Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson. If I did I'd be a level 100 boss settling down with a super hot model. Instead I'm on here writing this story for you beautiful folks and I gotta work for my next meal. I'm still sadly a level 20 Henchman. Just you wait I'll be coming for both Rick Roidan's and Kishimoto's spot soon enough.
Dodgeball: An Underdog Story
Birds were busy on the dying afternoon streets of New York City, eating away the leftover hotdog buns careless city goers and tourists unwittingly discarded. They pecked and chewed the delicious sweet buns in haste, until one Naruto Uzumaki got off his school bus happily. The birds cawed and fluttered away from the loud blonde haired genin, leaving behind feathers in their escape. The hot humid city air filled the blonde with an abundance of energy, while most people would have drifted back indoors to escape such dread with their air conditioners. Days like this only made him smile.
It brought Naruto back to the times he'd spend days sometimes weeks homeless in the warm humid woods of Konoha, with no one but himself. A somber thought for most, but Naruto learned much from that experience. His love of nature, his love for anything warm, his love for food, and most of all how much he appreciated his nice Manhattan apartment. Inside of that apartment so many new memories had been forged since he had arrived in New York City, almost a year prior. If there was any way he could thank his mother for bringing him to this world he most certainly would.
Naruto Uzumaki passed by many annoyed New York City residents walking the streets of the Big Apple, as he nearly skipped his way from 7th Avenue across the many busy streets to 5th Avenue. He had much to be happy about. School would be over within a weeks time. Naruto had spent the last five months since Winter Break, focusing on his elemental training, and studying his mothers books. Not only had he finished the tree cutting exercise for his Wind manipulation, but he had also learned three wind style jutsus.
One of them he figured, would soon be his new ace card. Something on par with the rasengan. If only he could completely master it.
There was much to be happy about, but if he had to be grateful for anything. It had to have been the Companions necklace finally coming through on its supposed magical properties. Naruto had yet to experience another run in with the Kronia or any weird monster since his winter break shenanigans. Even if the necklace was a boldfaced lie it still looked cool so Naruto kept wearing it.
Once School was over, he'd have the entire Summer to hangout with his two best friends in the… this entire world. Naruto couldn't wait for that to happen. As Naruto made his way over to the Fortis Apartments the blonde boy sent out a chakra pulse and looked behind him.
"No me digas nada!" Yelled a man with a heavy accent to someone else who seemed to be his friend.
Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and just entered the building. Nothing too abnormal. He lived in a neighborhood with a lot of foreigners from around the world, which in a way served the blonde well. He too was a foreigner in America, the only difference between them and the blonde was that Naruto was from a completely different dimension connected by some sort of being called Chaos. Also when half the building speaks a completely different language, it helps a whole lot when those very people try to file noise complaints against the seventh grader on the twelfth floor. Who at the time was throwing a kickass party.
Naruto entered his apartment and planned on spending the rest of the day watching Spongebob or catching up on the war in Iraq, a topic everyone at school had been talking about. Well mostly the teachers, most of the students just stared off into oblivion disinterested in the whole topic. America the land of the brave and home of free was disinterested in their own wars? Back at the Elemental Nation's where wars sprang about out of nowhere disinterest in a foreign conflict, especially one involving Hi no Kuni would have been seen as disloyalty to the Hokage and the Daimyo. Then again things were different in this world. Naruto was taken out of these conflicting thoughts when he pulled his face up. Only to see Deci, the leader of the New York State Chapter of The Companions leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette, and looking out of Naruto's window in interest.
"Are you going to close that door twerp or just stand there like you've seen a ghost?" Spoke Deci who turned around to look the blonde boy in his warm surprised sapphire eyes.
"A-ah what are you doing here?" Asked Naruto after closing the front door of his apartment and throwing his backpack on the ground.
Naruto saw that the door to his bedroom was wide open, and a duffle bag he didn't own sat idly on his neatly made bed. Before Deci could reply back, both Companions heard loud banging against the door to Naruto's apartment.
"Open up brat!" Yelled Mr. Chen in his usual scratchy voice, "I know you're home!"
Naruto begrudgingly opened the door of his apartment, only to be greeted by his obese, balding, and smelly landlord who didn't look very happy. No, the man had a terrifying scowl with eyes full of loathing. Naruto never really understood why his landlord held so much animosity towards him. Afterall Naruto always made sure to pay his rent and bills on time. If he had to guess, the man likely found Naruto to simply be a troublemaker ever since the landlord became burdened with dozens of noise complaints in various different written dialects. All originating and blaming apartment 1215 many months back. Who was the owner of apartment 1215? Well Naruto of course, but nothing major came from the issue due to Mr. Chen finding it too troublesome to translate all of the complaints, than to just follow up on the incident. Ever since then, Mr. Chen made it his personal life vandetta to not only punish Naruto for all of the occasional pranks Naruto pulled on his obnoxious next door neighbors, who yelled drunkenly throughout the night, but to also get in contact with Naruto's parents.
"Your lease is ending in two weeks and if I don't get your guardians signature I'll make sure to call the cops! Don't need loud mouthed kid disturbing residents in building!" Yelled Mr. Chen who then made eye contact with Deci.
"You boys father!" Yelled Mr. Chen while poking Naruto in the forehead with a greasy finger.
"Yeah and if you don't get the fuck outta here in about twenty seconds… I'll make sure you leave one way or another." Spoke Deci after blowing out a massive cloud of nicotine laced smoke, causing Naruto's normally mango scented apartment to turn into an ashtray. Mr. Chen saw a leather gun holster around Deci's hips and gulped.
"Uh, ah fine. I'll leave forms for guardian to sign… guess I know where troubling boy gets his attitude from Mr. Uzumaki." Said Mr. Chen who then placed a form on Naruto's kitchen table.
As soon as Mr. Chen closed the door, Naruto could vaguely hear heavy footsteps sprinting down the hall. Accompanied by the panting of a wild boar.
"Eh, you seem to be making enemies left and right twerp. Will I have to keep on saving your ass?" Asked Deci with a smirk.
"In your dreams." Naruto replied.
"Don't talk back to your dad twerp." Countered Deci.
"..."
"..."
"Exactly why are you here again? Also why did you break into my apartment and go through my room? And why is there a duffle bag on my bed?" Naruto asked slightly annoyed with the turn of events.
"So ungrateful twerp, you'll be the death of me you know that." Began Deci, causing his sapphire eyed pupil to look at him even more annoyed, "First off you should invest in better security. It took me about ten seconds to pick your lock. Second, I got a lot of important news to tell you and you ain't gonna like it."
Naruto opened his refrigerator, took out a coca-cola, and took a seat on his sofa. Naruto was never a big fan of bad news. Every time someone important had some sort of bad news to tell him, it usually never ended well. For instance, Mizuki confessing to Naruto the night of his special secret academy exam about him being the one burdened with the Kyuubi. Naruto learned that very night why people hated him, why villagers attacked him, why people wanted him dead since day one. Better yet, there was the time he woke up after the Konoha Crush, and found out Jiji died during his battle with Orochimaru.
The one thing that nearly destroyed Naruto's spirit was the day he got assigned on the Sasuke Retrieval Mission. Not only did he find out his best friend betrayed Konoha for Orochimaru, but the one person he trusted with his life on more than one occasion. The one person he considered his brother. The one person he thought understood him on Team Seven. Ended up shoving a chidori covered fist just a couple of inches from his heart.
So Naruto simply drank the soft drink many American's loved, with a frown on his face. His normally warm sapphire eyes now turned dire. He was prepared for whatever horrible news Deci had in store for him.
"Naruto I packed your bags tonight because I need you to realize just how much danger you're in." Started Deci his normally strong brown eyes now radiating just a bit of warmth and concern, "I'll sign those stupid forms, but in two weeks you are going to have to say goodbye to New York City for good."
"What!" Naruto shouted in surprise.
