Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. So about the wait, life threw me a bit of a curve ball but without further ado here's the new chapter.

Chapter 4: Flying Birds of Death

Naruto sped through the forest awkwardly hopping tree branch to tree branch, it had been almost a day and a half since that mummy thing spoke to him and he hadn't since. Naruto stopped on a branch to yawn before fanning his face, why was it so damn hot this morning? The sound of cheering made Naruto look back towards the direction of the camp before shaking his head and continuing to hop through the trees. He mentally mapped the forest surrounding the camp, something that he decided to do after three hours of mind-numbing boredom that accompanied him after he got off his shift of patrol duty early this morning. And with the help of eight clones he was almost done.

"Oof!" Something slammed into him, tearing him off the branch and sent him sprawling to the ground. Naruto skidded across the forest floor eventually coming to a stop before sitting up and spat out dirt. Naruto looked up and froze, standing in front of him was a dog with red glowing eyes with fur as black as tar and the size of the tigers from the Forest of Death.

"…Crap..." The dog snarled loudly and bonded towards him forcing Naruto to flash through handsigns. "Fuuton: Renkudan (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet)!" Naruto inhaled deeply making his stomach swell before punching it, exhaling a beach ball sized sphere of compressed wind that slammed into the dog's chest forcing it into a nearby tree.

"Ha take that!...Oh Shit!" Naruto turned and jumped up immediately taking to the trees as the large dog rolled over and stood before shaking itself and giving chase.

XXXXXXX

"Oh Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Naruto yelled out jumping tree to tree reminiscent of a ping pong ball as the large dog bounded after him crashing through branches and carving deep marks into the trees' trunks. Naruto kicked off a branch at angle spinning backwards and upside his hands flashing through seals.

"Fuuton: Renkudan!" Three compressed balls of wind streaked through the air each barely skimming past the dog making him curse and flip forwards before diving to the side to avoid a tree. Naruto checked over his shoulder noticing that the dog had disappeared causing him to slow to a stop.

"Where did i-oof!" Naruto cried out as he found himself flying towards the forest floors while desperately keeping the dogs jaws away from his throat. Fucking sneak attacks…Naruto brought his legs up underneath the dog before kicking it over his head before landing in a crouch and drew a kunai. The dog snorted before getting back up and growling before stalking towards him. Naruto let out a small breath before throwing kunai, the large dog moved its head to the slide causing the kunai to merely graze against skin before it lunged at Naruto only to be thrown to the side as a clone flew out of the bushes like a human rocket.

"Bunshin Taiatari (Clone Body Blow)!" The clone roared as it slammed into the dog sending them both careening towards a tree. The clone slammed into the tree back first before getting dispelled painfully as the boulder sized dog slammed into him before falling onto the ground in a daze. Naruto slipped the kunai away before clapping his hands together and rushing towards the dog.

"Ranshinshou (Body Pathway Derangement)!" Naruto slammed hand into the dog's head causing it to go completely limp against the ground. Naruto rolled away before shaking his hand to remove the tingles. He could honestly admit that he hated that technique, knowing that if it wasn't for Anko's demand that at least one of Kurenai's "kids" took after her, he would have never bothered to learn the damn thing from Shizune*. Naruto huffed before turning to walk away.

"Ow… I guess this means you are the one I was looking for…"

"…Okay this has got to be the sleep deprivation because…heheha." Naruto held up a finger and scrunched his face while chuckling slightly. "I-I know that you did not just talk."

"Well I'm doing it right now and seeing as how you can understand me means you are the child claimed by the Huntress." The dog barked while attempted to stand only to fall back down. "What in Tartarus did you do to my body?!"

"Well then why did you try to kill me?!"

"Well I had to test you somehow…"The dog growled making Naruto blink owlishly.

"…A test…Seriously A Test?!" Naruto grabbed fistfuls of his hair before sliding both hands down his face. "I, So don't need this."

"Hey it's not like I wanted to spend my morning chasing after some blonde demigod and yet here we both are." The large dog growled sarcastically attempt to stand again. "You're just going to have to trust me when I say I don't truly want to kill you."

"Great…now I'm an Inuzuka*." Naruto mumble pinching the bridge of his nose remembering a story that Kiba had once told him about how the members of his clan gained their canine counterparts was by whichever cub attempted to attack them.

"A what?"

"Nothin-" Naruto whip his head around so fast his neck popped as a piercing scream echoed throughout the woods coming from the direction of the camp. "And then that happened…" Naruto sighed and looked at the dog that was now standing on all fours albeit a little shaky, "Is there any way you can get me back to camp without somebody noticing you?"

