A/N: The main climax for the story has been set up this chapter. I really hope all of my readers enjoy the next few chapters because they'll be filled by non-stop action, fights, and battles.

July 30th 2009:

The cold atmosphere around Naruto Uzumaki was brightened by the luminescent illumination from the platinum-coloured moonlight of the perpetual heavens. Naruto slid his calloused hands into his pockets.

Sapphire eyes gazed into the shadows of a sequestered alleyway. Stepping into the isolated sector, Naruto gave the indiscernible outline in the distance an unimpressed gander. "Why are you following me?"

Susanoo emerged from these masses of iridescent shadows and directed a nonchalant grin of mockery down at Naruto: who blinked without a shred of fear or concern. "What the hell do you want?"

"Frustrated, are we?" A loud laugh of conceited amusement erupted forth from the cavern of Susanoo's mouth. "I understand your anger."

Reaching his pale and muscled palm down to touch Naruto on the shoulder, Susanoo leaned himself forward. He whispered into Naruto's ear. "You plan to help out your friends in the Greek pantheon, right?"

Naruto concealed his brief bout of surprise behind an expression of unadulterated insouciance. Glaring at the Shinto deity, Naruto clicked his teeth in blatant annoyance. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Susanoo chuckled and let loose a long-drawn hum of pure mockery. "Nothing. Nothing. However, I do feel obligated to tell you this much."

"Amaterasu has given you permission to leave our territory." Susanoo's beautiful eyes glinted an ominous blue. "Be grateful to her."

"Under normal circumstances." Susanoo murmured to himself. Humour adorned his smooth voice. "You wouldn't be allowed to leave at all…"

Susanoo kept his pale hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiled. "You are the strongest Shinobi in all of history. You do realize that?"

"Of course I do." Naruto's whiskered features were decorated by a casual grin of acceptance. "Everybody does keep telling me that."

"No. No. No." Susanoo's voice was annoyed. He grunted. "Sasuke Uchiha's abilities and your powers combined can destroy everything."

"Funny." Naruto's blue eyes possessed an irritated light to them. His casual grin shrunk a little. "What are you trying to tell me, Susanoo?"

Susanoo released another loud chuckle of mischief from his lips. "You will be an essential cog in the system that we call this world, Naruto."

"I don't think you have realized the meaning of your existence." Susanoo had a vitriolic countenance. "You are Ashura's reincarnation."

"Ashura was one of my greatest friends." Susanoo mumbled. Familiarity laced his tone. "You are similar—but different to him…"

"However." Susanoo lowered his head to glare into the sapphire depths of Naruto's aggressive gaze. "Ashura understood his purpose."

"Sasuke Uchiha understands his purpose." Susanoo smirked. "You, Naruto Uzumaki, live without a care of what your existence entails."

"Minato Namikaze sealed the Kyuubi into you." Susanoo closed his eyes in unconcealed amusement. "Your birth changed everything."

"You have been given countless titles across the years of your life." The Shinto god laughed. "They call you a friend, a hero, and Shinobi!"

"But." Susanoo focused on Naruto and grinned—this grin was one of cruel amusement. "They called you a fiend, a devil, and a monster!"

"You never bothered to think about your true role in this beautiful world." Susanoo sighed. "Sasuke Uchiha understands. You do not."

"What the hell are you prattling on about?!" Blue eyes widened themselves in annoyance. "My existence is mine and mine alone."

"You will understand everything about this universe in due time." Susanoo patted Naruto's shoulder. "Have fun fighting for your friends."

"But do not forget this one granule of information about yourself." He glanced down at Naruto without a hint of empathy. "You were a devil."

Naruto watched Susanoo disappear within a vicious hurricane of blue-coloured particles and rolled his luminous eyes. Kurama's grunt of exhaustion filled Naruto's head. "What was that all about?"

"I wasn't really listening." Naruto picked at the entrance to his ear and chuckled at his most trusted partner. "Did he wake you up, fur-ball?"

"I despise that nick-name you gave me." Kurama grouched, sinking his head into the fur strewn across his arm. "You can be such a brat."

Naruto flourished a calloused hand around in the frigid air. "You're a grumpy and old-ass fox whose life-style is only sleeping and yawning."

"I suppose you can be correct sometimes." Kurama let loose a guttural yawn. His crimson eyes were closed. "Stop talking to me, I'm tired."

"You're proving my point, you dumb fox!" Naruto yelled into his mind. Laughter escaped his lips. "Man! You're an asshole, Kurama."

(-)

August 2nd 2009:

Naruto blocked off a somewhat powerful flame-enhanced punch from Leo and buried a chakra-covered knee into his stomach. Rolling downwards into the ground of the arena, Leo coughed in exertion.

Jumping to his feet and blurring towards Naruto in an indiscernible blur of fire, Leo aimed his elbow for Naruto's nose. The Uzumaki caught Leo's fore-arm, kicked his chest, and hurtled him backwards.

Leo stumbled down into the concrete for a second time and rubbed his pain-filled stomach. The flames around his body flickered for the briefest of moments before they disappeared. "Everything hurts!"

"You've gotten good over the last few months." Naruto tucked his coarse hands into his pockets. "I think you'd give Luke some trouble."

"I sure hope so!" Leo smiled at his blue-eyed friend, touched his chin, and hummed. "Have you heard about my cabin's latest invention?"

Naruto tilted his head. An unabashed grin adorned his whiskered face. "Nope! What's so special about this latest invention? I'm curious."

"We call them divine-goggles." Leo explained. He lifted up one finger. "They protect us from the effects of seeing a deity's divine-form."