"Hey! You think I don't know how you feel. When I was about seventeen years old I left my country and home to escape the Eastern Bloc just to come to Capitalist America all by myself. With no money or guidance. This is not only for your own safety but also because… you'd be wasting the opportunity of a lifetime." Deci replied back, while lighting up another Marloboro Red.
"Screw that!" Naruto yelled back his sapphire eyes now cold, "The only precious people I've got left in this entire world live in Manhattan. All of my other friends and loved ones either think I'm dead and… I only just met you and you want to just take me away to fight your stupid war with the Kronia!"
Deci looked at the golden blonde haired boy in front of him in complete shock. Naruto was wearing a blue t-shirt with a red, white, and blue eagle carrying a 1776 American flag. His light blue jeans caught a couple of tears falling from his eyes. The twerp changed his brown leather chukka boots for some stupid black converse shoes. Deci realized when he peered down in the boy's cold, ruthless, and calculating sapphire eyes that the twerp wasn't yet a man. He was still just a fourteen year old kid but those eyes sure made him flinch and few people or things could ever possibly accomplish that. Wait a minute... did the twerp just say this entire world? Was Naruto from another world?
"What do you mean by this entire world twerp? And don't lie because I'll sniff it out." Said Deci before taking in another puff of his cigarette.
"Okay you caught me," Replied Naruto with amusement flowing with every word. He then raised his hands up and said, "I'm from another dimension and I was brought here against my will. So now you know my whole life story."
"So you are from another world," Said Deci while rubbing one of his eyes, "Would have been nice to have heard that a while back."
"Like you have been honest with me from the get go. You know the fur ball was right. You guys probably want to use me." Naruto vehemently said with sickening bright crimson eyes. His pupils now turned into terrifying slits, which only caused Deci to flinch and look at the boy in front of him in complete fear.
The apartment dropped about thirty degrees in temperature and the power, madness, and pure malice coming from the fourteen year old boy was unlike anything the Companion leader ever experienced in his life. Was the boy in front of Deci possessed? Naruto's abnormal whisker marks along his cheeks turned darker. The crimson eyed boy released a disgusting aura that reminded the man of all the terrible things Pandora released from her box. Deci's cigarette slipped from his lips, and crashed to the mahogany floor of the apartment in a flare of sparks.
For a split second Deci wondered if the boy he saved many months back was some sort of abomination straight from Tartarus. The images of fire, death, madness, despair, and hatred for humanity filled him as he stared into Naruto's eyes. Worst of all he felt the sadistic malevolence of something truly despicable staring at him for what may have been an eternity.
Seeing Deci, the very man who had saved his life back during The Saturn raid, look at him in absolute terror, turned the fourteen year old's anger into shame. Like the incident at Monster Donuts many months back, the Kyuubi, Naruto's very burden ended up getting the best of him. Looking at the strong brown eyed man in front of him, who intimidated Naruto when they first met, turn frightened at his very presence. Naruto only turned his head away and let the Kyuubi's chakra dissipate. Why no how was this even happening? Was the Kyuubi slowly taking hold of... no the seal was still working fine because if it wasn't then he would have lost control ages ago. So like everything in his life he had failed in the end.
"I… I-I, I'm sorry Deci." Naruto muttered with cloudy eyes. With a guilt stricken face and with all of his remaining courage Naruto said, "What you just saw isn't me… I swear. I was just scared and angry."
Deci walked over to the fourteen year old boy in front of him and put two and two together. Luke would never have tried to recruit Naruto into his army if he had cornered a prospect with no weapon in hand. The Kronian bitch boy likely would have sliced Naruto's head off and placed it on a pike like the other two he had sent out. It had plagued the white pony tailed man's mind, for months, for why Eos the goddess of the Dawn of all beings would have tried to seduce Naruto. Now it all made sense. The boy had likely been cursed with some sort of demonic power from some other world. Whatever god kidnapped Naruto, they likely had done it an attempt to use Naruto as some sort of trump card. Deci suspected the boy in front of him of being a demigod. However, the energy the kid displayed in front of him made his mind race.
"There's nothing wrong with being scared Naruto." Deci Replied back while placing a smelly tobacco scented hand on Naruto's shoulder, "I keep on forgetting you're still just a kid. I guess whatever that was that you unleashed back there, it's likely the reason why Kronos wants you in his army."
Naruto turned his cloudy troubled sapphire eyes in Deci's direction, "You know… the one thing that made me happy about being here in this world as soon as I got here wasn't the cool technology or just the fact there are so many awesome places in this world to see. It really was just for the first time in my life I thought people wouldn't be hunting me down because of my burden."
"Whatever your burden is Naruto I don't care. Your secret is safe with me and I don't want to use you like some sort of tool in our army. I didn't come here to force you into anything, I want you to know that alright. I came here because the Kronians are likely planning on attacking our New York City Sanctuary any day now, and are sending in more troops in and around the East Coast. Whatever your burden is, just know that it's likely the main reason why those Cronies are after you." Deci said with as much warmth as he could.
"If you promise to keep whatever I tell you hear between us then I'll tell you everything I know." Spoke Naruto while clumsily taking a sip from his coca-cola can.
"Why?" Asked Deci with a raised eyebrow, his brown eyes still full of terror.
"Cause I don't want you to think I'm some sort of monster." Naruto said with pleading eyes.
"Tsk, you're still just a brat to me." Said Deci with uncertainty causing Naruto to smile just a bit.
"Well I guess everything began the day I was born. In my world there are immensely powerful beings that are completely made out an energy source called chakra." Began Naruto causing Deci to take out another Marlboro Red from his pack.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, but Deci just raised his shoulders, then lit a cigarette, "You lost me at chakra twerp, so just go on. I'll need a smoke for all of this."
"Anyways chakra encompassed everything that is living and it combines the physical and spiritual energy-"
"Okay so in your world your a bunch of jedi wannabes." Started Deci who seemed unimpressed, "I know what your talking about now, chakra right, hadn't heard someone say that in several decades. Never heard of anyone ever, using it to the effects of a hardened magician though. Guess you never were using magic, but rather a variant."
Naruto looked at Deci slightly confused, he never expected the people in this world to possess any knowledge relating to chakra.
"Wait a minute you know what chakra is?" Naruto asked his jaw nearly falling to the floor.
"Well to an extent, it's very similar to mana energy in a lot of ways. People have known about chakra in this world for thousands of years. I've been to Nepal on several occasions and learned a thing or two about it, and they called it chakra too. In our world no one that I know of has even the slightest ability to use it like you can." Explained Deci, "Now get to the point."
"Alright, alright, so in my world there are beings completely made out of chakra called Biju. My dad sealed the most powerful one in my gut the day I was born…" Naruto said before continuing on.
After explaining to Deci about his world, about the way kids grew up to be shinobi, how his father placed the Kyuubi in his gut to save Konoha, how everyone in Konoha wanted nothing to do with him, the beatings, the chunin exams, Atkatski, and the vampires. Deci looked at Naruto slightly surprised and furious. Naruto gulped, not quite sure if the one person he had just come clean too about his past, thought of him as some sort of monster.
Deci on the other hand felt disgusted by Naruto's tale. It had been a good while since Deci saw or heard something so blatantly horrific. The fact that the people in that world wanted Naruto to suffer, to be turned into a weaken, and for him to die… the cheery, warm twerp in front of him. The gods surely blessed the sapphire eyed boy with a resolve stronger than most. If he had been in Naruto's shoes, he would have likely released the boys burden years ago just to get back at them.
They both said nothing for about five minutes. The only noise in the whole apartment came from Deci puffing out smoke and replacing his used up cigarette with a new one.
"Twerp that is the reason why I need to get you outta Manhattan. You aren't safe here no matter how strong you think you are, the Kronia have spies everywhere and their resources are endless. I'll be leaving the city within two weeks with or without you." Said Deci with a frown.
