Son of the Wild

by jinx777

Taken from the village by his father when he was six and left in a forest along for years, what is the purpose of Naruto Uzumaki in the world of Greek gods and terrifying monsters? Can he survive in the wild, and why dose he feel so at home in it? Rated M to be safe.

1. Child of the Forest

Another idea rattling around in my head that needed to get out, sorry.

A few things you need to know before you read, a bit of background if you will because I'm not sure if I can fit it in otherwise.

There are no Biju, but Naruto will still be seen as a pariah in Konoha, you will see why when you read.

Also Naruto isn't going to have any jutsu, though I might change my mind later on, its not likely.

I think that covers everything for know, if not I will sort it out when I can, and like my other fics this is rated M mostly because I am paranoid and it gives me the freedom to write what I want :)

Enjoy :)

(Updated 17/11/2014)

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Summary- Taken from the village by his father when he was six and left in a forest along for years, can what is the purpose of Naruto Uzumaki in the world of Greek gods and terrifying monsters? Can he survive in the wild, and why dose he feel so at home in it? Rated M to be safe.

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Disclaimer- I own nothing :(

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Chapter 1- Child of the Forest

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Life was never easy for Naruto Uzumaki, from the day he was born people couldn't stand the sight of him. Some would glare as he passed, some would pull their children away and tell them not to go near him, and some even resorted to violence if they had too much to drink.

It wasn't the way looked, at least not completely, because he was a little odd. The six year old had an almost...wild, look to him with his unruly blonde hair, fang like teeth and slited sky blue eyes. He even hand sharp, claw like nails on the end of his fingers and on each of his cheeks were three whisker-like birth marks. His clothes were little more then rags, a brown shirt that had once been grey and black shorts.

No, the main reason people hated him was that he reminded them of what happened on the day of his birth. The day Naruto was born the village was hit with a terrible earthquake that destroyed almost half the village and killed many people. Because of that, and the way he looked, Naruto was seen as a 'bad omen ', the more superstitious villagers blaming him for the disaster, along with pretty much everything else that went wrong in the village since.

No matter where he went, the blonde child could always feel the eyes of the villagers glaring at him, their hate seeming to crawl under his skin and cling to him every second of every day. No matter where he was, no matter what he did, Naruto could never escape those eyes.

These were the thoughts running through his head as he limped towards the alleyway he slept in, his right eye bruised and a small cut on his left leg after a man decided that he needed to be taught a lesson, his bare feet dragging slightly on the hard ground. The sky was dark, with the exception of the stars, the moon not appearing tonight. For a while he just lay in the pile of rags he had used to make a bed for himself, using a few to bind his leg to stop the bleeding. It was a cold night, nothing he did seeming to warm his small body as he curled into a ball and shook.

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When he first heard it, Naruto thought it was his imagination. The wind was strong and howling through his alley, sapping even more of the warmth from his bones. But when he heard it again the whiskered blonde lifted his head, eyes scanning the area to make sure no one was around.

"Come..."

A single word, little more then a whisper carried on the wind, but he heard it almost as if it was shouted in his ear.

"Come..."

This time there was a pulling sensation in his chest, almost as if something was compelling him to follow the wind as it rushed by him, pulling at his clothes. Slowly getting to his feet, his leg still hurting, Naruto did as the wind said, letting it tell him where it wanted him to go by the way it hit his body. It was a slow process made even slower by his injured leg.

Before he even realised it Naruto found himself outside the village, walking through the training grounds that the ninja used, the wind seeming to get even stronger the closer he got to his destination, the whisper seeming to get more urgent.

"Come...Hurry...Come!"

Without warning the wind, which had gone into a frenzy by this point, settled back down into a gentle breeze. He looked towards the large, fenced off forest in front of him, the pull he felt in his chest seeming to grow even stronger as he looked into the many shadows that lay between the trees. Just being near it seemed to make his body tingle, filling him with a need to run towards it, into the trees and just run until he couldn't anymore.

"Come..."

Not needing to be told again, Naruto ran to the fence, the pain in his leg forgotten, and with skill that didn't seem natural climbed it in seconds, using both his hands and feet, before jumping to the other side and running off into the trees.

The tingling sensation he had before growing stronger and stronger the deeper he went, his body full of energy, his mind clearer than it had ever been in his short life. He didn't notice that his leg and eye were healed, or even when he started running on all fours like an animal, moving through the trees in a way no human should be able to, nor did he care when he did, it just felt so right. Deeper and deeper he ran, at one point giving a jump that should be impossible for a child not training to be a ninja, and started jumping through the trees, switching between running and jumping. The only thing on his mind being to find the voice that carried on the wind.

