Spoiler Alert- This story contains spoilers for Percy Jackson books, Trials of Apollo and minor spoilers for Magnus Chase series.

Disclaimer- In Greek mythology, there are multiple version of same myth. For example, 1. In One myth Poseidon raped Medusa, in another version Medusa loved Poseidon. 2 In one version Athena was jealous of Arachne's talent, in another version Athena punished Arachne for her arrogance and bad mouthing the gods. I will mostly use the myth that are canon to Percy Jackson book series.

2. We Have Guests

"Can I get an autograph too, please?"

Naruto's eyes immediately snapped towards the melodic voice and his breath caught in his throat. The girl walking towards him was beyond beautiful. She had wavy crimson hair that tumbled over her shoulder A and down to the middle of her back, cobalt blue eyes so dark they looked almost purple and her alabaster skin seemed to glow in the afternoon sun of Konoha; and her face was perfection of otherworldly beauty that made it impossible for him to take his eyes away from her. The girl's beauty was accentuated further by the elegant blue sundress that reached almost to her knees. The small amount of cleavage the dress showed drew his eyes like moths to a flame. His sexy jutsu had absolutely nothing on her.

"Wow."

The girl smiled sweetly at his dumbfounded reaction and it made her look even more beautiful, something he didn't think was possible two seconds ago. Naruto became extremely self-conscious in presence such a beautiful girl— was there dirt on his clothes? Did his breath smell? Was he sweating? His heart was beating so loud! —'Wait, she said something didn't she?! Crap, what do I say now?' It was difficult to think straight in her presence.

In the seal, Kurama palmed his snout.

"Um yea-Ahem, did you say something?"

The girl walked up to him.

'Close, she's really close! She smells like roses.'

"I asked for your autograph, handsome," she leaned even closer. "I came from very far away to meet you."

Her tone melted his heart. Suddenly, he wanted to do anything in his power to give her what she wanted, which confused him a little bit. "Yes, of course. Um... where do you want me to sign?" She didn't have anything he could sign.

The girl leaned away, her hands folded behind her back- an action which looked really really adorable.

"Ah, It seemed like I forgot something, how silly of me. How about we go on a walk together, I'm sure we can find some souvenir to sign." She tilted her head and looked at him through her eyelashes, something that looked cute as all hell and downright sinful at the same time. Blood rushed to his cheeks. All her words, the small actions and her unearthly beauty was taking heavy toll on his poor inexperienced heart. He had never felt more physically attracted to anyone before.

"Right now?" He asked in a surprisingly calm tone. Naruto was very proud of that.

The girl's smile widened, "Yes."

A wide grin spread on his face to match hers.

'Even that idiot Minato wasn't as bad as you.' Kurama poked his snout in the situation. His words brought him out of his beauty induced trance and for the first time since the girl showed up, Naruto looked away from her and his gaze went to the hokage tower. 'Ah crap, I almost forgot.'

"That sounds really nice, I'd love to but I have a mission right now. I have to report to Kakashi sensei." Naruto absolutely loathed himself as he said those words but what can you do, duty is duty.

Her smile became a bit strained but she managed to hide her displeasure with an adorable pout. "So, you'll go out with me after the mission?"

Naruto nodded dumbly. "Uh-huh. I mean, ahem— yes, of course." He smiled the best smile he could muster. He did not know what he was agreeing to.

"Here," she grabbed his hand and wrote down something. "Give me a call." She winked at him, "Just so you know, this is the last time you are ever going to say no to me. You get a pass this time but no more, okay handsome?" she leaned up and kissed him on his whiskers.

A shiver ran down Naruto's spine. "Yes," he answered, somewhat unnerved by her words. "I'll give you a call the when I get back. Um..," Naruto looked at his palm and... wow that was a long ass name.

"Aphrodite," the girl provided helpfully.

"Huh. I thought your name would be much shorter for some reason."

Aphrodite giggled behind her delicate fingers, "Is that so?"

Naruto didn't want to say something that would offend her, so he just chuckled lightly. Naruto would rather die than admit this but he found the beautiful girl to be a bit intimidating.

"If that's the case then you can call me Ven...na."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at her. Did she just hesitate to give me her own name? ...Also, she has two names?? "Veena?" Naruto asked and the girl shrugged.

"It is Veena." It wouldn't be the first time she used a different name so she rolled with it.

"See you later then, Veena," he waved at her and took to the rooftops and was in front of Kakashi in no time. Although, there was a feeling in the back of mind, that he had failed to notice something really important. 'Meh it'll come to me eventually.' He shrugged.

Aphrodite sighed as she watched the boy jump from rooftop to rooftop.

"Veena, huh? Almost giving away your Roman name, you're off your game."

Aphrodite looked over her shoulder, "I saw him first, Apollo." She said sternly, completely ignoring Apollo's comment, eventhough she knew that little slip up was embarrassing for a goddess of her stature.

The God of Sun raised his hands in surrender, "Hey I'm not here for him, I swear."

The goddess of love raised her eyebrow at him, "What else could bring you here then?"