"What do you mean? Aren't you guys like the most badass army in history?" Naruto asked.
"We were kid but not anymore! Ever since the end of the Cold War our numbers have dwindled to a fraction of what we once were. Not only that but Hank Hughes the captain of Kronos's army has already contacted the FBI and the DHS and both agencies have labeled the attack on The Saturn a terrorist attack. The only hideouts we will have left on the East Coast are Providence and Boston until things die down. There will be nowhere safe to hide around here by July except for headquarters." Explained Deci who seemed slightly tired.
"What do I get out of any of this?" Naruto asked.
"Boy we have some of the best tutors and teachers in the world in our ranks. You'll learn important things like philosophy, arithmetic, economics, battlefield tactics, siege tactics, strategy, different ways to fight, survival skills, and many other things kids should learn in school. You'll travel the world." Deci looked at the various National Geographic photos on Naruto's wall, "Within five years I can promise you you'll see things and go places you'd have only dreamed about while you were in Konoka."
"You mean Konoha." Naruto countered. He had to admit the The Companions didn't seem so bad, ever since before the academy he had always had the urge to explore the world and the unknown. The only other person to promise him that was Ero-sensei, and now Deci would be giving him that chance again.
Naruto simply gave in, what other alternative did he have at this point. Tens of thousands of soldiers and monsters wanted him dead or alive. Various gods had joined forces against him. Not only were The Companions promising him more than any before, but if he stayed. Naruto did not want to think about what the Kronians would do to Percy, Tyson and Sally. "You're right… I guess I'll go."
"Good. After hearing about all of your deeds during Saturnalia our leader is very interested in you twerp. When she has such interest in anything much less anyone. I'd say you have intrigued her beyond belief and she knows nothing about your burden… if that means anything." Said Deci causing Naruto's eyes to widen.
Before Naruto could say anything both men heard light knocking against Naruto's door. Deci quickly placed his right hand against the leather holster of his revolver and begrudgingly said, "Agh, what now?"
Naruto looked through the eyehole in his door and his face turned pale. He opened his apartment door for none other than Sally Jackson, who was still in her red, white, and blue Sweet On America uniform carrying a small bag of orange candy in her right hand. Sally Jackson had brown hair with a few streaks of grey in it. Her sparkling blue eyes peered into Naruto's still somewhat cloudy eyes in worry and her normally quilt warm smile turned sour at the appearance of Deci chain smoking by Naruto's sofa.
"Uh, hi, Mrs. Jackson." Naruto said slightly surprised. Sally Jackson was maybe the last person on the planet he would have expected to come visit him. He knew vaguely well Sally had taken quite an interest in him for many months now, and kept pestering him about when she'd meet his parents. Naruto wondered if her upbringing, made her more consistent in helping the blonde out.
"Oh Naruto… are you alright?" Sally asked with her eyes narrowing in on Deci. She had been over to Naruto's apartment on only two other occasions and found the cheery boy to have been a pretty good influence on her son. Not only did they get along and play baseball every weekend together, but she had been thankful Percy's mind was occupied away from Camp Half-Blood's influence on her son's life. Sally knew how much Camp Half-Blood meant to her son, however, it didn't mean she wasn't worried that instead of her son playing with baseball bats her son now practiced with javelins that took out her fine china set.
It worried her the first two visits over to Naruto's apartment at how the boy seemed to lack any sort of maternal or even paternal influence on his life. She asked the boy many times where his parents were and Naruto always seemed to grow cold and distant everytime she brought it up. The only response she ever really got was when Naruto said with much sadness, "My mom left me and my dad… could we talk about something else."
"Oh uh, nothing's wrong mom, uh, I mean Mrs. Jackson." Naruto said with a foxy grin his now cloudy sapphire eyes now warm.
"So who are you?" Asked Deci while snuffing out a cigarette on the counter causing it to die in drifts of smoke and sparks.
"Oh sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My names Sally Jackson. I'm the mother of Percy Jackson you know uh… who are you by chance." Sally asked her eyes narrowing further into Deci's strong brown eyes.
"I'm his dad." Deci bluntly answered his eyes narrowing in at Sally's bright blue eyes curiously.
"Really now. Naruto why have you not brought him up?" Sally asked.
"Well the thing is he just returned from fighting over seas." Naruto said, hoping Sally would take his bluff.
"Oh I'm so sorry about my behavior Mr. uh?" Sally said slightly embarrassed with her accusatory behavior. For a split second she had been worried about her sons best friend getting abused by whoever this mystery man had been. However, Naruto's usual warm sapphire eyes brightened and the boy looked slightly happy. Maybe he was just happy his father had finally come home.
"Just call me Deci" Deci answered, Naruto looked at The Companion leader slightly annoyed. Deci was as cool as a forest fire.
"Well Deci, I want to thank you for your service. I've been hearing all over the news about all the fighting going on in Iraq. I would also like to say how much I love having your son over at my home." Spoke Sally while placing a bag of candy on the kitchen counter.
"I hope my twe-, my terrific son hasn't caused you too much trouble. It always seems to follow him around wherever he goes." Spoke Deci with a little bit of difficulty. Naruto rolled his sapphire eyes at the comment.
Sally Jackson laughed, "No don't you worry about that one bit. Naruto is one of the sweetest boys my Percy has ever met and he has been a fantastic influence on him. Also don't you worry too much, trouble seems to always follow boys around. Remember when you were their age?"
"Yeah." Said Deci, while turning his head up as if trying to remember what being a fourteen year old may have been like, "Well , it's good to know my son has friends at the very least and a good woman to look after him too. Although now that I'm back home, I'm planning on looking after him and making sure he doesn't stay in too much trouble."
"Really now?" Asked Sally, the gruff white ponytailed man in front of her reminded her of Poseidon whenever the god got serious. Deci seemed to have the resolve of stone, the toughness of a wild bear, and the softness of steel wool. She thanked the gods Naruto hadn't turned out to be so cold.
"Well I have to be getting home soon. Naruto I left you some orange Reese's Pieces along with some of that orange candy you love. I hope you study hard for your exams and don't forget to come on over once school is over. I plan on taking Percy to get a new skateboard and if your father would agree I wouldn't mind taking you too." Said Sally with a warm smile.
"As long as he comes back in one piece you can take the boy to Fallujah." Said Deci with a chuckle, Naruto and Sally laughed awkwardly at the ponytailed man's comment and shrugged it off.
"Anyways stay safe you two." Said Sally, before leaving the apartment.
"Okay kid I gotta get going too. I'll be staying in a hotel called The Drowsy Inn about four blocks from here for the next two weeks. I left a note card in the duffle bag. It has my number and make sure to call if you ever need to leave immediately. If I were you I'd make sure to pack an extra pair of clothes and any valuables you can carry for the next two weeks at all times. I believe whatever Hank Hughes is planning it'll be coming soon." Finished Deci.
The mercenary leader then signed the forms on Naruto's table, then left.
Naruto sighed and looked out his window at the busy Manhattan afternoon traffic. What a turn of events.
Early In The Morning
(Immersion: Listen to HOME- We're Finally Landing)
No matter how much Naruto tried to sleep, his eyelids would open and be greeted with the silvery white light of the moon and various flashing neon lights in the street. Naruto looked at his trusty alarm clock beside his tv, which said 2:15 A.M in bright orange characters. Naruto groaned and got up then got dressed in his usual attire. Light blue jeans, a regular white t-shirt tucked in, an unbuttoned red and orange denim shirt, and his old trusty brown leather chukka boots. The shoes in this world were very different from the ones in the elemental Nations, but Naruto didn't mind. After all his boots lasted him longer than any pair of sandals he wore back in his homeworld.
