The Interregnum

Okay, for those that wanted Xenomorphic to be continued, I am sorry. For those that wanted Backup Plan to be updated, here you go. Now, for insight into my mind. I'm thinking that after this chapter, I'll go back to Xenomorphic to finish the Huntress Arc (which will take a while), before beginning work on the Assassin's Creed crossover…title still pending.

As for the chapter, I want to address many issues that were brought to my attention via review. One) Shin'en's depowering will not be permanent; in fact, I already have it lined out how he will get his power back. Two) Shin'en is not 'helpless,' as in so weak that his distant cousins could now beat him. Three) someone said that Shin'en was 'Vader Nerfed' and I agree, but look at how fucking powerful Vader was in Legends and other media. Four) No, Shin'en will not be the ultra-OP badass he used to be, but he will still be…on top of things. Five) I recall reading several reviews saying that Shin'en had 'seen the light,' and 'had been converted' from his dark path. Um, no.

In his final conversation with Itachi, Shin'en said, "There is no such thing as 'light,' only varying levels of darkness," and that was before the Raikage revealed that he made Shin'en betray Yūrei.

Expect a cool, calm, intellectual, smart, and moderately strong Percy Jackson with the Mangekyou Sharingan, and the skills of a ninja assassin.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Naruto

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August 7, 1013 A.S.

The Shinobi World had never seen devastation on a level such as this. There were reports coming in from around the world of mass destruction, and death tolls climbing into the multi-thousands. Combined property damages were estimated to be over one trillion ryo and still climbing. Relief efforts from the daimyos themselves were flooding in from even the smallest countries, and it almost seemed as if the world had reached a bastardized peace in the wake of Shin'en's sorrow.

Speaking of the demigod, his whereabouts were unknown. He was last seen fleeing the Hidden Leaf Village, the deposed and exiled Third Raikage following him. The next events to occur happened just minutes later, when the Wrath of the Gods befell the earth. However, it was undisputed that the fireball that ascended into the clouds was directly linked to the sudden, abrupt ending to all of the planetary phenomena.

While marked as an S-Ranked missing ninja of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, there were no search parties to be launched, for there was hardly any manpower available to locate the boy. No, instead, all available ninja the world over were called into service to clean up the mess, and mapmakers were called to redraw the atlases. New mountains had risen, new canyons were gouged into the earth, new rivers had torn pathways to the ocean, and the ocean itself had risen and fallen in places, both retaking land, and giving it away.

The less said about the lack of forested area, the better.

However, despite the world being in ruins, and shinobi all over being dispersed to repair what they could, save what lives remained, and identify the bodies that could be found, it was the Hidden leaf that felt the most suffering, as it was the closest to the epicenter of the Wrath of the Gods.

Naruko sat alone in her hospital bed, the room empty. She was mostly fine, of course, except for a case of chakra exhaustion and minor injuries here and there. All of that was meaningless to the almost-thirteen-year-old. After the battle with Shin'en, and she had become exponentially closer to Kurama, she had gained the ability to sense negative emotions.

On a very serious note, the backlash of so much negativity in one place was making Naruko have suicidal thoughts. It was severely detrimental to her health, and Tsunade couldn't come up with an explanation as to why her goddaughter was barely more than a vegetable now. The overwhelming negativity had such an effect on the inexperienced child, that her body had simply shut down, shut down to the point that she wasn't even conscious of her body's excretory functions.

That was how bad the emotions were running in the Leaf.

While the air was extremely saturated with the grief and rage of the loved ones of the ninja that had died at the hands of Shin'en, there were people feeling so much of those two emotions once, people that Naruko held dear to her heart, that their impact on the young girl's fracturing psyche was more devastating than that of the Leaf's other denizens combined.

The body of Choza Akimichi had been found, and Choji knew hatred and sorrow.

The body of Shibi Aburame had been found, and Shino knew hatred and sorrow.

The body of Hana Inuzuka had been found, and Kiba knew hatred and sorrow.

The body of Yoshino Nara had been found, and Shikamaru knew hatred and sorrow.

The bodies of Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno had been found, and Sakura knew hatred and sorrow.

The body of Inoichi Yamanaka had been found, and Ino knew hatred and Sorrow.

The ruins and bodies of the Uchiha Clan had been found, and Sasuke was consumed by the Curse of Hatred.

The bodies of Pakura, Baki, and Rasa had been found, and all of the Hidden Sand knew hatred and sorrow.

The remains of Sarutobi Hiruzen had been found, and all of the Leaf knew hatred and sorrow.

Naruko's heart slowly beat inside of her chest, becoming ever slower. The negative emotions…the hatred…the despair…it was too much. Too much for a twelve-year-old to bear. Too much to cope with. Against her will, Naruko registered her life fading, her soul being dragged into an endless abyss of boiling grief and howling rage. Her sapphire blue eyes began to dim, her lids slowly easing themselves shut…

Pathetic. All of that talk of saving me from the darkness, all of that boasting that you will surpass my power, and this is the extent of your will?

"I…I can't…" Naruko murmured, barely audible, barely moving her lips. "It's too much…I can't handle it…"

Clearly. It's also clear to me that you are weak. If you cannot even control your own senses, then my investment in you is wasted. I take my leave, and go in search of someone better that I can test myself against.

