Percy was still trying to wrap his head around everything Naruto had told him during his impromptu lecture on the way to Camp Halfblood. Seeing Naruto disappear in a flash of light only reinforced to Percy just how strange things were now. If that wasn't enough to hammer into Percy's head that his previous view of the world was long gone Gover provided another example by taking off his shoes to reveal goat hooves reinforcing his claim to be a satyr. At least Percy was able to remain calm as he got out of the van and got his first look at the Big House. The house itself didn't stand out as something you'd expect to see for a hidden mythical training camp.

While Percy was taking in the sights, Chiron got out of the van and walked over to Percy. He then put his hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "I know that you're overwhelmed by everything you've learned today. Gods know that I was hoping to ease you into our world, but unfortunately that wasn't in the Fates' plan for you. Don't worry about your mother as I'm sure she will be fine. Naruto was just concerned for her safety since neither of us expected a dragon to hone in on your scent. He was raised as an orphan since he father died the day he was born and his extended mortal family was sadly wiped out in a war. Because of this he is very protective of campers and their families. Even if something were to go after your mother I know that Naruto will be able to handle the problem."

That bit of news made Percy feel better. A small part of him was starting to worry about his mom's safety. Smelly Gabe not so much, Percy was pretty sure he wouldn't be too upset if a monster turned his stepfather into a stone statue. Suddenly a question popped into Percy's head and he blurted out, "How did Naruto just disappear like that? Is it a special halfblood ability that's taught here?"

Chiron chuckled glad to see that Percy was starting to ask questions. He had been a bid sad that Percy was not the most attentive student back at Yancy. But to be fair, the mortal educational system wasn't really tailored to help halfblood learn given their special needs. With a little bit of luck Percy would keep asking questions and become a more attentive student. But until then Chiron had a curious student to teach. "Naruto's a unique halfblood in that he actually comes from another version of Earth and was brought over here by his mother for his safety. Over there people are apparently closer to the mystical side of the world and developed abilities that seem almost magical that are collectively known as Ninshu. Naruto's people are also apparently less technologically advanced than mortals here are so it all balances out."

"Ninshu has several different areas of study, but all of them are made up of techniques known as jutsu. You'll learn more about Ninshu and it disciplines as part of your education at Camp. Naruto and his mother discovered that halfbloods and most woodland spirits like nymphs and satyrs can use the ninshu arts since they also have the special energy that the regular mortals in Naruto's world possessed. He 'disappeared' as you put by using a high level jutsu that lets him teleport to places he's previously marked. His mortal father was also famous in Naruto's homelands for using that jutsu."

Percy blinked his eyes is shock. Normally, he would have thought that people from alternate earths was something straight out of a comic book and couldn't happen in real life. Fortunately for Percy, his sense of reality was currently sitting in a corner of his mind crying its eyes out allowing him to accept what he was being told. And he had seen the older teen disappear in a flash so Chiron's explanation wasn't that hard to swallow given the former impossibility Naruto demonstrated. Percy's ADHD mind then locked onto one fact Chiron had told him, "Naruto's mortal father? You mean his mother's a goddess?"

Chiron let out a slightly nervous chuckle and replied, "Naruto's divine parent is his mother and a rather surprising one at that given that we all widely thought that she'd never have a halfblood child. A friendly bit of advice for you Percy, don't be and definitely don't act surprised that there are halfbloods with divine mothers. I know that almost all of the famous halfbloods known to mortals except for Achilles had divine fathers so it is a somewhat understandable error to make. However, that tends to be a sore spot for most of the goddesses children and mentioning it is a good way to get on their bad side."

After saying that warning Chrion became a lot more chipper as he continued to speak. "Now then Percy, we need to introduce you to Mr. D who the Camp Director here at Camp Halfblood. Mr. D is the god of wine so please be respectful of him. Also, don't refer to him by his true name unless you are being very respectful about it. After you've been introduced I'll find one of the more experience campers to show you around and so they can answer some of the questions that are no doubt on your mind. While this is going on I will be filing some paperwork to get you transferred from Yancy Academy to Heron's School of Classical Inquiry. That is the private school the camp runs for the year rounder members who you will be joining at least until the end of the summer term."

While Percy was being introduced to Mr D. his mother was getting a mythological crash course of her own from Naruto. Sally started to rub her temples as she sat down at the kitchen table. Gabe's corpse had been sealed away in a scroll by Naruto who would make it look like he had been stabbed during a robbery that had gone bad. Thanks to the mist only another halfblood would be able to discover the altered evidence concerning Gabe's demise. Not that they could do anything about it as a hidden Federal law that FDR slipped into the New Deal stated that halfbloods in law enforcement always had to use the evidence available to their regular mortal counterparts.

