Hello.
This is a rewrite of two of my fics, Hunter with a Divine Third and Divine Third Hunting. It will combine the two, fixing the mistakes and expanding on some things that were only mentioned, and, most important, will show things chronologically.
You see, HwaDT happens in media res, with the main character (Naruto) already having been affected by the changes, so the meat of the story, the Percy Jackson part, could begin. Unfortunately, plans for said past to be shown on flashbacks, when not relevant to the point of the story it was at, killed its flow.
Thus DTH was created. It would show the parts that were not shown on HwaDT, making the story better.
But… it is a side-story, and thus not something many people enjoying the main story would read. But it is in the side-story that the meat of Naruto's training happens, meaning in the main story he seems hyper-competent.
I did not want that.
But would that be enough to make me write a rewrite? Probably not, which is why I didn't do it right away.
…it was THEN that I noticed one of the bases for the story was flawed. A base that named the story.
(If the story is named Hunter with a Divine Third because Naruto was bathed with Artemis' power while in the womb, and even in canon he was bathed with Kurama's while there… he isn't a third divine… depending on how you see Kurama's divinity, being a part of Kaguya the Rabbit Goddess, he is either a quarter or half)
So, this rewrite was born.
Currently, both HwaDT and DTH are still going. They will do so until this rewrite overtake them – something that will happen much sooner for DTH, for it is currently shorter, sooner in this story's timeline (for now) and, specially, it is better written since I already used some of what I learned with my other stories on t.
And thus, this story, despite being in the Naruto x Percy Jackson session, will begin as mostly a Naruto x Monster Hunter story for a while.
But fear not, Percy Jackson fans, we will reach it eventually. But the Monster Hunter part is essential for understanding how Naruto became what he is in the Percy Jackson part.
IIIII
TL,DR: This is a ((Naruto x Percy Jackson) x Monster Hunter) x Chrono Cross. But for the first chapters, that are about Naruto's story until after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, it will be mostly a Naruto x Monster Hunter story for character development of Naruto. You will get your Percy Jackson goodies right after then.
IIIII
In her prison, she stirred.
Through the prison, power flowed. Uncontained.
There was need of a second plan and even a third. Failure of the current plan was not unexpected, but neither was it an option.
The original plan was already taking too long to get to the long-desired finale.
And thus, a new plan was formed.
A plan prone to failure, for it depended much on luck and on the individuals behaving on a certain way.
But what was luck and uncertainty for a being that could see through realities? For a being that, even contained, still had a way to influence the outside?
Empty eyes filled with power, and her power exhaled through her body. Through the imprint of the being in the world, the power flowed.
The realities were seen, and this one was seen as fulfilling the desire.
...as far as could be seen.
Even the powerful being could only see up to a point, for its prison still contained most of the power.
No matter. Power kept flowing. It was uncontrolled, but focused on its task. It would bring what the being desired, despite being on its own.
The barriers between the realities began to break. Not everywhere, but in the weaker places. The right places.
The deed was done. The second, and even the third plan, was in motion.
Soon, freedom would be at grasp.
For now, time was both an ally and an enemy. But, soon, time would be…
IIIII
Artemis was worried. Not for her, but for her Hunters.
She wasn't usually worried… well, not that worried. She had to admit to herself she could be a mother hen at times, coddling them a bit too much.
But, this monster she ended up finding and hunting… it was different from any other.
For starters, she did not recognize it. Neither as a monster nor as a natural animal, despite it giving a feeling of being both.
Well, if she was being fair, it also seemed like a chimera, with the draconic body and wings (and ability to breath fire) but a leonine face and mane.
Then there was the fact it seemed to be immune to Celestial Bronze, even when blessed by her. Oh, it hurt it, but no more than a mortal weapon would.
And finally but far from least, it seemed to be surrounded by a red aura that deflected most projectiles. The most damage that could be done to it were when Artemis decided to throw caution to the wind and just jump on its back and stab it in the top of the neck… and that only downed the beast for a bit.
But down it the action did, so she jumped towards it again as soon as her Hunters had left. Sliding under the beast, her hunting knife slid on the scales of its belly, and the goddess cursed. It seemed like its resistance around the whole body was great, its body and belly being equally resistant to be cut.
