Reading: Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II: A Hero's Peril
XVIII
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
I just...I just killed someone. Thalia thought as she looked at the body of the man she had killed.
"Oh get over it." Ares snorted. Artemis gave him a stern glare. It didn't do much.
"He...You...Oh my god!" said Piper, her cry grabbed Thalia's attention. The young daughter of Aphrodite was losing her cool as her mind caught up with the situation. She had just seen someone die right in front of her and his blood was on her face.
"And not in the fun way."
"Ares," Aphrodite hissed at her boyfriend.
"Sorry." He said, trying to sound sincere. He didn't want his happy time taken away.
Frantically, she wiped at her face to get the blood off, tears starting to pour down her face as she did.
"And I'm traumatized, great." Piper frowned.
"Anyone would be in your situation sweetie." Her mother assured her.
"Thanks."
"Piper, Piper stop!" said Thalia, grabbing the girl's wrists as she knelt down to comfort her. "Easy, here let me get it."
"Aw, that's sweet, sister-in-law bonding time." Leo said, making kissy faces for fun.
Piper turned to Thalia. "You know, we could use some bonding time."
"I'd find it fun." The hunter answered with amusement.
The daughter of Aphrodite sniffed, trying to pull herself together as the older girl wiped away the blood. She looked back on what she had been through so far; Naruto falling to the hood of her father's SUV and the shooting that ensued;
"Good fight." Ares nodded
"Sloppy." Athena countered.
"Still good." Ares argued and they glared at one another, Zeus gave his children a stern look. Getting them to back off in favor of the story.
chasing after a dragon, Drakon, or whatever it was called; forced to wake up at crazy early hours because of some huge scandal; then there was seeing Naruto's dad drive one of his descendants insane with a curse of prophetic proportions;
"Which was really not nice to do in front of someone new."
"Dite," Apollo sighed out, "Seriously? Right now?"
"I'm just saying." The love goddess sniffed.
and after that was flying from California to a hidden world in Antarctica.
"To be far, that is twisted." Leo said out, giving Piper some support.
"Thank you, Leo."
"Anytime."
Now she's seen someone die right in front of her and she really understood why Ancient Greece and Rome was considered 'barbaric' in modern society in terms of violence.
The gods grumbled about that while the demigods nodded to this.
"Hey," Thalia's voice snapped Piper from her thoughts, "I got all the blood off."
"Thank you." Piper said quietly, sniffing her tears up. She looked up at the older girl. "D-Does it ever get easier? Living with monsters after your life? Seeing people die?"
"After a while." Thalia admitted, getting nods all around from her fellow demigods.
"Camp Half-Blood does wonders for making that easier," said Thalia, putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder in reassurance. "Like Camp Jupiter, but less militant.
"Not our fault." Jason pointed out.
"Yes it is, being the violent beings you are." Athena sneered to the boy, who just lightly glared back.
"Athena," Hera said crisply, getting the war goddess to back off from her staring contest.
It really is a summer camp for demigods, though we act as a small family sometimes. Though if you really wanted you could stay there all year."
"Year rounding is fun, I love it." Leo smirked, so much better then foster homes after all.
"Really?" Piper asked, weighing the options in her head.
"Yeah, Naruto and I stay there year round," said Thalia.
"Mm, your other must love that."
"Stupid love goddess." Thalia muttered with clinched fists with blue static arcing in them a bit.
"There's actually a nice school I go to during the school months.
"There is?" Percy asked.
"Yes Percy. Some of us don't want to stay at camp all the time you know, it gets tiring for year rounders." Annabeth lectured.
Though I can skip occasionally, get some extra lessons in combat or practice my control over my father's domain."
"Where is this place again?" the son of the sea questioned eagerly.
"Thalia! Piper!" Jason's voice broke off their conversation as he ran towards them, Naruto's sword Eclipse and his own Julius in hand. "Where's Naruto?"
"Nice caddy job, Jason."
"Oh stuff it, Leo." The blond said to the pyro, who just snickered at his own joke.
"Follow the fallen trees," said Thalia, moving to check on his own scrapes. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, nothing too serious," said Jason ignoring the gash he had in his leg, though he did favor it as he walked.
"Ouch," Thalia frowned, not liking to see her brother hurt.
"It's fine." The boy in question said.
"I can worry, Jay." Thalia said. Jason had a tiny smile on his face at that.
He pocketed his coin-disguised weapon and handed her Eclipse. "Here, hold onto this. I think this is Naruto's sword."
"This doesn't look like how I remember it, and where's the shield?" Thalia asked with a frown as she took the blade. Jason shrugged it off and rushed past, going into the woods and searching for the older blond since it was his quest to return Naruto back to the United States.
"Yeah, do your job Jason." Apollo snickered as the boy rolled his eyes. He felt sorry for his other, having to babysit Naruto? Must be a pain in the ass job to do.
Thalia blinked, quickly following after her brother and Piper after her, all of them looking for the whiskered blond. They found Naruto pinned by several trees, Jason using his spear in an attempt to wrench the tree off of him.