"That would be useful against the titans' divine-forms." Naruto nodded and shrugged. "You're going to have to mass-produce them, right?"

"Not anymore!" Leo shouted in response. A joyous inflection infected his mischievous baritone. "Lou Ellen learned this duplication-spell!"

Realization flickered within the azure pits of Naruto's gaze. "Oh. She's going to duplicate all of those divine-goggles, then. Isn't she?"

"Bingo." Leo shot two finger-guns at Naruto, gritting his teeth a little from the pain inside of his limbs and stomach. "Everything still hurts!"

"I think you'll be fine." Naruto waved his calloused hand. Insouciance was evident in his casual voice. "Your flame-control is incredible."

"Thank you for your high praise!" The child of the forges let out a loud burst of laughter. "I'm glad my pain tolerance has gotten better!"

Their amicable conversation was interrupted when Percy Jackson walked into the arena. A ball-point pen was in one of his hands. He extended his pen into a blade. "Care for another spar, Mr. Blonde?"

Naruto produced a Kunai from his sleeve and channelled chakra throughout the Shinobi-specialized weapon. Sprinting forward, Percy clashed Riptide against the Kunai's tip. "I swear I'm always called that!"

Leaping backwards and planting himself back down on the ground of the arena, Percy cleaved Riptide forward. Naruto raised his Kunai, manipulated wind into it, grinned, and parried Riptide's vicious slash.

The surface beneath Naruto's feet trembled for three seconds before a geyser of water emerged forth from the concrete. Flipping forward, Naruto landed behind Percy: who had a wry grin strewn on his face.

Naruto glanced at the mass of water in the distance—this mass of water transmuted itself into an enormous hand and reached for his whole body. Impressed, Naruto summoned a rock-constructed wall.

A green-eyed silhouette appeared in front of Naruto. Percy directed Riptide forward and felt the Kunai from Naruto clash onto the end of his blade. Summoning more water from the ground, Percy smiled.

"He's using his water to distract me from the real fight." Naruto squinted his eyes down at the concrete of the arena. "That's smart."

The Uzumaki roundhouse kicked Percy in the chest and flung him back to establish some distance between the two of them. Glancing at the second mass of water that Percy had called for, Naruto hummed.

Percy stumbled backwards before he repositioned himself into a much more comfortable stance suited for this type of battle. Materializing himself next to Percy, Naruto clenched his fist and reached for Percy's nose.

However, Percy had used the entirety of Riptide to block off Naruto's powerful punch. The child of the seas lowered his most treasured blade and aimed a head-butt forward. "Time for a little pay-back!"

Naruto crouched down and slapped his palm into Percy's leg. Percy collapsed down onto the ground until he released a grunt of irritated acceptance. The demi-god sighed. "You win this round, Mr. Blonde."

"You and Leo have to work on your nick-names." Naruto chuckled. A smidge of humour decorated his voice. "You look kinda annoyed."

"It's about Kronos and Luke." Percy laid flat on his back. Rays of hot sunlight touched his skin and flooded his vision. "Can I beat them?"

"I believe you'll be just fine." Naruto gave Percy a nonchalant grin. "You'll have to wait for your fight against them to see if you can win."

"Man! That was a sick fight!" Leo's exuberant baritone cut into their somewhat tense discussion. "All I could see was a bunch of blurs!"

"Naruto's still got the upper-hand in hand-to-hand combat." Percy stretched his arms. "I can't believe the prophecy is happening soon."

"There's going to be a lot of new enemies." The son of Hephaestus mumbled. "According to Nico, Kronos has pulled titans from Tartarus."

"Nico told Chiron that Menoetius and Epimetheus had been pulled out from Tartarus, I think." Leo canted his head. "How did he find out?"

Another composed voice interrupted their conversation. "Nico set up some hidden phantoms around Hecate's palace to get more intel."

"Annabeth." The somewhat moody expression on Percy's features brightened a little. "Have you got any more news from Chiron?"

"Nothing much." Sighing, Annabeth shrugged. "Chiron told me that all of the gods are going to be busy against Typhon. We're on our own."

"I have confidence in everyone." Percy smiled. "They've all been training for when the real time against Kronos' army comes."

"You're gonna be the leader when that time rolls around, right?" Leo asked Percy: who blinked in mild surprise. "I think you'll do great!"

"Nah." Percy remained flat on his back and chuckled. "I'm pretty sure the one who's gonna lead us when the prophecy starts is Chiron."

Naruto remained silent and listened to the chat between his friends. Folding her arms, Annabeth let some amusement seep into her tone. "You do realize Chiron nominated you to lead us, sea-weed brain?"

"Huh." Percy blinked for a second time in blatant surprise. "I'll comprehend that information at a later time. How have you all been?"

"I've been good!" Leo grinned and gave all of them a cheer-filled thumbs-up. "All of my inventions and gadgets are gonna help us out!"

"Thanks for those gauntlets." Annabeth cracked her knuckles. "They'll be rather useful when the prophecy begins and when we fight Luke."

The shadows around them twisted into the familiar outline of the child of Hades. Nico Di Angelo manifested his physical body out from Annabeth's shadows and stepped into the middle of the group.

"If it isn't the angst-filled spy himself!" Leo had a merry grin on his visage. "How have you been, Nico! Got some more juicy information?"

"Not much this time." Nico shook his head without a hint of amicability. "I had something that I wanted to tell both Annabeth and Percy."

"You two can hear this, I suppose." Nico glanced at Naruto: who had fallen asleep against the arena's bleachers. "Or not, I guess…"

"How lazy can he be, huh?" Leo elbowed Nico in the hip and chortled. "One time, I found him asleep while his eyes were still opened!"

