Reading: Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II: A Hero's Peril
IX
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Will Solace was worried. He had one job and he'd screwed it up!
"He what?!" Nico cried out in anger while Hades simmered.
"Hey, hey," Apollo said to the two, "Stop that."
"If that son of yours messed up, Apollo-"
"Calm yourself, Hades," Athena said diplomatically, "let us at least hear the boy out."
Hades' scowl became, if possible, more prominent. "Fine."
Not only was it a job, but one of the Big Three, the scariest one in his opinion,
"Good."
had given him a show of faith, a blessing to enter and leave the Thirteenth Cabin at his leisure. Though with how odd Bianca's illness became, he hardly had the time to keep an eye on Nico!
"See, it was Nico's fault," Percy said with a smirk, making the boy's pale face to flush a little.
"Shut up."
"You're sure you haven't seen him, Chiron?" Will asked, almost pleadingly, as he nervously stood at the entrance of Hades' Cabin. The centaur sighed and ran a hand down his face.
Hazel turned to her brother. "What did you do?" she asked. "You're giving the boy a heart attack."
"Not fault, blame my other," Nico sniffed.
"Will, calm yourself. Whatever has happened to Nico is out of your control, and Lord Hades can't harm you while Bianca's still in need of a caretaker," Chiron said to the teenager,
Hades crossed his arms. "Indeed," he said, idly glancing at his son out the corner of his eye, thus getting the boy to squirm a bit.
"Go do what you've been assigned. I will focus on this matter and search for young Nico if it puts you at ease."
"Good ol' Chiron," Percy smiled, he loved that horse-man.
Will sighed and nodded, turning away and slowly closing the cabin door, "Thanks Chiron."
The blond teen groaned and put a hand over his face, sighing heavily before he went back to Bianca's room. Ranger's head lifted as he pushed the door open and went to his designated pale patient, lifting her arm and checking her for a faint pulse. Will shook his head and murmured, "Figures..."
While he tried to get more fluids in Bianca's veins, Will worried what his eldest brother would do to him when he found out that he had lost the younger charge.
"Well, probably a prank since that is what the boy is known for," said Hermes with an impish grin.
"I'd rather it be a bit more vicious then that," Hades muttered, making Apollo glare at him.
While Will Solace was worrying about both Bianca's strange illness and Nico's absence and Naruto Uzumaki was fighting a Giant; Annabeth Chase was leading her quest once again through the Labyrinth. They had just left Alcatraz, failing to convince a Hundred-Handed One to accompany them after slaying his torturer, the horrifying Kampê, and prompting Annabeth to think about their conversation with Hera.
"This should be fun," Annabeth said with a frown on her face, wondering how different this conversation was going to be with her least favorite goddess.
"So why are you here again?" Percy asked as he, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson sat with the Queen of Olympus passing out a lunch at the table once covered with dust after the teens' stomach rumbled.
"How kind of me," Hera said with a smile, getting eye rolls from her siblings and children.
"Percy, Percy, Percy," Hera tisked as she gave Grover a bowl of salad, "I'm here to help you."
"But how?" Annabeth pried, "How can you be here, I thought the Gods couldn't interfere on a quest?"
"Oh? What do you call what Apollo did over the winter?" the Queen of Olympus scoffed,
"Uh..." Apollo trailed off, not knowing how to answer. "Divine intervention?" He got a positive nod from his sister.
"If you must know, every century for one quest I care deeply about, my husband will let me grant one wish."
"But why help us?" continued the daughter of Athena, "I thought you hated heroes."
She does, thought most of the demigods who have met the woman.
"You have one spat with one demigod and it follows you forever, I swear," Hera sighed
"I know," the Queen of Heaven said with a nod to her other.
Her husband said nothing, but he did have a small frown upon his visage.
before looking at Grover, "Stop chewing on that napkin, dear. It's not good for you."
"Yes ma'am," the satyr said, spitting the bits in his mouth out.
"But didn't you try to kill him?" Annabeth asked, "Like...A lot of times?"
"Very true," Hades said, unaffected by his sister's dark glare. He rolled his dark eyes. "Oh please stop denying it already."
"Water under the bridge," Hera dismissed, "And besides, I happen to be fond of many heroes...Jason for instance."
"Which one?" Leo asked, getting Jason to send him a mild glare. The blond remembering his forced entitlement of being the Roman Queen of Heaven's champion.
"The Argonaut right?" Percy asked. The Queen gave him a small smile.
"Yes," Hera confirmed before passing him another sandwich, "There's another who's earned my attention though. Your friend, Naruto."
"What?" said everyone in surprise, even the gods.
At their stunned stares, save for Tyson who was enjoying the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the Goddess continued, "You all seem so surprised by that. He's the son of a God, yes, but a child of matrimony. A sire of a proper relationship between God and Mortal."
