The story so far: Naruto, now known as Shinobu, reincarnates by using her willpower and chakra. She encounters Thalia and her friends at Camp Half-Blood and joins their fight against monsters. Chiron contemplates the implications of Thalia's arrival and Shinobu's. Luke is intrigued by Shinobu. Annabeth plays chess with Shinobu. Thalia challenges Shinobu to a spar. The Senior Council discusses the increasing dangers at camp and considers sending Thalia on a quest to distract monsters from the camp. Thalia, Shinobu, and Gleeson Hedge set out on a dangerous quest to face monsters.
Direction
After their fight with the Kindly Ones, they didn't encounter any more monsters. Argus dropped them off at a bus stop. He couldn't help them any further, as it would risk adding him to the list of questors. Three is a sacred number. Any more than three on a quest could result in a catastrophe.
It was during the wait at the worn-down bus stop that Thalia realised how vague the prophecy is. It doesn't even have instructions on which direction they should take. She must have missed that detail during their hectic, monster-filled ride out of camp.
She supposes that since the oracle prophesied it, she'll get to her destination no matter what. Still, she isn't about to be passive and wait for the prophecy to unfold.
Her fist clenches as she thought of the looming encounter she'll have to face.
"You may earn a pardon through twelve tasks as a test."
So, Hera. Yup. Better to get it over with and see what twelve labours she has to endure.
Should they go up to the top of the Empire State Building and meet her in person? Somehow, that doesn't seem right to her. The gnawing unease at the thought of meeting a goddess who hates her guts doesn't help. Still, it isn't like they have any other leads.
The arrival of the bus cuts her musings short. Thalia is glad Chiron was kind enough to give them enough money for public transportation. The bus driver doesn't say anything, and the bus is not the worst she's been in. The hot air and open windows tell her the air conditioning is not working.
The bus is almost empty. The two passengers she sees are dead asleep. Thalia picks the seat closest to the exit, and Gleeson goes to the seat on the opposite aisle. Shinobu sits next to her.
As the bus starts moving again, Thalia's gaze gravitates towards Shinobu's exuberant energy. Shinobu's golden ponytail dances in the wind as she peeks out the window. Her blue eyes are wide open as she takes everything in. Everything being trees, trees, some infrastructure, and more trees.
"Aren't you too old to act like a city newcomer?" Thalia says, even though Shinobu can't understand her. Despite being about a year older than Thalia in her estimation, Shinobu acts like a hyper Annabeth. No, Annabeth, who is five years old, is less childlike than Shinobu.
"Uwa, nande konna ni kusai ndarou?" Shinobu says with a scrunched face. "Mae no kuruma tte, koko made kusakunakatta noni sa. Sore ni kono kemuri, tabako ga yamerarenai no kana? Nande konna ni kuuki chuu ni juuman saseru hitsuyou ga arun da yo?" Shinobu shakes her head and then pulls up a handkerchief from her right pocket. She then covers her face with it, tying it at the back of her head.
"Are you trying to look like a bandit?" says Thalia.
Thalia hopes Shinobu won't draw too much attention when they enter the city. Aside from the handkerchief covering her nose and mouth, she also carries a lot of weapons.
"Cities stink, but she'll get used to it," says Gleeson.
Thalia's gaze drifts to him, and she hopes her disbelief is obvious on her face. Oh, she can understand the part about the city stinking. The camp's fresh air makes the contrast quite clear. "I'd prefer if we didn't get arrested because one of us decided to wear an armoury."
Shinobu wears a leather harness over her oversized Camp Half-Blood shirt. Two shoulder straps connect to a belt. Her two swords hang in their sheaths at her waist. She has blades holstered under each armpit as well. Eleven more daggers rest behind her back—four on each vertical strap and three along the belt. Her dark-blue denim pants conceal shin guards, but her metal forearm guards are bare to see.
Gleeson shrugs. "She's prepared, like me." He taps his metal baseball bat on his shoulder.
Her eyes drift to the bag of tin cans Gleeson has. "I never thought I'd be the one carrying the least amount of metal in a group," Thalia says. "Another first to add to the list."
The only ones that went out with more gear that she knows of are from the Hephaestus cabin. They carry a myriad of tools to tinker with. The Ares cabin might too, but as far as Thalia knows, they often have a favourite they'll bring.
The bus stops to let new passengers in. To Thalia's relief, none of them gives Shinobu or Gleeson a second glance.
Thalia wonders what the Mist shows the people looking at Shinobu. Chiron said that the Mist twists the sight of mortals. Instead of the supernatural, the Mist shows mortals a mundane illusion.
