuss. He was bewildered by the child's appearance in Frodo's life and the presence—no, the power—he felt within the babe. He had felt the power the moment Frodo answered the door, and he immediately mistook the energy for that of a Maia. Yet, when Gandalf examined the infant, he saw that the energy was locked away—likely behind that spiral of symbols on his stomach. Moreover, the infant was truly an infant—a human infant—and therefore could not be a Maia.

This deeply troubled Gandalf, but a larger part of him felt soothed by the babe. There was something about the infant that reminded Gandalf of his master, Manwë, and thus felt like a kindred spirit. Yet it was not possible for the child to be a Maia—they were formed full-grown with access to their powers. So, what then was this child, for it was clear he would grow as any human would. Was the babe a new creation? Perhaps something Manwë begged Eru to make? Was this infant a gift to Middle Earth?

Or was this a deception of the enemy? It would not be the first time for one of the Maiar to go against their masters and claim power for themselves and dominion over the peoples of Middle Earth. After all, Sauron was a Maia before he followed Morgoth's steps.

Gandalf's darkening thoughts broke at Frodo's clear laughter. The hobbit's fingers were caught within the babe's grasp as it gurgled and smiled gummily. It was a sight that left the Wizard smiling and relieved.

Four years and Frodo was not changed much. He feared that, in his absence, the same kind of obsession and pull which took over Bilbo would overcome Frodo. Yet, here the hobbit was cooing over a child and with no markings of a Ring of Power in his possession. But perhaps it was too soon? Or perhaps the child helped? Bilbo had been reticent to let others into his home and heart until much later in his life when the thought of a legacy became more pressing.

The Wizard had assumed his old friend Bilbo was simply not one to settle down after his adventures, but the more Gandalf questioned the provenance of the Ring, the more he doubted. What if the Ring is the One Ring? It clearly twisted Bilbo's mind and created obsession. It would be a simple matter for that possessiveness to encourage Bilbo's solitude. For if there were others in his life, there would be a greater chance for the Ring to be taken from him. It would then be reasonable that Bilbo would rather this "precious" ring transfer to someone he likened to himself as he neared his eighties and thus own death. He needed an heir and Frodo had been there.

Frodo excused himself to put Dôranna down, and Gandalf watched the hobbit leave. He wanted to believe the babe was a good sign—a sign that obsession and possessiveness had not yet entered Fordo's heart (a sign that the Ring was not corrupting him)—but only time would tell. For now, though, there seemed to be a new Baggins at Bag End.

TBC

A/N: I straight up read the Wiki pages when it came to the Valar and what not so…if things are wrong…well, don't at me. I read LotR for the character development and friendships, not the lore.