"Of course," said Apollo dryly, now it made sense. Naruto was technically, in Hera's opinion, a perfectly made demigod. Good thing his other married, huh?
"Wait a second," Annabeth interjected, "Naruto's dad...Apollo...He married someone? Apollo?"
"I know, we're all shocked about it," Artemis said with crossed arms and an amused look on her face.
"Hey!"
"I was as in just as much disbelief as you were when I heard that," Hera said, "Eight years ago, Apollo waking up from a prophetic trance with a loud exuberant cry. I had thought he found a new challenge.
"And by challenge, I meant a woman," said Hera, a disapproving look on her face.
Imagine my surprise when he returned that evening with a tale of his new son, fifteen years old, saving a city from a delusional gravity manipulating mortal."
"...He did what?" Percy asked.
"Seems hard of hearing runs in the family." Athena quipped to her rival. The sea god frowned at her for the remark.
Grover snorted and stuck a piece of lettuce in his mouth, "Figures. Leaving the best part out of a story, that screams Naruto."
"No, it screams good story telling." Apollo said. "You don't shoot off the best stuff in the first telling."
"Yes, and his name was so strange," Hera commented thoughtfully, "It was strange enough to earn many of the Gods' attention, my own included. I watched him as he learned about the new world he was brought to, how quickly he adapted to the strange machines and tools used by mortals today, but then there was one significant moment that really grabbed my attention."
"Oh this should be good," Hephaestus mumbled, looking slightly interested as well.
"What happened?" Tyson asked curiously as he wiped his hands on a napkin. Like the others gathered around the table, he was sucked into the story, curious about the kind blond that gave him challenges in the forge.
"Seems he gets along with Tyson well enough," Annabeth said to her beau, making him grumble.
Seriously, the blond just got along with everyone so easily; it made him a little jealous.
"He found a girl on her own in California," Hera said while looking at a surprised Annabeth,
Annabeth looked surprised as well, what did she have to do with Naruto impressing the Queen of Heaven?
"A daughter of Athena, in fact. A young girl he treated like a sister, who he cared for and protected. The compassion, the care oh...the familial bond. It warmed my heart to see a Hero like that. Even Hestia showed more interest in him than any Hero that had come before."
The two sisters turned to one another in mild intrigue, true, something like that would gander their attention.
"Then why are you helping me instead of him?" Annabeth asked with a frown.
"You were his first anchor. You were the first demigod he had met, and in some way, shape or form, you were family, the first family he could be with here. You gave him a reason to stay and not try to return to the Hidden Lands," Hera smiled as she looked at the girl,
Annabeth's eyes widened at that revelation. Eyes turned to her, causing the blonde girl to duck a little with a flustered look on her face.
"And with that reason, he had become what he is today: one of the greatest Heroes of this time. All because of one young girl and the bond they made."
"Wow, go Annie." Thalia said, whistling with a bit of an impressed look on her face. Annabeth turned to her friend and gave her a baleful glare.
Percy grimaced for his other; it was going to be tough for him if the other Annabeth held Naruto on such a pedestal.
"Why am I helping you, Annabeth Chase?" the Queen continued, "Not because I prefer you over him, or he doesn't need it, because Naruto would need all the help in the world for his quest. No, I am helping you because he would want me to."
"Choosing another over himself," said Hestia after reading that passage. She smiled lightly. "I like this boy."
The group sat once again in stunned silence, the sandwich in Tyson's hand falling to his plate from his lax grip due to awe. Percy sat noticeably straighter his green eyes twinkling in thought.
"No doubt jealous out of his mind right now," Thalia said, getting a disgruntled look from Percy and a blushing Annabeth.
What those thoughts were, Annabeth didn't know, but she knew that for all she wanted to refute Hera's reason to help, she couldn't. Naruto would choose her safety over his any day of the week, month, or year.
"That's really sweet of him," Hazel said with a smile, Annabeth nodding in agreement. Annabeth's nod made Percy pout.
The blonde rolled her stormy eyes, snuggling into his side. "Relax seaweed brain." She giggled, getting the boy to smile at her.
"Okay."
It was his fault, his Fatal Flaw; He was too selfless. He'd gladly give his life if it meant the safety of others would be assured, putting the world on his shoulders and never asking anyone else to do the same.
That set a solemn mood in the chamber.
"A truly self destructing fault," Athena mused.
"Wow," Percy muttered, and Athena had told him his fault was bad, Naruto's seemed to just be so life ending, especially for a demigod as powerful as him.
"Oh, but he could be so much better," Hera sighed, breaking Annabeth's thoughts.
"I don't like where this is going," said a grimacing Thalia. Hera begged to differ that if the smile on her face was anything to go by.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked curiously.
"Naruto Uzumaki, the Son of Apollo...Think about it," Hera said with a bit of disappointment, "Eventually he'll become far too arrogant, too cocky."