"No…" Naruko moaned weakly, desperately. "I can control it…I will…"

THEN DO SO! CEASE YOUR MOANING ON THIS BED! STAND! STAND AND FIGHT! FIGHT FOUR YOURSELF! FIGHT FOR YOUR VILLAGE! FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY! FIGHT FOR YOUR PROMISES! FIGHT TO DEFEND YOUR NINDO!

Naruko's eyes popped out of her skull as her soul exploded with life, her Will of Fire now burning with the intensity of a hundred suns. With a start, the Jinchuuriki leapt off the bed, tearing off her soiled undergarment (she was going to kill whoever put a diaper on her) midair, landed, and promptly plowed the door over. Not stopping, ignoring the shouting medic-nin around her, Naruko was a typhoon as she blazed a relentless trail up to the roof of the hospital, and didn't even pause as she blurred through the air in a streak of white and blonde.

Not even the ANBU that tried to intercept her could stop Naruko's singular path of determination for the highest point she could get to.

Bounding across the village, no doubt attracting copious amounts of attention, Naruko alit on top of the Hokage Tower, crouched low, and rocketed off the roof with enough force to crack the stone. Naruko sailed high and true into the sky, soaring freely, her medical gown fluttering around her like the cloak of an angel. Gravity took hold, and Naruko twisted in midair, landing lightly upon to head of her father's stone face.

As Naruko stared out over her village, taking note of the destruction, the rising smoke, and the massive grouping of body bags, a new fire ignited within the reincarnation of Ashura. Shin'en was right; shinobi were monsters. They were conniving, selfish, ruthless, remorseless creatures of shadow and darkness…but she would change that. Naruko resolved herself then, resolved herself to be the shining beacon of light in this dark world, and then, one day, when she was strong enough, her light would shine over all, eradicating the darkness, and all that it hid.

As Naruko stared at the rising sun, the image of a red, nine-pointed star faded from over her blue irises.

There was a flash of yellow behind the Jinchuuriki, and before Minato could even get a word out his daughter rounded on him. The Fourth Hokage was shocked into silence at the pure determination in his daughter's eyes. With the sun rising behind her, the only thing that could be seen of her face were eyes, and those bright, blue orbs burned a searing hole straight through to Minato's soul, setting it ablaze with an unexplainable passion.

"I need to leave, Dad. I need to see the world for what it is, so I can see what needs to be done to change it. If you try to stop me, I'll just leave on my own, and-"

"There'll be no need for that," Minato said evenly. "Master Jiraiya has informed me that he plans on leaving soon to check on his spy network. He says that it will take about three years. Maybe you can talk him in to letting you go with him."

Instead of leaping for joy, cheering in happiness, or making a face at the thought of being with 'Pervy-Sage' for three years, Naruko nodded sharply, and leapt off from the stone head, intent on locating her godfather.

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"Oh, Jiraiya~," Kushina sang melodiously.

The Sannin gulped. "Y-Yes, ma'am?"

The Uzumaki woman sidled up to the Sage, a very sweet look on her face. "My baby girl is almost 13, so I know that all you're going to do to her is train her and protect her from any threats, right~?" Kushina suddenly grabbed Jiraiya's balls, squeezing them tightly, making the white-haired man wheeze.

"If I find out that you touched my baby, or took her to a whorehouse, or talked to her about anything that I haven't talked to her about, or rob her of her innocence, or do anything even remotely sexual," Kushina squeezed harder to emphasize her words, her words coming from clenched teeth and a sultry smile, "these are coming off."

Kushina let go of Jiraiya, and the Sage wheezed heavily.

"Pervy-Sage! Can we hurry up already!?"

"Just a minute," Jiraiya squeaked, before clearing his throat and standing strong. "I mean, let us depart for the world, my young pupil!"

"Yeah!"

Jiraiya turned into a blur, and Naruko vanished with a yelp.

With the blonde no longer present, the Rookie Twelve all dispersed, their goodbyes already said, their mood now somber, their eyes clouded with shadow, even the ever-innocent Hinata did not have her usual cheery/shy disposition. Minato did not pay attention to this however.

Instead, he was looking at his shorter wife. "You think Master Jiraiya would do any of those things to Naruko?"

"I put nothing past that man."

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August 15,2006

Camp Half-Blood

After being teleported back to their home dimension, the Greeks found that somehow, a month had passed in the few hours they had been in the Shinto World. Witnessing the destruction and power wielded by Perseus, Persephone's younger twin, had...effects on the large family.

Against Poseidon's vehement opposition, the Olympians voted that if Perseus should ever come to their world, he would be hunted down and destroyed. Predictably, this had a downhill effect on the half-bloods, who emulated their parents by speaking of ill of Perseus, calling him monster and freak. They were all subconsciously masking their abject terror with false feelings of disgust and hatred. This, also had the predictable downhill effect of alienating Persephone, which had...dark consequences.

The daughter of Poseidon had locked herself in her cabin for days after the return, not coming out for meals or activities. She ignored anybody that knocked on her door, even Chiron. When forced entry was tried, the magic of Cabin 3 threw away the centaur. He got up back with broken bones. Persephone was left to her own devices afterwards.

Eventually, she did emerge, but she was a changed girl. Her eyes had lost their shine, becoming dark and ominous, almost like her brother's. Her movements were precise and measured, like she was constantly planning how to successfully kill everybody around her. Any conversation had with the sea child was short, clipped, and to the point. Further changes to her new personality were evident in contests of a physical nature.

