Reading: Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II: A Hero's Peril
XV
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
As the large group on the Quest for Daedalus followed their lead given to them by an immortal demigod, Naruto led his own group through his hometown, getting heads to turn as he did.
"That's right folks, look upon him and his awesomeness." Apollo cheered with a silly grin. Artemis just rolled her eyes at his cheers, but did have a small smile on her face.
People mumbled and whispered about the return of their hero, making Naruto smile slightly. Hopefully they wouldn't turn on him too quickly when they found out he had resigned from the shinobi forces.
"Oh no doubt, mortals are stupid like that," Hades said with honestly. All the gods nodded with him on that one. Many of their children had their backs stabbed by petty mortals at one time or another. Silly fickle things they were, those mortals.
Piper and Jason were getting their own looks, too.
"As they would."
"Mom!" Piper moaned in embarrassment.
Jason was attracting looks from girls in his age group,
Piper glared at the image of all those giggling clique girls, how dare they!
and Piper the boys' eyes were practically glued to,
Aphrodite smirked as Piper blushed at that, and that was before she got claimed! Jason had a frown on his face, his fist clenched in his anger.
though neither noticed, content to continue their conversation about other things Jason missed by growing up in Camp Jupiter and what he had done in turn.
"You are kind of sheltered, dude." Leo pointed out, no ill will intended.
"Sorry," said Jason with a flushed face. Piper just patted his shoulder.
"No worries, I think it's cute." She said.
"Thanks."
Piper went on to talk about her father, how she was annoyed by his work would suck up most of his time and that they never did anything anymore.
"It does get frustrating at times," Piper frowned at this.
"Life of a movie star, kiddo," Apollo shrugged.
"Very true," the love goddess nodded. Their comments didn't make Piper feel any better.
Jason jokingly related, saying his father was busy most of the time, too.
"You really are," Jason joked to his father, getting a mirthful look from Zeus.
"He's not really that busy," Poseidon muttered with an eye roll.
"Tell me about it." Hades bemoaned. Their brother just glared at them.
He was shoved into a passing shopper for the joke.
"And thus the love birds were born," Leo snickered, getting blushes from the couple.
The most annoying thing to Naruto was how other teenage guys would look Thalia's way with small grins on their faces,
"What?" Thalia said, her eyes narrowed with feminine anger. Her matron right behind her on that one along with Jason.
a few catcalls coming out of their mouths.
"They are dead," Thalia muttered.
"No worries Thalia, sure Naruto will do something," Apollo snickered.
Well, there was only one to be specific, which made Naruto stop any other attempts by walking over to the one civilian that did call out to her and threaten him in their native tongue about catcalling to his girlfriend.
"Aw," Ares frowned, at least kick the guy's ass or something!
He could tell that others wanted to try what the fool before had, but were wary of gaining the wrath of the former Jinchuriki, rightfully so.
"As they should be," the sun god nodded sternly.
"Naruto-Oniisan!" "Oyabun!"
"More people he knows." Frank said, wondering how this one would turn out.
Naruto turned at the call of his name as well as the title that came after it. The other three demigods did as well, staring at the three teens that slowed to a stop in front of them, all around Naruto and Thalia's age, if not a few years older.
"Stupid tree." Thalia pouted, and now most of her friends were older than her, even her own little brother!
"Well, I thought it was lovely." Demeter huffed at her niece's comment.
The lone girl of the group had a light orange hair pulled up above her head in two vertical pigtails, and wore a sleeveless flak jacket over a violet t-shirt, a layered skirt and thigh-high boots.
"Meh," said the gods, they've seen better, but she wasn't the worst.
To her far left was a boy with round glasses on his face, short cropped brown hair, a zipped up black jacket underneath his own olive green utility vest, blue pants and sandals similar to Naruto's own. If it weren't for the small smile on his face, his posture and dulled eyes would've told them he had no interest in being here.
"Looks like Clovis." Jason whispered, getting nods from those of Camp Half-Blood.
Their leader was another boy, with black spiky hair and equally dark eyes. Like his two companions, he wore a olive green flak jacket, only unzipped to reveal a yellow long sleeved shirt with a loose red spiral on it that looked similar to the one Naruto had on the back of his white jacket. Brown cargo pants covered his legs and like the whiskered blond he wore sandals. The most glaring feature he had was a long blue scarf wrapped around his neck.
"He seems rather handsome, still a bit boyish though," the love goddess analyzed.
Like many of the warriors around them, they each had a headband with the engraved leaf on the metal plate.
The leader grinned in a manner similar to Naruto and said in a heavily accented English dialect, "Glad to see you back, Boss!"
"Dude's got his own crew." Leo whistled, impressed.
"Boss?" said Thalia as a brow arched.
Naruto was rubbing his temples with his right hand's index and thumb, knowing that this was karma at work. All he wanted was to do his duty and get out? Couldn't it be that easy, just once? Please?
"It never is," Percy jeered at the blond teen, wanting some petty revenge with the whole Annabeth situation.
Sighing, he looked up with a small smile.
"It's nice to see you again, too, Konohamaru."
"Heh, see this Boss?" Konohamaru asked as he tugged at his flak jacket. "Chunin already. One step ahead of you on the road to Hokage!"
"Poor boy doesn't even know Naruto doesn't even care for that title anymore." Hazel shook her head.
"I see that, Konohamaru," said Naruto with a small chuckle at his enthusiasm. "Moegi, Udon, congratulations on your own promotions."
The two grinned and synchronized a thank you that impressed the foreign demigods.
"Very polite brats, unlike the rest of you lot," Dionysus jeered at the demigods. The demigods just frowned and grumbled about the wine god. Dionysus chose to ignore them.
