Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians because if I did I wouldn't be eating rice and beans every other night. Also I would have made the battles in both series far, far, far more epic. The Macedonian's created the most successful phalanx in the ancient world. 300 has nothing against the Macedonians. The Spartans couldn't even defeat the helots. Macedon also created the hammer and anvil military tactic. You would imagine a battle for all of Western Civilization would have been far more epic like tens of thousands of demigods, monsters, mercenaries, and spirits on both sides fighting to their deaths in glorious and complex tactical formations. Then there's the battles in Naruto that while kinda cool I always wondered why the great nations and countries of that world never once utilized their populations to make their armies far more deadly? There's a reason why I think most fans of Naruto considered the chunin exams to be one of the most exciting arcs in the story, because the Konoha Crush wasn't expected and the stakes felt higher than the Fourth Great Ninjago War lmao.
Hopefully you guys know I'm joking I just wished we got more than what was portrayed in both series. Still love them though, which is why I made this story :)
Chapter 2: Hippie Dippie Madness
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Agh, Ayame-chan I said pork ramen not the Ichiraku special..." Grumbled Naruto as he awoke to his blaring alarm.
Looking at his orange alarm clock. He read 7:20, which meant he had plenty of time to get ready for the bus. Falling from his bed, Naruto picked himself before rushing over to his blaring alarm clock. Clicking various buttons never helped, except for setting the alarm. So the blonde resorted to his useful academy training by smacking the annoying piece of hardware until it beeped no more. Smirking a foxy grin at a job well done Naruto joyfully yelled out, "Science!"
Naruto sighed as he made his way over to his bathroom. He had to get pampered up for another day of middle school.
"Tsk, no child left behind my ass." Said the grouchy blonde while throwing off his undergarments.
A nice cold shower would wash his drowsiness down the drain. At least compared to his khat chewing neighbors or that coffee fanatic down the hall. He never needed an energy booster or an upper to wake up. All thanks to his vitality, his massive chakra reserves, and his burden. His neighbors still loved tempting him with their morning rituals. A week ago, Ms. Frappuccino kindly offered him a large bag of beans. Whatever these beans did mattered little, because Naruto knew what worked best for him. He spent his entire life alone. Most American kids had at least one parent.
He had himself.
Living alone in the Big Apple brought many risks, yet even more liberties. His new routine wasn't much different from his old routine back in Konoha. Only thing he had to worry about was staying inconspicuous. Luckily those evil Child Protective Service agents hadn't yet caught on about his whereabouts. Last thing he needed was to get carried him away to some orphanage in Spanish Harlem.
The Blonde haired early teen sighed as he rubbed his eyes in the shower with that thought.
While exploring Little Italy one day, he lost track of the time while going from shop to shop, talking with Italians, hearing fat men discuss gabagool, and seeing people getting chased by old, angry, women. Everything seemed normal for the blonde right until midnight, when he had a close call from an old woman sitting outside her balcony who called Child Protective Services on him. He barely escaped that one and he had to thank Kakashi-sensei for teaching him the tree walking exercise, because without it he wouldn't have hid behind some Italian flags on a rooftop.
How was the close to thirteen year old boy to know that walking alone at night in the big city was abnormal? Guys like Tony Abramo, a fellow Meriwether student, told him that he was probably looking sketchy like a gangster or was loitering around for too long. He wasn't sketchy or a gangster!
And to think loitering was illegal in this world!
Hell, back in Konoha, kids had far more freedom, but at the cost of them having to fight in stupid wars and participating in Iruka-sensei's boring military exercises. Now that he thought a lot about it, this world wasn't that bad. To think this world had cars, the internet, planes, guns, railroads, radios, constant electricity compared to the blackouts in Konoha, air conditioning, and so much more to be discovered everyday. The most mind boggling of his discoveries was when he made his clones research this world's military forces. He discovered that most militaries around the world frowned on kids below the age of thirteen fighting in wars or battles. Naruto chuckled below the jetting water as he pictured the faces of shocked adults and NYPD officers spectating his battle against Gaara!
"I should have been promoted to chunin just for saving that ungrateful place." Naruto thought as he turned off the cold water faucet below his shower head.
The more Naruto thought about his friends in Konoha, the more somber he felt. He left them behind and they all probably thought he was dead, especially after his run-in with those bloodsuckers. Despite missing his homeland from time to time, Naruto felt more happy with each passing day. From exploring the Bronx to sitting on his ass while watching cool tv shows like My Name is Earl, Robot Chicken, Hell's Kitchen, Maury, and Spongebob. And then there were movies like The Thing, Goodfellas, Evil Dead 2, and The Lost Boys, which creeped Naruto out do to its realistic portrayal of vampires. All these things were on cable to pass the time whenever he was bored, which was always a recurring hassle for the blonde. However, what Naruto spent the majority of his time doing on his two weeks off before school simply was just reading from the thick books his mother had sent him.
The thought warmed his heart as he slipped on his regular dark blue jeans, white t-shirt, socks, leather chukka boots, and light red striped plaid shirt, which he still kept unbuttoned just cause he thought he looked cooler that way. He had followed his mother's advice and finished one of her eight books, all with the useful help of his shadow clones to boot. The book titled Learning English as a Foreign Language for Dummies despite the humiliating title, it did help him out with mastering what most people were saying and how to reply back to them. He still had an accent though, which helped little with fitting in. He made an effort to explore what most people called The Big Apple so that he could meet new friends and talk with people. Mostly it only helped with him bettering his English.