"Ah, the lever." Athena smiled along with Hephaestus. Such a good invention.
"Naruto!" said Thalia with worry written on her face, dropping Naruto's sword. She readied her own spear and climbed onto the opposite side of where Jason stood, jabbing her own spear into the gap. She and Jason pushed; getting the tree to jerk forward and making Naruto's eyes open with a loud gasp.
"Thalia, stop! Stop!" Jason said, catching Naruto's gasp and seeing him mutter something. She did and Jason carefully shimmied to Naruto's side, leaving his spear wedged where it was. "What did you say? Naruto?"
"Speak man!" Apollo cried out dramatically, getting some snickers and glares for his idiocy.
"B…B-Branch," said Naruto, coughing up some of his blood and ichor.
"Well, that was a good possibility." Athena noted.
Jason looked down through the gap, where he could see the branch. It didn't look good and that was with the dim lighting. "Impaled...Cut…branch…first…"
"Good plan." Annabeth nodded, best get that out of the way so not to worsen the wound.
"Alright, okay, hang in there, Naruto," said Jason. He looked at Thalia. "We need to cut the branch that impaled him before he drowns in his own blood." She went to push more, but he stopped her, "wait! Jeez. Look if we push too much we risk opening the wound,
"She's just worried for her boytoy." The love goddess smiled, it was sweet in her opinion.
but if we hold it where it is...Piper?"
"Yes?" The young demigoddess looked at him curiously.
"Think you can cut the branch away?" Jason asked.
Piper started at the question. "C-Cut the branch?"
"Can you?"
"Y-Yes!" Piper swallowed down her nerves in an effort to help the older blond.
"That's my girl," Aphrodite praised beamingly, getting Piper to smile at her.
This would help distract her from some of the things she was worried out. "Yes, I can help."
"True," said girl admitted, anything to get out the current events out of her head, she liked helping people after all.
"Okay, here give me your hand," said Jason, carefully keeping the wedge open as he offered the girl his hand to help her onto the tree.
"Prince charming, ain't he?" Leo asked with wiggled eyebrows to Piper, who blushed and gave a smile to the pink-cheeked blond.
Piper climbed up and easily balanced herself on the tree that Naruto was pinned to. Jason pointed down at the gap. "Look closely, can you see the branch?"
"Yeah, I see it," said Piper. She crouched down and prepared the knife Naruto's steed had given her. Reaching through the crack, her slender arms finally came in handy,
"See?" Aphrodite asked with pride.
Piper rolled her eyes, but still smiled at the fact.
Piper waited until her blade hit resistance. Looking at Naruto's face to assure herself she wasn't pressing against his body, she began to use her dagger like a saw, cutting away the tree. As it came to the last threads of being connected to the offending branch, the tree began tilting away and snapped just before Piper could finish it off. Jason and Thalia quickly regained their balance after the fallen tree rolled away; Piper merely adjusted her kneeling posture before standing back up and dropping from the tree the three were perched on. Looking at the branch impaling the older blond teen, Piper winced. "Ouch . . . That has to hurt."
"Stating the obvious?"
"Oh be quiet Hazel," Piper frowned, crossing her arms with a huff.
The branch that had impaled Naruto was at least six inches wide going right through the left of his stomach.
"Man, that looks like it is going to be a bitch and a half to pull out." Apollo admitted.
Thalia and Jason dropped to the ground, the Roman Grace kneeling at his older friend's side. He reached for the branch and tugged, gauging how long it was as he looked at the tree Naruto was still pinned to.
Naruto awoke with a glob of his unique blood escaping his mouth, turning to weakly glare at the younger blond. "The fuck are you doing?"
"Really Jason, you shouldn't touch another man's stick." Hermes chided, getting the blond Roman to go green in the face.
"Just seeing what else we have to work with," said Jason. "Sorry."
"Well, he does have a big stick." Aphrodite assured with a lewd and amused smile.
"Stop. Please." Jason begged, holding down his bile at the wording they were using.
Naruto just gave him another dirty glare before his eyes drifted shut. He was low on blood and without Kyubi to accelerate his Apollo-given qualities; he may very well pass out before he finishes healing.
The three conscious and able demigods turned at the sound of rustling branches, the Grace siblings raising their weapons in the direction of the sound while Piper emotionally and mentally prepared herself to fight if necessary.
"I give her praise for that." Artemis said, getting Aphrodite to look smug. She dashed the smugness of her rival as she continued. "But only for her. Your other children, not so much."
Thankfully for them, it was only the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade bursting through the brush with several masked warriors behind her.
"Oh, so stupid, now they come?" Leo asked, some mockery in his tone.
"What happened?" she demanded, looking at the strangers with distrust and clenching her fists in preparation to retaliate if necessary.
"We came with him!" Piper exclaimed. "What is with these people?"
"Naruto fought against that dick with the duck ass for a head," said Thalia, her hand wrapping around her spear and tensing in preparation to defend the group. "Then he got smacked around by the Two-Face wannabe. He's dead now."
