Preliminaries

Chapter 21 is up and running. Shouldn't be hard to figure what we're about this chapter, considering it's in the title. Of course, with the Sound Team gone, you might be wondering who's going to fight Choji, Shino, and Shikamaru. Spoiler warning, expect things to be mix and matched.

We'll also be seeing more of Persephone this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or PJO

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Team Darui entered their room for the next three days. Spacious, three beds, fully-stocked kitchen, bathroom, TV, table, and a window to survey the Forest of Death. Karui sighed groaned heavily, flopping down on the bed closest to the door. Omoi smiled tiredly, before taking up residence on the middle bed. Shin'en went to work on destroying all of the listening devices planted in the room. Was it supposed to be coincidence that there were twelve bugs in here?

"If you to go anywhere outside of this room, I will murder you," Shin'en said dully. Omoi and Karui just nodded, both just glad to be in air conditioning again. The demigod wasted no time in taking up the remaining bed, and promptly fell asleep.

It was time to start searching for Danzo.

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Shin'en separated his essence from his body, a skill that he had perfected during his time in the Mist. Being in this incorporeal state gave him the power of flight and intangibility, as well as the added benefit of being undetectable by everything short of Sage Mode. But since there were only two Sages in this village, both of them unaware of his identity, expectations of Minato or Jiraiya sensing him were nonexistent.

Shin'en sent himself forward to the Hokage Tower, the gigantic red building in the middle of the village. What the demigod knew of Danzo was limited, so the best place to start searching for the Shinobi of Darkness was the place where all Hidden Leaf officials hung out. Of course, with it still being daytime, Danzo may be taking a nap or something.

Shin'en fazed through the Tower walls, traversing the building, poking his head through every wall. Bathrooms, conference rooms, offices, people screwing. Nothing that the demigod hadn't seen before. He came to stand outside the doors to the Hokage's office, and fazed through without an issue.

Minato and Jiraiya were in there, talking about him. You know what the downside of projecting his essence was? He lost all of his powers. Chakra and hydrokinesis both left him, in exchange for limited omnipresence. Killing both of these men here and now would undoubtedly relieve a lot of future stress, but such an accomplishment was beyond the incorporeal demigod.

"Are you sure about this, sensei?"

"A hundred percent, Minato. Everything fits. The description, the accounts, the time frame. Shin'en is the demigod, no question."

Well that wasn't good.

"What are you going to do about this, Minato? It's no coincidence that Ay is sending this boy here, only a few weeks after Yagura was killed, and most of the Hidden Mist was razed. Something's coming, Minato, and Shin'en's at the heart of it."

"I know, sensei," the Yellow Flash sighed. "But I'm not about to pull some boy that may or may not be the son of a god in for questioning by Ibiki. Look at these!" Minato held up photographs of what was left of the Hidden Mist.

The Mizukage's Tower was nothing but broken pillars of stone. Houses had been reduced to piles of wood and destroyed furniture. Craters were absolutely everywhere. Then the photos of the body bags came up. Row upon row upon row upon row upon row of body-bags filled up the frames of six pictures. Shin'en cringed slightly. This is what happened when he let his emotions overcome him-this is what happens when he gets attached to people.

Unneeded death and destruction.

"What could've happened to make him cause such destruction?" Minato asked sadly.

Jiraiya looked grim. "Well, after Yagura killed the members of Yurei, he apparently had the bright idea to mount all of their heads on pikes, displaying them to his people. I suspect that it was an attempt to draw the remaining fifth member. I think Yagura got exactly what he wanted."

Minato looked at the pictures some more, morbidly marveling at the power. And now the cause of all of that what right there in his village. Shin'en wondered what the man would do.

The Fourth Hokage put the photos down, leaning back in his chair with a sigh. "We'll let events play out. As it stands, we have no valid reason for detaining any of the Cloud ninja, and the political nightmare that would ensure would probably result in a war. Almost thirteen years later, and we're still recovering from the Nine-Tails' attack. Make sure Danzo gets the message to do absolutely nothing in regards to Shin'en. The last thing I want is for an angry half-divinity going on a rampage through my village."

Jiraiya nodded. "I'll go inform the buzzard myself."

Shin'en's eyes widened. Was it really going to be that easy? Apparently it was, because Minato gave the nod, and Jiraiya vanished in a puff of smoke. The demigod latched his essence onto the Sannin just before he Teleported away.

They both reappeared outside a traditional-looking hut. Shin'en promptly ignored Jiraiya, and fazed straight through the walls.

