AN: ...I have been defeated by the grilled cheese.

AN 2: and yes, Morpheus V. Upgraded Agent in The Matrix: Reloaded inspired that scene in the previous chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II: A Hero's Peril

IV

"Can you tell me how this is my fault again?" Percy asked in annoyance as he and Annabeth examined the abandoned ruins that they had fallen into. The blonde girl turned and fixed him with a glare, putting her hands on her hips as she did so.

"You pushed me down here, Seaweed Brain!" Athena's daughter accused. "And instead of doing what a sane person would do and going to get help, you fell down after me!"

"Hey, you're the one that told me to look over your shoulder. What else was I supposed to do? Use mirrors?" defended the son of Poseidon before he looked up at the hole they fell through. "Maybe we could climb back up."

"Wouldn't you like to know what this place is first?" Annabeth asked as she turned back to the wall and ran her hand over the stone.

Percy scratched the back of his head while answering, "Not really, no. I'd rather be back at the Cabins talking to Tyson."

"You did that yesterday, didn't you?" Annabeth asked, still running her fingers over the stone before finding an engraving, "What the...Gods above!"

Geez, and she said Thalia spent too much time around Naruto? Percy silently joked as he turned and looked at what she found. Carved into the stone was a thick triangle, one that he recognized as the Greek symbol of Delta...Okay, one that he was forced to recognize after the Quest for Artemis by Naruto. Percy shuddered as he tried to repress the thought of studying with Naruto. The blond demigod had made good work on teaching Percy everything he should've already had memorized by now, and had joked that if Percy ever had an important test, Naruto would always be willing to help. Percy made sure never to tell his mother about Naruto's 'miracle' teaching method. The constant writing of names to where they belonged in myth-history made his hand ache at the memory. Writing it in both Greek and English.

The horror.

"Do you know what this is?" Annabeth asked him. The raven-haired son of Poseidon looked at her with a face that said 'Duh'.

"The symbol for Delta," he replied easily. The grey-eyed blonde gave him a look of surprise that he wasn't sure if he should've been insulted by or not.

"Well, it's that, but more importantly it's the symbol for Daedalus," explained Annabeth as her eyes glistened in excitement, "Percy...We're inside of the Labyrinth!"

"...The Labyrinth?" Percy repeated after a moment of thought, "You mean that place that Minos had built for the Mino-er, Pasiphae's Son?"

"...Who are you and what have you done with Percy?" Annabeth asked with false accusation as a smile threatened to break through her joking façade. Percy crossed his arms and frowned at his friend.

"I'll have you know Annabeth Chase, that I do have a brain," retorted the raven-haired teen. Annabeth snorted and stifled a giggle, making Percy scowl at her. He turned and went back to the hole, glaring up at it while mumbling to himself about not being stupid and friends that took jokes too far sometimes.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and went back to running her hands over the stone, "Oh, come on, Percy. You know I'm just kidding."

"You've been hanging out with Thalia too much," Percy grumbled as he started to check the wall for loose stones. "Maybe if we pry one loose-"

The path they were in suddenly shook, causing the two teens to stumble backwards into each other. With a grunt, Percy pushed himself back to his feet before offering Annabeth a hand up. The daughter of Athena immediately went to the wall and pressed her ear against it, ignoring her friend as he caught sight of something beyond her.

"This...This is amazing," she quietly exclaimed. Turning to Percy, she waived him over, "Percy, you have to come listen to this! It sounds like something is moving the stones!"

"Uhh, Annabeth, something isn't moving the stones," Percy said, pointing at the still shifting walls in front of them, "The stones are moving themselves!"

"That's...That's so awesome!" Annabeth exclaimed, her urge to examine the once lost maze rising to new levels.

"Sure it is," Percy said with a small smile, amused at her excitement, before grabbing the excited girl's shoulder. "C'mon! We have to go and tell Chiron about this!"

"Ah, but...I suppose you're right," the slightly disappointed girl sighed out. She turned her head to the hole, "did you hear that?"

