Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Lord of the Rings.

A Shinobi of Middle-Earth

Chapter 1: A stranger in the lands

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Spirits/Ents talking"

"Spirits/Ents thinking"

(Location: Rivendell)

Lord Elrond Half-elven sat at his desk in Rivendell. He was waiting for Gandalf to arrive so that they speak with one another. It had been some years since they had talked with one another, but with rumors of dark things raising they were much too busy. But now, they must talk, for he had received strange news once too often.

"Father," Elladan said as he stepped through the door. "Mithrandir is here."

"Send him in," he told his son.

He stood aside and Gandalf the Grey came in. "Lord Elrond," the Wizard greeted him with a bow of his head.

He smiled and stood up from his seat. "Gandalf," he greeted him in return. He looked the same as the last time. His clothing was as grey as his name, with only a blue hat upon his head being the only different color. His staff was held in his hand, a gnarled and old wooden thing. Belted around his waist was the sword he knew to be Glamdring. "It's has been some time."

"Indeed it has. What have you summoned me for?"

"Please, sit." He sat down at his desk and Gandalf sat in the chair on the opposite side of the table, taking his hat off of his head. "Dark things and rumors have been around of late, my friend. Orcs have been seen in the lands around and near Imladris, attacking villages and towns of Men, always taking people with them when they flee."

Sorrow filled the Wizard's eyes at the news. "Can nothing to be done to rescue those who have been taken?"

"I have sent out riders to track down these orc bands, but it always seems to be unnecessary. When they find the orcs, they are already dead and the people who have been stolen have been taken back to their homes."

"Hmm, how interesting," he said, the sorrow being taken from his eyes. "I have heard similar things from the Rangers of the North as well as Rohan and Gondor. Orcs who raid and take prisoners are always tracked down and killed, the prisoners freed and returned to the nearest safe haven. But they never know who their savoir is. All they can remember is the sound of small bells ringing in the air and the cry of a bird before the orcs are slaughter."

"We have heard similar tales, but they also say that it is a Man and his hair is as black as a raven's. Already, there are those here who call this stranger Crabandir," the Lord of Rivendell told him.

Gandalf smiled. "Well, as names go, it's not a bad one."

"Gandalf, we know nothing of this person. Any and all attempts to find or track him have ended in naught. And this has been going for years now. How could such a person be hidden from all our efforts?"

"Do you believe that the Enemy would have one person attack his orcs and kill them so he might prove himself to be on our side?"

"We must consider all the possibilities," Elrond answered. "I would not put such a suggestion past the Enemy. Whoever this Crabandir is, he's not of Middle-Earth. No man would hide from us."

"We cannot judge him when he is not here to defend himself," the Wizard told him. "Perhaps, in time, he will reveal himself to us."

"Perhaps," he conceded. "If he truly is saving the lives of these people, he might not be with the darkness after all."

"Indeed. Now, I pray that you will excuse me," Gandalf said as he stood up from his chair again. "I must be off."

"And where are you heading now, Mithrandir?" he asked, curiosity filling his voice.

"I'm off to see an old friend and to celebrate his birthday." There was a smile on his lips when he spoke those words.

The Lord of Rivendell smiled too, for he knew who the Wizard was speaking of. "Give Master Baggins my regards when you see him."

"Of course," he said in reply before turning to the door, letting the sounds of the night and the light of the moon to fill the room. "Good night, Lord Elrond." He stepped out of the door and away from sight.

Elrond sat in silence as his old friend and ally left. Then he stood from his chair and went over to the balcony. He looked down at Rivendell, seeing all that it was. This stranger who walked through the lands as if he was a ghost troubled him. He felt a sense of something whenever he heard news of this Crabandir. A sense of someone he knew a long time ago, someone who was long been dead.

Before he knew what they were doing, his feet were taking him to one of the many halls in his home. He was alone as he walked, the sound of his feet filling the air as much as the sound of the water of the nearby river and the sound of the birds in the air. The night air was light and felt sweet upon his face, but he paid no attention to it. Soon he had left the open air and stood in another hall, looking upon a painting. "You have been gone a long time, mellon," he thought to himself.

(Location: Eriador)

The fire cracked and spluttered, giving somesmall light and comfort to those who sat around it. The girl and the boy he had rescued three days past had fallen asleep but he was still awake. All around them, the night was alive with the sounds of the forest. But he did not pay attention to the night. He only watched the fire.