There he was, the man himself. Bandages, robe, X-shaped scar and all. Danzo Shimura was sitting on his knees, writing something down on an opened scroll. Forcing his mind to cooperate, Shin'en read the words…and frowned. It didn't make any sense, so it had to be some sort of code.

"Jiraiya, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Danzo asked when the Sannin entered his hut.

"I trust you know about the Cloud team?"

"Karui, and Omoi, the rookies of their year, and Shin'en, the demigod."

"Uh-huh. And Minato is ordering you to not do anything in regards to Shin'en, under pain of death."

Danzo remained unfazed. "Of course. If that is what Lord Hokage wishes, then who am I to disobey him? However, I still stand by decision that we should've captured the boy long ago, and made him our asset, before Ay got his hands all over him."

"Regardless," Jiraiya growled. "Shin'en is off-limits. Don't try anything, or else."

"I thought it was Orochimaru's shtick to lay claim to young boys."

Jiraiya scowled, but left the hut without another word.

And now it was a waiting game. Shin'en would wait here for days if necessary, he could do it, he would do it. He doubted this was Danzo's true base, hell he doubted this was the real Danzo. So he would watch this man, follow him, observe him.

If Shimura needed to shit, Shin'en would mark down the brand of toilet paper. If Danzo sneezed, the sound would be remembered. If this old bastard fell and couldn't get up, the person who came to help him on his feet would be tracked down and thoroughly investigated, interrogated, before their body was thrown to the wolves. Literally.

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July 6, 1013 A.S.

Saturday

Chunin Exam Preliminary Arena

Humongous room. Stairs that led up to catwalks on either side of the room. A gigantic statue of hands carved into the Ram seal. A large screen up on the wall above the statue, to the left. One Hokage, two proctors, six Chunin, seven Jonin, 21 Genin, and most importantly, one pissed off demigod.

There was supposed to be a lot less of these idiots left in the exam.

The Hidden Leaf's Teams 7, 8, 9, 10, along with Orochimaru's Team Kabuto, the Sand Team, and Team Darui. Now there was going to be a preliminary tournament to cut the numbers down in half so the Third Exam wouldn't take so long get through. Damn it all to Hell!

Danzo wasn't here, so Shin'en couldn't justifiably slaughter everyone in here, and there was a certain number of people present that would be important later on…granted the demigod didn't decide to screw over the future.

Also, he was hoping to keep a certain level of discretion during this thing, but with Minato already in the know about the whole demigod thing, and this tournament involving having to fight someone, things may get…dicey.

The last thing Shin'en wanted was an audience with the Hidden Leaf Council.

He had no doubt that he would kill them all, and that would lead to the premature destruction of this village.

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Meanwhile, at Camp-Half Blood

Nighttime

Persephone Jackson sat alone on her bed in Cabin 3. It was past curfew, but because she was technically a counselor, she could stay up as long as she wanted. She was reflecting on things, primarily the quest that she had finished a few weeks ago.

It had been quite the shock, learning about Mrs. Dodds being a Fury, Mr. Brunner being Chiron, Grover being a satyr, her dad being Poseidon, and every Greek myth being true.

Camp Half-Blood was an awesome place in her opinion. Blowing the toilets up in Clarisse's face had been funny, Andrew Chase was probably the most insufferable boy on the planet, Luke Castellan was really cute, but a little too old for Seph's tastes. The activities were always new, and CTF (baring the Hellhound) was never boring.

The quest had been hectic…yet fun. The bus exploding, Medusa, the train, the Arch, Waterland (she was not blushing when Andrew held her!), the zoo truck where she and Andrew officially became friends, the Lotus Hotel, Santa Monica, Procrustes, the Underworld, fighting with Ares on the beach, and then meeting her father in person!

It was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to Persephone Jackson (besides learning that Gabe was now a statue). There was only one thing missing from her near-perfect life right now: her brother, Percy.

It had been almost three years since she last had a dream of her younger twin, and she feared the worst. With the way he lived, it was a very real possibility. She hadn't told anyone about her brother, and Poseidon didn't seem to realize that he had a missing son, either, so Seph kept it to herself.

Besides, with the way everyone reacted to her debut as the first demigod daughter of Poseidon, she couldn't imagine the uproar over there being twins. And Persephone didn't exactly have the power to defend herself from a god, not without the ocean right behind. Percy was a different matter altogether.

As much as she loved her twin, and wanted so desperately to meet him in person, she knew very well that Perseus Jackson was a cold-blooded murderer, and would only think twice about killing his sister (maybe), everyone else was expendable.

With a sigh, Persephone shut out her light, and crawled underneath her covers. "Goodnight, Percy," she whispered to herself.