In the arena, for sword lessons and wrestling practice, Persephone dominated. Her level of combative prowess outstripped even Luke and Clarisse, with her sword skills pushing the son of Hermes to the brink and beyond, and her hand-to-hand skills making any child of Ares suddenly hesitant to fight her...especially after Persephone almost killed Clarisse for a remark the war child made about Percy.

Chiron attributed this sudden, darker change in Persephone Jackson to exposure to her brother.

He was not wrong.

The relationship between the children of the Big Three was strained, especially between Persephone and Thalia. Simply put, the daughter of Zeus was highly jealous of Percy's power, and she took out her frustrations at her inferiority on Seph, much to the sea child's ire. The two girls did not get along at all, and most likely never would. Especially with Thalia's decision to join the Hunt (much to Luke and Andrew's consternation), thereby shifting the weight of the prophecy to the shoulders of the Jackson twins-not that the elder sibling knew that.

The relationship between Persephone and the di Angelos was also strained because the sea child had found out about Nico's homosexuality...and how it was directed at her own little brother. As a big sister, Seph did not like that. At all. Call it overprotectiveness, but Persephone Jackson was not allowing Nico anywhere near her younger twin, and had verbally condemned the boy...in front of Bianca.

When Nico broke down, it sparked the protectiveness of Bianca. With her protectiveness sparked, Bianca attacked Persephone. When she attacked Persephone, Persephone defended herself. When Persephone defended herself, Bianca got hurt. Badly.

Now, a new feud had started.

Zeus was standing by his daughter's side, if only to one-up Poseidon and make it clear that Perseus was persona non-grata. Hades was standing by his children in defense of Nico and support of Bianca, against his niece, who had hurt both of his children. Seeing this, Zeus and Thalia had technically joined sides with Hades and the di Angelos. That left Poseidon and Persephone to stand alone against two-thirds of the Big Three in defense of their son/little brother.

Ironic, isn't it? The Greeks had been shown the angel of their salvation, but now they were pushing him towards becoming the demon of their damnation.

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Today was the final day of camp for the Summer. Seeing as Persephone was not a year-rounder, she was leaving today. Her mom should be here relatively soon, so the girl packed the things she felt she would need into a bag, and left her cabin. Anyone around immediately scrambled out of her way. Seph just scoffed at them.

As she passed the arena, she heard the sounds of a swinging sword. Her ADHD took over, and she couldn't help but go see what was going on. Upon entering, she saw that Luke was shirtless, his upper body rippling with toned muscle, and glistening with sweat. With her budding hormones, Persephone found herself staring. The son of Hermes was using a sword she had never seen before-looked to be one-half steel and one-half celestial bronze on the other-to slice apart training dummies.

Anyone else would've been impressed, but Persephone tracked the slashes and swings with relative ease. Honestly, she thought what she was watching was incredibly slow. Eventually, Luke noticed that he had an audience, and he stopped slicing apart straw.

"Hey, Persephone," he said somewhat hesitantly. The girl's now-dark reputation proceeded her. Luke grabbed a towel, drying himself off as best he could, before putting on a tank top. "I was just getting in some last-minute practice before seeing the others off. Hey," he said suddenly, and pulled a six-pack of cokes from somewhere, "if you're not too busy, want to join me for some last-minute monster slaying?"

"Are you trying to ask me out?"

Luke blinked. "Uh...no?"

"Okay. Let's go."

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30 minutes later

Persephone was sitting on top of a rock, calmly drinking a coke, while Luke was sitting next to the rock, also drinking a coke.

"So," Castellan started, "your brother...how do you think he would handle being...here?"

"He'd murder anyone that pissed him off, and not lose an ounce of sleep over it."

"Ah." Luke was silent again for a time, before he asked, "How powerful do you think he is?"

Persephone looked at the son of Hermes. "You were there, dumbass. You say him rip his own arm off, and throw that man hard enough into the sky that the air friction caused him to burn up. You know how powerful my little brother is."

"Yeah..." Luke said distractedly, trailing off. "How do you feel about our parents' decree that Percy is to be killed on sight?" After he said that, the son of Hermes could feel the anger that blossomed in the younger half-blood. Beyond that, he felt the temperature drop, the pressure raise, he saw the creek bubble, and a cold breeze whistled sharply before dying silently. The look etched onto her features spoke volumes of her opinion of the decree.

Luke smirked. Time to go in for the kill.

"What if I told you that...there was a way to avoid Percy being killed? What if I told you that there was a growing faction that could easily protect him, and you, from Zeus' Bolt? What if I told you that, with yours and Percy's help, this faction could dethrone the Olympians, and usher in a new age of peace, freedom, justice, and security?"

Seph's cold eyes bored into Luke's glinting ones. The son of Hermes glided to his feet, and the shadows caused by the noonday sun cast an evil look over the man's face. "Well, are you interested?"

"You have my attention."

Luke almost grinned like a devil. Instead, he smiled like an angel. "The Titans, Persephone, the parents, aunts, and uncles of the gods. A race of beings more powerful than them, wiser than them, stronger than them. They are rising, Persephone, and the gods will be defeated in the coming war. You and Percy, leading us, victory will be guaranteed, and you could have anything you could ever want. Anything."

Persephone was silent as she digested Luke's speech. Then, "You're the Lightning Thief."

Luke's smile never dropped. "Indeed I am."

Persephone blew a heavy amount of air from her nose, and began to inspect her nails. "So...you are the one that almost started a war, dragged me into this mythological nightmare, and exposed my brother, which resulted in him receiving a death-order from Zeus, and the rest of the Olympians, sans my father."