Percy strained his ears before recalling something Naruto had taught him, Thalia and the di Angelos (the big three's kids trained well together, who knew?). Taking a deep breath and going to his center, Percy muted out the world around him. Naruto had taught the four children of the Big Three how to find their centers in case they felt like they were going to lose control of their abilities. While Percy didn't know what Nico or Bianca's abilities were, he knew that if either he or Thalia lost control of themselves, someone would be in a world of hurt. Currently, Percy felt like he was floating in the ocean; his body had relaxed and faintly he heard someone calling his name. It sounded a lot like...

"That's Grover!" Percy exclaimed, cupping his mouth and shouting up the hole, "down here! We're down here!"

A few seconds ticked by and Grover was above them with a tall curly haired teen with a single blue eye in the center of his face standing behind him. Tyson, the dimmer than average teenage Cyclops, smiled down at his half-brother, "Percy!"

"Annabeth, Percy!" Grover sighed in relief, "Thank Pan you're both okay. I'll pull you up!"

"How are you going to do that? It's a eight foot drop," Percy asked, getting a look of bewilderment from Annabeth. Rubbing the back of his neck, Percy sheepishly replied, "Naruto, uh, taught me the way he learned how to measure distances."

The hard way, added the demigod as he recalled Naruto throwing Percy into the ocean from various heights with Blackjack's help. Percy still felt a little betrayed at the way his steed had laughed at him. Then again, he also felt sorry for Naruto, who had tried to teach the other three, only for Zeus to stop him from teaching the di Angelos with a very close meeting with a lightning bolt and Thalia to threaten him with a pain beyond imaginable in a place no man would ever recover from if he even tried to get her on the pegasus's back. Percy had to hand it to Naruto; the blond had guts to shrug a threat like that off.

Then again, I'm just not used to it, Percy thought as he looked up at Annabeth as she was pulled out of the Labyrinth. Percy's eyes glazed over when he accidentally stared at the girl's jean-covered rear, not that he was aware of it. He was snapped out of it when Grover said, "Alright, your turn, Percy!"

"Yeah, sure," Percy mumbled, still a little dazed from the sight he just took in, jumping up to grab his friend's hand. Grover and Tyson pulled the teen out of the ground. Once he was back in the small cave he had entered through, Percy smiled at his half-brother and friend, "Thanks guys, for coming so quickly."

"Quickly?" Grover repeated in confusion while Tyson just beamed at his brother. Percy looked down at the hole and then around the cave, nearly having a heart attack when Annabeth's sabertooth Washington growled at him when his gaze went over to his teammate. The blonde girl grinned and patted her large cat on the head.

"Good boy, Wash," she praised. "Helping them find us."

Percy's eye twitched as he watched the cat turn into a happy puppy at the side of his owner. Washington hated him, probably because of how negatively Annabeth had reacted to him stealing her hat when they had first met, and had taken to trying to trip him up whenever he wanted to hang out with Annabeth last winter. What made it worse, Annabeth refused to believe that the cat was out to get him. She just thought that he was being mean because he was a dog person, which was an ironic claim considering one of the first monsters that had tried to kill him was a Hellhound and afterwards there was an incident with Chimera disguised as a Chihuahua.

"Percy," Grover started, snapping the teen from his one-sided staring contest with Annabeth's Sabertooth, "We've been looking for you for two hours."

"What?" Annabeth and Percy questioned as one, equal amounts of surprise on their faces. They looked at each other before looking back at the concerned satyr.

"Grover...that can't be right," Annabeth said as she stopped lathering her cat with attention, "We were down there for maybe ten minutes at most."

"It was two hours," Grover said confidently. He should know, he was hypothesizing what horrible events could have happened to them while they searched. Tyson nodded, his curly locks bobbing with his head as his single eye turned into one full of worry.

"Yeah, me and Grover have been to the lake, the big hill, and searched most of the forest," the cyclops added, "I even got stuck in the entrance for a few minutes before Wash came and pushed me through."

Percy and Annabeth shared another look before the son of Poseidon came up with a hypothesis, "Time moves slower...like in the Lotus Hotel?"

"That could be it," Annabeth said before looking to Grover, "We have to tell Chiron about this."

The satyr nodded in agreement, turning around and squeezing through the gap. Tyson followed with a small push from Washington, the large cat following after him. Annabeth went next, and Percy followed after her. This was starting to look like it was going to be another one of those summers, one that could mean the end of the camp. Realizing this, his mind went back to Thalia and Naruto and wondered how their mysterious quest was going.

