Half-Blood Ninja

By: 8675409

Hey, people. Here is the next chapter in Half-Blood Ninja, I hope you enjoy it!

Like I've said before; you will notice (If you have read the story before.) that this fan fiction has similar parts as The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan, but in crossovers like this you just have no choice.

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series or Naruto.

Chapter 6

Naruto's POV

The least the Oracle could've done was walk back to the attic by herself.

Instead, Percy and I were elected to carry her. Grover was picked too, though Thalia elected me also. I was pretty confused on why though… still am…

"Watch her head!" Grover warned as we went up the stairs. It was too late.

Bonk! Percy whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame and dust flew. I tried to keep from laughing, but it was very hard not to.

"Ah, man." We set her down and checked for damage. "Did I break anything?" Percy asked.

"I can't tell." Grover agreed.

"I doubt it, though, anything's possible!" I said.

We hauled her up and set her on her tripod stool, with Percy huffing and sweating. Pfft! Light-weight.

I could tell Percy was happy to leave because he all but sprinted out of the attic. Grover was close behind, while I just took my time. I shut the door on my way out and saw Grover and Percy waiting for me.

"Well," Grover said, "that was gross."

I laughed at that. I knew he was trying to keep things light for Percy's sake, but for some reason I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Which earned me stares that said what the –beep- is wrong with you?

Anyways, the whole camp was mad at Percy for losing the game to the Hunters, and then there was the new prophecy from the Oracle. It was like the spirit of Delphi had gone out of her way to exclude Percy, which is sad. She'd ignored his question and walked half a mile to talk to Zoe, and not me! Artemis is my mom… I wanted the quest…

"What will Chiron do?" Percy asked Grover.

"I don't know, I want to be out there though." He replied.

"Searching for Pan?" I asked Grover.

Grover smiled and nodded. I could tell that Percy completely forgot about Grover's life ambition; Finding Pan. I have a feeling in my gut that he would, but so many have failed in trying to find Pan. I would hate it if Grover's search was for nothing.

"I've let the trail go cold," he said. "I feel restless, like I'm missing something really important. He's out there somewhere. I can just feel it."

Percy was about to say something but hesitated, I guess he couldn't think of what to say either.

Before we could say anything, Thalia tromped up the stairs. She was officially not talking to Percy now, but she looked at Grover and said, "Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Did he say something?" Thalia asked Grover.

"Um, he asked why."

"Dionysus is calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy," she said. "Unfortunately, that includes Percy. You too, Naruto!" she said.

"Yes ma'am" I said meekly. I followed her down the stairs, but not before I heard the snickers of Percy and Grover.

"He is so whipped!" Percy said.

I hung my head in defeat… I am… whipped.

Percy's POV

The council was help around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheese Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either.

Mr. D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Naruto, Zoe and Bianca di Angelo (who had kind of become Zoe's personal assistant) took the other end. Thalia and Grover and I sat along the right, and the other head councilors—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers—sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had gotten broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters. They were resting up in the infirmary.

Zoe started the meeting off on a positive note. "This is pointless."

Grover went off and started scooping up crackers and Ping-Pong balls and spraying them with topping.

"There is no time for talk," Zoe continued. "Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."

"And go where?" Chiron asked.

"West!" Bianca said. She had changed so much since last time.

"You heard the prophecy. Five shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get five hunters and free her."

"Yes," Zoe agreed. "Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."

"It's nice to know that you're thinking ahead sweet-heart, but you need to remember; Campers and Hunters combined prevail. If you ever want to get my mother then we all need to work together." Naruto replied off-handedly.

Zoe flushed in embarrassment. Naruto always seemed to know what to say at the right times. Sometimes I wished I was more like him.

"No!" Zoe shouted. "The Hunters do need thy help."

"It's your now Zoe. We don't say thy anymore. Not in a couple hundreds of years." Naruto said.

Zoe hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. "Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."

Naruto sighed, "Well, it's a start."

"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."

"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet. "One shall be lost. Two shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"

"Mr. D," Chiron sighed, "with all due respect, whose side are you on?"

"Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, my dear centaur, just trying to be helpful."

"We're supposed to work together," Thalia said stubbornly. "I don't like it either; Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"

Zoe grimaced, but I could tell Thalia had scored a point.

"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."

"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."

"Artemis must be present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."

"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes, Lord Dionysus."

Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."

"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."

"Three and three," I said.

Everybody looked at me. Thalia even forgot to ignore me.

"We're supposed to have six," I said, feeling self-conscious. "Three Hunters, three from Camp Half-Blood. That's more than fair."

Thalia and Zoe exchanged looks

"Well," Thalia said. "It does make sense."

Zoe grunted. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers."

Chiron then went on about how having too many Hunters would spoil the scent, or something like that. He also talked about part of the prophecy; the bane of Olympus shows the trail.

"This monster—the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."

Everybody looked at Dionysus, I guess because he was the only god present and gods are supposed to know things. He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he glanced up. "Well, don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation."

"Chiron," I said, "you don't have any ideas about the monster?"

Chiron pursed his lips. "I have several ideas, none of them good."

Before he got any farther, Naruto cut him off.

"I know what you were implying, Chiron. Frankly, I'd suggest not telling anyone. It'll only frighten everyone. Anyway, the monsters you were going to say is definitely not the ones, Poseidon would have already sounded the alarm." Naruto said.

Chiron nodded.

"That's some serious danger you're facing," Connor Stoll said. (I liked how he said you not we.) "It sounds like half of the six are going to die."

"One shall be lost in the land without rain," Beckendorf said.

"If I were you, I'd stay out of the desert."

"And the Titan's curse must one withstand," Silena said.

"What could that mean?"

I saw Chiron and Zoe exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn't share it.

"Two shall perish by a parent's hand," Grover said in between bites of Cheese Whiz and Ping-Pong balls. "How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?"

There was a heavy silence around the table.

I glanced at Thalia and wondered if she was thinking the same thing I was; we were thinking that our parents were going to kill us.

I remembered a conversation I'd had last year with Annabeth. I'd asked her, if I was so potentially dangerous, why the gods didn't just kill me.

Some of the gods would like to kill you, she'd said. But they're afraid of offending Poseidon.

Could and Olympian parent turn against his half-blood child? Would it sometimes be easier just to let them die? If there were ever any half-bloods who needed to worry about that, it was Thalia and me. I wondered if maybe I should've sent Poseidon that seashell pattern tie for Father's day after all. Then I looked at Naruto and saw he was seemingly uncaring. If I were him I would be scared. Artemis was the sworn virgin goddess; it could be possible that she could kill him. I didn't dwell on that thought for long.

"There will be deaths," Chiron decided "That much we know."

"Percy is right," Silena Beauregard said. "Three campers should go."

"Oh, I see," Zoe said sarcastically. "And I suppose you wish to volunteer?"

Silena blushed. "I'm not going anywhere with the Hunters."

Zoe stood. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker."

"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis Stoll asked cautiously.

Zoe nodded,

"The one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor added.

"Yes," Zoe snapped. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Travis said. "Just that we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store." He held up a big silver T-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?"

She sighed and took the T-shirt. "As I was saying, I will take Phoebe. And I wish Bianca to go."

Bianca looked stunned. "Me? But… I'm so new. I wouldn't be any good."

"You will do fine," Zoe insisted. "There is no better way to prove thyself."

Bianca closed her mouth. I felt kind of sorry for her. I remembered my first quest when I was twelve. I had felt totally unprepared. A little honored, maybe, but a lot resentful and plenty scared. I figured the same things were running around in Bianca's head right now.

"And for the campers?" Chiron asked. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lap. "Anything to help Artemis!"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood."

"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"

"Absolutely!"

Zoe wavered. I didn't know what a tracker's song was, but apparently Zoe thought it was a good thing.

"Very well," Zoe said. "And the second camper?"

"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her. She faltered when she looked at one person; Chiron. He had an odd look in his eyes, it looked like… disappointment. She seemed to regain her composure before anyone could notice. Though I knew she was thinking the same thing as me: what's wrong with Chiron?

"And what of the third camper?" Zoe asked impatiently.

"I want to go." I said.

Thalia said nothing. Chiron was still studying me, his eyes sad.

"It should be Naruto, Artemis is his mother." Zoe said.

Everyone was quiet. I looked around at Thalia and Grover and saw that they both had realized our mistakes. We all had shot off and join the quest when Naruto should have been the first one on the quest. We all selfishly wanted to be on the quest. Now I understood why Chiron looked disappointed; he thought we would suggest Naruto be on the quest.