That night, she dreamt of her brother, however, due to the power needed by the Fates and Susano'o to bring the girl's essence over to the Shinto realm, the four deities unwittingly sucked in all of the weaker essences that belonged to the rest of Camp Half-Blood. Even Chiron was pulled into the dream.

Persephone blinked at the new sight. Some kind of arena, maybe? With a bunch of kids up on the catwalks—Percy! He was older, his arms bigger, new clothes, longer hair, and his eyes even darker than they were three years ago, and he had tattoos, but by gods that was him.

"Um…Seph, where are we?"

The daughter of Poseidon whirled around, and felt her face go slack at seeing the ghostly forms of the rest of Camp Half-Blood behind her. Andrew, Luke, Grover, Clarisse, Beckendorf, the Stolls, Chiron, everyone. All looking around in confusion and wonder.

"Honestly? Not a clue."

Andrew's grey eyes darkened in the way that said he was thinking about something. He looked about, and gasped, pointing up at something above. "Who the Hades is that? He looks just like you!"

Persephone followed the finger, as did everyone else, and saw Percy leaning on the railing. The girl couldn't blame them for their surprise; she and Percy, despite being fraternal twins, were almost mirror images of each other. The main difference was their hair, and eye color.

"Oh, that?" Well, no point in trying to hide it now. "That's my brother, Percy."

Gasps rang out, and Chiron, even as a ghost-looking thing, managed to pale. "Twins?" he wheezed. "This is not good."

Persephone wondered why it was 'not good,' but she wanted to go say hi to her brother, rail him for getting tattoos without asking her permission, and yell in his ear about why she hadn't been able to have any dreams of him for the past three years.

"Great, so there's two Sea Princesses?" Clarisse snarked. "Can't wait to see how good Prissy is in a fight. Doubt he's any better than you are."

"He'd vertically bisect you and sell your internal organs on the black market."

Clarisse blinked at that response, before she snorted. "Cute scare tactic, Princess, but there ain't no way anyone in your family is that messed up."

Seph looked sad for a moment, disheartened by how wrong the war god's daughter was, before she quickly masked her dismay so that no-one could question her on it. She promptly bounded up the stairs, and saw her brother putting something to his lips.

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Kabuto had walked out, claiming fatigue and what-not. The Leaf bought it easily, Shin'en knew otherwise. Right now, the teams had split up and had gone to the catwalks…in the most biased display ever. All of the Leaf teams, along with the Sand team, due to Naruko, had taken residence on the right catwalk, so the Cloud Team had the left all to themselves, not counting all of the Hidden Leaf higher-ups down the way.

Down in the arena, Sasuke Uchiha was about to do battle with Akado Yoroi, another of Orochimaru's spies, with the mediator of the fight being a pale, sickly Jonin by the name of Hayate Gekko…who was also a kenjutsu master and the consort of Yugao Uzuki, a respectable ANBU operative.

Shin'en reached into his pouch, and pulled out a cigarette. He put in his mouth, lamenting on how this was going to be one long day…

"Are you smoking!?"

"Ack!"

Shin'en was so surprised by the sudden distorted female voice, that he accidentally inhaled the cancer stick in his mouth, choking on it. He slammed his hand upon his chest, and spat it back out. People were looking at him funny, but he didn't care.

The demigod slowly turned his head, ignoring the fight going on beneath him. His eyebrows rose a fraction of a millimeter at seeing not just Persephone, but an old man in a wheelchair and a battalion of other kids dressed in orange. All transparent, and looking at him with wide eyes.

Did she just bring the entire fucking camp with her!? And why now!? Why not sometime peaceful-ish, when he wasn't about to kick someone's ass?

On a side note, all of those demigods were about to get really jealous of a bunch of 13-year-olds.

"You okay, Shin'en?" Karui asked.

The demigod was silent for all but a second, just staring at his sister. "I'm fine. Now shut up," his eyes slid over to the incorporeal forms of the half-bloods, "and watch the fights."

Persephone got the message, and huffed, but she did turn her attention down to the arena, just in time to see a boy about her age kick a full-grown man in the chin with enough strength to launch said man into the air.

The boy leapt up after his opponent, causing multiple sets of eyes to widen at the power that was just displayed by a kid. Even worse, all of the other people in the arena were watching with neutral faces, as if children with enough strength to leap fifty feet in the air was a normal occurrence.

Even more shocking after that, the boy swung his leg up, only for it to be blocked, then twisted, batting down the man in purple with his forearm. As they fell back to the ground, the boy further accelerated their decent by punching the man. Then, using his momentum, the boy spun around, landing on axe kick on the man's stomach with enough force to crack the ground.

