Heyo!
Another chapter for you guys, fresh and sizzling!
NOTICE : In desperate need of a beta-reader.
And I am sorry about the whole previous chapter being bold for a while. It wasn't meant to be so but it glitched or something, I guess. Sorry to anyone who was bothered by it, and thank you to everyone who was kind enough to point it out.
christian myrddin : Exactly one of the reasons why Im swinging more towards Calypso as of now. Since she is still trapped on Ogygia and has no idea about the outer world, I feel like I can make their interactions and romance quite fun.
YuNiMos : Quite the contrary actually, most of the pairings are either the Virgin Goddesses or Aphrodite.
radeklegia : To be very honest, Rhea sounds just as good as an option as Calypso does, but I feel like I can make a Naruto-Calypso relationship much more spicy.
Kuman : Yeah, I never was planning to introduce the romance early on. Going to establish the story first, give Naruto a basic idea of the world, and then get into the pairings.
The Royal Huffle : I know right! I don't get why everyone isn't as much a fan of Calypso as they are of Arty. She deserves more loving for sure!
theronjohn325 : One of the major reasons I dont want the Virgin Goddesses as the pairings.
Since all you guys have so many opinions about who to put into the pairings, I have put up a poll on my story profile. Check it out, and send me a PM if you want someone else to be added on there. If I feel like I can make their romance with Naruto interesting, I will surely put their name up.
Anyways, read and enjoy! :)
Naruto woke up with a horrible itch. He made a mental note to not sleep in horse stables and use hay piles as blankets again in the future.
He really wanted one of those winged horses, but he felt that Chiron and the gods wouldn't appreciate it too much if he just flew off with one.
He had a vague memory of three kids trying to rob him. He hoped he hadn't accidentally killed them. That would be quite a problem.
He got up, looked around himself. Hay and horses, and their dung. No sign of the three kids that he had knocked out, or maybe, but hopefully not killed.
He started walking towards the Big House. He figured that he had already stayed too long, and he had already gotten on the bad side of two gods, which was two more than he wanted the number to be. Not that he hadn't immensely enjoyed it.
He crossed the armory and the forge on his way.
There were white marble columns lining walls stained with soot. Chimneys on the roof pumped smoke over a gable with carvings of gods and monsters. Machinery working, fires crackling, and the sound of hammers against metal could be clearly heard.
A few dozen yards in front of the forge, was the armory. It was essentially just a large metal shed around the side of Athena's cabin.
The armory was very crowded for some reason.
He looked at the strange metals the various weapons seemed to be made of. He walked towards a sword suspended on a wall, with a description etched below where it hung.
'Endeixi : The Sword Gifted to the Mortal Genghis Khan by Zeus'
It was a beautiful blade. It had a dark blade, which had a slight curve. The blade was well balanced. Naruto ran his index finger on the edge of the blade. It had been the lightest of touches, but sure enough, there was now a cut on his finger.
Blood trickled down his finger. The cut healed as quickly as it had been made, and the skin stitched itself.
"That sword has never been used. It was gifted to Genghis Khan, but he preferred his own blade. Zeus was furious, and his refusal led to his death."
An African-American boy around the age of twelve or thirteen told him. He was buff for his age, and his hands were calloused, and the smell of the forges clung to him like perfume.
"Fun guy, this Zeus. Who're you, kid?" Naruto stopped his examination of the blade and looked at the kid.
"Charles Beckendorf, from the Hephaestus cabin." The kid replied.
"Why is the armory so crowded, Charles? And why are they all wearing armor? You guys look way too young for going off to a war." He remarked, staring at a nine year old with armor. It was way too big for the poor kid, and way too heavy. His helm covered his whole face.
"Its because we have capture the flag in half an hour. They're getting ready for that." Charles told the tall man.
"Capture the flag?" Naruto inquired.
"Yes. Oh, you're the new guy at camp," Charles said, as if he had just realized it, "I saw you bring that kid from the Aphrodite cabin, and that boy from Apollo cabin. We play capture the flag in the woods. Usually it is cabins against other cabins, but whenever the hunters arrive, all of us unite against them. They're really hard to beat."
"Sounds fun. Does this sword belong to anyone as of right now?" He asked, gesturing to the sword on the wall.