It may have seemed weird, but whenever Naruto had trouble sleeping his usual solution was to train until he passed out. Back in Konoha it always did the trick better than any medicine, which never really worked on him too well. He had to thank the fur ball sealed in his gut for that one. With everything on hand, Naruto spotted out of the corner of his eye a piece of paper lying on the floor of his bedroom. Before leaving his apartment he snatched it and delicately folded the piece of paper down to a dollar bill. Naruto then placed the piece of paper gently in his wallet for safe keeping.
"Like Deci said keep all valuables you gotta carry on your person at all times." Naruto mused in his head.
"I think he was talking about money, weapons, and possibly those books you force your shadow clones to read." Countered the Kyuubi.
"Shut up. It saves me time."
Naruto walked the many deserted streets of Manhattan down to an old abandoned church 10 blocks down 43 Street. Naruto spent many weeks when he first came to New York City exploring the city in hopes of finding a suitable training field or spot to train in general. The abandoned church on 43 Street had been purchased several months back, and a construction company had plans on turning it into a brand new apartment building. So Naruto took liberties to train whenever he could inside of the building, in order to not slack off on his super cool shinobi skills.
Walking inside the creaking church, Naruto sent out a chakra pulse to make sure there weren't any homeless people nearby. When he got no response within the building, he continued on. The only response he received was some lone straggler down the road possibly waiting to get drugs. Naruto sighed, "Time to kick some ass."
After spending three hours fighting dozens of shadow clones to better his new taijutsu style called Tang Soo Do. A fighting style based in Korea that relies heavily on strong kicks and aggressive fighting stances. This new fighting style already appeared to be an upgrade over his previous sloppy Phoenix Style academy students were forced to learn. Naruto smashed a clone over its head with a high kick in the clones jaw causing it to burst into smoke.
Walking over to his denim shirt, Naruto left lying by a rotten pedestal. He then wiped away his sweat and just thought about taking a five minute break, now completely pooped out. Taking a seat on the pedestal Naruto felt his wallet press against his butt and he remembered something. Slowly taking out his wallet Naruto unfolded the most treasured item he had to his name.
Naruto once again reread his mother's letter, something he had done almost every night before he went to bed in Manhattan. A ritual of sorts, but something that he looked forward to at the end of a bad.
I love you so much! I saved you because you have always been my favorite child. So stay safe, don't die because I might be enough trouble for what I've done for you as it is. Remember son, Fortune always favors the bold.
Naruto reread that part over and over again, hoping to get some sleep. It usually worked. Maybe because it made his mind race over what his mother looked like or if he'd live long enough to actually meet her. Would she be beautiful and nice like he imagined? Would she laugh at his jokes or pranks? Would his mother finally hug him like Sally Jackson occasionally hugged Percy who always blushed and said, "Mom,"in complete embarrassment. Maybe his mother would finally tell him he wasn't a failure or a deadlast? Maybe his mother would allow him to go with her wherever she was in this massive world?
(Immersion over)
Instead of getting some sleep Naruto stood atop the pedestal in the dilapidated church and channeled enough wind chakra to shout, "Chikara Yosha!"
A strong shockwave of light blue emminated directly from his throat, echoing throughout the massive church hall in a rumble. Wind chakra sliced and tore through nearly everything in its path and the whole church shook like a god awakened from the slumber of his old domain. For a split second, Naruto had a look of worry on his face and bolted from the abandoned church. When much to the blondes horror, the church came crashing down covering the street in a massive cloud of smoke and debris. Luckily for him, no one was up or walking 43rd Street this early in the morning.
The bad news… all the lights within the apartments along the street lit up like hundreds of fireflies in the night, all in synch. Windows opened and some man yelled, "Da Fuck happen there!"
"Connie call nine, uh, one, uh ah one! Fuckin terrorists crawling around here like roaches again!"
"Goddamn it! People tryin to sleep over here!"
Naruto ran away from the now crumbled church as fast as he possibly could.
The Last Day of School
Naruto's last day of school at Meriwether Prep started out as normally as any other day. With the clear exception of him watching an epic wedgie contest between his entire first period class. Despite the various pranks Naruto pulled on Matt Sloan over the last few months. The Meriwether bully seemed adamant in his pursuit of causing as much terror upon his fellow classmates as he could without being caught. The chip toothed bully never was because of his fathers vast fortune. So Naruto hoped his various pranks would cut some sense into his hollow skull.
For instance before Spring Break Naruto pulled an awesome prank where he made a shadow clone transform into a terrifying clown he had seen on tv called IT. Naruto waited for Matt Sloan to be the only one showering in the locker room showers where he then unleashed dozens of balloons from a sealing scroll he had created and chased the chip toothed asshole around until he ran out of the Gym naked crying about a killer clown chasing him. In a way, Naruto felt a little bad about that one. The school social worker threatened to throw Matt Sloan in an insane asylum, after they conducted an investigation where they discovered no such clown existed. Naruto figured Matt Sloan's daddy got him off the hook on that one.
Another prank Naruto pulled on Matt Sloan consisted of the jinchuuriki handing out brownies to his entire class who loved the blonde boy adoringly for it. However, the brownie he handed Matt Sloan was filled with enough laxatives and Arby's sauce that the poor bully spent the rest of the day glued to a toilet seat. Hmm, maybe he had been a little too sadistic with those two pranks. Hey it more than compensated for Matt Sloan being the catalyst for him nearly losing control over the Kyuubi during Saturnalia, which resulted in the sapphired eyed jinchuuriki having to battle monsters and Kronian soldiers. The end result being some evil ancient Titan lord wanting him in his growing army.
Today Naruto more than planned on unleashing his best prank yet. Too bad PE was a long time away.
Why Mr. De Milo thought reenacting Lord of The Flies was a good idea, made the sapphired eyed boy scratch his head in wonder. This was to be Naruto's final exam concerning the famed English teacher at Meriwether Prep this year. Maybe for his entire life, if he followed through in Deci's plan on leaving New York City to wherever The Companions headquarters was at. Still, it didn't mean Mr. De Milo's whole social experiment didn't work, because the entire playground now had exploded into total chaos. Various seventh graders were playing full on tackle, two girls were pulling each others hair, and Matt Sloan was attempting to give his best friend a wedgie.
Tyson stood idly by unconcerned about Matt Sloan sneaking up behind him. As soon as Matt Sloan attempted to give the six foot three seventh grade giant a wedgie. Matt Sloan was pulled up by his shirt's collar and soared into a dingy looking tire swing nearly fifteen feet away.
"You freak, why don't you go back to your cardboard box." Matt Sloan said completely dizzy and out of it.
Naruto narrowed his eyes on Matt Sloan as he watched Tyson sob. The gentle giant covering his head with his massive hands inside of the jungle gym. Before Naruto could do or say anything Percy yelled back, "Take it back Matt Sloan."
Matt Sloan sneered and said, "You might have friends Jackson if you didn't hangout with that freak."
Naruto stood beside Percy and saw his friend's cheeks turn blood red and his sea-green eyes turn wild like a roaring typhoon. Percy surprised him when he replied back, "I already got friends Matt. Maybe you should try and get some real ones."
The look in Percy's eyes were so full of determination it made Naruto remember just how surprised he could be at times by his best friend. Matt Sloan looked furious and went over to his big ugly friends who seemed to have multiplied from two to about eight duffuses. Matt Sloan yelled, "Just wait until PE Jackson, you are so dead. You better watch it whisker face!"
"I'll watch your ass get creamed Sloan." Naruto called back coldly, which made Matt Sloan flinch.
Not long after that whole exchange, Mr. De Milo came outside and checked the carnage he had unleashed upon his students and said, "You all now understand Lord of The Flies perfectly. You all pass my course and you all should never ever grow up to be violent people."
Matt Sloan nodded at the comment and gave a chip tooth grin towards Percy. Naruto only wondered what Mr. De Milo would have felt about the political system kids had to undertake within the Elemental Nations. Never in Naruto's life had he been more tempted to make a smart ass comment about any of that. Instead Naruto kept quiet.