He still didn't quite have a good friend here in Manhattan, which sucked by the way.
Imagine getting transported to another world where you have to learn the customs of all the people on the fly, the technology is leap years ahead of what you were accustomed too, you speak with a rough sounding foreign accent no one can put a finger on, and all your neighbors in the apartment next door spend their nights yelling and drinking in weird foreign languages. Great start indeed!
Naruto quickly grabbed his brand new backpack he had bought the week prior after his horrible first day of school. He made sure to grab at least a couple of apples from his now well stocked fridge and began engulfing one as he made his way from the twelfth floor of his apartment down to the streets of Manhattan.
It was currently mid-September and Naruto was doing his best to fit into his new American school. He passed by several tourists snapping photos of a hobo pushing a cart full of empty cans. A common sight in Manhattan, along with druggies, lurkers, hustlers, con artists, and the common annoying tourist. He went over to a street vendor who sold books, snacks, and various other things a street away from his bus stop.
Bus stops. He hated them so much he couldn't even fathom just how much he hated bus stops. Naruto remembered how on his first day of school he arrived at Meriwether an hour after school began just cause he missed his bus. Ever since that day the golden haired boy made sure to arrive at his bus stop fifteen minutes early.
"Oh hi Blondie! Back again, huh. You know I made sure to stock up on some of those instant ramens you wanted." Said Sabon bringing the lone genin out of his thoughts.
Sabon was one of the few people in this world Naruto kind of considered a friend. The man was from a mysterious nation called India somewhere half a world away. The man spoke in a weird accent and always seemed excited and happy whenever Naruto came by his stand to either look at the books or buy a snack for school. Naruto always talked with the man before the bus picked him up and sometimes they'd talk for half an hour.
Their topics ranged from current events like some sort of war in Iraq to just cool places around the world like Bombay or St. Augustine, Florida. They both sometimes even talked about cool things like comics, ramen flavors, books, weapons, and various different mythologies. Naruto almost died of boredom the day Sabon lectured him about the stand owner's elephant statue called Ganesha. Thanks to his mother's advise, Naruto was able to steer that conversation towards Greek mythology, which created some mutual dialogue. Naruto probably looked like a fresh off the boat America, because Sabon gladly helped him out with his English, where to go, and all the ins and outs of the Big Apple.
No one knew more about New York City than Sabon, resulting in Naruto becoming the stand owners most loyal customer.
If Naruto needed answers on where to get to Meriwether after he missed the bus, Sabon after all was there to help the blonde out. If the seventh grader needed a brand new backpack for school, well Sabon after all had a nice crimson red Jansport backpack with a leather bottom and red, white, and blue cords attached to the zippers. All for the price of forty bucks with two packs of #2 mechanical pencils included. If Naruto needed to know let's say where he could get his hands on some liquor for a party he planned to throw this coming weekend. Well Sabon sure as hell was the source.
"Hey Sabon! What flavored ramens did you get?" Asked Naruto while resting his hands upon the stand's counter. His eyes scanning around for any new merchandise.
"Hahaha! Boy I've got a whole crate of those spicy shrimp flavored ramens you like. Also one of my suppliers also sent me some good, good, good stock of this spicy ramen. The spiciest in the world, straight from the Philippines." Said Sabon as he showed Naruto a package of one of the instant ramen cups.
Sabon's golden brown eyes sparkled as soon as he saw Naruto's smile.
"That's awesome keep that package safe for me after school would ya? I gotta catch the bus across the street in about six minutes." Naruto said while scratching his head.
"Sounds like a plan buddy. Well anything else I could help you with today?" Sabon said while placing various magazines and books on his display.
Naruto's eyes locked themselves with a book on the shelf that read Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Something about the white rabbit on the cover made him both shudder in what had to have been curiosity. Something about the book made him want to pick it up and read through it.
"Hahaha, Blondie is interested in chasing the white rabbit?" Sabon asked in a slight whisper.
"Huh, no I was just looking at what you had. I'll take one of those snicker bars." Naruto said while pointing at a random candy bar. Sabon looked at Naruto with a bit of curiosity, but in the end both customer and merchant exchanged money for a delicious candy bar.
Before Naruto made his way to the bus, Sabon placed the book on his counter and smiled, "You've been kind and very loyal customer. Take book for free, it's on the house. After all you never know when one will chase white rabbit."
Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head while thanking Sabon. From there he quickly made it to his bus stop and waited several minutes for the bus driver to pull up. As soon as the bus arrived Naruto boarded the big hulking contraption and made his way to the middle of the bus where all of the nobodies sat.
To say Naruto was a social butterfly would be an understatement. He had been able to talk his way out of numerous bad situations back in Konoha and he occasionally got out on top. Like the time he had accidentally caught the academy's roof on fire, which by the way was an accident. Better yet there was also the time-
Naruto ducked down into his bus seat as an apple flew by his head, barely missing the poor girl who sat in front of him. Looking back and watching Matt Sloan and his two duffus cronies snicker made Naruto's cheeks flare up. It was bad enough dealing with many of the assholes in Konoha, but just looking at Matt Sloan reminded the jinchuuriki of Sasuke Uchiha. The only difference between the two assholes was that Matt Sloan had yet to shove a lightning covered fist right by his heart.
Matt Sloan had the eyes of a pit bull, and shaggy black hair, and he always dressed in expensive but sloppy clothes, like he cared little about his family's money. Matt Sloan had made it his vendetta to terrorize Meriwether Prep for whatever reason. Naruto didn't really care until now.