"Hey!" said the sun god, a bit outraged.
"Am I really wrong?" the stepmother asked snidely. Apollo could only simmer at her.
Annabeth's head snapped up and she glared at the Queen, "Naruto isn't like that!"
"Wow, to glare at her just for him…" Thalia trailed off, getting Percy to look irked at the comment.
"Not now, no, but perhaps in time," Hera said before scoffing, "He's already inherited his father's more often than not poor choice in women.
"Oh this is just about Thalia," Hermes said dryly, but turned to his brother, "You also do kinda get a diamond in the rough every so often."
Apollo grumbled with a deep frown on his face and a dim look upon his figure.
Hecate would be a better option for him. Perhaps even Tyche, Order knows she's liked the boy since he was young."
"Wow, the luck goddess?" Leo asked, "Seriously, which one of the minor goddess don't want to shack up with the blond."
"Very true." Hephaestus nodded, impressed.
"He and Thalia deserve to be together!" Annabeth argued, her annoyance rising.
"Here, here!" Aphrodite agreed as both Annabeth and Thalia flushed, the hunter turned to her friend.
"Wow, that was, um…"
Annabeth nodded. "I know, I said it so readily."
It was like Hera was purposely trying her patience by pointing out things that weren't there. The daughter of Athena continued hotly, "Both of them were wrongly punished for something out of their control!"
Thalia simmered at that, as she saw Annabeth giving a nod to her other, getting the hunter to smile.
"Zeus had broken his oath on the Styx," Hera countered with a frown, "Hades was more than welcome to enact punishment, especially after what had happened to his children's mother."
Hades sent a heated glare to a stony faced Zeus, Nico just radiating his own fear out of anger of the horrifying day.
"Then why did he kill Naruto if he wasn't part of that?" questioned the blonde with tears burning at her eyes, restraining herself from screaming out what she really wanted to say; 'Why did he take my big brother away from me!?'
Annabeth frowned, she had a feeling that maybe their relationship wasn't just an innocent brother-sister thing.
And by Percy's frowning face, he had gotten that message as well.
She was nearly crying. Crying in front of Percy, Grover, and Tyson was one thing, crying in front of Hera of all things was definitely out of the question! But it was the one question that had bothered her for so long, haunted her since she was a child.
The grey-eyed child could understand that, she felt that when Thalia had been turned into a tree, but with both a male and female role model? Well, that seemed to have cut her other deeper.
Why her brother? Why did Naruto have to leave? Annabeth clenched tightly onto her jeans to keep her composure, her jaw trembling as Hera stared at her.
"Naruto made his choice, Annabeth," The Queen said, "A choice that only one Olympian has come close to ever making: He chose your life over his."
Hestia smiled at that, truly the heir of Helios was one of worth in this age, one you rarely see anymore.
Annabeth's hands clenched even tighter while she struggled to keep herself composed. Before she could ask anything else, Hera continued, "But enough about Apollo's child, let's get back on track. I am here to help you and to do so I will grant you one wish."
Annabeth took a few deep breaths, pushing back her frustration before putting her mind to the quest at hand. What was their current situation? They were trapped in an ever-changing Labyrinth to find its creator. However, there was also the possibility of more monsters being found in the Labyrinth, so maybe a way to defeat them.
"A good thought process." Athena nodded to her daughter.
"Before you make your wish, I have some advice to give you," Hera spoke once more, "You seek Daedalus, this Labyrinth's creator. Finding Daedalus will not be as easy as stumbling across him by chance. My advice is to go to my son Hephaestus, he'll be more than happy to help you discover what had happened to the inventor."
"And that was a fun encounter," said the smith god with a grunt.
"But how do we get there?" Annabeth asked before nodding in confirmation, "That's what I wish for, a way to navigate the Labyrinth."
"And that is going to go as well as it did before," son of the sea grumbled.
Hera gained a look of disappointment as she looked at Annabeth, "I see. Unfortunately, you have wished for something you already have."
Percy's eyes screwed shut in though, "But, if Nico was summoning Theseus' soul in my dream, then how do we know?" he asked his girlfriend, who shrugged in turn.
Annabeth growled, "Something we already have. What was she talking about?"
"Let it go, she was probably just trying to throw you off your game," Percy suggested
Hera bristled at the notion, ungrateful children.
before he walked into a stopped Tyson, "Ow. Tyson, what's the hold up?"
"Not alone," the cyclops mumbled with a shiver, "Someone watching us."
The couple turned to one another, this didn't happen before.
Grover stopped and sniffed before he shivered as well, "He's right. Someone is watching us."
"Gro-o-ver~!...T-y-son~! It is I...The, uh... The Ghoooooost King!" A disembodied voice echoed around them, "And I have come for your souls!"