"No, it doesn't." He told him.
Naruto proceeded to pluck the sword off the wall, muttered a thanks to the boy, and continued his way towards the big house.
"YOU, YOU DISRESPECTFUL MAN," A female voice snarled at him as he turned around to look at its source. It was the girl from the other night. She had dark brown eyes, a slightly upturned nose, copper-colored skin, and the silver circlet braided into the top of her long, dark hair. She walked up to blonde gracefully, but the anger was evident.
She had said the word man like it was some kind of a horrible disease.
"Oh, you share the same hate towards men as your mistress does, eh?" Naruto asked, amused.
"I WILL WIPE THAT SMILE RIGHT OFF THY FACE!" She looked murderous.
"You could try."
And the huntress was about to lunge at him, but Chiron voice stopped her.
"Perhaps, you'll get the chance. How about you participate in capture the flag with the campers, Naruto?"
It was the perfect plan. Chiron knew that if he had allowed Zoe to attack Naruto, the kid would've left with her whole quiver used on him. By making Naruto participate, he could avoid a riot on his hands, since the Aphrodite kids looked just as angry as Zoe was. It would also present the perfect opportunity for Chiron to assess the mysterious blonde's skills.
At least that is what he had in mind, until the blonde refused.
"Too much work, old man. I'd rather do…anything else really, that doesn't involve me making the effort to move."
"Ah, there goes my perfect plan. And I see you carrying the Endeixi. It is a cursed sword Naruto, cursed by Zeus himself. It can kill with a single cut when used on the owner of the blade. That is how Genghis Khan died. When he refused the blade, Zeus cursed it and it was the same blade that took his life with a just a nick on his earlobe."
"Was he trying to get an ear piercing? Someone should've told the guy that you generally use needles for that sort of thing." Naurto remarked.
"And since you are the first person to touch the blade after Genghis Khan's death, its ownership belongs to you now."
What a cursed super deadly sword was doing on a wall with two dozen ADHD kids in the same room, he would never know.
"But have no worries, dear centaur. It seems the sword has grown old." He looked at the blood on his finger, from the cut by the sword. It seemed the sword liked him too much to kill him.
Chiron did not understand what Naruto meant, but he did not get time to question. He never noticed the blood on his finger.
Zoe spoke up yet again, "Why aren't thou taking part? Too scared to face the Hunters in battle? How manly of thee."
"On second thought Chiron, sign me up for this capture the flag thingy."
The demigods had been gathered up on one edge of the forest, while the Hunters occupied the other.
They were the red team, led by Zoe, occupying the east side of the Zephyros Creek, which ran through the middle of the woods.
The blue team, consisting of all the campers participating, were spread out on the west side of the creek. A young blue-eyed sandy blonde haired boy, a son of Hermes, led them.
He commanded demigods to cover various positions and discussed plans with other cabin's counsellors. The boy looked to be around 16 or 17.
Luke was running out of demigods to man the northern edge of their territory. He had carefully spread out all campers at his disposal, with the advice of the Athena cabin counsellor. He knew that the Hunters would go for an all-out assault focused on a particular region, because of their lesser numbers.
But should they choose to invade from the northern-most edge, they would surely lose their flag because of their weak defenses in the region. Then suddenly, his eyes fell on the blonde haired guy who had rescued a few kids and brought them to the camp, the one who had argued with Artemis. He seemed as if he was going to be participating as well.
"Are you a demi-god?" He threw a question at the blonde.
He looked at the sandy-haired boy who had asked him the question.
"No."
"Um, okay, are you playing too or what?"
"Yes, I am."
"Great! Could you hold the norther part of the-"
"No."
Luke was surprised.
"Listen, we don't have lot of people in the region. If the Hunters invade from there, they will get the flag for sure." He tried to make the blonde who looked just a couple years older than him understand.
"They won't," Naruto said, and started walking at the edge of a river. He walked for a couple minutes, stopped, and said, "They'll invade from right here."
"And I suppose they told you this so you could win easily?" Luke asked him, the sarcasm evident in his voice.
"Obviously," he winked at him, "Who can say no to this handsome face?"
Luke face-palmed. He told the him, "See man, this might be your first capture the flag, but this isn't a joke."
