Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto nor Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I am just a stupid writer with too much time in my hands than I know what to do with and an overactive imagination that only agrees with itself.

Warning: This is a sequel story. Read the following first before you read this story.

Child of the Moon: The Lightning Thief

Child of the Moon: The Sea of Monsters

Chapter 21

There they stood three demigods and a Hunter facing off against four Hesperides. There was also a multi-headed dragon in the background, the guardian of the Apples of Immortality.

"Sisters," Zoe regarded them.

This certainly shocked the demigods of the quest. They knew that Zoe was old, but they didn't expect to see her heritage. Nevertheless, they shoved this new information to the back of their heads. This wasn't important for the time being. Zoe did promise to clarify everything after this was all over. And good thing too because…

"We do not see a sister," one of the girls said coldly. "We see three half-bloods and a Hunter. All of whom shall die."

"Not on our watch!" Naruto declared.

"Yeah, no one is going to die!" Percy added.

"Ahhh, the son of this Hunter's Mistress. Tales of your feats have spread far and wide in this world," the lead girl studied the demigods. "I see you've come to retrieve your mother. Sadly, your heroism must end here. You shall be another weapon at their disposal."

"And Perseus Jackson," They turned to the Son of the Sea God. "You aren't a threat at all."

"Who said I was a threat?" Percy answered to the mention of his name.

"They fear thee," The first one turned towards the mountain. "They are unhappy that this one hasn't killed thee yet." She pointed at Thalia.

"As much as I want to sometimes, I'll have to pass," Thalia waved her off. "He is my friend."

"There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus," She said. "Only enemies. Go back now!"

"We aren't leaving until we are all together!" Naruto countered.

"That means Annabeth and Artemis!" Percy added.

"Artemis must be freed. Let us pass," Zoe agreed.

"You wish to proceed despite knowing that you will die by his hand," the girl said. "You are no match for him."

"Move," Naruto stepped forward not wanting to continue the conversation anymore.

"Leave now. None of thee have rights here!" The girl matched the blonde's voice. "We only have to raise our voice and you shall meet your ends."

"Not necessarily," Zoe countered with full confidence. "I was once a Hesperid. He will not hurt me."

"Oh? Even if thou are right, what about thy so-called friends? They will surely perish."

Zoe looked to the dragon and threw all rationality out of the window. She did the last thing that a level-headed lieutenant of the Hunt would do. She raised her voice and yelled, "Ladon! Wake!"

"Are you mad?!" Zoe's sisters yelped. They scattered after that.

The quest goers watched as the sleeping dragon stirred, its scales glittering in the moonlight like a mountain of pennies.

"That is your problem, dear sisters," Zoe said watching her sisters' retreating form. "You lack courage."

Turning back to the dragon, she walked forward with her hands raised.

Ladon was now writhing now. All hundred of its heads whipped around and a hundred tongues flickered as if trying to taste the air.

"Zoe, don't!" Thalia warned her teammate. "He might not remember you anymore!"

"It's okay…He is trained to protect the tree." Zoe said but it sounded like she wasn't sure of herself. "As long as he sees me as the bigger threat, you can safely skirt the edges of the garden."

"But—" Naruto tried to protest, but his older sister figure reassured him.

"Trust me," She said. "It is the only way. We cannot hope to stand a chance against him even with three of us."

Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but Thalia dragged him to take the right while Percy took the left.

Zoe smiled at the looming threat in front of her. "It is me, my little dragon."

Ladon's countless heads hissed as the Hunter approached him. Percy looked like he wanted to puke at the dragon's breath. It was a hundred times worse up close. He figured that the eucalyptus leaves did nothing to remedy the stench. It was so appalling that the demigods were close to teary eyed as they snuck around the dragon.

Naruto looked to Zoe with worry, but her plan seemed to be working. Ladon shifted forward unsure what to make of the Hunter in front of him. Some of them heads hissed while the others eyed Zoe in confusion. Meanwhile, her sisters shimmered and returned to hide in the shadows.

"Fool…" the eldest one whispered.

"Do thee remember? I used to feed thee by hand," Zoe said approaching the tree. "Do you still like lamb meat?"