The closer he got the more energy he felt flowing through his veins, getting to the point that he felt his body might exploded. His ears were filled with the sound of music, though he didn't know what the instrument that was being played was, and the sound only seemed to fill him with even more energy. Then he stopped running, the frantic energy running around inside of him settling into a calm, steady flow.

Naruto jumped from a tree and landed at the edge of a large clearing, with a large stump in the centre, and all around him the blonde could see wild animal gathering. He saw tigers, dear, wolves, hawks, eagles, rabbits and every other animal imaginable. They seemed to think nothing of the others in the clearing, all starting at the stump in the centre with dazed, unblinking eyes.

That was when his eyes took in the man sat on the stump, though man might not be the right word for him. He had long blonde hair that seemed to resemble a lion's main, with long curling ram horns sticking out of either side of his head. From the waste down he was covered in golden fur that looked so soft Naruto needed to make a conscious effort not to reach out and touch it, and instead of feet were a pair of goat hooves.

The man's face, like the rest of him, had a wild, ageless appearance, with a long blonde beard that melded into the rest of his hair. His sharp teeth were clearly in view as he smiled towards the small blonde around a strange instrument, the source of the music. Tied to a string hung over his shoulder, Naruto could see a pure white horn with a gold mouthpiece that seemed to shine even through the only light in the sky came from the stars far above. His light blue, slited eyes seemed to shine with joy, something that he had never felt directed at himself before.

Naruto didn't even notice that he was walking forward until he was stood only a few feet from the strange goat man, his eyes just as foggy as the animals around him as he sat down and just listened to the music as it floated around the forest, drawing in more and more animals.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but when Naruto next looked up into the sky it starting to turn red and orange, indicating that the sun was raising over the horizon.

When the music stopped Naruto, along with all the other animals that had gathered, let out a small cry of sadness as the last note faded into the air. The animals left not a moment later, disappearing into the shadows between the trees as if they were never there, leaving just him and the goat man left in the clearing.

After letting go of the instrument, which the blonde could now see was tied to a string around his neck, the man sent him a warm smile as he leaned forward.

"I have waited a long time to meet you, Naruto."

His voice sounded as smooth as honey and Naruto couldn't help the small smile that crossed his lips when he heard it hearing it, still in a slight daze.

"Do I know you?"

At the innocent question the man chuckled, his eyes once again shining with joy as he reached forward and ruffled the small boy's hair gently.

"I know you, but now is not the right time for you to know me."

"...I don't understand"

Chuckling again, the strange goat man jumped off the stump and knelt down next to him, and without warning, wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders in a hug.

"You will, one day, but until then you should sleep. It's been a long night."

Naruto didn't realise it until the man spoke, but he was tired, his eyes suddenly hardly staying open. With a yawn, the blonde boy leaned into the goat mans chest as he fell asleep.

Smiling down at small boy in his arms, Pan let out a small sigh as he picked him up and held him to his chest.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner Naruto, and that I can't keep you with me, but soon the gods will need your help, more then they know, my son."

Without warning Pan's body started to glow gold, before he, with Naruto still in his arms, disappeared into thin air, the only thing left to prove he was ever there to being the wildflowers that had sprung up around his feet.

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When Naruto woke up he was along in a clearing, though he knew it wasn't the one from before because it was smaller, and the trees were different and more spaced out. He still felt the energy running through his body, though it was weaker than before, and could still feel it racing through his body.

Sitting up, he saw that he had been lying on a bed of moss and the sun was high in the sky with hardly any clouds. Standing up to stretch the kinks out of his muscles, Naruto took in several deep breaths, savouring the early morning air, before walking in the direction of a small stream he could hear in the distance, but stopped when he felt his foot hit something on the ground.

On the floor at his feet Naruto saw a bow, with quiver full of arrows, along with a small hunting knife, the same type of instrument he had seen the strange goat man playing the night before and a hooded fur cloak. The bow was made from a dark brown, almost black wood and was polished to perfection, yet didn't reflect any of the light that hit it, while the quiver seemed to be made of some kind of animal hide that he didn't recognise that had light brown fur covering it. When he pulled out one of the arrows he noticed that the shaft was made from the same wood as the bow with dark brown feathers at the end, with a small but shape arrowhead. Some were made from a strange brown metal, while others just seemed to be normal iron. The knife was small, with strange bronze veins running through the metal and looked to be more for skinning then killing, with a leather handle that was a little big for his hand.