"What's your problem!" Yelled Naruto directly at Matt Sloan all the while the bus driver ignored the stupid children bickering in the back.
"Turn your ugly whiskered face around sevie. You don't want any trouble!" Replied Matt Sloan causing his two buddies to laugh like hyenas in heat at their leader's remark.
"You trouble? Hahahaha! Sorry Sloan, but you should look yourself in the mirror sometime. You're as intimidating as a disabled girl-scout!" Called out Naruto causing several passengers to laugh.
"Wow such a great come back... I'm just so scared, I think I'm going to cry! Fuck you! Turn your ugly head around, before I turn into stone!" Hollered Matt Sloan.
Naruto glared daggers for a split second before turning around to look outside his window, which only caused Matt Sloan and his goons to laugh even more.
"As much as I'd love to pulverize those assholes in a dissing contest. They aren't even worth the time of day." Naruto thought to himself.
If Matt Sloan wanted a fight that rich asshole had better come prepared, cause Naruto wasn't going to hold back until Matt Sloan was put on a stretcher.
The bus dropped Naruto off at school and his eighth day of school in America began. Naruto walked into Meriwether and made his way to his first period class where Mr. De Milo taught English. The man had a long red beard that went all the way down to his tie-dyed Grateful Dead t-shirt. He wore glasses and had a bald spot in the middle of his head.
"Hi Naruto!" Spoke a tall, tanned, dirty blonde haired girl who stood outside of the classroom.
"Hey Rachel!" Began the lone jinchuriki with rosy tinted cheeks, "You ah..."
Damnit! He was in a new world, new people, and had a clean slate as far as making himself into whoever he wanted. And he still had trouble with women!
"Yes just remember we gotta stay on our game for Ms. Tesla's class! Also ugh..." Naruto looked into Rachel Mcgee's sparkling blue eyes and noticed the American girl blushing. Great now he'd likely get sick too! Naruto waited under bated breath before Rachel sputtered out, "I don't know why but you're looking a lot cooler today than usual."
"Thanks and so do y-," Before Naruto could finish what he wanted to say, one of Matt Sloan's duffus friends shoved him to the ground.
"Hahaha loser! Agh!" Naruto flailed his leg at just the right moment to trip the scurrying bully who then quickly fled the scene.
Rachel held out a hand and brought Naruto back up. She glared at the fleeing bully and smiled back at the blonde, "Don't listen to Matt or his friends. You're a good guy compared to most people here. Just don't change!"
"I'm not changing anytime soon!" Said the confident thirteen year old who grudgingly went inside the classroom.
Class wouldn't begin for another fifteen minutes. In order to make up for his blundering debacle on the first day of school, he settled for going to every class on time. Sitting down against his soft bean bag chair, Naruto couldn't help but admit how nice schools were in this world. All the seats were bean bags, the teachers wore weird music shirts and jeans to class. Not only that but the teachers didn't give out any grades, and Mr. De Milo played pretty chill music everyday before class began.
For the first time in his life, Naruto actually took school seriously and he was excited to make it to class everyday. And because the teachers didn't give out any grades, all he had to do was show up to class every day. So long as he got along with the teachers he wouldn't flunk out, something that Naruto noted wasn't something he'd like to do.
Mr. De Milo was currently playing a song titled Dark Star and Naruto thought it was probably related to the teachers t-shirt. It was a nice song, it wasn't too loud, so Naruto took out his new book that he got from Sabon and began reading Alice in Wonderland. The surprising thing about the book was that the words didn't get jumbled up or mushy as he read along the lines. The only books that didn't seem impair him were his mothers, the very ones she left on his front of doorstep about a month ago.
Not long after school began Naruto was diagnosed with ADHD and a minor case of dyslexia, thanks to the schools psychiatrist. The blonde haired jinchuuriki should have been surprised by the diagnosis. However, it actually explained many of the reasons why he couldn't sit still through one of Iruka-sensei's boring lectures or why he always had trouble reading. The great thing about Meriwether was that the teachers based their curriculum on a word many teachers called 'progressive'. He didn't really care what progressive meant, for the first time in his life he felt like he could make a positive name for hims-
"Hey whisker face. Why are ya reading that children's book?" Asked Matt Sloan as he slammed his fist alongside Naruto's bean bag chair.
Ignoring the waste of air, Naruto just continued reading his book. Alice was currently falling down down a hole after following a white rabbit. Maybe this explained why Kakashi-sensei loved reading books so much, it allowed him to block out loud, annoying, obnoxious, sensitive assholes. Where most people would just leave and go back to their beanbag chair, Matt Sloan instead spat a huge glob of spit directly in Naruto Uzumaki's brand new book.
The whole room felt like it had dropped ten degrees in temperature. Naruto's sapphire eyes stared daggers into Matt Sloan's fearful orbs. For the first time Meriwether's hottest reviewed bully flinched. Naruto's normally warm blue sapphire eyes, which occasionally caused some girls in his class to blush, turned as ice cold and calculative. He placed his book back in his bag, got up from his beanbag chair and clenched his fists.
Everyone in the classroom was completely silent as they watched the standoff between the new kid and Matt Sloan. Even the normally slow big hulk of a seventh grader known as Tyson watched the impending standoff in complete and utter interest and worry. Mr. De Milo had run out of the classroom to go talk with a couple of teachers about some sort of book. The only thing that was left of the teachers presence was the jamming music of the Grateful Dead playing from the teacher's vinyl record.