"Oh," Grover said, aware of the problem. "Whoa, yeah, I forgot! Naruto has to go. I didn't mean… I'll stay. Percy and Naruto should go in my place."

"He cannot," Zoe said, referring to me. "He is a boy. I won't have Hunters traveling with a boy."

"You traveled here with me. And what about Naruto? He's a boy also," I reminded her.

"That was a short-term emergency, and it was ordered by the goddess. I will not go across country and fight dangers in the company of a boy. And in technical terms; Naruto is a man, and Artemis's son. He has to go."

"What about Grover?" I demanded.

Zoe shook her head. "He does not count. He's a satyr. He is not technically a boy."

"Hey!" Grover protested.

"I have to go," I said. "I need to be on this quest."

"Why?" Zoe asked. "Because of thy friend Annabeth?"

I felt myself blushing. I hated that everyone was looking at me. "No! I mean, partly. I just feel like I'm supposed to go!"

Nobody rose to my defense. Mr. D looked bored, still reading his magazine. Silena, the Stoll brothers, and Beckendorf were staring at the table. Bianca gave me a look of pity.

"No," Zoe said flatly. "I insist upon this. I will take a satyr if I must and Naruto, but not you."

Naruto sighed. He hadn't spoken in a while. We all looked at him expectantly, even Mr. D rose his eyes from his magazine a bit to see what would unfold.

"Zoe, no offense, but I am basically the head of the Artemis cabin since I am her son. I also have authority over you and the Hunters by the word of my mother from a few years ago. So I say… You will go with Bianca, Phoebe, Thalia, Grover, and Percy and that is final." Naruto said seriously, he gave Grover, Thalia, and I a kind smile.

Everyone gasped. Even Mr. D was pretty surprised, considering how his eyebrows rose up.

Zoe was flustered and started stammering; all the while Naruto was looking completely calm.

"But-But, Naruto! I can handle having a satyr along and you, but not him!" Zoe shouted.

"I know you don't want to have him along with you, Zoe. But I mean it, he is going with you and that is final." Naruto finished.

Zoe was flustered with anger but nodded none-the-less. "Then what about you? Don't you want to come and help your mother?" She asked.

"I am!" Naruto said, smiling cheekily.

We all stared at him like he was crazy. I am pretty sure he is crazy!

"Naruto," Thalia said slowly. "You just said you're not going on the quest; how are you going to help find your mother… when you are not going ON THE QUEST?!" She shouted the last part.

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Naruto said happily. Yup, its official, he is crazy.

"But… I was given a quest by a god recently. I am to take an apprentice, to be specific; the god's/goddess's child as an apprentice. I am not allowed to give the name of the god/goddess or their gender." Naruto said.

Nobody said anything. Everyone knew how powerful he is. Anybody who would be his apprentice would be, no doubt, strong.

"Anyways, lets get back to the subject at hand; The quest is for Artemis. So Naruto should choose who can go and search for his mother."

I sat there as Chiron concluded the council. I still felt guilty that I took Naruto's place on this quest. Even though he had a quest from another god/goddess, he still should be going.

"So be it," Chiron said. "Thalia, Grover, and Percy will accompany Zoe, Bianca, and Phoebe. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods"—he glanced at Dionysus—"present company included, we hope—be with you."

End of Chapter 6

I hope you all enjoyed chapter 6!

Remember to review this story; it gives me more inspiration in updating!

I'm happy that a few people have taken an interest into the two stories that I have thought of putting up. Though I wish more of you would have told me what you thought about it.

Though from the reviews of the people who had reviewed about my story ideas; I most likely will post Emotionless next week or the week after next. It will start off in the first book. Since this will happen in the first book, I am sorry to tell you Percy fans; Percy might not be in this story. Now notice that I said might. It depends if you people review and tell me you want him to be in the story. If not a lot of you review on it then I will most likely have Percy removed. Don't hate me for this or stop reading my story just because of this. This is merely me asking you guys if you don't want Percy to be in the story Emotionless if enough people say they want Percy to be in the story; he will. If not enough people say it or enough people say that they want Percy to not be in the story; he won't. It's all up to you, because I'm writing these stories so that you guys can enjoy it!

Now, if you would, leave a review telling me how you thought of this chapter and all the other stuff I talked about above.

Remember; Insults = Bad, Constructive Criticism = Good.