After first period Naruto walked out of Mr. De Milo's classroom to find Percy counseling Tyson who still seemed upset.
"I-I am a freak." Tyson said in between sobs.
"No Matt Sloan's the freak. Hey buddy, I promise I'll buy you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you'll stop crying." Spoke Percy while placing a hand on one of Tyson's arms.
Naruto walked over and said, "Hey Tyson don't you worry. Guys like Matt Sloan always get what's coming to them in the end. Why should you strive to be just like everybody else. I'm not like everybody else. At the end of the day, there's nothing better than knowing you don't follow the same flock of sheep."
Percy shot Naruto a grateful look and Tyson seemed a little happier when he said sourily, "You two are very good friends. I'll miss you two next year if I can-can't."
Naruto realized by the way Tyson's voice trembled that the gentle giant may not even come back to Meriwether. Percy continued to help council Tyson by saying, "Hey don't you worry I'm sure we'll see each other in the fall."
Naruto left both of them after that whole exchange. He realized something too that today too may have been his last day at Meriwether Prep. If he took Deci's offer by joining The Companions, he'd likely never see his two best friends again. He already abandoned his precious people back in Konoha, against his very will by the way, and in one week he'd be doing the same thing too.
After Percy and Tyson caused a chemical meltdown during their second period exam in Ms. Tesla's classroom. Naruto watched dumbfounded as men wearing hazmat suits charged into the science lab to clean everything up. During third period in Social Studies not much happened besides everyone reviewing Longitude and Latitude before their exam. If the academy teachers were awesome enough to allow their students to review before their exams, Naruto likely would have become a shinobi during his first try.
Naruto looked at the map of Earth in complete and utter fascination. So many cool awesome countries, cities, and places to visit. While drawing a Longitude Latitude map Naruto centered his map around Macedonia and Egypt. Something Alexander The Great would have wanted. If Deci was here right now, he too would have looked at Naruto's map in approval while puffing one of his cigarettes.
Naruto grinned while he traced Turkey to the best of his ability. If he had to leave to join the successors of Alexander The Great one of history's most badass figures, who rallied the children of the gods together to take over the known world. Maybe joining them would be in his best interest after all?
Naruto turned his head at hearing Percy protest, "Hey!"
Matt Sloan's pitbull eyes turned wide and his chip tooth sneer unsettled the blonde as the bully looked at a photo in complete interest like he discovered The Holy Grail. The bully then said, "No way Jackson! There is no way she is your gir-"
"Give it back!" Retorted Percy with red ears and roaring eyes. Naruto looked at the scene unfolding before his eyes in complete confusion as Matt Sloan handed whatever photo he had stolen from Percy in complete joy to his new entourage of duffuses. They ripped up the photo and turned it into spit wads to Percy's complete horror. Naruto had enough! He slammed his notebook shut and walked over to Matt Sloan with his fists clenched.
Matt Sloan may have gotten a beat down from the sapphired eyed boy, had it not been for one of the duffuses who came to his rescue at the last second. The duffus easily picked Naruto up with one hand around the collar of his shirt like it was nothing. Naruto looked at the ugly kid who towered over him in complete shock. The duffus turned out to be a new kid and he had one of those stupid "Hi My Name Is" stickers from the admissions office, over his t-shirt.
Naruto stared at the the kids surrounding Matt Sloan in confusion at least six of them had similar stickers on their shirts. All of them were jacked like a horse on steroids, with bulging muscles. They all had a weird sense of humor, mused the blonde because they had names on their name tags like Skull Eater and Joe Bob. Naruto didn't think too much about it, mostly due to him doing something similar at the beginning of the year. Ah good old Guy Sexington, too bad a teacher made him write his real name.
"Can't believe this guy just picked up Guy Sexington?" Naruto thought, while the new kid looked Naruto in the eyes like he wanted to obliterate him this very second.
"Nice for you to meet my new friends whisker face. They are transferring here next semester and I bet they can pay the tuition unlike Lennie." Spoke Matt Sloan in glee.
"I don't like you." Said the new kid by the name Skull Eater.
Naruto felt the same way, but Skull Eater reluctantly placed him down causing Naruto to back away slowly. Not in fear, but maybe he needed to go according to plan. It was all set up all he needed to do was to wait for PE for the fun to truly begin.
Naruto made sure to have timed the seal he placed on Matt Sloan several weeks ago for this very moment in time. Matt Sloan and his new duffus buddy's ignored Percy Jackson. Naruto looked at his best friend, who stared at his torn picture of some person in front of the Lincoln Memorial in sadness.
"Screw Matt Sloan. I don't care if this may trump the period blood prank and possibly physically damage him. He's got it coming!"
The bell rang and a tidal wave of kids took Naruto from Social Studies straight to the Gym. Dressing up in his blue and green tie dyed gym shirt and grey gym shorts. Naruto placed the trusty necklace Deci gave him in his jeans along with his keychain containing his super cool magical bowie knife. Everyone hated their gym uniform at Meriwether, which made them look like weird hippies. Although Naruto didn't mind it too much. It reminded him of his outlandish orange jumpsuit that he always wore back in Konoha.
Standing with the crowd of kids at attention in front of the coach Nunley, who Naruto assumed had to have witnessed the Declaration of Independence. The man had more wrinkles than a seventh grader could count if they had the time or patience for such a task. A pair of large spectacle glasses hung down near his nostrils making the man look slightly loony and he had a small tuft of greasy gray hair on his head. They were all surprised when the withered old coach reading from one of his sports illustrated magazines said, "Were playing dodgeball."
"Can I be team captain?" Asked Matt Sloan his chipped tooth gleaming.
"Uh yeah. Mhh, hmm." Answered coach Nunley without looking over his magazine.
"I want Percy to be the other team's captain."
"Uh yeah. Mhh, hmm." Coach Nunley said with complete disinterest.
Naruto stood by his team and shook his head. They were so dead. Matt Sloan's team consisted of all of the school jocks, athletes, the cool kids, and those six new kids who were about as tall and well built as Tyson. On Percy's team it consisted of him, Tyson, Raj Mandeli, Corey Bailer, and the rest of the schools geeks, nerds, nobodies, and losers.
Looking at his fellow teammates Naruto felt they were entirely outmatched. Even so they did have Tyson on their team and he was worth half a team in any sport all by himself. Not only that but Percy had his secret weapon, Konoha's greatest terror to date. Wait Orochimaru took the gold medal in that category. Well one of Konoha's greatest terrors to date, stood side by side Percy Jackson and Tyson. Together they would defeat these clowns.
Matt Sloan took out a metal crate filled with hard rubber dodgeballs and opened it. A cascade of rubber tumbled to the middle of the basketball court and the bully had a satisfied look on his face.
"Scared." Tyson mumbled, "Smell funny."
"Who smells funny?" Asked Percy slightly concerned.
Naruto shrugged off whatever his friends were thinking. All he was concerned with was pummeling Matt Sloan with a dodgeball hard enough to chip another one of his ugly teeth.
Coach Nunley blew the whistle and the game began.
Matt Sloans team rushed to the center of the basketball court and instantly grabbed all of the volleyballs. Corey Bailer hid behind the bleachers with half a dozen of Naruto's fellow teammates. Raj Mandeli screamed several curse words in Urdu which must have been, "Oh shit! Oh shit! Run."
Of all the things Naruto had to be burdened with it had to have been a team full of cowards. To make matters worse by the time the other team got their dodgeballs in hand, they rained a volley of rubber. Dozens of balls traveled at quick speed all across the court. One of those balls smashed into Percy's chest, causing the sea-green eyed boy to fall to the gym floor in pain.
Naruto mentally cringed at the sight. Several dodge balls sailed across the gym towards Naruto who somersaulted out of the way before they could knock him down too. A third ball traveling at the speed of sound thrown by Skull Eater which whizzed past Naruto's left ear causing it bleed. It would have likely taken his head off if he hadn't rolled forward closer to the opposing team.