Luke's smile was steadily dropping.

"And now you're telling me that an actual war is about to take place, a war between the gods and the Titans, and the winner decides the fate of the world, and your incentive for getting me and my twin to join you is protection from Zeus, and the offer of anything we could ever want." Persephone chuckled lowly, before looking back at her nails.

"The gods...the Titans…" the daughter of Poseidon fixed Luke with a gaze that could've froze the Underworld, "can all go fuck themselves."

Luke scowled, and snapped his fingers. A ring of fire burned off to the side, and a pitch-black scorpion came crawling out. Persephone gave the creature a sideways glance, before dismissing it completely, returning to her degradation of Luke and his ideology.

"The gods want my brother dead, and you and the Titans just want to use him to further your own goals. You think Percy needs protection? He's stronger than anyone on this planet, and when he comes here, there won't be a single entity alive that can beat him. So, you run to your Titans, Luke, and tell them about my brother, and tell them how monumentally screwed they all are when this war starts, and Percy's on the opposite side of the battlefield."

The scorpion was crawling up Persephone's leg, making its way for her thigh. The creature was ignored. Luke glared at the girl something fierce. "You will regret this…but I wonder what Percy will say to this offer."

The scorpion reached Persephone's thigh, and the daughter of Poseidon's hand shot out so fast, that Luke couldn't follow the motion. One second, Seph's hand was by her thigh, the next, it was gripping the pit scorpion, holding it up at eye level, the damn thing's tail being pressed to its body, its stinger useless. Persephone began to squeeze, and the wriggling creature went rigid from the pressure. The girl's eyes closed.

"I think that Percy will…" Persephone's eyes snapped open, making Luke gasp at what he saw, and the pit scorpion exploded in a shower of exoskeleton and goo. "…refuse."

The son of Hermes was quick to pull his amulet from his back, and teleport himself as far away from the sea demon as he could.

After Luke was gone, the red, nine-pointed star faded from Persephone's eyes.

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Manhattan

Sally pulled into the designated parking space her husband had reserved for his vehicle, the current being a crappy jalopy compared to the Camaro, but it still got from point A to point B without breaking down, so all was good. Technically.

Sally looked at her daughter, who had been remarkably quiet during the entire ride over here. The woman knew why, though, of course, with her mother's intuition pointing her straight towards her wayward son. After having him so close, after having touched him, and then subsequently ripped away from him, that had left a scar on Persephone's psyche, a deep, dark one if Chiron's reports were accurate, and Sally had no doubt they were.

Stories of how Persephone had locked herself away, and emerged as someone new, stories of how her swordsmanship had suddenly improved by leaps and bounds, easily able to go toe-to-toe with the Camp's best, stories of how she had brutally beat Clarisse la Rue in a wrestling match, putting the daughter of Ares into a coma(not that Sally cared; little shit deserved it), and stories of how Persephone had butted heads with all three of her cousins, and came out on top in each situation(which made Sally proud).

Now, usually, the mother of Persephone would not approve of this behavior, and would be swift to rectify it by breaking out an assortment of spanking equipment. However, in light of the Olympians condemning her son, putting the death penalty on his head on the grounds of being 'too dangerous,' Sally didn't give a flying fuck about any brat her daughter beat into a pulp for speaking ill of her son.

Sally was not happy with her baby boy being taken from her, she was not happy with the way he had been forced to live, she was not happy that he killed people, she was not happy that he had been sentenced to death, she was not happy that he had been close enough to touch only for her to suddenly pop back into her apartment.

However, all of that was irrelevant at the moment. Right now, what was relevant, was Persephone's new personality. Sally had no doubt in her mind that her daughter was going to do something unspeakably horrible to Gabe, for all the things the fat, smelly excuse for a man had done to them in the past (especially so once Seph found out that Gabe had been hitting her (Sally)). The thing that made Sally's insides twist the most though, was that she wanted her daughter to get rid of Gabe.

But, as good as that sounded, it would be detrimental in the long run. Gabe brought in money, plain and simple. He put food on the table, he put water in the pipes, electricity in the wires, and clothes on Sally's and Persephone's backs. Granted, he did a terrible job of it, but he still contributed enough to where the Jacksons' lives would fall apart without his financial contribution. That, and his human stench still helped to mask Persephone's godly scent.

"Sweetie," Sally said gently, placing a hand on her daughter's knee, gaining her attention, "I know that Gabe has been horrible to us in the past, but you can't do anything to him. He still provides for us in a way that we need, and if he disappears from our lives before I have a means to make enough money for the both of us, we'll be in serious trouble. So please, put up with him, for now."

Seph's countenance never changed and never gave anything away, but her eyes did darken when her mother asked her to spare Gabe, but at the explanation as for why the smelly oaf was still needed, Seph's ire was soothed, if only slightly. Oh, yes; Persephone fully intended to kill Gabriel Ugliano as soon as she walked in through the door via her improved hydrokinesis.

It was a testament to how much the girl had changed after having her brother ripped away from her. The bright and cheery little tyke had evolved into a cold, frigid young woman that refused the company and warmth of anyone save for those buried inside her heart…like her mother, and borderline her father.

As Seph and Sally made their way up the stairs to their floor, an idea suddenly popped into the demigoddess' head, an idea that would've made her twin proud. "Hey, Mom?"

"Hm?"

"Gabe has life insurance, right?"

"I would think so, yes."