"So where've you been, Boss?" asked Konohamaru as he eyed the newcomers curiously. His keen eye noticed the close distance Thalia kept between him and herself and gave her a once over. "Wow, Boss. Is this your…you know?" His pinky raised as he asked the question and Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Wow, what is he, five?" Piper asked sarcastically.
"What are you, five? Just use your grown up words. And for your information, yes, Thalia-chan is my girlfriend."
"Have you guys done it yet?" asked Konohamaru bluntly, a grin on his face.
"An excellent question!" Aphrodite said with a wide grin.
"No it isn't!" sputtered out the hunter girl, who was now glaring at the love goddess and then the screen. Stupid ninja kid!
"Idiot!" said the girl, Moegi, as she punched him in the head, driving him into the dirt.
"Wow, abusive much?" Annabeth asked.
"Tell me about it," Hazel frowned, "I see the Amazons loving these girls."
"Or the hunters," Aphrodite said with a twitch of her nose, really, it was an innocent question.
"I wouldn't oppose." Artemis smirked, they were powerful women.
Naruto winced in sympathy while Thalia clenched her jaw in annoyance. Not only did having such a question asked in public embarrass her, but also now there was apparently an epidemic going around with women in this village braining guys because they were acting like guys.
"Here, here!" Thalia cheered on her other.
Sure, she occasionally hit Naruto for the same reason, but not hard enough – or as often on the head for that matter – to cause brain damage!
"Really, I wouldn't never do that," Annabeth said with a nod.
"Thank you-" Percy began to say until Annabeth cut him off.
"I'd just do what other Thalia would do." Percy slumped in his seat, a pout on his face.
Jason winced along with Udon; both of them pitying the now twitching teen that was eating dirt, while Piper just gaped at the scene.
"Who wouldn't?" Piper asked to mildly defend herself. Seriously, these people had problems.
The people here were crazy, Naruto included since he called a moderately aged woman Grandma. And jumped out of a moving car.
"But that's where the movie magic comes from," Apollo winked to the charmspeaker with a chuckle.
And fought a giant on his own, only getting help at the end.
"Wombo combo!" Leo cheered, getting Jason to roll his eyes, that was still an idea they had to try out.
And he also managed to piss his girlfriend off by keeping the fact he knew her brother was still alive.
"Still pissed about that."
Now that Piper thought about it, there were an awful lot of reasons to call Naruto crazy.
"It's something he gets from his father." Artemis nodded in assurance. Apollo just pouted at her, looking hurt.
"Moegi-chan!" said Konohamaru with a whine as he got up. "That was completely uncalled for! I asked a perfectly legitimate question!"
"You asked a perverted question in public, you dumbass!" said Moegi.
"Death to the perverts!"
"Arte, that's like, most of everyone here." Apollo pointed out.
"I stand by my statement." Artemis said with a sniff, making the 'perverts' glower at her while Apollo pouted.
As they broke into an argument Naruto sighed and looked at Udon.
"Does this happen often?"
"Unfortunately, yes," said Udon
"So a budding relationship then." The lady of doves said with mild interest.
as he sniffed up the small hanging booger that followed him around since he was a little kid.
"Oh that is just repulsive." The love goddess shuddered in disgust. All the females nodded with her and some of the guys, too.
"That has to suck," mumbled Piper.
"Thank you for agreeing with me sweetie."
"Anytime mom."
"Being stuck with two arguing partners? I know the feeling," said Jason just as quietly,
"No, I know I mean that." Piper said with an assuring nod.
recalling a War Game when he was younger and stuck with a son of Mercury and a legacy of Mars that just wouldn't agree on a plan. How his team won, he still has no idea.
"I remember that time, not fun." The wind boy shook his head.
"No, the constant booger," said Piper, pointing out the constant affliction that was bothering Udon. She shook her head. "He should just go blow his nose. That's disgusting."
"There's that Dite blood in her," Hermes chuckled, getting a pretty glare from the love goddess.
"Uh-huh," said Jason as he rolled his eyes with disbelief at the girl's concern. He could care less about a runny nose. Just keep eye contact, and you forget it's there.
"Smart thinking," Percy laughed as Jason gave him a smirk.
"Where's your headband, Naruto-nii?" Udon's observation made all conversation stop. Naruto waited as Konohamaru and Moegi shifted their gazes to him as well. As expected, Konohamaru was the first to overreact.
"Holy crap! Where is your headband? It's against the law to not wear your headband!" he said, looking like he was going to go into shock.
"It is?" asked the demigods.
"What? They cut a finger off if he doesn't have it?" Ares mocked with a laugh. "That's a stupid rule."
"More like an unwritten law," Udon corrected with a sniff of his nose as his brows furrowed. "Most shinobi on their days off can get away with it, but for Genin it's almost required to always have it with you in plain sight."
"Well it's a good thing I'm not a Genin then," said Naruto with a small smile on his whiskered face.
"Huh? You got promoted! Why didn't you say anything?" asked Konohamaru with annoyance on his face.
"Here it comes," Hermes said, rubbing his hands in anticipation.
"I didn't get promoted," said Naruto, shaking his head. "I resigned."
"Three…two…one…" the demigods chanted.
"You what?!" the three teenagers exclaimed. People listening in on the conversation gasped in shock.
"Oh I love these silly mortals," Hades chuckled quietly.
"This isn't a funny joke, Naruto-Oniisan!" said Moegi, scolding the blond with a frown as Udon nodded in agreement. Konohamaru was still far too shocked to reply. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.
"Percy, gets that look at times," Annabeth pointed out, getting a pout from her boyfriend.
"Got it from his father no doubt." Athena nodded, getting a glower from her rival.
"It isn't a joke," said Naruto. The grandson of the Sandaime Hokage faltered for a moment longer before he became angry. He stormed forward and grabbed Naruto by his jacket collar.