"Deader than dead." Percy mumbled out, getting Thalia to give him a glare through the corner of her eye.
The older woman narrowed her eyes before looking at the steadily breathing blond with the branch in his gut. She moved to his side and pressed her hand against the branch. Naruto's eyes shot open with a gasp.
"The fuck are you doing?" he asked quickly at the appliance of pressure. Thalia and Jason raised their spears at her, but by doing so both were surrounded by three of the masked men.
"Honor guard no likie kiddies," Ares chuckled.
Piper got an arm wrapped around her neck with a kunai aimed at her jaw, making her stiffen and tighten her grip around her own knife.
"Asses," the love child hissed.
"Well, that seems like protocol really." Jason admitted, but Piper gave him a look that had him quickly adding. "But yeah, total asses."
His girlfriend nodded in approval.
"Everyone relax!" Tsunade ordered. The masked ANBU released the demigods at her order, the air thick with tension as Jason and Thalia glared at the ones that threatened them.
"Damn right." The Grace siblings agreed.
The leader of Konoha returned her gaze to the blond. "Is Sasuke dead?"
"No," Ares pouted.
"More slippery than Orochimaru," said Naruto after a cough of blood. "Please stop touching the stick inside me."
Apollo opened his mouth, but Artemis cut him off, "If you even say an innuendo, I will shoot you."
Apollo snapped his jaw shut.
"Stupid brat, stop talking already." Tsunade ordered as she began channeling medical chakra through her hand, coating her hand in a green energy that soon spread around the branch. Naruto's head jerked upwards as he released a strangled cry of pain, the foreign medical chakra having an adverse effect on the new chakra system he had. He felt like he was on fire, his natural healing thinking that the medical chakra was an assaulting virus.
"Well, that's uncomfortable." Apollo frowned.
Tsunade ignored this; her medic training and expertise making her used to hearing such cries as she slowly pulled the branch out.
"At least she's an expert." Hermes supplied.
"I thought it was established when the blond brat asked her for a cure to something sunspot couldn't even cure."
"…Fuck you Ares, seriously, go fuck yourself."
"Hehehe."
By the time the whole branch, a good eight inches long one,
It took most of the younger male gods a surprising effort of self control not to make a joke because Hestia, Artemis, and Hera were all glaring at them.
Damn it! It would have been perfect, too.
had been pulled out, Naruto has lost consciousness.
"We need to move quickly," said Tsunade as she pulled out a tag and unsealed a stretcher. She looked to a curiously familiar ANBU with a rather unique white hairstyle and another that gave off a feeling of nature that Thalia had felt before from somewhere.
"Probably Demeter's kids." Hades suggested.
"Oh, of course you would say that, you kidnapper."
"Go play with your whole grain!"
"Inu and Yamato, you two carry him while I work on the hole in his stomach. Neko, escort the kids back to the village. The rest of you secure the border. Let's go!"
"Transform and roll out." Apollo said in a deep voice.
When he awoke, Naruto felt a stinging sensation in his left hand and he sat up, before groaning in pain at the strain on his stomach. He looked to his left through a squinted eye, finding Shizune dipping his hand into a bowl of clear liquid that he immediately recoiled from. "Ow! What the hell is that?"
"Water with herbs," said Shizune, grabbing his wrist and forcing it back into the bowl. Naruto bit onto his lip and his other fist clenched tightly around the bar on his bed, his body tensing up as a jolt of pain shot up his left hand's arm, and doubled around his waist.
"It's a necessary evil." Hermes nodded, minoring in herbs himself.
Apparently his hand hadn't fully healed and neither had the gaping hole in his stomach. This method of medical treatment was not doing him any favors.
"Get the nectar, stat!" Nico cried out.
"Oh, you big baby. It's just to disinfect your burn. How did you get this anyway? Your friend was very vague about it compared to telling us you were run through with a tree."
"Well, it all started with a mini-sun." Apollo explained, but Artemis just slapped his arm, getting him to shut up.
"Where are they?" Naruto asked, giving the hospital window a longing glance. He very much hated this building. Not for the people, nor for what happened within here, but because how utterly dead it made you feel when you were inside it.
"Amen to that." Hades chuckled.
Actually, he felt that way in every hospital. The irony did make him want to laugh, though. Here he was, son of the God of Medicine, and he hated hospitals.
"I work hard for those!"
"Oh be silent."
"Arte!"
That was his mother's opinion on them, too.
"See, even your wife thinks so." Artemis jeered for fun, really wanting to see this woman in full view.
"White walls, white floors, white clothes it's all so eerily dead!" said Kushina as she fed him a small sliver of ambrosia. He had just finished his battle with Kyubi, making it agree to help him in his new life's work as Hades' children's protector. As he chewed the small sliver, he noted that it tasted just like Ichiraku Beef Ramen. "The least they could do is add some color to it so it doesn't feel like you're quarantined from the rest of the world. And then there are the needles. And don't get me started on the smell! It's either that of sickness or sterilization. Ugh."
