Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto nor Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I am just a lowly writer with too much time in my hands.

Warning: This is a sequel story. Read the following first before you read this story.

Child of the Moon: The Lightning Thief
Child of the Moon: The Sea of Monsters
Child of the Moon: The Titan's Curse

Chapter 3

It was another morning in Camp Half-blood, way more than usual.

Apparently, there was this Aethiopian Drakon that had been spotted at the camp's borders. Naruto, with his usual morning routine, was one of the first ones on the scene. Nothing untoward happened, thankfully, since the magical borders were stronger than ever. Percy, on the other hand, was only able to get the scoop on the news when he woke up. He was so exhausted from the day that he slept through the commotion.

Despite being held from the camp by the boundaries, the monster was persistent. It prowled the hills looking for any chink in the defenses, any weakness that it can exploit to get to the day's meal. Lee Fletcher led a group consisting of Naruto and the others that drove the beast away from their camps. At first, the arrows just made it angrier, but a Rasengan that broke its hide made the message clear.

"Twenty arrows and all we did was anger that thing," Lee said. "Good thing Naruto was there or else we'd just be making it even angrier."

"Aye, and we should expect more attacks like this one, more and more frequently," The new sword instructor added.

Even though there was good news, the campers were still anxious. Muttering broke out across the tables. It was no secret that the next target for the Titan Lord's Army was their beloved camp. It was expected that the attack would come sometime in the summer, but no one knew any specifics.

It was pitiful really, the numbers left at camp right now. There were ten campers in all left, a far number from what Percy and Naruto witnessed in their first days at camp. Yes, there were ones who hailed from the Elemental Nations, but they had yet to return. Some had died in the brewing war, while others deserted to join Luke's side. Still, others had just disappeared without a trace.

"Fret not, everyone," Kakashi said with his signature eye smile, quelling the fears of the campers. "This is the exact thing we are training for."

Quintus nodded, "Which is also why we will have a new war game tonight." The other campers didn't like the glint in the eyes of the new camp counselor. Only one other camper had glints in his eyes like this, and it usually didn't mean something good.

"Yes, that is enough of the announcements for this morning," Chiron added, as he picked up his own goblet. "Let us bless this fine meal and eat. To the gods!"

As the custom around these parts, each demigod walked to the bronze brazier and offered a portion of their food to the gods. Everyone offered portions of their meals to their respective godly parent, except for Naruto. He offered a portion to his parent like everybody else and then some. He also offered a portion of his food to his patron god, Hestia, goddess of the hearth.

When everyone was back at their table, no one began to eat. All eyes were at the head table, specifically at a certain masked jonin who was about to take a bite of his food.

Naruto shook his head. It was a common occurrence really. Every day, the campers would try their hardest to catch a glimpse of what was hidden underneath that mask. The female population, especially, wanted to see if their counselor was attractive or not. Even the males were intrigued at what he hid underneath the piece of cloth. Naruto knew better than to try and get a glimpse of his sensei's face. He tried it before with Sakura and Sasuke, and it failed miserably every. Single. Time.

The campers stared intently, as the son of the white fang raised his hand to undo his mask. It was like time slowed down. Nobody dared to breathe nor blink, scared that they would miss whatever was hidden. Naruto just shook his head at the other's antics. He tried to dissuade them, but they were just persistent. The suspense was killing them.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, an extremely loud satyr came out of the woods chasing a wood nymph. It was like a scene taken straight from a romantic comedy movie. The demigod's eyes were immediately torn from the head table to look at the new commotion. They watched as the satyr chased the dryad across the clearing, unable to catch the agile wood nymph. In the end, the scene ended as usual. The dryad turned into a tree causing the satyr to bump into the bark that appeared out of nowhere, knocking him out cold.

Everyone shook their heads at the interaction but instantly remembered what they were trying so hard to see just moments earlier. Their head whipped back to the head table. To everyone's shock and chagrin, Kakashi was already finished eating, leaning back in his chair and patting his stomach."

"Ah," The masked jonin sighed contentedly. "That was another fine meal. I have to remember to thank the dryads for the good food."

He opened his eyes and noticed that the campers were staring at him with their mouths hanging open. "What? Is there something on my face?" He asked patted the area around his mouth as if the food was stuck to it.

Groans were expelled out of nowhere as they returned their focus to their own food in front of them.

Naruto laughed internally at his fellow camper's reaction. He tried to warn them, but they still didn't listen. They had been at it for weeks without any luck. Naruto had given up on that long ago; his sensei was just always one step ahead of him.