"Nico." The Greek demigods deadpanned.
"Cool, sneaking onto the quest?" the Ghost King smiled, "Now this just got so much better."
As Tyson and Grover became even more unnerved, Percy snickered at the ghostly taunt while Annabeth's brow furrowed. The daughter of Athena muttered, "I know that voice."
"Yeah, I mean, it is so annoying," the blond mocked playfully to the goth boy, getting Nico to scowl at her.
"Feeeeeaaarr meeeee!" the voice continued before it broke into snickers.
"Wow, so mature," Hazel joked to her brother, getting his pale cheeks to flush.
"What?! I was, like, 11 at the time!"
"Alright, come out Nico," Annabeth said with a frown on her face, "You're scaring Tyson."
Out of the shadows stepped a familiar olive skinned eleven-year-old. Nico di Angelo had a smile on his face as he walked up to the group, dark eyes twinkling in the mischievous manner that Naruto often inspired.
"Well, I can clearly say he's being a wonderful influence on me," said the son of Hades.
"Or turning you into something worse," Percy teased, getting the boy to scowl and push him in revenge.
He wore a plain green shirt and jeans with a chain belt around his waist. Protecting him from the elements was a faded aviator's jacket, and slung over his shoulders was a decently sized sword about three feet in length, just shy of touching the ground from the eleven-year-old's height.
"Ain't he cute, using something almost as big as him," Ares jeered with a snicker, getting the goth boy to scowl deeper. But it did inspire some laughs at the younger Nico.
"You should've seen the look on your face," sniggered out the boy to the relieved Tyson and the annoyed Grover.
"Shouldn't you be at Camp taking care of Bianca?" Grover inquired. Nico's smile fell into a frown.
"Thanks for the reminder Grover," the Ghost King frowned along with his other.
"That's why I'm here," Nico retorted, "My sister isn't getting better and I'm not going to sit around waiting for her to die while I could do something.
"Damn straight," Nico said, nodding to his other. Now he had the power to do something, unlike him at the time.
Besides, Bianca is in good hands with Will."
"Maybe more than just good hands," Apollo suggested, getting Hades to turn on him.
"If that boy does something, so help me…" he trailed off when Apollo snickered at him.
"Ain't like you can touch him, and going after the one in this dimension would be moronic."
Hades fumed silently.
"So you want to join us?" Annabeth pieced together, "To help your sister?"
"I might find a way to save Bianca," Nico said determinedly, "She's my most precious person."
"Didn't Naruto say that?" Jason comment thoughtfully.
"I believe so," Hestia told her Roman nephew.
"'Strength comes from protecting your precious people,'" Annabeth quoted with a small smile, getting a grin from the younger boy.
"Seems Annabeth follows the same policy." Piper noted with a smile, she did like the sound of it though.
She hummed before saying, "Well I guess having another child of the Big Three would be a great help."
"True that," Nico smiled smugly.
"I don't know," Percy uneasily said as he looked to Annabeth, "Naruto would kill us if he got hurt."
"D'aww, poor widdle Nico," Thalia said in a baby voice to her younger cousin.
"Oh go chase a deer, stupid lightning rod." The goth boy grumbled.
"You mean he might kill you," Annabeth teased getting a mocking laugh from the son of Poseidon.
"It's true, he seems to care about me a lot, so leaving out Grover and Tyson…yeah," Annabeth nodded to her beau. "You would be dead."
"Thanks." Was the dry retort.
Grover patted his friend on the shoulder in understanding while Tyson tilted his head in confusion.
"I can take care of myself," Nico said with a frown. To demonstrate, he turned around and raised his hand in the direction of the Labyrinth, closing his eyes and forcing the ground to rise up. Opening his eyes, Nico then made the lifted slab float over to him with a gesture. As the slab stood in front of him, Nico unsheathed his slate colored blade and slashed through the earth several times. He sheathed his sword and the raised stone crumbled.
"Okay…he is way better with a sword then I was at that age," Nico whistled, who taught him that?!
"Geokinesis and swordsmanship," Annabeth summed up, "As well as that...invisibility?"
"Shadow-walking," Nico corrected as he gave a small smug grin to Percy, "Dad taught me."
Nico faltered at that, his father taught him? Well, lucky kid. He had to learn things the hard way.
"When did he...last winter," Percy concluded before crossing his arms as he scrutinized the younger boy, "Well at least you can swing your sword, but so can I. Can you use it though?"
"Well, someone seems a bit pissy," Nico grinned to his cousin, who in turn blinked at his other.
"Bianca and I were trained by one of, if not, the best swordswoman in the Underworld," the son of Hades said with a challenging gleam in his eye.
"Really now?" Athena said with interest, rendering the attention of the other Goddesses as well.
"Training and surviving are two entirely different things," Percy countered.