A few hours prior, on a highway in the middle of Nevada, Naruto was pressing himself against the back of a black SUV while one of his old friends, and the term is used loosely mind you, took shots at him with a handgun, scaring the poor family within the vehicle. He heard the Skeleton step on broken glass in approach and the sound of a clip falling to the ground.

This reminds me of that film you and Zeus' girl watched, Helios idly commented, You know, the one with that huge muscle guy who sounds German. What was it called? Obliterator? No wait...Eliminator?

You're really not helping right now, Naruto silently replied with a frown as he scanned the area before finding one of his stray arrows just a bit away from him. Pushing himself to his feet, Naruto dashed for the arrow, making the Skeleton hurry after him. A car was approaching and about to merge in the other lane to avoid the gunman, consequently causing the arrow to be shattered. Naruto pressed himself to run faster, diving for his arrow just as the car began to merge.

"Hirashin!" Naruto announced as soon as his fingers touched the arrowhead. The nearest point he could think of was at Thalia's side, which is where he ended up. Landing in the car and ignoring Thalia's gasp at his current state, Naruto panted before lifting his hand and grinning when he held the arrow within it. Slamming on the brake and tearing his seal off the accelerator with his other foot, Naruto waited until he came to a complete stop before looking at Thalia. Giving her a small apologetic smile, Naruto said, "Be right back!"

"Wait-!" But he didn't. Naruto once more teleported with the hood of the Peterbilt in mind. He had left that Skeleton unsupervised and two humans in a wrecked SUV at its mercy. That and he could hear honking horns and gunshots. Reappearing on top of the dreaded Peterbilt, Naruto pulled his bow out and prepared the arrow he had obtained. Flicking the nock, there was a brief hum before the arrowhead whirred and unfolded, turning into a blade-like arrowhead that was about two inches in width. Naruto whistled sharply, gaining the attention of the Skeleton, before releasing his arrow.

The Skeleton's head was severed from its neck and much to his ire the monster didn't dissolve into a pile of dust. It did get hit by a swerving car, though, sending its bones across the interstate. Come to think of it, none of the other skeletons dissolved into gold dust either. With a twitching eye, Naruto grumbled and asked, "What does it take to kill you guys?"

Sighing, he dropped from the hood of the Peterbilt cab, grunting as he landed on the ground. He jogged over to the SUV and knocked on the driver's window, peering in before he asked, "Hello~? Anyone home? Sorry I hit your car...Wasn't exactly my fault, but you know."

The driver's door opened and after he stepped back, Naruto had to do a double take at who stepped out. His mouth popped open before he dropped his bow, pointing at the man in shock, "Holy shit, you're-you're...You're Tristan McLean!"

Although concerned for the teen's safety, Tristan couldn't fight down his amusement, "Yes, are you alri-?"

"Oh shit," Naruto said as his eyes widened and his hands went to his head, "I just hit Tristan McLean's SUV! His fan base is going to kill me!"

"I'm just saying that he's starting to drive me up the walls," a displeased Thalia said as she sat in the car with her arms crossed, glaring at the empty driver's seat. Around her left wrist was Kyu in his bracelet mode. Since she lacked the ability to lend him chakra, he couldn't materialize in his spiritual form. And now he was stuck listening to his partner's chosen mate (or girlfriend as the Kit insisted) complain about the Kit's suicidal/stupid plans.

"Wow, you're slow on the uptake," Kyu commented, getting a glare from the daughter of Zeus, "It's a curse of the Uzumaki to be as crazy as possible when in battle. A pregnant Mito, the Kit's great-grand cousin or something, once dove headfirst into battle when she heard her beloved husband had been scratched by a kunai. And let's not forget the Kit's mother! Talk about a nut job, now she's a woman I would rather be allied with than against."

"What was his Mom like?" Thalia asked, fishing for information her secretive boyfriend refused to share. Whenever she asked him about it, he would smile and say that she would eventually find out. What irked her even more was that she had asked it in front of the di Angelos and Percy, both of who were given knowing looks from her blond boyfriend, which meant that they knew something she didn't.

"Oh, no you don't," Kyu chastised with an audible frown in his voice, "The Kit will tell you about Kushina in due time...All I will say is that he got his stupid suicidal plans and most of his personality from her."