"Lion's Barrage!"

The man coughed up a copious amount of blood, and the boy went skidding across the floor. The man with the bandana walked over to downed man, put his fingers to his neck, and shook his head.

"Winner of the first match! Sasuke Uchiha!" then he coughed a few times.

"My word…I've only ever seen Heracles pull off such a feat of strength. And for this child to kill another man-a man many times his size…Persephone, who are these people?" the old man in the wheelchair asked, awe-filled and terrified. Most of the campers looked green, or pale, and looks of confusion and revulsion appeared when the people started cheering.

What kind of messed up place was this, that children cheered on other children for killing people?

"I'll be damned. These Leaf brats actually have the balls to take a life," Karui said.

"Not so. Sasuke miscalculated the amount of strength he put into that kick. He only meant to incapacitate, not kill. Regardless, there is no regret in his eyes for what he did, and I doubt there ever will be," Shin'en mused.

"Medic!" Minato called. Immediately, ninja wearing white uniforms and white doctor's masks blurred into existence on the battlefield. Two of them pulled the dead man's body onto a stretcher, blood spilling out from his bandana/mask, and two more appeared by the side of Sasuke, then all six ninja vanished in puffs of smoke

There was a whirring sound, and everyone looked up at the screen on the wall. It ran through name after name at a blinding pace, before finally coming to a stop.

Omoi vs. Shino Aburame

The Cloud ninja in question's eyes narrowed. 'Aburame…the bug clan. They let hives of chakra-eating insects live inside of their bodies. They live in harmony with those bugs, using them for combat, recon, and everyday life. They're master tacticians, almost on par with the Nara clan. This will not be easy.'

Omoi was broken out of his thoughts when Karui suddenly grabbed him by the hood, and threw him over the railing. "Stop thinking and start fighting!"

Omoi landed on his feet, his eye twitching. Damn, crazy woman. Why were they friends again? Right, because their parents were friends, and he and she were literally potty trained together. The Cloud ninja stopped in front of the Leaf ninja, both of them staring each other down.

"You may begin when you are ready," the Jonin coughed.

'The Aburame love their insects almost like family, so the best strategy is to draw them out, and threaten to destroy them unless he surrenders. Or to continuously hack away at them until he has none left. Either way, can't give him to think!' Omoi ripped his katana out of its sheath in a blinding slash.

Shino leapt back to avoid the sword, and hurled a handful of shuriken. Omoi deflected them all without issue. He blurred forward, overhead slashing at the Aburame, which was avoided with a sidestep. Omoi seemed to descend in slow motion, so he was able to hear Shino's words as their heads passed each other.

"Got you."

Shino kicked Omoi in the side, sending the boy skidding across the ground. Omoi grit his teeth, and infused his katana with wind-natured chakra, before slashing. A crescent of wind shot out from the sword, the bottom of it carving up the ground.

Shino was caught off-guard by the jutsu's speed, and instinctively reacted by thrusting his arms out, his insects swarming from his sleeves to meet the incoming Blade of Wind. The black cloud easily ingested the wind chakra, and Omoi couldn't believe his luck.

He reached into his pouch, and hurled a kunai with a special kind of tag attached to the ring. Just before the kunai reached the cloud, before the insects could eat the chakra in the tag, Omoi made half-Ram seal. "Boom."

The tag glowed brightly, but it didn't explode…it erupted into a large ball of searing hot fire.

The arena was illuminated in red and yellow, and almost everyone winced at the heatwave that instantly slammed into them. Shin'en used the heat to light another cigarette, before putting it in his mouth.

When the fireball finally died out, Shino was revealed to be relatively unharmed, aside from his scorched jacket, singed eyebrows, and smoking hair. It was almost comical, but another sight ruined the funny image. Dead insects. Everywhere. Charred, blackened, and extra crispy. They laid in a massive pile in between Shino and Omoi, sweet-smelling smoke rising from the corpse pile.

The Aburame fell to his knees, shock and despair at losing 85% of his hive overriding his mind.

Omoi's eyes widened with clear aggression. 'Now's my chance!'

He gripped his katana and zoomed forward, blitzing across the arena with lethal intent. He sailed over the insects, and began to swing his sword in a horizontal arc that was going to cleave the Leaf ninja's dumbass head clean off.

CLING!

Only for the red-eyed woman dressed in bandages to suddenly appear, blocking his sword with a kunai, a deep glare on her face. Omoi scowled before leaping back, crushing a number of bugs beneath his feet. He held his sword out in front of him, ready to fight.