"I saw this quaint little ramen stand run by a really pretty girl." Apollo smiled his best smile.

...

...

Then he began to fidget under her dull stare.

"Okay fine," he huffed. "Be careful with that boy, it could be dangerous." Apollo said seriously but the Goddess of Love paid him little mind. She flicked her crimson hair over her shoulder.

"You should be warning him, not me, Apollo." she said with a haughty smirk. "I am the danger."

Apollo's shoulders sagged, "God of Prophecies and still no one takes me seriously. Whatever, see you around." He said and walked towards the ramen shop, he was not joking about that.

When Apollo left, Aphrodite looked towards direction of Naruto and sighed. 'Man, I'm in trouble,' she thought to herself. At first, she came here because she wanted meet the world's most eligible bachelor. But as soon as he came in her sight, Aphrodite knew it was only a matter of time before she jumped him.

The boy was a handsome blue eyed blonde, a combination she was always weak to; he was easy going, kind and friendly as evident by his short interaction with his fans, also something she liked. He was checking all her boxes so far so Aphrodite curiously looked at his heart so she could to get a better read of him, in hindsight, that was her mistake. Because as soon as she did, the Goddess of Love knew she was doomed. The young man had the most beautiful soul she had ever seen in her thousands of years of existence. If she could assign a colour to it, it would be a bright, happy yellow. It was vibrant and warm and it had a boyish innocence to it which felt remarkably like Hestia, something she never would have expected from a ninja.

And most importantly, his heart was filled to the brim with love. And that's what did the most damage. The young man was so in tune with her domain that if she didn't know any better, Aphrodite would have mistaken him for a son of a Love Diety. She was always fond of men who respected her domain. Aphrodite sighed. 'Imma jump him.'

Unaware of thoughts of the Goddess he just ditched, Naruto entered the Hokage tower.

"What's up sensei!" He greeted loudly. His sensei looked the same as ever, spiky silver hair, the black mask hiding the lower part of his face and the custom made dark gray vest over black shirt and black pants.

Kakashi looked up from his paperwork. "You're in a good mood."

"Yeah, I am! Everything went smoothly this time."

"Really? Ame's jonin commander finally cracked under your persistence." Kakashi's eyes crinkled as he smiled.

Naruto chuckled, "You can't blame him. But yeah, they want us to send an official envoy with a treaty."

"Good job! I hope the rest of the minor villages follow Ame's footsteps. But before that, I have a mission for you."

"Yeah, the message told me to hurry up. Is it really that important?"

Kakashi sighed, "'Important' is not the right word, more like weird. Or unusual, you can say."

"Really?"

"Some days ago, Genma's team was on border patrol near the Land of Tea. There, thanks to Hyuuga Hanabi, they found a teenage girl that seemingly vanished in a lake. 'Dissolved like suger in tea', Hanabi said."

That got Naruto's attention. "Like the hiden jutsu of Hozuki clan?"

Kakashi pushed a picture towards him; a basic academy jutsu was dead useful that way, even if you don't have a camera with you as long as you get a good look you can always use transformation jutsu to make a photograph of that person later.

Kakashi nodded, "Maybe or perhaps it's different technique. Our main issue is that they didn't seem to find even a trace of her afterwards. For someone to have the ability vanish in front of the byakugan, that's no small feat. No Hozuki can do that."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "A tracking mission then. Standard B rank?" An ability like that was a security risk for any village so Naruto understood why Kakashi wanted the issue to be resolved as soon as possible.

"That's one part of your mission," Kakashi said. "Second part, on their way back to the village, Genma's team found a shop in Tanzaku-Gai that sold 'the most delicious strawberries ever'."

The blonde's eyebrows rose at that, "You want me to buy strawberries for you?" Wouldn't be the first time one of his teacher asked him to do something unusual under the guise of a mission. Rest in peace Jiraiya, but Naruto will never peep on bathing women to improve his stealth skills. 'Mom would revive herself just to whoop my ass.'

"I want you to find the merchant that sold those strawberries. The shop owner is one of our informants and from his description, the strawberry merchant had eyes all over his body. Forehead, cheeks, hands and other awkward places."

Naruto pictured how someone would look with all over their body. He cringed. "That's some Orochimaru level creepiness, sensei."

Kakashi couldn't help but agree. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to be near him if he starts crying or something."

Naruto chuckled.

"A rare kekkai genkai perhaps, but we've never heard of anything like him before. He's an unknown so proceed with caution. Stealth is optional."

Naruto nodded, "Sure, I'll check it out. But I gotta ask, why did you wait for me? There are plenty of world class trackers in the village, like Hinata's team and Anko-sensei, you could have sent them you know. They'd have probably found this guy by now." He was a busy man after all, he had trips scheduled for Hidden Waterfall and Hidden Grass next. Plus Mei had already invited him as a guest teacher at Kirigakure's academy.

"True," Kakashi agreed. "But I have a weird feeling about this. First that girl and now this," Kakashi shook his head. "I want someone who can handle any situation. Plus, my dad used say, no one revels in the weird and unusual like the Uzumaki."