It had been ten years since he had come here. Ten years since he and his friend (if not brother) fought against each other. Ten years since he was given one chance to leave and took it. Ten years since the power that came with the mark on his hand was sealed. Ten years since he took his first step onto the shores of this land. "Ten years," he thought to himself. "It has been a long time."

But it was not something he had hated. Before he had left, he wanted to destroy the world he knew and rebuild it so it would better. But when he left, he found that leaving the world that he knew was enough. It was better this way. The troubles of the world he knew no longer plagued and haunted him and his friends (for he did regard them as his friends once more, in that short time they had fought together again) would be safe from whatever harm he might've caused them.

A noise came from the lips of the boy; getting his attention and making him smile a little. At the beginning, he wasn't sure why he did this, tracking down these oni-like creatures, killing them, and rescuing those they had taken. But when he brought the rescued back to their home and saw their families hold them tightly with tears of in their eyes, he found that reason. It was so parents would never wonder what had happen to their children and the children could see their parents again. And once he was sure they were home, he would leave (although, there were times he stayed the night).

He also knew the people of these lands have tried seeking him out. He saw no reason for them to do this. He was content to be nothing but a stranger, a mere ghost to the people who lived here. "I wonder what he would say about that," he wondered to himself, thinking about his friend before chuckling a little. "Heh, he'd probably praise me for saving these people and yell at me for hiding away."

He stoked the fire, keeping its life going for a bit longer. It would ward off most animals that lived in the surrounding forests. When it died, his senses would be their shield. The children's home was two days from here if they kept the same pace. They would be home soon. Once he was done with the fire, he laid down next to it with his back on the ground. Within a few moments, he was asleep.

(Location: Arwen)

Her horse raced across the land, through plains and forests. She urged him on with all possible speed. She had to get to her home, to Rivendell. Frodo sat in the saddle in front of her, but she could feel him fading. The Morgul blade fragment was still in his heart and it was drawing him into the Shadow World. She needed to get him to her father so he can be healed.

But even as she raced towards home, the Nazgûl were following her, all nine of them. Even though she dared not look back, she could hear the pounding of their horses' hooves and their screeches of triumph of finding her. Soon they appeared to her sides and she could not help but look at them.

They were all cloaked in black robes, wearing armored boots and iron gauntlets. They rode horses that were as black as their robes. Beneath their cowls, there was nothing. Whatever had been of their former lives was no longer there to see. They closed around her, trying to box her in with their own horses. One of them reached out for the Hobbit she carried. His armored hand was all but a few inches from taking ahold of Frodo.

She quickly spoke to her horse, urging him to run faster, to break away from the trap they would be stuck in. He responded and raced ahead into the forest, breaking out of the box they would've been trapped in. She knew that wouldn't stop the Ringwraiths, but she knew where she was. If she could avoid them for just a little longer, she would reach the Ford of Bruinen, beyond that lay Rivendell.

After a few minutes of tense out-maneuvering and dodging, she burst out of the forest towards the Ford, going across it without any hesitation. A few seconds after she had crossed, the Nazgûl appeared. Their horses stopped at the edge of the Ford, hesitant to cross. They screeched in fury at what she had done. "Give up the Halfling, She-Elf!" one of them ordered her.

Frodo groaned, as if he heard those words. She drew her blade and held it high. "If you want him, come and claim him!" She shouted in defiance.

All nine drew their swords in response and began urging their horses into the water. But before they could even make a single step, the sound of birds chirping filled the air. Something leapt out from the forest and charged at the Nazgûl. In a single moment, she saw a streak of light and all nine horses were on the ground, dead, and taking their riders with them. As the Ringwraiths struggled to get free, Arwen saw what looked to be a man with a hat of some kind on his head and wearing a coat with red clouds standing in the river between her and them. "Go!" he commanded her without turning to face her. "Get to safety! I will hold them!"

She would've said that he was the one who should get to safety. But Frodo was getting weaker, she could feel it. "I will send aide to you!" she promised to him before turning her horse around and urging him on again.

She only focused on getting to Rivendell and was relieved when she finally saw it. Her horse galloped across the bridge and into the courtyard beyond it, getting the attention of the servants nearby, who rushed to her side. "Get this Hobbit to my father!" she commanded, helping them take Frodo off of the saddle. "He's been pierced by a Morgul blade!"

