Chapter 22

DRIP DRIP DRIP

"Urgh…" A blonde haired boy groaned. "What happened?"

DRIP DRIP DRIP

"On fuck!" The blonde rose with a start remembering his battle. "Ares!"

He looked around. He was in a dark room filled with pipes and dripping water. In one corner of the room was a hallway.

"Not this again…" Naruto complained.

The blonde stood up and stretched. He followed the corridor and found himself into huge room with a huge golden gate.

"So, you're back…" A voice said from inside the gate. "I can sense you are up against one of those troublesome gods."

"So you noticed." Naruto said. "Can we speed this up? I gotta get back to the fight."

"You're here for more power." The voice said again.

"Pretty much, yeah." The blonde replied. "You owe me rent after all."

The voice chuckled in his cage. "Fine then! Indulge in my power!"

Red chakra circled around him then covered him completely.


SANTA MONICA BEACH

"Naruto! Percy! Cops!" Annabeth warned.

"Urgh." Percy stirred and managed to get on his feet. He was seeing double now, but in the corner of his eyes, he could see the red lights flashing along the shoreline.

Beside him, Naruto stood up radiating with a new found power. His eyes were blazing red.

Grover gasped and went pale.

"What's wrong Grover?" Annabeth asked.

"I-I can sense… Naruto's… Killing intent…" Grover said.

Annabeth looked at Naruto. She could see a faint outline of red energy clinging to Naruto.

Meanwhile, sirens wailed as a couple of cop cars came rushing to the scene.

"There officer!" A bystander yelled to the officers. "See?"

A cop with a gruff voice said, "Looks like that kid on TV… What the hell…"

"That guys armed." The cop from the other car said. "Call for back up!"

Ares laughed out loud. "Is that all you got, punks? Where's all that big talk just now?"

The demigods gritted their teeth.

Naruto felt the red chakra coursing through his chakra network.

"You need to get back to the water to stand a chance, right?" Naruto said in a voice almost sounding like two people.

"Naruto? Wh-what are–" Percy asked.

"Right Percy?" Naruto reiterated.

"Y-yeah." Percy answered.

"Follow my lead." Naruto said.

In almost like a blur, he made the necessary handsigns. "WIND STYLE: GREAT BREAKTHROUGH!"

A huge gust of wind blew towards the god of war, but he was smart. He dug his sword into the ground and braced himself for the jutsu. As soon as the wind died, the blonde appeared right in front of him and hit him square in the face causing him to fly back to the water. Ares definitely didn't expect the extra power from the punch.

Percy followed him to the water and they both charged the god of war. As soon as he stepped into the water, all his senses opened up and he was reinvigorated with strength.

Naruto and Percy didn't give Ares time to recover. They immediately went to pressure Ares even more. The god of war was able to get to his feet and defend himself from consecutive attacks the two boys were throwing at him. But the problem is when he manages to block on one strike, another strike would scratch him (due to him narrowly dodging them).

Unfortunately, Ares' immortality and the fact that he has millennia worth of experience allowed him to continue fighting and managed to gain the upper hand. He started to pick apart the boys. Naruto, with all his shinobi training, and Percy, with his enhanced battle senses from the water, were barely able to defend themselves from the god.

More sirens blared signalling the arrival of three more cop cars.

"Drop the guns!" A policeman's voice said from a megaphone.

"Guns?" Percy asked aloud.

"The mist," was all Naruto said.

Percy looked at the god of war's weapon. It seemed to be flickering. One moment it was a two handed great sword. In another instance, it was a shotgun.

Ares glared at the horde of spectators and police, which resulted in a break in the fighting. There were five police cars now and a line of police officers crouching behind them, training their pistols at the demigods. Amidst the noise, the demigods could hear the flapping of leathery wings.

"This is a private matter!" Ares bellowed. "Be gone!"

He swept his hand, and a wall of red flame rolled across the police cars. The cops barely had enough time to dive to safety as their cars exploded. The crowd of onlookers ran away to safety.

Ares roared in laughter. "Now, little heroes. Let's add you to the barbecue."

Naruto dashed towards the god of war, and kicked him in the face and sent him spiralling back. Percy appeared behind Ares to hit him with the hilt of his sword, but the Ares twisted and sliced Percy in his mid-section.

The god of war grinned, but the guys he sliced poofed into white smoke and turned into a log.

"What?!" Ares exclaimed.

The real Percy rose from under water and went in for an attack. Ares was able to defend, and counterattack. Percy's battle reflexes kicked in and disarmed the god of war just like he did in camp training.

Naruto appeared in between them and slammed a blue orb of concentrated energy into the gut of the god of war, sending him back sinking under the ground.