A dull stare was focused on his sensei. "I think I should be offended on behalf of my mother's dead clan."

Kakashi waved off his words. "There's one more reason I chose you for this mission and not anyone else; Hanabi couldn't see any chakra in that girl whatsoever."

Naruto's eyes widened at that, "Say what?" Kakashi had Naruto's complete, undivided attention as soon as he said that.

"As per the report— the girl only had spiritual energy, no physical energy at all. Whether she lacked the other part to make chakra or something else, Hanabi couldn't say. Since the girl wasn't doing anything illegal, Genma didn't pursue. But I thought it would be nice to get some insight."

Naruto sighed and swept his bandaged hand through his hair. He understood what his sensei meant, no self respecting Kage would let some unknown people with unknown abilities wander about his country unchecked. "I understand, I'll check it out. And speaking of, there's something I wanted to tell you sensei. I found a girl named Medusa living in the forest on my way here."

Kakashi arched his brow in curiosity, "A girl in the forest?" He failed to see anything unusual about it. Weird, yes but unusual? No.

The blonde sighed, "Yeah, you're not gonna believe this." He told his sensei of his encountered with Medusa.

"I don't believe this."

Naruto frowned, thinking about it, "That juinjutsu was something else, I can count on one hand the techniques that are as complicated or as powerful. I mean, most juinjutsu are a bitch and a half to deal with but this one was impossible to get rid of, even for me, so I sealed it in her heart instead."

Kakashi hummed, contemplating the issue at hand. "Do you have any idea where she is from?" His mind running through hundreds of scenarios.

"Honestly, I don't know, sensei. Medusa talked about places and things I've never heard of and gods that I didn't know existed. I'd have to speak with her more to know where exactly she came from," Naruto rubbed his forehead with his bandaged hand, "but, I think it'd be better to give her some time to recover, y'know. She seemed like she was in hell before I met her. I don't want to interrogate her just yet."

'That sounds about right,' the sixth Hokage mused. Naruto wouldn't be Naruto without his golden heart. Any other ninja in his place would have either handed this Medusa over to Intelligence department or would have disposed of her outright. Only Naruto could show such understanding to someone who was hostile to him. And it was hardly a surprise. Kakashi remembered their mission to Wave, about Naruto's question. 'Zabuza said ninjas are tools of their village, is that true sensei?' Naruto had vowed that day to never be a mindless tool, to follow his own ninja way. Kakashi couldn't be more proud of his student if he tried.

"Alright, I'll leave Medusa to you, handle it as you see fit," Kakashi said. "But question still remains, how come that girl doesn't have chakra?"

Naruto shrugged, "It's hard to say without meeting her. Perhaps she is a demon of some sort? They too can only have spiritual or physical part," He remembered that flute girl from Orochimaru's village summoning demons in the war. "Or maybe it's some bloodline, I don't know. Guess we'll have to find out. And Medusa... Maybe the juinjutsu had some weird effect on her? Or perhaps it could be a birth defect that kept her from awakening her chakra."

Kakashi reclined on his chair and put his feet on the table, "Alight, you can find that out on your time, it's not a pressing issue. Meanwhile, the mission is easy enough but still, take a team with you."

Naruto nodded. "Guess I'll be leaving then," Naruto said as he headed towards the window, just as he was about to jump out he remembered something. "Oh I almost forgot! Sensei could you issue a C rank in my name?"

"Hm? What for?"

"At least a month's supply for Medusa; food, clothes, first aid, that sort of thing. You know, basically everything a girl living alone in a forest might need."

"I'll take care of it," Kakashi assured him, "Who are you taking with you?"

"Hanabi, since she is a witness and I know her well. And Konohamaru, if he's back from mount Myoboku."

Kakashi nodded, "Hanabi had only a day's rest, so I don't think she'll be thrilled to be sent off so soon but I'm sure she'll take the chance to go on a mission with you. And Konohamaru came back just this morning."

"That's great then, tell them to meet me by the east gate in half an hour. See you later, sensei." Naruto jumped out of the window without even waiting for Kakashi's answer.

Artemis

There was something wrong, she could feel it in her ichor. Artemis, the Goddess of Hunt, recalled her sister's words— that the monsters slipped into mortal world when the boundary was weakest. Now Artemis had complete faith in her sister but she wondered, was that really it? Was it really that simple? The Huntress felt a doubt creep in her heart. Whenever they changed homes, monsters always took a couple of years or so to follow suit. But this time, they were appearing so quickly, almost immediately. First the Hydra and now this. And who knew how many other more intelligent ones were hiding? The goddess frowned. Someone could be influencing the monsters, sneaking them into the mortal world through secret doorways. Echidna would be her guess in that case but she had no way to be sure. (1)

Artemis barely paid attention to her surroundings as she ran behind her hunters through the thick forests of Land of Fire. She always did this back home, letting her lieutenant take charge of her sisters-in-arms. Coddling would do them no good so Artemis never interfered unless the girls were completely outmatched, which was rare.