Yeah, his mom was not a fan of hospitals.
Apollo was pouting, his own wife! How could she?
"Waiting for you to be released," said Shizune as she removed his hand from the painful 'remedy' and started wrapping bandages around it. As soon as she finished she moved the bowl to the side and stood from her seat. "Now, Naruto, you and I both know you hate being in hospitals-"
"Which stands for Horrible Obnoxiously Smelling Place Insistently Trapping All Locals."
"Tee-shirt that." Hermes said, typing it on his cellphone.
"Some brother you are."
"I aim to please all clients!"
"-But you cannot escape this time." Shizune finished with a stern glare. "We have ANBU set all around the ward and outside your door in case anything happens. And we've reinforced the windows with anti-chakra seals."
"You just don't tell a demigod to not do something." Percy said with a shake of his head, only bad things come from that.
"Challenge accepted."
"See?"
"Percy, quiet." Annabeth scolded jokingly as she snuggled next to him.
"I mean it Naruto," said Shizune. "You're recovering from detachment from your biju, impalement, nerve damage-"
"Minor brain damage, blood loss, several fractured if not broken bones and to top it off a major third degree burn on my left hand," said Naruto as he cut the experienced medic off and glared at his bandaged hand.
"Show 'em your moves." Leo said, getting snickers from his two fun uncles.
"Physical recovery, six to eight weeks for a normal human, for a demigod, three to four. With ambrosia, two. With ambrosia and nectar, one to one and a half." He clenched his bandaged fist, ignoring the pain he felt and looked back at the surprised woman. "For a child of Apollo: five days. For an Uzumaki: four. For all the above: Two. At most."
"I. Spawn. Badasses." The sun god said with a grin.
"Wow." Were the kids' responses.
Shizune sighed and wrote something on her clipboard as she turned to walk away. As her hand touched the door handle, Shizune looked back at the bandaged blond. "Don't try to escape again, Naruto. Please?"
"Well if you're going to ask nicely," said Naruto with a sigh as he laid back.
"Such a gentleman." The love goddess smiled, Hera seems pleased as well.
His hands wrapped around behind his head as he relaxed, careful to not put pressure on his bandaged palm. "Might as well stick around."
Meanwhile, Thalia was looking at her boyfriend's new sword, wondering how it had changed, where the shield had gone and why it hadn't reverted back to a bracelet.
"Gear change, always fun." Ares smiled.
She was sitting with Jason and Piper in the waiting room of the Konoha Hospital. They had four of those ANBU agents watching them while they waited for Naruto to be allowed visitors.
"How hospitable of them." Thalia said sarcastically.
The two Grace siblings had bandages covering small cuts they received from their fight with Juugo. Jason even had a nice laceration on his leg from when Juugo threw him into the side of the cliff.
"How nice?" Jason asked as his sister swatted him in the arm.
"Not funny." She said sternly.
"...And then every Friday there is a siege which I mentioned before," said Jason as he finished describing Camp Jupiter's routine
"CTF is still cooler." Percy argued, Jason hummed in consideration.
to the curious daughter of Aphrodite, who he kept incorrectly referring to as Venus.
"Correct for me." Jason muttered with a pout, Thalia just pinched his cheek.
"It's kind of like a war game. A few kids from every cohort is challenged to take the specially designed fort."
"So it's like an offensive and defensive capture the flag only one-sided?" Piper asked. Jason nodded.
"If that's the case," said Thalia, who decided to speak up at hearing the analogy. "You'd love our camp's capture the flag. It's both offensive and defensive for both sides."
"Point." The wind boy concede to the water boy. Percy nodded with a smirk.
Jason looked interested at that, leaning forward to ask more when the dark haired aide of the Hokage walked in. Shizune gave a small smile to the three, and since they were looking out for Naruto she considered them all right in her books.
"Thank you, finally, someone who isn't going all hostile on us." Thalia thanked aloud, getting nods from Jason and Piper.
"He's awake, now," she said. "And he should still be in his hospital room."
"Why wouldn't he be there?" Piper asked.
Shizune gave her a tired smile. "Naruto doesn't like hospitals. He finds them restraining and stupid. He spent a few weeks in here when was young. Reasons varied from a prank of his going wrong or after a few failed missions. Then there was the time he was hospitalized after he developed his first S-Rank attack. It ripped the cells in his right hand apart and had it not been for his furry guest, which I hope you were all aware of" Thalia and Jason nodded while Piper's brows furrowed "he may not have kept that arm."
"Idiot." Thalia muttered aloud.
"Reckless idiot is what he is," said Thalia, her arms crossing as she sat back in her seat with a frown, Eclipse resting on her lap.
That got some smiles as some turned to the pink faced hunter.
"He is Konoha's Number One Knuckleheaded Ninja," said Shizune with a smile as she thought back about a younger, loudmouthed and stubborn Naruto. He was an Uzumaki through and through if what Tsunade's stories about Kushina were true, though with the occasional flair and seriousness that his father had.
The gods, minus Apollo, snorted at this.