"Who said the game is a joke? You being captain is the joke."
Luke groaned. He had no idea what to say to make the blonde listen.
He got ready to pounce into the enemy territory soon as the match was about to start. And when it did, the blonde turned out to be right.
The hunters invaded from exactly the spot Naruto had been standing on.
Zoe Nightshade came in like storm. Arrows flew here and there, and campers fell everywhere. The arrows weren't aimed to kill, just disable. There were arrows that released nets and there were arrows that caused minor explosions. There were arrows with blunted edges that could give you quite the bruise, and then there were arrows that released fart gas, earning quite a few gagging sounds from campers unfortunate enough to be the victim.
Luke had spread his demigods too thin. Back-ups were too far away, and the ones closest had already fallen. Victory was clear for Zoe and her hunters, as the flag was clearly in her few, a hundred yards away.
As she walked towards the flag, a voice rang out from the tree above her.
"You're pretty good with that bow."
And there he was, with his eyes closed, with one of his legs hanging down, laid out on a branch of the tree.
Zoe had been searching for the blonde from the moment she entered the enemy territory. She had never been aiming for the flag. Her target was the disrespectful blonde.
As soon as she caught sight of him, her hand flew to the arrows in her quiver. Quick as lightning, she pulled out an arrow with a blunted edge and nocked it, and let it fly.
But as soon as she released her index and thumb fingers and the arrow flew, the blonde jumped from his branch to another one, quicker than she would've believed.
"Or not as good as I initially thought." He said, as the arrow thudded where he had been lying a moment before.
Zoe let another arrow fly and the blonde jumped to another branch.
She gritted her teeth, and started firing in rapid succession. Her hands were a blur, as she pulled out arrows from her quiver, nocked them and let loose.
A short while later, her last arrow was let loose, and her last arrow missed as well, as the blonde jumped onto another branch.
Not one arrow had so much as grazed him.
He finally jumped down with a chuckle, and pulled out his cursed blade, the Endeixi.
"Time to test this blade's edge."
Zoe pulled out two hunting knives, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, and lunged at him.
She slashed horizontally with her knife, which should've left a 3 inch cut on the much taller blonde's chest. But the blonde stepped back just as the blade was about to make contact.
Zoe used her other knife to slash down vertically, but the blonde stepped back again.
Her next strike was stopped by Naruto's dark blade. So was the one after that. And the one after that.
She slashed at him like a lunatic and he intercepted every strike with Endeixi, the Hunters looking on in surprise and awe, too scared to let loose an arrow, fearing that they might accidentally hit Zoe.
This went on for a couple of minutes, before Zoe jumped away to make some distance between them.
"You're quite good with those knives too." He said with a smile, a taunting one.
Zoe would've said something, but she was out of breath. She had hunted by Artemis's side for thousands of years, but not a lot of monsters her managed to survive the onslaught of her knives, assuming they survived her volley of arrows first.
But this Naruto, who claimed to be a simple mortal, had. He couldn't be just a simple human. No simple mortal human could fight with that level of agility and dexterity.
"Oh, won't you give it another whirl?" He asked with that irritating smile of his, as he walked closer to her.
She feinted with her right hand, and stopped it mid-air to attack with her left. It was a basic move, and the blonde intercepted it, as she had expected he would.
She then proceeded to thrust herself upwards in the air and throw both her knives at the blonde. An unorthodox move, but the blonde deflected both the knives with a single flick of his sword.
Zoe looked stunned.
"An unorthodox move, and unwise, since you're unarmed now." The blonde's tone sounded disappointed, as if he had expected better from her.
Then Zoe proceeded to pull out a spare knife from her boots, and threw it at the blonde in one smooth gesture. It was so quick that inexperienced hunters and campers didn't even notice her do it.
Zoe was sure that the attack would get the annoying blonde man. The feint had just been a distraction, and the jumping and throwing of the knife was a move to make the blonde believe that she had thrown the last weapons in her possession. Then she had made a show of looking stunned.
She had expected that his guard would be dropped, since he believed that she was out of weapons to use.
And as he dropped his guard, she would throw the knife hidden in her boot, and it would impale itself into the blonde. Or it would've, if he hadn't deflected that too.