"Sure." The dog gestured towards its back with its head. "Hop on." Naruto looked at the dog questioningly as he slowly walked closer. "If I was going to kill you I would have done it by now…." Naruto sighed before climbing on to the dogs back.

"Okay, so how does this wor-aaaA~HH!" Naruto quickly grabbed on to the dog's back as it surged forwards heading straight for a pile of rocks that resembled deer droppings. Naruto closed his eyes as the dog leapt into the air, sailing towards the rocks. "I'm so gunna die."

XXXXXXX

"That really su-urk." Naruto rolled on to his hands and dry heaved as his stomach and brain caught up with each other. Shadow travel* was an incredibly useful way to get around so long as you didn't have anything to eat beforehand or planned to in the next week and a half. Naruto whipped the small amount of spittle from his lips as the sound of heavily crunching gravel reached his ears.

"Naruto?" Naruto looked up and saw Annabeth and Percy getting off what had to be a chariot, even though it looked like the fragile thing were about break at a moment's notice under Tyson's weight, who gave Naruto a small wave. Naruto stood up a stumbled before realizing he was on the porch of the Big House.

"Yo." He said weakly placing a hand on his head as it started pounding before glancing at them in confusion as they all went towards the door. "Aren't you supposed to be racing?" He asked following after them as they rushed past him to get inside.

"We were, Stymphalian birds decided to attack, now we have to stop them from ripping the skin off everyone's bones!" Percy stated in a hurried manner causing Naruto to pause in the doorway of what used to be Chiron's room and blink.

"…That…that defiantly sounds like something to stop from happening…" Naruto said awkwardly with a confused look on his face while Annabeth grabbed the radio and Percy searched for something.

"Got it!"

"Okay Let's Go!" Both of them tearing past Naruto in a rush before chasing after them…again.

"Hey wait, what's the plan?!"

XXXXXXX

Naruto had to be honest with himself as the four rode back to the arena with the chariot going full speed, bouncing up and down while constantly threatening to flipped every time they had to make even the slightest of turns. The fact was, he was really beginning to hate the way these "people" got around. His death grip on the chariot's sides tightened as they hit another bump.

"Remind me again what the plan was?!" Naruto half shouted as Annabeth spared him with a quick glance before Percy spoke up.

"We're Going To Go To The Arena To Play That Album To Distract The Stymphalian Birds Long Enough For The Archers To Shoot Down As Many Of Them As Possible! Hopefully That Will Cause Them To Leave!" Naruto nodded seeming to understand.

"Okay, What Do These Thing Look Like!?" Hey, until today Naruto had never heard the word Stymphalian before and wanted to know if he could help in any way possible.

"Kinda Like Demonic Pigeons!" Percy called out making Naruto scrunch up his face.

"What The Hell Is A Pigeon*?" Tyson snickered into his hand.

"Percy Look Out!" Annabeth shouted as Percy swerved to avoid the wreckage of one of the chariots. "Trust Me On This Naruto, You'll Know!"

"Annabeth, We're Almost There!" Percy called out, as they rode in to the arena Naruto couldn't help but wince at the amount of noise that was being created by the wriggling mass of demonic pigeons and the screeching campers. Naruto could just barely make out the sound of Tantalus yelling about how everything is under control. Naruto rolled his eyes as he watched the man chase around food as their chariot slowly came to a stop as Naruto palmed his weapon pouch before throwing a kunai at one of the birds that broke away from the main mass.

"Oh crap." Naruto hopped out of the chariot beginning to toss shuriken, two to three at a time, as a number of Stymphalian birds peeled off from the main group attacking the stadium and flew towards them. Naruto ran sideways, his momentum adding to the already impressive throws, each looking as if he was breaking his back with each toss*. As the swarm steadily grew closer he began throwing more urgently, sacrificing accuracy for speed until the wave of birds slammed into him knocking him off his feet momentarily. Naruto grunted as he tumbled backwards, the swarm's razor sharp feathers cut along his clothing and exposed skin leaving bleeding slash marks. Naruto grabbed a fistful of dirt as the last of the birds past by before looking up, noticing that the swarm was about to make a second pass causing him to grab more shuriken only to pause as the sound of harsh string instruments reached his ears followed by men bellowing in a different language…was that what they called music? If so they had terrible tastes.