The sun god pouted with crossed arms, he could totally be serious…he just didn't want to!
"Was," said Thalia, correcting the woman with a frown.
"That's right Thalia, claim your man!" the love goddess cheered. The hunter just palmed her face.
"Do you know why he resigned?" Shizune asked the teenager, a hopeful gleam in her eye as she looked at the raven-haired girl.
"For the same reason he said."
"I see," said Shizune. Her answer didn't appease Shizune's hope and made the woman sigh. She stood back up and held her clipboard to her chest. "Well, I guess I should get back to Tsunade-sama. She's working on that vial Naruto gave her, should be done making a cure by tomorrow.
"Wait, what?" Apollo asked, jaw dropping.
"Seems you got outclassed sunspot." Ares roared with laughed as the rest of his siblings joined in.
The sun god was looking a little dim at the moment.
If she isn't drinking, that is."
"A woman after my own heart."
"Bet the wife would love to hear that, D."
"Shut it Ares." Mr. D sneered.
She turned and walked away, leaving the three demigods to get to their feet and walk, or limp slightly in Jason's case, to Naruto's room. They warily watched the two masked men standing outside his room before opening the door. What they saw mildly surprised the Grace siblings and fully shocked Piper.
"73…74…75…76…77" Naruto was counting as he balanced on his right hand upside down, hospital scrubs covering him from the waist down as he performed vertical push-ups.
"Pump it up." Apollo said, sounding like the Governator.
He had his bandaged left hand clenched tightly into a fist and pressed against his back, sweat already forming on his brow as he struggled to maintain balance, consistency, and fight against gravity.
"Whiskers what the hell are you doing?" Thalia asked, her eyes wide as she watched him work out despite having just been put in the hospital. Though she wouldn't admit liking the view of his torso, even with the bandages wrapped around his midsection it was a sight to admire.
The love goddess licked her lip, "Indeed." The demigoddess blushed a bit at the image. Their boyfriends grumbled at that.
"79…80…Staying in shape," said Naruto with a grunt as he paused close in the air to lean back to the ground until his toes were touching the tile floor. As soon as they did, he started doing one-handed push-ups. "Rebuilding lost muscle. Sasuke may have been weaker than me, but he could hold my sword back. In my "old" body, that wouldn't have happened. I would've shattered his sword instantly."
"Having a new body must suck." Percy noted sarcastically, since it obviously happened all the time.
"Didn't you shatter it anyway?" Thalia asked.
"Besides the point, I should've shattered it with a swing," said Naruto with a grunt as he pushed himself against gravity. "I'm only at sixty-five percent of my former physical strength, you know."
"What?" the demigods muttered. Naruto was damn strong, but only sixty-five percent?
"Sixty-five?" Jason asked.
"It's complicated. Point is I used to be able to break boulders with a punch," said Naruto
"And he can do that naturally," Hera mused with a side glance to her husband, "Unlike someone else who got it the cheap way."
Zeus kept his eyes centered on the story.
as he continued to do pushups, keeping track in his head. He grunted as he hit one hundred and with a small amount of strain, pushed back off the ground to resume vertical pushups. "Now I can only crack stone."
"I'd still like to be able to do that." Leo pointed out.
"Don't have the arms for that one elf." Ares jeered
"Screw you!" the boy told his uncle, who only laughed at the insult.
"Only?" Piper asked, her mouth agape. "You're upset about being only able to crack stone?"
"Thank you for voicing our current disbelief Piper."
"Anytime Hazel, anytime."
"He did just say he used to be able to crush boulders," said Jason pointedly.
"You were serious?"
"Son of the truth god." Apollo said with a grin at his boasting.
"Demigods can do many things," said Thalia informatively. "Jay and I can control to a minor extent our father's domain, and you've seen him fly. Whiskers grew up here, in a land outside of the Olympians' control. Something I still find hard to believe."
"We all do," Zeus grumbled, somewhat wishing a world like that existed. Hera gave him another glance, knowing what he was think with narrowed eyes. The king of the gods gulped, returning his focus to the story.
"The Olympians have rules, Thalia-chan," said Naruto with a grunt. "One hundred eight...one hundred nine..."
"They're gods though," said Piper with a furrowed brow. "I mean I get that they would make rules, but having rules?"
"Lesson time folks." Annabeth said, taking an amusing look at Piper, who huffed.
"I'm new, okay?" she argued to whatever thought was flying in that blonde head of Annabeth's.
"Divine rules," said Jason patiently. "Jupiter-"
"Zeus," said Thalia, correcting her brother since Piper was Greek.
"Thank you." Athena smirked.
"Same difference," said Naruto, covering for his fellow blond as he paused in his activity to look at them.
"Thank you Naruto," Jason smiled as Athena scowled.
"Anyway," said Jason, a bit irked at being interrupted but keeping it to himself.
"Jason doesn't like that." Leo chided.
"Yet you love to do it."
"Someone has to, dude."
