Finding Family | A Naruto/LOTR Crossover

Prologue: Naruto and the Art of Being Lost

Naruto blinked, taking in his surroundings blankly.

It didn't look like the Pure Lands.

He was in the middle of a forest somewhere, the trees unusually large... but they didn't look like Hashirama Trees. Not that he'd been expecting Hashirama Trees or anything. He was dead. Well, he was supposed to be, but if he was dead he was fairly sure Kurama would still be hanging about with him. A quick glance down at his stomach revealed clean white skin, unmarred by any seals. Kurama was gone. That was right. He wrapped his arms around himself. He was alone. Again.

Blonde hair fell in front of his face, hiding the tears before he forced them back. A smile curled at his lips, bitter and broken, and he climbed to his feet, eating dirt seconds later when he tripped over his uncoordinated limbs. Why did he feel ridiculously short?

"Huh?" the musical voice echoed around the clearing. It took Naruto a few moments to realise the voice in question had come from him. "What's going on?"

His voice sounded funny.

A flicker of silver in his vision had him spinning about, the name leaving his lips in that lyrical voice. "Kakashi?"

The silver-haired... boy... Naruto blinked, staring at the unfamiliar boy... who was taller than him... and looked about eight years old, if that.

"Oh. Sorry," he mumbled, stepping back. He was clearly mistaken. That wasn't Kakashi. "Wrong person." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know where we are exactly?"

The silvery-haired boy shook his head, sighing loudly. "Only you, Naruto... only you..."

Naruto jumped in shock. "How do you—Wait!" He peered even closer at the strange boy – his ears were pointed for crying out loud. It couldn't be... surely the universe wasn't smiling on him. "Kakashi?"

Grey eyes crinkled up in a smile, his lips – actually visible – mirroring them. "Correct."

"We're... alive?"

"Yep." Kakashi nodded. "And I'm guessing if you're here too, then it means Sakura and Sasuke have tagged along for the ride."

A smile curved at his lips. He wasn't alone. They all weren't dead. "They're alive..."

"Yep."

The smile dropped from his face. "Oh god, they're totally going to blame this one on me..."

"Yep."

"They're going to murder me..."

"Yep." Kakashi paused, leaning towards him pointedly, one hand on his hip, long silvery hair swishing behind him. "So... Wanna come with me and prank some elves?"

"Fuck yes."

Kakashi grinned, an oddly impish sight with his new face. "Let's go then."

Naruto hurried behind him without a second thought. He wasn't alone. The rest of Team Seven had tagged along for the ride, even if two of them were no doubt planning his murder at that very moment in time. A smile graced his lips, a real one that time, before his brain caught up with the conversation, leaving him with one burning question. "Wait. What's an elf?"