"In formless reflections of matter!" Jerry Garcia's normally calm voice sounded like a cacophony of dread, which further unsettled everyone currently inside of the classroom, with the clear exception of one Naruto Uzumaki.
Percy Jackson looked at the scene in complete worry. Naruto Uzumaki the normally kind hearted, cheery, loud kid from some foreign country was radiating a sickening energy that made everyone in the classroom shiver. This all went on for about a minute until Naruto said, "If you do that again Matt I swe-"
Before Naruto could finish what he said, Matt Sloan threw a spine tingling sucker punch that echoed across the room. Naruto who had been caught off guard for a second shocked everybody by turning his head straight back up towards Matt Sloan. It was almost like the punch was like nothing. The next thing that happened, which surprised everyone present was that Naruto grabbed onto Matt Sloans receding right arm. Before Matt Sloan or his goons could react, Naruto pulled Matt Sloan towards to his body allowing the new kid to knee Matt Sloan's stomach two times like a battering ram against the walls of a castle.
Naruto wasn't done though, with Matt Sloan's right arm still in his hands he used the limb to propel Matt Sloan forward into the ground in front of him, causing the boy's nose to bleed. Matt Sloans goons not wanting their leader to get further humiliated rushed forward with their fists clenched. Naruto ducked to the side missing one of the goons and then smacked the goon against his back three times with just enough force to not break it.
The goon fell forward on top of his leader, which caused the third duffus to raise his hands and back off like Naruto held a RPG in his hands. The room returned back to normal and Naruto finally looked around the room seeing various reactions. Tyson was clapping his giant hands like he was witnessing a Broadway Show. Half of the girls in the class looked at Naruto in complete and total fear as if he was a ticking time bomb ready to explode. The other girls were blushing and grateful as if Naruto slayed an evil dragon.
Then there were guys like Corey Bailer and Percy Jackson who were both smiling. Percy Jackson personally gave the blond haired boy a thumbs up. The rest of the class was silent, with open mouths and shocked faces. Then everyone rushed Naruto asking him questions.
"How did you move so fast?"
"Where did you learn that from?"
"You never told me you knew karate!"
"I can't believe you actually beat up Matt Sloan!"
"That was so freakin cool."
"What in Edgar Allen Poe's depression is this? Out of the way!" Yelled Mr. De Milo as he shoved some students to make sure Matt Sloan was alive. If there was one thing Mr. De Milo could live without it was Matt Sloan. The kid spent half the time in their class laughing in the back of the classroom while disturbing the students wanting to learn. Still Mr. De Milo was required by the state to make sure all his students were safe or else he'd likely be fired.
"It was all Naruto's fault sir." Whimpered Matt Sloan while faking a cough. Mr. De Milo turned towards Naruto who currently had his shoulders scrunched up, his hands in the air and his eyes looking in one direction. The look of someone innocent trying to play innocent didn't fool the English teacher.
"Naruto! Report to principal Bonsai's office immediately while I take Matt Sloan to the nurses office. Corey you're in charge until I come back." Said Mr. De Milo as he helped Matt Sloan onto his feet.
Principal's Office (Three Hours Later)
"Hmm, well Naruto since you did fight in self defense and you are new here. I'll let you off on a serious warning. Normally I'd give you ISS, but a couple of the students in your class have been rushing my office since first period wanting to testify in your defense." Said principal Bonsai with some sympathy towards the young jinchuuriki, which made the whole situation less threatening than it actually was, "But be warned! If I have to deal with another incident of you attacking those two boys again this year or if I even hear about you beating up my students! I promise you, I will seek out the most fitting punishment! Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir." Naruto replied sharply.
He wasn't a complete idiot to talk back or joke around in the presence of his current principal who was a past green beret member.
"Okay off you go. What's your current class?" Asked Mr. Bonsai his brown eyes radiating an aura of authority.
"Lunch sir."
"Get some lunch. Also lighten up Naruto, I may be your principal but I want every student to come to me like I'm the type of person they can trust." Said Mr. Bonsai as he started to polish one of his war medals on his desk.
"Sure thing… Mr. Bonsai." Naruto said before he quickly left the principal's office.
"Like hell that's going to happen." Naruto thought to himself as he bought some lunch food. Even though he was rolling in dough he was planning on bringing his own personal lunches to school.
A week ago, Naruto found out that he had roughly forty thousand dollars in a small safe in his closet, which suited the thirteen year old well. New York City was amazing, but way too damn expensive. It made Naruto frown just because his apartment's lease would run out by the time Summer began and he currently didn't quite know anywhere else to crash.
"Hey Naruto, would you like to sit at my table?" Said Percy Jackson.
Percy Jackson was always a mystery to Naruto. The seventh grader had disheveled jet black hair he kept swept to one side of his head like he just gotten off of a walk around the beach. He had bright sea-green eyes and had a slightly tanned complexion like Tony Abramo. Maybe Percy Jackson was an Italian too like Tony Abramo although he had a regular American last name like one of the presidents in history class.
Most people at school stayed away from Percy Jackson since he was one of the few kids other than Naruto to actually hangout around Tyson. Tyson towered over most people in the school including some of the teachers. Still though, there was always something about Percy Jackson that seemed mysterious as if the kid lived a secret that everyone else was oblivious to.
"Come on, everyday I see you sitting by yourself," Continued Percy with a grin, "Or with Tony Abramo with his uh, clique."
Tony Abramo sneezed beside his jersey wearing friends who were playing a long game of, "BS!"