The three were halfway around the garden. They were close, but something went wrong.

Something in the dragon snapped. Naruto didn't know what happened, but Ladon suddenly lunged at her. Thanks to 200 years of training in the hunt, her reflexes were enough to keep her alive. Despite how many heads snapped at her, she tumbled and weaved through the heads while visibly gagging at the monster's horrible breath.

In that distracted moment, one of the heads decided to snap at her. Zoe braced for the bite, but the blow never came. She opened her eyes to see the blonde shinobi kicking away the head before it could hit her.

"Hands off my sister or you're dead meat!" Naruto yelled as he landed.

His pants sleeve hissed probably from the acid or from Kurama healing the damage from the corrosive acid breath.

"Are you mad?!" Zoe scolded the blonde. "I told you, you don't stand a chance."

"Go!" Naruto ordered. "I won't engage!"

He drew a bunch of kunai from his holster and scattered them around the area. He raised his hands to the dragon challengingly.

Ladon roared at the provocation and snapped at him all at once.

"Hey, you missed!" Naruto's voice came out of nowhere flipping a kunai in his hand.

The dragon blew fire at the spot engulfing the spot where the blonde used to be, but he was once again not there. He was running circles around the beast.

"Over here~~" Naruto's voice chimed from the tree. He was standing upside down on a branch with an apple on his hand.

The dragon roared and lunged at him, but he was too late. Naruto had already disappeared.

POOF POOF POOF

Just then, few dozen clouds of smoke went off all around the dragon. It turned out some of the kunai Naruto had scattered were his clones disguised as the knives.

"You're mine!" The Naruto clones yelled as they formed blue spheres on each of their hands.

Ladon shuffled over to the tree and stood protectively over it. He stood guard bravely despite the attacks that were coming straight for him.

The Naruto clones saw this and one by one, the clones deactivated their attacks. This allowed the dragon to snap at the clones that were out for his heads until there was nothing left.

The real one appeared at the foot of the mountain looking at the guarding sending out a roar of victory. He gave a look at the golden apple in his hands.

"This feels a lot smaller than it's supposed to be," Naruto muttered to himself.

With one last look at the dragon, he began his trek up the mountain to follow his friends.

WITH THE OTHERS

Zoe ran up the mountain leaving the eerie singing of her sisters. For regular mortals, the song would have sounded divine, but after the altercation with Ladon, it now sounded like a funeral march to the quest goers.

She ran up catching up with Percy and Thalia who were panting from their own trek.

"Where's Naruto?" Thalia demanded as soon as she saw the lieutenant alone without any trace of the blonde.

"He held off the dragon as I escaped," Zoe said looking back down towards the garden.

"He did what—" Thalia said forcing herself through Percy and Thalia who held her back. "Let me go! He needs our help! NOW!"

"There's nothing we can do," Zoe said calmly. "We just have to believe in him."

"But—" Thalia wanted to say more, but a familiar hand patted her on the back.

"Yo!" Naruto greeted with a salute on his head.

Thalia stopped resisting and she turned along with her 2 companions.

"How did you—" Zoe asked with wide eyes. "Did you destroy the dragon?"

"Well, I planned to, but I decided not to," Naruto answered.

"Why didn't you?" Percy asked. "More importantly, could you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. I probably couldn't the way I am now. Hercules couldn't after all."

"Anyway, that was still crazy of you," Percy chuckled.

Thalia walked up to the blonde and socked him on the arm earning a cry.

"OW!" He yelled. "Hey Thalia. Uh…I'm back?"

She wasn't impressed by what Naruto said. She continued to glare at the blonde.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for doing something stupid like that," Naruto said closing his eyes to brace for another hit. "You can hit me again for being stupid."

The blow never came. He instead felt arms wrap around him. He opened his eyes to see Thalia sniffling on his shoulder.

"You idiot," Thalia scolded. "If you were going to fight, we stand more of a chance if we fought together."

"I didn't want you girls to get hurt," Naruto said softly.

"And you? What if you got hurt or worse…" Thalia's voice trailed off.

"It will take more than an overgrown dragon to kill me," Naruto shrugged. "Besides…"

He raised his prize and showed it to the group causing them to widen their eyes again.