Sally stopped rubbing her temples and looked at Naruto. She then said, "So let me double check to make sure I understand everything you're telling me. In addition to the Greek gods that Percy's father belongs to there are other pantheons across the world with other spirits who follow the gods of those pantheons. My great-grandfather was a Selkie, a seal spirit which is somewhat similar to sea nymph in terms of power and abilities in the Norse pantheon?" There was a pause as Naruto unsealed his records of Connor MacLeod's family tree which ended with Sally's mother who was the youngest of Connor's granddaughters. It wasn't really needed since Naruto had explained the blood tracking seal to her earlier, but the extra evidence was nice to see. In a calm manner that only a mortal mother of a halfblood could possess when it came to the bizarre, Sally continued. "So my great-grandfather heard that I'm going to be in great danger and he gave you his own pelt to give to me? What would happen if I accepted this pelt?"

Naruto pulled out some more sealed notes and quickly looked up the answer to Sally's question. "Okay Mrs. Jackson, from what I've been told the magic in the pelt will unlock your dormant selkie blood and strengthen it. If it was just a regular selkie pelt it would strengthen your selkie blood until it became roughly half of your genetic makeup. Since the pelt came from a blood relative of yours and said relative deliberately gave up his pelt for you the blood strengthening effects are supposed to be even stronger. No one can say for sure, but your genetic profile should shift to anywhere between 2/3's and ¾'s selkie with an extremely small chance of you becoming a pure selkie. With the unlocked Selkie blood you will have far greater healing, strength, reflexes, and resistance to monster attacks than as a human. Having selkie blood will also allow you transform into a seal at will, a natural affinity for swordsmanship, and longer youth. The only downsides to this are that you will technically be under Asgard's jurisdiction and if you become a pure selkie you'll need to submerse yourself for an hour each day in at least brackish, preferably salt water. Pure selkies will weaken if they aren't submerged in brackish or salt water every day and will die if they go without a being submerged in those kinds of water for three days. "

The abilities that Naruto mentioned to Sally were rather tempting to her as they would help her protect Percy. For years she had feared what would happen if all her attempts to hide her son failed. As a last resort, she supposed that she could have prayed to Poseidon for aid if Percy was attacked. However, she was worried about the trouble such an action would cause Percy by bringing his existence to the other gods' attention. Sally had always prided herself on handling her problems on her own so the offer of the strength to protect her son was more tempting than Poseidon's offer to build her a castle under the sea. Besides, Naruto's offer that her great-grandfather had set up for her didn't seem insulting to Amphitrite in Sally's opinion. The Queen of the Ocean might be more tolerant of her husband's indiscretions than her sister-in-law, but Sally wasn't about to use up more of Amphitrite's good will than her heart had already caused her to use if she could avoid it. Yet another reason why Sally had deliberately avoided praying to Poseidon if she could.

Still, Sally knew her Greek mystical history well enough to know that power and mystical gifts almost always had a price attached to them. May The Hospitable One have mercy on those who foolhardily grabbed at power because such people always quickly joined his kingdom. Naruto had explained a few drawbacks that unlocking her selkie blood would have and she wanted to know more before she made up her mind. "Can you explain a few things to me Naruto? What does being under Asgard's jurisdiction entail? What would it mean for me and Percy? Furthermore, would I still need to be surrounded by salt water at times to stay healthy even if I did not become a full selkie?"

Naruto signed and said, "I don't know anything further on the selkie issue. My training in regard to the North's mystical life is more heavily focused on the monsters that live in the North and how to defeat them. During the school months I live in Alaska so I'm in an area where both the North and the West both hold power. Like your son, I also have some blood ties to the North as well as the West which is why I know they exist."

"Now when it comes to Asgard's jurisdiction I know a good deal more about it. Being under the North's rule you would be required to follow any edicts that the King of Asgard which are rather few besides having to obey mortal laws when interacting with mortals. As a selkie hybrid you would be expected to obey any rulings concerning the MacLeod Clan that its clan leader made. That shouldn't be too hard since your clan has unfortunately been decimated and scattered because of the wars that have occurred over this past century. It should go without saying, but as a sea spirit you would be under the rule of the Norse sea god Njord. From what I've been told by those in the know is that Njord is a good and just ruler similar to the Earthshaker in temperament if a touch sterner."

Sally was silent for a few moments and then she sighed. "Do I have to make my decision now or can I wait and do some further thinking on my choice?"