"Yeah! Violence!"
"Shut up, Ares." The gods rolled their eyes at his typical mindset.
"Bah, screw you guys."
"Tell me why!" demanded Konohamaru. "Why would you resign from the Konohagakure no Sato Shinobi Corps?"
"I have my reasons," said Naruto, who pushed the younger boy's hands away.
"Yeah, us." Leo smirked at the screen, getting nods from the others.
"That's bullshit! You wanted to be Hokage more than anything else in the world! You convinced me that there was more to being Hokage than just being the strongest ninja in the world; that you had to have the heart invested in protecting every member of the village!"
"Well, it is safe to say he got your buried intelligence." Athena smirked at her half-brother. Apollo laughed dryly and rolled his sky blue eyes at her joke.
"My heart belongs elsewhere, Konohamaru, I cannot devote myself to this village. I have been away seven years and in that time I have made new bonds that I have to protect.
Hestia gave a smile after reading that line.
I have a girlfriend whose life is set far away and is much safer out of a land filled with war nearly every other year.
"And why don't we have a place like this?" Ares asked with a pout on his scarred face, hand pointed to the screen.
"Different dimension warhead," Apollo rolled his eyes. Ares just grumbled at that.
I have found family that needs me. I have a mission higher than what the Hokage can give me.
"I wanna make a Jesus joke," Leo struggled, it was so easy, it really was.
I have a purpose that is forcing me away from here and the constant 'rescue' missions were going to cause more problems than they solve. Is that good enough for you or do I have to continue?"
Konohamaru looked taken aback from how Naruto said to him with a stern gaze locked on him. The grandson of the Sandaime Hokage once more found himself speechless, as was his team. The three chunin stared at him in disbelief. The way he said was with the same passion when he was talking about becoming Hokage.
"Got to love that demigod charisma." Thalia smirked, as she glanced at her brother with a proud look. Jason looked somewhat sheepish after meeting his sister's glance.
Konohamaru faltered for words, as did Moegi and Udon. Several civilians around them began murmuring worriedly and a few sent betrayed looks to their blond hero.
"See? They'd drop you like a hat once you do the littlest thing they don't like," said Hades, scornfully.
Naruto ignored the eavesdropping audience's mumbling as he kept his gaze on his (arguably) first three students.
"I wonder how we compare to them, well, the us in the story," Annabeth questioned with interest.
"Oh we'd win, hands down," Nico smirked, getting smiles and eye rolls.
Their eyes were flinching as they tried to blink back the tears; he heard a soft hiccup come from Moegi; Udon's snot line
"Oh us, they're what? In their twenties?" Ares asked mockingly.
"Leave it be Ares." Hestia told him with a slight look. The war god conceded to his scary as hell aunt.
–Which in all honesty was very concerning, maybe something was wrong with him, a chronic disease perhaps?
"Possible," the god of medicine mused.
– seemed to have gotten longer; and finally there was Konohamaru, the 'real' grandson of the Sandaime and the first thing he ever had close enough to be a little brother. It hurt to see the look of betrayal in his eyes.
"Ouch," Jason winced, that was a terrible feeling to see. Percy nodded with him on that one.
"Look," said Naruto as he steeled himself for what he was about to do. "I don't have to defend myself to you.
"Damn right you don't!" said Apollo.
Tsunade has accepted my resignation and that's that. I'm resigned. I am no longer a member of the Konohagakure Shinobi Forces, sorry modern lingo. I meant I am not a shinobi for Konoha anymore. That's all I have to say. It was great seeing you all again."
Ares gave a mock salute, "Dismissed, you little brats," he snickered.
Without another word he spun around and left the three chunin where they stood, civilians bursting into excited conversation as the three foreigners quickly followed after their hero. Some were dismayed that he was no longer a shinobi, others – who had put him high on a pedestal as some hero sent from the gods (the irony)
"Irony indeed," was the chuckle from the gods themselves, oh those were the days when mortals didn't know who was their child or not. Hilarious.
– wondered what was so important that caused him to leave the lifestyle of a shinobi behind. Some debated that he had grown tired of fighting
"Boo!" The war god jeered while cupping his mouth with his large hands.
while others argued that he was brainwashed.
"Seriously?" Annabeth asked. "Wow, come on, that was just plain dumb."
"I know," Leo frowned.
Naruto led his girlfriend and the two younger demigods through the streets teeming with merchants and civilians that hadn't heard his exchanged words. They were silent as they walked unlike before. Jason and Piper had no idea what to say and preferred to just follow the older demigods. Thalia occasionally looked at her boyfriend with a bit of concern; he told her of his misadventures with the Konohamaru Corps, playing games with them and having fun on his days off.
"Double ouch," Percy's turn to wince, even more deep that dagger went.
The way he had left them had to have left some sort of wound, it was the coldest she had ever seen him act to someone – let alone someone he was close to – and she knew it was tearing at him from the inside out.
"Because he is that kind of a young man," the goddess of the hearth said softly, a smile on her gentle face.
"Finally," Naruto said as they came up on a large building that was about five stories high. It was shaped like an oval and had pale yellow walls with, you guessed it, red tiling for the rooftops. Naruto looked at the door with hesitation, like he was almost afraid of what could be behind the door. After what felt like forever, the blond guardian reached out and opened the door. To his relief, he was met with silence rather than a giant welcome home fanfare.
"That would have been annoying," Thalia chimed with a dull look on her face.
"True," Jason nodded, they were on a quest after all.
He led the three other demigods to the staircase at the end of the hall, leading them up the staircase until he got to the top floor. Naruto stopped outside a door on the left and lifted up the floor mat, finding a small brand new key for the apartment that was rebuilt while he was gone.