They had been tracking the Nemean Lion for some time now. It was a tough beast, it'd be the first challenge for the hunt in their new home. Judging by the general direction it was moving towards, it was clear what it's destination was. The goddess wondered if her hunters had realised it yet. Hopefully, they'd catch up with the beast before it arrived at his destination. The kids didn't need a monster at their doorstep so soon. It's a race in that case, Artemis realised, between her hunters and the beast.

When Artemis had first taken a look at the continent, she was so happy that her domain was so much larger than she ever had before. But that seemed to be as much a challenge to the hunters as it was a gift to her. The trees were tall and dense so they easily hid the wildlife. And there was plenty of wildlife, she was surprised when she saw thirty feet tall bears and sabertooth tiger the size of a small elephant and a spider the size of a pickup truck. It wasn't just the size of the animals that surprised the Goddess of Hunt, but many of these animals seemed more intelligent than their species had any right to be. Which would have been fine if that was the end of it, but no, somehow the mortals had found a way work alongside these animals. Work, as in actually work alongside, like sidekicks from those comic books Apollo was so obsessed with. Her hunters had their work cut for them.

"My lady, I think we should make camp here," her half sister, Thalia's voice brought her out of her musings.

Artemis looked at her hunters, their breathing was heavy, they looked tired. I should have paid more attention to them, it wouldn't do to get distracted. "Very well, let's get some rest. It's getting dark, we'll resume the hunt in the morning."

"My lady," Reyna spoke up, "wouldn't the lion get farther away? It could hurt innocents."

Artemis nodded. Reyna was still new so it was natural she had questions like that every now and then. "Don't worry, over the millennia the beast has gotten smarter. It won't attract unnecessary attention to itself by attacking mortals. Besides, I have a pretty good idea where it's headed."

Reyna nodded and went to help her sisters to set up camp.

With speed that would leave mortals lightheaded, the hunters set up tents in a crescent arc with Artemis' tent in the middle. The campfire roared to life and the wolves began circling the area. Artemis collapsed on her couch, head tilted back and her gaze heavenwards, towards the silver celestial orb. That sight soured her mood greatly. Subconsciously, she rubbed her stomach as if to sooth the phantom pain.

That event, it still baffled her. First, there was atmosphere on her chariot, which was baffling to say the least. And not only that, the atmosphere was clearly man-made. Who could have done such an impossible task? And then there was that... that filthy, arrogant, disgusting man that called her moon, her moon, his home. The audacity of that brat! She immediately flipped out and attacked him. She wanted to crush his stupid, pale head beneath her sandals. But, to her surprise, the man was powerful, too powerful for a mortal. Despite being blind, he was better than her at hand to hand combat. That fact had caught her completely off guard out of sheer surprise.

So much so that the smug, smirking bastard would have killed her if she wasn't immortal. Even thinking about it now made her ichor boil. Fortunately for her, the moon was her domain, her and hers alone, she was practically invincible on moon's surface, just like Gaia on Earth or Poseidon in the sea. But still it took her an embarrassing amount of time to land the finishing blow. She contemplated going nuclear, but by that point, her pride was on the line. Like hell was she going to let a mortal defeat her in direct combat!

Her immortality and the fact that she fought on moon were two main reasons she won. The man got tired as the fight dragged on while she only grew stronger. Even so, it was the hardest fight she had ever fought. Sure she lost terribly against Typhon, but at least that was a quick affair. And she was too fast and too skilled for those braindead children of Gaia in the Gigantomachy, so while it was a hard war then, she had always had the upper hand in her fights.

Artemis had told the council about the incident, as was her duty, but only that there was a man on the moon and she killed him. Artemis wondered if she made the right call by not telling them about the pale bastard's actual abilities— Nah. Apollo and her mother would throw a fit as soon as they learned of it (overprotective as they were) and many of the gods and goddesses would laugh at her. Unsympathetic jerks. But that was only one of the reasons she had decided to sweep it under the rug. The other and the biggest reason being her father, King of Heavens, Zeus. Mr. Paranoia himself. If he found out that mortals here could grow strong enough to challenge gods he might organise Flood 2.0.

No, it's better they don't find out, she thought. Let the mortals live a little longer, after all they did nothing to deserve the extinction of their race so soon. It wasn't their fault the Olympians came here. Besides, she had no desire to be the laughing stock of Olympus. Ares was just looking for a chance to make fun of her ever since she saved his sorry ass from the Dumbass Duo.(2) His ego had never recovered after he came out of that bronze jar and he was always looking to compensate for that humiliation.

"Ahem, lady Artemis?"

The goddess' eyes snapped towards her lieutenant. "Yes Thalia, is something the matter?" She said with a soft smile, hiding her previous thoughts.

"My lady, um, I know it's none of my business but, is everything okay?"

A red eyebrow rose at that, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you have been, you know, frowning ever since we began this hunt. And I was wondering if something was bothering you?"