"It's the same thing if you trained like we did," deadpanned the younger di Angelo. He then shuddered as he remembered a cackling redheaded woman swinging a sword down at him, forcing him to go on the defensive.
"You really do go for the crazy ones." Artemis deadpanned to her brother.
"Hey, the crazy ones are usually the best ones," Dionysus countered with a finger pointed to his half sister.
"Of course you would say that."
That training was not something he wanted to go through again.
"Who trained you?" Grover asked curiously.
"Naruto's mom, Kushina Uzumaki," Nico replied nonchalantly. You could hear a pin drop after the son of Hades' spoke. Annabeth was the first to speak, pouncing after she had recovered from her shock.
"Leave it to Annabeth to do that," Percy quipped, getting a half hearted slap to the shoulder, he gave a mock wince in return.
"You met Naruto's mom?!" exclaimed the blonde daughter of Athena with a hint of jealousy to her voice.
"She really wants to know everything about her brother…or is it future mother-in-law?" Aphrodite teased the young blonde.
Annabeth blushed like a tomato. "Okay, too far, way too far!"
"I don't know, seems to sound like it by the way with this story."
"Thalia!" the blonde cried out in embarrassed distress.
Percy only crossed his arms, a brooding look on his face at the stupid (in his opinion) suggestions about his girlfriend.
After he returned and Annabeth had asked him, Naruto had said he'd met her once but left it at that. Few knew more about his mother, Annabeth only knew his mother's name and what she looked like from a vague description, redheaded and beautiful. Annabeth then got rolling on the questions, "What's she like? Why was she in the Underworld? Why was she training you? How was she training you?"
"…Wow, interrogation much?" Leo asked in surprised.
"She might be really good at it," Hazel supplied with a surprised look of her own.
"Wow, you are worse than a journalist," Nico mumbled before he rubbed his arm,
"Nicky's right on that one," Dionysus said, looking at the blonde, "So chatty."
"Well, yeah. She's my...stepmother's handmaiden -er, bodyguard; it was hard not to meet Kushina."
"Yes, well, it was winter," Hades said, getting a glare from his sister, "Oh get over it!"
Demeter just huffed, intent on listening to the story.
"But what is she like?" Annabeth pressed, "Is she as nice as Naruto said she was?"
"Kushina is the nicest woman I've ever met," Nico answered with a grin, "I'll tell you more about her if I can come along..."
"Oh come on, like Annabeth would really-" Percy started
"Sure," Annabeth agreed, "It's not like I'm going to send you back through the Labyrinth on your own. It's a miracle you even found us in the first place."
"-fall for that…" he finished, looking like an idiot. His ears turned pink as some laughed at him.
"You were saying water boy?"
"Oh shut it, corpse breath."
"Yeah...Miracle..." Percy repeated quietly as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Not really," Nico dissuaded the teen's thoughts, "I can sort of...become the shadows. I see what they see. Different from Naruto's teleporting."
"How is that different from Naruto's teleporting?" Annabeth asked, "I thought he just jumped from place to place."
"Yes, please enlighten us of my amazing skills," said Apollo in a majestic tone, smugness was saturating the air.
"Kind of...It's...It's like he can vanish into thin air and in milliseconds reappear where he wants to," Nico struggled to explain, "I don't know the technicalities, but he has a further range than Bianca or I do. Even our Dad can't move as quickly through the shadows."
"Now that is interesting," Hades said, as he could move quite fast if he wished.
"That might be due to old age, though," Percy joked, getting a small bout of laughter from the group.
The gods snickered while Percy gulped when his uncle turned a sharp gaze upon him.
"Old, huh?" he asked in a chilling tone.
"Other me?"
"Be lucky it was, boy."
Annabeth smiled at Nico and said, "All right, let's get a move on then. Bianca won't wait forever and neither will Hephaestus."
"Hephaestus, huh?" Nico mused, "Never met him. He made Kushina's sword after a request from Persephone. Dad made mine and Bianca's."
"Huh, nice," the smith god said, rubbing his smoldering beard, he did do some Japanese work, but he wondered what design he went with.
"Bianca has a sword?" Percy asked.
"No, she throws rocks kelp brain." Thalia said with a roll of her eyes.
"I throw rocks," Hazel said with narrowed eyes.
"Sorry."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Seaweed Brain, she has to defend herself somehow, and Nico even said that Kushina had trained both of them."
"Well excuse me for not being a year rounder," grumbled the son of Poseidon, "How am I supposed to know?"
"Visit more?" Annabeth said with a look at her sheepish boyfriend.
"There's nothing against the occasional visit, Percy," Grover mock chided,
"See, Grover agrees with me." Annabeth smiled in triumph with crossed arms.
Percy rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, bow to the wisdom that is Annabeth chase." He smirked at her, getting a smile back.
"How are we supposed to be sure that you're okay?"