The son of Poseidon was now panting hard. He realized that he was exerting power somewhere else. He was holding back the tide, and the pressure was building like the carbonation inside a soda can waiting to come out as soon as the can was opened.

"Naruto," Percy called out. He pointed to the now six foot wave building up from the built up tension of the tide.

Naruto grinned, and then nodded.

Ares rose from the water. The Rasengan hurt him alright; his shirt was now torn from where the jutsu hit him. Any normal human would have passed out or much less died. But, curse his immortality. He was a god after all.

Percy and Naruto lowered their weapons showing their fatigue. This gave the god of war confidence to continue the fight.

Percy, then released, the tide. A six-foot wall of water slammed itself into Ares, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth of seaweed.

"WATER STYLE: WATER SHARK BOMB JUTSU!" Naruto yelled, and a shark made out water exploded at the back of Ares leaving him lying on the surf right in front of them.

Naruto and Percy did a high five after seeing what happened. After that, Percy stabbed Ares straight through the Ares' heel. The two, then walked to their friends.

"ARGH!" Ares yelled as the sea was blasted way around him sending the boys to the beach. The roar of Ares' power dwarfed the earthquake Hades did earlier.

Ares was now standing in a wet circle of sand about 50 feet wide. From his boot, golden ichor flowed from the wound Percy had inflicted earlier. On his face was a mixture of pain, hatred, and disbelief that he would be defeated and knocked around like a ragdoll.

He limped towards the beach muttering curses in Ancient Greek. The power the boys were feeling while they were fighting was now replaced by fatigue. They couldn't even defend themselves, much less get on their feet.

He could have finished both boys off at this chance he was given, but something stopped him.

A cold heavy presence passed over the beach, draining the colour from the area and the sound was muted. Time was slowed and the temperature was freezing.

The darkness lifted.

Ares looked stunned.

The water flowed back to around Ares' feet, dissipating the golden ichor in the tide. Annabeth and Grover watched in shock, while Percy and Naruto groggily sat up.

"You have made an enemy, godlings." Ares said. "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson, Naruto Uzumaki. Beware."

His body began to glow.

"Percy! Naruto! Don't look!" Annabeth warned.

The boys averted their eyes as Ares revealed his true immortal form.

A few seconds later, the light died.

When the boys looked back, Ares was gone. The tide rolled out revealing Hades' Bronze Helm of Darkness. The boys slowly got to their feet, and made their way to the Helm to pick it up.

The flap of leathery wings now approached the boys as they made it to their friends. When they landed, the Fury who the boys recognized as Mrs. Dodds stepped forward. For once, she didn't look threatening. She looked more disappointed, like she was planning to drag the demigods back to the Underworld.

"We saw the whole thing…" She hissed. "So it really was not you…"

Percy nodded and tossed her the helmet. She caught it in surprise.

"Tell Lord Hades what really happened." Naruto said. "The war doesn't need to happen."

She hesitated, and then licked her lips with her forked tongue. "Live well, Percy Jackson, Naruto Uzumaki. Become true heroes. If you do not, and come into my clutches again." The fury cackled.

Annabeth immediately grabbed the two boys and hugged the two boys.

"That was reckless even for you too boys." Annabeth said as a tear rolled down her cheek

Percy blushed.

Naruto ruffled Annabeth's hair.

The younger blonde let go for the two.

"THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Grover said as he knocked the two boys down to the ground making the boys wince in pain.

"More like terrifying." Annabeth corrected.

"Don't scare us like that again." She said as she and Grover helped the two boys up.

Naruto chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Did you guys feel that… whatever it was?" Percy said.

"Guys… It must've been the Furies overhead." Grover offered.

Naruto shook her head. "I doubt that. We've encountered them before and it didn't feel like that."

The four were still in denial. The memories of what they had talked about in the cab on the way to Santa Monica resurfaced. None of them wanted to talk about it.

After a brief pause, Naruto said, "Grover, you felt the energy coming from me, did you?"

"Uhh…" Grover couldn't speak, but Naruto knew he did.

Naruto sighed. "I was hoping no one would ever know of this. I guess I owe you guys an explanation."

"Yes, you do, Naruto. We'll hold you to that" Annabeth said. "But for now, we've got to finish the quest."

"We have to get to New York by tonight." Percy said.

"But that's impossible." Annabeth said. "Unless we–"

"Fly," Percy finished her sentence.

"You mean like Fly, like an airplane?" The daughter of Athena clarified.

Percy nodded.

"That's a bad idea, Percy!" Grover said. "What if Zeus strikes you out of the sky?"

"I doubt he would that Grover." Naruto disagreed. "Not when we have his precious weapon in our possession."

"Right Zeus?" Naruto asked up in the sky.