The shinobi was taken out of his thoughts when Annabeth grabbed him from his table.

"Wait, where are we going?" Naruto protested.

"To Percy's table," She said, pointing at Table 3.

Naruto's gaze shifted to the said table and saw a dejected Grover sitting on the Poseidon Table. He looked a little worse for wear and barely even touched his food.

"We're going to convince him now?" Naruto's eyebrows raised.

"Yes, so get your ass up and come with me," Annabeth told him off.

"But my food," Naruto said.

Annabeth sighed and let him go for a second, "Go get it and follow me."

Naruto and Annabeth soon slid on either side of Grover on the Poseidon Table.

"Hey, you two are not supposed to be here!" Percy said as soon as he saw the others.

"We need to talk about that," Annabeth insisted.

"But the rules…" Percy said despite his curiosity about wanting to know what that is.

"Look Perce," Naruto spoke up after swallowing one hefty serving from his plate. "Grover is in trouble. The Labyrinth is his only chance of keeping his license. It's what Annie and Clarrise had been investigating all this time."

"You mean the maze that kept the Minotaur?" Percy's eyes widened at the revelation. "It's here in America?"

"SHHHHH!" Naruto shushed his adopted brother. He always seemed to forget that names held power, whether they were in the camp or not. "But yes, obviously. Like everything we read in Greek Mythology, it migrated to the West as well."

"So, we just find out which building this thing is and…"

"Building?" Annabeth scoffed. "Percy, the Labyrinth is huge. It won't fit just under one city, much less a building. We could be talking about under the whole of the North American Continent here!"

"So, if it's that big, can it reach all the way to the Underworld?" Percy asked as if remembering something.

"It could be, but we can't be sure. The Labyrinth is just under the surface world, like a second skin, while the Underworld is even deeper than that," Naruto explained, but a sudden realization hit him. "Why? What did you learn? Was it…"

Naruto and Percy shared a look. Naruto could tell that Percy just learned something important. Percy was about to explain, but Annabeth interjected with their current topic at hand. "Our point is you can go anywhere through the Labyrinth."

"If you don't get lost and die a horrible death," Grover muttered.

"Hey, don't be like that!" Naruto tried to comfort the satyr. "Clarisse got out of there alive. If she could do it, you could do it too!"

"Barely," Grover argued. "And Chris...He...was…"

"He lived as well!" Annabeth completed his sentence. "He just got driven insane."

"Oh joy!" Grover said sarcastically. "Like that was any better."

"Woah, woah, woah," Percy held his hands up. "What's this about a crazy guy?!"

"Remember the mission Clarisse went on last year?" Naruto explained. "Apparently, Chris Rodriguez appeared near out of nowhere in Arizona, near Clarisse's mom's house."

Percy remembered the name somewhere. He remembered eavesdropping on him on the Princess Andromeda. "That's where Clarisse has been all this time? And what do you mean he 'just appeared'"

Annabeth nodded. "He was found wandering around the desert, in full Greek Armor, in a hundred and twenty-degree weather, muttering something about string."

"String?" Percy deadpanned. "What does have to do with anything?"

"He was completely mad, so Clarisse brought him to her mom's home so the mortals wouldn't shut him in the asylum. She tried her best to get him back to normal, even Chiron came to interview him, but it didn't do any good."

The four demigods shivered at that thought.

"So, you think, this is the solution to Grover's problems? But it's a maze, right?" Percy asked

Grover agreed readily. "Full of horrible traps, dead ends, illusions, psychotic goat-killing monsters."

"Not when we have the string," Annabeth explained, excitedly. She seemed to enjoy talking about the Labyrinth so much. "After finding Chris, Chiron sent her to scout, but it was too dangerous. There were some close calls."

Her voice switched to a frustrated tone, "That's when she brought me in. I tried to research everything I could, but I wasn't much of a help, but I really think this could help Grover out."

"How could Pan be underground?" Percy inquired.

"It's a bad idea right?" Grover looked to the Son of Poseidon for support. "There are no flowers, no sunshine, no coffee shops...Nothing! There's no way he's there, right?"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto shook Grover's shoulders. "It's either this or your dream dies with the puppet theatre!"

"That's actually sounding much better," The satyr shuddered. "I'm sorry...I can't do it…"

Before anyone can talk any further, Quintus cleared his throat. Naruto and Annabeth were pushing it, sitting on the Poseidon Table.

Annabeth sighed. "Just talk him to it."

She nodded to Naruto and they both returned to their respective tables.

SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS OF CAMP HALF-BLOOD
AFTER BREAKFAST

A satyr emerged from the shrubbery where a man with gravity-defying hair was waiting for him reading an orange pocketbook.

Sensing the new presence of the newcomer, he looked up from his literature. "Are you followed?"

The satyr shook his head. "I'm positive."

"Alright," The white-haired man closed his book and brought out a sack of cans he was hiding behind his back. "That was a great performance out there, Billy."

"I aim to please," The satyr bowed as if he were in front of some spectators. "Same time tomorrow?"

Kakashi shook his head. "They might start getting suspicious. I'll use some genjutsu tomorrow to shake things up."

"Well if you say so," Billy shrugged.

With that, both parties nodded at each other and walked away as if nothing happened.

AFTER DINNER

That night, the sword instructor had everyone suit up in their combat armor. This wasn't anything new since they did this every time they played Capture the Flag. The difference was the tension in the air like this training exercise was a lot more serious than usual. Apparently, there were some crates stocked in the sword arena, and sometime during the day, they disappeared. Those who were able to see the crates figured that whatever they contained was connected to their exercise.

"This seems more like real combat more than a training exercise," Kakashi said.

"Oh, stop being a worry wort, Kakashi," Quintus told the other counselor. "Think of it as a spar."

"A deadly, no holds barred spar," The jonin sighed.

"Right, gather round," The swordmaster announced. "You will be in teams of two…"

Every camper immediately started talking and pairing up with their friends.

And of course, Quintus spoke up to burst their bubble. "...which have already been chosen."

"AWWWWW!" The excitement was replaced with complaints. Now, this training exercise doesn't seem all that fun anymore.

"Now, now, guy," Kakashi said. "We need to be flexible. In war, especially this coming one, you may be paired up with someone you don't even know personally. You will still be expected to work like a well-oiled machine."

"Well said," Quintus cleared his throat. "Now, your goal is simple: collect the golden laurels that are wrapped in a silk package on only one of the monsters. There are six monsters all in all, and five of them are dummy packages. Find the wreath before other teams, and of course, you have to slay the monster to claim your prize."

The campers murmured excitedly. Even if they didn't get their preferred partner, the game sounded fun. This is an application of everything they had been training for, for years.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus spoke again after giving the campers time to internalize the news. "There will be no trading, no switching, and no complaining."

"Aroof!" The large hellhound chimed happily as she buried her face on a plate of pizza.

Quintus started reading off names. Charles Beckendorf was paired off with Silena Beauregard; excited whispers broke out from the Aphrodite Table. Connor and Travis Stoll formed another team, no surprise there. Clarisse and Lee Fletcher of the Apollo Cabin were paired together, a deadly combination. Quintus continued reading off names until he reached: "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase".

Percy looked at Annabeth excitedly, but his partner was looking at Naruto with a challenging look.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Bianca Di Angelo," Quintus read off. Naruto met with Annabeth's gaze and returned it before turning to his partner and nodding to her.

"And finally," The counselor read the last name on the list. "Grover Underwood and Tyson."

Both cyclops and satyr jumped up of their seats and spoke up.

"B-but goat boy-"

"What? B-but-"

The two of them protested, but they were immediately shut off by Quintus.

"No complaining!" He scolded. "Now, get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare."

INTO THE WOODS

Naruto and Bianca lurked through the woods, hunting their target. The younger demigod was just happy that she was paired up with someone as capable as Naruto. No scratch that, she wouldn't have it any other way.

And so, through the forest they walked, searching for whatever monster held their prize. Somewhere in their woods, they could hear the Stoll Brothers tripping over themselves and cursing up a storm.

"You know, sometimes I doubt if they really are children of Hermes," Naruto told his partner earning a chuckle.

"Hey, we heard that!" Both Connor and Travis called out causing the two to laugh even more.

CRACK

Both demigods froze at the sudden sound. It looks like the monster would be hunting them, not the other way around. The monster must have startled itself when it stepped on the twig. Scuttling noises seemed to reverberate around them, and then it appeared, a giant scorpion with thick jagged pincers, an armored tail, and a three-foot-long stinger.

"Get ready," Naruto told the newbie. "Arrows ready!"

Naruto and Bianca each drew their arrows and took aim. They let loose their projectiles, but they only shattered on the scorpion's hide. It did no damage, only making it angry.

The monster roared, then it lunged forward.

"Scatter!" Naruto yelled as both of them jumped in opposite directions.