Without thinking about it, Naruto pulled out one of his hiraishin knifes and handed it to Sally. "Take as much time as you need to think about this Ms. Jackson. It is your life we're talking about here. Once you've made up your mind you just need to throw that knife and I'll be able to appear to hear your answer. Oh, before I leave to take out the trash let me write down a few books that have reasonably accurate accounts of the Aesir so you can know more about what you're getting into."

Annabeth looked at the newest member of Camp Halfblood and wondered what was so special about him. First Chiron left for several months to follow up a special lead that a satyr had found. Then he, Grover, and the new kid show up in the middle of the day after escaping from a dragon attack. And then to make matters even harder for Annabeth to wrap her mind around Chiron had needed to call Naruto for help because the dragon that attacked them was one that Chiron had never even heard of before. How could one slightly lanky twelve year halfblood cause so much trouble?

Once Chiron finished introducing the two halfbloods he left to tackle the mountains of paperwork that were no doubt waiting for him in his office. Annabeth then nodded her head towars the door and said, "Follow me Percy." Percy nodded his head and quickly followed Annabeth after he gave a second glance to the door Grover had been escorted out of by a rather annoyed looking older satyr who had been holding a baseball bat. The look on the elder satyr's face suggested that he wanted to use Grover in a game of t ball with Grover's head as the ball.

The duo very quickly walked out of the Big House and over a small hill. Annabeth stopped and turned to look at Percy so that she could see the look on his face when he first saw the cabins. As the longest staying halfblood currently living at Camp, Chiron had often asked her to show the new halfbloods around. She had quickly found that one of the perks to this was seeing the look on the newbie's faces when they first saw the Cabins. Just as always happened with a new camper, Percy's eyes lit up with amazement and a touch of wonder as he looked at the cabins.

Annabeth then became to lecture Percy on what he was seeing. "There are twelve cabins in Camp Halfblood Percy, one for each of the twelve Olympians. The claimed children of each god or goddess on the council stay at the cabin dedicated to their divine parent. Most of the children of the gods and goddesses not on the Olympian Council along with halfbloods of currently uncertain lineage stay at Cabin 11 under Lord Hermes's protection as he is the patron of travelers. That's why he is the second most respected and loved Olympian here at Camp."

Percy's mind latched onto two things in Annabeth's speech that confused and worried him. "He's number 2? Then who is number 1? And you said most children of other gods stay at his cabins. What happens to the rest of the children of other gods?"

Despite her best efforts, a small smirk appeared on Annabeth's face. Spending so much time around Naruto and his clones had given her a slightly mischievous side. It was fun watching the newbie squirm for a second. Annabeth then ended her fun and explained, "The halfbloods of gods and goddesses who are not on the Council and who do not stay at Cabin 11 are the children of deities who have very close ties to one of the 12 Olympians. Because of those close ties the Olympian in question lets those halfbloods stay in their cabin as a favor to their parent and Lord Hermes. There was a son of Lord Asclepius in Camp during my first year here who stayed at Cabin 7 since Lord Apollo is Asclepius's father and both of them are gods of healing. That halfblood is currently in college studying to become a doctor. However, there are currently no halfblood children of the min, I mean non-councilmember deities currently staying at an Olympian's cabin besides Cabin 11."

Thankfully for Annabeth's pride, Percy did not notice her slight slip of the tongue. Both Naruto and his mother had started insisting that campers use the term non-councilmember god instead of minor god. Apparently, the other gods and goddesses found the term non-councilmember to be less insulting than the term minor. They didn't get any new privileges or powers, but most of them did seem happier having that label. Hera was promoting the use of the term to ease some of the long standing tensions on Olympus. She might be pissed as all Tartarus that Amphitrite would not swear a binding oath to prove her innocence even though the recovered evidence strongly implicated her in the diadem's theft. Unlike Zeus though, Hera wasn't about to let her personal rage get in the way of doing her duties as the ruler of Olympus.

Annabeth pointed to Cabin 2 and said, "Lady Hera is currently the most respected and loved Olympian the opinion of campers. You might not expect that given the stories about the Olympians that mortals know. But, those stories are thousands of years old and the ones dealing with her interacting with past halfbloods almost always involve her dealing with her husband's halfbloods. Lady Hera admitted on one of her visits to Camp Halfblood that her husband's halfbloods are the only ones she cannot stand since their existence is a personal insult against her in addition to being a major offense against the dignity of her domain." There was a small pause as Annabeth waited for Percy to absorb what she said. It had been relatively easy for Hera to warm up to the members of Cabin 6. Since Athena was a single goddess her children were only illegitimate as opposed to other cabins who were both illegitimate and the results of affairs. Aphrodite's and Dionysus's kids took the longest for Hera to warm up to since they were results of affairs and didn't have the grandchild factor to neutralize that annoyance for her. Even then Hera had been a lot friendlier to those campers at first than Dionysus ever was to a camper.