"He would not wake up." Percy shuddered a little from the memory of that traumatic event. "I thought I saw his eyes turn red for a second."

"Enough talking about Naruto's questionable sleeping habits." Annabeth huffed, entertained. "Nico. What did you want to tell us?"

"Luke and Kronos have gained a new ability." Annoyance blemished Nico's pale face. "They've both gained the Curse-Of-Achilles…"

"That means they're invulnerable right now." Annabeth's grey-tinted eyes widened in shock. "Did you learn the area of their weak-spots?"

"No." Nico scowled to himself when his senses were tickled by an odd sensation. "My ghosts inside of Hecate's palace haven't heard much."

"Wait a minute." Percy stretched his hands forward and shook his head. "You're trying to tell me that Luke and Kronos are invincible?"

Nico nodded, frustrated. "I ain't sugar-coating anything, Percy. This damn war is starting soon. I've helped you all to the best of my abilities."

The child of Hades tucked his pale hands into his pockets, stepped into the shadows of the arena, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Annabeth was in contemplation. "How do you beat an invincible foe?"

"No clue." Leo shrugged before he settled himself down on the ground, cross-legged. "How the heck did they gain this ability?"

"You have to bathe in the River-Styx to gain the Curse-Of-Achilles." Annabeth replied. "However, you must tether yourself to an anchor."

"Sounds dangerous." Leo planted the back of his head against the concrete and laid down on the arena's surface. "Is it worth it?"

"Definitely, if you survive." Annabeth nodded. "Those who have the Curse-Of-Achilles will only have a single spot that is penetrable."

They stopped when they heard a loud yawn from the distance. Naruto stood up from the bleachers of the arena, rubbed his well-rested eyes, let loose another yawn, and lowered his arm. "What did I miss?"

"Not much." Percy walked over to Naruto and smirked at him in amusement. "You sleep at the most random times, I swear."

Touching the back of his neck in unadulterated confusion, Naruto glanced at his other two friends: who had returned to their discussion about whatever topic they had been engaged in. He sighed at the air.

"What the heck happened?" Naruto mused to himself, slipping his calloused hands into his pockets. "How am I the random one?"

Naruto and Percy stepped towards Annabeth and Leo. Rising from his earlier position, the child of Hephaestus pulled a screw-driver out from no-where. This screw-driver expanded in size. "Who wants to fight?!"

"Maybe a little later." Annabeth snorted before she glanced at the entrance of the arena. "Percy and I have to tell Chiron something."

The Uzumaki body-flickered out of the arena, appearing in front of the entrance to Camp Half-Blood's forges. Sauntering into the heat-filled sector, Naruto noticed his friend and raised a calloused hand. "Yo!"

Charles Beckendorf turned around in Naruto's direction and wiped off the sweat covered across his fore-head. An amicable smile graced Charles' rough features. "Naruto! I haven't seen you in a few weeks!"

"Sorry about not visiting you all that much." Naruto seated himself down on a wooden-chair. "Leo keeps asking me to train and fight him."

"Everyone at camp's determined to get in some extra training." Charles chuckled, smiling. "I think they'll all be fine, though."

Naruto leaned back into the wooden-frame of the chair. "You must have a lot of faith and trust in everyone, huh? You're a great person."

"Of course I have faith in my siblings and friends." Charles twirled a screw-driver for the briefest of seconds. "Especially in Leo."

"I think he'll be capable of something incredible in the future." Charles hummed. "I also think that Percy will succeed in leading all of us."

"Yep." Naruto nodded to himself in confirmation and grinned. "You really are a great person, Charles. But don't cut yourself short."

"Thanks, Naruto." Charles screwed in another nail into the control-pad of a new invention. "I noticed that you look a little bothered, my friend."

"Nothing to worry about." Naruto swung his coarse hand around in the air, lowering his head and rolling his shoulders. "See you later!"

The Uzumaki left the forges of Camp Half-Blood and blurred towards the Big-House—Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron stood on its porch. Annabeth coughed into her fist. "This can be real bad for us, Chiron."

"Indeed." Stroking his shaved beard, Chiron let loose a hum of contemplation. "The Curse-Of-Achilles is a powerful type of ability."

Suppressing the urge to clench his fists in frustration, Percy scowled. "I forgot to tell you something, Chiron. Luke's mana has been sealed."

"What?" Chiron lurched forward. Surprise coloured his otherwise gentle tone. "Truly? Could this be why he took on the curse?"

"I was shocked when Percy told me too, don't worry." Annabeth smirked. "It probably is. Luke's mana was one of his main abilities."

"Yeah." Naruto barged in on them and stepped onto the porch of the well-maintained building. "I couldn't feel any mana from Luke."

"What's so special about this invulnerability?" The Uzumaki asked. Confusion twinkled in his bright gaze. "Isn't there a weak spot?"

"You have to stop listening in on other people's conversations."

Annabeth sighed, rubbed the temple of her head, and nodded. "The issue is that the weak-spot can be protected through various means."

"Oh." Naruto blinked without any sign of real worry. "That sounds really bad. Can't you take the invulnerability from them or something?"

"Not possible." Annabeth breathed out, annoyed. "I wish there was a method to remove the Curse-Of-Achilles from someone, though."

"There isn't much we can do about this topic." Chiron raised his hand to end their discussion. "Carry on doing whatever you were doing."

Naruto, Percy, and Annabeth glanced at each other before they left the porch of the Big-House and returned to the arena—where Leo was surrounded by numerous rings of hot and luminous flames.

Dispelling the circles of fire around his body, Leo noticed his three friends within the arena and waved at them. An enthusiastic inflection infected Leo's loud voice. "How did telling Chiron about the curse go?"