Turning to the cloak, Naruto took a moment to feel the soft brown fur that I was made from before putting it on, leaving the hood down as he enjoyed the warmth it gave him, and a strange tingling sensation in his gut. Shrugging his shoulders the blond slung the quiver onto his back with the bow and arrows inside it, before finally turning to the instrument. It was made with several different sized pieces of hollowed out wood, tied together with a cord hanging off of it so that it could hang around his neck.

The moment Naruto's hand touch it, his head was filled with information that hadn't been there before. He learned that the instrument was called Pan-pipes, and even how to play them as if he had known his entire life.

Frowning slightly, he decided to not to question it for now and after hanging them around his neck started making his way towards the stream.

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Naruto spent the next three years living in the forest, not that he was really keeping count of the days. He never felt a need to leave or find people, more then happy to just live off of the land, sleep in the trees and just live his life. He even made friends with several of the local animals, which he had discovered shortly after arriving he could understand and communicate with. It wasn't speech exactly, but he knew what they were saying to him. He was also able to 'copy' any sound he heard perfectly, whether it was an animal or just the sound of the wind blowing through the trees.

Another thing he had discovered was that when he played his Pan-pipes he was able to control plants, if only to a certain degree, and like the night he had met the goat man was able to mesmerise animals, though not to the same level as the man. He spent hours practicing using the bow and arrows he had found, which he found out the arrows return to the quiver on their own, and had gotten very good at making clothes out of animal skins.

He had long outgrown his old clothes, replacing them with a fur vest and pants, the cloak never needed to be replacing because it seemed to grow to fit him perfectly.

The only bad thing about his life was the monsters.

The first one had appeared about three months after he arrived, a large black dog about the size of a horse, with pure red eyes and huge teeth. When he had first seen it Naruto had almost died because he had frozen in place from shock and fear, the dog had charged straight at him and he was only just able to role out of the way at the last second before climbing a tree to escape it.

It took several arrows before he realised that the only ones that could hurt it were the ones made from the strange bronze metal, and he had almost fallen out of the tree when it had burst into golden dust, leaving nothing but a fang behind.

After that they had started coming every over week, sometimes it was another dog, other times it was giants with one eye with the IQ of a peanut, and that was being generous. Once he had even seen a strange giant lizard with nine heads, that one he had hidden away from until it left, something telling him not to fight it. So many different monsters came looking for him that he had stopped counting, just killed what he could, hid from what he couldn't, and collected what was left behind. It got to the point that he needed to make a bag just to hold all of the 'trophies' that he had collected over the last three years.

The only thing he hadn't seen for the last three years were people, the strange girls that he would sometimes see running through the trees not counting because they seemed to actually live inside them. They never spoke to him or got close, almost as if they were afraid of him, but he had seen them watching him at times, especially when he used is Pan-pipes to help a tree or plant grow, with the same dazed expression on their faces as the animal.

Which was why he was so surprised when three kids came running through his clearing, tired and scared, their eyes seeming to dart around to take everything in. One of them seemed to be around his age, a skinny blonde boy with elfish features and blue eyes, a girl that looked a little older with short black hair, electric blue eyes and what Naruto remembered was called a Goth-look. The last of the group was a small girl several years younger then the other two, with blonde hair falling to the middle of her back and grey eyes. From his perch in a tree above them, Naruto could see that they were in bad shape, the oldest girl seemed to have a deep cut on her left arm that was bleeding and they all looked ready to drop.

Then he heard the sound of something running through the forest, something that didn't belong. He wasn't surprised when four of the black dog monsters came crashing into the clearing, eyes locked on the three children and drool dripping from their fanged mouths. He could hear the blonde girl whimpering quietly as the dogs moved towards them, not in any rush now that they had caught up to their prey. He saw the older girl with the injury standing in front of her friends, acting as a human shield between them and the beasts, a sword in her hand made from the same metal as his special arrows as the boy stayed with the younger girl with his own sword to protect her.

Without warning one of the dogs pounced, heading straight for the black haired girl, its mouth open in preparation to take her arm off, only for it to burst into golden dust just before it reached her. For a moment both the kids and the remaining dogs seemed to be in shock at what had happened, them Thalia saw the single arrow sticking out of the ground where the hell hound had been.