Percy was surprised to hear that Hera was so popular at Camp halfblood. However, all of the surprises he and dealt with today resulted in the surprise not really impacting him much. By this point all Percy wanted to do was find a place to sit down and try to make sense of everything he had learn today. At least Annabeth seemed to be a friendly person to help him sort all of this out.

Naruto worked his way through the Sky in Rage Dance so that he could reflect on everything that had happened since he rescued Chiron and Percy several weeks ago. Sk'elep had declared that Naruto had mastered the Sky in Rage dance for sage training purposes and had already taught him a few more dances. However, Naruto had found that this dance was a good way for him to relax and let his mind wander whenever he needed to think about things. Meditation had always been hard for Naruto back in the Elemental Nations because he was always a very active person. It had taken him years to learn how to meditate to a point most people could reach in a few weeks or months. Thankfully for Naruto, his preparation to be a sage on Earth had given him access to a form of meditation that was more suited to him.

Sally Jackson had accepted her great-grandfather's pelt after almost two weeks of deliberation on the matter. The now three quarters' selkie had also moved to the same town Naruto was living in. Because Sally Jackson was now under Asgard's jurisdiction she had been advised before her transformation to move closer to the North's territories. Since she wasn't a pure selkie she didn't have to live solely in the North's zones of influence. However, it wasn't advisable for her to remain in New York City or any area most Olympians focused their attention towards. If the wrong Olympian discovered that there were other pantheons in the world without being properly prepared things would go to Tartarus no matter what.

Thankfully, that little life insurance policy Naruto had been able to get retroactively attached to Gabe with a little help from his mother had made it easy for her to move. The supernatural elements of the town had also been very helpful in getting Sally settled in. Rossweisse was perhaps the most helpful as she had taken over training Sally in the arts she needed to know in order to thrive as a citizen of Asgard. Naruto didn't know that as he was closer to Issei as a friend that Rossweisse. Naruto had also given Sally her great-grandfather's claymore since it was rightfully hers and she would need a weapon to help protect herself. The claymore was currently hanging over the fireplace at the new Jackson house because Sally wasn't physically suited to wielding the massive weapon. Instead, Sally was using a plain cold iron katzbalger that had apparently been sent from Njord's armory less than a week after Rossweisse had deem the claymore a poor match for Sally's abilities.

Very quickly, Naruto's thoughts drifted to his newest student at Camp Halfblood Percy Jackson. There was something very different about that boy, but Naruto couldn't figure out what it was. First off, the boy's chakra reserves were unnaturally large for a boy his age. Until a shinobi reached their mid to late teens one could predict how much chakra they would have at their disposal within a reasonable amount of accuracy. Lineage and training resulted in a fair amount of variation, but the standard range was a biological fact for preteens and young teens due to the fact that their bodies still had a lot of maturing to do. Having a divine lineage did not change this fact at all. Every other halfblood Naruto and his clones were training followed this biological rule. Naruto had massive chakra reserves twice the size a Kage was expected to have at that age the first time around because he had been connected to the Kyuubi almost since birth. So what was Percy's excuse for having chakra reserves that would give any elite jonin back in Konoha a run for his or her money?

Inexplicitly large chakra reserves were the only thing that was well odd for lack of a better word about Percy that Naruto had noticed. Percy was picking up on the ninshu lessons that Naruto's clones were holding at camp too quickly. Sometimes Percy was at the head of the class for people in his skill group. That was a bit odd since the preteen tended to be in the middle of the pack in all his other studies even when his peers were fellow halfbloods. However, Naruto knew that Percy's progress in his class wasn't just because the boy was naturally gifted in ninshu. Naruto had witnessed several 'geniuses' as they were called back in Konoha and he knew that Percy was not among their number. His progress was all wrong for that label even when he was just at the head of the class. Then there were the times when Percy made leaps of progress or understanding that just were not possible unless someone else was teaching Percy. That was not happening and Naruto knew from talking with Percy that the boy wasn't sneaking a look at the more advanced groups' lessons.

In addition to what Naruto had witnessed via his clones, Chiron had also confided to Naruto something else that was puzzling about Percy. The traditional weaponry and unarmed combat lessons had been going terribly for Percy. Normally, a relatively sheltered halfblood was expected to have some problems with these lessons at first because they are naturally inexperienced in these matters. Percy's problem was that he was instinctively trying to fight using a very different style. Chiron noticed that the boy instinctively trying to use a style closer to what Naruto used then the other halfbloods and given him a beginners guide to kenpo book. Surprisingly, Percy was taking to kenpo like a fish to water. If it had been a northern European style of combat Naruto would have understood given Percy's Selkie blood, but why by Tartarus did Percy have the instincts for an East Asian style of combat?

