Naruto looked at the ring on his finger with a sigh, while he had acted brave and excepting that he would be marrying Artemis on the outside, on the inside he was a little scared. Any person would be if they were told that they would be getting married to somebody they did not know. Sure, he was attracted to her, she was very pretty, but that did not make a good marriage if it were based off looks. He wanted something...real. Something mutual, something genuine between two people.

"Fancy ring you have there." A voice said said from behind him, not that it had mattered since Naruto hadn't been surprised by the intruder anyway. Looking behind him he saw that it was a blond girl younger than him by a few years looking at him with grey eyes that screamed 'curiosity', and a thirst to have her knowledge sated. He could just tell that she wanted to prove herself to others and do great things. She had drive, and that was impressive.

"Yeah. It was a gift from a good friend of mine, you could say." Naruto said as he kicked his leg in the water, while ignoring the slight annoyance touching the water caused him. He was practically made of fire, and his connection to fire was extremely deep. Of course water would hurt him.

"Annabeth Chase." The girl said as she sat down next to him and took her shoes and socks off to place her feet in the water next to him, but unlike him she actually liked the feeling of water moving around her toes. She had no connection to flame like he did, and from his reflection in the water he could see that touching water actually made his eyes kinda dim a little.

"You already know my name, but saying it again won't hurt anything. Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said with a light smirk. He could not help it though, since he was a little bit annoyed at how his peaceful reflection time was ruined.

"You have a Japanese name." Annabeth commented, and Naruto shrugged. He had no idea was 'Japanese' was, but apparently his name sounded like it came from there. He had never heard of Japanese before, so it was new to him.

"Well, if you ask me your name is weird, too." Naruto commented and Annabeth realized he my have taken some offence to how she had phrased her sentence. She always had a habit of putting her foot in her mouth, but thankfully this guy was not taking too much offence to that.

"I guess it is weird...my mother is Athena by the way." Annabeth stated, and Naruto nodded. She saw the look on his face, and could tell he had no idea who her mother really was.

"My mother is a goddess, just like yours. Goddess of knowledge and battle strategy." Annabeth explained, and Naruto nodded his head. Then he realized she might be able to answer a question he had been wondering about. He honestly wanted to know this because he felt there was some kind of interesting story behind it.

"Does my mother have anything to do with donkeys?" Naruto asked, and Annabeth nodded. She was a little glad that this guy had not pushed her away, and that he seemed to be trying to learn...at least a little. That showed he was not a complete idiot for not trying to stay ignorant.

"That is actually a very interesting story that dates back..." Annabeth started, and Naruto could already tell this girl was a lot like Sakura was with making explanations as long and complicated as possible. That was why Naruto decided to interrupt her and make her get to the point. He may be interested, but not interested enough to listen to a long winded explanation that had nothing to do with the point.

"Does this story have a short version?" Naruto asked, and Annabeth sent him an annoyed look but nodded anyway. She could understand that Naruto may be a little testy from the changes he must be having in his life. She wasn't sure of his past, but he seemed pretty clueless to what had been going on. Perfectly normal for half-bloods.

"Hestia was sleeping peacefully in her bed one night after drinking a lot on Olympus, and a she was nearly raped in her bed. There had been a donkey there that night, and it started to make a lot of noise that woke her up and gave her time to run. Ever since that day she made the donkey one of her symbols." Annabeth said simply. Now that he heard part of that story Naruto understood the importance of the donkey she had given him as a pet. It was a very nice thing of Hestia to give him, and he would have to thank her when he saw her... after he figured out how he felt about her.

"...How wild was that party that they got a donkey involved?" Naruto wondered out loud, and Annabeth look at him like he was stupid.

"You here your mother was almost raped, and you are questioning why a donkey was in the room?" Annabeth asked, and Naruto laid back and kicked some water into the air.

"That happened a long time ago, and she wasn't raped. She was saved by the donkey. But does it not make you wonder, and therefore gain knowledge, as to way there was a donkey there in the first place? Does it not make you wonder if the events had not been planned out, or a plan was sabotaged?" Naruto teased, mentally making a note to find the guy who had nearly done that to his mother and slowly sear his groin off...and that was just to start.

Unaware of of her fellow blond demigod's demented and vengeful thoughts, Annabeth's eyes widened at the secrets there could have been on that day. So many things did not add up, and now she HAD to know why!

"Are you a genius, or an idiot?" Annabeth asked after a moment of thought, and Naruto opened one of his flame colored eyes to stare her down.

"Who wants to be a genius? Being a genius just means you're better than others at things that have already been done, while idiots are the people that make new ideas. The people that invent things are called idiots until their ideas work, and then they are called geniuses. By that understanding, I would rather be an idiot anyday, than a genius." Naruto explained, and Annabeth had her mind blown. What Naruto had just said was pretty deep. It truly shocked her to the core that maybe being an idiot wasn't a bad thing.

"You should join my team for the-" Annabeth started before Naruto cut her off.

"Sorry, but I don't plan on staying at the camp much longer than I need to. I want to explore everything this place has to offer." Naruto said with a stretch of his limps he stood up and made his way to start leaving the camp. This camp was not the place for him. He could feel it in his bones that he would be better suited for the life of constant battle.

Here, there was not true challenge. He could tell everything would be too easy for if he wanted it to be, so he would explore this world and see what it had to offer him. Maybe he would take Artemis up on her offer and join up with her. At least he wouldn't be bored that way, and he would be able to help others there.

"You can't leave." Annabeth said in a bored voice, and Naruto shook his head.

"I didn't say right away, but I will have to leave pretty soon." Naruto explained, and Annabeth covered her forehead at his point and decided she would let somebody else deal with explaining why he can't leave.

"Not a wise choice." Annabeth commented, and Naruto scoffed.

"It is a heated one though." Naruto said as he fired a pun back at her, and she was mildly impressed by his wit. Not many people actually thought of intelligent comebacks in a split second.

Obviously she had never seen two ninja trash talk in battle.

"You are a very strange person." Annabeth pointed out, and Naruto just walked away without giving her another glance. He had a small smile on his face though, but it was hidden by the fact he was looking at the mostly clear sky. She just stayed where she was as she went, since Naruto still needed time to adjust in her opinion. Plenty of people had some issues when they first came here, and many more were angry at being abandoned as kids.

She would try and introduce him to Grover and other people later. Grover was always good at making friends with idiotic demi-gods and people like them. That new Percy kid was proof of that.

Yes, she would get Naruto to make friend with Grover!