Learning What Happened

Olympus was as always, a rowdy palace where immortals pass their boredom through incessant arguments. Most of them were pointless matters, since they rooted from past events.

Honestly, man has become more mature than the gods if such age causes them to argue against one another without any reasonable points in difference.

(Guess who said the following...)

"Mother Rhea always loved you best!"

"Zeus, when will you stop chasing all those women?!"

"Mother, when will you apologize for throwing me out of Olympus?"

"Sky disasters are greater than waters'!"

"Sis, chill down..."

"Do not call me Sis! And refrain from flirting with my Hunters!"

"Artemis, you desperately need a guy..."

"Cereal, anybody want cereal? No one?! Then everyone will have cereal!"

"Ugh! Hermes, give me back my sword!"

"Quit it now, Barnacle Beard! Athens is my city!"

While they were so busy with foolishness, a book fell right in front of Zeus with a loud thud. The surprise of finding such a thing before their eyes broke the squabbling gods from their petty arguments.

"NPU: Welcome the Sea of Monsters..." Zeus read the title cautiously, narrowing his eyes at a suspicious glare to Hades who remained impassive despite the killing intent. He certainly encountered much more of that during his days as Minato, the Yellow Flash and Yondaime of Konohagakure.

"Cool! NPU means Naruto: Prince of Underworld, right?" Apollo pumped his fist in the air with gusto. "Yeah, that's my coolest cousin!"

"Stop being an idiot!" Artemis slapped the back of his head and tsked in annoyance.

"Alright then, let's read the book now." Hera shot a pointed look at her 'beloved' husband.

Meanwhile, in another place called Konohagakure, The Village Hidden in the Leaves, a boy named Naruto was being used as nostalgic reference by most important people in the area. They have learned from Kakashi that he was taken from the Valley of the End by his father, the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze – who was not only very much alive thirteen years after his supposed death, but is the God of the Dead and King of the Underworld, Hades.

Shizune, the Godaime Hokage Tsunade's assistant, looked on to the depressed faces of the Konoha nin who waited before her master for their assigned missions. She frowned as she saw the miserable state of her fellow shinobi.

Especially...

Kakashi who was torn between crushing his beloved orange book in his hands and sealing himself in a room to vent his anger and frustration. I failed you, Minato-sensei, Kushina-sama...

Sakura who was no longer a harpy and was apologetic of the times she hit Naruto without remorse. Oh Naruto, please forgive me...

Other than the remaining Team Seven members, the most devastated of Naruto's departure was the pretty indigo-haired Hyuuga Hinata. She cried herself every night since finding out the incident. I did not even get the chance of telling him of my love. I'm so weak...

Presently, in the Hokage's office, they faced Tsunade who was sending out missions to the other shinobi, waiting for their own mission. (Kakashi, in particular, was worrying the Hokage because he was prone to asking for more and more suicide missions due to grief of his failures.) Shaking her head ruefully as she glanced at the ones who knew Naruto the closest, she bent down her desk and took a scroll from her drawer.

"Here, this arrived very early this morning and I have very good inkling that you need to see this, especially for your 'situation'..." Kakashi snorted mirthlessly as he inspected the storage scroll. The moment he ran his thumb over its seal and sent a small amount of chakra against it, he had to step back in utter shock as it unrolled and threw in front of him books.

"T-Tsunade-sama, what are these?" Sakura asked cautiously, eyeing the books with a mixture of fascination and apprehension.

"According to notes that were attached to the scroll, Minato wanted those who cared to know what happened to his son, Naruto," Tsunade told her curtly.

"S-So this will tell us where Naruto is, Hokage-sama?" Hinata perked up from her unhappy stance and looked up to the blonde Senju in desperate askance.

"More or less, yes, that will be so..." Tsunade nodded at her.

"Sensei knows that Naruto will need the precious people he has in Konoha to understand what his life has been so far there with him..." Kakashi said sagely.

Naruto... Hinata made a small smile, as she wiped away tears that she willingly shed for his sake. She then bent down and picked up the first book, entitled NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters. "I would like to read the first chapter, Tsunade-sama..."

"Okay, just be forewarned: Minato says that Naruto has encountered changes in his new life that you might not find good for your ears," Tsunade said to them tersely.

"Well, Naruto hasn't bailed himself out of trouble's way there, has he?" Kiba laughed wistfully at his lost prankster partner.

At Tsunade's golden silence, Shikamaru shook his head and chuckled, "There you go… We think he's still Naruto Uzumaki, being troublesome wherever he goes…"