Hayateappeared then, coughing. "Due to the interference of Jonin-sensei Kurenai Yuhi, Shino Aburame is disqualified from the match."

Omoi scoffed, sheathed his katana, and made his way back up the stairs, making sure his displeasure was known by stepping on every insect he could. When he got back up, Shin'en kept leaning on the rail, smoking, while Karui was scowling herself, and Darui was eye-smiling.

"You did good, even if that dull woman jumped in like that."

The arena was silent as some of the Chunin swept up the insects, the other ninja disturbed by the willingness to kill, and the ruthlessness that was just displayed by Omoi. Looking to his right, Shin'en saw that the demigods had gobsmacked expressions on their faces, while some were downright scared. Persephone looked neutral, but she had seen her brother do worse, so that wasn't shocking.

The next three fights passed with most of the genin keeping neutral faces, while the demigods kept getting their egos destroyed by children several years their juniors. How humiliating was it to be the child of a god, yet be forced to watch a bunch of children pull off feats that you could never be able to do?

Tsurugi and his rubber limbs, getting pawned by Kankuro and his ingenious idea to switch places with his puppet. Speaking of the puppet, the children of Hephaestus were already brainstorming ideas for automatons complete with hidden traps.

To the demigods, it was one of the most awesome things to watch Sakura and Ino battle out with moves only found in the Matrix, but for the rest of the ninja, it was shining example of how not to be a kunoichi, and both Jonin-sensei were more than a little embarrassed at how their girls acted.

Of course, the match after that was a shining example of how proper kunoichi acted. Temari and Tenten tore the battlefield a new asshole, slinging sharp objects everywhere, deflecting them with high-powered wind. Watching the Rising Twin Dragons, followed the wires and the Wind Scythe Jutsu had heads spinning everywhere.

Just who were these people!? Throwing around knives, throwing stars, scythes, nunchucks, giant throwing stars, with practiced ease, and a girl with four ponytails swinging a massive fan that should be impossible to carry much less use one-handed, to bend the element of wind to her whim. It was just insane to watch children do these things…and more than a few half-bloods were jealous. They were the children of gods. Why couldn't they do this stuff!?

The screen ran through names once more, stopping on Karui vs. Shikamaru Nara.

The girl grinned, and leapt over the railing, landing in crouch. The Nara might have been really smart, but he was really lazy. Put him through his paces and he'll eventually forfeit. Problem was the shadows. Those had to be watched at all costs, and every single move had to be double analyzed.

The Nara might be lazy, but he was a master strategist.

Shin'en was curious as to how this match would end. Would Karui's unending assault make it impossible for Shikamaru to think properly, or would the clan heir be able to make a plan on his feet?

"I forfeit."

…

"What!?" Karui screamed. Others were confused as well.

"Are you kidding me? That light in your eye, what Omoi almost did to Shino…you Cloud ninja are out for blood. I'm not going to unnecessarily put my neck on the line, just to get a fancy vest. They say pick your battles? Well I'm picking not to fight in a battle against an opponent I know nothing about, while she's obviously been informed about my powers. So yeah, I forfeit."

Hayate coughed. "Winner by default! Karui!"

The Cloud kunoichi seethed at having her opportunity for battle get robbed from her. "Bastard…" she growled lividly. She leapt back up, easily clearing the railing, and punched the wall with a chakra-enforced fist.

Her hand got buried in the concrete, with spider-web cracks running up to the ceiling and down to the floor. The ninja didn't look surprised by this, but the demigods' jaws dropped. Luke paled at the thought of these people entering the coming war on the gods' side.

"And the scary part?" Persephone said. "These guys are the weakest. Just pray you aren't ever in a fight with one of the adults, or you're dead."

Even Clarisse nodded her head at the warning.

The screen ran through names, stopping on Naruko Namikaze vs. Kiba Inuzuka.

The girl cheered, and jumped into the arena, while the boy grinned ferally, before doing the same. Hayate coughed, eager to see how these two would do against each other. "You can begin when ready."

Kiba wasted no time in throwing a food pill to Akamaru, causing the puppy's fur to stand on end, and become blood-red. Kiba popped a pill of his own in his mouth, and what appeared to be blue fire began to pour from him. Akamaru jumped on his back, and the genin clasped his hands together, steepling his middle and pointer fingers.

"Beast Mimicry: Four Legs Jutsu!"

Kiba became feral. His fingernails lengthened into claws, his canines became fangs, and his already slit pupils became even thinner. His bones and joints cracked as they slightly rearranged themselves to better accommodate his four-legged stance.