Losing her patience, she grabbed an arrow from her quiver and impaled it on the beast's tail with her godly strength, pinning it to the ground… successfully?
She had no time to dwell on that, though, as the beast did its best to attack her, maybe not in spite of the pinned tail, probably because such an action enraged it.
The red aura the beast emanated seems to be gone, allowing Artemis to use her archery to attack it, enraging it even more. She soon had to evade a large clump of earth that once held the tail, the arrow remaining stuck on the limb.
The very air around them seemed charged with the monster's simple presence, emanating a red glow as if it was near exploding.
It beat its wings, and a red powder escaped from them. Not liking how it looked, Artemis jumped backwards…
…just in time, as she saw a spark come from the beast's gnashed teeth and the next instant the powder became a ball of fire exploding in front of her.
Trusting her instincts, she fired an arrow inside the fire, and was rewarded by a scream of rage. As soon as she could see again, the monster had an arrow stuck in its nose and an expression of hate.
She couldn't help releasing a smug smile.
The monster jumped at her, swiping a claw covered in flame. Wasting no time, she jumped back, then to the side when she noticed that the claw released the red powder.
A quick look revealed the powder was also coming from the tail, blocking her from attacking physically both the front and the back.
But she was fast. Even the Ceryneian Hind, that could outrun arrows, was prey to her abilities.
Even so, it was no simple task. Its neck and belly were highly resistant to damage, even her Celestial Bronze arrows were little more than annoyances.
Seeing no better way to deal with the beast, she ran to its side and jumped, grabbing it by the horns. The neck had proven to be just as resistant as the belly, but the head, specially the connection of it and the neck, was much less protected.
Holding as tightly as she could as the beast raged and tried to throw her off, she mused that the weakpoints of the beast apparently were the tail and the face… The problem was that the tail was non-lethal and the face was one of the most protected areas.
So concentrated was her on the beast under her and in keeping herself in place, she did not notice as the world changed.
IIIII
The one known as Pain looked around through the Animal Path's eyes. His fighting of Hanzo's forces continued, unstopped. Unstoppable.
For he was unstoppable. As was his pain and his rage.
The Animal Path summoned a creature to fight. These were only a waste of time, while the true threat used their sacrifice to prepare himself.
…well, that was the plan.
A creature was summoned. A great winged beast of fire unlike any other any of them had seen.
The woman on its back stabbing it while it tried flying away at the horizon was also unlike anything they had ever seen.
Nagato shook his head. He must have been seeing things. Having seven pair of eyes does this sometimes.
The next second, a new creature was summoned by the Animal Path. This time, it obeyed properly, and no women were on its back.
IIIII
It was fast, but it clearly usually traveled in short bursts. Having an opponent those bursts could not dislodge on its back despite half an hour of attempts forced the beast to change its strategy.
The red dust it released was being pushed away by the winds. Artemis held on to its horns despite all its attempts to throw her off.
So it landed as fast as it could, its wings beating and releasing the dust around it.
Artemis' eyes widened. She was right on top of the beast, and being covered in the dust, meaning that the explosion would hit her no matter how much she ran.
And it could make it explode by just gnashing its teeth.
…gnashing its teeth…
In a bit of desperation, she hit the side of its head with the hilt of her hunting knife. Thankfully it worked, and the beast opened its mouth in the beginning of an angry roar.
That was when she shoved her bow into its mouth through the sides, making makeshift reins and holding it open as hard as she could.
The beast obviously did not appreciate it, roaring loudly and painfully near Artemis' ears… but that roar also pushed the air, and with it the explosive red dust, away.
Noticing that, the goddess wasted no time, jumping in front of the beast, recovering her bow and firing an arrow on the palate, the roof of its mouth.
Then, while it bellowed in pain and rage, she circled it and tried trapping as much of its tail to the ground with her arrows as she could.
The monster was, understandably, angry. But Artemis never expected it to be angry to the point of ripping its own tail off in its charge at her.
Thus how she was pinned down by its claw as it prepared to bite her head off. Or barbecue her. Either way, it was opening its maw.
The Hunters of Artemis don't have many weapons, mostly bows and arrows and hunting knives.
They have, however, a special arrow that explodes into a cloud of bad-smelling smoke, whose function is to stun and cloud the vision of enemies.
