Chapter 9
The conch horn blew in distance signalling dinnertime. The two boys finished washing up and changing after a long day.
Dinner came and the usual offerings and toasts to the gods happened. Everyone ate a hearty meal before the most awaited games of the night.
When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and everyone all stood at their tables.
Campers yelled and cheered as the Athena cabin ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Ares Cabin ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
"Those are the flags?" Percy yelled through the noise.
"Yeah." Luke replied.
"Athena and Ares always lead the teams?" Naruto asked.
"Not always, but often." Luke said.
"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do repaint the flag?" Percy asked.
Luke grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."
Chiron hammered his hooves on the marble floor.
"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox-hide shields coated in metal.
"Here, you will need these." Luke said as he gave identical armours and helmets to Naruto and Percy.
They both took their equipment and strapped them on.
"Whoa," Percy said. "We're really supposed to use these?"
Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Oh yeah, Annabeth said you'll be on border patrol."
Percy was carrying a shield that was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It looked like it weighed about a million pounds. He also carried a sword that was terribly balanced in his hand.
"I could snowboard on one of these. Damn, I wish no one expects me to run with these." Percy thought.
Percy noticed Naruto didn't put on his helmet.
"Aren't you going to wear a helmet?" He asked.
"The armour is heavy enough already." Naruto replied. "Plus, it would obscure my vision."
'Well, suit yourself." Percy said with a pout. "At least you don't have a big bullies waiting to skewer you."
"It'll be fine." Naruto said with a thumb up. "I got you."
Then, Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"
The group wearing blue horse-plummed helmets cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team, wearing red horse-plummed helmets, yelled taunts at them as they headed off toward the north. Naruto noticed Clarisse and her buddies eyeing Percy like he was prey.
Percy pulled Naruto as they caught up with Annabeth at the front of the group.
"Hey!" Percy said. "So what's the plan?"
"Just watch Clarisse's spear," Annabeth said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"
"Border patrol, whatever that means." Percy said.
"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away." Annabeth said. "As for the plan, we'll figure it out when the game starts."
Naruto narrowed his eyes remembering the look Clarisse was giving Percy.
"Hold up!" Naruto said. "You aren't using Percy as bait, are you?"
"What?" Percy said.
"No…" was all she could say.
"Hmmm, I thought so." Naruto said.
Naruto turned to his friend. "I'll come for you as soon as I can."
Percy didn't like what was going to happen, but he trusted that his friend would come through for him.
MOUNT OLYMPUS
A familiar auburn haired goddess was sitting on a couch in her temple. In front of her, there was a window-like object on a rainbow projecting a feed of Capture the Flag game, just like the other gods. The only difference is hers was focused on a blonde haired boy among some campers with blue horse-plummed helmets.
She had her hands in front of her face with her fingers interlaced and her elbows were resting on her lap. She took a deep breath. This woman was waiting for this day for a very long time, the day she would reveal to the world her son. She also worried about how her girls, the Hunters, would react. But, she resolved herself, and mentally asked a favour from Iris to open a similar viewing window for her girls to watch.
HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS MAIN CAMP, IN AN UNKNOWN LOCATION
In the middle of a forest unseen by mortals, there was a campsite that contained various different sized silver tents with a big campfire in the middle. Surrounding the campfire were girls wearing white shirts, silver jackets, silver camo pants and black combat boots. They were enjoying their meals when a viewing window similar to what the gods and goddesses were using.
One of the girls that was directly in front of the viewing window screamed as she saw it appear.
"Someone, get rid of it!" The girl next to her screamed too.
"Enough." A girl who looked older than the others wearing a silver tiara on her head spoke out with authority.
"But–, "Another girl tried to protest.
"No buts," The girl with the silver tiara said. "There is no doubt that thou Lady is showing us this for a reason. Therefore, we will watch, and we won't complain."
"What are you trying to show us, my Lady?" Zoe thought.
Murmurs of complaint were heard from the group as they gathered around the viewing screen to watch. Frowns could be seen on their faces as they watched, definitely not happy about it.
CAMP HALF-BLOOD
Naruto stood among the campers in the blue team as they waited for the horn to sound.
When the horn sounded in the distance, Annabeth gave Naruto the go signal.
The older blonde raised two fingers with each hand, forming a cross. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"
In a puff of smoke, ten clones of Naruto appeared causing those who haven't seen the jutsu yet to gasp. The ten clones, then, jumped into the trees of into different directions hidden in the shadows. The original had his eyes closed waiting for the information from his
All the gods were watching watched in disbelief at what they watched. The gods quickly realized that the blonde boy was from the Elemental nations. Meanwhile, the Hunters were watching wide-eyed having never seen anything like that before.
"Naruto, how much–"Annabeth stood beside Naruto tapping him on the shoulder. No doubt her ADHD was kicking in making her restless.
"Wait."