"Beast Mimicry: Man-Beast Clones!"

The red-furred Akamaru was engulfed in smoke, and when it cleared, a second, equally feral Kiba was now present.

The demigods once again found themselves gaping in shock. Cloning!? What else could they do!? Walk on water!? Breath fire!? Bring back the dead!?

"Wooah," Naruko swooned. "Going for that technique right out the gate?"

The Kibas grinned, and spoke at the same time which created an interesting effect on their voice. "Our opponent's the kunoichi of the year, and the Hokage's daughter. We can't afford to hold back if we want a chance to win this!"

The top Kiba jumped back, while the bottom darted forward. Naruko leapt over him, and then twisted in midair to avoid the spinning torpedo that rose up to meet her. She barely had time to breath when she landed, before she was on the defensive against a swarm of claws and kicks.

Naruko nimbly dodged the ferocious swipes of Kiba, and when she saw the second approaching quickly, she grabbed the outstretched claw of the one attacking her, and spun him away. She rolled under the second Kiba that had leapt at her, popped back up, and spin-kicked. Kiba caught her leg, making her eyes widen, before she was about to kiss the ceiling.

Naruko righted herself, and impacted with a crash, a cloud of dust enveloping her. Then she went on the offensive. Naruko, and a swarm of Shadow Clones came blasting out of the dust cloud like bullets. The Kibas freaked out, and now they were on the defensive.

It became a four-on-one beat down, Naruko's clones providing a coordinated assault seen only in groups of ANBU. The Kibas, despite their taijutsu prowess and increased chakra, found themselves slammed into each other's backs.

"Give up!" Eight voices chorused at once.

Kiba, panting, grinned in defiance. "No way…not yet…I still got one more trick up my sleeve…ready, Akamaru?"

The second Kiba puffed away, revealing the puppy, who quickly jumped on his master's back. The clones surged forward but they were too late. Chakra swirled around Kiba as he said, "Inuzuka Style: Man-Beast Transformation Combo!"

Smoke engulfed the entire arena, blinding all. Shin'en was impressed, slightly, but when one's measuring stick is a Tailed-Beast, a giant dog was hardly something to be worried about.

The smoke cleared, and everyone gasped, none more so than the demigods. "Orthrus…" the blonde kid with grey eyes whispered in awe.

"Two-Headed Wolf…" Kiba snarled. His new form took up almost a fourth of the entire arena. His heads were filled with razor-sharp fangs that dripped with saliva. His eyes were now a disturbing shade of red, and the claws on his feet were the size of teenagers.

Kiba's heads roamed around, looking for Naruko, seeing as she had disappeared with in the smoke. "Up here, Fido!" an impish voice said from above. Kiba wasted no time in crouching down, and jumping, the force from his leap cracking the ground where his paws once were.

"RASENGAN!"

Kiba's eyes widened when the cry came not from above, but from in front. Naruko shot forward out of the remaining smoke, a blue, swirling orb of power held in her right hand. There was nothing the Inuzuka could do. His belly was exposed, his momentum carried him up, and his opponent was coming in at an angle that made his paws useless.

He could've just dispelled the jutsu, and split back up, but that would leave him exhausted. The food pills had worn off, and Naruko had easily overpowered their effects with superior numbers and taijutsu. Kiba had actually scraped up the last of reserves to pull this jutsu off, and the amount of chakra it was taking to keep it sustained was ungodly.

Well, it times like these, it was best to go for broke. His mom and big sister were probably going rip him a new one later on, for the amount of worry he put them through, but they would all hug it out later. Kiba was not about to take a Rasengan to the stomach.

Draining the last of reserves, Kiba defied physics, altering his direction and simultaneously beginning to rapidly spin. Very, very, very fast.

"Wolf Fang Over Fang!"

The spinning vortex of fur and chakra collided destructively with the swirling orb of millions of condensed spirals. It was the first time the demigods got a taste of what it was like to see two strong shinobi go head-to-head.

A massive crater appeared, created by the energies of the ninja. Wind roared and howled against the walls, making everyone cover their ears. Except for Shin'en. He just looked on impassively, already knowing what the outcome of this deadlock was. Because everyone but him was covering their faces, none of them saw the orange glow that appeared briefly, before the explosion blinded and deafened everyone for a few seconds.

When the smoke and dust cleared, jaws dropped at seeing what was left of the arena. Where the floor once was, was a crater several feet deep. Cracks had marred the walls and ceiling, and most of the catwalk rails had been warped, pressed up against the wall due to the outward force. Luckily, no one was hurt except for Kiba, Akamaru, and Naruko.