"You did it! You snatched a golden apple!" Thalia said in shock.

Naruto tossed it the air and caught it with ease. "Sure did! I guess I can hold it over Luke's head or Hercules if we ever we see him later on."

Zoe tensed at the mention of the latter's name. "That is good and all, but we still have a quest to continue."

"Right," Naruto said getting serious now. "We better head up."

And so, they headed to the peak. They practically ran up the mountain ignoring the fatigue that was already getting to them.

At the top of the mountain, Thalia and Percy were heaving from the run. Even Zoe had signs of fatigue on her, but Naruto, he looked like he didn't even run at all.

"Why aren't you tired at all?" Percy asked in between breaths.

Naruto shrugged. "Thalia should know this. You remember Bushy Brows, right?"

"The guy in the bowl cut and the green spandex?" Thalia asked.

"Yep," Naruto nodded. "I trained with him basically all the time back then. He's got more stamina than me."

"Look sharp everyone," Zoe said getting their attention. "We are here."

Everyone turned to look at what Zoe was referring to.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys?" Thalia said in awe.

"Yes," Zoe nodded. "It was not here before. This is bad."

"The mountain of the Titans, right?" Percy asked.

"Yes, it's the one Zeus blasted to pieces in the First Titan War," Naruto explained.

"Uhh, right," Percy said.

"The question now is, why is it here?" Naruto asked.

No one answered his question. None of them knew. What was for sure was they were in for a fight in the coming hours.

A few yards ahead of them, the grey funnel of clouds was much closer than when they saw as they started to climb. The clouds swirled in a vortex that almost touched the mountain. At the end of the vortex, at the very bottom, there was Artemis in her twelve-year-old form. Her legs were bound to rock on either side with Celestial Bronze chains. She seemed to be struggling from an invisible force.

This was it. It was what Naruto had seen in his nightmare back at camp. It was the same cavern that he had seen Annabeth hold something up followed by his mom. He was expecting them to be holding up the roof of the cavern. They held up the roof of the sky.

"Mom!"

"My lady!"

Naruto and Zoe yelled as they rushed forward.

"No get back!" Artemis stopped them. "You must leave now! This is a trap!"

She looked at them the fatigue evident on her face. Her voice was strained and her body was beaded with sweat. Whatever she was holding up, she was struggling to hold it up.

"Ah, how touching," a booming voice ruined the moment. "The son and the lieutenant have come to the aid of the fallen goddess. Too bad you will not succeed."

The owner of the voice revealed himself. He stood behind the group in a brown silk suit. Flanking on either side of him was Luke and Sasuke. Luke held Annabeth, gagged, bound and held at sword point. Sasuke stood there not caring what was happening around him. He was only staring at one person, Naruto. Behind the three, there was a small squad of dracaenae holding a golden sarcophagus.

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke regarded his friend.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said. "What are you doing with them? Aren't you with Orochimaru?"

"That man has served his purpose for me," Sasuke answered. "He is no longer of use for me."

The titan chuckled. "I do not approve of this boy's methods, but this one insists we still need him."

"Lord Kronos requires his assistance to combat Naruto if he continues to be a thorn on his side," Luke clarified. For some reason, he looked a little worse for wear.

"Luke," Thalia snarled at his as soon as the Son of Hermes spoke. "Let her go!"

"That is not for me to decide," Luke smile weakly. "But it is nice to see you again."

Thalia spat. After all they've been through, she couldn't believe he would do this to Annabeth no less.

"Hmph," The General scoffed. "So much for old friends. And ah Zoe, I see you have returned home, my little traitor. I hope you have enjoyed your life running around with this goddess's pathetic girl scouts, because none of you are leaving this mountain alive. And I will start with you."

"You're not hurting her!" Percy spat back. "We are all leaving this mountain alive!"

The General sneered. "Stay out of this, demigod. This is a family matter."

The demigods turned to Zoe. It was one revelation after another. The gears spun in their heads trying to make the connection. The Hunter was related to the Hesperides, and Atlas was their…

"Yes," Zoe confirmed bleakly. "He is my father."