"And if he died, the insurance would go to us, right?"

"Yes…"

"I got us covered then."

Persephone casually strolled forward, leaving Sally to stare at her daughter's back, a whirlwind of emotions running through her. Her daughter, her little angel, her sweet and bright little princess…was about to somehow kill a man to collect his life insurance. The worst part was that Sally not only wanted that to happen, but she was eager to see it happen.

She was eager to see her daughter murder someone.

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Meeting Gabe again had been less than stellar, and the revelation that the bald-headed freak had been hitting her mother almost made Persephone kill the man on the spot, but she restrained herself, if only to not make a scene in front of Gabe's poker buddies. However, that night, the daughter of Poseidon had committed her dark act.

When she had locked herself in her cabin, she hadn't been wailing into her pillow, or shutting down to the point she was a vegetable. No, she had been training, giving herself into her darker emotions, and honing her powers over water. She found that, despite how Sith-like it sounded, her hatred and rage and despair and sadness and sorrow gave her a focus and control over her hydrokinesis that might have rivaled her brother's. She couldn't have told you just how powerful Percy was when it came to water, but she liked to think that she was the more powerful, if only because she was the big sister.

That night, Persephone sat crossed-legged on her bed, her room cast in complete darkness. Her face was scrunched up in focus, focus as she called upon her fury and sorrow; fury at Gabe, at Thalia, at Nico, at Bianca, at Luke, at the gods, at the people that took her Percy away from her, and sorrow that she and her brother had been separated, were still separated, and would continue to be separated for God knows how long.

As the daughter of Poseidon gathered these dark feelings, centering them in her gut, where her power originated, Persephone suddenly became aware. Aware of all water within the vicinity of a hundred meters. Every pipe, every droplet, every toilet, every shower, every leak, and every body. Persephone felt extremely proud of herself with achieving this accomplishment, but she would've felt downtrodden if she ever learned that Percy could do this exact same thing when he was six, only at a much greater range.

Persephone ignored all irrelevant sources of water, and instead focused on the two right down the hall from where she was. The girl was immensely disgusted to feel the movement of the water in Gabe's body matched perfectly with one whose hands were roaming across where they didn't belong. Namely, Sally's chest and crotch area.

Persephone's eyes opened, and, in the pure darkness of her room, they glowed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Sally Jackson called the police, claiming that her husband had been killed. The authorities arrived, as well as the paramedics, and Gabriel Ugilano's body was taken to the autopsy room. After cutting him open, doctors ruled that the cause of death was a heart attack at about three in the morning, therefore meaning natural causes.

The funeral had been short, sweet, and precise, but Gabe was not buried, but was cremated (in secret, the Jacksons scattered the remains to the wind, forever damning him to never have peace). Sally sat down with lawyers, all of whom were sympathetic to the grieving, recently-widowed, mother of one, and things were set up.

Every month, a deposit would be made in Sally's name, a deposit that came from a variety of sources for a variety of reasons. Long story short, Sally could now finish her education, get a new apartment, a new car, new clothes for herself and her daughter, and put Persephone through school herself, and set both of them up to live their rest of their lives happily, contentedly, and comfortably.

The only reason either female felt incomplete was because their son/brother was not there to live the good life with them.

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THE WOLF AND THE RATS

One day, a swarm of rats came across a wounded wolf laying in the surf. The wolf's fur was streaked with scars, and he was missing his right forelimb. The rats, seeing an opportunity, muzzled and bound the wolf, and brought the wounded creature to their nest.

For a time, the wolf was put to work for the rats, and the wolf was forced to learn how to live with three legs. The rats exploited the wolf, using him for their whims, and the wolf's anger grew every day. However, the wolf was weak, and not as strong as he once was. If worked too hard, the wolf's heart would hurt, and he would cough blood. The rats had enough courtesy to allow the wolf a short rest, not because they were kind, but because the wolf was a valuable resource to be used.

But the wolf was cunning.

During the day, the wolf worked hard for the rats, building his stamina and tolerance to pain, while also learning how to live with three legs. During the night, the wolf worked to rid himself of his muzzle. This went on for a time, until, one night, the wolf freed himself of his muzzle. However, the wolf realized that he was not ready to rid himself of the rats, not yet, so he redonned his muzzle...but left it loose.

During the day, the wolf whispered poisonous words into the ears of the rats, under the guise of a soft breeze. The rats listened to the words, and they knew distrust for one another. During the day, the wolf caused dissent among the ranks. During the night, the wolf rid himself of his muzzle, and used his teeth to kill a rat, and in the morning, when the rat was found murdered, the other rats gnashed their teeth at their fellows.

The rats divided themselves, forming factions, groups, alliances. They became fractured and dysfunctional, the foundations of their nest crumbling beneath them. The wolf continued to whisper, continued to kill in the night, and continued to dangle the rats on strings. This continued for a time, and the wolf grew stronger, his words more powerful, his three-legged body more comfortable.

Finally, the rats imploded upon themselves, and a small war broke out. It was a short, yet vicious war, because rats were not clever or powerful, but they were ferocious. Meanwhile, the wolf watched silently as the rats destroyed themselves, hidden in the shadows created by the mounds of bodies.

After a time, only a handful of rats remained, and these were the tired survivors. Fatigued, bleeding, battered and bruised they were, but they summoned the will to move on. These rats came for the wolf, but all they found was his muzzle laying destroyed on the ground. The rats knew fear, but their meeting was short as Death came swiftly upon silent wings.