The genin's jacket had been shredded, and his body was covered scrapes and bruises. Akamaru's fur had become dirty, matted, ruffled, and singed in just about every visible area. Naruko was breathing heavy, her pigtails undone, her right arm was covered in burn marks, and her jacket was littered with cuts.

Minato was at his daughter's side in an instant, and his haori didn't have time to settle before its wearer was back in the air. Medics did not need to be told, and they were putting Kiba on a stretcher and carrying Akamaru almost as fast as their Kage was carrying his child.

When Naruko's brain returned to her, she flailed wildly in her dad's arms, whining. Minato got the message and set her down. Immediately, Daddy-Mode was activated. "Are you alright? Does it hurt? Where does it hurt? I'll make it better, I promise-"

"Daaaaaaad! I'm fiiiiiine!" Naruko whined loudly. She held up her burned arm, which was steaming. "See? The fur-ball is already doing his job."

Fur-ball? The demigods wondered. What did that mean? Regardless of what it meant, the burn wounds on the girl's arm were fading away, leaving behind unblemished, peach-colored skin.

Persephone, and many other demigoddesses, would be lying if they said they weren't a little jealous of this Naruko girl. Why couldn't their fathers dote on them like that?

Minato smiled, before he pulled his daughter in for a hug. "I'm so proud of you. That was an amazing Rasengan. Although I think your Aunt Tsume is going to beat me up for what happened to her son," Minato chuckled.

Naruko giggled. "It wouldn't be any worse than the time Mom caught you helping Pervy-Sage with his research."

"R-right."

"Ahem. Winner! Naruko Namikaze! Now—cough—what are your orders, Lord—cough—Hokage?"

Minato pulled away from his daughter, surveying the damage with a critical eye. Change venues, or take a quick break so that the Chunin could repair the arena? Or, how about the Chunin repair the arena right now and we get the next three fights over and done with?

Minato snapped his fingers, fluctuating his chakra in a specific pattern. The Chunin in the grey uniforms leapt down, their hands held in the Ram seal.

"Earth Style: Landscape Repair Jutsu!"

They molded their chakra appropriately, and sent it out of their bodies into the ground. There was a brief rumbling, and then a slab of stone shot up and filled the crater, the cracks in the wall glowed with dark-yellow light; when the glow faded, the cracks were gone. And just like that, aside from rubble here and there, the arena was back in tip-top shape.

Minato flashed his daughter up to her friends, while he flashed back to his underlings on the other catwalk. The Hokage stole a quick glance at Shin'en and saw the boy was still leaning on the railing, the cigarette he was smoking almost burned down to a nub. He apparently realized this, because he spat that one out, pulled another from his pouch, and lit it with a controlled burst of lightning chakra.

The screen went through names again, and stopped on an interesting combination.

Hinata Hyuuga vs. Choji Akimichi

The big-boned boy paled and whimpered. He had to fight…Hinata? His friend? The second most powerful kunoichi in his class? That girl was Gentle Fist nightmare, undefeated against all but one opponent: Naruko.

In an alternate universe, the Hyuuga heiress would've been shy, timid, and introverted. However, with the soft, yet firm, guiding hand of her mother, Hitomi, the fiery encouragement of Kushina, the firm resolve of Mikoto, and the friendship of Naruko, Hinata Hyuuga was loud, proud, dignified, and the second most sought-after girl behind Naruko.

Hinata walked down the steps to the arena, smiling confidently. Choji threw some chips in his mouth, and followed after his friend. He wasn't going to roll over and give up, but he had zero confidence that he would win.

The two genin stood across from each other. Hinata was smiling, and Choji was shoving an entire bag of chips down his throat. Hayate coughed. "Begin when ready!"

Choji swallowed what was in his mouth, and put the bag away. His heart was not in this fight, and he knew he was going to lose anyway, so best to make it quick, and try again next time. Then Hinata said the magic words.

"Choji…you look really fat in that shirt."

Now, in the very back of the Akimichi's mind, he knew she was only playing with him, getting him riled up for the battle, but that didn't matter right now. This little shit had just called him fat.

Fires like that of the sun erupted where Choji's eyes were supposed to be, and he clenched his fists super tight. "I'M NOT FAT! I'M BIG-BONED!"

Hinata grinned as her tactic worked like a charm. Now that Choji was head-first into the fight, she wouldn't feel so bad about mopping the floor with him. It wasn't anything personal, it was just that she wanted to make it to the finals, and to do that, she had to defeat Choji. Afterward, she would take him out for barbeque. Her treat, and her apology.