Artemis smiled widely at hearing the concern from her demigod sister. Thalia was a strong one. After going through so much at such a young age, the raven haired daughter of Zeus had developed guts of celestial bronze. And it gladdened her heart that Thalia could act so soft with her. "Why yes, my dear lieutenant," Artemis said and beckoned Thalia to take a seat. "Tell me, have you noticed anything unusual about these lands?"

Thalia thought about it for a second. "... The forests here are mostly untouched. And huge."

Artemis nodded at the simple answer. "That's true. But there's more, there are animals who, if I didn't know any better, I'd have bet to have crawled out of Tartarus. So, you girls have to be careful when I'm not around because it's not only monsters that you shall face but weird, native animals as well." Artemis explained about the beasts she had noticed earlier. "And that's not all, there are these seven huge beasts, big as a mountain and each with a different number of tails, I want you to avoid them at any cost."

Thalia nodded, "I understand. And about the lion? You said you knew where it was headed?"

"You're a smart girl Thalia, tell me, where do you think it's headed?"

"Well, the monsters love nothing more than demigods," the ravenette said with a frown on her face, "and there are only two places where they exist on this planet. At the Camp and at New Rome. Although I guess now it's New New Rome. And considering the direction of the tracks, it's headed towards the Camp, isn't it my lady?"

Artemis smiled proudly at her lieutenant. She had really become a great hunter. It had taken the rest of the hunters a bit of time to accept Thalia's leadership given she was directly made the lieutenant without having any prior experience in the hunt. Understandably, some of her older hunter were upset, but it was her reward for her bravery and hard work over the years and especially for her efforts on the quest of mount Othrys.

"Go get rest," Artemis told her, "tomorrow we'll take a shortcut and arrive at the Camp before the lion. It'll be a hard march."

"Alright," Thalia nodded and went back to her own tent.

The next day was indeed a hard march as Artemis had warned. They crossed rivers, dashed through narrow mountain passes and trekked through dense forests to make it to the western side of the peninsula overlooking the Hanguri Gulf. The camp was still many miles away. By her calculations, the lion must be around here somewhere. They hadn't followed the trail so now they had to search manually. Artemis focused through her domain, looking for the legendary beast. The Goddess of Hunt looked through her domain and found the lion near a small but beautiful lake. That was expected, but what she didn't expect was to see the lion crouched and ready to pounce on three teenagers. Artemis narrowed her eyes.

A blonde haired boy that looked strikingly similar to her little brother and another brown haired boy of around 15 years were standing on sidelines while a young girl confronted the Nemean Lion. Artemis looked closely and noticed the headbands on their forehead. So, ninjas. What were they doing here? Out on a mission? Picnic at the lake? Questions for later, the Redhead Goddess focused on the brave girl facing a beast 20 times her size. Normally she'd be worried if she saw a young maiden confront a monster like that but she had had one hell of a culture shock as soon as she got here. She wouldn't underestimate the ninjas of this world. So Artemis just decided to observe for now.

The girl was skilled, the Huntress noticed immediately, very very skilled. She dodged the claws of the lion like the beast was moving in slow motion. And... did she just shoo the lion?! Apparently, the girl didn't want to kill him, but the monster wasn't getting the hint. It just kept coming back for more. After a couple of minutes, the blonde boy said something and the girl decided to go for the kill. She ducked under the outstretched claw and put her open palm over the beast's heart. A gentle trust, nothing more. The next moment, the Nemean lion dropped dead and Artemis had stars in her eyes. (3)

Ares

Ares walked behind the tourist group, arms linked with a beautiful girl. He had gone to the Underworld like his father had asked but was promptly kicked out by his uncle. Not that he cared. He found somewhere much more interesting to be, a battlefield to be precise. And he had much better company with him than a brooding Hades.

She was a noble of some sorts, daughter of some important minister or something, he didn't pay attention. The girl wanted to be 'independent' and 'free' of her nagging family so she had grabbed as much money as she could from her father's vault and gone to explore the world. Not so bright, but she was beautiful. Also she loved his get up, 'I always wanted to meet a powerful ninja', she had said. Ares didn't correct her.

"—the place where Madara killed more than 2000 ninja in one shot," talk of bloodbath drew Ares' attention like moth to a flame. "Even the five kage together couldn't stop his rampage. Lord Kazekage's company was annihilated almost entirely." The tour guide droned on.

Not for first time Ares cursed the fates that the gods didn't come to this world sooner. What a war that must have been! And not with guns either! As much as he liked the invention of firearms in the beginning, the god of war thought the modern weaponry took all the fun out of a battle. Dig trenches and shoot at each until you run out of bullets, hide somewhere like a pussy and shoot from a mile away, sit in an AC room and push buttons. Bunch of retards and towards, in his godly opinion. A battle should be a man against man, commander against commander, last man standing gets the glory and the loser dies. Just thinking about it made his heart race.

"That must have been so frightening," the girl on his arm said in a sad tone.