"Seven years ago, I wonder who cleans it?" Piper asked
"His friends I guess," Hazel said.
"Welcome to Casa de Naruto," said the blond as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. The three demigods gave a small impressed whistle as they entered into a small kitchen-dining area, their shoes making soft sounds as. Naruto hummed in interest. "They rebuilt it down to the last detail." He opened the fridge and glowered. "Expired milk included. Very funny."
"Ouch," Frank winced, he hated that stuff. Stupid dairy products.
"It says here in the annotation that Naruto had once ingested expired milk," said Hestia with a frown as she read the asterisk. "Poor boy."
"I'll bet," said Apollo with a wince. "That stuff is killer on your stomach. Poor kid was probably glued to the toilet seat."
"Ew." Thalia scrunched up her nose as Naruto pulled the carton out and shut the fridge's door, shaking the milk and getting a lovely sloshing sound in response that had Jason and Piper mimicking the older demigoddess.
"That's a bit cruel to do, that isn't even funny." Piper said with a frown. Hermes was laughing, so he begged to differ.
Naruto tossed the carton of milk in a bin next to the fridge. Jason took to looking at the few pictures on the wall while Thalia began looking for where the dishes were kept to get herself a glass of water. Piper followed Naruto as he went through the door on the right of the entrance.
"Bathroom is in here," said Naruto as he walked past the door on his left, where Piper quietly excused herself to investigate.
"You really shouldn't hold it in sweetie." Aphrodite said, making the room burst into snickers or quiet laughter.
"Mom!" Piper cried out, her face red in embarrassment. Urgh, why did she have to do that to her?!
Japanese cartoons depicted bathrooms strangely and she was curious.
"See! I just wanted to see if it was like an anime." Piper reasoned out, crossing her arms sternly towards her mother. Her mother didn't look apologetic at all.
Naruto then opened the door directly in front of him and paused to take it all in. His bed was still set against the wall on his left, a dresser on the right, and a small television in the right corner near the balcony. His eyes widened as he remembered something and he went to the balcony doors, opening them and looking at the horse that stood patiently waiting for him.
"Zephyr! I forgot you were waiting for me. Sorry about that," said Naruto to the fiery horse with an affectionate rub on the neck. The spirit just whinnied and nuzzled his head into Naruto's hand.
"I love that horse," Apollo smiled.
"I don't."
"Oh you're just saying that because your other hates him." Piper rolled her eyes.
"…No I'm not," said Thalia stubbornly.
Master is forgiven, said Zephyr. The blond smiled softly in return and pet Zephyr on the side of the muzzle. The action earned a familiar chuckle that made Naruto stop petting his steed as Zephyr gave a whinny, both looking to the roof above them where a familiar one-eyed shinobi stood with his Greek book in hand.
Most of the gods huffed at the book, it was hardly accurate.
"A boy and his fiery horse," said Kakashi. Naruto could tell that there was a wide and amused smile underneath that mask. The senior shinobi chuckled and closed his book with a snap. "Why am I not surprised? So . . . Zephyr, God of the Southern Winds, right?"
Leo made a wrong buzzer sound.
"Actually, that's Zephyrus," said Naruto. He looked to his fiery steed and gave the horse another affectionate rub on the neck. Zephyr snorted and shook his head in response, insulted for being mistaken as the god.
"He was one of the three fire horses that pulled Helios' sun chariot across the sky."
"Helios?"
"The first God of the Sun, son of Hyperion, Titan of Light. It's argued that his birth created the solar body known as the sun, which my dad now has in his domain."
"Sweet car, too!"
"Oh forget the stupid car," Artemis said scathingly, honestly, it was always about the damn car!
"My car is awesome, you take that back!" Apollo said to his sister with a pout.
"Ah, I see. So, Minato-sensei was a god?"
"Yep, trained by a god, feel honored mortal dude." The teacher of the mortal smirked.
"Inflated ego," Artemis muttered, getting a glare from her brother. But she looked as innocent as possible. Stupid child body, it really did make her look innocent.
"Well to put it bluntly, yes. Dad had pissed Rai-Jiji, er, Zeus off for the last time
"Bah, didn't work at all," Zeus frowned, why couldn't Apollo be a more sensible child? The sky lord tended to forget where he gets it from sadly.
and as punishment he was crammed into a mortal form with his godly memories and knowledge locked away. When Kaachan's seal broke and he was forced to seal the fox into me, he sealed away his memories of the life he had here.
"Your mortal-self was dumb," the smith god told his brother.
"Hey, he sealed the demon in him, not me."
"It was still you."
"…Oh go bang some metal!" was the sun gods retort with crossed arms.
"The only action he gets." Ares said in an ugly laugh.
"Zing." Hermes laughed at the joke.
When Nagato attacked-"
"Who?"
"Pein's true name."
"Interesting. Sorry, continue."
"Thanks. Like I was saying, when Nagato attacked the village my dad's mortal memories began to stir as I fell further into hopelessness during our fight. When my faith in my ability to stop Nagato plummeted to nothing, he appeared before I could do something suicidal. After we had a chat, his mortal aspect returned to their rightful place: Apollo's mind. That's why he suddenly appeared and took me away after being away for so long."
"Sorry about that," said Apollo.
"One would argue that he forgot about you. I honestly expected better from Minato-sensei."
Apollo gaped while Artemis laughed, her brother's own student ragging on him.
"Says the man who was always two hours late for anything."
"And he was a teacher?" Athena questioned.
"Well, it is safe to say he does take after his teacher." Artemis said, looking smug towards her twin.
"You are hurtful, seriously, you are." Apollo said with a pout.
"I was very busy."
"Right…"
"I was!"