Before she had time to think about where it came form, three more arrows shot out of nowhere and hit the other hell hounds, killing them instantly.

She turned to check that both Luke and Annabeth were ok, never getting out of her ready stance encase whatever killed the hellhounds attacked them next. Luke looked just as confused as she did, the son of Hermes was looking around the clearing like her, trying to find who or what had saved them. Then she looked at Annabeth.

The young blonde girl was staring into a tree to their right, her eyes wide and mouth open.

Quickly turning towards what she was looking at, Thalia felt her own eyes widen at what she was seeing.

Crouching on a branch in a tree on the edge of the clearing they had stumbles into was a boy, wearing a fur cloak with a hood pulled up to cover his hair, bright blue eyes and three lines on each cheek. He looked to be around her and Luke's age, and had a wild look about him. Then she saw the bow in his hand and the knife strapped to his ankle. It seemed that everything about the boy screamed 'Dangerous'.

Slowly lowering her swords, motioning Luke to do the same now that he had seen the boy as well, Thalia waited for him to speak. For a moment nothing happened, blue eyes locked on blue eyes. Then without warning the boy dropped off the branch, grabbed it with his free hand, hung in the air for a moment, before dropping silently to the ground in a crouch.

They all stiffened slightly when they saw him reaching a hand behind his back, but relaxed when he pulled out a small fur pouch and a waterskin, before he walked over to Thalia and forced her to sit on the ground by pushing down on her shoulder.

For a moment she resisted, but after another quick staring contest put her sword away and sat down, though Luke stood guard in case he tried anything. The moment she sat on the ground the hooded boy grabbed her left sleeve and ripped it off.

"Hey, what the hell!"

Seeming to ignore her complaint, Naruto took a moment to examine the wound, opening the small pouch and poring some cut up leafs into his hand. When he was happy with the amounted the blonde tipped the herbs into his mouth, followed by a mouthful of water, and spent about a minute chewing it into a thick, green paste. When that was done he spat it back into his hand and, before she had time to protest, put his hand over the cut and rubbed it in.

The moment the paste touched the open wound Thalia let a small scream at the stinging sensation, making both Luke and Annabeth stiffen, but it only lasted for a moment before it went numb and the bleeding stopped. After waiting a moment to make sure it was working, Naruto started bandaging the cut with some more fur he had cut just for such a purpose. When he was done, Thalia could only stare with confused eyes as he pushed the pouch and waterskin into her hands, not entirely sure what was going on, but after a moment her voice came back.

"Thanks, I'm Thalia, this is Luke and Annabeth. What's your name?"

Without showing any sign that he had heard her, Naruto turn away and walked over to the golden piles of dust, picking up the teeth left over from the hell hounds, and putting them into another pouch he had pulled out from under his cloak. When he had done that, the hooded boy pulled his hood down, showing the three his bright blonde hair that trail down to his shoulders.

They waited several minutes, but the strange blonde still didn't even look in their direction so, waiting while her friends sat on the ground next to her, Thalia rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly before looking back to the blonde boy.

"We were switching between our bases when the hell hounds caught our scent, they've been chasing us for about five hours"

Still no answer.

"...how long have you been here?"

It was like he couldn't hear anything they said, not meeting their eyes as he started to pile up wood in preparation for a fire, before Naruto took out two stones and rubbed them together to get a spark.

They fell into silence after that, realizing that he might not actually be able to understand anything they said, Thalia and Luke keeping an eye on the boy who they were positive was a demi-god like them, though they weren't sure who his godly parent might be. They watched as he started the small fire with dry wood so that there wasn't any smoke, before looking at Annabeth and frowning slightly.

They had been so deep in thought neither had even noticed the sun setting, or that the wind had picked up. Poor Annabeth was shaking like a leaf, her torn clothes affording her little in the way of warmth. They moved closer to the fire, sitting as close to each other as they could to share their body heat, the small blonde girl between her two older friends.

The frown still in place, Naruto got up and walked to the edge of the clearing and without slowing climbed one of the trees, his fingers and toes gripping the spaces between the bark easily. They lost sight of him for a moment as he disappeared into the branches, before something fell to the ground with a thump, followed by another. They were followed a moment later by Naruto.

When he returned to the fire the blonde tossed one of the bundles towards the three kids, which turned out to be a thick blanket made out of fur big enough for the three of them to fit under with ease, before he sat back down on the other side. After covering themselves with the blanket, they watched as Naruto unwrapped the other buddle he had thrown down from the tree, revealing a pile of sliced meet. After taking several pieces for himself, the blonde threw the rest over the fire towards the three demi-gods, along with three stick with the bark stripped and the ends sharpened.