"Sure," Ares replied, not even paying attention to what she said. His mind focused on the phantom images of the battle. He wondered if he could see something like this in person— Ninjas dropping mile wide meteors on one another, mortals bending the very nature itself to their will, a desperate battle for survival that defies all conventional logic and reason. A massive grin split his face. He really really wanted to see something like this in person.

Athena

Even as one half of her was having tea with lady Amaterasu, the other half of Athena walked in the Administration building of Konoha. Dressed in blue Tai Chi martial arts suit like Bruce Lee from Fists of Fury, the Goddess of Wisdom chose the guise of a 'budding martial artist on the path to perfect her craft' to get to know the ninja business better. Also she really wanted to be the patron goddess of Konoha.

"'Sup," a young lady greeted her as soon as she walked in the office. Leaning against the wall near the door, the girl was around 18 years old, sleeves of standard Konoha attire folded upto her elbows, dark purple eyeshadow, fingerless gloves, a studed choker around her neck and black nail paint— Athena found it amusing that goth style was famous here as well.

"Hello," Athena turned towards the girl and smiled, "I'm Athena, I was hoping to find a sparring partner."

The girl chewed her gum as she checked out the Goddess from top to bottom, she made a big bubble and popped it loudly. "Oh yeah? And you thought you'll just walk in here and get one?"

"Yes? I'm sorry I'm not very familiar with ninja villages. Isn't that how it works?" Athena's charm was on full blast despite the girl's attitude.

The girl snorted. "Lady, no self respecting shinobi will fight a civilian. It goes against our creed." (4)

Athena looked at her attire, she thought she had the 'Martial Artist' look pat down. "I'm not a civilian." The goddess contested.

The girl rolled her eyes at her, "You're no Kunoichi either."

"I'm a martial artist."

"Who isn't?"

Athena almost growled. "I'll have you know I'm one of the strongest fighters you'll ever meet!"

"I heard that, like, a thousand times," the girl smirked, "even if that were true, no one will risk killing you accidentally during a spar. It's bad for business you know."

This time Athena did growl.

"I'm sure there's no harm in it Yuki."

Athena nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the voice. The girl, Yuki, was no better, she almost swallowed her chewing gum.

"L-lord Kakashi," the girl stuttered with a small blush.

Athena turned around to see a man dressed in black and grey ninja attire, spiky silver hair and half the face covered by a mask. Also, he was reading a book as he walked. Athena knew who this man was, moments ago she had seen his face on the mountain. The leader of the Village Hidden in Leaves, it's highest ranking ninja, the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake the Copy Ninja.

The Hokage walked to the mission desk and grabbed a scroll, he wrote something in it and tossed it to the girl Yuki and pocketed a couple scrolls himself. "Your team is waiting for you at the Jonin Standby station."

Yuki groaned, "Again?" She grumbled but went ahead nonetheless.

Reactions of the desk ninjas gave Athena a ton of information, most of them gave a polite greeting to their leader (except for Yuki) and promptly went back to the paperwork after a casual wave from the hokage. The Hokage is so laid back, she thought. How did the work, the Wisdom Goddess wondered. Modern dictators and ancient kings and generals of past cultivated a good amount of respect and fear in the hearts of their soldiers and subjects, but here Kakashi allowed the ninjas to slouch and grumble in his presence, something they would get court martialed for back home or even executed outright. It was a novel experience for the goddess.

The feudal lord who was the official ruler of the Land of Fire was an ordinary man as far as she could tell, with no army of his own and very few bodyguard and that too provided by the hokage. But despite that, he wasn't a puppet either. Athena wondered what was stopping the ninjas from overthrowing the feudal lord and be the sole leaders. The girl Yuki said fighting civilians goes against their creed but the goddess refused to believed that there were no rule breakers among the ninja. Dual system like this would have never worked back home, in any country, in any time. Most people in power always want more power, absolute control and they do everything in their power to not have to share it with others. Especially if your counterpart was inferior to you. Most royal courts were plagued with backstabbing politics, even Macedon of Alexander the Great was soaked in blood of rivals trying to one up each other.

But not here, and it fascinated her to no end. She had to get some answers and the Hokage was right in front of her. ...And he was walking out. Athena quickly fell in beside him.

"I take it you heard my request?"

"Hm? Oh yes. Please don't mind Yuki, despite her appearance she's a stickler for rules," Kakashi said in a jovial tone, eyes still glued to the book.

"Yes, of course. I understand. It's just that I was really looking forward to fight someone strong. It feels like my skills have stagnated and I'd really appreciate a new fighting style to spar against."

Whatever her initial reasons were for the trip, what she said wasn't false. She truely did feel like she had stagnated. After Pallas' (5) untimely death because of her overprotective dad, she never found someone else to spar against. Artemis was good but both sisters held back massively when they fought each other. Demeter, despite carrying the ephitet Demeter Khrysaoros (6), never picked up her golden blade outside of an actual battle. Same goes for Hera. And Hestia? Her favourite aunt was powerful but Athena would never even dream of ever hurting her sweet and kind aunt, even during a spar. Hestia was the darling of Olympus. Besides, Hestia would never agree to a spar, that just wasn't her.