The giant scorpion was fast for its size. It made its decision, quickly turning towards Bianca. The long tail shot forward aiming straight for where Bianca landed. Thanks to her training, she was agile enough to roll away from the pointy appendage.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed when he saw the monster applying pressure to Bianca.

"Bianca!" He yelled, throwing a kunai with an explosive tag dangling from the other end.

She leaped into the air, barely avoiding one of the legs and catching the weapon.

"What do I do?" Bianca asked.

"Stick it on its body somewhere!" Naruto advised.

She turned to the scorpion that was scuttling, turning around to face her. The scorpion once again lunged. Bianca weaved around the swipes. Her moves weren't as polished as an experienced fighter, but they were enough to avoid certain death.

Naruto could have jumped in at any time, but he was impressed that Bianca was keeping up with the not so little monster.

Not long after, Bianca yelped after another claw attack, but she managed to avoid it and stab the kunai on the rock-like hide, specifically on the face. The paper attached, then, started hissing. The monster, though, retaliated and slammed Bianca in the midsection knocking her away.

The scorpion loomed over the demigod that was just slowly getting up.

Naruto decided that it was this moment to join the fight. Naruto flickered towards the groggy demigods and socked the monster on its face. He got Bianca in his arms and moved back to a safe distance, watching the paper bomb get consumed by the spark and explode.

The explosion shook the forest and distracted both demigod and monster who were fighting by Zeus's Fist. Naruto watched if their opponent would get on its feet and continue the fight, but nothing happened. All that the two could hear were the nearby fighting that began to resume again.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Naruto let out a breath. He then turned to his partner and ask. "You okay?"

"I'll be okay," Bianca said.

"That's good," The blonde sighed in relief. "You did great out there! Now. let's go see if we fought the right one."

Bianca and Naruto slowly crept towards the scorpion with their guard still up. They had to make sure that the monster was truly dead, lest fatal consequences occur.

Naruto reached for the package tied on the scorpion's tail.

"Did we win?" Bianca asked.

"Just a sec," Naruto answered as he unwrapped their prize.

A bit of rustling later, and they were now in possession of two golden laurels.

"Congratulations," Naruto said as he handed one over to the younger demigod. "You won a game all by yourself."

Bianca blushed. "No, I wouldn't say that. I had a lot of help from you."

Naruto chuckled, "But did you see how well you handled the scorpion?"

"I suppose," The Daughter of Hades looked away, as she got flustered from the praise.

"Here," Naruto gently took the laurel from her hand. "Let me put it on you."

He took a look at the girl. "You look good with that."

"Do I really?"

"Of course!"

BAM!

Before any of them could say anything, the quiet of the night was interrupted as the sound of breaking rocks echoed through the woods.

"Looks like they need our help," Naruto said. "Let's go!"

The two demigods weaved through the trees towards the other campers. Not long after that, they were greeted with a sight of pure carnage.

There were four scorpions clustered all together. Trees and broken rocks were scattered everywhere. Fortunately, the trees were part of the few unoccupied ones.

Screams got Naruto's attention. He turned towards the source of the screams and saw that Connor Stoll was under one of the scorpions about to get devoured.

With quick thinking, Naruto hurled a kunai towards the monster, but it hit the ground under it. The scorpion looked around to see where the attack came from. Seeing nothing, it opened its pincers ready to cut the demigod to pieces.

Before it could do any damage, a force kicked it upwards sending it flying up to the air. Naruto quickly followed it up with a giant Rasengan crushing it with the dense chakra.

"You okay?" Naruto asked.

"I'm fine," Connor answered.

Upon gathering his bearings, he opened his eyes and looked towards his savior. "WHAAAAT?! YOU ALREADY WON?!"

"Sheesh," Naruto picked his ears, trying to get the ringing out of his ears caused by Connor's sudden outburst. "You didn't need to shout. What's got you worked up anyway?"

"Cause I was busting my ass fighting the scorpion, but it didn't have the laurels anyway!" He explained.

"That's okay," Naruto patted the boy on the back to calm him down. "You'll get em next time. Come on. We have scorpions to take care of."

It didn't take long for them to eliminate the remaining scorpions. Clarisse handled a lot of them effortlessly.

Upon meeting with the others in a clearing within the woods, the daughter of Ares was livid when she saw the newbie wearing the laurels along with the Ninja Boy. It looked like she had lost another game to the blonde.

"Alright, everyone," Quintus said. "Let us congratulate our winners Bianca Di Angelo and Naruto Uzumaki!"

There was a round of applause from the group.

"Uhhh, has anyone seen Percy?" Grover meekly spoke up.