Luke was about to thank him when the words froze in his throat, eyes widening as he watched the boy pick up a piece of uncooked meat and eat it, giving them their first glimpse of his sharp, fang like teeth. Sending a worried look to Thalia, who was sending him one of her own, they both started to stick their meat on the sticks and cook them over the fire, Luke holding Annabeth's and his own.

As they waited for the meat to cook, Thalia decided to break the silence by asking there blonde host another question, even though she knew it was unlikely he would answer her.

"Why don't you cook your meat?"

Still ignoring them Naruto wiped a bit of blood from his mouth with his thumb before looking at the black haired girl over the fire, his face all but devoid of expression. Frowning slightly when he still didn't speak, Thalia decided to just ask the biggest question on her mind, if for no other reason than to get it out.

"So... who's your parent?"

Still nothing.

"Why aren't you talking to us, are you just so stupid you can't even talk!"

It was the first time since he met them that Annabeth had spoken, and she was glaring at him as if he had done something wrong. All Naruto did was glance in her direction for a moment, before turning back to his meat.

After a while the whiskered boy shrugged his shoulders and, using another of his waterskines to put out the fire, walked over to one of the trees at the edge of the clearing and climbed into it to sleep for the night.

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The three young demi-gods had spent a week in the clearing with Naruto so far, though he didn't say a word to them and didn't seem to care that they were there. It was nice, not have to be constantly moving around to avoid monster attacks and just taking some time to rest. Thalia's arm had healed after the second day, the herbs their new blonde 'friend' had given her seemed to work perfectly and it didn't even leave a scar.

Then again, friend might not be the right word.

The blonde really didn't seem to care about anything, except maybe the forest. He shared his food and water, gave them his blanket and even gave them some of his spare cloaks he had made, but even after a week he treated them like strangers, barely even looking at them. It was like there was an invisible wall around him, keeping them from getting close.

Both she and Luke had spent hours watching him, the way he moved, almost like he was a part of the forest itself. They had never seen a human, demi-god or not, that could climb a tree like he did. Sometimes he seemed more like a wild animal then a person. They hadn't even seen him sleep in the last few days, he always waited until they dosed off and woke up the next day before them.

They still had no idea who his Godly-parent could be, not that they had met many.

Annabeth seemed to hate him with everything she had, having given him the nickname 'Barbarian' after their first night and refused to go anywhere near him, saying that she didn't want his stupidity to pass on to her. Both the older Demi-gods had tried to reason with her, but the fact was she was still young and didn't see things the way they did. The fact was that he had been living wild on his own for who knew how long, which meant he was smart enough to survive both the elements and any monsters that came looking for him.

At the moment the three were watching the whiskered blonde cutting up a doe he had drabbed into the clearing only a few minutes before, its eyes empty and a wound in its chest from where an arrow had pierced its heart. He used the small knife that they had seen tied to his ankle with practiced ease, expertly skinning it before cutting up the edible meat and putting what couldn't be used into a pile on his right. In a matter of minutes he had finished his work.

But what he did next confused them as, pulling three bags made out of fur from under his cloak, the blonde spilt the meat between the three, then tossed them each a bag with a full waterskin tied to it.

"…go…"

It was the first word he had spoken to them since they met him, and for reasons she couldn't understand the daughter of Zeus got a cold feeling down her spine. His voice was quite and brittle, as if he hadn't used it for so long his mouth had forgotten how to form words, struggling to even get the one out.

After getting over their shock at the fact he could actually speak, the three demi-gods quickly started to pack when the sound of a tree falling in the distance reached her ears. In that one sound she understood what was happening, Monsters were coming, and from the sound of it big ones.

They had just finished packing when the daughter of Zeus turned back to the blonde and, stopping suddenly when she saw that instead of packing he was lashing his knife, which she now realized had celestial bronze melted into it, to the end of a branch to use as a makeshift spear.

"What are you doing we have to go, they'll be here soon!"

"…not...coming…"

His words got the attention of Luke and Annabeth, who were now a few feet in front of Thalia and had stopped to stare at the wild boy as if he was insane.

Naruto didn't even look up from tying his knife to look at them.

"…go..."

Running up and grabbing him by the shoulders, shaking him slightly as she did, Thalia got right in his face and glared at him, blue eyes meeting blue eyes.

"I'm not going to leave you here to get yourself killed!"