And apparently, from the way the monster was panicking and waving its tongue around after Artemis exploded one such arrow inside its mouth by hand, it tasted just as awful as it smelled.
She wasted no time, rolling away and releasing an arrow, the projectile striking true and piercing the eye of the already-panicking creature. Adrenaline still in her body, she pushed herself forward and kicked the arrow further in.
The beast roared in pain.
Taking advantage of the situation, she advanced as fast as her divine body allowed and cut the neck with her knife, opening as wide a gash there as she could.
The beast fell on the ground, battling against the lack of air on its lungs, until it finally stood still.
Artemis just looked at it for a while, waiting for any sign of it still being alive… and, when she was finally convinced it was not faking, and the adrenaline rush finally left her, she let herself fall to the ground.
She then started laughing.
She did it. She defeated the beast.
After almost an hour of nonstop fighting, most of it spent stabbing it in the neck while it flew at high speeds and tried to throw her to her death, she finally did it.
For millennia she didn't have such a challenge, a monster that really challenged her in her field.
"The sounds came from here."
Unfortunately, it would not last. She heard voices. Mortal voices. Male voices.
Despite rumors, Artemis was not really a man-hater. She was just a protector of women, and despite progress of the times for most of her life they were at the mercy of the will of men. And despite knowing that there were many virtuous men, as there were vile women, in her career she faced mostly of the evil coming from the male side.
So you could excuse her a bit for expecting the worse from said gender until proven wrong.
She stood up slowly. Slower than she expected, not noticing how tired she was.
"Oh, what do we have here?" said an ugly voice, followed by a dirty man. With a leer on his face.
And following him, equally dirty men with just as malicious looks.
She resisted the urge to sigh. Why was she surprised?
"Well, lady, it seems like you are in trouble. Why don't you come with us?"
"No thank you," she replied, looking at them as if they were dirt beneath her feet, which as far as she was aware they were. "I have my own business to take care of."
Her dismissal was not well received, the men scowling at her.
But the leader's leer only intensified, becoming clearly malicious. "Well, if you want we can have our fun right here."
Laughs answered those words, and the men started approaching.
They were armed, some with rusty swords and knives, others, with less muscles but lither bodies, with small black knives.
Nevertheless, she was not defenseless, her tiredness far from enough to turn them into a challenge. She would be more than able to—
"Oh, we are gonna have fun? Can I join?" sounded a female voice behind the men.
Everyone looked at the source, and on the top of a nearby tree stood a woman with long, red hair.
And an apparently happy and carefree smile, but everyone there could see the malice behind it.
Artemis raised an eyebrow appreciatively while some of the males, the ones with the black knives, blanched.
"It's the Blood Red Habanero," one of the scared men whispered in fear.
But whatever meaning the name had for them the leader did not seem to share.
"Of course," he said with a perverted laugh. "Just come down here and join us."
The woman wasted no time obeying.
Or so it seemed to Artemis, for even she was only able to see a red blur come from the tree and punch the leader at the trunk of a nearby one, making him fall unconscious instantly. And probably rendering him paraplegic, she wasn't a doctor.
"Tsk, idiot," the woman said, her smile leaving her face.
"Boss!" some of the men yelled, and jumped on the woman, weapons raised. Others, seeing it was a lost cause, started running away as fast as they could.
Not that it served them any good, since they were all on the ground in the same state of their boss in less than ten seconds.
Artemis couldn't help but blink as the men were lifted in floating chains. Chains that came from the woman's hair.
The woman looked at her, a pleasant smile on her face and clearly going to ask if she was alright… then the smile suddenly turned strained when she saw the dead beast behind Artemis.
"That's new around here," she said after a bit. "Were you the one who killed it?"
Artemis was considered a proud person, in the sense that she always tried to show dignity and self-worth. But this was one of the few times she felt actual pride in her actions in centuries. As said, that was a worthy challenge she didn't have in a while.
So she can be excused the smile of satisfaction on nodding and confirming that yes, she was the one who did it.
Then her eyes widened, the calm finally letting her notice the language the redhead and the men were using.
Japanese. Also known to her as "that language Apollo became so obsessed with she learned by osmosis".
She looked angrily at the beast, uncaring of what the woman thought. Pantheons did their best to stay separated, and here it brought her, to the lands governed by the Kami…
She sighed. It was too late to do anything now.