The wolf left the ruins of the nest, scarred, crippled, and cunning. In this world of lions and tigers and bears, the wolf would survive. He would rise. He would dominate. He would be the lone hunter in this harsh world, and at the end of time, it would be the wolf that stood at the top.

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September 29, 1013 A.S.

A cloaked figure made their way down a simple dirt path. The figure wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, a hat that curved downward at the brim, shielding the eyes. The figure's path was leading them to the Land of Sky.

This figure was heading to this Land for a simple reason: power. The figure had recently gone through a traumatic event that had resulted in some major bodily damage. Externally, the figure's body was littered with a lattice of scars, all varying in length, width, and depth. Internally, however, was the real problem.

Any action beyond mild physical strain caused the figure's heart to threaten to rupture from the strain. In other words, if the heart began to beat too fast, it became a severe health risk. Secondly, was the figure's chakra network. It was fucked up. There was just no other to say it. It had been frayed, twisted, clumped up, stretched, and then hastily repaired, and terribly at that. Now, that wasn't saying that the figure couldn't mold and use chakra, it just meant that whenever the figure did use chakra for something bigger than tree-climbing and water-walking, such as jutsu, it left the figure exceedingly sore and fatigued, as well as in great pain, as if hot wires had been slid into their body.

So, where the figure could once use S-Rank jutsu like party favors, they could now only use a few A and B-rank before collapsing into unconscious, their body screaming in pain. On top of feeling great pain upon using jutsu, the figure's chakra control was...not what it used to be. So now the figure not only felt like they were about to die after using a few jutsu, they were literally about to die too, because of the amount of chakra that was wasted when using a technique.

Which led to the reason as to why the figure was heading to the land of the sky. During their tenure among the idiot bandits, the figure heard tales of a creature hidden within the Land of Sky. Some said the creature was an evil spirit, some said the creature was a secret Tailed-Beast, some said it was just a legend to scare people away. The figure's theory? The creature was a sentient mass of residual chakra coming straight from the battle between the Otsutsuki Brothers and the Ten-Tails itself.

Regardless of what the creature was, there was one thing for certain: this 'Zero-Tails' needed to be investigated...right after the figure dealt with the undesirables that had been following them from the trees for over an hour now.

The figure stopped moving, and the forest went silent as the atmosphere changed. Seconds later, a hail a shuriken came flying out from the trees, coming from both sides. The figure was stunned by the speed, and, as a result, was cut down to size. In a spray of the blood, the cloaked individual collapsed to the ground. Dead.

Out of the trees, eight men came walking out. None of them were remarkable, all of them being of average height, build, chakra, and intelligence. Bandits and/or thugs, obviously. The worms all chuckled as they inspected the cloaked corpse.

The explosive tag detonated, instantly killing all eight of the bandits.

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Shin'en calmly strolled across the dirt, not breaking stride as he walked over the scorched blast crater, the remains of the pathetic bandits, and the false image. Upon walking through the mirage, the water vapor was disturbed and the illusion dispelled.

The demigod was actually rather fond of this new style of combat.

His ninjutsu and taijutsu had been extremely limited, but his genjutsu...in light of his new situation, Shin'en had poured monumental effort into improving his prowess in the illusionary techniques. This recent spat was proof of his advancement. False image of blood and body, false sound of tearing flesh, and even the false scent of bodily fluids. All of this from a mixture of hydrokinesis and a small application of chakra. That was to say nothing of his improvement with the Sharingan.

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October 3, 1013 A.S.

Land of Sky

Shin'en made it to his destination country two days ago, and had no idea where to go from there. So, as it was in his experience to ask for directions when in foreign territory, that's what Shin'en did. He looked for the oldest person around, and was not surprised to find a wrinkled old widow that was blind and presided over a deck of cards.

The woman was cooperative, and told Shin'en where to begin her search for the Zero-Tails. Deep in the heart of the Land of Sky, there was a place of ruin, the remains of an old fortress called Ancor Vantian. It was here, that Zero-Tails was said to reside, and it was here that Shin'en would travel to.

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October 5, 1013 A.S.

After two more days of travel, the cloaked the demigod found what he was looking for. It was rather difficult to miss the massive, white-stoned, vine-covered mass rising out of the earth.

Shin'en leapt from the cliff he was standing on, sailing through the air, and sailing down to the ground. Upon channeling chakra to his legs to reinforce his bones and muscles so that he wouldn't break his legs on impact, the demigod still winced as a feeling again to hot, metal rods being jammed into his legs met his nerves. Regardless, Shin'en landed without issues.

The demigod walked through the forest, and he honestly found himself enjoying nature. The calmness, the cool atmosphere, the mist. Shin'en found himself at the calmest he had been since he ripped off his own arm and threw the Raikage hard enough to where the air friction burned the man into a crisp. While this would've been the perfect opportunity to think and reminisce, Shin'en made conscious effort not to do that.

One thing at a time. Secure a better means of protection first, think about the future later.

Eventually, the forest gave way to a wide-open space that was littered with stone ruins of what might have once been spires, pillars, and/or dwellings. A moderate mist covered the area, which had the effect of boosting Shin'en's senses and body past what they were. Therefore, due the heavy atmospheric moisture, the demigod was on guard when he sensed a chakra begin to coalesce in front of him.