Pushing her away from him, causing her to trip and fall on the ground, Naruto glared down at the older girl for a moment before quickly glancing back up at her two friends, who were sending both of they worried looks. In that one moment, Thalia understood what he was saying, even if he didn't do it with words. He was telling her to take the others and run, to leave him behind while he brought them time, time that she had no doubt would cost him his life.

"…run..."

Without waiting for a reply, Naruto ran off in the direction of the crashing sounds, which were getting closer and closer by the second, leaving the three demi-gods alone in the clearing without looking back as they watched him run towards almost certain death. Thalia, with a sad but grateful expression on her face, Luke with a terrified look and tears in his eyes, and most surprisingly Annabeth, crying her eyes out and screaming for the 'Barbarian' to come back as the two older demigods held her back from running after him.

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The surprise that crossed the 'One Eyes' faces when Naruto threw his 'spear' at one of them, turning him to dust, before running between them and grabbing the spear before running in the opposite direction, would have been funny if he had time to savour it. He could hear their angry roars as they chased after him, their large feet leaving dents in the soft soil as they ran.

The first part of his plan was working, get them away from the others. Now he just needed to stay ahead of them until he could implement the second part. Unfortunately for Naruto the one eyed, ten foot tall giants chasing him had different plans.

When the first boulder came towards him the blonde was able to dodge it by swinging off of a tree and changing direction at the last moment, the large projectile sailing harmlessly passed him before knocking over a tree, but after that it got harder. The four One Eyes kept throwing boulders, trees and anything else they could get their hands on at him, forcing Naruto to dodge and change direction to avoid getting hit. The problem with that was that it was making it harder and harder for him to keep going in the direction he wanted to go.

It got the to point that Naruto knew he would need to stop and face them, the four giants having already closed the distance between they even with his speed and acrobatics, so landing in a small clearing about 200 feet away from where he was heading the blonde turned around and thrust his spear into the chest of the One Eye that was about to slam its fist into him.

Before the dust had even settled on the ground he was forced to jump back as another fist came charging towards him, before rolling to his right to avoid the large foot that tried to stomp him into the ground. When he got back to his feet Naruto turned to face the three remaining monsters, their eyes glaring at him with both hunger and hate.

The first one had a large, brown afro on top of his head, with bones sticking out of it in random places and a hairbrush knotted into the top. He had two tusk like teeth jutting out of his mouth from his bottom lip and a small beared on the bottom of his face. He was wearing a glittery sliver vest with the buttons undone, though that was probably because of his large gut making it impossible to close, and a pair of white shorts that looked like they might explode at any second.

The next on seemed to be made of nothing but curly black hair, his entire body was covered in it with the exception of a small area around his eye and mouth. The only clothing he wore was an old cloth as a loincloth and in his right hand was a small tree that he was using as a club.

The last one eye, unlike his friends, was completely bold, his head seeming to actually shine where the sun hit it. He was wearing blue overalls covered in grease, with a dirty cloth stuffed into the top pocket and the right sleeve torn off.

The first to attack was the hairy one, his club raised high in the air in preparation to smash the small blonde. Waiting until the last second Naruto jumped onto the club, stabbing the one eye in the arm as he used it as a springboard, before doing a summersault over its head and stabbing it behind the left knee when he landed behind him. That was how it worked nature, if a predator couldn't outright kill its prey, they would go for the legs first then were it down for the kill. But before he had the chance to finish it off Naruto was sent flying across the clearing by the One Eye with the afro from a backhand, hitting a large boulder before falling to the ground with a pained grunt.

Getting up quickly, ignoring the pain in his side, the blonde pulled out his bow and started shooting arrows into the bold One Eyes knees as he came charging towards him, seeming intent on ramming into him and crushing him against the boulder he had just hit. It slowed the giant down enough for him to roll to the left, resulting in the One Eye running head first into the with a loud creak, splitting it in two from the force.

While the bold One Eye was dazed Naruto quickly returned his bow to the quiver on his back, grabbed his spear and thrust it into the One Eye's side, turning it into dust before running out of the clearing. He could hear the two remaining One Eyes following behind him, pushing threes out of their way as they got closer and closer as their large strides countered his speed.

Reaching his destination, Naruto had just enough time to smile before rolling to his right to dodge another bolder thrown at him before it went flying over the edge of the cliff he was stood in front of, his back pressed to a tree out of there line of sight. Moments later the One Eye came running out of the trees and, not seeing the drop in time, the hairy One Eye ran straight off it, screaming as he fell before it was cut off when he hit the river and burst into dust.