"You're a riot."
"I've been taking lessons," Grover replied proudly, "Juniper likes funny guys."
"Of course he would," laughed Thalia, getting snickers from those that knew the supernatural couple.
While Percy and Grover, and the unintentionally eavesdropping Tyson, talked about Grover's girlfriend like how they met and how they hooked up, Annabeth grilled Nico for information on Naruto's mother.
"…Geez, back off a little blondie," Nico frowned.
"Sorry," the child of wisdom apologized for her other. But it was just natural instinct for a member of cabin six!
"Kushina Uzumaki is the nicest woman outside of battle," Nico said as he walked next to the blonde. He shuddered in fear as he continued, "Training though...You trained with Naruto, right?"
"And my other just became more awesome," the grey eyed girl gushed with a smirk.
Annabeth gave him a sympathetic glance, "That bad?"
"No, it's his mother, if anything…" Apollo trailed off.
"Worse," Nico muttered, getting Annabeth to wince.
"Yeah, that." The sun god said with a wince, poor little death kids.
She hadn't known that there was someone more intense than Naruto when it came to training. The son of Hades continued, "We were forced to run the length of the Styx twice. She managed to stick bones to our back and sicked Cerberus on us."
"…I am not liking this woman, at all." Nico shuddered a bit.
"I am," Hades smiled wickedly, finally, some new blood in the business that knew what they were doing!
"How did you survive?" asked the daughter of Athena.
"Running. A lot of running," Nico answered. He shook off the memories and said, "Other than that, Kushina was very nice. A few conversations with Apollo over the phone that Bianca and I overheard aside, I don't think she gets mad that easily."
"Says a lot about your relationship, doesn't it?" Artemis asked her brother, getting the music god to slump in his throne.
"What were she and Apollo arguing about?" Annabeth inquired.
"Hey! That's private you little runt!" said Apollo.
"I am not a runt." Annabeth grunted out with a frown.
"I don't think they were arguing," said the boy with a shrug, "According to Bianca, she was just accusing him of 'tainting her precious baby boy', whatever that meant."
"Like the shameless buffoon he is," Artemis chuckled out, getting snickers all around.
"Psh, says little miss virgin. Really, don't talk about things you have no idea about." Apollo said with a scoff directed at her.
"What was that?" the archery goddess asked sharply.
"You heard me."
"Oh, oh I did you-"
Their father coughed, getting their attention as a stern gaze got them to stop…for now.
"Really?" Annabeth probed as a small smirk crossed her face, "What else?"
"She kept warning me to stay away from alcohol and drugs for some reason other than the usual 'Drugs are Bad, Stay in School' thing," Nico said,
"Well I wonder why he was told that?" Percy said sarcastically.
"Can't let it go, can you seaweed brain?" Thalia asked, rolling her eyes.
"Naruto's the drug addict!"
"Ex-addict!"
"Yeah, you keep protecting that boyfriend of yours."
"Keep it up, Jackson..."
before grinning, "There's a really good story she told me about Naruto though. Did you know he once led a revolt?"
"No way!" exclaimed the girl with a frown, "Why wouldn't he tell me that?"
"It is kind of graphic for a kid who already has to deal with monsters chasing them," Nico pointed out,
"Yeah Annie, I think us on the run is enough for your young mind," quipped the hunter.
"I guess," the blonde said, sounding a bit disappointed.
getting a look of surprise from Annabeth, "What? Kushina told me about how you two met."
"I guess Naruto must've told her," Annabeth mumbled.
"But anyway, Naruto and his team were called out to escort a bridge builder to a small village called Nami," Nico began, enthralling the daughter of Athena with the story. Percy, Tyson and Grover were sucked in as well, silently listening in as the son of Hades spoke. Annabeth interjected a lot, asking questions about details Nico wasn't a hundred percent sure of, such as how two fully grown men hid in a puddle,
"Ninjas." Apollo said as if it was obvious.
or how a rabbit that was out of its natural habitat retain a snow-white fur,
"Well, that is just because it was most likely domesticated and separated from its natural environment," Artemis answered.
or even how a blade nearly six feet in length that was stopped by a blade five inches long.
"Ninjas," the sun god stated once more…yeah, perfect logic.
The group shared a laugh when Nico retold how Naruto freaked out upon discovering he had been stabbed with a poisonous blade, and then making it worse by impaling his hand with his kunai.
"It seems he didn't have basic medicine skills in him as of yet." Athena smirked to her brother, getting Apollo to purse his lips at the dumb move.
"He was just trying to bleed out the poison," the archery god said, trying to cover for his super special awesome kid.
As he talked about their tree climbing exercise, the subject of Sasuke came up, making Grover and Percy share a glance before the son of Poseidon interrupted, "Who is Sass-kay?"