The redhead looked at her and the body, then raised… a scroll?
"Do you mind if I seal it for you?"
Artemis stepped aside, letting the other woman do whatever she meant. She would like to send it to her camp, such a game deserved a place of honor, but she didn't want to draw attention to her supernatural origin—
Aand the woman made the body disappear.
"Here you go," she said smiling, throwing the scroll to Artemis.
Who had her eyes wide as she looked at it on her hand.
The redhead tilted her head to the side. "Is there something wrong?"
Artemis was going to answer, when she heard another person approaching.
This time it was a blond man, wearing a pink apron with "Kushina's personal cook" written.
He seemed resigned as he saw the men on the chains.
The chains promptly disappeared and the redhead suddenly decided that the tree on the left seemed weirdly interesting.
The blond sighed.
"Kushina, ramen is done. Why don't you invite your new friend to eat with us and please leave some for me this time?"
That said, he took a roll of wire from his pocket and proceeded to tie the downed men.
The woman now identified as Kushina promptly lifted Artemis over her head and proceded to carry the goddess to their camp.
IIIII
If not for Artemis, Kushina would not have left some for the man the goddess now knew as her fiancée Minato.
Well, if she translated well what Kushina was saying as she inhaled the food.
It seemed like Minato was going to be the future Hokage, which from what she understood was the highest rank of a military leader. And they lived in a village apparently ruled by said military leader.
It reminded her of Sparta, but Sparta was its own government while Konohagakure no Sato still obeyed a Daimyo.
It wasn't announced yet though, which is why he was able to go with Kushina on a relatively quiet bandit capture mission.
When Minato arrived and thanked a Kushina for saving him some food, not understanding why she was blushing and avoiding his eyes, they finally started questioning Artemis.
Well… no big deal, right, or so she thought. At least Kushina could see the monster, so she had to be at least clear sighted. If Minato had no idea of the supernatural, and if they were going to be married, it was only fair to believe she told him about it even if he didn't believe her.
"I am Artemis, goddess of the Hunt, the Moon and Chastity and one of the gods of Childbirth and Nature.
I and my handmaidens usually hunt monsters, to protect others from them. During a routine hunt we were attacked by a beast e never heard of before, that was immune to the power of our sacred weapons. I ended up riding on its back until arriving here, where I finally defeated it. And then we met."
She was answered with wide eyes from both. Kushina's mouth was actually open.
Kushina wasn't clear sighted. She had an idea of deities, but mostly because her family had means to summon the Shinigami, the local version of Thanatos.
But… they didn't disbelief her.
"I mean, I can't say about Kushina, but after being trained by someone who can summon giant talking frogs, one of them older than remembered history and a seer, and learning how to weaponized teleporting, in a way that I am more famous for it than its creator, it is hard to say something is impossible. Hard to believe, but not impossible."
"What do you mean 'I can't say about Kushina'? I have a being able to destroy mountains by not looking when it turns, locked in my belly! ...ops…"
"Wait…" Artemis asked, "What?"
Minato and Kushina looked at each other. Then Minato shrugged.
Kushina sighed, but fair was fair. She was the one that revealed it, after all.
"I am what is known as a Jinchuuriki. We hold one of the nine tailed beasts, creatures made of pure solidified energy, in seals anchored to our bodies. I hold the nine-tailed fox, the strongest of them.
Their origins have been forgotten, but legends said the Sage of Six Paths, the one who brought chakra to humanity, fought a ten tailed beast and, not able to defeat or contain it, split it into the nine others."
Artemis nodded. If one held something comparable to a deity in themselves, meeting a real one wouldn't be that unbelievable.
"But I never heard of a kami named Artemis before…" Kushina admitted.
"That's surprising," Artemis said, "I thought the Greek pantheon was well-known around the world…"
Minato raised his hand to interrupt, "Excuse me, Greek?"
"Yes? I mean, I don't know how they call Greece here in Japan—"
"Japan?"
"I… think that from what my brother said you call it Nipon…"
"…I'm sorry, it's just that, I was forced to decorate the map of the Elemental Nations and neither of these names ring any bells…"
Artemis' eyes widened. "I… I need a rainbow. Do you have a water spray or something I could use to create one?"