"He really does take after Apollo," Hermes snickered into his hands.
"Can it, post boy!"
"I'm sure."
"Humph. Well, I didn't want to talk about me anyway."
"You want to know why I resigned, don't you?"
"I assume it has something to do with your newfound family. Most likely that little muse you're dating."
"Muse she is not," Nico joked, getting a glare from the hunter girl.
"Muse?"
"Yes, that Thalia girl."
"Ah, the dating advice time," Hermes nodded.
"Feh, I'd have given him plenty of advice!" Apollo said with a smirk. The gods just had varied looks of horror at the comment from the archery god. Even Ares, and when Ares looks horrified, you know shit is real.
"Thalia the Muse and Thalia-chan are two different people. The Thalia you're referring to had passed away centuries ago with her sisters. My half-sisters Apollonis, Cephisso, and Borysthenis are the new Muses," said Naruto. "They are daughters of Apollo and Aphrodite. I don't know what brought them together and I don't want to think about it, so don't ask."
"Aw, it was fun." Aphrodite pouted, Apollo just had a winning smile on his face at that one. Ares and Hephaestus were not as amused.
"Can I ask if Aphrodite is as beautiful as the books say?" said Kakashi. His eye was wide and hopeful.
"That's adorable, little mortal man wants to know more about me," the love goddess mused, "Well, if he took off that mask…"
"Slut." Artemis muttered.
"Prude."
"Ladies," Hera chided with a look, getting the two goddess to stop, for now.
Naruto rolled his eyes at the question.
"She prefers to appear as what a man sees as beautiful or someone he loves," said Naruto. "For me it was a mixture of both; most of the love she took from were familial love, like Kaachan's appearance and my aunt Artemis' skin tone, and the beautiful features came from Thalia-chan and Reyna-chan, who is another friend of mine."
"Friend, right." Piper smirked, getting a mild glare from her boyfriend's sister.
"Sounds more like an ex-girlfriend."
"See? The man knows what I'm talking about," said Piper.
"Yes Piper," Annabeth rolled her eyes playfully.
"Don't push me, Kakashi-sensei."
"Sorry, I couldn't resist. So your Thalia is named after the Muse?"
"Yes, that's right."
"What happened to her, the original Thalia?"
That got some winces from the gods.
"The original muses faded away centuries ago."
"Faded?"
"It's how a God dies by natural means."
"Oh, like how an old person's body just gives out?"
"A good analogy." Athena nodded with small frown on her face.
"Something like that, it's more because of a loss of faith in them. Take Selene, Eos and Helios for instance; when the Romans took to the Greek Pantheon, they couldn't afford all the same rituals that the Greeks did and the three Titan-Gods faded away from a lack of faith."
"I see. So you can't kill them otherwise?"
"Oh, trying to dig up dirt on us little man?" Ares grinned, he wouldn't mind fighting these guys.
"Are you trying to?"
"Better to be safe than sorry."
"Mortal be playing with fire," Leo whistled, dumb move dud, just plain dumb.
"That's not funny."
"Sorry."
"Don't make jokes like that, Kakashi-sensei."
"You'd think you would have taught him better," Artemis teased her twin.
"I didn't know about gods at the time, remember?" Apollo said.
"I do, you just didn't."
"Oh, you are so immature!"
"Pot meet kettle, guess what?"
"Quiet, please." Hestia told them sternly, getting the twins to zip up.
"I won't."
"Was there anything else you wanted or did you want to try and extort more information from me?" said Naruto with a frown.
"And he is terrible at it," Hades said.
Poseidon rolled his eyes, "Please, not everything is about torturing information out of a person."
"Says you." Was the sniffing response of eldest brother.
He wasn't too pleased with that last joke. From the steam coming from his nostrils, neither was Zephyr.
"Indeed." Hera frowned, understanding the boy perfectly.
"Oh yes, Tsunade-sama wished to see you," said Kakashi with a snap of his fingers. "Said something about having a good idea of what the disease was."
"Finally." Nico whispered, once they knew, they could save his sister.
"Then I guess we're going back to the Hokage Mansion," said Naruto. He rubbed Zephyr's neck again. "Go on back to Olympus, Zephyr. I'll call you when I need a lift."
As you wish Master, said Zephyr. Naruto stepped back and Kakashi watched as the horse turned around. Zephyr reared up on his hind legs and whinnied loudly before he shot off into the sky with a six-foot long trail of fire behind him. There was a sonic boom that attracted the attention of the other three demigods, having them rush outside with weapons at the ready.
"There are those demigod reflexes." Percy said cheerfully.
Well, Jason and Thalia had their spears out at the ready, Piper had her dagger in hand but looked uneasy.
"No worries Piper, you'll get used to it," Thalia winked at her as the daughter of love flushed at that. Her other looked silly being a total noob right now.
"Hey, you might get trained by Naruto, that's pretty cool." Hazel told her. Piper McLean liked that, very much in fact.
"Relax, everyone relax," said Naruto, his hands up to calm the others down. "Zephyr just took off for Olympus. I'll call him when we need him again. Now we have to go back to the Hokage Mansion."
"Great," said Thalia. She relaxed and held her spear at her side, her other hand went to her hip and she scowled. "That's another thirty minute walk through the crowded streets."
"You could use the exercise." Nico joked, getting slapped in the shoulder.
"I am perfectly fit, thank you very much." The hunter said in defense of her other.
"From sexercise?" Apollo winked at her, getting a sputter from the hunter and a slap from his sister. Totally worth it!
"Not if you go the ninja way," said Kakashi, dropping from the rooftop to the railing. He gave the two newcomers his patented eye smile. "Hello, I'm Kakashi Hatake, by the way. I taught Naruto how to be a shinobi."