On the male side of Olympians— if she were to fight one of her brothers, there was a really high chance of the spar quickly going out of hand. And the big three? Yeah, no. Hades would never agree to a duel with her. Zeus would rather forfeit than harm her and that act would piss her off. And Athena was 100% sure she and Poseidon would try to kill each other, then her father would throw a tantrum and it'll be a huge stinking mess. No one wants to deal with that.

And she had yet to find a demigod or a nymph that could push her to her limits, not since Pallas. Something she still hadn't forgiven her father for. But she somehow had a feeling the ninjas would be the answer to her problem.

"What did you say your name was?" Kakashi asked as they were walking down the street.

"Pallas Athena." Out of all her epithets (7), she liked Pallas Athena the best so she went with that.

As they were walking, Athena saw the citizens greet and bow to the Hokage who replied with a smile and a wave of his hand. A little girl even ran upto them and hugged the Hokage's knees, getting a few pats in return. She saw housewives gossiping, lovers walking hand in hand, giggling children running through the streets, shops, restaurants and streets were filled with laughing, smiling, happy people. There was this... cheeriness in the atmosphere, like it was some location from a fairytail. She had pictured a lot things about how a ninja village would be, very little of it resembled reality.

"That's a rather exotic name."

Athena snapped out of her musings. "Yes. I'm from the western continent, from across the seas." It was an easy lie, the western continent was almost identical to their old home, just like Alfheim (8). But unlike Alfheim and Midgard, Earth and the Shinobi world weren't connected by Yggdrasil but by Chaos itself.

The reason that the ninjas used the Gregorian calender, cameras, ice cream, chocolate and many other things that were similar to back home was that there was a direct link between the two worlds. In simplest terms, the worlds were shadows of each other, change in one would eventually affect the other in one way or the other. That's why the ninjas had suits and computers and Japan had ninjas but without superpowers and India had concept of chakra even through no one actually had chakra.

"You are a long way from home miss Pallas," Kakashi said as he led her away from the main street.

"Yes, I moved here with a lot of other people. You might see them in Konoha in near future."

"That so?" Kakashi hmmed. "Any reason for mass migration?"

"A plague was beginning to spread in my old country," Athena half-lied, a plague was scheduled in about 8-9 years back home. Not one of Apollo's deadliest inventions but one the most annoying ones for sure. Nike was already pissed at the Sun God.

"Kakashi my rival!"

For the second time that day Athena nearly jumped out of her skin. What the hell was that!? She screamed in her mind. Then she saw the man who had seemingly dropped from the sky right in front of them. Clad in a green spandex suit and flak vest, bowl cut hair and thick bushy eyebrows like two giant leopard moth caterpillars, was a man standing before them with hands folded across his chest and big grin on his face. And.. Did his teeth just glint??

"Not so loud Guy," Kakashi complained. "You startled her."

'He most certainly did not startle me,' Athena grumbled, offended.

Guy just laughed, "I got tired of waiting at the training ground so I came to get you myself!"

Kakashi looked at Guy and then looked Athena and smiled. Athena did not like his smile.

"Say, miss Pallas. You wanted someone strong to spar against, didn't you?"

With a foreboding feeling, the Goddess nodded.

"Fantastic. Guy, how would you Like spar against the best martial artist in the entire western continent?"

Athena did not like how cheerfully the Hokage said those words. Not. One. Bit.

"Woah look at that boss!" Konohamaru exclaimed loudly as pointed at the glimmering corpse of the lion.

"Alright stay back, STAY BACK!" Naruto had to yell to keep the two curious brats in line. "There could be a dangerous... virus." His words trailed off as the blinding glitter of the corpse died down and in it's place they found a jacket. A nice, fashionable and clearly a girl's jacket.

"Oh cool!" Hanabi said, her lavender eyes glittered at the sight, "Dibs!" She said and dived at the golden jacket only for Naruto to grab her by the scruff of her neck.

His eye twiched, "What part of 'stay back' was hard for you to understand, Hanabi," Naruto asked in his best 'stern' voice.

"B-but brother," Hanabi looked at him with wide, innocent, tearful eyes. "The jacket looks so cool and I always wanted to be cool like you."

The twitch came back with a vengeance, "Yeah that's not gonna work on me anymore," he sighed. "I wish Hinata was here instead, she is the sweetest girl in the whole world and doesn't manipulate me with puppy eye—Ow!" His dramatic monologue was cut short by a swift kick to the shin from a pouting Hanabi. Hinata would never kick him. Unlike her brat of a younger sister.

Konohamaru began giggling at his expense.

"Just for that, I'm not gonna teach you any new jutsu for a month," Naruto told to his apprentice.

"Hey!" Konohamaru yelled in protest but was ignored by a grumbling Naruto who crouched down near the strange piece of clothing. His eyes turned orange with cross shaped pupils as he grabbed the jacket. But, as if he was wearing invisible gloves, his fingers never made contact with it, mother nature's chakra giving him unseen protection. What kind of lion turns into a fucking jacket upon death?! It was the weirdest thing he had ever seen, and that was saying something.