"The Olympians are kept in order by a set of rules that Jupiter or Zeus, whichever name you prefer-"
"Jay ... They aren't names, the gods have multiple personality disorder," said Naruto with a grunt. "Romans and Greeks are two different things."
"That still takes some getting used to." The demigods agreed upon.
Percy turned to his father, "When do I meet Neptune?"
Poseidon frowned, "He isn't as fun as me Percy, trust me. He'd have you in a marine uniform if he could." The god shivered, that was his immortal son's domain thank you very much.
"...Can I finish?" Jason asked.
"Go right ahead."
"Jupiter set down divine rules in order to keep from the gods to cause too many natural disasters that could obliterate the mortals and the planet through their arguments."
Zeus prided himself with a puffed out chest, getting the others to roll their eyes.
"Which, by the way, is an incredible amount of foresight on his part."
Zeus scowled a little at that as the other let out soft chuckles at the blond's comment, it was very accurate.
"A good leader knows himself."
Everyone snorted at that. Zeus glared at each and every one of them sternly, but they still had smiles on their faces.
"No, a good leader accepts himself for who and what he is, faults included.
"Truth stings, doesn't it?" Apollo asked his father.
"Silence Apollo. "
"Whatever pops."
Like me for example: I'm an idiot,
"Apollo." Artemis said.
"Hey!"
immature at times,
"Apollo." Hermes quipped.
"Oh not you too!"
secretive at others, but that's from my upbringing – I can hear you idiots laughing out there!" Naruto's cry was directed to the two ANBU stationed outside his door. "Where was I?"
"Telling us your faults," said Thalia, an amused smile across her face.
"Yes, give my other ammo." Thalia grinned widely.
"Right, well like I was saying: I train too much,
"Not a bad thing." Jason argued, getting some eye rolls.
act before I think at times,
"Totally understandable." Percy nodded.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "That's because you do it, all the time."
"…Your point?"
have short term and unfinished plans – don't give me that look, Thalia-chan – I get bored easily and hate sitting still,
Most of the boys nodded to that.
I don't like vegetables or most 'healthy' foods,
"They're good." Piper frowned, being a vegetarian herself.
I've had premarital sex
"Apollo." Drawled out the gods, getting a pout from said sun god. The kids flushed though, still being virgins themselves.
– oof!" The now scowling Thalia cut off Naruto with a shove that resulted in him falling to the ground.
"Damn right." Thalia muttered with a light flush and a frown. "Stupid jerk bringing that up."
Holding his aching ribs, he looked up through a squinted eye at his girlfriend. "...Did I mention I don't think before I act?"
"Yes." The demigods said.
"Nothing wrong with it."
"Percy, sweetie, be quiet."
"Yes Annabeth."
"Good boy."
"It's not an excuse."
Percy disagreed with that, it happened to him all the time.
"Just saying." Naruto rolled with a groan and got to his feet. "And to top it off, I'm stubborn. Stubborn enough to match Rai-jiji in a staring contest just to say I did.
Zeus grumbled at that while Poseidon and Hades chuckled.
"Definitely his side of the family." The sea god told his elder brother.
"Oh, without question."
Probably wouldn't survive afterwards, though." He grinned like a fox. "I play to win, by any means necessary."
"How would you beat him?" Thalia asked out of genuine curiosity.
Thalia cracked a smile at that since everyone was curious, even Zeus himself.
"Poke him in the eye," said Naruto. "Duh."
"What!?"
"Oh, that is brilliant." Poseidon mused.
"Don't you dare-"
"Something to keep in mind next time." Hades cut him off with a smirk of amusement. The god king fumed at his brothers.
He sat on the bed, rubbing his sore and bandaged side with his intact hand. Looking closely, one could see a light glow as he attempted to get a read on how long he'll still be in the hospital. He grumbled when he finished and took notice of the sword in Thalia's hand. "Oh, thank Olympus. I was worried I left it back in the valley. That would've been a bad delay."
"Can't have any of those." Hades said in a terse tone.
The three followed his gaze to the sword. Thalia looked back up at him and held it out to him, where he smiled lightly and took the sword from her gratefully.
"What happened to the shield Whiskers? Is that still in the valley?" Thalia asked. Naruto just looked at his reflection in the sword, saying nothing. Thalia, Jason and Piper exchanged looks before Thalia took a seat next to him. She put a hand on his uninjured shoulder. "You all right, Naruto?"
"I didn't know he existed until I was twelve," said Naruto softly. They remained silent as he spoke about the entity known as Kyubi.
"They left him ignorant of a demon in him until he was twelve?" Athena asked, disappointment and disbelief in her tone.
"Possibly to let him live in ignorance out of kindness." Hestia told her niece.
"A fool's errand, it would have been better to tell the boy instead of lie to him his entire life." The goddess of wisdom scoffed with distaste.
"And even then I wasn't supposed to know. I hated his presence at first, a stigma cast upon me that made me a leper. Throughout all of my first life we bickered and argued over power.
"Sounds familiar." Poseidon noted as Zeus sent a scathing look at him.