Gleeson, despite being a satyr, should blend in as an ordinary man. The Mist should hide his horns and furry legs. Thalia doubts it hides his bat or bag of cans. She is less sure about Shinobu's gear.
Thalia is sure Shinobu's blades are not magical nor made of Celestial Bronze. Does that make them mundane, and if so, does the Mist not hide them?
As the bus gains more passengers, none of them seems to pay the three of them any mind. Thalia wonders if the Mist is hiding Shinobu's arsenal or not. Is a sword-wielding girl normal for New Yorkers?
Their bus ride takes less than two hours to arrive at Grand Central Terminal. As they exited the terminal, Thalia glances at her companions.
"Gleeson, or, uh, Mr. Hedge—"
"Call me Coach. Most people do."
Thalia winces. Here she was, embarking on a quest, and she didn't even know her companions enough to know what to call them. "Right, Coach." She clears her throat in embarrassment but then straightens her posture. "Would you mind keeping watch on Shinobu while I try to meet Hera?"
Shinobu glances at them, hearing her name, but says nothing.
Gleeson quirked an eyebrow. "You're going alone? Are you sure about that, kid?"
"The three of us going there won't fare any better than me going in alone," says Thalia. "Shinobu isn't going to be helpful in a conversation. I doubt Hera knows Japanese." Aphrodite might speak French, but that's because it's the language of love. Japanese isn't the language of familial love, marriage, motherhood, or women. "And you? I don't get the feeling you're much for a diplomatic talk."
Gleeson grunts but doesn't disagree. "I ain't thrilled about hanging back." He crosses his arms but then grins. "You've got guts. I'll give you that. Sure, I'll keep an eye on the kid, but don't expect me to twiddle my thumbs and do nothing."
"I'm not sure what else you can do." Thalia has a bad feeling. "I'm hoping you can keep Shinobu out of trouble."
"We can stay busy guarding the perimeter," Gleeson says.
That didn't sound so bad.
Gleeson's grin broadens. "This is New York. There is always a good fight around to find."
Fourth
Gleeson Hedge resists the urge to groan in boredom. The time they spent walking has resulted in no excitement so far. They are already quite far from the Empire State Building, but he doubts Thalia's trip will be a short one.
He glances at Shinobu. The kid looks like she is trying to break her fingers. She squeezes both her right pointing and middle fingers tight as they walk. He has no idea what Shinobu is doing, but it doesn't look like she has lost her awareness of her surroundings. She stops before the crossings, and she is not bumping into anyone along the way, so he doesn't bother her about it. She is at least occupying herself.
Him, though? He feels bored. He is already leading them towards the seedier parts of the city he remembered. It's been a while, but the city couldn't have changed that much, could it? He is beginning to doubt himself about that. About an hour later, there was not a peep of the chaos he anticipated. Not even as simple pick-pocketing that he can spot.
His heightened sense of smell tells him there are monsters around. Wherever they are, they are close. He is sure he hears the sounds of a fight. But even with his supernatural hearing, he has a hard time pinpointing where the sound is coming from.
He is about to raise his hand to signal a stop, but Shinobu is one step ahead of him.
She grabs him by the wrist and pulls him along. To his surprise, he struggles to keep up with her pace. Before he can say anything, Shinobu turns, grabs him by the waist, and lifts him into a fireman's carry.
He did not bleat.
He can hear the cans in his bag jingle against each other. Beyond that, the sounds of the skirmish—roars and hisses—grow louder.
Shinobu drops him on his feet when they reach a small park. He prides himself on reorienting himself with his bat in hand and ready in a second.
Before them is a scene of a middle-aged man against two Scythian dracaena and a minotaur.
The man seems to fare well. The half-bull charges forward, but the man twirls out of the way. The minotaur misses the man and instead pins one of the Scythian dracaenas to a tree between its horns. The man keeps the other serpentine woman with twin tails at bay with his sword.
Well, that isn't about to stop him from joining the fun. He already missed his chance once.
Once again, Shinobu is a step ahead. The girl rushes past him towards the tree-bound duo with her swords drawn.
Gleeson instead turns his focus on the dracaena. She is too busy defending herself against the man with her shield to notice him. With her back to Gleeson, he drops his heavy bag and rushes forward with his metal bat, ready to strike.
His heart pounds against his chest in anticipation, but both her tails lash at his feet. Hedge parries by slamming his bat down onto her tails. She lets out a half-hiss, half-shriek in pain.
With lightning speed, she turns a full 360, swinging her spear wide, which forces Gleeson and the man back. She takes advantage of their momentary pause and flees.