Thalia frowned, trying to think of what Naruto's mother looked like. She had to be beautiful, Apollo wouldn't have had a child with someone (even if he was amnesiac) who wasn't, let alone marry them. And even that had to mean she was beautiful. From what she could get out of the spirit within her boyfriend's weapon, she was feisty and bad at planning in the long term, coming up with crazy battle plans on the fly. The raven-haired punk of a demigoddess growled and closed her eyes in frustration.

"Ugh, I'm so sick of thinking about Whiskers' past," Thalia grumbled to herself. Kyu chuckled and she shifted a glare down to the gleaming red ruby on her wrist. A black slit appeared across the gem, looking up at her almost gleefully.

"Then perhaps you should stop thinking about it and just beat the answers out of him," Kyu suggested.

Thalia's mouth curled up in a smile as she replied, "That is tempting."

Before Kyu could say another thing on the subject, her door had been pulled open and Naruto peered in. Unbuckled, Thalia was free to jump out of her seat, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. Naruto grinned as he hugged the girl back, standing upright as he did so and consequently pulling her out of the Challenger as he did so. Putting Thalia back on the ground, the girl immediately punched him in the arm.

"You're a gods damned lunatic!" scolded the girl, "You just had to go and do something crazy like jump out of the car while it was still moving! In case you haven't noticed Whiskers, I can't drive!"

"Sorry, sorry," apologized the blond teen as he rubbed his arm. He then gestured to his right and her left, to the father and daughter he had pulled from their wrecked car, and continued, "Thalia Grace, meet Tristan and Piper McLean."

Thalia gaped as she stared at the heartthrob movie star, a faint blush coming over her cheeks before shaking herself out of her daze and looking at the girl next to him. Furrowing her brows, she looked at Naruto questionably. The blond had a grim smile on his face and nodded, making her cover her eyes before asking, "Do they know?"

"Not...exactly," sheepishly admitted the blond, turning his girlfriend around and whispering into her ear, "Told them that we're secret agents...Tristan seemed to buy it a little to eagerly. Don't think he's the spiritual type so let's just keep our real purpose out here on the down low."

"A secret agent?! That's the best you could come up with?" Thalia hissed, slapping him in the arm once more. Naruto winced and rubbed his arm. That was going to bruise if she kept hitting him in the same spot.

"Dad's the God of Truths and I'm the reincarnation of the God of Oaths. I don't lie well...The only time I do is when I leave things out and it's really obvious when I do that," He admitted before realizing his slip and the slight widening of eyes Thalia gave him. Her eyes narrowed and a brief flicker of lightning danced across them that made Naruto's Adam's apple bounce as he swallowed.

"We're having a long talk after we get to wherever we're going," Thalia snapped aloud before smiling at the father and daughter, "So, uh...Hi."

"Hello Thalia," Tristan greeted with a smile and a nod that would melt hearts, "Thanks for letting us hitch a ride with you."

Thalia sent another look to her boyfriend. Naruto sheepishly laughed, "I kind of...hit and wrecked their car."

"A long talk," Thalia reiterated, making Naruto nervously chuckle. She looked back to the movie star and his daughter before sighing, "Alright, let me move my bag first."

Once everyone was situated, Naruto slid his seat back in front of Thalia, who gave him another glare. He gave her an apologetic glance, but he and Tristan were too tall to comfortably sit in the back of the sports car. Tristan looked at the rear window and his eyes widened when he realized it was shattered.

"You weren't kidding when you said it was a dangerous job," Tristan mumbled before looking at Piper, "You all set, Pipes?"

"Da-a-ad," Piper groaned in embarrassment as the handsome blond and his equally beautiful partner laughed at her nickname. Tristan smiled and sat forward before looking at the blond driver.

"So what brings two secret agents, teenage ones at that, to Nevada's highway?" he asked.

Naruto grinned back at him, "Secret mission, what else?"

"Of course," the movie star chuckled out. The radio blared to life as the tires squealed, which was quickly turned down by the blond driver. He smiled apologetically to the amused Tristan, who waved it off.

The four sat in silence, save for The Used's Pretty Handsome Awkward playing in the background, before Piper, a little curious asked, "So...how old are you, Naruto?"