"No, you taught me tree climbing and how to be a good comrade," said Naruto.
"Burn." Leo snickered. Hermes just sent a knowing look to Apollo. The sun god didn't even give him a response, not finding it worth it.
"Same thing."
"No it isn't." Athena frowned.
"I distinctly recall asking for, and I quote, badass shinobi jutsu. Not tree climbing and getting an ass poke."
"So that's where he learned it." Percy and Jason muttered, almost feeling their others pain.
Unnoticed by the others, Jason shivered at that statement.
"Poor baby," Piper cooed teasingly to her boyfriend, who blushed lightly at her words.
"You had the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
"Lucky." Annabeth whined with a pout.
" . . . Touché."
"This is nice and all, but don't we have somewhere to be?" asked Jason. He had put away Julius's weapon form when he realized there was no threat, but still had the coin in his hand.
"And my nervousness is perfectly understandable," Jason nodded to his other, he was in a den of assassins after all.
"Jason's right," said Piper. "The sooner we get the cure for Bianca, the sooner we can leave and he can complete his quest."
"Yeah, I wanna get to camp." Piper smiled.
"And I want to show up already." Leo pouted with crossed arms. He wanted to meet his sibs in the heyday, not before the whole 'curse' nonsense came around. Plus Beckendorf sounded like a cool dude, he wanted to see his big bro.
"Right-o, Charmspeaker," said Naruto. "Doubt we should take the scenic route, since Thalia-chan doesn't like heights and I don't know how well Jason can fly yet."
"I could fly by that age." The wind boy pointed out firmly.
"You can fly?" said Piper, looking at the other blond.
"She's just waiting for her Superboy," Leo teased his friend with a wink, getting Piper to smirk back. It was true.
Even Kakashi eyed the boy with interest. Jason shrugged nonchalantly like it was no big deal.
"For a child of the sky." Jason said, giving his sister a teasing look.
"Please, like flying is all that fun." The hunter scoffed. She didn't know what she was missing.
"Yes he can, but that's beside the point," said Naruto. He offered his hand out to the group. "Alright, everyone take my hand, we're going to take the quicker route. We'll meet you there, Kakashi-sensei."
"Instant Transmission." Percy said, ah DBZ, how you are missed.
Thalia was the first to take the son of Apollo's hand. Jason put his hand over his sister's and Piper put her hand over his.
"Aw, holding hands already." Annabeth teased Piper, who in turn shrugged. It was just the first step of her other and the other Jason to get together, she just knew it.
Kakashi watched as Naruto gave him a wink before vanishing in the all too familiar yellow flash. The one-eyed shinobi smirked from where he stood and looked up at the bright sun.
"Hi me!"
"He's definitely your son," said Kakashi.
"No doubt," was the unified agreement. Apollo nodded, pleased that they agreed.
"Now we wait and see if he still has most of your more redeeming qualities or if the terrible ones appear." Artemis said, getting the helium god to deflate.
"You are just plain terrible lil' sis." Apollo said, deciding to get his sister back with her hated nickname.
"Not the younger," the moon goddess grumbled.
The jonin chuckled in amusement, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
The group reappeared outside the Hokage Mansion. Piper groaned and grabbed her head, getting a look of confusion from Jason while Naruto and Thalia looked at her apologetically.
"Oh that sucks." Piper grimaced, remembering what happened when someone besides Naruto and a sky child went through that teleportation move.
"Sorry, Piper," said Naruto. "Forgot that you might feel a bit disoriented."
"Funny since you area grandchild of the original sky lord." Aphrodite commented on tersely, getting a glare from the current sky lord.
"What about Thalia and Jason?" Piper asked. She rubbed her head and looked at the seemingly unaffected Grace siblings with envy. "Why don't they have a headache?"
"Zeus plays favorites." Hades said scathingly with a smirk.
"Oh be silent Hades," Zeus rumbled with a glare.
"My Hiraishin no Jutsu goes through Rai-Jiji's realm, the Sky, so they don't have to worry about it," said Naruto. He put his hand on her head and closed his eyes. After a moment, he removed his hand. "Nothing to worry about. You're headache is just a headache, so you should be fine in a few minutes."
"Drawbacks to the Hiraishin?" Kakashi asked as he appeared behind Jason.
"Don't do that." Jason hissed in anger, great, now he was going to reflex.
The surprise made the Roman flip his coin into the air and after he caught it, a golden sword appeared in his hand. He spun on his heel before Naruto could stop him, making Kakashi jump back and away from the weapon that was swung in his direction.
"Not cool," Hermes frowned at Jason, who just shrugged. Shouldn't have snuck up on him.
"Jason!" At Naruto's voice, Jason looked back at him to see the older blond giving him a frown. "Put Julius away. Now."
"Don't make me get the newspaper!"
"Shut up Leo," Jason mumbled at the elf boy who was wagging his finger at the taller boy.
Jason nodded curtly and with a small flash of light, Julius was once again a Roman gold coin. While the Roman demigod tried to calm his nerves, Naruto looked at Kakashi, who was eyeing the younger blond cautiously.
"As he should," Zeus said with pride at the quick reaction his son had. Jason had a tugging smile on his face.
"Don't sneak up on them," said the blond to his former teacher. Kakashi straightened himself up and gave Naruto his patented eye-smile.
"I figured that out on my own, thanks," said Kakashi with a laidback drawl. "So, you can do the Hiraishin, but Zeus?" Naruto nodded at the correct pronunciation of the name. "Zeus doesn't let the children of other gods go through for free?"
"Of course he wouldn't, too petty." Hades said.
"I am not!" the king boomed.
"I let my kids bring other through shadow travel." Was the snide reply. Zeus had no retort for that one.