A few moments after their conversation, the police, along with the press, had found them standing in the beach among the wreckage.

The group would have run away, if not for the police yelling, "Are you kids, okay? Where did the kidnapper go?"

They didn't know what to say. All that was in their mind was, "Kidnapper?"

The press had flooded them with questions about what it was like these past few days trying to get away from their kidnapped, but the demigods still didn't know what they were talking about. The press told them the whole story.

Apparently, it all started when these kids made a Greyhound Bus explode somewhere in New Jersey. Witnesses suddenly remembered seeing the leather clad Ares stalking the kids in bus. The kids fled to St. Louis with the kidnapper on their tail. The kidnapper had captured them there and caused an explosion there to get away. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the kidnapper threaten the kids in a parking lot. Finally, here in Santa Monica, the older boys decided to fight back and protect their friends.

All the demigods did was act exhausted and tearful in front of the camera.

"All I want…" Percy said in an interview, "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew… *sniffle*… somehow… we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city with a free major appliance from his store for helping us. Here's the phone number."

It was hard for the two demigods and satyr who were listening to keep up their act when Percy was interviewed. It was a good thing they were able to hold in their laughter while Percy was talking. On the other hand, the police and the media listening were so moved by Percy's speech that they raised money for the four tickets for the demigods.

At the airport, Naruto and Percy followed Annabeth's lead. Neither of them had been in the air before. One of them was so excited to try flying, while the other one was so nervous, his shirt got wet from the sweat. You can make a guess on who was feeling which.

Take off was a nightmare for Percy. Every bit of turbulence almost made him wet his pants. He was gripping his armrest for the whole trip. During the trip, he hoped and prayed that Zeus would cut him some slack just this once considering the circumstances.

Once during the trip, Percy suddenly grabbed Annabeth's hand which made the latter blush. The daughter of Athena blushed after what happened, but she didn't say anything. She understood her friend.

Naruto, the other hand, had his face glued to the window the whole time. He raised his hands whenever there was turbulence since it made him feel like riding a carnival ride.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Naruto said as quietly as he could.

"Geez Naruto. Calm down." Grover said.

"Sorry, sorry. I can't help it." Naruto answered.

Many of the passengers were staring at him like he was a crazy person. Poor Grover had to come up with an excuse for how Naruto was acting. His skills in lying hadn't improved at all. Luckily, the passengers believed him. They just passed off Grover's signs when he was lying as him being embarrassed.

Finally, after what felt like a long flight (the demigods were ADHD after all), they touched down safely at La Guardia. As the demigods expected, the press was waiting for them. It was a good thing they had a shinobi with them. So, after everyone else had deplaned, Naruto created four clones to deal with the press while they sneak away.

Once they were sure no one else would see them, they split up at the taxi stand. It was hard for them to do so after everything they've been through. But, Naruto explained that they had to. He told them, that they had to go and report the quest as a success to stop the demigods back at camp from fighting any further. Naruto presented himself to go with Percy to provide back up, in case anything untoward happens.

Naruto wouldn't admit it, but he wanted to see Mount Olympus for himself. He wanted to check out the place and see if the waitress in the Lotus Hotel was right. He wanted to see if there really was an Ichiraku's Ramen Stand in the godly mountain.

Naruto and Percy hopped into their own taxi after Annabeth and Grover hopped into their own. In 30 minutes, they made it to their destination.

Despite living on this world for quite some time now, Naruto still marvelled at the architecture of the had never seen anything quite like this in the Elemental Nations.

Not wasting any more time, the two boys entered the Empire State. They must have looked like homeless kids since their clothes were in tatters from their previous encounter. They decided to leave it be since they had to complete the quest.

Together, the two walked up to the guard at the front desk.

"Six hundredth floor please." Percy said.

The guard was reading a book with a picture of a boy in glasses riding a broomstick. Naruto tried reading some of those books, but he wasn't much of a fan of the people who could only do magic with a wooden stick. Not when he can perform similar feats with a quick handsign. Plus he heard of those other wizards who go on quests just like these demigods did, and just like he did back in the elemental nations.

The guard must have found the book interesting because he didn't even look up when he said, "No such floor kiddo."

"I need an audience with Zeus." Percy pressed.

He gave Percy a vacant smile. "Sorry?"

"You heard the man." Naruto said.

The boys almost decided that the guy was a regular mortal, but the guard said, "No appointment, no audience kiddos. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced."

"Show him." The blonde shinobi said.

Percy grinned and unzipped his bag. "Really? Not even with this?"

The guard momentarily looked up from his book, and his eyes instantly went as wide as dinner plates and the color drained from his face, "That isn't…"

"It's the real deal." Naruto said. "You better get us up there before Zeus wreaks havoc on America."