Thalia arched a brow and a smirk tugged at her lips when the blond easily replied, "Seventeen."

"Seventeen? And you work for the government?" Piper asked with her brow furrowed. Naruto groaned inwardly while Thalia's smirk became more prominent. The girl was smart. Hopefully she was another Annabeth.

"Yes..." Naruto said uncomfortably, shifting in his seat. A strange feeling was coming over him, a lot like when that girl Drew...Oh dear gods no. Taking a deep breath, Naruto quickly started to expel chakra through his body in quick pulses. The last thing he needed was for this apparent daughter of Aphrodite to charmspeak him into telling her every single one of his dirty little secrets. Last thing he needed to do was tell his girlfriend about that time in Tea Country.

"Okay," Piper replied, unconvinced, "So where are you going?"

"California," Naruto replied. It was a reasonable destination considering where they were and who they were with.

"Why?" Piper asked. Naruto behind him briefly to look at the girl before looking forward once again, merging around another car.

"Trying to get a cover job," he answered, trying at least to stick with his first lie.

"What as?" pressed the young and unaware demigoddess. Thalia's smirk had turned into a full out grin and she was trying oh so hard not to laugh as her boyfriend's shoulders tensed. A sign of his annoyance at the way the curious girl was trying to pick apart his earlier statements.

"An actor," Naruto answered, his left hand gripping the wheel tight enough that he was cracking the plastic underneath the leather cover. Thankfully his rescue came in the form of the girl's father.

"An actor? That's not going to be an easy cover you know," Tristan replied, before adding, "Unless you have the right connections."

"Huh, what a shame," Thalia added in obviously false disappointment. "And he doesn't have any of those."

"Yes, it is a shame," Naruto said through gritted teeth, looking at the mirror and meeting his amused girlfriend's eyes. He should've known that she'd be against him in this. This had to be payback for his 'game' of chicken earlier.

"I could help if you like," Tristan added, nearly making Naruto lose control as his surprising statement made the blond choke on air.

"You could?!" Both Thalia and Naruto questioned in equal amounts of shock. The blockbuster star nodded.

"Sure, why not?" Tristan said with a shrug, "Be nice to have a friend in the business. And there's this script I was sent from a friend of mine, and they're looking for a blond teenager like yourself. The working title is Theseus."

"Theseus," Naruto repeated as his brows furrowed, "Like the son of Poseidon, Theseus?"

"That's exactly right," Tristan confirmed with a nod, ignoring the 'what the fuck' look Thalia had donned. The actor continued, "They wanted me to play the villain, King Minos, and I said I would if they could find the guy they were looking for."

"What's the story? Another ancient Greek remake?" Naruto asked. Tristan shook his head.

"No, they wanted to go another route," the movie star replied as the girls in the back listened to him, "A modernization of the story with a happy ending for Theseus and Phaedra, who is replacing Ariadne."

Take the job! Helios ordered, Happy ending for the win!

How do you even know what that is?! Naruto asked internally while Tristan went into the details of the story. An alternate futuristic utopia ruled by the tyrannical king (Minos) who had a monster and a prison that acted as though it was alive. A young fisherman, Theseus, would be sent along with eleven others to the prison and would have to survive traps as well as evade the monster. There was a side-love story that made Thalia's jaw clench. Eventually there would be a face-off between the Minotaur and Theseus and by that time, Naruto was sold.

"All right...so where are auditions taking place?" he asked, not aware of the way Thalia was glaring at him.

"Well, they're still in development but you could drop us off at the producer's office," Tristan said, "Mr. Lyre, whose the head of the production company, is a pretty nice guy and actually kicked off my acting career after his brother's wife saw my photo on his desk."

"Really, what's the production company?" Naruto inquired curiously.

Tristan looked to the west with a small smile on his face before he said two words that made Naruto and Thalia groan, "Sunrise Films."

AN: You really didn't think I wouldn't have Apollo in this story? And not only is the Battle of the Labyrinth taking place, but Naruto is going to be in a Labyrinth of his own! Oh sweet irony. Can Naruto get the part? Will Annabeth and Percy dive into the Labyrinth? When will the Roman strike? Who's going to pay for the damages to Tristan's car? Where were the police?! And for gods' sakes...WHERE IS MY COFFEE!?

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