Seeing what happened to his friend, the afro One Eye came to a stop just at the edge of the cliff, tittering for a moment, before regaining his balance and turning to glare at the blonde boy he had ran passed.

Not giving the monster a chance to get his bearings, Naruto ran forward, jumped into the air, and slammed both his feet into the one eye's chest. The kick was just enough to throw off his balance once again and, just like his friend before him, fell backwards over the cliff.

Breathing deeply, the pain in his side returning in full now that the adrenalin was leaving him, Naruto lay on the ground for a few minutes panting before slowly pulling himself back up, limping back into the forest and to his clearing. As he walked, the pain slowly started to fade, like it always did when he was in the forest, until it was nothing more than a dull ache.

XXX

He wasn't sure how much time had passed now since he had sent the three away, his mind had long forgotten how time worked, just living in the moment and enjoying his life. He had fixed the damage the One Eyes had done while chancing him, making it as if they had never been there. It wasn't hard, all he needed to do was play the fallen trees some music on his pan-pipes and they would slowly fix themselves, the local animals and 'Tree Ladies' always gathering to listen when he did.

He had been happily lounging in a tree above his clearing, looking up at the lights in the night sky without a care in the world, he couldn't remember what they were called, but he like them. Then his thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a large group of humans. The moment he heard them getting closer, Naruto climbed higher into the tree so that he was hidden by the foliage.

There were about twenty of them, all dressed in the same silver jackets with hoods, white skirts that fell to just below their knees, with bows and arrows on their backs. They all seemed to be young girls the oldest no more then fithteen, and out of all of them only two stood out. The first was the oldest girl, who had long black hair tied into a plat that fell down to her waist and had a silver circlet on top of her head. Her skin had a light tan and her face seemed to be constantly set in a frown as she watched the other girls set up camp.

The other was a girl a little younger, with long red hair, shimmering silver eyes and the most peaceful expression on her face. Naruto didn't know what it was about her that made her stand out; it was like she had an aura around her that he couldn't stop looking at.

But then he realised that they were setting up camp in his clearing.

The main problem with this was that there were so many of them, they would over hunt his forest, killing too many animals to eat. If that happened it would take years for the balance to return to normal. He couldn't let that happen.

Frowning slightly at the large group, the blonde took a moment to think before taking in a deep breath, then let it out in the sound of the roar he had copied from the strange dogs monsters that he had killed, making sure to throw his voice so they didn't know he was there. The plan was to scare them off without being seen and the moment the sound left his lips the group of girls froze, quickly pulling out their bows and aiming an arrow into the surrounding darkness between the trees, none seeming to bother looking up.

Waiting a moment, the next sound he made was from a large lizard he had once seen, but chose not to fight, that had had several heads. Letting out a hissing sound in a way that it sounded like more then one, Naruto crouched lower into the tree when he saw the widening of several of the girls eyes, happy that his plan seemed to be working.

XXX

Down in the clearing several of the less experienced hunters were starting to panic as the sound of several different monsters echoed around them in the darkness.

Artemis could only frown in slight confusion as she listened to the different calls, something not sitting right in her stomach. She had brought her hunters here because this forest hardly ever saw monster, the fact that it was in such good condition proving that to be true. Even now she couldn't actually feel any within 300 miles of their position. The plan was to come here and train up her three newest hunters, the large amount of wildlife in the area making it the perfect place to practice hunting. It didn't make any sense, she knew for a fact that there were no monsters in the area, but all around her she could clearly here them.

Finally having enough, the goddess of the hunt closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her, her bow at the ready. It took several minutes for her to realise what was wrong, the calls of the monster were perfect, exactly like the creatures that made them, too perfect. There was no variation in the sounds, no change of pitch in the slightest…they were being tricked!

When she realised this, it was child's play to pinpoint where the noises were originating from.

Turning her attention to the top of one of the tree at the edge of the clearing, Artemis quickly brought up her bow and fired into the tree, drawing the attention of her hunters as she did so. The moment the arrow disappeared into the branches, the sounds stopped, the air suddenly becoming completely silent. But the thing that surprised her was that instead of the sound of her arrow hitting flesh, she heard it hitting the trunk of the tree with a dull thud.

She had missed...she never missed!