This train of thought was abruptly cut off by Naruto as he sensed Sk'elep running towards him with an aura of worry that had a touch of genuine fear mixed in it. Naruto immediately stopped his meditative kata and turned towards the woods that his mentor soon came running out of. Sk'elep stopped a few feet from Naruto and said, "Thank the Great Spirit you're hear Naruto. We've got a massive problem on our hands. Earlier today I got a message from Sun Wukung who's my contact with the Eastern Pantheon. You'd like him as he's a joker that's very protective of those he considers precious to him. In fact, you remind me of him quite a lot which is probably why I put up you and your stupidity when it comes to certain goddesses."

Sk'elep got a hard glare from Naruto along with a fairly respectable amount of killing intent. The coyote spirits perverted remarks about Naruto's two goddess friends, one of whom he had privately agreed to marry, was really getting on his nerves. Sk'elep sighed and quickly apologized. "Sorry Naruto. I was just trying to lighten the atmosphere because Wukung's message is extremely alarming. The Yata no Kagami, the real one and not the fake one the Japanese made to replace it when the Eastern Pantheon decided to put it under their direct protection in 1040, is missing. Furthermore, the Eastern Pantheon has detected that it has been moved to somewhere outside of the East's control. Something is masking the movement of the Yata no Kagami. The Regents have also just learned that the Yata no Kagami will be showing up somewhere in the United States sometime over the summer. Its foreign nature and the masking effects it's under make it impossible for even the Fates to see more clearly precisely where and when it will show up."

The coyote spirit sat down and started to shiver slightly from fear. He looked straight into the slightly confused and worried eyes of his student and started to explain things. "The Eastern Pantheon, specifically the Kami subsection, has a special set of magical items known as shinju-kyo or Deity and Beast Mirrors in English. The most basic of these mirrors allow one to see though any illusion. More powerful versions can dispel any illusion or falsehood that is within their reflection. However, the Yata no Kagami is the most powerful of these shinju-kyo in existence and can bring any truth no matter how small, obscure, or hidden to the surface in addition to the other powers of a shinju-kyo."

Naruto thought for a moment and then he realized what had Sk'elep so worried, "The Latin Protocols. You're afraid that the Yata no Kagami will reveal the truth about the Latin Protocols."

Sk'elep nodded his head and said, "Reveal and probably destroy them. The Latin Protocols are after all a forced falsehood on the ba'al echoes of a very fundamental sort: who and what they are. The chance that the Yata no Kagami bringing the ba'al echoes up the surface becomes even more likely when you consider how certain practices that strengthen the ba'al echoes has crept into Western society over the past century." The Council of Regents was rather annoyed with many mortals over the attacks on traditional morality and values. Those values had been chosen as the bedrock of Western Civilization because they provided morals that are aligned with the basic rules set down by Atik Yomin to the Four Kings about how humans and gods were to behave. They were also refined during the Hellenistic Age to be better suppressants on the ba'al echoes kept locked away by the Latin Protocols.

A frown appeared on Naruto's face and he asked, "How can we deal with this Yata no Kagami? I'm assuming that since I'm the only halfblood from the West to my knowledge that knows about the Council of Regents that I'm going to have to deal with this item?"

Sk'elep sighed and answered his pupil. "First we need to know when and where that Yata no Kagami enters the West. Most likely we'll contact your mother through the Fates to issue a special quest to have you search for the mirror. That is going to be fun as things are looking like your mother's diadem situation will have to be solved by a quest as well. Some members of the council are also trying to find out if whoever is behind the theft of the Yata no Kagami has any connection to the diadem's theft. Taking such a valuable artifact from its secured vault and transporting it in secrecy halfway across the world speaks of someone with a plan. The question we're trying to answer is whether this intellect is also behind the theft of your mother's diadem, just planning on taking advantage of the already present situation, or has no knowledge of the diadem's status whatsoever."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he thought about the points Sk'elep had voiced. Jiraiya had long ago taught Naruto that learning a person or group's motives for doing something was critical in the intelligence world. If you knew what some had done, what they wanted to accomplish, and what was driving them you could get a fairly accurate estimation of their future actions. Naruto quickly thought about the scenarios Sk'elep suggested and a few more scenarios that he could see like the possibility that both thefts were committed by two separate groups being encouraged by a fifth unknown group. In all honesty, Naruto wasn't sure which possible scenario worried him the least. But, no matter who was behind these actions Naruto was determined to put a halt to their plans.