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

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

XV

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. 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.

Piper and Jason were getting their own looks, too. Jason was attracting looks from girls in his age group, and Piper the boys' eyes were practically glued to, 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. 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. Jason jokingly related, saying his father was busy most of the time, too. He was shoved into a passing shopper for the joke.

The most annoying thing to Naruto was how other teenage guys would look Thalia's way with small grins on their faces, a few catcalls coming out of their mouths. 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. 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.

"Naruto-Oniisan!" "Oyabun!"

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. 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. 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. 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.

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 spoke in a heavily accented English dialect, "Glad to see you back, Boss!"

"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? 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!"

"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.

"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.

"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.

"Idiot!" said the girl, Moegi, as she punched him in the head, driving him into the dirt. 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. 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!

Jason winced along with Udon; both of them pitying the now twitching teen that was eating dirt, while Piper just gaped at the scene. The people here were crazy, Naruto included since he called a moderately aged woman Grandma. And jumped out of a moving car. And fought a giant on his own, only getting help at the end. And he also managed to piss his girlfriend off by keeping the fact he knew her brother was still alive. Now that Piper thought about it, there were an awful lot of reasons to call Naruto crazy.

"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. As they broke into an argument Naruto sighed and looked at Udon.

"Does this happen often?"

"Unfortunately, yes," said Udon as he sniffed up the small hanging booger that followed him around since he was a little kid.

"That has to suck," mumbled Piper.

"Being stuck with two arguing partners? I know the feeling," said Jason just as quietly, 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.

"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."

"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.

"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.

"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.

"I didn't get promoted," said Naruto, shaking his head. "I resigned."

"You what?!" the three teenagers exclaimed. People listening in on the conversation gasped in shock.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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!"

"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. 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. I have found family that needs me. I have a mission higher than what the Hokage can give me. I have a purpose that is forcing me away from here and the constant 'rescue' missions were going to cause more problems then they solve. Is that good enough for you or do I have to continue?"

Konohamaru looked taken aback from how Naruto spoke 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 spoke was with the same passion when he was talking about becoming Hokage.

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. Naruto ignored the eavesdropping audience's mumbling as he kept his gaze on his (arguably) first three students. Their eyes were flinching as they tried to blink back the tears; he heard a soft hiccup come from Moegi; Udon's snot line –Which in all honesty was very concerning, maybe something was wrong with him, a chronic disease perhaps? – 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.

"Look," said Naruto as he steeled himself for what he was about to do. "I don't have to defend myself to you. 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."

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) – 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 while others argued that he was brainwashed.

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. 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.

"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. 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.

"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."

"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. 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. Japanese cartoons depicted bathrooms strangely and she was curious.

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.

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.

"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?"

"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."

"Ah, I see. So, Minato-sensei was a god?"

"Well to put it bluntly, yes. Dad had pissed Rai-Jiji, er, Zeus off for the last time 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. 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."

"One would argue that he forgot about you. I honestly expected better from Minato-sensei."

"Says the man who was always two hours late for anything."

"I was very busy."

"Right…"

"I was!"

"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?"

"Yes, that Thalia girl."

"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."

"Can I ask if Aphrodite is as beautiful as the books say?" said Kakashi. His eye was wide and hopeful. 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."

"Sounds more like an ex-girlfriend."

"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?"

"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?"

"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?"

"Are you trying to?"

"Better to be safe than sorry."

"That's not funny."

"Sorry."

"Don't make jokes like that, Kakashi-sensei."

"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. He wasn't too pleased with that last joke. From the steam coming from his nostrils, neither was Zephyr.

"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."

"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. Well, Jason and Thalia had their spears out at the ready, Piper had her dagger in hand but looked uneasy.

"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."

"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.

"Same thing."

"I distinctly recall asking for, and I quote, badass shinobi jutsu. Not tree climbing and getting an ass poke."

Unnoticed by the others, Jason shivered at that statement.

"You had the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

" . . . 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.

"Jason's right," said Piper. "The sooner we get the cure for Bianca, the sooner we can leave and he can complete his quest."

"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."

"You can fly?" said Piper, looking at the other blond. Even Kakashi eyed the boy with interest. Jason shrugged nonchalantly like it was no big deal.

"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."

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. 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.

"He's definitely your son," said Kakashi. 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.

"Sorry, Piper," said Naruto. "Forgot that you might feel a bit disoriented."

"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?"

"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. 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.

"Jason!" At Naruto's voice, Jason looked back at him to see the older blond giving him a frown. "Put Julius away. Now."

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.

"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?"

"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 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."

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. 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. 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.

"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. 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 agree with the Tsuchikage. How will he turn the tide in our war other than his blood?" asked the largest man in the room. 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.

"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. 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."

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!"

"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.

"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, "you were abducted by an unknown force 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."

"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."

"Be that as it may," said Tsunade. Her jaw was tight as she spoke, 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?"

"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."

"This Greek mythology is ridiculous," said the Mizukage in agreement. "These lands in your books don't exist anywhere on the known map."

"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?"

"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!"

"I am not with anyone. This is not my war," said Naruto as his arms crossed. "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. He levitated out of his seat and pointed at the blond. "You are a Jinchuriki! You are a weapon and you will fight!"

"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. 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."

"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. 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?

"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. Looking at the blond, she said a phrase that made him want to ball up in fear. "Atene no ekibyō."

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. 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. One that his father never found a cure for. A disease that nearly ended the world in different moments of time. 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."

AN: Whoa. Yeah, we've gone Medieval now; the original form of the Black Death has infected Bianca. Can Tsunade make a cure for this literally unknown disease? What about the meeting of Kage? What will they decide about our favorite blond's fate?

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