"Pretty well." Percy had a somewhat curious countenance on his face. "Naruto. Who told you about the Curse-Of-Achilles? You were asleep."

"I did a lot of research about different mythologies." Naruto grinned. "It wasn't my idea, though. I was kinda bribed into studying about them."

"And I was listening to yours and Chiron's conversation!"

"Huh, nice." Percy turned towards Annabeth: who brushed two fingers against her chin in deep contemplation. "What's the plan this time?"

"I'm not sure this time." Annabeth lifted her head. Her grey-coloured eyes gazed into the blue depths of the skies. "We do need a plan…"

"The Curse-Of-Achilles could be a bad sign for all of us…"

(-)

Luke Castellan stared at the reflection of himself from the mirror drilled into the luxurious wall of his decorative bed-room inside of Hecate's enormous palace. Rubbing the scar on his face, he smiled.

Lowering his arm down and stepping out from his bed-room, Luke scanned the corridor. Countless monsters and demi-gods filled the hallways of Hecate's grand castle. Luke chuckled.

Percy would be the one to perish beneath the tip of his blade. Luke closed his eyes, pictured the corpse of his most detested foe, and let loose a much more louder laugh compared to the one seconds ago.

The war between Kronos' army and their enemies would be a long and arduous battle—a battle of despair, hope, loss, victory, and destruction. Luke clenched both of his fists. His blue eyes glowed.

"I won't let anyone stop me from winning this entire war." Luke murmured to himself. Determination highlighted his visage. "I will win."

"Annabeth, Thalia, and Percy understand nothing about this world." Luke touched his palm against the wall. "I understand everything!"

"Our ideals shall clash against each other." Luke's lips twisted into an unhinged smile of blatant violence. "I will grow stronger and stronger."

Luke's coarse hand sunk deeper into the wall and left a cob-web of cracks in the stone it was constructed from. Unbothered, Luke lowered his blue-tinted eyes down to the ground. "Naruto Uzumaki, hear me…"

"I may not be skilled enough to defeat you." The child of speed mumbled. "But you are not an unbeatable being. You will lose."

"My fellow demi-gods back at camp will condemn me for joining lord Kronos." Luke sighed to himself in remorse. "I'm sorry, everyone."

"The next time that we all meet on the battle-field, I will no longer hold back whatsoever. I hope all of you have been training to your limits…"

(-)

August 5th 2009:

Leo aimed two of his fingers forward, called out to the fire within himself, and materialized them at his finger-tips in the form of flame-constructed bullets. Naruto whistled, rather impressed.

These masses of fire hurtled themselves at Naruto: who tilted his head. A Shadow-Clone conjured itself in front of Naruto before it raised its fore-arms and blocked off all of Leo's fire-crafted bullets.

Naruto back-flipped to create some distance between himself and Leo as the son of the forges rushed in his direction. Flecks of fire swirled around his body. Grinning, the Uzumaki kicked Leo's solar-plexus.

More bullets of fire were shot at his stomach and neck. Unleashing his chakra into the ground, Naruto performed the Earth-Style: Mud-Wall Jutsu. The rock barricade dispelled most of Leo's powerful attacks.

Naruto body-flickered behind Leo, punched the back of his head, watched the demi-god roll forward, appeared in front of him, and axe-kicked his abdomen. Leo was buried into a small web of cracks.

"You're really good at hand-to-hand combat!" Leo groaned, clutched his head, and grunted. "Is it your goal to damage all of my limbs?"

"Nope!" Naruto yelled in response. Hands tucked into his pockets, he grinned. "I'm just helping your pain tolerance get higher and higher!"

"I think your method of teaching is working." Leo climbed to his feet before he heard a crack from his shoulder. "I think my arm's broken."

"Not my fault!" Naruto whistled for a second time—this time in innocence. "Don't blame me! But you can blame Kurama!"

"I don't think the fox in your stomach did this." Leo flexed his fingers and chuckled. "Whatever. Hey, what do you think about all this?"

"The entire prophecy and the war on the horizon?" Naruto's question was a rhetorical one. "This ain't my first war. So I ain't that worried."

"I keep forgetting you're some super-sneaky Ninja or something." Leo grouched to himself in realization. "I still remember when we met!"

Leo possessed a wistful expression on his coarse features. "I remember throwing that tool at you and you caught it without trouble!"

"Good times, eh?" Naruto nudged Leo in the gut and scratched the back of his neck. "How do the other campers feel about this war?"

"Clarisse and Charles are all unbothered about it." Leo listed off by raising his fingers one by one. "The Stoll brothers look excited."

"Michael Yew is all hyped about it." Leo canted his head, tapping his chin. "To be honest, though, everyone has different feelings about it."

"That's just how it rolls." Naruto shrugged and settled his hands into his pockets. "I think it's about time I leave to get back to Japan, then."

(-)

August 10th 2009:

Naruto sauntered throughout the different areas within Camp Half-Blood. Travis and Connor Stoll were leaning against a tree-trunk. Clarisse La Rue was engaged in a spar between her and her brother.

Ten of Apollo's children were firing their arrows at their intended targets, polishing up on their archery skills before the war started. Noticing Charles in the distance, Naruto disappeared in a simple blur.

Charles was somewhat startled when Naruto appeared next to him—but calmed himself down in less than a second. In Charles' hand was a unique cube. "Naruto! Just the person I wanted to see!"

Gesturing out into the expanse of grass and stone in front of them, Charles morphed the cube in his hand into some type of Kunai. This special weapon glinted under the sunlight. "What do you think?"