"Coward!" Gleeson spat. With haste, he runs back to his dropped bag, reaches in, and brings a tin can to his hand. He gives it a slight upward toss and then, with a powerful swing, strikes the can mid-air with his bat. "Batter up!" Cliché, but the crushed can find its mark and hits her shoulder.
The monster drops her spear, her arm limp by her side. She turns and keeps hiding her body behind her shield as she slithers backward. Gleeson rushes forward, confident he can outrun her slower defensive retreat. Before he can take more than five steps, a dagger flies through the air and strikes the monster's forehead. The dracaena dissolves into golden dust.
Gleeson follows the dagger's path to Shinobu. After she retrieves her dagger, she scowls at the slight bend near her sword's tip. He didn't see her fight. He thought it'd take her a bit longer against two monsters, even though they're sitting ducks. No doubt her sword bent against the minotaur's thick hide, its struggling, or both.
"You should get something made of Celestial Bronze," Gleeson says.
Finally, he turns to the man they rescued—well, he didn't even need rescuing.
"A satyr, and may I assume that you are a demigod?" the man says.
Shinobu begins her reply, "Yaa! Tanoshimi o buchi kowashite nakatta kana? Kimi, jouzu ni yatte iru mitai datta kedo..."
But Gleeson interrupts her. "She's a legacy, and she doesn't speak English.'"
The girl pouts but then gives the man a sheepish smile. "I am sorry," she says. "But I do not comprehend English language." She emphasises each word, with uncertainty but with formality. It's clear she memorised that line.
"A legacy," the man muses. He looks to be in his late forties or fifties with his greying hair. His two-piece suit seems well-tailored, with broad, padded shoulders. "I did not think Camp Half-Blood would change their policy."
Ah. So he is familiar with the camp. Likely a demigod. It would explain why the monster attacked him.
"You were a camper?" Gleeson asks.
The man nods, "Yes. I have long stopped attending as I am more than capable of tending to my own needs. I do not need the camp's protection."
"You don't smell like one," Gleeson says, though that is not quite correct. He can smell the man fine now, but it is weak, as if the man had popped up out of the ground or off the sewers. Even travelling here by vehicle should have left a much stronger scent in the vicinity.
"Yes. I've tried to stay under the radar for a while now, and I've attempted many means of staying that way," the man says.
A spell, an artefact, or something else? Either way, it helps explain why the satyr didn't sniff him out earlier.
"If I may, I hope you don't mind, but I do not wish to be rude to the young miss," the man says to Gleeson. He turns and speaks to Shinobu. "Oha-yohi. Wabi yo, waga Nihongo wa yahari sukoshi ku furuki nari. O-kokoro ni kamau koto araba, saiwai nari."
Gleeson's eyes widen in surprise.
Shinobu is more extreme and catapults herself to hug the man. She starts babbling in rapid succession. "Yaa! Boku no namae wa naa, aa, iya, Shinobu da yo. Himura Shinobu da yo. Sugoi desho? Kimi wa? Kimi no namae wa? Kitto subarashii n darou na. Nande tatakatte ta no? Kakkoyokatta yo. Ato de teawase shiyou. Demo shinakute mo ii yo, shitakunakattara ne. Demo yappari yattara omoshiroi darou na. Kimi no hanashikata, nanka ojiichan no hagoromo mitai da ne. Moshikashite kimi mo kawatta koto suru no kana? Sore ni nee..."
"I take it that I've been the first one she's been able to talk to?" the man says with amusement.
Gleeson shrugs.
"But the girl does have a point," the man says.
Said girl now circles him, taking interest in his many pockets.
"We have not introduced ourselves," the man continues.
"Gleeson Hedge" is Gleeson's simple reply. "The kids call me Coach."
The man then grabs Shinobu's attention by extending his hand to her. She looks at the man for a moment before accepting the offered handshake.
The man then speaks to her, "Anjū. Wagahai no na wa Iwan V Hyuugo nari. Kore no na ni hokori o daite sorō, shika. Zannen naran, go-kotowari mōshiagetakusonjimasu. Wagahai, teawase ni wa kyōmi o motazaru to sonjisōkata. Mazu mōshiageta tori, wagahai no Nihongo wa jidai ni okuretaru kamoshirenu. Kondo no genkō no kotoba ni nareru kikai o ezaru to sonjisōkata. Sesha, dōkō-sha ni jikoshōkai o itasu beku katachi, go-yōsha o negu."
Is the man translating? Gleeson isn't sure.
Shinobu gives the handshake much more energy and follows it with a short nod.
The man then turns his attention back to him.
The man says, "My name is Ivan V. Hugo. You may call me Ivy."