"As far as I know, my Dad and I are the only ones that can use the Hiraishin without a drawback," said Naruto. "Aside from his old bodyguards, but they have to work together to do it and were sworn to secrecy."
"How do you know they'll keep that secret?" said Thalia as her brows knit together in suspicion. Naruto gave her a look of disbelief and the daughter of Zeus relaxed. "Oh. Right."
"Yeah, I'd know." The god of truths said in a smug tone.
"Helios would as well," said Athena. "He was the god of oaths."
"Oh yeah," said Apollo. He blinked. "Damn, Naruto really couldn't lie if he wanted to. Oaths and honesty, yeesh, what a combo."
"Yeah. I know," said Naruto. He gave a firm nod to support his own words. The blond shinobi-turned-guardian faced the doors and pushed one open. "Let's just go in, get the vial, and leave before this quest gets even more complicated than it has to."
"Bad words dude, just plain bad." Leo shook his head, something new was going to happen now.
He and the three demigods went back up the familiar stairs and entered into Tsunade's office. They noticed two things once they did. First, Tsunade had changed her attire to wear red and white ceremonial robes, a large pyramid shaped hat sitting on her desk with the kanji for fire facing them. Second, this time it wasn't just Tsunade within the room. Sitting at desks that were brought into the office, four more people sat, three men of varying ages and one woman in her late twenties to early thirties.
"Oh my. He's the splitting image of his handsome father," said the woman from the far right.
"Why thank you," Apollo whistled to the image.
She wore blue and white ceremonial robes, her matching hat set to the side. She had long auburn hair that was styled oddly to the demigods with the strange bun held at the top by a blue band. Two short bangs framed her left eye, with one covered her right eye while the green left eye leered at Naruto.
Thalia glared at the woman, deeming her a slut.
Two more bangs reached past her chin and crossed over her impressive chest hidden by her ceremonial robes. She had on blue lipstick that went along well with her skin tone and her robes, the lips pulled back into a familiar smirk that sent a chill down Naruto's back and put Thalia on edge.
"Ooh, a cougar." Aphrodite said with a tugging smirk, "Best watch out Thalia~"
"Can't you once just say hello to someone, Mizukage-dono?" said the smallest person in the room. A balding old man wearing brown and white ceremonial robes received a glare from the woman for his comment. He had a large nose, underneath which was a relatively thick mustache, a triangular beard came from his chin and large eyebrows jutted out like pale caterpillars, but looking past the stereotypical old man was a man of power. Looking into his dark eyes was a glance at a man with years of wisdom, power and grief.
"I take shits bigger him," Ares laughed out loud.
"You should have Apollo check that out, Hermes smirked, getting laughs all around. The war god just glowered at his younger brother.
He scoffed after looking over the blond and crossed his arms. "To think, this brat is the offspring of the Kiiroi Senkou. He looks as threatening as a butterfly."
"I could kill you, you little gnome." Apollo sneered at the image.
"I agree with the Tsuchikage. How will he turn the tide in our war other than his blood?" asked the largest man in the room.
"Oh yeah, they still want his blood." Annabeth frowned.
Her mother scoffed, "The ichor in his veins have no doubt changed it. So it isn't a worry."
He too wore ceremonial robes, colored white and yellow, but they were pulled taught around what had to be thick muscle. His hair was slicked back and stark white blond. His hardened face had a small mustache of his own, a shorter, cleaner triangular beard jutting out from his chin. The four demigods were reminded of statues at Camp Jupiter by looking at this man.
"Now this guy, I like him," Ares nodded, he looked like a real warrior type.
"Don't let his looks deceive you, Raikage-dono," said the young man to the large man's immediate right. He wore white and green robes as opposed to his other counterparts. His skin was paler than average and around his two green eyes were very thick dark markings, indicating a sleeping disorder. Above his left eye was a red tattoo – a kanji – that could be seen beneath his unruly red hair.
"He is quite handsome," the love goddess commented, the tattoo was weird, but he did give off a calm handsome presence.
"That kanji means love, Dite." Apollo told her, making her beam. Oh, he just became even more interesting.
The young man stood and exited behind his desk, walking towards a dumbstruck Naruto with a small smile. "It is good to see you once again, my friend."
"Gaara!" said Naruto. He returned the grin and the two friends shook hands firmly, representing their strong bond. "Man, the years have been good to you!"
"Not as well as they have to you, Naruto," said Gaara as he retracted his hand. "You look only a few years older than when you left."
"His mother's genes apparently," said Athena, recalling the explanation from before.
Naruto gave a sheepish chuckle and scratched the back of his neck.
"Yeah, apparently my Kaachan's bloodline flows strong in me," said the blond to his friend. He then beamed. "Oh, I've got to introduce you to the others!"
"Nice kid," Apollo grinned, it was nice to know that his son had some supportive friends.
"Kazekage-dono," said the Raikage. The two old friends looked in the massive man's direction as he frowned. "We were brought here to discuss the case of Naruto Uzumaki, not to catch up over lunch."
"Well aren't you the Roman in the room?" muttered Naruto with a scowl.
The Greeks chuckled at that while the Romans smirked or in Jason's case, pouted.
"No," said Gaara as he raised his hand to calm Naruto. "Raikage-dono is correct. This is a serious matter we have to discuss." He went back to his seat and sat down, looking at Naruto professionally.
"Genin Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure no Sato," Tsunade began,
"He retired!" Apollo growled out, at least treat him got of the military and not like he was still someone the woman could boss around.
"you were abducted by an unknown force
"The God Force." Hermes snickered out, getting some laughs as well.
and MIA for seven years, and only now on the brink of the Fourth Shinobi War do you return? After assaulting teams sent to retrieve and debrief you, nonetheless."