Naruto caught the cube that Charles had thrown in his direction and turned it into a Kunai. It had golden lines carved into it that glowed at the touch of his chakra. He hummed in appreciation. "This looks sick!"

"I created a sheath for Riptide if Percy didn't want to switch between a pen and a blade all the time." Charles smiled. "I wanted to gift you this."

"One of my brothers, Jake Mason, is also working on some extra weapons." The demi-god's smile widened. "Everything's going great."

"What do you think about Luke?" Naruto asked out of the blue. "Everyone else is pretty negative or indifferent about his defection."

"Luke, huh?" Charles' smile turned a little sad. "We were friends for a long time. Hell, he was one of the first people to use my inventions."

"I can't say I understand why he went to Kronos of all entities." Charles lowered his gaze to the grass. "I do miss my friend, though."

"Naruto." Charles lifted his gaze to stare out into the open fields around the area. "The fates have given Luke his role in this prophecy."

"It always comes down to the concept of fate, huh?" Naruto pondered to himself in curiosity. "Do you hate Luke for any of his actions?"

"No clue." Charles shrugged, rolling his shoulders. "Even if Luke and I were friends, I wasn't one of the people affected by his actions the most."

"Enjoy that Kunai, Naruto." Charles patted Naruto on the shoulder, disappearing down the path. "Trust me, it will come in handy soon."

Naruto had an expression of contemplation on his whiskered features. Innumerable thoughts twisted around in his head. Sighing, he pocketed the special cube and walked onto another path.

Reaching the entrance to Camp Half-Blood, the Uzumaki stepped forward and disappeared in an aureate distortion until he reached San Francisco. Appearing inside of an alleyway, he grinned in anticipation.

Jason Grace walked into the alleyway, channelled an abundance of lightning out into the open atmosphere, obliterated fourteen Hell-Hounds, and grunted. "That was easier than last time."

"I can tell!" Naruto yelled and stuck his tongue out at Jason: who directed a bullet of electricity in his direction. "Woah! It's just me!"

Naruto stretched a chakra-enhanced palm forward and suppressed the electricity. Lowering his hand, Naruto shook his head. Jason was rather surprised. "I haven't seen you since the Labyrinth!"

"I'm not trying to think about that damn maze." Naruto grouched, crossing his arms. "Also! I say hi and you try to electrocute me!"

Jason raised his hands in defense of himself. He shouted back. "Don't blame me! I've been getting ambushed by monsters for the last week!"

"It looks to me that you've been ambushing them." Naruto chuckled and pointed at the ashes on the ground. "You've been training, huh?"

"Yeah." Jason nodded, glancing at the entrance to the alleyway. "Listen, Naruto. There's a war brewing on the horizon for us."

"Really?" Naruto arched an eye-brow of feigned shock. "Do you want my help or something? I'm never against helping out my friends."

"Don't worry about that." A stern—but somewhat cordial—voice responded. Reyna Ramirez-Arellano smirked. "We shall be fine."

"Reyna! You're out of your camp too?" Naruto dropped his raised eye-brow and hummed. "Shouldn't you two be at your camp?"

"We still have a responsibility to keep this city safe from monsters." Reyna answered Naruto: who nodded. "Jason also wanted to train."

"The best type of training is exterminating all of these monsters!" The child of thunder smiled. "It's been ages, Naruto. How have you been?"

"Great!" Naruto grinned. "I was in the neighborhood, felt your presence, and wanted to see how you two were doing!"

"We're doing well." Jason replied and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry for trying to shoot that electricity at you, though. My bad."

"Who cares about that?! I ain't bothered by it, don't worry." Naruto possessed a care-free countenance. "Sorry! I gotta leave now!"

(-)

August 14th 2009:

Kronos stepped through the numerous corridors inside of Hecate's grand and decorative palace. Entering the central-room, the lord of time gazed at all of his loyal subordinates and sat down on his throne.

Golden eyes of absolute malice and authority stared down at the titans, monsters, and demi-gods: whose expressions were ones of reverence. Kronos grinned. His grin was insane. "My loyal followers!"

"This war of death and destruction looms over our heads!" Kronos clenched an excited fist. "I can promise all of you our success!"

"I had once desired to claim the Kyuubi for myself." Kronos' grin enlarged itself. "However, I shall claim it when this war is over."

"Prometheus and Atlas will be the ones to handle Naruto Uzumaki!" Kronos shouted. "But Prometheus has also recruited someone else."

"Percy Jackson is someone who I will handle myself." Kronos' eyes glowed in sadistic joy. "I will have Luke Castellan accompany me."

"You have all been assigned your posts and stations." Kronos' grin shrunk down into a sick smile of amusement. "Our spy has helped."

An aureate scythe materialized itself into Kronos' hand. Kronos thumped his weapon down on the concrete as the members of his army stood up. They yelled. "Thank you for your guidance, our lord!"

Kronos snapped his fingers and the soldiers of his enormous army crumbled into obsidian-coloured particles. Prometheus remained in the room alongside Luke. Kronos chuckled. "Are you two scared?"

"I wouldn't dream of being scared at all, my lord." Prometheus lowered his head in Kronos' direction. "I am confident that I can beat the boy."

"Your power has become even greater than last time." Kronos hummed. He glanced at the corner of the room. "Can you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Luke asked, scanning the room for any intruders or trespassers. "My sensory abilities have diminished from my sealed mana."

The lord of time's outstretched hand glinted an aureate light and extracted a phantom from the corner of the room. Impressed, Kronos crushed the stray specter. "I wasn't even able to sense it till now…"

"Give me a second." Kronos reconstructed the phantom and pried its unresponsive mouth open. "Who is the one who summoned you?"