"Percy duck!" Yelled Tyson.
Percy rolled out of the way as one of the dodgeballs slammed into the polished gym floor right where Percy stood. The impact of that ball actually destroyed some of the tile. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the opposing team who were all laughing.
"You could kill someone!" Yelled Percy in desperation.
"I hope so Perseus Jackson! I hope so!" yelled Joe Bob.
Naruto felt his gut clench and something strange happened.
The six new guys slowly morphed before Naruto's eyes. They grew taller than Tyson at eight feet tall, and their already ripped muscles turned into something Selvester Stallone would gawk at. They had razor sharp yellow teeth and hairy arms that must have been borrowed by a bear. Tattoos covered their bodies in the shapes of snakes, hula woman, valentine hearts, and Joe Bob had a distinct one that said "JB Loves Baby Cakes" inside of a huge pink heart. Whoever or whatever Baby Cakes was, just looking at the tattoo made Naruto shudder in slight discomfort.
These guys were just like the Strix he encountered during Saturnalia. They were Monsters!
Percy had a look of horror on his face and Tyson too. The rest of the Meriwether boys inside of the gym ran in terror at the spectacle. Matt Sloan with a pale face said, "Hey your not from Detroit!"
One of the giants with the snap of his fingers caused the gym exit doors to shut permanently, right before poor Raj Mandeli could leave. With yellowed teeth gleaming, the giant yelled, "No one leaves until you are out. We Laistrygonians will at last feast upon the Sea God's child."
Naruto flipped out of the way of another expertly thrown dodgeball making him think, "If only I took Tenten more seriously on her offers to train with Team Gai."
A crowd of students were banging on the door with their fists yelling for their lives. The only people left anywhere near where the giants now stood were none other than Percy Jackson, Tyson, Naruto, and the still unconcerned coach Nunley. The grizzled old fart of a coach simply turned a page in his sports illustrated magazine with the headline Remembering the Great Intimidator Dale Earnhardt. Naruto dodged another two dodgeball strikes making the six giants narrow their eyes in anger, "Get out of the way *sniff*. My luck has finally paid off never knew we'd get two delicious heros for dinner."
Percy stared at Naruto who seemed slightly confused and shook his head. He'd have to bring that up later instead he yelled back, "Let them go! You want me right?"
"Not so fast young hero. We need a little workout too. Let's play a game… to the Death!" yelled Skull Eater and instantly the rubber dodgeballs turned into terrifying bronze cannonballs completely covered in flames.
Before Percy could say something along the lines of them taking a simple middle school game of dodgeball way too seriously. He heard Naruto yell right on back, "Yo, ugly fucking ducklings!"
The monsters turned their attention to the blonde who smirked right on back at them. Naruto stepped forward in front of Tyson and Percy and then yelled, "Let's go!"
The monsters each grabbed one of the large fire covered cannons in their hands like it was a simple tennis ball and grinned. They then threw their cannonballs straight at the blonde at expert speed and precision at the blonde who now realized he bit off far more than what he asked for. The cannonballs sailed through the gym at a blink of an eye and Naruto didn't have time to make any hand signs for his newly mastered ninjutsu.
This was simply bad. Then out of the blue Tyson appeared in front of the dazed blonde yelling, "Naruto!"
The jinchuuriki watched the scene unfolding before his eyes in horror, as two of the balls pummeled their way into Tyson at breakneck speed. The rest of the balls missed. Each one crashed into the walls of the gymnasium making the whole school shake. One of the cannon balls sailed through the cinder block walls and into Church Street. The whooshing of flames, the smell of smoke, and a shower of soot peppered the wake of the first volley.
Tyson laid on the ground below Naruto's feet the only casu… Naruto stared in complete shock at the fact Tyson stood before him completely unscrathed. The gentle giant held the still burning cannon balls in his hands and sent the projectiles hurling towards the giants on the opposing team. Naruto watched two of the giants grins turn into frowns, and then into a look of dread.
The cannon balls smashed into them causing them to explode into a shower of rotten yellow dust. Joe Bob growled out, "Impossible kill them all."
Not to be outdone Naruto channeled chakra around him and ended his hand signs on the ram, then yelled out, "Futon: Kyofu no Pureto Yoroi!"
A strong funnel of wind surrounded the fourteen year old who smirked as a burning cannonball flew straight at him. The cannonball stopped roughly five feet from its intended target, caught completely inside of the updraft of the funnel of condensed wind Naruto now wore like armour. The cannonball started spinning around Naruto, picking up speed and flew in a random direction over coach Nunley's head into the wall next to him.
The coach didn't seem the least bit fazed that he could have been splattered by a 16 pound ball of metal. The coach simply turned a page in his magazine and continued reading. Naruto wanted to protest. There were four giants tearing up the gymnasium. Dozens of Meriwether kids banging into the exit doors with all their weight and might. If the giants were throwing molotov cocktails right now, Naruto assumed the man would just turn another page in his magazine.
"Coach Nunley you gotta stop this game right now!" Naruto pleaded with the coach as the giants prepared to throw another volley of cannonballs at the opposing team.
"You know the rules. Game ends at the ring of the bell. Also don't throw any illegal passes." Spoke coach Nunley completely ignoring everything unfolding before the man's spectacle covered eyes.
"Yes coach!" Spoke Skull Eater who then threw his cannonball straight at Percy Jackson's feet.
A great shockwave of polished gym floor erupted from the impact zone. Bits of flame and wreckage projected itself into Percy's gym clothes and Naruto started to sweat in worry as bits of flame entered into the funnel of wind he had created.
"Naruto what the hell is that around you? How the hell are you doing that? And your on fire!" Percy asked completely shocked by what was happening to his best friend. Who now stood in a swirling funnel of burning death.
Naruto tried to breathe, but the funnel he had created now started turning into a vortex of ember. With no other alternative in mind except for possibly taking down the opposing dodgeball team while he still could. He charged straight at the giants in front of him.
"Arrrggghhh!" Naruto yelled.
The fourteen year old charged in front of the dumbfounded giants and unleashed the built up burning vortex into the surrounding giants. The fire spread from the blond into his enemies in a twenty foot radius, further spreading the growing fire around the gym in a glorious display of his shinobi skills. Various razor sharp bits of wind chakra sliced into one of the giants, who stood closest to Naruto when it had happened. The added fire may have been the icing on top.
As soon as Naruto's jutsu died away he looked down and found three of the giants on the ground still completely unscathed from his attack. The laistrygonians simply brushed off the flames like it was water and smirked. Naruto flipped ten feet away from the giants and landed in the newly formed Meriwether gym crater.
A group of students tried to hide inside of the locker room, but stopped in their tracks as a cannonball whooshed through the locker room walls. The built up gas from hundreds of boys gave in and a massive explosion roared from the locker room. Showering the gym floor of various clothes and shoes.
Naruto stared at Percy in horror as another bronze cannonball aimed directly at Percy soared through the air. However, at the last second Tyson caught another ball and threw it directly back at the opposing team. Another explosion of bronze shrapnel showered into two of the giants. The only thing left of their existence, was another cloud of yellow dust.
The last Laistrygonian growled and spat curses in a gargled language. The giant then threw a comet straight at Tyson and it traveled over coach Nunley's head in a line of bright orange. Tyson who was jumping in the air cheering after his miraculous display of dodgeball sportsmanship, got caught off guard at the very last second. A great whoosh and a loud splat sent Tyson into the wall behind him. Several cinder blocks fell on top of the dirty Meriwether boy who clutched his head.
Naruto appeared behind Joe Bob in a near blur and smashed the giants head with an expertly landed axe kick in the behemoths head. The giant angrily yelled, "I'm gonna enjoy chewing on your bones one at a time!"
Naruto continued his assault. By using as much chakra as he could pump in his body to prolong a continuous barrage of taijutsu moves.