I tried taming it like many other Jinchuriki had, but at the four tailed limit I would lose myself to the power and attack anyone in my path. I swore never to use his power again. Then Pain attacked and I came close to releasing Kyubi from his cell.
"Some wish to take the easy way out," Hestia said softly, "But, if one stay the course, one can still find a way to overcome any obstacle."
My father's disguise amongst humanity, Minato Namikaze, stopped me." He looked at the confused younger demigods. "Apollo's memories and knowledge as a mortal here, sealed away within me until I removed it. Then I was taken to America and I didn't use it once. It was quiet until my death-"
"You were dead?" Piper asked, her eyes wide. "But…how?"
"Stop dropping bombs on new me!" Piper pouted, it made her look so ignorant, and she didn't want to be embarrassed in front of her friends. Jason just hugged her reassuringly.
The one word held so many questions. Naruto smiled at her. "A story for another time, Piper. As I was saying, it wasn't until my death that the fox and I spoke again. Lord Hades parted it from my animus, sending it to a far corner of the Underworld for Thanatos to watch over.
"A good move against a demon of that power." Athena nodded to her uncle who did so in turn. Just his job and all, no big deal.
As he separated the demon from me, another animus was found, one hiding within my own. It was my mother's."
"So not only Apollo's mortal guise, but the spirit of his mother as well." Hades mused in interest.
The demigods' eyes widened and Naruto's smile turned fond as he recalled the day he learned she lived on in him. Sure it had sucked when he learned that his old body had been burnt and then reformed, everything reset to 'default' for his age bracket, including his clothes and the content within them. The picture he so cherished was lost to the fires of the Underworld.
Hestia gave a small frown at that, it was saddening to lose everything that was once you.
"When Lord Hades offered me a second chance at life to appease the Fates, I asked that he also give my mother a second chance. He decided that to do so we would both do two things; we would serve him in whichever way he desired without question
"Of course I would." Hades nodded, it was basic business with resurrected souls.
and that we relinquish our chakra natures for something out of his brothers' domains." Naruto smiled at Thalia. "As both Thalia and Jason know, my chakra nature was once wind.
"Something I still find upsetting." Zeus frowned at his eldest brother.
Hades scoffed at him, so whiny his youngest brother was.
My mother's was water.
"Oh, you jerk," Poseidon frowned, he wanted to see what those water ninja moves could do.
Hades just smirked.
Kaachan chose earth" he snapped his fingers and a small flame ignited on his thumb "and I chose fire."
"Because fire is awesome," Leo nodded as his father smiled at that.
"Our resurrection was assured and we returned to the world of the living, while still in the Underworld. I stayed in the Underworld for five months, getting to know my mother and Lord Hades.
"More than any of you can say," Hades looked down at the demigods that weren't Nico and Hazel, and they were his children and Nico actually new him more personally then all of them.
During that time, my mother told me something that the previous host of Kyubi, the wife to the Shodai Hokage, Mito Uzumaki had told her." Naruto turned his head to look at Thalia, his eyes meeting hers before he spoke softly. "In order to counter the fox's hatred, the container had to fill themselves with love."
Aphrodite cooed at that, such an amazing saying. She wondered if this Mito was a daughter of her own. She sounded like one from what she heard.
There was an underlying hint of longing in his voice and the look in his eyes made Thalia flinch slightly.
"Struck her right in the heart." Apollo whistled as Thalia glared at him for the remark.
"That raised a flag." Leo snickered, getting slapped upside the head, "Ow! Damn girl, why do you hit so hard?"
"Because I can matchstick."
There he went again with that occasional silver tongue, making her reluctantly forgive him little by little.
"Cause he's a sexy beast." Apollo winked to the hunter, making her bristle at him, her glare gaining more heat.
She wanted to be so angry with him, and she was right in her decision to try to be: Naruto had kept Jason from her. That wasn't what you did, it wasn't right and there was no excuse for it!
"Of course there wasn't."
But dammit did the whiskered blond make it hard to stay mad at him.
"Cause he's got his daddy's smooth moves." The sun god said with a small dance in his throne.
"Psh, moves, right." Hermes mocked with a roll of his eyes, getting a pout from his brother.
Once again before Thalia could speak, Naruto returned his gaze to the sword and continued. "The statement was confusing at first, how would our love counter the fox's hatred? I mulled this over for a few days when I wondered if perhaps we should try extending a hand to the fox instead of pushing it away." He chuckled. "It wasn't the right answer, I stumbled my way into a fight that I barely walked out of alive. But I did become something that only one other had: I managed to impress and earn the respect of the 'mighty' Kyubi no Kitsune, whose tails could cause tsunamis or split mountains."
"Seems you have some competition barnacle beard." Athena jeered to her rival, who in turn gave a stormy green glare.
"Is it some sort of monster?" Jason asked.
"No. Kyubi is a sort of spirit," said Naruto. "He decided to accompany me, but Thanatos advised against it. He trusted the fox just about as much as my father does and that isn't a lot. I vouched for him and the fox accompanied me on my first venture out of the Underworld. I was told to go east by Lord Hades, who looked bothered by something.