Before the hunter had time to aim at the tree themselves a shadow shot out of the branches and into the tree next to it, before repeating the action to the next. Whatever this thing was, it was fast. None of the hunters were able to get a clear view of it as it jumped from tree to tree, circling them several times before finally landing on the ground and running straight into the camp. Before any of them realised what was happening the shadow was in front of Artemis, who without thinking slammed her hand into its chest and threw it back to the edge of the clearing where it hit a tree hard enough to almost break it.

It was at that moment that the cloud that had been blocking the moon passed, letting it shine its pale light down into the clearing they were in and finally letting them see their attacker.

"A boy!"

The pure disgust that was in her captains voice was easy to hear, and it was mirrored by several others second later.

Artemis stood back and watched, hiding her own shock at the finally seeing the attacker, as Zoe ran over and lifted the injured boy up by his neck, holding him against the tree. Now that they could all see him clearly the goddess realised that he was young, no older the ten, and had a wild look to him that was only enhanced when he started growling at Zoe with a heated glare, his lips pulled back in a snarl and showing them all his fang like teeth.

"Who ar't thou? How dare thee intrude in the Huntresses camp!"

The only response she got was the sound of a hell hound's roar coming from the boy's throat as he started to claw at her wrist like a wild animal.

"No more tricks! Speak now, boy!"

To emphasize her point, the dark haired huntress slammed the boy into the tree hard enough to make him cough blood, but he still didn't speak. He just kept glaring at them all, growling like a wild animal and clawing at the hand on his neck.

Having seen enough, Artemis walked forward, Zoe letting the boy go instantly and backing away with a bowed head, her eyes never leaving the boy as he fell to the ground and coughed up more blood. The red headed Goddess stopped a foot away from the boy, her face impassive as she looked down at him.

"Why did you attack us, answer now or I will turn you into a jackalope and be done with you."

This time instead of using a hell hound, the blonde, his hood having fallen off when Zoe dropped him, looked up at her and hisses like a hydra. But it was at that moment, when she saw his slited blue eyes, that Artemis realised that the boy in front of her was completely wild.

Taking a moment to look around the clearing, the goddess of the hunt saw several animal skin bags hanging from the trees and the slight indentations in the grass around the clearing that showed something moved through the area often. It seemed that they had set up camp in the wild boy's territory.

"…you...go…"

Turning her attention back on the boy, his eyes still glaring at her without any fear, Artemis let a small frown cross her lips.

"Excuse me?"

Seeming to struggle with the words, the hunters watched in silence as the boy spoke, some glaring at him, but a few sending him confused looks.

"…too...many...hunt...my...h-home…"

At the word home he gestured at the clearing around them.

None of the hunters seemed to understand what he was saying, but Artemis did.

His mindset seemed to be like a wild animal, he was scared of then, scared because a larger group of predators had invaded his home and he thought they would exhaust the food source because there were so many of them. This caused Artemis to let out a deep sigh. It was true she dislike men, she found them untrustworthy and disgusting as a whole, but unlike some of her hunters was not blind to the fact that there could be exceptions. This boy was an innocent, little more then a wild animal he had attacked them in fear, with no malicious intent.

It was clear he was a demi-god, feel the godly tint in his blood, though she had no idea who's, and that he had been alone for a long time. It actually impressed her, the fact he was still alive, and if his 'collection' of sounds was anything to go on he had seen his fair share of monsters.

But then her eyes landed on something hanging around his neck that had fallen out from under his brown cloak, something that made her eyes widen in shock...pan-pipes.

"That's impossible, no one has seen him in hundreds of years, and he has never had a demi-god child, it can't be..."

Pan was one of the few men she didn't find completely disgusting, not to say he didn't have his moments. Her nephew was a good man...or goat, and before he disappeared they had been on several hunts together, after all, there domains crossed into each other's. The thought of this boy being his child shocked her, but why else would a wild blonde haired, slighted blue eyed demi-god have pan-pipes?

Turning to her captain, who seemed to have also noticed the pipes and had wide eyes locked on the boys face, taking in his wild appearance, Artemis clearing her throat to get her attention.

"Tell the others he is not to be harm, I must return to Olympus and find Hermes at once. Do not hunt before I get back and treat his wounds…keep him in my tent until I return."

Though she didn't look too happy about it, Zoe nodded her head in understanding before turning away when her mistress ran out of the clearing and disappeared in a flash of light.

XXX

Hope you all like it. I'm not that good with timelines, so be patient with me if there are mistakes.

Also remember to leave a review, or I will get Artemis to shoot you in the ass with an arrow!

R&R:)