The guard scrambled out of his chair, and fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to Percy.

"Insert this in the security slot, and make sure no one is with you in the elevator." The guard instructed.

"What if we brought someone else up there? Like a mortal?" Percy asked.

"Oh kid, you don't wanna know." The guard answered. "You should get going."

With that, the demigods made their way to the elevator. Percy did as the guard instructed. The card disappeared in the slot and a new button appeared on the console. It was a big red button with the number 600 written on it.

Percy pressed it and they were on their way. Muzak played in the elevator while they waited.

Raindrops keep falling on my head…

Finally, the elevator made a ding sound signalling their arrival at gods' mountain. What they saw made the boys awestruck.

From the top of the clouds, the decapitated peak of the mountain could be seen, with its summit covered in snow. On the mountainside, dozens of multileveled palaces stood perched to the mountain. It was a city of mansions, all of them with columned porticos, gilded terraces and bronze braziers carrying thousands of fires throughout the city. Roads wound crazily up the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow.

Perched on the side of the mountain was a garden filled with olive trees and rose bushes. In the distance, the demigods could make out an open air market with colourful tents, a stone amphitheatre on one side of the mountain and a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other side.

It was what you would imagine an Ancient Greek city would be, except it wasn't in ruins. Everything was alive and well, just like what Athens would have looked like long ago.

"And here I thought New York was the most outrageous thing I would see in my lifetime." Naruto managed to say admits his awe.

After getting over their shock, Naruto and Percy made their way through Olympus.

The first thing they passed through was an olive tree. Residing in the tree was a group of wood nymphs. They threw olives at the demigods, which hit Percy a few times, but not Naruto. The blonde was able to snatch the olives from the air. He gave them cold stare, and when the nymphs realized who his godly parent is, they scurried away and his in the trees.

In the Hawkers in the market they saw earlier, vendors hounded them to buy their goods of all different kinds. They were offered to buy ambrosia on a stick, a new shield, and also a replica of the Golden Fleece (as seen on Hephaestus TV). On one side of the market, Naruto got distracted by the Ichiraku Ramen stand which was the reason he wanted to accompany Percy to Mount Olympus. Percy to drag him and remind him of the quest they had to complete.

In the park, the Nine Muses were tuning their instruments for a concert. There was a small crowd of satyrs, naiads and a bunch of good looking teenagers who Naruto figured were minor gods and goddesses. Nobody seemed to be worried about an impending civil war. Several of the minor gods whispered among themselves when the two passed.

After a little bit of walking, the two boys climbed the main road towards the big palace at the peak.

"Hey Perce, doesn't that palace look familiar?" Naruto asked his friend.

Percy took a look at the palace. "Now that you mention it…"

"It's like our friend downstairs' palace, right."

"Yeah, it's just more colourful and glittery."

"It's just sad, you know. Hades isn't allowed up here, so he built his palace to look like this."

"Yeah…"

Steps they climbed led up to a central courtyard. Beyond that, there was the throne room. Scrap that, room wasn't even enough to describe this room. This room made the Grand Central Station look like a broom closet.

There were massive columns that rose through a domed ceiling which was gilded with moving constellations. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. Twelve giant thrones were arranged in an inverted U pattern just like the Cabins at Camp Half Blood.

Only two of the thrones were occupied, the head throne and the one on its immediate left. The gods waiting for them were in their giant form, just as Hades had been when the demigods met him.

The one on the Head Throne was wearing a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat on a simple throne made of solid platinum. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled grey and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud and handsome and grim, his eyes rainy grey. This was Zeus, the Lord of the Gods.

As they approached them, the demigods could smell ozone in the air, and their bodies were starting to tingle.

The god next to him was dressed very differently. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was deeply tanned, and his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black, and his face had that same brooding look that could be seen on Percy's face sometimes. His eyes were sea-green just like Percy's.

His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swivelling kind, with a black leather seatand a built-in holster for a fishing pole. Instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips. This was Poseidon, God of the Seas

The gods weren't moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air, as if they'd just finished an argument.

Percy walked to Poseidon first, while Naruto bowed to Zeus.

"Father," Percy said to Poseidon.

"Lord Zeus," Naruto greeted.

Then, the boys switched places and greeted the other god that they didn't greet.

"You should learn from your friend here, boy." Zeus said to Percy. "Should you not address the master of this house first?"

The two boys kept their heads down.

"Peace, brother." Poseidon finally said. "It is only right that the boy defers to his father."

"You still claim him then?" Zeus said menacingly. "You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?"

"I have admitted my wrongdoing." Poseidon said. "Now, let us hear him speak."


A/N: This story took longer than expected. Now, I am almost done. I hope I get to finish this within the next chapter.

That's it for me

Ja ne!