"Fantastic," bemoaned the lord of the dead, "What now?"
What I didn't know was that he was just visited by Uncle Herm, who received a message from someone he was very worried about."
"…You don't mean...?" Thalia looked shocked. "You've met Pan?!"
Naruto looked sad at the mentioning of his cousin. "Yes."
"And you haven't told Grover? What the hell, Whiskers?!"
"That's what I said!" Percy exclaimed.
"Who is Grover?" Jason asked.
"The satyr –er, faun I told you about," said Naruto, making Jason nod in understanding. He looked back at Thalia. "I wanted to, Thalia-chan. I wanted to tell him so badly, but Pan wouldn't let me. After Kyu agreed to be turned into my weapon through nature magic, he swore me to secrecy. I made an oath on the Styx."
"See Percy, an oath." Annabeth told him.
"Still not cool." The boy grumbled.
"Which would be...?" Piper asked.
"The ultimate vow," said Jason, knowing the story. "To break it would bring something worse than death upon one who broke it."
"And he wonders why Kronos is returning?" Naruto asked, suddenly realizing that the two big three's broken oaths could have very well been the cause for the return of Kronos.
Everyone turned to said gods and children, getting them to glare back or squirm a tad.
"And this is what happens when you are unfaithful." Hera told her husband with a frown on her face.
Zeus had the decency to look apologetic as best he could.
It seems that anything could always come back to haunt you.
"Are you suggesting this is our fault?" Thalia asked with narrowed eyes.
Thalia and Percy didn't like the sound of that either.
"Absolutely not, but I do think that your father and Jackson's father should be taking this threat more seriously," said Naruto.
"You really didn't at first." Percy commented freely, getting his uncle to glare at him while his father looked embarrassed.
He looked back at his blade. "Back to the story, Pan turned the Kyubi into my shield, but my sword was forged from Stygian Iron and the Kyubi's fang.
"Perfect for his mortal enemies." The lord of the dead nodded, got to gear up his workers after all.
With the shield and restraints gone, it has shown me its true form. My enemies will be blinded by its brilliance, for this is Ékleipsi̱; the Eclipse."
The blade gleamed lightly at the utterance of its name in Greek and Jason was grateful that the older blond had translated it for him. Naruto hopped from the bed and gestured for the kids to make room while he swung his sword like a natural. He looked at Piper and then around the rather average sized room. A smile spread across his face that both Thalia and Jason recognized.
"So…Pipes…About that training I mentioned earlier..."
"Nice," Piper smiled brightly, but was inwardly frowning at the use of her dad's nickname.
Naruto and Piper clashed their blades for a bit, the basics of using a dagger or knife being taught while the Grace siblings watched, their own advice coming in and out of little snippets, until the clanging of metal attracted the attentions of the ANBU and they came in with their own swords drawn.
"Easy, it's just training guys." Leo joked, "Go back to your coffee and doughnuts."
Naruto's presence out of bed had them calling for the head nurse and Shizune was none too pleased to see him up and about when he should be resting.
"Little snitches."
She had started to order the other three out when Naruto stopped her.
"Yeah, like we'd just leave him alone now."
"They're staying here," said Naruto firmly. He stood from the bed, wincing only slightly as he put strain on his side. "I'm almost healed and I'll be set to go soon enough. What's the word on the cure?"
"Yeah, tell us how fast she figures it out."
"Screw you, Ares!"
Shizune sighed and gave him a frown. "With Tsunade-sama setting everything aside to work on this while the Alliance settles the bombings and gives us aid, she's almost finished. It should-"
"Should?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowing. He wasn't going to let them try to hold him here with the promise of a cure that wouldn't come if they chose. Heads would roll if they were stupid enough to try.
"Damn right," Nico said in a dark tone, eyes glaring at the image strongly.
"Should be done by tomorrow," said Shizune with her own narrowed eyes. "She's still Hokage, Naruto. She has other responsibilities now."
"…See, when I tried using that excuse I was called a liar and a traitor," said Naruto, his annoyance clear on his face.
"Zing." Hermes snickered, the kid was right.
He crossed his arms over his chest and his sun-filled eyes locked on Shizune's dark ones.
"Don't start, Naruto. Please?" Shizune asked. Naruto dropped the issue and sat back on the bed with Thalia sitting on his uninjured side. Shizune rubbed her head. "If it means that much to you, I'll bring in a few more blankets and pillows. This won't be a regular thing, though."
"I know," said Naruto with finality. He waited for Shizune to leave before turning to address the two sitting on the chairs to the side of the room. "So do you two want the bed or will Thalia and I be sharing it?"
The Grace siblings and Piper turned red at the comment as everyone laughed or giggled at the question, even Artemis gave a light laugh.
Thalia smacked him upside the back of his head for the question that flew over Jason's head while Piper put her hands over her slightly red face.
It seemed as though Naruto was making a quick recovery.
"Indeed he does." Apollo said suggestively with a wiggle of his eyebrows, getting groans.