It started gradually, with bits of shaded matter coming together to form a pulsating mass that was almost spherical in shape. Soon enough, the mass was bigger than a man, much bigger, in fact, and resembled a massive, purple leech. The leech had a Noh mask on its face, and the kanji for 'zero,' colored tan, emblazoned on its forehead. Four large strands of hair rose from the top of the mask, while a fifth one sprouted from the mask's chin, creating the image of some kind of beard.

Shin'en kept his head bowed slightly, so that the brim of his hat covered his eyes. "I take it you are the Zero-Tailed Beast I've heard so much about?"

Instead of answering the question, the leech responded with this, "Such a strong darkness within you. Yes, I can sense it. The hatred, the fury, the sorrow, the despair…and yet I feel a kind of…acceptance of something. Now that I look deeper I see not so much a darkness but a…heavy shade of grey. No matter; you will still make a wonderful buffet!"

The Zero-Tails' face split horizontally, and spread apart for over a meter. The flesh of the leech separated, revealing the humongous molars that lined the creature's mouth. The Zero-Tails shrieked, and shot forward, fully intent on devouring the boy before it, feast on the vast wealth of negative emotions, use its influence to control the boy, and bring about a never-ending age of darkness upon the world.

When the leech was mere feet away from the demigod, the boy raised his head, and lifted the brim of his straw hat to where his closed left eye was visible. A small trail of blood began to leak from under the eyelid, before the lid shot wide-open, revealing the bloodshot sclera, and the nine-pointed star that was Shin'en's Mangekyou.

"Ama-no-Iwato."

The Zero-Tails found itself falling into a black hole that was lined with nine red galaxies.

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The Zero-Tails slammed down upon something hard, cold, and unforgiving. Dazed, the leech was slow to rise, and slow to regain its bearings. When it did, it realized with some confusion that it was no longer in the mist-covered, ruin-filled area surrounding Ancor Vantian. Instead, the Zero-Tails was in a marsh, a strange marsh.

The grass was black with a soft, red glow, and the water was very much the same. A dark red mist covered the entire marsh. The air was calm, cool, and crisp, and, in the distance, several large mountains, or their black silhouettes at least, could be seen, each outline highlighted in dark crimson.

The Zero-Tails looked up, searching for the source of this red light. What it saw made it panic. Suspended high in the black sky, yet much lower than the moon, was a massive red star with nine points formed by the overlapping of three triangles. In the middle of this star was a black dot that allowed no escape.

What made the Zero-Tails panic was not the star itself, but the fact that star was rotating. As the points disappeared into the void, the soft red light of the black marsh began to fade away. With extreme fervor, the Zero-Tails shot forward as fast as it could go, and formed extra arms in an attempt to proper itself forward to the star.

The creature did not know why, but something told it that if it could make it to the star, even to the tiniest sliver of a red corner, then it would escape from this strange world, but if it failed to reach the star, then it would be trapped forever in darkness.

Closer and closer came the Zero-Tails, but it was not enough. The star disappeared into the void as it completed its 180-degree rotation, and the leech went crashing down into the darkness, forever doomed to wander blindly in a vain attempt to see the light.

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Shin'en hummed as he felt the chakra of the leech merge into his network, strengthening his body. It wasn't enough to fully repair his body, but it did offer him an extended amount of cardiovascular endurance and strength, as well as an added potency to his chakra, which meant that, with the added potency, it would take less chakra to perform a jutsu than it normally did.

Further, with the Zero-Tails' consciousness now forever sealed within itself, Shin'en did not have to worry about the leech trying to corrupt him and use his body a vehicle to destroy the world. Perhaps an explanation of the Ama-no-Iwato was in order.

Simply put, that was the Mangekyou technique that had awakened in Shin'en's left eye. It was a genjutsu, obviously, and it operated extremely closely to the Tsukuyomi and the Kotoamatsukami. In fact, one could easily say that the three genjutsu were sibling techniques. Where the Tsukuyomi tortured the mind, and the Kotoamatsukami influenced the mind, the Ama-no-Iwato sealed the mind.

The genjutsu did this by transmitting the caster's chakra straight into the target's nervous system via eye-contact for a certain amount of time. During the aforementioned time, the caster's chakra worked to subdue the target's brain by attacking the chakra there. If successful, the chakra in the target's brain, and therefore the chakra in his entire body, would rendered into a lucid, vegetable-like state.

However, like all genjutsu, it was not a permanent technique. The illusion could be dispelled by A) broken eye-contact, B) a strong enough will to counter the effects of the caster's chakra, or C) an outside source powerful enough to restore the target's chakra flow back to normal, which would restore the target's brain and body functions back to normal.

Bottom line, if Shin'en met your eyes, you were dead.

The demigod sighed in contentment at the feelings coursing through him. A feeling of warmth, a feeling of relaxation, a feeling of contentment, a feeling of renewed breath, and a feeling confidence. With this new power, Shin'en would was now one step closer to being back at full strength.

The demigod was suddenly on full alert when he sensed three people suddenly swirl into existence a fair ways behind him.

Two men and one woman. The male on the left was a literal walking corpse, with no blood flow, no heartbeat, and no functional organs, but he did have series of chakra threads attached to his body at various locations. Shin'en felt the chakra threads due to their interaction the water vapor, and tracked their origin to the limit of his range, where the threads kept going. Shin'en knew the man in the middle to be an Uchiha, due to the water in the man's eyes, but the man's body was strange, most notably his left arm; it was an artificial limb that strongly reminded Shin'en of the ANBU from back in the Leaf that could use Wood Style. The final member of the trio, the woman, was rather plain when it came to any strange body parts, but her chakra felt...different.