Confused, Kushina made a glass of water rise into a mist, and Minato created a small spark between his fingers, making a small rainbow appear.
Instead of being confused by their abilities, Artemis chose to ignore them for now and throw a golden drachma in the rainbow.
"Iris, Iris, I need to talk to Olympus. Anyone there, even my brother."
No answer. The drachma fell into the ground.
Soon followed by Artemis dropping herself into the ground.
"Where… where am I?"
IIIII
"So… you think you may be from another world…" Minato said seriously. "I can believe that. I mean, we have proof that other worlds exist, at least."
"Like mount Mobuzu… Mobukiu… the Toad Mountain?" Kushina asked.
"Mount Myouboku. Well, some theories say it is still in this world, just hidden, others that there is a way between the worlds going through a portal.
What I meant is, when we seal something they are not physically inside the seal, so we have at least this world and the seal's world. Not count the Pure World of the dead."
"Hehe, I never thought of it that way," she said, rubbing the back of her head.
Minato shook his head, a smile on his lips. "Anyway, I think we can make a seal that would open a portal between our dimensions. I mean, the theory is solid. Your chakra will probably work for tuning it for your world. Specially since you're a deity of Nature, we could make it linked to nature energy for more precision."
"Let's make it a two-way passage. That way she can come back if anything goes wrong."
"Good idea."
Kushina turned to Artemis, who was confused but seemed to have calmed down. "Don't worry. We two are the best current sealmasters, the third one being his teacher. We will find a way to send you back in no time."
"We just need some of your chakra to analyse and we can get to work," Minato agreed, already writing the plans for the portal."
"You mentioned chakra before," Artemis remembered. "What is it?"
Kushina was going to answer, before Minato covered her mouth and pulled her away. "Just a minute."
Artemis stood there, but… she is the goddess of the Hunt, her senses are stronger than most other gods, nevermind mortals. So she heard everything they said.
Sure wished she didn't though.
"Damn it Minato, what is your problem?"
"She doesn't know what chakra is."
"So what? We teach her. We didn't know until we were taught either."
"But… can she even use chakra? I mean, even if she were human, we supposedly can only use it because of the Sage of Six Paths…"
"I… I don't know… maybe?"
She wasn't going to cry. She was a goddess. More important, she was the more mature sibling, if not one of the more mature gods.
Being lost in another world, leaving her Hunters behind, everyone behind, maybe with no way back, was only a temporary setback.
"She… she said she was a goddess of Nature, didn't she?"
"…Minato, are you thinking about learning Sage Mode?"
"Well, maybe just enough to learn to feel and work with Nature energy. I mean, if I learn to work with it, we can use it instead of chakra."
"That will take months!"
"Well, I'm open to other ideas."
"…I'm going to try to teach her to mold chakra. I mean, it is a mix of spiritual and physical energy, right? So maybe all she needs is to learn to combine her ones?
Look, we try both ways. I'll try to teach her, while you try to learn to be a Sage. If my way doesn't work, we try yours. If it does work, you at least got some Sage training."
With that agreement, they went back to where they left Artemis… and met a teary-eyed goddess thanking them in dogeza.
Kushina's eyes twitched. "Did you eavesdrop on our talk?"
Artemis looked affronted. "I am the goddess of the Hunt. I didn't even need to move to hear everything."
Minato couldn't help noticing she did not say she wouldn't if she needed to.
"Does it really matter?" he said, trying to calm them down. "It's not like we weren't going to tell her our plans anyway."
The two women sighed, but stopped trying to glare each other to submission.
"I still can't help but feel like you deserve something for your help. Is there anything in my power I can do for you two?"
"Nah," Kushina dismissed her. "Don't worry about it."
Artemis' eyes twitched. "You know, dismissing a gift from a deity is sometimes considered an offense."
"What? What kind of backwards logic is that? …Have you ever done something like this?"
Artemis had to think about it.
"…you know, having to think about it instead of just saying 'no' is not a good sign."
That made the goddess frown. "Unfortunately, while not on the level of Athena and Aphrodite I admit my temper sometimes overcomes me and my pride sometimes makes me not see to my mistakes …"
"Bad habits you are going to see to correct from now on," Kushina said.
Artemis frowned.
"You said 'anything in your power'. Is there anything better than trying to become a better person… deity… whatever you are?"