Percy charged forward now that the giant's attention was occupied by his blond best friend. His jeans laid sprawled on the ground at Joe Bob's feet. As soon as Percy made it within five feet of Joe Bob. By some miraculous touch of fate, the giant swatted his right arm at just the right angle at the right time to bring Naruto's assault to a dead stop.
Naruto flew thirty feet into a crater right by coach Nunley's feet. Blood poured down Naruto's chin further staining his already tattered gym shirt. The blow blurred his vision in glowing specks of white light.
If things were bad it only got worse as Joe Bob gloated, "Victory is mine! Two down and one more to go!"
Joe Bob picked up a cinder block in his hands, and prepared to squish Percy Jackson in with glee in his eyes. His gleeful expression turned dour as his shirt ripped open. A shiny horn emerging from the giants chest caused him drop the cinderblock in shock. Naruto picked himself up and stared at the scene completely shocked.
The horn kept growing from outside of the giants chest and Naruto realized that was no horn. It was a knife. A celestial bronze knife. The giant screamed and muttered, "Ow!"
In a burst of green flames, Naruto laid eyes on a honey blond girl with heavily tanned skin and stormy grey eyes. She stood directly behind where Joe Bob once stood and had a look in her eyes like she had fought a thousand psychic wars in the past. A slight unnerving grin plastered her face as she sheathed her blade completely satisfied almost as if this was an everyday occurrence.
The girl wore dirty white sneakers and was dressed in denim summer shorts showing her athletic build. Naruto only blushed and shook his head, before he thought perverted things, and continued up, only to see an orange t-shirt that said "Camp Half-Blood". She had a Yankees cap tucked into her shorts and a backpack slung over her shoulders completely covered in grime. The honey blond girl smiled warmly at Percy who still looked dumbfounded. Naruto shook away soot and ash covering his body and stood up.
Matt Sloan appeared right next to the honey blonde girl even more shocked than anyone else in the gymnasium as he sputtered out, "Yo-you're the girl. You're the girl from the pict-"
Matt Sloan never finished his sentence because the honey blonde girl punched Matt Sloan directly in between his eyes. The bull eyed boy fell to the cratered floor holding his bloody nose as the girl said, "And you! You lay off my friend!"
Naruto's attention turned away from the whole exchange at the sound of the exit doors of the gym being banged like a battering ram. Mr. Bonsai the ex green beret and current principal/headmaster of Meriwether Prep stood outside of the exit door glass. He did not have a happy face. Naruto had just faced six killer monster giants, but the look the principal shot him made the sapphire eyed boy shake.
Flames and smoke burned around Percy and whoever this mysterious girl was, as Percy stammered, "Annabeth how did you? When did you?"
"Pretty much all morning." Annabeth replied, "I tried talking to you this morning but you were never alone."
Annabeth shot Naruto a quizzical look he couldn't put his hands on. She analyzed him like a scientist looking down at an ant with a magnifying glass. It made Naruto feel slightly like she was the lead investigator in a murder and he was one of the suspects in the police lineup.
Annabeth curiously observed Percy's friend who she vaguely remembered from Christmas. She noticed how his busted up lip started closing and healing before her very eyes. Was he? No that would be impossible. Although he did create a funnel cloud in a completely inclosed building and pulled martial art moves like she had seen from one of her little brothers stupid movies. Maybe…
After a second more of her sending Naruto an uncomfortable look, she turned her attention back to Percy.
"So that shadow I saw this morning. It was you?" Percy shockingly said.
"Of course it was me seaweed brain. What you expected it to be Mr. D?" The girl identified as Annabeth said playfully.
Percy shuddered for a split second and muttered, "Not funny."
"Oh my gods you were looking through my bedroom window" Spoke Percy while brushing a strand of black wavy hair out of his eyes.
Naruto looked at his friend and Annabeth feeling completely out of the loop. How was he supposed to really react. They both seemed to have known each other from a while back and just standing next to them felt kind of like the sapphire eyed boy was a third wheel. Not that he would complain or anything. It just only confused Naruto more. After all they talked like they had gone to Hell and back together.
Annabeth blushed and said, "No time to explain."
A woman who possessed a sickening goblin voice shrieked, "There!"
The exit door opened and Mr. Bonsai accompanied by a dozen teachers and several police officers stood dumbfounded at the scene presented to them. Dozens of seventh graders were running around like the sky was falling. Fire engulfed most of the gym in plumes of red and orange. Battlefield craters caked the once polished gym floor like Napoleon Bonaparte himself took aim at Meriwether. Coach Nunley stood reading one of his magazines in complete disinterest. To top it all off Naruto Uzumaki stood completely covered in soot, ash, and grime at the very center of the gymnasium with Percy Jackson and a girl.
Everyone's attention turned towards Tyson who picked himself from the rubble of cinder blocks with his hands against his head saying, "Head hurts."
Matt Sloan turned towards Mr. Bonsai. He looked at Percy in complete fear, but whiskers had to have taken the cake on his enemies list, "It was all Naruto's fault! Right coach Nunley?"
Before the grizzled old coach could say anything sparks shot out of Matt Sloan's gym shorts and the intercom began playing Fire on The Mountain by the Grateful Dead. Mr. Bonsai looked around him along with all the teachers as if the intercom was possessed. Naruto stared confused as Matt Sloan started rolling on the cratered floor of the gym trying to stop the sparks from burning his clothes, until Naruto remembered something. His prank.
(Immersion: Play Grateful Dead- Fire on the Mountain)
Mr. Bonsai and several police officers tackled Matt Sloan and handcuffed the boy as soon as coach Nunley said, "uh, he did it!" While pointing a boney finger at Matt Sloan.
Annabeth took that as her cue, "Meet me outside and bring them!"
She pointed to both Naruto and Tyson. She disappeared at the blink of an eye. Percy grabbed his jeans and Naruto his clothes, making sure to place The Companions necklace back around his neck. Naruto then helped Percy carry Tyson through one of the holes in the gym wall. In the corner of his eye he saw Mr. De Milo dancing in the carnage of the gym and thought, "Best English teacher ever."
They got onto Church Street, but Naruto stopped Percy and Tyson in their tracks, "Look guys can I meet up with you two in about ten minutes?"
"Why?" Asked Tyson.
"Because I need my backpack."
"Naruto there are police cars and monsters roaming around the school and you need your damn backpack?!" Percy had nearly had it. His last day of school had been interrupted by monsters and his best friend was going to risk his life for a backpack.
Naruto glared at Percy and the jet black haired boy flinched. Naruto simply replied, "I'll meet up with you one way or another Percy but I need my backpack!"
Afterall his most prized possession still laid inside of his wallet completely folded up.
(End of Immersion)
Training Trip Week 3 ½
"We've been in Emerald Bay for three days! Exactly who are we even looking for to begin with?" Naruto asked while he followed his sensei through the seemingly endless merchant wharfs of the booming city.
Emerald Bay was controlled partly by the Dravot Imperial Shipping Company and various other countries from the far West and East. It had been that way for almost fifty years after Hi no Kuni signed away the land after a peace treaty. The city simply was massive. Stone towers fifteen stories high covered the city. Paved cobblestone roads were expertly laid out for carriages and carts. Thousands of people going about loading and unloading spices, goods, animals from around the world all the while the sailors themselves spoke dozens of languages he never once heard before.
Jiraya didn't seem fazed. His student on the other hand, "Is that a cannon!"
Naruto looked at various dockworker striving with much difficulty to lower an artillery gun with strained rope pulleys. Gun power wasn't something new in the Elemental Nations, however word spread like wildfire of countries producing such weapons in droves. Just seeing with his very eyes the cast iron contraption of doom being lowered onto the wharf made the sapphire eyed blond stare at it in complete wonder and fascination. Man he couldn't wait to tell people back home about this .