"Oh, I knew that you had one hidden up in your boot," he said with a smile and a wink, "I said you were unarmed to make you believe that I believed you were unarmed."
That was the moment when a loud cheer erupted close by. Luke had returned with the red flag.
Hearing their cheer, the other campers started cheering too.
They knew that the game had been won.
The Hunters were frozen in their spots, in surprise of the fight that had just taken place and in anger that they had lost.
Zoe was stunned, and for real this time.
She stood still looking at the back of the blonde who was walking away to the Big House, out of breath and tired, knowing the fact that she had just lost.
Unknown to the Hunters and the campers, Artemis had watched the whole battle take place. When Zoe had charged into the enemy territory with half a dozen hunters and had disabled all the campers in the region with arrows, she had been sure that victory would be theirs.
But that was before Naruto had spoken out from the branch of that tree. He had never once attacked, but just had delayed Zoe enough for the campers to capture their flag.
'Just who is this man?'
"Quite the epitome of show off you are." Kurama spoke in his mind.
'But you can't deny that the look on the girl's face wasn't worth it.'
And they both laughed, fox and man.
"No, no I can't."
Naruto was aware that the weird child-goddess had been watching the whole thing take place. That was one of the reasons why he hadn't attacked and just relied on defense. He did not want these Olympians discovering about him just yet. He had lived long enough in isolation, without any gods and goddesses to worry about, and he preferred it that way. So he had just displayed the bare minimum of the skills he possessed, just enough necessary to deflect every attack the girl would throw at him.
But just that much seemed quite enough to put the Goddess of the Moon and Chiron on edge, if the expressions on their faces were any indication.
"Karate training?" Chiron asked him.
"You got that right." Naruto replied with a smile.
Chiron sighed. Getting the strangely skilled blonde to talk would be near impossible unless he wanted to himself.
It didn't take long for the campers to notice the blonde who seemed to be silently trying to sneak off somewhere. Neither did it take long for them to rush up to him and lift him up on their shoulders, screaming and laughing.
Naruto's irritated groan did not matter; the campers had finally won against the campers after a losing streak 3 decades long.
Soon, the campers rushed off to the amphitheatre, for their nightly sing-along. The fire in the amphitheatre burned bright and 30 feet tall, reflecting the excessively joyous mood of the campers.
It seemed like if the Hunters had been seated in the amphitheatre instead of the campers, the fire wouldn't have burned at all.
The gloom in their midst was noticeable, but the campers didn't care. They happily sang a song about how their grandma fought like a demon.
Luke walked up to Naruto.
"Good game, man." He said, and held out a s'more from a tray for the blonde.
He smiled and took the WHOLE tray from him.
"By the way, how did you know that they were going to invade from that spot?" Luke asked him.
"Oh, I told you already, they told me that." He smiled.
Luke sighed and knew it would be useless trying to get the blonde to speak. He sat beside him.
"So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Naruto asked, looking at the flames that burned even higher now.
"Who are you? I heard about your fight with Zoe Nightshade. She has a reputation for being the most dangerous hunter of Artemis. How did you survive? You say that you are not a demigod, but how can a simple human accomplish such a feat?"
Naruto turned his head sideways to look at him. He looked at him right in the eye with a small smile, and said, "You'd be surprised by what a simple human can achieve."
Naruto looked back at the flames, "Just because you are the children of gods or have their blessings, you guys think you are so high and mighty. You look down on humans. You look down on their simplicity. You underestimate them. And that is what leads to your fall."
The flames of the campfire illuminated the young blonde's face in a strange, eerie way.
"The gods fight their fights and scheme their schemes up in heaven, the monsters fight their fights and scheme their schemes down in this Tartarus that your Chiron spoke of. And you demigods fight off monsters. Sometimes you kill them, sometimes they kill you. Nevertheless, stuck between all of this, humanity continues to survive. They continue to endure in their rotten world. WE continue to endure. So, an advice to you from a simple human, Luke Castellan, never underestimate the power of simplicity. And the strength of humanity."
And in that moment, while they were seated beneath the flames of their campfire, this blonde did not look quite as young.
"Not heaven, Olympus."
Naruto looked at Luke, "What'd you say?"