"I'll… keep that in mind. Now, is there anything you want for you from me?"
Kushina frowned, but wouldn't complain.
"What are your domains again?"
"Hunting and Chastity, mainly. I'm considered a protector of maidens. I am also one of the main deities of Nature and Animals in my pantheon. I'm… also one of the deities of childbirth, not the main one but the most known nowadays…"
Kushina thought a bit…
"I want us to have a big and healthy family."
"O…kay?"
Kushina's fixed look at her finally made her understand what she meant.
"Oh, uhm, I'm the goddess of childbirth, not of fertility. I mean, I'm the goddess of chastity too!"
"But you can bless me so that, after I get pregnant, the babies will be as healthy as possible, right?"
"I… never did this before… usually I bless them during the birth… but I guess there is no harm in trying."
IIIII
In Olympus, Tyche suddenly starts laughing. She had no idea why, just knew whatever was the reason it was hilarious.
IIIII
Inside his prison, sealed inside Uzumaki Kushina, Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Beast, piece of megami of chakra Kaguya Otsutsuki, noticed something familiar yet different right outside its seal.
It felt like its original chakra, yet different. It felt… like nature energy, yet with a hint that he could only describe as… silver?
Through its chakra flowing through his container's body, Kurama could find where the energy was. This energy was contained, and suffusing, Uzumaki Kushina's womb.
Kurama scoofed. It was a benign energy. Nothing to worry about. The "worst" that could happen was that any future child of his container would be infused with it, just like the children of his previous container had been infused with his own energy. And since the two energies weren't incompatible, nothing negative would happen to the child.
…Not that Kurama cared. Why would it care for what happened to the children of his containers?
IIIII
Her eyes saw the scenes as time passed.
As the new life was generated inside the jinchuuriki's womb, and as it was infused not only with the Tailed Beast's energy, like the predecessor's children, but also with a new energy, a foreign energy. The Goddess of the Hunt's energy.
An energy from an outside world. An energy linking between the worlds. An energy weakening the barrier between the worlds.
And, thanks to the nature of the energy, drawing into the mix a third world. The exact world the being needed.
It rejoiced. All was going according to plan.
IIIII
Artemis sighed as she looked at the Elemental Nation's moon, wondering about her own.
She was not thinking about it with a sense of longing, though. Not this time. This time, she had a sense of expectation.
It took her months, but she did it. It wasn't exactly the same chakra, as she lacked a chakra system, but she was able to mold her physical and spiritual energy. Or, well, her physical and divine energy.
It wasn't as good as a natural chakra. Her control was shot to hell, she would never be able to learn Genjutsu. She would probably never learn even Bunshin. Although she could do the Henge, her transformation skills may be helping her since it is basically what it was.
But she did learn Kawarimi, meaning her chakra was functional and not just using her powers to mimic the jutsu. And tomorrow she was gonna learn to walk on walls using it to refine it better.
Funnily enough, Kushina had been the same way when she was young, although she eventually got better. As in, famous for her ninjutsu style better. But while Kushina's problem was one of inexperience, fixed with learning to control it, Artemis was that she was mimicking chakra, so she had no idea if more control was even possible.
Oh well, the more control she had the better, but she hopefully already did enough already for them to get the "feel" of her home's energy. Which is what they needed.
She couldn't help but frown a bit though.
"Why are you pouting?" a feminine voice asked from her side, laughing.
"I do not pout," she replied, turning to look at Kushina.
And resisting the urge to smile. Goddess of chastity she may be, but she couldn't help being happy for her friend.
Her visibly pregnant friend.
"It is just a bit frustrating that, for all the work, he still learn enough of Nature Energy as soon as I learn about chakra. I mean, I thought that was plan B!"
"Well, he is known as a genius," Kushina answered, a bit frustration in her voice too with how quickly he learned things. After all, he was considered even better than her at sealing, and she taught him! "I wonder if he will ever learn to control it like his sensei."
"…speaking of the pervert…"
Artemis' relationship with Jiraiya was of disgruntled respect. He was a pervert and proud of it, but at least his worst crime was peeping… for which she once turned a man female, but she did have to admit that may have been harsh (the man she killed for that had also being too insistent on taking her as his and refused to say no, she had no regrets about that one), and hitting on everything female, attractive and old enough.