"Sasuke," Nico corrected, "Was Naruto's best friend, before he went crazy and tried to kill him."
"Asshole." Apollo said with a frown.
Annabeth, Percy and Grover stiffened before looking at one another. Nico continued to walk and talk, Tyson following him while engrossed in the story, leaving the three behind. Grover leaned forward and asked, "You don't think that...?"
"He did say Lucky Boy was almost impaled through the heart by the psychopathic friend," Percy said as he recalled the mockery of a story Naruto had told last winter.
Apollo smiled and said. "Ah, continuity!"
"But even with Apollo's blessing, which he didn't even know about until he was fifteen," Annabeth pointed out,
"Didn't he have cursed healing with that demon of his?" Hermes pointed out.
"True." Apollo frowned at the mention of his son's furry friend.
"Naruto couldn't have survived a punctured lung. Not without some serious medical treatment."
"Kyu could've helped," Grover suggested, "He was a spirit of nature after all, and some spirits are known to be well trained in the arts of healing."
"Goat boy is on the right track, but he took a wrong turn at the last intersection," the medicine god said.
"But Kyu was a curse before he became a weapon," Percy argued,
"Smart Percy alert." Nico announced, getting a mocking laugh from said alert.
"Naruto was one of those...Jin...Jin-chiki things."
"Jinchuriki," Grover corrected.
"What did you say?" Annabeth asked as her eyes widened. Grover and Percy looked at each other before back at her as she continued, "Jinchuriki? As in, 'Power of Human Sacrifice'?"
"…You learned Japanese." Percy said in disbelief to his girlfriend, who gave a blushing smile. It was something she would do.
"You learned Japanese didn't you?" Grover asked.
"It's my third language," nodded a proud Annabeth.
"Of course." Deadpanned all her friends. Annabeth pouted and crossed her arms.
"...I can barely handle English and you learned Japanese?" Percy asked incredulously. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Japanese to Greek translation books, Seaweed Brain," replied the blonde as though it were obvious,
"But it isn't!" the son of the sea cried out.
"Well, if you studied more, it would be." His girlfriend countered, making the boy's shoulders slump.
"You'd be surprised how easy learning things can be once you translate it to Greek."
"...Shut up, Wise Girl," Percy mumbled as he looked away, recalling Naruto saying something similar as he forced Percy to study history.
"Should really listen to the blond, Percy."
"Oh, who asked you, matchstick?"
"Anyway, it's an old word long forgotten, how do you two know it?" Annabeth asked. Grover and Percy shared another nervous glance, this one noticed by Annabeth and making her gape at them, "No. No, he didn't! He told you about his past on the Quest for Artemis, didn't he?!"
"Someone's upset." Percy frowned.
The brains of the couple flushed, "Well, if I had a brother like Naruto, I would like to know all about him, too."
That just made the brawn of the relationship pout.
"Yes/No! I mean No/Yes!" the two friends replied before glaring at each other, "Would it kill you for once in your life to work with me?"
The group snickered. "Like some slap stick comedy duo." Piper sniggered.
Percy on the other hand mused the idea, it could work. They already had the animal gag with Grover's furry hooves.
"...You two have been together for far too long," Annabeth commented before starting to rant, "I can't believe he told you two! I thought he hated you Percy!"
"Wow," Percy said and glanced at the stormy eyed girl, "Thanks."
"Sorry."
"Same here," answered the boy honestly, "I think if it weren't for Thalia, we'd have never gotten the truth out of him."
"You're all welcome," said girl bowed with a haughty look.
"But he told you! You! Why hasn't he said anything to me yet?!" Annabeth demanded, feeling slightly hurt.
Percy just mockingly hugged her shoulders, rubbing her arm in an effort to comfort her, getting swatted playfully for his actions. The blonde still snuggled under the arm though.
"Maybe there's a reason he hasn't told you yet," Grover quickly defended the blond, "Maybe he thinks by keeping you in the dark he's keeping you safe."
"It sounds like him," Percy admitted, thinking back to what Apollo said to him on the train, "I mean, he picked on me to get me to wake up and take things seriously."
"A miracle in and out of itself." Athena said, getting a dirty look from Poseidon, but it did little to dissuade her agreement.
"Which you still haven't done," Grover added.
"And burned by Grover, ouch." Snickered the lightning girl.
"Who's the demigod again?" Percy playfully threatened.
"Last I checked you were, and yet I still managed to make you walk into a tree," retorted the satyr with a smug grin.
"Lousy goat." The tree walker mumbled with crossed arms.
"Touché," Percy stated before putting a hand on the lightly smiling Annabeth's shoulder and said, "Listen, Naruto has the most messed up logic on the planet.
"And that's something, coming from Percy that is."
"…Really uncalled for you deer poop tracker."
"Oh go soak your head fish boy."