"Damnit!" Yelled one of his buddy's wearing a New York Mets jersey.
"AHahahaha! Called you out cocksucker!" Yelled Tony only feel someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around and saw a teacher and yelled out, "Crap!"
"Uh, I think I'll take you up on that offer." Chuckled Naruto, he still didn't have a single friend at school. Tony Abramo, friendliest of the popular kids, always got himself into serious trouble. The mad Italian kept him around because he told funny jokes and would partake in mischief. Luckily Naruto had yet to face any repercussion, one of the many perks of being a shinobi. So Naruto followed the jet black haired boy over to his table, "I'm just glad I can finally eat. Principal Bonsai was torturing me for two hours lecturing me about right and wrong. The Star Spangled Banner. The American way. Halfway through, I almost died."
Percy laughed at Naruto's remark, "What are you talking about?"
"Principal Bonsai ordered two bowls of Extra Spicy Miso Ramen from Nikki's Tokyo Inn along Church Street. I had to wait an hour for him to finish one of the bowls before I saw him."
"Hahaha, I thought you said he ordered two bowls?" Said Percy curiously.
"Well... there were two bowls, but I think the order got mixed up in translation." Finished Naruto with a nervous foxy grin.
Percy nearly tumbled to the floor from laughter at Naruto's story. He found the blond haired, blue eyed, seventh grader to be of some interest to him. After that whole incident early in the morning, Percy couldn't help but wonder how Naruto was able to take down Matt Sloan and his duffus friend like it was a cake walk. Not only that but Naruto always had a joke or story to tell. He remembered a day ago while they were in PE, Naruto asked Coach Nunley out of the blue, "Did you invent baseball?"
The whole class laughed for about a minute while the ancient coach continued explaining the rules of the game. Both boys took a seat at a lunch table with Corey Bailer next to Percy, and Tyson sitting beside naruto. All three boys looked at the blond in amazement while they watched Naruto vacuum up the food on his lunch tray in near record time.
"Wow you like water spinach." Said a surprised Tyson. No one ate Mrs. Mitchell's cafeteria spinach, which looked like vomit and was watered down with nutrients. Except for Naruto who gulped down another serving.
"Well I paid for it. Also back where I'm from, my school never served us food." Naruto said while finishing his apple from his backpack.
"Where are you from?" Percy asked while picking around a hair he found in his spaghetti.
"Oh! I'm uh-uh… I'm from Mississippi." Naruto replied back while unwrapping his snickers bar. Luckily he remembered that state Sabon had some relatives in.
"Really Mississippi? You don't even have a southern accent. Also you sound like you're an immigrant from somewhere... like ah, Italy... or Turkey." Said Corey Bailer who was the schools computer geek and personal know it all.
"Hey are you going to eat that?" Naruto asked while looking at Percy Jackson's lunch tray.
"Nah. I'm not too hungry." Naruto not wanting to ask twice engulfed Percy's lunch food like he taking part in a hot-dog eating contest.
Corey Bailer's eyes were still digging into him.
"Okay, you caught me. I'm from ah, India." Answered Naruto.
Good thing he remembered where Sabon was from. Everyone else except Tyson sweat-dropped at the remark.
"What's India?" Asked Tyson rubbing one of his potato chip sized nails against his forehead like he was trying to solve a complex quadratic equation.
Corey further sweat dropped but dropped the conversation noticing Naruto was feeling uncomfortable. After talking about various things for about ten minutes Corey Bailer walked off to go and check on something at the computer lab, Tyson was curious about what Corey was off to do and followed him out of the lunchroom.
"So Naruto where do you live?"
"I live at the Fortis Apartment Complex. It's about three miles from here. Gotta say its the most amazing place in the city, its has plenty of room, an amazing hot water maker that can warm up ramen in two minutes instead of three, don't even get me started on the view." Naruto said excitedly.
"I think I know that place. It's about two or three blocks from where I live." Percy said while noticing Naruto's eyes beaming up as soon as Percy said that.
"Really well you gotta come on over to my place. I could use your help this afternoon." Stated the blonde while scratching the back of his head
"Sure, thing. My mom wouldn't mind if I'm late coming home."
7th Avenue
Naruto and Percy both got off of the bus together and made there way over to Sabon's convenience stand. The Indian's face brightened up as soon as he spotted Naruto approaching him.
"Ah, young Naruto and you brought a friend," Started Sabon while going to the back of the stand and bringing out a large 50 instant ramen cup package and placing it on the counter, "Anything else you need today my friend."
"I'll take that geographic magazine, two snickers, that bundle of bananas, and two cases of that Nattie Light along with a bottle of liquor if you have any."
"Yes, yes, yes. Here's your geographic, your snickers, bananas, I only have one case… wait a minute you are too young to buy alcohol." Spoke Sabon harshly.
Percy backed away from Naruto and the stand cautiously not wanting to get caught in this impending dispute, but he didn't leave the area. He watched whatever was going to happen curiously, as if he was watching two trains crashing into each other at full speed.
Naruto scratched the back of his neck. He thought this would have gone much smoother in his head. In the Elemental Nations there weren't too many restrictions over alcohol. Naruto was never much of a drinker to begin with, even though Ero-sensei offered the thirteen year old booze on many occasions. Hell the only reason Naruto wanted the liquor in the first place was to impress the kids at Meriwether. If they liked enjoyed everything enough maybe they'd become friends. He never had too many friends throughout his life and he'd cut a finger off just to make some good ones in this world.