He was taken away quickly, which allowed three elves to appear before her. "Sister!" her brother Elrohir said when he approached her. Beside him was his twin Elladan and Glorfindel.

It was the third who she turned to. "Lord Glorfindel, you must take whatever warriors who are here and ride for the Ford at once!" she told him. "A man is there. He's holding off the Nazgûl and will soon perish if aide is not sent to him!"

The Elf-Lord turned away at once, calling for his horse and sword. Her brothers did the same, as did any elf who was a warrior. Within minutes, a score of them rode out.

"This might've been a bad idea," he thought to himself as he fought the nine creatures in the water, sword in one hand and kunai in the other. "Have I been missing him so much, I'm channeling him?"

When he first saw the woman fleeing from the black riders, he knew that she would not last. Assuming that the riders were just cloaked humans, he followed them and intervened, giving the woman the time to flee. It was only when the riders attacked him that he realized that they were not humans. He was able to hold his own, barely. But he would like to put that down to the number of them, not their skill or power.

He made sure to never let them encircle him; it would be the death of him if they did. He was always moving, evading and then counterattacking. Swords clashed against swords as they attacked him, never giving him enough time or space to weave handseals.

The sounds of horses mingled with the sound of the running river. Casting a quick look back, he saw riders appear at the edge of the bank of the ford. The creatures saw them as well. Screeching in either anger or madness, they fled back to the forest they had come out of, leaving him there, standing on the water.

Sheathing his sword and putting away the kunai, he looked around for his conical hat and saw the ruins of it floating down the river. Shame, he had liked that hat. It had been with him just as long as the coat he wore (which was now showed many cuts and tears from where the swords of the creatures had struck him).

"How do you fare, friend?" one of the riders called out to him.

"I'm fine," he replied without taking his eyes off where the creatures ran. He took a step in that direction and felt weak.

"Where are you going?" another of the riders asked him.

"After them," he answered. If he could track them down one by one, he could probably take them out.

Apparently, the riders seemed to think differently about it. "You are mad to go after them!" the first rider told him. "Do you not know what they were?"

"Monsters, that's all." That was all he needed to know.

"Those are not just any monsters. They are the Nazgûl, the nine Ringwraiths of Sauron. You are lucky to have lasted this long against all nine of them." From the way he said those words, the rider sounded surprised that he had lived, period.

"Not luck, just skill," he told them, still keeping his eyes on the forest. By now it was probably too late to keep pace with them, not in the state he was in.

"Friend, you are weakened and tired, I can see it in the way you hold yourself now. I beg you, come with us to Imladris. There is food and drink as well as a good bed."

He would've walked away, to go after those monsters. But the sound of a good bed, which he hadn't had since he brought those two children back to their homes five months ago and stayed one night, was too tempting to pass up. "Very well, I will go with you," he declared, turning to face them. There were twelve riders, lightly armored and carrying weapons. They held themselves with a grace he had only seen in the most experienced of shinobi and their ears were tapered. "These must be the Elves I've heard so much of," he thought to himself.

"I am Glorfindel of Rivendell," the rider in the front introduced himself. "And you are…?"

"Uchiha Sasuke," he answered as he came out of the ford, walking on the water until his feet reached dry land.

End

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

What? Did you think I was always going to go with Naruto as the main character? I'll admit the original idea did have him instead. But after mentally fiddling with it, I decided to go with Sasuke instead.

And let me get this out of the way so people won't ask me about it for the rest of the story: there will be no romance for Sasuke. He's not going to fall in love with anyone from Middle-Earth, so don't start.

The original idea had called for him to voluntarily be exiled from the Elemental Countries after the war and after the trial he would've had be put through. But having read the most recent chapter, a change was need. Plus, it gave me a chance to seal away what was in his left eye. Can't have him be too overpowered now, can I?

The ten years between his arriving and the present day was put there because I didn't want to have him be a teenager when this all happened. Having him be a full adult gives him time to cool down a bit.

While I'm writing this story, I'm going to be drawing from the movie and not the books. I've tried reading the books and stopped after getting confused. But that had been when I was middle school. Maybe it's time to try again.

If there are any of you who think that the Elvish names and titles that I might come up with in the story sound and look wrong, please let me know. You would think that with all those Tolkien scholars out there, a dictionary would've been published by now. The man had created about five languages and the only thing I have for a translator is the Internet, not the best of things.

I'll see you all next chapter!