The story so far: Naruto faces death but defies the odds by tapping into a profound realization about chakra and willpower, surviving the ordeal. Renamed Shinobu, Naruto struggles with her unfamiliar female body and reduced chakra reserves. She saves Thalia and her friends from monsters in a fierce battle. Meanwhile, Chiron contemplates the arrival of Thalia and her companions, and Luke is intrigued by Shinobu's combat skills. Annabeth misinterprets Shinobu's actions during a chess game but later understands her true intention. Thalia challenges Shinobu to a spar, and they share a moment of sportsmanship. In a Senior Council meeting, counselors discuss the dangers of Capture the Flag and the increased monster attacks, considering the idea of a quest to boost camp morale. Victor suggests Thalia takes the quest due to her status as a main target, leading to a tense decision.

Perils and Prophecy

Thalia stands in Camp Half-Blood's garage in a daze. Her memories of her visiting the oracle are a blur. Nothing but the prophecy's words pierce through the haze in her mind.

"You shall be the lone demigod to take this quest,

You may earn a pardon through twelve tasks as a test,

At death's entrance, the heroine to bid farewells,

Thorny walls and fiery towers to toll their bells."

So, here she stands with two strangers. They are heading out to their deaths. Thalia shakes off such negative thoughts. She reminds herself of Chiron's advice – positivity is key in battles.

"Prophecies are often ambiguous anyway," Thalia says to herself. She tries to take comfort in the fact that she will have companions at all despite the "lone demigod" part. Chiron had assured her that they were not cheating the prophecy on a technicality. The satyr and legacy aren't demigods, so they meet the prophecy's conditions.

Gleeson Hedge and Shinobu are not her first choices, but she can't think of anyone else to join her.

The Coven Elders are keeping Grover busy as usual. They are still of two minds on giving him his searcher's license. On one hand, he had fulfilled his duty and got her into camp. On the other, they debated whether his involvement had been of actual help or hindrance. Grover himself admitted that it was his fault. He claims he kept making wrong turns, and he compromised in protecting her by taking two others along.

The stupid goat needs to grow a backbone! He shouldn't have to take the blame for Luke's bruised ego.

There is also the fact that Grover is rather young. He would be among the youngest, if not the youngest, searcher if he had gotten his license as far as she knew.

The Elders decided to grant Grover his license after four years. It is unorthodox, but they considered the entire situation unorthodox. They say it is also to give him time to prepare for the journey. Bah. If you asked her, it is to give him time to screw up and give them a reason to deny him.

Either way, Grover is stuck in camp trying to be as helpful as possible.

Gleeson Hedge is the only satyr available according to Silenus. Everyone else had strawberry duty or are to head out as protectors and searchers. Shinobu Himura is the only legacy at camp.

Then again, who else could she choose, even if the prophecy wasn't so restrictive? Luke, got injured on patrol, and Annabeth is too young. Thalia wants to avoid any bad blood affecting the quest so the other campers are out.

Oh! And that last farewells and dying part didn't sound ominous at all. Riiight. And Hera is about to become her patron. Thalia snorted. That twelve labours thing is making her think that this is all the goddess' doing. Who knows, Thalia wouldn't put it past Hera to bribe Apollo to send her out to her death.

"Great. Now I sound like Luke," Thalia grumbles to herself. While she isn't a fan of the gods, she refuses to wallow as Luke does. She's glad Luke is doing it less, but the few times he still does it is grating.

Thalia prefers action, hence her insistence on being a part of the patrols. Yeah, it raised her rep and, yeah, it gave her chances to take out her anger at something or another. But more than anything else, it gave her some control over her life. Monster hunting was better than stewing in her woes.

That is why she will face this quest head-on! If she is going down, she is going down swinging!

Still. She can't shake the grim thoughts from her head. Despite Chiron's reassurances, she is sure this quest would kill her. It is the real reason why she doesn't get Luke, Annabeth, or Grover involved. Luke injured? They've been through worse. Annabeth is too young, and Grover is a bit of a coward, they're also tougher than they looked. She couldn't let them know. She couldn't even tell them she had a quest.

She couldn't bear to say goodbye. It was too final, too real. Worse, her friends might be able to convince her to abandon the quest altogether.

Chiron showed his disapproval but was kind enough to honour her request.

The guilt of risking Shinobu and the satyr's safety pops back into her mind. Thalia glances at Shinobu who is near the back of the van.

Shinobu says, "Wao! Minna, hontou ni arigatou! Ninmu ni shuppatsu suru mae ni o-wakare o ii ni kite kurete, ureshii yo! Sore ni, konna subarashii purezento made youi shite kurete!" to a son of Apollo and a son of Hephaestus.

Shinobu then hugs the blonde son of Apollo and says, "Arekkusu, hon o arigatou ne. Demo, ninmu chuu ni dore dake benkyou dekiru kanaa?"

Shinobu jumps off of the flustered boy. Then she tackles the son of Hephaestus in a hug and says, "Eiden, omae wa saikou da! Soubi, chou arigatou! Konna ni hayaku tsukutte kureru nante, bikkuri da yo! Ore no rikuesuto doori no katana to tanken da. Sara ni sore o osameru tame no sutorappu made youi shite kureta nda. Shinjirarenai kurai, hontou ni shinjirarenai kurai sugoi!"

Whatever follow-up farewells the boys had seem stuck in their throats. Seeing them choke in embarrassment is hilarious.

Thalia almost doubts Chiron's earlier assurances that Shinobu knew the risks. The blonde girl is too enthusiastic for someone going on such a dangerous quest. Still, Thalia trusts Chiron's judgement better than her own. Plus, she has a feeling Shinobu won't retreat, even if Thalia requests it.