"Assaulting, they tried force, he defended himself." Jason frowned.
"I thought the war started," said Naruto. He dropped his own friendly face and turned just as serious as the five great leaders. "And those teams had a primary mission that contradicted my own. Well, all except for Shikamaru Nara's team."
"Indeed they did." Artemis nodded, Hades giving one as well.
"Be that as it may," said Tsunade. Her jaw was tight as she said, indicating that this was not her decision. "The Leaders of the Shinobi Alliance in all their brilliance want to know why. Why didn't you return in those seven years? Why did you choose to return now?"
"Fuck you, that's why." Ares chuckled, but cowed after the glare from his eldest aunt.
"You don't seriously think he's a spy, do you?" said Kakashi after he had put all this together. Looking at his leader, Kakashi stepped forward. "Tsunade-sama, I gave you several good sources of information –!"
"Gods! Feh!" The Tsuchikage scoffed. "What proof do you have that there are gods? Or that there are children of gods, for that matter! I think your village should stave off the hero worship for a while. Minato Namikaze was no god; he was a man! A dead man, for that matter."
Everyone frowned that little man's words, ignorant fool.
"I'm right here you little shit, oh if I could just-"
"Enough Apollo." Zeus told him, though he did not look like he was taking this any better.
"This Greek mythology is ridiculous," said the Mizukage in agreement.
"I wonder if my other can curse her." Aphrodite frowned, feeling vindictive right now.
"These lands in your books don't exist anywhere on the known map."
"That just means your world is bigger than you think," Athena rolled her eyes, the ignorance, honestly.
"Tsunade-sama! We went to those lands!" Kakashi interjected.
"He has a point," said Gaara in defense of the Jonin. "Commanders of the other squads also report this . . . America. Whose not to say that there isn't another continent out there beyond our reach?"
Athena smiled with a nod, "Finally, someone with an open mind."
"Our reason for being here is not over whether or not gods exist or if there are more lands to explore!" boomed the Raikage. He shoved a finger in Naruto's direction. "The reason we are here is to know if he is with the Alliance or the Akatsuki!"
"Large piece of-" Apollo snarled, honestly, these arrogant mortals!
"I am not with anyone. This is not my war," said Naruto as his arms crossed.
"Yep, he has his own to deal with." Percy nodded, no way would they want to lose Naruto at a time like this.
"I have my own war to prepare for, one that concerns the safety of my family."
"You do not get to choose what is and is not your war, boy," said the Tsuchikage.
"The hell he doesn't!"
He levitated out of his seat and pointed at the blond. "You are a Jinchuriki! You are a weapon and you will fight!"
"…I want to kill him. Now." Apollo said in a calm tone, but his glowing eyes said differently.
"Reminds me of the old days." Ares commented, mortals thought their kids were weapons of war, but you don't control them, nope, they were called demigods for a reason.
"And where did that get you with the Jinchuriki of Iwagakure, Onoki?" Tsunade countered in Naruto's defense. The Tsuchikage, Onoki, scowled in her direction before sitting back down.
"Damn right you shut up, you little shit." Apollo said calmly. Artemis rolled her eyes, but she did feel her brother's anger, it was very understandable.
Tsunade looked back at Naruto. "You have to make a decision Naruto."
"I don't have to do anything. I came here because I thought you had a cure for the disease I gave you," said the blond with a frown. "If you don't then just tell me now."
"She'd better," Hades said in a grave tone, his black eyes having a deadly look in them.
"Not yet, but I can if you give me time. The disease is impossibly rare," said Tsunade. The three demigods blinked in shock and Naruto gave her a piercing stare. As the other Kage looked in her direction, Tsunade sighed. "It was an old disease that was hopefully lost to time.
Apollo frowned, no, it couldn't be, could it?
One that doctors and physicians, even medical shinobi are skeptical of its existence. This one disease is said to have killed thousands with one drop and only fell out of existence after the Sage of Six Paths began teaching chakra."
"What is it?" said Naruto with anticipation. He had to know now. What was killing his charge?
Nico bit his lip in worry.
"It has no official medical name, but the legend about it says it came from overseas, from a land named after a mighty empress," said Tsunade.
"Oh so now they believe they have lands besides their own." Athena rolled her eyes, but this empress interested her.
Looking at the blond, she said a phrase that made him want to ball up in fear. "Atene no ekibyō."
"Oh crap." Apollo said with a dropped jaw.
"What is it Apollo," Hades demanded sternly.
Apollo just pointed to his wise sister, "Meet that lands Empress."
That got the room to freeze. Only one disease could do that and happened in Athens.
The other ten people in the room looked at the blond as he stumbled back from shock, as though he was physically hit with it, steadied by Thalia and Kakashi before he could fall over.
"Of course he would," the god of medicine grimaced, not even he could not cure it.
In the back of his head he knew what it was, but refused to believe that it had come back. It was his worst fear come to life: A disease that many, even the Olympians, forgot about.
"I didn't." Apollo and Hades said in unison.
One that his father never found a cure for.
"Thanks for the reminder." The sun god frowned.
A disease that nearly ended the world in different moments of time.
"Oh the paperwork." Hades bemoaned, and now his daughter had it! How?!
Nico looked destroyed, his eyes widened in terror as Hazel held him in a half hug, but it didn't ease his comfort for his dying sister.
It went by many names now because of its various mutations over the thousands of years it existed.
Bubonic Plague was the most common.
The Black Death was the most well-known.
But the original form of this disease had no cure. There was no way to stop it. It was one of the most horrible things Naruto could ever hear. With a dry voice, Naruto managed to translate what Tsunade had said.
"The Plague of Athens."
"Nice to have your city in that name." Poseidon quipped. His rival snarled at him, the nerve of that sea brained lout!