Another golden glow shimmered from Kronos' vibrant irises as he created a connection between himself and the phantom. Clicking his fingers, Kronos conjured a mass of ebony-tinged molecules.

These ebony-tinged molecules morphed themselves into the outline of Nico Di Angelo: whose entire body was trapped within yellow chains. Luke widened his eyes in recognition. "You're Nico Di Angelo!"

Prometheus crouched down and analyzed Nico's pale features. "I do believe this is the boy who Alabaster found exploring our hideout."

"Ah!" Kronos yelled. His lips twisted themselves into a sick smile of fascination. "You're the one who's been spying on my army!"

"I don't really care about what you think." Nico spat out without a hint of fear. He grinned. "And I ain't really scared of you or dying. At all."

"How dare you!" Luke growled before he summoned Back-Biter into his muscled hand. "Don't you dare disrespect the honor of—!"

Kronos interrupted Luke and raised his own hand. "Enough arguing." The titan in mortal form hummed. "Nico Di Angelo—my grandchild."

"I'd rather not think about that at all." Nico grouched to himself in blatant disgust. "I can't believe that I'm his grandson. Kind of weird."

"You look rather powerful." Kronos dematerialized his golden scythe and smiled. "That is to be expected of someone of your lineage."

Kronos clapped his pale hands and transported them into an enormous room—where Nico was unable to even see the ceiling. Buildings surrounded them. It was a replica of some type of city.

"This is a room I had Hecate create so I could let loose." Kronos snapped his fingers. "You will be the perfect challenge for me!"

The chains around Nico crumbled. Gritting his teeth, the child of Hades summoned a wall of shadows to block off Kronos' punch. Nico unsheathed a blade, coated it in shadows, and sprinted forward.

A pale hand reached for his face and drove its knuckles into his nose. Crashing through the window of a gigantic sky-scraper, Nico had a table cushion his fall. His shadow-armor kept his body unharmed.

"He destroyed my blade, damn…"

"Incredible." Kronos emerged from the door of the room. Intrigue decorated his face. "He uses his shadows to protect himself."

Slapping his shadow-buffed palm down onto the carpeted ground of the room, Nico brought the entirety of the sky-scraper's thirtieth floor down alongside himself. Kronos let out a chuckle of sadistic pleasure. "Impressive!"

Nico manipulated the shadows around him and formed them into an enormous hand that engulfed Kronos. However, Kronos bull-dozed through its palm and grabbed onto Nico's face. Nico smirked.

Head-butting Kronos, Nico kicked him in the abdomen and skated down a cracked wall as he and his grandfather fell. Uninjured, Kronos followed the child of Hades from behind. Nico clicked his teeth.

"I forgot that he had the Curse-Of-Achilles." Nico mumbled in annoyance. "None of my attacks will do real damage to him."

"I wish I took on my father's offer to learn more shadow-oriented skills." Nico griped to himself and sighed. "Let me try this out."

Skeletons constructed themselves from the rubble around Nico as he planted himself down onto the concrete. Kronos swiped a hand forward, generating an explosive amount of wind from his movements.

"Perfect." Nico grabbed one of the serrated bones of his destroyed skeletons and imbued darkness into its core. "This weapon will suffice."

Kronos watched Nico rush at him, shrouded by a layer of impenetrable shadows. Parrying a vicious slash from the bone, the titan of time squinted his golden eyes. "A shadow-imbued bone? Interesting…"

Nico lowered his head and felt Kronos' leg above where his head had been three seconds ago. Backhanding Nico, Kronos hurtled him into a row of benches. The child of Hades disappeared in a blur of darkness.

Appearing behind Kronos, Nico imbued another inundation of shadows into the core of his bone. Kronos snatched it from him, snapped it into pieces, and hummed. Nico smirked for a second time.

A burst of darkness was conjured by the bones and swallowed Kronos' entire body. Slinking into the shadows, Nico vanished before he returned to the Underworld. He had to tell his father about all this.

Kronos dispelled the mass of shadows around himself and grunted, somewhat impressed. Teleporting himself into the central-room of the castle, Kronos heard Prometheus' voice.

"Did you have fun, my lord?"

"Indeed." Kronos chuckled. A violent grin marred his pale visage. "I believe that this war will bring out everyone's potential in battle."

"Why did you fight Nico Di Angelo?" Luke asked. "He was the one who was feeding information to Camp Half-Blood about us and our goals."

"I haven't really fought anyone since gaining this body." Kronos flexed his thin fingers. "You mortals truly do possess exhilarating bodies."

"I believe that is adrenaline, my lord." Prometheus pointed out. "Menoetius and Epimetheus and Hyperion are waiting for your orders."

"Tell them to get going soon." Kronos summoned a ball of materialized time into his hand and peered into its golden depths. "Tomorrow…"

(-)

Percy and Naruto stared down at Leo: who blinked and remained flat on his back against the concrete of the arena. Annabeth rolled her grey eyes at him in amusement. Charles nudged a foot at his brother.

Leo climbed to his feet and yawned. Rubbing his tired eyes, the child of the forges blinked for a second time at his half-sibling and friends. "Why the heck is everyone staring at me?! I did nothing to earn this!"

"You fell asleep mid-talking." Annabeth snorted. Humour was decorated on her face. "Whatever. The prophecy is beginning soon."

"Luke told me that this would be when he have our last battle." Percy murmured, one of his fists clenched. "I've been training hard for this."

"Percy." Annabeth stared into his green-tinted eyes and planted a palm onto his shoulder. "I'll handle Luke. You will handle Kronos."