After a few moments, Naruto opened his eyes. "Got it."
"Okay there are four different groups. They split one group into two going at the left side and right side of the forest. It looks like they want to sandwich our defenders. The other group is lying in wait a little ways away from the flag to wait for our attackers. The third group is a group of five, heading towards the border. Just as I suspected, it's Clarisse and four of her siblings. The last is a group of two guarding the flag."
"Naruto, that is fantastic." She said squeezing Naruto in a hug. "Thank the gods you are on our team."
Annabeth, then divided the blue team into four smaller groups. They were about to send the teams out when Naruto called out.
"Uhm, can I modify the plan a little bit?"
"What do you have in mind?" Luke asked.
"I laid down a lot of traps on the both sides of the forest. It would be faster if we concentrate on defending one side at a time. How about, we combine the groups to intercept the left and right groups. Then, we do a pincer maneuver on one side. That would quickly dispatch the side we decide to go on. The traps would slow down the other side until we can send a group to get there. After dispatching the first group, we can send a small group to get the flag."
"That could just work." Annabeth said.
They rearranged their teams and headed out. Naruto jumped into trees towards Percy.
CREEK, THE BOUNDARY LINE
Percy was stationed next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks. Standing there alone, with a big blue-feathered helmet and a huge shield was Percy holding a bronze sword practicing some swings. He heard a small canine-like growl somewhere close by.
Naruto made it up the trees near the creek and saw Percy muttering something about Annabeth wanting him on her team and about him being used as bait. Then, Naruto also heard the same growling sound. He was about to go investigate, but he heard an explosion from the underbrush on the other side of the creek and five different screams from the bushes.
"CREAM THE PUNK!" Clarisse screamed.
The five of them charged Percy.
Naruto threw a smoke bomb down in the middle of the group and disappeared from the trees in a swirl of leaves.
The group, including Percy, were coughing and trying to fan the smoke away. When the smoke cleared, Clarisse and her siblings had a murderous look on his face.
"ENOUGH GAMES, PRISSY!"
"B-but…"
He didn't have a chance to answer when Clarisse and her siblings continued their charge.
Just then, a hand tore through the ground under one of Clarisse's siblings and grabbed his ankle. The hand pulled him down underground until only his head was visible.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" The Ares camper yelled.
Clarisse and her remaining goons stopped again for the second time when Naruto appeared in their midst in a puff of white smoke.
"I hate to ruin the party, but I can't let you gang up on him." He said pointing at Percy.
"Nice timing, Naruto!" Percy said.
"Shut up Ninja Boy!" Clarisse said angrily. "I WILL skewer him for dousing me with toilet water. Get out of the way or I skewer you too."
Naruto shook his head.
"Suit yourself." Clarisse ordered her remaining siblings. "GET HIM!"
"Oi! What about me!?" The buried Ares camper asked, but was ignored by his siblings.
The four of them surrounded the duo and, for the third time that night, charged their swords in hand.
"I go left, you go right!" Naruto instructed his friend.
"Got it!" Percy replied.
Naruto then turned to face his opponents and parried the two swords aimed at him.
"I guess they learned their lessons about charging one by one." Naruto thought.
"What are you gonna do now Ninja boy?" The guy on the right said.
"Now your hands are full." The guy on the left said.
"I don't think so." Naruto said disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Naruto disappeared in front of the two leaving his opponents bewildered.
"Where'd he go?" One of them said.
"Come out you coward." The other taunted.
"Over here" Naruto said from behind them.
The two Ares campers kept coming at Naruto. Naruto kept blocking with his hunting knife and avoiding attempts to bash him with their shields.
The two thought they were overwhelming Naruto as he was stepping back for some reason, but Naruto kept coming back with slashes of his own pushing them back a bit. They kept fighting until Naruto was backed up to a tree.
"No where else to go." One of them said.
Naruto just grinned.
"Quit joking around." The other one said as he stepped forward.
Upon stepping, he triggered a trap of wire covered with leaves that tightened around his ankles and pulled him upside down making him drop his sword.
Naruto laughed out loud. "I got you!"
"LET HIM GO!" The remaining Ares camper roared.
The blonde sent a kick aimed at his chest to which his opponent narrowly blocked with his shield. The force of the kick sent his opponent skidding backwards a few inches. When he lowered his shield, he didn't have any time for a breather when Naruto charged sending a barrage of slashes and stabs from his knife. the remaining Ares camper almost couldn't keep up, but thanks to his shield, he was able to narrowly block them. He was able to send occasional attacks at Naruto which he just dodged.
During one of those stabs, Naruto stepped on a wet portion of the ground which caused him to fall flat on his back.
"I GOT YOU NOW!" He yelled as stabbed down at Naruto.
*POOF* The Naruto he stabbed disappeared in a cloud of smoke revealing a log from somewhere in the forest.