Without a word, they all get into the van, ready to set off on the quest. Argus takes the wheel, and Thalia sits in the passenger seat. In the rearview mirror, she spots Mr Hedge and Shinobu. It's time to fulfil the prophecy and face the challenges ahead.

'"Goodbye," Thalia whispers.

Or she would have if Argus didn't slam his foot into the pedal. The van bursts through the still-opening garage exit. One second sooner and the van would have had a new dent before they even left camp.

It doesn't take long before they reach the camp's border.

As soon as the van leaves the barrier, Thalia hears the monsters in the forest run towards them. Monsters arrive one after the other. They dive, bite, and claw, missing the van by inches. The monsters are a blur to Thalia as the van bobs and weaves.

The van bounces and jolts as it flies over rough terrain. Thalia won't dare call the path full of rocks and pits a road. She wonders how Argus, with the eyes all over his body, is not in pain. The seat belt digs into her shoulder when the van jumps. Her seat bruises her ass when they land.

It doesn't take long before the trees passing by the car thin and the monsters are no longer at their tail. It didn't talk long for them to reach the highway. She spots Gleeson slumping in his seat through the rearview mirror. If the rumours are true, Gleeson got back from a failed attempt to leave camp yesterday.

Thalia follows his example and relaxes as well. The back-to-back patrol duty and pressure from her peers took a toll on Thalia. It was a nice excuse Thalia could use for her loss against Shinobu. Thalia also did not sleep last night as they needed to leave early. That they are on what many campers consider a futile quest wore down on her too.

Thalia hears a rhythmic whirring accompanied by glass rustling against its frame. She turns her head and sees Shinobu opening a window. Shinobu sticks her head out of the window with wide eyes and a wide grin.

"Wahhooi!" Shinobu hollers at the wind. "Kaze ga kokochi ii naa! Konna ni supiido kan o kanjiru no, nannen buri darou!" Shinobu then turns and asks Argus, "Motto hayaku itte moratte ii?"

Whether Argus understands her, Thalia doesn't know as he doesn't react.

"I guess I'm glad one of us is in high spirits," says Thalia.

A shriek echoes in the distance. Thalia and Gleeson straighten up, "A Kindly One!"

Shinobu? She cackles like a mad woman. "Heiwa ga ichiban dakedo, minna ga tanoshisa o sukoshi mazete iru no ga ureshii!" she says as she cracks her knuckles.

As Argus slams on the accelerator, the van wheezes and sputters, but it struggles to comply. Its tired engine emits a distressed groan, protesting the sudden demand for speed.

"Fuck!" Thalia curses as the neglect of the van's maintenance shows its consequence. She remembers Senor Councils dropping non-combat relevant objects to low priority. Thalia regrets changing the schedule of their departure as well. The tight timeline didn't leave time for a thorough checkup.

As the van lurches forward, the rattling noise from within is unmistakable. Loose screws and worn-out parts rattle and clatter. The dashboard flickers with warning lights.

There is no running from this fight.

It seems Shinobu has the same conclusion. She grabs one of her swords, opens the door, and in one motion, leaps out and lands on the van's roof.

Before Thalia can protest, Gleeson takes the blonde's lead, though with much less grace. He clambers up to the top of the swerving vehicle, metal baseball bat in hand.

"I'm not leaving all the action to the runt!" he says.

Thalia suppresses a scream of frustration. How did she end up being the level-headed one? She is about to suggest that Argus stop the vehicle when she sees a pair of hellhounds leap out from the van's shadow. The only reason they aren't on them now is that the van was moving too fast to attack. She hopes they'll tire out, but that's for later.

Thalia does scream, "All three of them?!" when she spots two other winged monsters at a distance ahead of their van.

She opens her window and moves so that her upper torso is outside the van. She sees that the first monster is already giving the two up top trouble. The monster snarls with its mouth full of yellow fangs. The whip lashes from side to side, stopping Shinobu and Gleeson from getting close. They are too far to use their sword and bat. Gleeson's hooves skid on the van's roof as the van veers right to a car on the road.

Thalia bites her lips but decides they are doing fine for now. She has no ranged options. She can only use lightning, and she doesn't think it would help to drop it on their vehicle. Thalia instead turns to the two Kindly Ones flying toward them. She holds out her hands towards them and focuses on willing lightning to swat them out of the sky.

She summons a flash and a thunderclap but neither falls. Thalia mutters, "Fuck," at her miss. "I should have taken Annabeth and Luke's offer for more practice."

With a roar, she calls upon a second lightning bolt. It booms with more power, and the crooked pillar almost blinds her.

Thalia smiles as her burnt victim falls from the sky, exploding into golden dust mid-air. Its partner hesitates, hovering with its bat-like wings, but then leaves.

Thalia returns her attention to the fight on the van.

The Kindly One right next to the van also hesitates but it must have reached the same conclusion as Thalia. It is safe from her lightning so long as Thalia isn't willing to fry everyone else with it. So it stays close to the van, but not close enough for a sword or bat to reach it.

Or so everyone thought.

The monster's glowing eyes widen when Shinobu jumps out of the van and stabs it in the heart. Thalia and Gleeson are also shocked. Though not made of Celestial Bronze, Shinobu's long and narrow blade pierces with ease. Before the monster can react, Shinobu's feet crash into it as she uses its body as a platform for her leap. Shinobu lands on the van with a short roll. The monster, with its collapsed chest, crashes onto the road. A truck runs over it leaving a trail of gold dust.

Thalia and Gleeson share a bewildered look.

Shinobu gives them a thumbs up and a sparkling wide grin and says, "Un! Zettai ni taikutsu janai yo."