The demigods studied Zoe and back at the General. Now that they mentioned it, they could see the family resemblance. They could see where Zoe got her regal expression, except it looked a thousand times more evil on the Titan.

"Let her go!" Zoe demanded.

Atlas walked to his old prison that the Moon Goddess now held. "Perhaps you would like to take the burden from her?"

"I–" Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but his mother beat him to it.

Even Zoe was silent on the matter. She seemed to be considering this.

"No, Naruto! Zoe! I forbid the both of you!" Artemis said.

Atlas smirked and knelt next to her to caress her face. This action caused Naruto to grit his teeth and clench his fist tightly. Artemis though snapped at the titan like a piranha almost biting a finger off.

The titan chuckled, "Ah a feisty on aren't you. You see, little ants, Artemis likes her new job. Perhaps—"

At this point, Naruto's anger was at a boiling point. He couldn't stand looking at his friend bound and gagged, and his mother struggling on the bastard's punishment. He rushed forward with his hand cocked back and his hand forming demonic red energy.

"Naruto, wait—" Thalia warned, but her words fell to deaf ears as Naruto was already ready to slam his fist on the titan.

His little outburst kicked up dust obscuring him from the view.

When the dust cloud settled, Atlas sneered at the two boys in front of him. "You did not have to do that, boy. This puny demigod does not hold a candle to me."

"He has business with me," Sasuke said completing the First State of his Curse Mark. "It was necessary."

"Sasuke, move!" Naruto growled in the demonic voice of the Nine Tails. "Or I will rip you to shreds."

"Oh, please," Sasuke flared his Sharingan. "You stand a chance against me in that state. What's going to change now?"

Wings started to form on Sasuke's back and slammed down on the blonde. Fortunately for Naruto, he was fast enough to jump up in the air.

"You're not getting away!" Sasuke said as he disappeared and reappeared behind the blonde.

"Kage Buyo," Naruto muttered as he glanced at the Uchiha behind him.

He tensed and the red chakra surrounding his expanded in an attempt to damage his opponent. Sasuke, though, was smart. He used his wings as a shield protecting him from the attack. When the attack died down, he began a counterattack with a barrage kicks which the blonde blocked successfully, but it turned out those were traps. Sasuke provoked his with them so he wouldn't notice their decent.

When they were close to the ground, he inevitably sent one final kick to the stomach causing Naruto to spit up a wad of spit and blood. "Shishi Rendan!" Sasuke cried out the name of his attack.

"You disappoint me, Naruto," he said as he watched the blonde get up. "Is that all you've got? You haven't changed at all. You are still the same old idiot. Isn't that right, Usuratonkachi?"

Naruto got up to his feet, his stomach steaming as the acidic red chakra started to repair the damage. "Shut up! I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to save my mother."

"You think I will let you?" Sasuke scoffed. "You will have to go through me."

"Fine then," Naruto said.

NARUTO'S MINDSCAPE

"Back again," A massive red fox watched as his container once again appeared at the cage. "So, who are we killing this time."

"None of your business," Naruto said coldly. "Just shut up and give me your power."

"Ahh, getting hot headed, I see," The Nine Tail regarded him with a massive grin. "Well, who am I to argue. Here, kill the brat with our power."

A swirl of energy surrounded the blonde as he disappeared.

"All according to plan…" The fox muttered to himself.

BACK OUTSIDE

More of the demonic red chakra seemed to pour out of the seal on his gut. Naruto's power seemed to be increasing as two more tail sprouted from either side of the already existing tail.

"I see, that power again," Sasuke watched the blonde's transformation in front of him. "Bring it on!"

He released his curse mark even further. He too was now undergoing a transformation. The wings at his back grew larger tearing his shirt open. His hair grew longer and shaggier, and a there was a dark star shaped mark across the bridge of his nose.

The two newly transformed individuals stood face to face as if taunting each other to make the first move. And when a drop of water fell to the ground, they charged.

WITH THE OTHERS

"That was interesting," Atlas said turning back to the remaining demigods in the quest.

"Why can't she just let it go?" Percy asked staring at the invisible weight that Artemis bore.