"But friend I can get you anything you want. Just write it down come here before sundown and I'll have it ready for you. After all the white rabbit stand sells anything it needs for its customers." Spoke Sabon quickly going back to his usual nonchalant demeanor.
Percy raised an eyebrow at the whole exchange. He wasn't completely sure why Naruto wanted to buy alcohol or why the mysterious White Rabbit convenience stand worker was ignoring maybe half a dozen laws for Naruto.
"Awesome!" Naruto said while taking a piece of paper out of his backpack and writing down what he wanted.
"Also I suggest anything but Nattie Light. No customer of mine shall suffer the torture of drinking piss." Sabon replied after Naruto handed him the piece of paper and his money for all of the groceries.
"Thanks Sabon and will this place still be open around then?"
"No illegal activities take place while stand is open. It's a White Rabbit stand policy." Sabon said matter of factly.
"Awesome have an amazing day, I'll be back later."
Percy jackson followed Naruto all the way to the twelfth floor. Naruto nearly charged up the fire exit while carrying all his groceries to his parent's apartment. After suggesting to the confused blonde that they could use the elevator. Naruto looked at Percy like he discovered the most amazing revelation of his life. As soon as Percy entered Naruto's apartment he was surprised to find only one bedroom. Still, for the typical Manhattan apartment, Naruto's pad was very cozy and spacious. A nice sized sofa stood against one of the walls with various magazine pages taped over it. They were National Geographic posters, all of spectacular locations from around the world. There was a dazzling page sized picture of Athens at night, Rome, London, St. Basil's Cathedral from Moscow all lit up and covered in snow. There were even various natural landmarks like Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park's geysers, The Smoky Mountains, Mt. Everest, and The Great Barrier Reef.
The Magazine posters reminded Percy Jackson of his good friend Annabeth Chase who Percy met the past summer when he first went to Camp Half-Blood. It was her dream to be the best architect in the world and she spent her time outside of camp going around the United States visiting famous architectural landmarks. Percy looked at the wall curiously while Naruto was putting away his groceries. So Percy took a shot in the dark.
"So what's with all of the cut out pictures on the wall?"
Naruto looked up from where he was hiding his ramen and smiled, "Oh those! Those are all the places I'm going to visit one day."
"That's pretty cool. I'd love to one day visit to Greece, Athens, and see all the sights. I heard the Parthenon is an experience of a lifetime" Percy said while pointing at the poster of the Parthenon atop a mountain all lit up.
"Really? That's so cool! I didn't know that's what people called that. I thought it was just an ancient ruin where there's buried treasure or a powerful ancient weapon. You know like that ah, ring, from that movie everyone at school saw... ugh, oh! Lord of the Rings or maybe there are weapons like the ones those women in Hustler are always fighting with!" Spoke the blonde causing Percy to sweat drop at the comment. Maybe Naruto wasn't really completely like Annabeth but his new friend still reminded him of her.
"Also could I ask you, where are your parents or are they still at work?" Asked the wavy black haired demigod only to see Naruto stop in the middle of his ramen stashing scheme. The blonde boy turned his head to the side before taking looking back confused and gloomy.
"My parents?" Repeated Naruto as if it was some sort of lost unattainable artifact, "I'm the only one who lives here."
Naruto nonchalantly went back to errands. It was right then and there Percy Jackson realized that Naruto was an orphan just like Tyson. The only difference between the gentle giant and Naruto was that the blonde wasn't yet in an orphanage and he could somehow afford a New York City apartment in Manhattan.
"Oh." Said Percy sensing the awkward turn of events.
"Hey don't worry about me!" Percy looked at the sapphire boy curiously who grinned like a fox, "My folks left me a family sized bag of Cheetos over in the cabinet!"
Percy laughed for a minute forgetting the whole issue.
Remembering the alcohol, his purpose, and Naruto's needing his help, Percy simply asked "What exactly are you going to do with all that alcohol? And didn't you need my help with something tonight?"
"Man I thought I was an airhead.. Haven't you guessed? I'm going to throw a party here this coming weekend. I'll need your help spreading the word and fixing this place up so its not lame." Replied the blonde while throwing off his backpack and jumping on the sofa with his head towards the ceiling.
"A party? You never came across as the party type." Laughed Percy seeing a widen grinning blonde looking up at him.
"You'd be surprised Jackson. Back where I'm from we learned a thing or two about having fun." Said the blonde with a confident foxy grin.
Percy smiled nervously. He wasn't quite the expert on stuff like that nor was he popular enough to go around the school asking people to come to a friends party. They'd probably think it was some sort of D&D slumber-party with wizard robes. Percy figured Naruto was in the same boat as him, then again it seemed like Naruto seemed both confident and charismatic of his partying abilities. Little did the blonde haired genin know that he made the wrong choice. Percy would more than likely bring misfortune to the party. His track record constant bad luck rubbed off on everything.
However, both boys seemed to get along just right and they needed a friend at Meriwether that wasn't just Tyson. Naruto took out his Alice in Wonderland book and started reading, before putting it down when he heard Percy say, "You came to the right person, Naruto. Meriwether's going to talk about this for years. Got any games?"
Around 6:00 P.M Naruto and Percy made it back to Sabon's stand, which was oddly closed at the moment. Both genin and demigod alike looked around the closed shack but to no avail. About to give up and go back home, "Hey Blondie! Over here!"