He also was an ass. His praises were always veiled in insults, even to his "prized student". And despite his money, he always tried to trick people into paying things for him.
But he also had his good points. Besides his fighting skills, he was also a good teacher despite his crazy methods, and was very protective of those he cared about.
And for the group-oriented Artemis, that last one was enough to grudgingly accept their decision to name him their future son's godfather.
"…are you sure you want me to be his godmother? I mean, I told you I won't be able to be visibly on his life much. I mean, I may be allowed to interact with him from time to time since my inexperience made him absorb my divine energy on the womb but—"
Kushina laughed, interrupting her, and sat down at her side. "Sorry, sorry. But for a deity of childbirth you fuss more about him than we do, and we are first-time parents."
Artemis blushed and looked away. "W-well, like it or not him absorbing my divine energy may have made me a bit or a parent for him too… I mean, it wasn't my intention but—"
"We know, we know," Kushina waived it off. "But I'd like to think you'd be acting the same even without that."
"W-well, he is the son of some of my best friends…"
"We think the same of you too," Kushina countered. "Which is the main reason we want you to be his godmother, really."
"…Are you sure it has nothing to do with having a goddess as godmother?"
"I did say 'main'," Kushina countered with a smirk.
The two women laughed.
IIIII
The time has come.
Artemis was a bit saddened for it, really. And as anxious as she was to go back home, she really felt like stalling for just a few more weeks.
If only Kushina's pregnancy were the normal nine months instead of ten… She would at least had been able to see little Naruto…
"Now, I can't say when I'll be able to come back," she told the duo. "I'll need to get permission, and the King of the Gods may be said to favor me, but he can be a bit…"
"Pig-headed?"
"I was going to say 'stubborn'."
"Same difference."
"Anyway," she continued, ignoring the laughing Kushina, "but no matter if I get permission or not I will come when he is around twelve or thirteen. I'll come as soon as possible after the Winter Solstice."
"Why twelve?" Minato asked, curious.
"Well, besides he graduating your academy around that time… it is around that age most demigods become strong enough they'd be endangered not being trained. And since Naruto absorbed some of my energy through Kushina's womb, he is… gonna be a bit of one. Kinda. In a way."
"So… you'll be taking him to a training trip?" Kushina asked, eyes shining.
"I can't," Artemis said sadly. "But I can take him somewhere for him to get some training in the skills he may gave got from me."
The three went quiet after that.
Then, with a deep breath, Artemis joined her hands. "Guess this is it. Time to go."
She molded her pseudo chakra, and slowly but purposefully made the handseal sequence she had trained and decorated it. She could have done it quicker, but doing it perfectly was vital.
As the last handseal was made and he could feel the portal opening behind her and drawing her back to her own land, the feeling of dread she refused to tell the two returned. The feeling that this was the last time she would ever see them.
With tears in her eyes, she said the last words the other two would ever hear from her before their death.
"Goodbye my friends. It was short for me, but I love you as if you were my siblings."
And before they could reply, she was gone.
Artemis woke up in a field, surrounded by her Hunters' relieved faces.
She hugged them, and cried.
If it was relief of seeing them again or sadness for leaving her new friends behind, even she was not sure.
IIIII
Twelve years passed.
Almost thirteen, actually.
For Artemis, those years passed in the blink of an eye. Nothing had changed. Some new Hunters joined, but that was it.
At least, as far as her Hunters knew.
She was worried. The monsters were being more active, as if they were preparing for something.
Thus, she was working as hard as ever, while not able to do what she wanted.
She thought longingly about the small box in her pocket. It had been around six months since he supposedly became a ninja, hadn't it? It was almost little Naruto's thirteenth birthday too, if her measure was right… Which being a goddess of childbirth, most likely were.
She hoped he'd like her gifts.
…No.
She hoped she'd see Kushina and Minato with him. But that was a good secondary worry to focus on.
If only she had the time to visit him, but with all these monsters she would rather not risk leaving her Hunters alone with just a copy of her. Even if they were essentially her, most of her power was only useable by her true self.
…
After the Winter Solstice. That would be when she was going to visit him.
No matter what.
IIIII
At the same time, Naruto was meeting someone that, to him, was just a pervert. But, said pervert defeated a jonin in one hit.