"What?!" Percy's eyes widened for three seconds before he calmed himself and his hectic nerves. "Luke's my responsibility, Annabeth."

Annabeth smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Your main responsibility will be Kronos. Please, let me take care of Luke."

"Fine." Percy breathed out in acceptance and turned his gaze to the distance. "It's written into fate itself that I fight Kronos, huh?"

The child of wisdom chuckled. "At least you understand it. Leo! I trust that you can handle Alabaster, then? You saw him in the hideout."

"Of course I can handle him!" Leo grinned, throwing an arm over Naruto's shoulder. "Who do you plan to have this Shinobi fight?"

"Naruto has a lot of versatile abilities." Annabeth replied. "Naruto. You'll be able to handle a lot of opponents all at once, right?"

Naruto grinned and nodded. "Of course! I ain't called the child who creates miracles without a good reason! Who do you take me for?"

"They call you that?" Charles chuckled into his fist, entertained. "I'm sure you have many more unique nicknames and titles, eh?"

"Ignoring Naruto's questionable titles." Annabeth disregarded Naruto's shout of feigned offense. "I think we've planned enough for this war."

"Yeah." Percy's gaze remained fixed on the distance. Everyone left, except for himself and the blue-eyed Shinobi. "I've got the curse now."

Naruto glanced at his green-eyed friend. "The Curse-Of-Achilles, huh? I'm guessing Nico helped you get it before this prophecy began."

"Yeah…" Percy stared deeper into the distance. "I never really did say this—but thanks for being my friend." He had a smile on his face.

"You don't have to thank me at all." Naruto chuckled, slipping his calloused hands into his pockets. "I'm glad we became friends too."

Naruto and Percy returned to the arena of Camp Half-Blood—where countless demi-gods were waiting for the child of the seas. Percy stood in the middle of the arena. The atmosphere was tense.

A dais had been constructed by Jake Mason—a child of Hephaestus—to help Percy speak to his fellow demi-gods. Percy yelled. "I'm not the best at speeches!"

Standing next to the dais from where Percy spoke, Naruto gauged the expressions and felt the emotions of the campers. None of them were experiencing any fear. Determination spread throughout their veins.

Demi-gods were mortals who were half-divine and half-human. According to Charles and Annabeth, demi-gods were designed for battle itself. It was no wonder why they had no fear for this prophecy.

The War-Of-The-Divine had been the most important war in the history of the Shinto pantheon. Kaguya Otsutsuki had been resurrected, possessed by Izanami, and they had both been sealed for good.

At least until Izanami had somehow unsealed herself from Yomi. Sasuke Uchiha and him hadn't heard any news about her. His main priority was helping his friends out in this war and prophecy.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki had told him that his role was to bring peace to the Elemental-Nations—a dimension separate from Earth that was in the territory of the Shinto pantheon. Naruto and Sasuke had left it.

Naruto had earned the respect he wanted when he defeated Nagato—but his fellow Uzumaki had left more questions than answers for him. He remembered what Susanoo had told him a few weeks ago.

"Kurama…" Naruto murmured into his head, zoning out from everything else. "What the hell is my role in this world?"

"I thought you weren't listening to Susanoo." Kurama laughed, buried into the orange fur strewn across his arm. "I cannot tell you that."

"I guessed so." Naruto let loose a somewhat bitter chuckle into his mind. He closed his blue-tinged eyes. "I'll decide that on my own."

Opening his eyes, Naruto heard all of the campers release a loud cheer from the caverns of their mouths. They were fuelled by different emotions—fury, despair, motivation, hope, anger, and compassion.

Percy stepped down from the dais and was approached by Michael Yew—a child of Apollo. Michael shook Percy's hand, lips twisted into an excited grin. "I'm glad to have you on board, Percy. Good luck."

"Uh." Percy blinked three times and gave Michael an awkward smile. "Thanks for your support, Michael. You'll do great out there for sure."

Michael turned to Naruto and regarded him. His excited grin morphed itself into an amiable smile as he nodded. "I've heard a lot about you from that Valdez fellow. I hope you succeed out on the battle-field."

Jake watched Michael leave the arena alongside his siblings. The son of Hephaestus gazed at Percy. A motivated glint lurked within his eyes. "You'll be a good leader, Percy. Don't doubt yourself, alright?"

Percy had a determined expression on his face. "I promise to you that I won't doubt myself for your sake and my sake. Thanks, Jake."

"No problem." Jake glanced at Naruto, smiling. "I ain't got much to say to your friend. But thanks for training my brother. I appreciate it."

"My pleasure!"

Jake left the arena. Leo trailed him from behind, babbling to him and Charles about a number of several topics. Percy lowered his head. "I cannot lose to Kronos. People are trusting me and I refuse to fail."

(-)

Silena Beauregard gazed around at the shadows within her immediate vicinity. A platinum-tinted scythe was planted in the palm of her hand. Pressing a finger into the miniature scythe, she gasped in surprise.

Obsidian irises glinted an ominous light from the darkness itself. Nico emerged from the shadows of a tree-trunk, annoyance seeping into his casual voice. "I found you, spy of the titan of time." He grinned.

"N—No!" Silena pocketed the miniature scythe and folded her arms. "I found it on the ground! Kronos' spy must have left it by accident!"

Nico teleported himself behind Silena, mumbling into her ear. "I don't really care if you're his spy or not. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Silena's shoulders sagged before she clenched her fists. "Luke told me he wouldn't hurt anyone! He told me that Charles would be safe!"

"I ain't a therapist for you and your issues." Nico swung his pale hand around in the cold air. "Whatever comes next is your own decision…"

"Wait a minute." Silena suppressed the urge to blanch at the soulless abyss inside of Nico's amused gaze. "How did you find me out?"