"Dodge this." Naruto said from afar as a lot of shuriken flew towards the Ares camper causing him to raise his shield to block them. The shuriken flew past him hitting the trees behind him.
"Ha! You-"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence when a black wire pulled him back towards the tree directly behind him.
Naruto walked out of the shadows laughing out loud. "Works every time."
"I will get you."
"Yeah yeah yeah."
Naruto then turned to look at his friend who was just about finished.
At the same time, on Percy's end, he blocked the spear and sword with his shield. At that moment, he felt a painful tingling sensation all over his body. His hair stood on end. His shield arm went numb, and the air burned. The other camper saw the opening and slammed Percy in the chest with the butt of his sword, and he hit the dirt.
Percy managed to raise his sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both his arms felt numb.
"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."
Both Clarisse and her partner were too busy laughing that they didn't notice their siblings were being toyed with by Naruto.
"The flag is that way," Percy told her. He tried to make it sound angry, but it didn't come out that way given his condition.
"Yeah," Clarisse's companion said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."
"What about Naruto?" He asked.
"I don't know or care about who made your plan, but since he came to your aid, it saves us the time from looking for him." The guy said.
"Plus, you your cabin look stupid without my help," Percy added. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.
Two of them attacked Percy. He backed up toward the creek, tried to raise his shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck him straight in the ribs. Luckily, the armoured breastplate prevented him from being shish-kebabbed. Unfortunately though, the electric point just about shocked Percy. Her partner slashed his sword across Percy's arm, leaving a good-size cut.
"No maiming," Percy managed to say.
"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege.
He pushed Percy into the creek and he landed with a splash. They laughed at him, including the guy who was buried underground with his head exposed.
But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up Percy's senses, as if he just ate one of Sally's double espresso jelly beans.
Clarisse and her partner came into the creek to get Percy, but he stood to meet them. He knew what to do. He swung the flat of his sword against the guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. Percy hit him so hard that Percy could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.
"Oops," Percy said.
Clarisse counterattacked. Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, Percy caught the shaft between the edge of his shield and his sword, and he snapped it like a twig.
"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"
She probably would've said worse, but Percy smacked her between the eyes with the butt of his and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.
Clarisse saw her siblings caught in different traps, one hanging upside down from a tree branch, and the other tied to a tree with some kind of black wire. She roared in frustration at the sight.
Percy turned to see Naruto was done with his fight as well.
Naruto called out "See, I told you not to worry."
Percy just chuckled and both of them bumped their fist, just like every time they made Grover's bullies pay back at Yancy Academy.
Then they both heard yelling, elated screams, and they saw Luke racing towards the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by Connor and Travis covering his retreat, and a few Apollo campers behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares campers who fought Percy got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse. Those who fought Naruto also roared in frustration seeing their banner being taken.
"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."
Clarisse and her buddy tried to stagger after Luke, but Naruto and a clone appeared behind them, one each, and placed a hunting knife on their neck.
"Don't move." Both Narutos said.
Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue team exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn. The game was over the blue team won.
"Hey what about us?" those tied in traps and the guy buried under ground complained.
Naruto threw kunai aiming at the black wire. The one hanging on the tree branch fell down on another Hephaestus camper who was chasing Luke a while back. The one tied to a tree was freed. With a half ram seal, the ground opened up just a little to give way for the last trapped Ares Camper to be climb out.
Out of nowhere, a disembodied voice spoke right next to Percy. "Not bad, hero." The voice said to Percy.
"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.
She turned to Naruto and said, "Naruto, those plans were brilliant. They were immediately overwhelmed. And that fighting–" She swooned.
Naruto chuckled while scratching the back of his head.
"You were watching the whole time? Where were you when Clarisse tried to skewer me?"
"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." Annabeth shrugged. "You didn't need help."
Then she noticed Percy's wounded arm. "How did you do that?"
"Sword cut," Percy said. "What do you think?"
"Wait. You have a sword cut?" Naruto asked.
"No. He had a sword cut. Look at it." Annabeth shook his head pointing at the wound.
The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As Naruto and Percy watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.
"Yet another thing with the water." Naruto thought. "
"I-I don't get it," Percy said.
"As slow as ever, Percy," Naruto said making his friend growl in annoyance at the blonde's comment.
Annabeth was thinking hard. She looked down at Percy's feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."
"What-"
Naruto caught on and encouraged his friend. "It's okay Percy. Just do it."
Percy came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. His arms started to go numb again. His adrenaline rush left him. I almost fell over, but Naruto caught him.
"Oh, Styx," Annabeth cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want ... I assumed it would be Zeus..."
"Really? You still assumed it was Zeus after the bathroom incident?" Naruto asked to which Annabeth just glared at him.
Just then, everyone gasped when a bright light shone over Percy's head. The light died down and revealed a hologram of a green glowing trident floating above Percy's head.