Even if he had his doubts about Ebisu's skills… one hit!
The white-haired man told him about his two different chakras. He did remember… during the fight against Haku, after he thought the ice wielder killed Sasuke, his chakra felt different…
He closed his eyes and concentrated. Concentrated on his chakra, on its feel. Then, he looked inside himself for different feels. Different chackras.
"I… I found something… But, there is something wrong."
"Hoh?" Jiraiya asked, curious. "What is wrong there? Can't you find the other chakra?"
"Yeah, I did… all three of them."
"Then what's—wait, did you say three?"
Jiraiya looked at him wide-eyed, thinking about it.
'Oh wait. Artemis must be the third one. Plus the original one."
"Oh, I have an idea of where you may have gotten the third one. We'll work on it later, now focus on—"
"And the fourth one?"
"…what? Wait, what do you mean 'fourth one'?"
"Yeah, they… they feel like colors? Does that make sense?"
Jiraiya nodded, still confused. People felt their chakra in different ways. He himself felt it like a flame.
"There is my normal, yellow one, an angry, red one that feels like it is someone else's, a silver one that feels… incomplete… as if it was lacking something that makes chakra chakra…"
'Artemis' divine energy', the sannin thought. 'And the red must be the Kyubi.' "And the fourth one?"
"It feels… orange. Metalic orange."
"…metallic orange."
"Yeah… it is like… my normal yellow mixed with the red and the silver, but what makes the red feel like someone else's isn't there, and the silver was completed. It feels like… it is as much my chakra as the yellow one."
Jiraiya had to think about it. 'The seal was made for him to absorb the Kyubi's chakra eventually… but it was to do so by converting it to his normal chakra, the 'yellow' one.'
"How does this 'orange chakra' feel? More powerful? Evil?"
"No, it feels… the same as my yellow chakra, kinda. But more… alive? Natural?"
"Hmm… Meet me here tomorrow. We'll talk about it more then."
Naruto shrugged, and left the place.
Jiraiya was… disappointed. Not even to ask how he knew all that…
If he asked he'd just answer 'because I'm the great Jiraiya-sama!' but still! The kid was just too trusting, didn't the incident with his academy teacher teach him anything?
But back to that 'metalic orange' chakra… If the yellow was his, the red the Kyubi's and the silver Artemis', where did the orange come from? And… what did it mean? Was it any different than the normal one? Was it just as strong as the red one, but purified by the silver being a catalyst to the mix?
There was only one way to find out… Make the kid use it.
IIIII
She kept watching. Time itself was meaningless for her.
Was.
Now her vision reached no further. Now her vision found its limit. The point time was not set.
The time she had been waiting for.
Plans within plans within plans. Plans to counter plans to counter plans. Soon, she would be free.
IIIII
The monster I tried to describe is a Teostra. Yeah, Artemis soloed a Teostra without armor or any extra preparation. Goddess of the Hunt indeed.
Ok, maybe it seemed a bit weaker than in the games, but that's because, unlike games, the half an hour of battle would soon get boring in writing.
Kushina being at first bad at ninjutsu but later becoming known for her ninjutsu style is canon. We know where Naruto got it from.
Artemis being skilled only in the same jutsus as him is due to making sense. She lacks chakra control, he lacks chakra control. It is no spoiler to say she did NOT influence him in it.
Time was a bit hard to set, what with no one having any idea of when the chunin exam or the Sasuke Recovery Mission happen. We can estimate, though.
In the manga Sasuke is attacked by the Sound Four not long after Tsunade healing him, since he is still in the hospital, but takes a few weeks to decide to leave the village, since the moon is different in the sky. The anime gives us a filler mission there, but as far as I remember removes the moon as a sign of time passing, so we can assume it takes about the same time. And the search for Tsunade herself is doubtful to have taken more than two weeks, one due to Tsunade's bet and the other of search, since she isn't really hiding.
That would give us tops two months after the chunin exam and the end of Part 1. Add in the fact Naruto went from 12 on the first databook, that covers until Temari vs Shikamaru in the chunin exams, to 13 in the second that covers until the end of Part 1, it means that the chunin exam finals happened between the second half of August and the start of October.
I am making it be at the start of October, so Artemis can visit him a few days after the Winter Solstice and still be right after the fight at the Valley of the End.