"How little you understand, boy," the Titan chuckled. "This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first bore forth their mighty children. Even now, the Sky still yearns for the Earth's embrace; someone must hold it at bay, lest it would instantly flatten the mountain and everything around as far as a hundred leagues."

He eyed the demigods, "So these are the greatest heroes of the decade. Not much if you were to ask me. Only the other one was worth the challenge, but he is otherwise preoccupied."

"You better not underestimate us!" Percy protested. "He is not the only one who can fight. Come see for yourself."

Altlas scoffed. "Have the gods taught you nothing, boy? You are beneath me! I will not stoop so low as to accept a challenge from a lowly mortal."

"Is it me or are these immortals cowards, am I right?" Percy elbowed Thalia.

The titan ignored him. Instead, he eyed Thalia. "As for you, daughter of Zeus. It seems Luke was wrong about you."

"I wasn't—I am not wrong about her, right Thalia?" Luke managed. His voice was strained like he was in pain. Percy almost felt sorry for him. "You can still join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come for you."

He waved his hand a pool of water appeared beside him. It was a pool ringed with black marble that was big enough to fit Bessie. Percy's thoughts wandered. He was thinking of the Sea Cow. In the mountain air, the others present could faintly hear the moo's like the creature was close or hidden in the area.

'Stop thinking about him,' Grover spoke in Percy's mind. 'I am losing him! Block the thoughts!'

Percy shook the thoughts out of his mind. 'Thanks man! Sorry about that.'

'It's okay,' Grover replied. 'What's happening there? I can feel Naruto's thoughts. They're angry.'

'He's lost it,' Percy answered. 'Can you talk to him? I have to talk Thalia out of joining them.'

'Got it!'

Percy was broken out of his thoughts when Thalia finally spoke, "Luke…" She said looking at the Son of Hermes with tears in her eyes. "What happened to you?"

"I never changed Thalia. This is still me. Can't you see? We used to curse the gods. Our fathers have done nothing for us! Why should they continue to rule?" Luke reasoned.

Thalia shook her head. "No, Luke. This isn't you anymore. Free Annabeth, now! Let her go!"

"Please Thalia. Join me," He pleaded further. "We can be like old times again. The three of us together, fighting side by side for a better world. Come on…Th-this is my last chance…If not…"

It sure sounded like his life depended on Thalia's decision for some reason. He waved his hand again and behind him, a bronze brazier appeared beside the pool.

"Don't do this Thalia," Percy placed a hand on her shoulder.

Behind him, the sarcophagus glowed. Images projected out of it. It showed the demigods pictures of black marble walls rising making the ruins whole again. It was truly a beautiful but terrible place.

"Mount Othrys will rise right here," Luke declared but the voice didn't sound his. "We will be stronger and greater than Olympus!"

Luke gestured to the ocean. What the questers saw broke their morale. Hordes of monsters were marching up the mountain. Any monster that you could think off, they were there: Dracaenae, Laistrygoinians, harpies, hell hounds, you name it! There even monsters that Percy didn't recognize, they were there!

"This is only a taste of what is to come!" Luke said. "As you can see, there is no hope for you of winning this war. We will soon be ready to story the Camp, and after that Olympus itself. All we are waiting for is you."

Thalia stared at Luke longingly. She was gazing at Luke as if mourning for what his old friend had become.

"You know we're here for you, right?" Percy said eyeing her friend. "Naruto would go on a rampage if you were to join them."

"Don't listen to him!" Luke countered. "I don't want to—I don't want him to destroy you…"

Thalia continued staring at Luke. She may have been on the brink of switching sides, but then she heard Naruto's voice in her head.

You know I'm here for you right?

I never go back on my word.

RAMEEEEN!

Thalia smiled feeling the warmth of Naruto's smile in her thoughts. "Thank you guys," She muttered.

"Don't mention it," Percy returned her smile. "That's what friends are for."

"You know we can't let Naruto have all the fun, right?" Thalia smirked finally steeling her nerves.

"On three?"

They both counted down in their heads. When their timer, ran out. The three of them charged.

A/N: And I'm back. Hope you like it. If there were spelling mistakes I missed, I'll get back to them when I'm at a fresh state of mind. Right now everything is starting to look the same. Till next time