Naruto and Percy followed the voice into an dark alleyway where Sabon had two brown paper bags filled with goods. There were several hulking gangsters at the very end of the alleyway. One of them had a sash around their hips and the other seemed preoccupied with flipping a coin. Sabon's eyes warmed up the smelly alleyway, "Haha, I brought the booze. You two brought the dough?"
"Got it right here, Sabon!" Naruto said before they both exchanged the goods. Percy looked at the both of them a little confused as if both of them were old friends.
"Good, good, good. Now remember boys. White Rabbit can get you whatever you need and always at right price." Said Sabon with an index finger pointed in the air to make his point. Thunder boomed in the distance, causing Percy to raise an eyebrow, but he said nothing.
"Oh man well we better go before it starts to storm. Right Percy?"
Percy looked at Sabon closely to see if the man was possibly a monster. Something about the Indian man didn't quite sit right with him. Although, in the end Percy just raised his shoulders, "Sounds good. Gotta go home soon anyways before my mom gets worried."
"Okay see ya Percy." Naruto said waving at the his new friend who waved back.
"Also Naruto before you leave," Sabon started causing the jinchuuriki to stop in his tracks, "Know that if something happens good friend. Doesn't matter the reason. I left a card in that bag with a number to call."
Naruto thanked Sabon and they both left the alleyway.
Friday Night/Party Night
Music played out in Naruto's apartment as kids from Meriwether all kept on coming in droves. Trying to get fellow Meriwether students to come to Naruto's party wasn't too difficult, not after the Matt Sloan incident. In response Matt Sloan threw another party the same night, although Naruto really didn't care if more people went over to his party. Even though Naruto's apartment wasn't too big, girls and guys from their class were dancing about like Tyson, Raj Mandeli, Tony Abramo and his various cousins, Suzy Winters, Rachel Mcgee, Chris R, and Emily Goldbloom.
Currently Tony Abramo was in a contest with one of his cousins to see who could out drink the other. His cousin who was a Junior in high school was swiping the floor with his cousin. How the hell Naruto got high school kids to come to his party he'd never know. Over in the closet where he kept his broom and vacuum cleaner was a small line of girls and guys his age waiting patiently for whoever to come out.
Naruto saw Percy Jackson in the corner of the room completely pale. He looked like he saw a ghost. Walking over to make sure his friend was alright, out of nowhere Rachel Mcgee grabbed him by his long sleeved plaid t-shirt and asked Naruto for a dance. Not trying to be rude he accepted the offer.
Percy Jackson was watching the party with a big smile on his face and everyone there seemed pretty happy. Still though, as soon as the speakers started playing Eminence Front by The Who, he saw the one person he'd thought he would never see again until summer. Middle school and high school kids went around Mr. D ignoring the red nosed, chubby faced, and curly black haired god. Mr. D was still wearing his usual tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt and purple running shoes. The only thing different about him was that he looked like he was about nineteen years old, but Percy of all people could recognize the god Dionysus anywhere even if Percy was a little bit buzzed.
Making his way over to Mr. D as inconspicuous as he could, Percy saw Mr. D sipping from a red dixie cup while analyzing the party as if he wasn't impressed.
"What are you doing here?" Percy asked the cherub looking god of Olympus as if the man in front of him was stalking him.
"Way to greet an old friend Peter Johnson," Mr. D said while glaring at Percy, "I didn't think you were the type of person I'd ever see at party. Aren't you in what? Sixth Grade."
"I'm in seventh grade."
"Oh my, I came to a seventh graders party. I wonder if your mom knows you're here drinking at a friends apartment, *sniff*… ah. Smell that? Someone's lighting something up in the bedroom, hahaha. To think I thought this was a high school party." Mr. D said while sniffing Percy's shoulder. The scowl on Mr. D's face was enough to make Percy shake in even more fear, it was bad enough that he knew Dionysus was at Naruto's party, but to make matters worse the wine god also had his mother's phone number.
"I'm sorry about my attitude. I'm just surprised you're here. I mean shouldn't you be at camp?"
"Everyone there is already asleep. Isn't past your bedtime, Peter?" Percy stayed silent but the wine god continued, "Don't you know, every party has a little bit of my influence to it. There's always something unpredictable about a party, something that can go wrong. People wake up the next day confused and ashamed, and I'm there taking notes so Apollo's children can have a script for a movie. Some say they go a little mad when there's alcohol, loud music, and drugs involved. Ah, I miss the sixties. Woodstock would put this girl scout meeting to shame." Mr. D said while drinking some diet coke from his dixie cup.
"You were at Woodstock?"
"I created Woodstock. For three days even Zeus couldn't have compared to my influence. I remember seeing your grandma there now that I think about it. She took several sheets of acid and was showing a crowd of people her-"
"Okay, okay, I get it. You are super awesome Mr. D!" Percy said quickly hoping the wine god wouldn't finish his sentence.
"I'll forget the sarcasm and take that as a compliment… for now. How about you go and enjoy the party." Said Mr. D further unsettling Percy, "Don't give me that look Peter. I wouldn't rat out on a pitiful demigod."
With that Mr. D disappeared leaving the smell of grapes in the air. Not long after the god of wine vanished Percy's vision blurred and his whole world turned dark.
In a dark room two men were talking with each other silently. There was a red light in the middle of the room and the light was shining directly on what had to have been a golden sarcophagus.
"You sure this will work?" Said the voice of someone Percy could vaguely remember.
"Never question the Titan's will." Said a deep and very threatening voice.