"It has been determined." Chiron said.
"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.
Annabeth nodded, "This is really not good."
"Poseidon," Chiron said. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
Many began to kneel to Percy, including Clarisse though she didn't look happy about it.
Naruto's head perked up when he heard the growling sound again. This time, he had a chance to sniff the air. He picked up the scent of embers and a dog.
He stood up and looked towards the bushed.
Chiron saw him and asked, "What's wrong, my boy?"
Naruto didn't answer. Instead, he threw a hunting knife towards the bushes. The sound of a dog crying in pain sounded through the air. A black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers jumped out of the bushes clearly looking at Percy like he was prey.
Everyone drew their weapons. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek which Naruto understood as "Stand Ready! My bow!"
"A hellhound!" Someone shouted.
The hellhound jumped at Percy. Everyone else was frozen in place, including Percy. Only Annabeth was able to move trying to get in front of Percy. She shouted, "Percy, run!"
As fast as the hellhound, Naruto jumped in front of Percy with a blue orb formed on his hand. He kicked the hellhound's face upward until his belly was exposed. He thrust the orb on his belly shouting, "RASENGAN!" The attack sent the mutt flying back towards the trees.
The hellhound was beginning to get up with his belly starting to mend. Naruto grabbed a bow from a nearby Apollo camper and notched three arrows. He fired at hellhound. The arrows hit the hellhounds vital organs killing it instantly.
Naruto lowered his bow and returned it back to the Apollo camper.
"That was amazing!" A camper shouted from the crowd. Everyone was about to swarm him when another bright light shone, this time above Naruto's head. Many of the girls in the group realizing what was happening had their fingers crossed hoping he was not related to them.
When the light died down, it revealed a silvery image of a bow and arrow with a crescent moon behind it.
Naruto looked at it too. His eyes, including everyone else's, widened when they saw the symbol above his head. They had been seeing this symbol every day on Cabin Eight, but they never expected seeing this symbol when someone was claimed.
There were murmurs in the crowd.
"It can't be."
"This must be a mistake."
"What does this mean?"
"But, her oath…"
All murmurs died down when Chiron spoke out, "It has been determined."
"Artemis," He said. "Goddess of the Hunt, Archery, Moon and the Wilderness. Hail, Naruto Uzumaki, Son of the Huntress."
(LINE BREAK)
MOUNT OLYMPUS, JUST BEFORE THE NARUTO'S CLAIMING
Everyone watching the game was amazed at the fighting prowess of this blonde haired boy, Naruto, from the Hermes Cabin, including Ares who had seen his sons' asses handed to them. They were even more amazed at seeing Naruto's plan get executed by his teammates. The chests of Hermes, Apollo and Athena swelled with pride after blue team, which contained the cabins of their children, won the game.
"Uh oh, Zeus/Father won't like that." The gods and goddesses said when Poseidon claimed his child. Thunder boomed in the distance. They even heard Zeus bellow in rage when he learned of this.
A wave of panic and worry were felt by the gods when they heard the growl of a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They were surprised Naruto finished off the hellhound quickly protecting Percy from being the mutt's dinner.
"You are just like your parents, always protecting everyone." A familiar auburn haired goddess with silvery yellow eyes like the winter morning said as she watched Naruto dispatch the hellhound. This is Artemis, goddess of the hunt, moon, archery and the wilderness.
She smiled and said, "I guess it's time."
She focused her energy on Naruto. On the viewing screen, a bright light shown above Naruto's head. When the light died down, she could see the look on disbelief on everyone at Camp had, including her son.
All over Olympus, different reactions from the gods and goddesses can be heard from her temple, especially Apollo who was elated at finally having a nephew and Aphrodite thinking Artemis finally had taken her advice and finding a man to love.
Sitting on the couch in her temple, she could feel the different energy signatures of the other gods and goddesses approaching.
HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS MAIN CAMP, AFTER NARUTO'S CLAIMING
The mouths of the hunters fell open when they saw the symbol of their patron appear above the head of Naruto. They couldn't believe what their eyes were seeing.
"THIS HAS TO BE A TRICK!" One of the hunters shouted.
"LADY ARTEMIS WOULD NEVER BREAK HER OATH!" Another one complained.
"Zoe, what do you– "someone was about to ask when a loud THUD could be heard.
They looked over to see their lieutenant lying on the floor passing out from shock.
"ZOE!" They all shouted as they gathered around her fanning her and checking her over. Those who weren't taking care of Zoe prayed to their patron to explain to them everything that was happening.
Then, a bright light appeared engulfing the group teleporting everyone away.
A/N: Hey Guys. Chapter 9 of the story completed.
Thanks for the support this story is getting. If you want to suggest something for the upcoming chapters, leave a review.
Did you see what I did there as an homage to the story I took inspiration from?