"Now Archers!" Annabeth yelled loudly as the Stymphalian birds tore themselves away from the stadium in an effort to get away from the music that was blaring out of Chiron's radio. Naruto slipped shuriken into the spaces between his fingers before crossing his arms over his chest and channeling as much chakra as he could into each one before throwing them.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)!" The shuriken began to multiply in the air as they flew with the bronze arrows towards the dark cloud of birds. Naruto couldn't help but smile as he watched a large amount of birds drop to the ground with arrows and occasionally one of his non-cloned shuriken sticking out of their chests. He looked around noticing that almost everyone had an injury of some kind though the loudest people had to be the Aphrodite kids who were mostly complaining about how their hair was a mess. Naruto grinned brightly when he saw that the kid he had punched almost two days ago still had a bandage on his nose.

"Bravo!" Tantalus boomed loudly walking past Naruto, who couldn't help but notice that the activity director was back to wearing "normal" clothes and his skin was back to its original pale grey shade, the only thing that hadn't changed back to normal was his hair which was a brilliant shade of neon green complete with stripes of bright pink.

"We Have Our First Winner!" He placed, what Naruto assumed was, the golden laurel on to a stunned Clarisse's head before turning towards Percy with that disgusting slimy smirk on his face. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race!"

"What?!" Percy yelled all but throwing the radio to the ground.

"Well isn't it obvious?" Tantalus began with snobbish tone to his voice, "The Stymphalian birds were simply minding their own business, if it hadn't been for your bad chariot racing…" Naruto took a step forwards to yell at the decrepit man only to yanked back.

"The fu-" Naruto paused mid-sentence as he twisted around and saw the person that had grabbed him. The girl had bright blue eyes, a similar shade to his own, with golden blonde hair and was currently giving him the same angry/expectant look that Tsunade gave him when she was his doctor. She was wearing a basic camp outfit except tied to her waist was a string instrument of some kind.

"Where do you think you're going?" A confused look flashed across Naruto's face.

"What?" The girl grunted rolling her eyes before tightening her grip on his arm.

"…wouldn't have attacked in the first place..."

"Come on let's go!"

"Oh Go Chase A Doughnut!" Percy yelled loudly while Naruto attempted to pull his wrist out of the girl's iron grip as she began dragging him away.

"Seriously?! Again with the dragging! What the Hell!?"

XXXXXXX

"Look I'm fine." Naruto grunted after being forcibly dragged to the Big House Infirmary. He was currently sitting on a cot bored out of his mind while the girl and a majority of her cabin helped heal the injured campers. "Go help somebody that actually needs i-AH Quit It!" Naruto half yelled as the girl shinned a bright light into his eyes. "Do you mind?" The girl clicked her tongue, clicking off the light before writing something down on the small notepad she had in her hand.

"Yes considering most of the people who were attacked by the Stymphalian birds have an injury of some kind and yet yo~u…" Naruto narrowed his eyes as the girl stuck a finger at his chest. "Have none to speak of even though I watched you get hit by a swarm, care to explain?"

"I could. I'm not going to, but I definitely could." Naruto smirked as the girl's jaw took a hardened look.

"Do you have to be so frustrating?!" Naruto grinned placing his hands behind his head and leaned back. Hey if she was going to make him stay, he was going to get comfortable.

"Yes." The girl gritted her teeth in anger and walked to another cot. "Do you have a name? Or should I just call you Angry Blonde Girl?!"

"Tink." She growled out her name, flicking a string on the instrument that was tied to her waist as she walked back.

"She's lying, its Je-"

"Shut Up!" Tink's face flushed red with emotion as she glared with murder in her eyes at the person in the next cot over before turning back to Naruto. "Anyway you seem fine and normally that would be enough to get you out of her-"

"Great!" Naruto went to stand only for Tink to push him back down and wag her note pad in front of his face.

"If it wasn't for the heavy bags under your eyes, dilated pupils, irritability, and exhaustion…." Tink gave him a sly look. "Had a run in with our lovely Oracle didn't we?" Naruto didn't say anything opting to stay silent making her shrug. "Look I'm not saying that you should tell Mr. D or Tantalus, but it might help with your insomnia if you talk about it." Naruto grumbled before standing up making to leave.

"I'll consider it." Naruto slammed the door behind him.

XXXXXXX

Naruto let out a sigh as he sat down near the Ares kids who were roasting marshmallows, Tantalus had thrown a huge feast in Clarisse's honor featuring country fried Stymphalian birds, which in Naruto's opinion was disgusting, before commanding everyone to attend to campfire something that was barely giving off any warmth. From what he had heard, the fire was enchanted to read the crowds emotion and judging by how it was the color of lint Naruto guessed that everyone was feeling horrible. After a little while Mr. D left, mumbling about how some game with the Chiron had been more exciting. Naruto watched as he shot Tantalus a distasteful look before heading towards the Big House. Naruto picked his ear with his pinkie as the last song ended silently glad that it had when Tantalus spoke up.