"You said the gods scheme their schemes in heaven. They don't live up in heaven. They live on Mount Olympus. Heaven is actually down in the Underworld."
Naruto groaned, "Okay can you all STOP systematically picking my beliefs apart!"
Luke smiled, which soon turned into a full-blown laughter.
Naruto smiled too, and the flames seemed to burn a tad bit brighter than it had before.
The next morning, seeing Luke's bravery in capture the flag game against the Hunter, Chiron finally agreed to give him a quest at the request of Hermes.
A quest to retrieve a Golden Apple from the Garden of Hesperides.
Luke couldn't have looked any more happier.
"What does this Golden Apple do anyway?" Naruto asked, as he walked in the deck of the Big House, where Chiron was talking to Luke, giving him tips and answering his questions, since it was his first quest ever.
"Uh...it doesn't actually do anything. The quest itself is an honor, which is enough." Luke told him.
"But didn't Hercules do the same thing? What is the point in repeating history and doing deeds already done by others?" Naruto said as he sat down onto one of the chairs.
The fact hit Luke like a brick.
Naruto had said the truth. Hercules got glory by retrieving the apples because he had been the first person to do so. Luke wouldn't receive any glory. He would just be following in the footsteps of a hero long dead.
Luke realized that his father had only given him this quest because he had continually bugged him for it. It was given to him so he could stop bothering his father.
He clenched his fists. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
All those years running from monsters and trying to get his father's attention, doing everything and more and putting his life at risk countless times, and this is what he gets in return.
But he wouldn't be seen crying in front of Chiron and Naruto. He got up, turned his head away from both of them so they couldn't see his tears, and started walking away with strained movements.
Naruto looked puzzled. Chiron sighed.
"Did I say something wrong?" He asked Chiron, still puzzled.
"No Naruto, you just spoke the truth. However, it's the truth that hurts the most sometimes." Chiron said and made a move to follow Luke.
Naruto could clearly see that the retreating boy was crying, if his trying to hide the fact so much was any indication.
"Wait, Chiron. I did this, I will fix it."
With this, he got up and walked in the direction Luke had gone towards.
He found him in the woods, hacking away at a tree with his sword.
"Is he dead yet?" Naruto asked him.
He didn't make a move to hide his tears now. He kept hacking away at the tree without a care in the world like a madman.
Naruto sighed, and sat down at the foot of another tree, with his back leaning against its trunk.
"Just let me know when you've let it out."
Luke seemed not to hear him. He kept hacking, and hacking, and hacking until he couldn't anymore. His sword fell from his hands, and he leaned against the damaged trunk of the tree.
"I tried…so hard to get his attention. I wanted him to notice me so much," Luke said, "And this is what he gives me. A deed already done. A meaningless quest. You were right, Naruto."
"A deed already done? Yes. But meaningless? No."
Luke looked down at him, where he was sitting at the foot of the tree.
"You said this was your first quest, right?" He asked him.
"Yeah, but-"
"So maybe, he is testing you. As you said, he didn't pay much attention to you before. He does not know you well. Maybe this quest is a test to evaluate your capabilities. Maybe he is giving you an easy quest, a quest already done, to ready you for something bigger he has planned."
Luke looked at him with wide eyes. As much as he wanted to hate his dad, Naruto had a point.
"See kid, it is easy to pity yourself."
"I am not pitying myself!" Luke replied angrily.
"That is exactly what you are doing, Luke. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Go and complete the damn quest. Do your best. Give your all, as you have always done. And then when you return victorious, we'll see if Hermes gives you another deed already done. Then we'll see what your father's true motives were."
Multiple emotions ran through his heart. The most prominent one was that persistent feeling of wanting to prove himself. Even if he had proven himself ever since he fled his home, and even before that, it didn't matter. He would prove himself again now.
"Thank you, Naruto. I needed this."
"Yes, kid, you did. As I said, easy to pity yourself, but not as easy to get up and do something about it."
Done! Leave a review, it'll be greatly appreciated!
Also, I am still looking for a beta-reader. Send me a PM if you're willing to look the chapters over and correct any mistakes and just improve the overall quality.
And I am actually surprised by how much support you guys showed towards the second chapter, even though it was so unreasonably delayed.
Keep up the support, I love y'all, and see ya!