"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji's body erupted into a massive ball with limbs.

"Human Boulder Jutsu!" Then his limbs disappeared, and he began rolling forward like a giant bowling ball.

Unfortunately, Hinata fully expected this, and easily dodged the rampant fat-ball. Poor Choji, she thought genuinely, all that power and no way to control it. Hinata leapt into the air, landing by the wall beneath the Cloud ninja—on purpose—and vanished in a burst of speed just as Choji came barreling into the wall, where got stuck.

Hinata reappeared in midair, Byakugan active. 'Sorry about this, Choji.' The Akimichi felt several hard taps around his body, before he deflated with swirls in his eyes. He was knocked out.

"Winner! Hinata!"

Most of the Leaf ninja cheered, with the adults clapping. Hinata blushed faintly, but smiled and ran back up the stairs as the medics carried Choji away. Reaching the top, she just barely had time to react to the orange and blonde missile that slammed into her.

Naruko hugged her friend tightly, and Hinata hugged back just a strong. Gods, she loved these moments, when she and Naruko were together like this. The way the slightly younger girl smelled, the softness of her hair, their chests touching-

"You can…let me go now, Hinata," Naruko blushed at how her friend was hugging her for so long.

"Oh, yeah, r-right." Hinata broke away, and hurried past to her teammates. Naruko did the same. Kurenai shared a look with her Hokage, and the man's face was unreadable. Shin'en knew exactly what had just happened, and he took a drag from his cigarette, blowing the smoke out of his nose. 'Lesbian…'

The screen did its thing, landing on two more names. Gaara vs. Rock Lee.

The redhead appeared on the arena floor in a flurry of sand, while the bowl-cut leapt down with a drawn out cry of 'Youth!' Shin'en didn't even bother to pay attention to that fight. A Jinchuuriki going up against someone who didn't even have a properly functioning chakra network…laughable.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well it took longer than what Shin'en had expected, but once Gaara was able to properly adjust his sand to accommodate for Lee's admittedly impressive speed, the fight was all downhill from there. Even with his weights off, Lee couldn't get past Gaara's sand. Not even opening up his Inner Gates, could the taijutsu expert land a blow, not against the Tailed-Beast chakra that the redhead called upon.

The demigods had quite the shock when they saw Gaara's eyes change. White sclera became pitch-black, and the boy's greenish eyes turned yellow with a four-pointed star as a pupil, with four little dots in between the star's branches.

When the power of Lee's Gates faded, the genin was swiftly knocked out by a blow to the head, courtesy of condensed sand. Then Lee surprised everyone—Shin'en just raised a brow—when he stood up while unconscious. A sign of the genin's intense willpower. But that was all about 30 seconds in the past. Now it was the present.

"I hope you're ready to die, Cloud ninja," Neji Hyuuga spat venomously. Shin'en said nothing. His cigarette burned idly at the corner of his mouth, his hands tucked into the sash around his waist, and his head was angled in a way that caused his needle-like bangs to cover his eyes.

Minato was nervous as hell. He didn't know who was running that computer, if anyone really, but this was not a good matchup. Neji's hatred for the Cloud was well-known, and if he said something to set the demigod off…Minato did not want to clean up the smear on the wall that would become of the Hyuuga.

Persephone was just as nervous as Minato, albeit for a slightly different reason. It was Percy's turn to fight. Percy did not hold back. Percy was about to kill somebody in front of Camp Half-Blood, and Persephone would be stuck having to explain to her friends why her twin had no regard for human life.

"Will you stop worrying? I'm sure your brother is going to fine," Andrew said.

Persephone rounded on the son of Athena, her hair billowing behind her. "I'm not worried about Percy, Wise Boy. I'm worried about how much of a mess he's about to make."

"Oh, come on Seaweed Brain. He's not that bad is he?"

Hayate coughed, fully aware of the blood feud before him. He felt sorry for the Cloud-nin. Poor boy may look cool, but Neji was on a whole other level. This was going to be quick, brutal, and bloody.

"Begin!"

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So there's chapter 21, and 95% of the preliminary rounds. Hoped you liked them, and my added twist of having all of Camp Half-Blood present with Persephone. I thought about bringing the Hunters along for the ride, but I thought that would've been overkill on the reactions.

Now that every story had been brought up to 21 chapters, expect Green-Eyed Ghoul to be 'binged' once again. Chapter 11 should be out this time-ish tomorrow.

Tell me how much you liked this chapter by Reviewing, Following, and Favoriting please!