The three came closer, and Shin'en now recognized who these three were.

"Shin'en of the Cloud," Madara rumbled. "We would like to talk to you about an invitation…"

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"The Akatsuki is now assembled."

Those were the words heard by all half-bloods of the Grecian Pantheon. They were dreaming, obviously, and none of them could see the other. But they could all see what was happening. They were in a massive chamber, with a demonic statue against the wall. It was a massive beast, with chained hands rising from the ground, the finger splayed and pointed up. The beast's face was covered by a stone bandage, and a massive bit was in its fanged mouth. All other details were shrouded in shadow. On the ground, several figures of varying shape and size, all wearing the same cloaked ensemble, stood in front of an orange-haired man with purple eyes, and many piercings.

"Konan...Kisame...Sasori...Deidara...Kakuzu...Hidan...Orochimaru...Zetsu...and Shin'en."

The man's voice was deep, flowing, and commanded the respect and attention of any who listened. With each name, the demigods' vision was centered around one figure after the other. A blue-haired woman, a shark-like man, a hunchback with a bandana, a blonde, a man with strange green and pink eyes, a man with a smirk and a tri-bladed scythe, a pale man with slitted eyes, a man with a Venus flytrap growing over his head, and lastly, the son of Poseidon himself.

"Each of you has your own agenda, and your own dreams...we have finally come this far."

The boy looked different than the last time he had been seen. His black hair was longer, making him look even more like his sister than what was natural, and his eyes were no longer dark emerald, but a softly glowing crimson. His left arm hung loosely, hidden in the long sleeve of his cloak, while his right arm—the one he had ripped off—was now covered in bandages, and rested upon the middle of his cloak, like a makeshift sling. Adorning his bandaged ring finger was a silver band with a red stone. Upon the red stone was the kanji for crimson, colored black.

"And now, at last, we will move into full-scale action."

Even in all of their incorporeal forms, the campers, the traitors, and the Hunters could feel the pressure in the air. It was heavy, it was oppressive, it was thick, and it weighed their souls down with tremendous force. Those that had been to solstice council meetings recognized this pressure as one similar, albeit a tad smaller, to the pressure generated by the gathered Olympians. What appeared to be the power of ten mortals was rivalling the power of twelve gods.

"Our targets are all the One-Tail to the Nine-Tails. The opponents are strong, but we will gather them all the same, and bring the great ambition of the Akatsuki to fruition." The orange-haired man had been raising his hand during his speech, and once he had finished, he paused as he clenched his fist. The sleeve of his cloak rode up, revealing the bars piercing his flesh. "We ten shall accomplish this."

The ground began rumbling something fierce, causing the half-bloods to stumble about, even though they weren't even physically there, while the cloaked individuals merely stood there, shrugging off the seismic activity. The source for the shaking became evident when light began to stream into the cave, because the gigantic boulder was lifting. More light entered the cave, and the outside was revealed. A red torii gate stood outside the cave, as well as a large, calm pond. The new source of light haloed around the orange-haired man.

"And understand this," said the man, "failure is not an option." He calmly turned around, and began walking for the light. "Let's go."

There was no flashy exit, no grand display of power, and no invigorating speech of confidence. Just a simple, two-word command, and it was obeyed without question. Even Shin'en followed the man to the exit. The Greeks' eyes followed the boy closely, and, even though he didn't seem to see them, anyone that was in his way promptly dove to the side.

Persephone watched with apprehension as her brother drew ever nearer. Twenty feet...fifteen feet...ten feet...five feet-! "Percy-"

Time itself froze as the son of Poseidon stood next to his sister. He was frozen midstride, as were the others in the cloaks. All of them were facing the light, heedless that they were frozen, their eyes glued forward. Except for Shin'en's. His crimson gaze had slid to meet the dark green of his sister. His lips did not move, but his voice was heard.

"The shadows are not for you. Return to the light, find someone to guide you if need be, but do not linger here."

Shin'en walked into the light, disappearing in the brightness.

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The Greeks all bolted awake in whatever bed they were laying in, all of them sweating coldly, from the youngest child, to the oldest Huntress. What they saw made no sense, but there was something that was abundantly clear: Percy Jackson now had allies, and was obeying the orders of another person, someone who undoubtedly had to be more powerful than he. That in and of itself was a terrifying thought.

However, for Persephone, the experience was not blood-chilling, so much as it was confusing. 'The shadows are not for you. Return to the light, find someone to guide you if need be, but do not linger here.' The daughter of Poseidon had never been more conflicted in her life.

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Alright, Backup Plan is back on track! I hoped you all enjoyed the chapter, and if you have questions, comments, or concerns, let me know via PM and Review.

Regarding the new Shin'en, and the story THE WOLF AND THE RATS was just a metaphorical version of our anti-hero being captured by bandits, and learning how to use his body and develop new powers. I didn't feel like writing that in length, so I came up with a (hopefully badass) short-story.

As for his new status…his taijutsu and ninjutsu are limited, his body is covered in scar tissue, he's developed amazing skill in genjutsu using water vapor and small applications of chakra, he now has the power of the Zero-Tails (more on that later), a Mangekyou genjutsu based on actual Shinto Mythology, and has somehow gotten a new right arm—that works!

So, back to Xenomorphic for a bit, then to the Assassin's Creed crossover…title still pending.

Fav, Follow, and Review!