"Yes gaki it's a cannon. The Daimyo from what I heard has ordered over fifty from Dravot in hopes to outmatch Iwa's new battlefield superiority." Ero-sensei said as they walked over to a massive warehouse.
"Look I want you to be very careful about the man we are going to meet. He's the most informed and most criminal spy Konoha possesses. Despite that he's always given me the most reliable information and is always consistent. So don't say anything when we go to meet him. Got it!" Scolded Ero-sensei making the blonde thirteen year old grin in anticipation.
"Ah Jiraiya! Long time no see friend you look as good as ever." Said a man from within the loaded warehouse. The man was seated upon a velvet red throne right beside an open crate of dried brown tobacco leaves and several jars of peculiar substances right behind him. The man had a golden toothed grin that gleamed from what little light shined within the dark warehouse, he had a scraggly thinly cut black beard, very tanned skin, and dark brown olive eyes. His dark black curly hair absorbed all the light within the room and seemed to be almost one with the shadows that danced from various lit candle sticks upon the walls.
The warehouse workers continued working silently trying to keep a distance from their leader who now was surrounded by three large bulky goons armed with swords on their hips. Naruto found the whole scene before his eyes to be very sketchy and someone like Ero-sensei colliding with people like this also unsettled the blonde.
The man looked Naruto straight in his sapphire eyes with glee and fascination before saying, "The name is Indio head of the Emerald Bay Shipping Warehouse Company at your service."
"You too." Spoke Ero-sensei as he noticed Indio's eyes narrow in on Naruto.
"Seems like you've brought another brat along. Reminds me a whole lot of the other brat you had. Hahahaha!" Laughed Indio making Naruto feel even more uneasy.
"Indio I want us to get to business do you have one of the stone tablets of Sezu?" Ero-sensei asked trying to change the subject and get to the point.
"Ero-sensei what's Sezu and what are these stone tablets?" The way Ero-sensei looked at him made him realize he had already broken his oath of silence.
Indio laughed along with his henchmen then said, "Hahaha! I like this blonde haired brat."
"Naruto Sezu was once a widely worshipped god across the entire Elemental Nations going as far back as the Marzonic Empire. He was said to have been the most powerful god of all his followers and they had temples of Sezu all across the Elemental Nations." Answered Ero-sensei with a palm against his face.
"How come I never heard about him until now?"
"Because Naruto things get lost to time." Answered the wise sage.
"Like the supposed stone tablets that lead to the gods realm or as some people like to call it. The greatest treasure hunt in the world hahahaha." Indio finished, Naruto simply stared wide eyed in wonder.
Listen to: Hallon- by Christian Bjoerklund :on youtube
(for awesome end of chapter music)
(Futon: Kyofu no Pureto Yoroi) - Wind Release: Plate Armour of the Gale - B rank ninjutsu - A simple defensive elemental ninjutsu that creates an almost invisible funnel of air around the user to deflect incoming projectiles, and inflict cuts upon enemies attacking the user. This jutsu comes with many deficits. First off the jutsu was invented for the outdoors and takes a considerable amount of willpower on the users end to keep going, due to the funnel depriving the user of oxygen. Second the wind armour is only as powerful as the wind around the user, the moment the user starts the jutsu. Due to the user creating a funnel around their body, this jutsu is considerably disadvantageous against fire based attacks. When mastered the jutsus strength can be added to the point where many Kaze no Kuni berserkers used it to shred their foes during battle. When used on a windy day and with a weapon in hand, only those brave of heart should ever face someone using the Futon: Kyofu no Pureto Yoroi.
Chikara Yosha - (Unrelenting Force) - A ranked ninjutsu - One of the 12 Legendary Shouts passed down through the generations. The Chikara Yosha isn't quite a wind based ninjutsu nor is it even a release of any ordinary kind. The user draws on their spiritual and natural chakra energies to perform a shout of condensed chakra that can blow and destroy anything in its path. Very few shinobi know such techniques or even master anything of such of volatile nature. One only masters such a jutsu when one can take down a building with a single shout of the Chikara Yosha and even then the power is only based on how much chakra one puts into the technique.
Finally, I'm done with this chapter (loved writing it but man it took a long time, wrote some of chapter 7 already just cause life, work, and revisions got in the way). Sorry about the somewhat long wait. It's been a very busy few weeks and I literally woke up at 4 am where I live wrote until 8 am. Then went to work for about 10 hours. Then finished this chapter. Now that you readers know how my work schedule is like you can understand why it took me a while to upload. Imagine working 5 days a week for 10 hours straight. I'm making bank though and the pay is pretty good for a Summer job, so money or no food and death. Those are my options. Thank god I'm not doing any Summer classes because I probably would have uploaded this chapter at the end of the month.
I finished this chapter about four days ago, and this chapter would have been my normally intended 9,000 word length, but to keep with my intended goal of finishing Sea of Monsters by chapter 15 or 16 I think it's needed. Plus I added in the dodgeball scene cause I love you beautiful readers. I'm now done with the first 2 chapters of Sea of Monsters and believe me things will heat up real soon indeed.
Anyways now that I'm done talking about my boring life of drinking, writing, doing stupid things, working, and making sure you all smile. I want to thank all of you readers for blowing up my story after chapter 4. Now to answer your questions.
Several reviews Gamerx568 and KakeruPB have brought up the question of Hecate nullifying Naruto's chakra - To make it simple. Naruto was not fighting Orochimaru or even Pein. He literally was in a room with real Gods/Titans who simply had powers to bend the laws of physics and the universe in their favor. Naruto isn't even close to being at the level where he could even face any of the gods or Titans in combat and get away alive (unless his plan was to retreat). With the way I showed Eos in the last chapter that is but the tip of a god's power on display. Even though Hecate's sphere of influence revolves around magic and sorcery. She can simply use a spell to completely turn Naruto's chakra off (in her presence) if she wanted too (there are exceptions to this rule especially concerning Sage Mode and the Kyuubi's chakra, which concerning the Kyuubi no god can nullify). Hecate isn't the only god that can do this, and I kind of came up with this idea because way too many Naruto/Percy Jackson crossover stories make Naruto into a godlike badass by chapter 3. Naruto is in a new world with new rules and not all of the rules will be in his favor, however that doesn't mean when a door closes another one won't open. I'll explain more later on in the story, but chakra exists in both worlds yet works slightly differently. No one in the Percy Jackson world can even utilize chakra, but Naruto alone.
Autismguy593 and Haruka001- Thank you so much for reading all of my chapters and for showing so much love and support for my work. It helps me so much with continuing on. I want all my readers to know that a review isn't everything, however, when you spend hours writing a story believe me your biggest fear is to not know if the chapter you just wrote was good or even bad. To me the greatest fear a writer faces is to realize no one wants to read your work. So thank you two so much.
Royal Bioforge- Shout out to Royal Bioforge for being a great bit of inspiration for this story particularly chapter 1. Our stories are completely different however it's nice when writers can get along together on this site. Now you brought up a lot of questions. The Kyuubi's chakra dissipated after Naruto crashed to the dance floor. I'll add that in after this chapter it'll be a quick fix, forgot to put that in thanks for reminding me. The Companions were a real faction led by Alexander The Great and Alexander The Great even today is rumored to have been the son of Zeus. It's very likely that was written propaganda on the Greeks part and even by his mother Olympia, due to Philip the Second giving Olympia the ancient world version of a divorce and exiling Alexander before Philips invasion of Persia began. Still I'm disappointed Rick Riodan never once brought that up, there are real historical texts that have been written about Alexander The Great being the son of Zeus and its even tide to how the Temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the world burning down). Man gotta stop now before I go on a history tangent, I love history so much even though it's not even my major in college.
I may have to ease a little after this chapter on the authors note section of my chapter. This has now taken the place as one of the longest chapters I have ever written on this site. Thank you all so much. Have a wonderful day. Keep reading, and remember to follow, favorite, and review if you can. The support keeps me going.