"Well, that was lovely!" Naruto rolled his eyes as did a majority of the camper as they watched him try and fail to grab a marshmallow that decided to launch itself into the enchanted flames then let Tantalus touch it. Tantalus cursed under his breath before looking back at the campers coldly.

"Well then, some announcements about tomorrow's scheldua-"

"Sir." Naruto half turned as did a majority of the campers to look at Percy as he and Annabeth both stood.

"Oh? Does our kitchen boy have something to say?" A few of the Ares kids snickered loudly stopping when Naruto gave them a glare, as it turns out one of the ways to earn respect from the children of Ares was to be strong or in Naruto's case stupid enough to attack a swarm of Stymphalian birds armed only with shuriken and kunai.

"We have an idea to save the camp." The fire turned yellow gaining Naruto's attention.

"Indeed…" Tantalus said flatly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chario-"

"The Golden Fleece," Percy said before gesturing towards himself and Annabeth. "We know where to find it." The fire flashed orange and grew slightly as the crowd curiosity grew.

"What's so important about a golden sheepskin?" Naruto muttered swiping a marshmallow from another camper while Percy began talking about his dreams about a goffer and polytheism* or something before Annabeth started talking causing Naruto choke, a sheepskin that could magically turn even the most desolate wastelands into a thriving wilderness could defiantly heal the tree.

"The Fleece can save the camp," She said dropping a fist onto her open hand. "I'm sure of it."

"Nonsense." Tantalus scoffed, "We don't need saving." Everyone including Naruto turned to the activities director and gave him a bewildered look wondering if he was serious.

"Besides," He quickly added, "The Sea of Monster? That's hardly an exact location, you wouldn't even know where to look!"

"Yes I would." Percy stated defiantly. "30, 31, 75, 12."

"O~okay," Tantalus made a flippant gesture. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers." Naruto rubbed his face resisting the strong urge to stab Tantalus in the knee with a spoon.

"They're sailing coordinates," Percy continued not backing down in the slightest. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies." Naruto nodded slightly with an impressed look on his face that was shared with Annabeth.

"30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right!" Annabeth's face lit up in excitement. "The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"

"Wait just a minute." Tantalus held up his hands in a stopping motion, but Annabeth had kick-started the rest of the campers into chanting.

"We need a quest! We Need A Quest!" The flames shifted to a brighter shade of orange and steadily rose higher.

"It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!

"FI~IINE!" Tantalus roared, his eyes burning in anger. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!" Came the unanimous cry while Tantalus glared icily at the crowd.

"Very well." Tantalus agreed giving in unhappily. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying." Some of the campers looked around at each other uneasily.

I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!" Tantalus announced. "And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious. Tantalus glared at Annabeth and Percy as if he wanted to flay them alive, something that made Naruto narrowed his eyes. You'd think exploding shoes would give someone a hint to not be a dick to people.

"The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest ... Clarisse!" The fire flashed a thousand different colors all while growing to about Naruto's height.

"CLARISSE! CLARISSE!" The Ares cabin stomped and cheered, a few of the boys beat on their chests like gorillas. Clarisse blinked, frozen in shock before her chest swelled with pride.

"I Accept This Quest!"

"Wait!" Percy shouted. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to me."

"Sit down!" yelled one of the Ares campers. "You had your chance last summer!"

"Yeah, he just wants to be in the spotlight again!" another said while Clarisse glared daggers at Percy.

"I accept the quest!" she repeated, her voice thick with authority. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!" The Ares campers cheered even louder, the noise smothering must of what Annabeth she and the other Athena campers were saying, Naruto only heard snippets of what was being said before everything went to hell courtesy of an Athena boy eating the fist of an angered Ares girl. Suddenly everybody started taking sides; shouting, arguing, and throwing marshmallows in every direction. Naruto beamed brightly as he tossed marshmallows with deadly accuracy aiming mostly at the Apollo kid with the bandaged nose before someone grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing?" Tink hissed dodging a marshmallow that Naruto grabbed and threw back.

"Having a little fun." He gave a shark-like grin. "Why jealous?" Tink opened her mouth to reply.

"BE SILENT!" Tantalus roared stopping the fight completely. "Sit down!" he ordered. "And I will tell you a ghost story." Naruto grimaced as he and Tink took a nearby seat followed by the rest of the campers. The Killing Intent that Tantalus was radiating wasn't substantial by any means, it was the dark look highlighted by the darkening flames that mostly did the trick.

"Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the Gods." Naruto raised an eyebrow, what did this have to do with anything?

"This king," he continued, "was even allowed to feast on Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe, just one little doggie bag mind you, the gods punished him. They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him! And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children just…like…you!" Tantalus pointed a crooked finger at several campers including Naruto and Percy.