Percy Jackson woke up with a pillow below his head and his shirt completely off. It was wrapped around his left eye as if he was a pirate and the few other people passed out in Naruto's apartment weren't in better shape. Tyson took up Naruto's couch and was cuddled up with a stuffed rabbit next to his neck. It looked as if Tyson was strangling the stuffed animal, but that was just cause Tyson was huge. Tony Abramo's high school cousin was on the ground shirtless with another highschool girl wrapped around his arms.
While searching the apartment, Percy found Naruto fully awake in his bedroom, just looking out his window at the city below him.
"You having trouble remembering everything from last night too?" Said Naruto without taking his eyes away from his window. The blonde haired boy had several hickey marks on his neck and his normally messy, gravity defying, golden locked hair was in a total mess.
"Yeah, what exactly happened?"
"Well you kissed Suzy Winter's but then you had disappeared for a bit and I found you vomiting down the hall." Said Naruto who was still watching the city as if it was a tv screen.
"Damn. How did I forget that?" Said Percy while rubbing his eyes. He had to get home soon but luckily enough he told his mom he'd be staying over at Naruto's place several days ago.
"Don't know." Said Naruto, then Percy remembered something from last night and smiled.
"Oh yeah, I saw you making out with Rachel Mcgee after dancing with her for a bit. Then Emily Goldblum grabbed you and I think they got into a fight about something. I think one of them slapped you." Percy said finally sobering up. Then a thought that had been pestering Percy's mind since the day Naruto first announced the party clicked in his head.
"Why did you throw this party in the first place?"
Naruto looked a somber at the comment but said, "I just wanted some friends. I've always been trying my whole life to be accepted… but I don't know. I'm not really the party guy. I just wanted people to like me."
Percy could tell Naruto felt upset, but he smiled, "Bro. I know how you feel but you already are liked. If no one at Meriwether considers you a friend, well just know I do."
Naruto grinned like a fox and turned around and said, "Well, could you help a friend out with cleaning this place up. My room smells like Mr. De Milo's classroom after PE."
Training Trip Week One
Naruto sat atop of a large stone rock as Ero-sensei looked at a note he had received a day ago. This had been going on for a while now and boredom got the best of the blonde. After spending about half an hour in silence Naruto occupied his time by practicing his chakra control. From tree walking, leaf balancing, to more complex things like chakra molding a small rock in his hands in order to shape it into an object. Ero-sensei had said it was a jonin level exercise for mastering chakra control, but to no avail Naruto sucked at it.
"Hey Ero-sensei I need some help with that exercise." Naruto pleaded with his head down. He'd been at the exercise for the last couple of days and had no real progress except for his pride being taken down a notch.
"Ero-sensei I really need some advice on this." Naruto said a minute later. His sensei kept looking at the note, although he looked slightly more annoyed.
"Ero-sensei are you listening to me!"
"Naruto can't you give me a break for one goddamn minute!" Yelled Jiraiya while frowning at his sapphire eyed student.
"..."
Naruto said nothing and held his head lower and just kept looking at the rock in his hands. Jiraiya looked up from the note another one of his spies had verified and saw Naruto's heavily downcasted look. For a split second the hermit sage realized what he had just said and felt slightly guilty over it. Naruto despite how disrespectful he was to his elders was always cheery, happy, and often made him feel like he had a real grandson. Seeing his student look so downtrodden and worst of all quiet, made the hermit sage feel even more guilty. Guilty over abandoning him throughout his childhood, guilty over the trials the little brat suffered when he came back to Konoha, and guilty over how much he saw of himself inside of Naruto.
"Look… I'm sorry I said that the way I said that." Jiraiya said after finally finishing the report from one of his agents.
"Nah, don't sweat it. I know I can be annoying sometimes. I'm sorry I kept you from reading your research Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto said while turning his head away from his sensei's gaze.
"Naruto look at me." Jiraiya said in a commanding voice, his student turned his head towards his sensei. Naruto's normally warm sapphire blue eyes that often radiated nothing but opportunity and happiness, were now foggy, Jiraiya sighed before saying, "You don't ever have to be sorry about anything. You can be annoying as hell and a huge brat sometimes, but sometimes I deserve what's coming to me. You are my student and I chose you not because of what you got in your gut or cause of anything else. You are my student because you remind me a lot of myself."
Taken slightly a-back, Naruto's foggy eyes became wide and slightly confused, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that I need to make you into a badass before this trip is over. I worry about you and I don't want to go to my grave knowing that a student of mine, who is being hunted by more than just Akatsuki by the way, will be able to fight every single one of his battles and survive." Naruto looked a little bit more confused but Jiraiya continued, "You know the reason why I've been looking at these notes?"
"Well no. I thought it was more research material for your next book."
Jiraiya smacked his forehead at that comment, "Look Gaki, I'll let you onto this secret. If these reports that are coming from my spies are true. And there's a good chance they are, then by the end of this two year vacation… even I can't predict how powerful you'll become."
Naruto smiled at Ero-sensei and they both got up and started searching for the nearest hot springs.
Thanks to all of my readers for all of the support after the first chapter. I have never had a story that has blown up so much after just one chapter, which is why I made sure to update this immediately cause I know some of you are interested on where it's going to go. I would have published this chapter yesterday, but like the party in this chapter sometimes an author gets caught up in things he wouldn't have expected he'd get caught up in.
I would also like to say that Sea of Monsters will probably begin in a couple of chapters, which is why this one is a bit longer. Had to get a lot of character development out of the way. Anyways follow, review, read, and I hope you beautiful readers have an awesome day. Also review if you can it helps me know if I my chapter was actually good or not.