"Children," Hestia told her niece and nephew in a stern tone, getting them to shut up.
You of all people should know that by now. Whatever his reason for not telling you, it's most likely for your benefit."
"You really think so?" Annabeth asked.
"Yep," Percy lied slightly.
"Lying to her already? Tsk, tsk," Athena frowned and Percy winced. Really uncalled for!
He wasn't really sure about that, though, because there was still a (very slim) possibility that Naruto just forgot to bring his 'Little Sis' up to speed. For now, he'll just try to keep Annabeth's mind on the quest and keep her from feeling too low or doubting herself.
"Very sweet of him, right?" she asked her boyfriend, giving him a peck on the cheek, getting a silly smile from the raven-haired boy.
"...Thanks Percy," the daughter of Athena said with that same smile that made Percy's heart skip a beat. The dark haired teen just smiled back, content with making his crush feel better.
"Hey, are you guys coming or what?!" Nico called from a rather impressive distance ahead. The three older quest takers quickly rejoined the two younger ones, Nico giving them odd looks upon their arrival, "What were you guys talking about?"
"Plot relevance?" Annabeth suggested, getting nods from her mother and Apollo.
"Nothing important," Annabeth replied, "What did we miss?"
"Team made it to wave Naruto met Haku," Tyson summed up with a smile, "Go on, Nico. Tell more."
"Seems you spin a good tale," Hazel complimented her brother.
The boy shrugged. "I try," he said with an impish smile.
"Yeah, yeah," Nico waved off the excited cyclops' urging, "Apparently Naruto was out all the next night training, oversleeping and missing his team leave for the bridge.
"Your child, oversleeping?" the huntress asked in apparent amusement, moon-like eyes twinkling.
"So? Just because they have an internal clock doesn't mean they can't hit the snooze button." Apollo argued with a shrug, although it felt kind of weak.
He was gone just long enough to hear his host Tsunami, the bridge builder's daughter, release a threatening yell to bite her own tongue off after he stumbled across a cut up boar."
"Is that possible?" Percy asked. Annabeth shuddered before nodding, prompting the others to groan in disgust at the mental image.
"Not only possible, but life threatening," Nico answered nonchalantly,
"Of course you would brush that off," Percy said, his head shaking.
"Hey, there are worse ways to go." The death child argued with narrowed black eyes.
"But anyway, Naruto uses his duplication thing–"
"Kage Bunshin," Annabeth said, remembering the technique that had more often than not saved their hides.
"Yeah, that," Nico said, "He used the Kage Bunshin and took out two mercenaries that were hired to capture the bridge builder's family.
"Ah, hostages," Ares said with fondness, getting eye rolls from the other gods. Hostage situations were very few between the gods nowadays, Hades did the last one and it was a shoddy job at that.
He gave an inspiring speech to the builder's grandson, which led to the kid running around the village begging others to rise up against Gato."
"Well, he has poetic inspiration down," Hermes said with a smile to Apollo, who was grinning wide and bright.
Nico then grinned, "The best part is what came afterwards. Apparently, after Naruto's team left, the village named the bridge after him. They called it the Naruto Ouhashi, in honor of their hero."
"The Great Naruto Bridge," Annabeth translated loosely in awe and a bit of jealousy.
"I know!" Annabeth cried out. "To have a bridge named after him, lucky." The girl pouted. That did not happen anymore with demigods. Lucky olden day heroes.
"No way," Grover said in disbelief, "How come Naruto didn't tell us about this?"
"I don't think he knew," Nico said,
"Ah, unsung credit." Apollo said in a narrative tone, looking beyond the distance dramatically, "The Hero, walking the dirt covered path after the day is done. The people, sing praises and offering him wealth, food, and women," he grinned but was smacked upside the head from his glaring sister. Getting him to zip up from the rest of what he had to say.
"Kushina told me she had discovered it by accident while exploring the Underworld. She met a man she never expected in a million years to be down there."
"What was the man's name?" Percy asked out of curiosity.
Nico shrugged before he gave his answer, "I dunno. All she kept calling him was Ero-Sennin or Perverted Toad."
"Wasn't that Naruto's teacher?" Jason asked.
"Yes," Artemis said, her lips pursed and turned towards her brother. "Yours as well when you were a mortal, correct?"
"Hehehe," Apollo laughed awkwardly at the fact he had a super pervert for a teacher.
The five continued to walk until they came across another exit. As they left the Labyrinth for the second time on their quest, the world around them had changed, not that they knew it. Days had passed during Nico's tale rather than minutes. And in the past few days, many things had happened for the other quest takers, including the reveal of a secret regrettably kept from someone who deserved to know it.
"Finally, we see the reaction," Thalia frowned, wondering how she was going to react.
Jason smiled a little, wondering as well.
It was sure to be interesting, the siblings born of the woman named Grace knew that much.