A small phantom danced on top of Nico's palm. Nico smiled. "I have phantoms stationed around everywhere. They tell me everything."

(-)

August 15th 2009:

Naruto leaned himself against the trunk of a tree. Percy and Annabeth were close to him, engaged in some sort of private conversation intended for their ears alone. He gazed at the Hell-Hound in the field.

Mrs O'Leary was a somewhat excitable Hell-Hound—much different from the ones that Naruto had slaughtered over the last few months. She stuck out her tongue, licked a twig, and rolled onto her back.

Annabeth and Percy were decked out in outfits suitable for whatever type of combat they specialized in. Wrapped around Annabeth's hands were the stamina-to-mana gauntlets Leo had designed.

The runes on these gauntlets shimmered a vicious crimson. Percy had light-weight armor strapped onto his body. A sheath for Riptide was hooked around his waist. Percy hid his rictus behind a tense smile.

"I hope Rachel stays safe on that vacation." Annabeth mumbled, adjusting her gauntlets for a brief second. "She has me worried."

Percy maintained his tense smile—but a casual expression graced his features. "I'm sure Rachel will be fine. Let's worry about ourselves."

"We'll be fine, Percy." Annabeth possessed an inflection of reassurance within her tone. She rolled her eyes. "Quit worrying."

"Understood." Percy nodded. Confidence was evident in his emerald-tinted irises. "Man! I'm not feeling nervous at all!"

Leo ended their conversation when he walked in their direction. He no longer had the same expression of mischief on his face. A serious countenance replaced his childish one. "Everyone's waiting for you."

"Even Leo's a little serious." Naruto patted the child of Hephaestus' shoulder. "Don't worry, Leo. There's no point in worrying about this."

"Yeah." Leo took in a deep breath and nodded. "You're right, Naruto! When I see Alabaster, I am going to burn him in these fire tornados!"

"You scared at all, Mr. Blonde?" Percy nudged Naruto on the shoulder, an amicable grin on his visage. "I hope you ain't backing down now."

"Nope!" Sapphire eyes twisted into crimson voids for the briefest of seconds. "Hell! Even my fur-ball of a partner is getting excited for this!"

Annabeth arched an entertained eye-brow. "The fact you have a fox sealed into your stomach will never cease to amaze and baffle me."

The four of them sauntered through Camp Half-Blood—it was empty since all of the other campers had left already. Reaching the entrance, they were met by the sight of an enormous van. It was rather large.

Leo rummaged through his pockets and tossed a sphere down onto the concrete—this sphere morphed itself into a hover-board. He waved at a shocked Percy and Annabeth before grinning. "Tada!"

"You built yourself a hover-board?" An incredulous lilt invaded Annabeth's tone. She shook her head. "I'm not even going to ask."

(-)

Four hours had passed since the members of Camp Half-Blood had reached New-York-City. Ten medical tents were set up. Five weapon-filled tents were set up. Three storage tents were set up.

Percy and his fellow demi-gods had already visited Olympus—but were given heavy orders to return to the New-York-City to set up their defenses. Binoculars in front of his eyes, Percy stared into the distance.

Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf were stationed around the tents to guard future patients. Will Solace—a child of Apollo—was appointed as the head healer of the medical operations for the camp.

Annabeth and Leo were on the child of Hephaestus' hover-board, floating over the countless skyscrapers of the city to check out for any foreign and expected threats. Percy's monster-repellent phone rang.

"Annabeth?" Percy raised an eye-brow in anticipation, phone pressed against his ear. "Have you spotted any of Kronos' soldiers?"

"No." Annabeth mumbled into the phone. Her voice was somewhat pensive. "Percy…Have you noticed all of the sleeping mortals?"

Blinking to himself in realization, Percy directed his binoculars down onto a street close to him. Thirty mortals were asleep on the ground. "I must have been lost in thought. I didn't notice any of them at all…"

"We can't fight Kronos' soldiers if these mortals will be in our paths." Annabeth rubbed the temple of her head. "We'll have to move them."

"How?" Percy asked Annabeth: who hummed into her phone speakers. "Annabeth, it'll be impossible to move all of these mortals in time."

Percy was interrupted by an unanticipated burst of chakra. An innumerable number of Shadow-Clones materialized themselves and disappeared in indiscernible distortions. Naruto grinned. "Issue solved!"

Travis and Connor Stoll were taking a little break for themselves. Seeing the blonde-haired duplicates of Naruto around them, they raised their hands. "Since when was it the blonde apocalypse?!"

Naruto walked over to Percy and smirked. "I think you forgot that I can summon an army of myself whenever I want! It's my favourite Jutsu!"

"Percy." Annabeth's voice echoed through the static of the phone. "Tell me why I just saw fifteen Naruto(s) appear around Leo and me."

(-)

Kronos' body was decorated by obsidian-coloured armor. A golden helmet laid on his head. His iridescent scythe glinted an ominous yellow. He snapped his fingers. Atlas and Prometheus appeared.

"Those demi-gods in Camp-Jupiter will be handled by Menoetius and Hyperion." Kronos gazed into the distance. "We head for Olympus."

"I have given them their orders through our telepathic link." Prometheus nodded. "My lord, we will support you in this war."

Kronos clapped his pale hands, summoning his entire army into the enormous room within Hecate's grand and decorative palace. Luke, Ethan, and Alabaster had similar expressions of suppressed glee.

"The real war begins now!"

(-)

Naruto stepped through the congregation of tents around him and yawned.

Naruto grouched. "I'm kind of tired…"

A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter.