Finding Family | A Naruto/LOTR Crossover

Chapter Four: A Chance Encounter

Naruto blinked from his position upside-down in the tree. He had not been expecting it. Someone had laid a trap for him. He felt oddly flattered, if slightly embarrassed at the simplicity of the trap which had caught him. It was the same one that Kakashi had caught him in many a times and he had even more difficulty getting out of it than usual thanks to his smaller than normal limbs. Groaning, he pulled himself up towards his foot, silently wishing he still had a kunai to hand, but all his weapons had been lost with the rest of his belongings with their arrival on Middle Earth as Kakashi had explained to him. He was on another planet. The realisation hadn't quite set in yet, nor had the pain and agony of losing everything he'd worked for his entire life. His dreams of becoming Hokage? Gone. Vanished like smoke in the wind. The ache was deep down, unsurfaced, and Naruto didn't want to uncover it, no matter how healthy that was supposed to be. He was young again. Tiny. And with that it brought memories of pranking the villagers. Imladris was his Konoha now. Only they had no idea of that fact... plus he didn't exactly live legally within its boundaries. He survived in the forest with Kakashi, living off the land there. Sure, he missed the luxury of flushing toilets and warm blankets, but he had Kakashi. He had his family... and somewhere out there the other two members of his little makeshift family were waiting... even if they were probably plotting his murder.

"Stupid rope... stupid trap," he muttered, swinging himself up towards the tree branches, grabbing a hold of them nimbly, working his foot loose from the noose it had been trapped in. Freeing himself took far longer than he'd hoped, the sun starting to set by the time he was sitting upright in the tree branches. His breath came in pants, exhaustion clawing at his limbs as he peered towards where their camp was situated a good distance away from the elves and their uncanny powers of hearing and sight. Could he make it before the guards changed? He tilted his head, blinking owlishly down at the bright green grass below. Only one way to find out.

Leaping down, he landed quietly, the lack of chakra preventing him from making it completely soundless. It also prevented him from making the landing completely painless too. Wincing, he pulled himself up to his full height, which was still ridiculously small. Cautiously, he hurried back through his usual walkway, his footsteps barely audible thanks to the grace of his new race. Elves. He was an elf. Yet another fact that hadn't quite sunk into the brain situated between those new pointy ears of his. Sighing, he edged down the side street, knowing better than to hurry onto the rooftops with the bright evening sunlight bearing down on him. People might not look up all that often, but his shadow would be on the ground, and people more often than not looked at the ground. That'd really give the game away, and that was something he didn't want to do.

Kakashi had already explained everything he'd learnt from his infiltration of their new home dwelling, so he was well aware of all the mollycoddling he'd be subjected to upon discovery. Part of him waited in anticipation for that time, the other part having a full blown anxiety attack over it. If he were caught, he'd have to come to terms with his new reality... and let go of the old one. Naruto shook his head. He wasn't ready for the tears nor for the gaping hole in his heart to make itself known. Not before he had something at least to fill it, even if only partially.

The elves could probably fill it, the snide voice in the back of his head reminded, and Naruto chuckled. It reminded him oddly of Kurama... of the bastard fox... how he missed his partner. The one who'd been with him his entire life – and he'd always had his back, if only to save himself.

He sighed again, smiling as the forest where he now lived came into view past the elven buildings. Kakashi would no doubt be back by now, and hopefully have caught dinner... otherwise probably have to do it himself. They usually took it in turns, catching fish from the smaller offshoot rivers nearby, though they did have a growing store of berries and other less perishable herbs and leaves of the like. It wasn't much, but it was his new home. One he shared with one of the three last remaining members of his makeshift family.

Yawning, he upped his pace, knowing Kakashi would no doubt be worried by now – thinking he'd gotten caught – blinking when he walked into something largely solid. Something that shouldn't have been there, but his addled brain hadn't registered it. He'd walked down that route many a times, and he knew it like the back of his hand. Somewhat groggily, he pulled his face away from the warmth, eyes widening when he spotted the two legs in front of him.

Oh, was his first and last thought before his own legs started moving as a confused pair of greyish green eyes fell on his small form. He darted away, the couple of precious seconds of a head start all he needed to dive straight for the nearest thickest underbrush.

"Wait!" He ignored the high elven pitch, shaking his head as he pushed away the near frantic sound. "Child, wait!" the voice sounded again, rustling sounded before the elf changed languages to the common tongue in these lands. Not that it did much good.

Naruto had been dodging ANBU ever since he'd been a child. He knew how to lose a pursuit, and he knew the area very well – it being the one he'd traversed through the most often ever since his arrival in Middle Earth. The elf probably knew it just as well, but he was smaller, and he knew how to make use of that fact.

Barely fifteen minutes later, he arrived back in camp, his hands quickly grabbing the cooked fish out of the flames. Kakashi wasn't there. A quick look at the message scrawled in the dirt. Gone to find the other two, the clear elven script read, keep up the pranking. The language of the elves was hardwired into their brains, just like the speech, thankfully, and it had seemingly overwritten the sole tongue of the Elemental Nations. Another clear sign of how out of their depth they were. Naruto swallowed, ignoring the small pang in his chest. He'd been wondering when they were going to go and look for the others. They. Not just one of them. Sighing quietly, he bit into the fish, shoulders slumping, uncaring even as his food burnt his tongue. He retreated under the shelter he and Kakashi had made, hoping there wouldn't be any rain anytime soon, his eyes watching the flickering flames as they died away under his watch. The flint was there, as was a store of dry wood in the little den they'd built, so he'd be able to restart the fire anytime. It was for the best if it went out, considering the elf had seen him.

Surely they wouldn't be scouring the forest, but it always paid to be overcautious. Better that than the opposite.

Smiling sadly, he leant against the bark of the tree, his eyes glazing over in sleep. Kakashi would come back, and he'd bring the other two. He had to.