No one answered. The others were also looking to the other campers for answers. Sadly, none of them had crossed paths with the pair.

"That means Annabeth is missing too!" Naruto's eyes widened.

He raised his hands in front of him and yelled, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A small army of Naruto's appeared in the clearing.

"Naruto, wait!" The jonin tried to stop the other shinobi but all the clones shot off in opposite directions to scour the woods of any trace of Annabeth and Percy.

Kakashi sighed. "He never did listen till now."

"Everyone!" Chiron spoke up. "Did you really not see anything? Any clue will be very helpful."

"There was this scorpion trying to force itself through the rocks back at Zeus's fist," Clarisse stated.

"That's a good enough lead," Kakashi said. "We'll begin our search around the rock formation. They couldn't have gone far."

Kakashi and the crew made their way to Zeus's fist. Now you would wonder why the pile of rocks was named after the Lord of the Sky. Well, from one angle, it looked like a fist, and it was only natural to name things after the King of the Gods.

On the other hand, the rocks also looked like a pile of deer droppings from any other angle. From then on, Chiron prohibited the camper from calling it "Poop Pile" since it was already named after Zeus, and he wouldn't appreciate the disrespect.

Anyway, the campers looked around the area. Kakashi had sent a clone to look for Naruto, so he could help the others look for the missing campers around the area.

When Naruto came back, he helped the others look around the vicinity of the rock formation. He almost jumped when Juniper melded out of trees near the rocks.

"So, this is where you lived," Naruto made small talk as he walked near the tree. "Nice tree."

"Thanks," Juniper said, her cheeks turning a darker shade of green. It seemed that Naruto had the same effect on her just like to other nymphs. She looked around at the search party combing the area. "What's all this for?"

"We're looking for Percy and Annabeth," Naruto said. "Have you seen them?"

"Ohhh!" Juniper jumped. "I saw them around this area and told them about Luke coming here back when he was still with the camp. But then this big ugly scorpion came and I had to hide."

"Wait, what did you say?" Naruto was surprised at the sudden revelation. "Scratch that. You said you talked to Percy and Annabeth here?"

"Yes, but I didn't see where they went cause of the monster," She explained.

"Well, thanks for the info anyway," Naruto bowed and relayed the information to the other campers.

About two hours later, Clarisse called out. "They're here!"

Naruto immediately rushed towards the War Girl's location. True to her word, there was Percy crawling out of the rocks. Not far behind him, Annabeth crawled out.

Without even waiting for the girl to get up, Naruto scooped her up and wrapped the girl in an embrace.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "Where have you been? Are you hurt?"

Annabeth blushed at Naruto fussing over her. She was surprised that the blonde was even worried about her. She was expecting the attention to go to Percy, since he was the blonde's brother, but this was what was happening.

Speaking of Percy, "I'm here too you know," The Son of Poseidon deadpanned as he watched his adopted brother fuss over the daughter of Athena. He had to admit, he was feeling a bit jealous, not because of the concern over the girl, but because of the contact.

"Stop fussing over your girlfriend, blondie, or you'll suffocate her," Clarisse spoke up ruining the moment.

Naruto opened his eyes and immediately blushed. He scratched the back of his head the way he always did when he was flustered. "S-sorry about that."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Annabeth snapped as well with the same flushed face.

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourselves that," Clarisse rolled her eyes.

"Tell us, Percy," Chiron spoke up in a serious tone, indicating that joking around was over now. "Where have you been?"

"We just fell into a hole over there," Percy answered pointing towards the crevice under Zeus's fist. "We were only gone for a few minutes!"

"Sorry to say, Percy, but you were gone for over an hour," Kakashi said, stating the contrary.

"But…but, we've only been exploring that tunnel for a couple of minutes," Percy tried to reason, but everyone shook their heads.

The other campers as well wanted to ask a bunch of questions, but even before they could start, Chiron spoke up. "That will be enough theatrics for today. This is not the right time to talk about that. All of you to your cabins. Now!"

There was a bunch of protests, but they drifted off albeit with a bunch of grumbling and whispers amongst themselves. Some were even bumping fists and exchanging bags of what Percy could only assume was coins.

"You found it, didn't you?" Clarisse asked the daughter of Athena. "This is what Luke is after."

Naruto nodded. "Juniper told me he was milling around the area even before he deserted us. He must have known about it even then."

"You don't mean?" Percy's eyes widened in realization.

"Yes," Annabeth confirmed. "We just found an entrance to the Labyrinth."