"Do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?" Tantalus asked softly. "Do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?" Naruto's eyes widened in horror when he realized the implications of what Tantalus was saying.

"Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," Tantalus croaked, a look of mild pain flashed across his face. "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to him or questioned his authority. And do you know what?" Tantalus looked at the campers.

"Rumor has it that the king's spirit now dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children. And so…" Tantalus pulled at his shirt, the fire started to lighten. "Are there any more complaints, before we send Clarisse off on her quest?" The redundant question was met only with silence as no one dared to speak. Tantalus nodded at Clarisse, "The Oracle, my dear. Go on." Clarisse hesitated.

"Sir…"

"Go!" Clarisse gave an awkward bow as she hurried towards the Big House while Tantalus turned towards Percy. "What about you, Percy Jackson?" Tantalus asked. "No comments from our dishwasher?" Percy looked like he had swallowed a lemon but he didn't speak.

"Good…" Tantalus eyed the campers, "And let me remind everyone, no one leaves this camp without my permission, anyone who tries… Well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry!" A sinister grin grew on his face as he stood. "Good night my dear campers. Sleep well." With a wave of his hand Tantalus extinguished the fire signaling everyone to return to their cabins. Naruto stood, sticking his hands in his pockets and making his way towards Thalia's tree to be alone.

XXXXXXX

Naruto grumbled as he leaned against Thalia's trunk channeling a small amount of chakra into the tree. He felt the "heartbeat" inside the tree pulse slightly, but it was getting weaker. Naruto stopped channeling chakra with a sigh before sitting downs and reaching for some shuriken in case one of thos…wait what the hell? Naruto removed his hand from his weapon pouch pulling out a small container with something scribbled on the lid.

Don't ask how I got these, but they'll help with you sleep.

Tink

A small smirk danced on Naruto's lips before sticking the pill bottle in a pocket before reaching back and grabbing a small hand full of shuriken and loading them one by one into the launcher he had made that was hidden by his long sleeves. He popped his neck and stared at the full moon over head before letting out another sigh, not even the moon looked right.

"What took you so long?" Naruto asked looking back at Clarisse, noticing that she was wearing her full armor, who only grunted in response as she sat on the ground.

"My siblings…" Naruto nodded as they sat in silence.

"…So when do you leave?" Clarisse shrugged as she fiddled with her sword.

"Tantalus told me to leave as soon as possible so I guess as soon as our watch is done."

"Oh…" The crickets chirped loudly as an awkward silence fell between them. "So are you taking anyone with you?" She grunted before looking away.

"…Not exactl-" Clarisse was interrupted as an inhuman screech rippled across, making Clarisse's eye twitch and Naruto flex his wrist and throwing the shuriken that dropped into his hand. The shuriken flew out before curving around the tree cutting the screeching noise off.

"Ugh that's the fourth one tonight." Clarisse raised an eye brow and smirked.

"Tantalus is going to be pissed your killing off the harpies."

"Hey I was taught to kill things that try to kill me." Naruto shrugged and walked towards her. "Those weren't meant to be killing strikes, it's not my fault they're so damn fragile." Clarisse light chuckling before became full blown laughter directed at him causing Naruto's cheeks to heat up.

"Ye-yeah you are defiantly coming with me Hahahaha!" Clarisse said in between her laughter making a confused look flash across Naruto's face.

"Wait What?"

Points of Interest

* Naruto doesn't mean anything by this, sleep deprivation can make almost anything someone says sound really harsh.

* I know it doesn't say on the wikia that she knows the technique, I just figure that Tsunade most likely taught it to her.

* No, Naruto doesn't know that what it is actually called he was just guessing

*It's not that pigeons don't exist in the Elemental Nation, they just aren't that common to see.

* If you want to know that this looks like, watch A Twist of Fate cinematic by League of Legends, the way Twisted Fate is throwing his cards is the way Naruto his throwing his shuriken

* Naruto is only half paying attention to what Percy is talking about so he doesn't really hear everything.

Stitch Lips here with yet another chapter of The Demigod Shinobi, and again I'm sorry about the wait.

Now the about Naruto understanding the Hellhound, in the series it even stated that once demigods are aware of what they are their powers start growing and since Artemis claimed him as her actual child I figured that being able to understand canines would fit since they technique are a part of hunting plus the idea of Naruto fighting side-by-side with a Hellhound was something that made me smile.

Also I changed some of Naruto's Prophecy in the previous chapter mostly because I didn't like how the first one was. So if you want to go check it out you can if not oh I just wanted to let you know.

Anyway see you guys next chapter Stitch_Lips out