"What do you think boss?" Konohamaru said as he too crouched down near him.

"Hm... There is no life signature in it anymore obviously, and the residual energy isn't harmful as far as I can tell." Naruto dropped the nature energy coating from his hand and brushed his bare skin against the material. It felt and smelt like how a new leather jacket would. But still—

"I called dibs, you know," Hanabi tapped her foot impatiently, looking down at them.

"I heard you the first time brat," Naruto chucked the jacket at her, which she caught easily because of course she did. He sighed, "Anyway, this was the lake where you saw the girl?" he asked aloud but his fingers flashed through subtle signs. Spy. Alert.

"Yes, this is the one."

Both kids understood the assignment immediately, they acted like nothing was wrong outwardly and followed his lead, they were being watched and needed to stay alert.

Someone was observing them from the woods, Naruto waited for them to act and in the meanwhile he turned his attention to girl in the lake. Or more accurately, the ladies in the lake 'cuz he could sense eight signatures that were almost identical to each other right in the middle of the lake. And they were really really nervous.

His mind made, Naruto turned to the lake and walked a few steps on it's surface. "I can tell you're there you know." He said, seemingly talking to empty air. The kids tensed, so he quickly signed next instruction. Relax. Not this.

"I know you are nervous," he continued. "I promise we aren't here to hurt you. I just want to talk to you a little bit, that's all."

But there was no response, it seemed like Hanabi's little jacket had some unwelcome consequences. In that case, he was going to have to try much harder to complete the mission.

"It's nothing major, yknow," Naruto said, trying a new angle, "You are new in Land of Fire, aren't you? In that case you have get registered your presence here. That's all, I promise." The honesty in his must have reached them because, he felt the nervousness lessen a bit. That was good.

"It's standard procedure, nothing else" Naruto continued, "Just a couple of basic questions and we'll be out of your hair. Cmon we can't go back unless we meet you, y'know." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the signatures move towards the surface.

That did it, finally. Naruto felt a shift in the tranquil lake and sensed the spiritual energy that was almost identical to nature energy gather near the surface a few feet away from him. Slowly, a pillar of water rose gently from the surface and began to take a humanoid shape. A couple of seconds later, a beautiful girl stood in front of him. She looked about 17-18 years old. She had fair skin, wavy brown hair, blue eyes and pointy ears, and wore blue jeans and a green tshirt. Despite coming out of the water, the girl was completely dry. Unsual but still, Naruto put on his best smile, "Hi!" He greeted.

The girl looked at him but looked away just as quickly, "H-hello," she stuttered out, fidgeting in place. Then she glared at the surface of lake and grumbled something under her breath.

"Thank you for trusting me," Naruto said and took a step towards the girl, when she didn't react negatively, he took another. This scene was rather familiar to him. Many tourists, especially young girls travelled to Konoha to meet him. Sometimes they got nervous but not wanting to back away after coming so far, they grab one of them like a sacrifice and push her forward to initiate a conversation with him. Naruto didn't mind, he was happy to talk anyone and everyone. It was a dream come true for him and an honor to have so many people from all over the continent look up to him. He thought he was incredibly lucky. "Can you tell me who you are?"

"W-we are naiads," the girl said in a small voice that Naruto had to strain to hear.

"Naiads? Is that a clan name?" Naruto asked.

"No," the girl looked at him like he was a bit thick, "Naiads as in water spirits." She explained.

"Ah, so you are spirits. I was right," Naruto smiled proudly, his guess was correct after all.

The girl fidgeted in her place some more and was saying something under her breath that Naruto could not hear. "Could you repeat that, please?"

"I said, you smell really nice. Like a god," the girl said with rosy cheeks.

"O-oh, um thank you," it was his turn to stutter now. In all his life nobody had ever compared him to divinity but today two different girls did so within a few hours. "So, ahem, you are water spirits?" The girl nodded, her nervousness seemingly vanished into thin air. "What are you doing in this lake?"

"We live here," she said with a smile, "this is our home."

"Ohk," he didn't really get it but his mission was complete for all intents and purposes. He found out how the girl could turn herself into water like a Hozuki— she was a water spirit; how come she didn't have chakra? Again, she was a water spirit. Done. Mission complete. But still the little spy plus company was getting awefully close. So Naruto's had to cut his interview short, he turned his in the spy's direction and mouthed, 'I can see you.' He couldn't but it was incredibly satisfying to feel the brief spike of irritation.

Thank you for reading! Have a nice day!

I was hoping to write another 2-3k words, a Naruto and Artemis interaction but I'm sleep deprived and already used my sick leave to complete this chapter, and I don't want wait another week to upload this. So, sorry about that. I tried to write as accurately as possible but there may still be errors in the chapter, in that case I apologize. Hope you liked this chapter, I'll see you soon.

Trivia

1. Echidna— daughter of Tartarus and Gaia, aka Mother of Monsters

2. Dumbass Duo— Otis and Ephialtes, twin sons of Gaia, they were born to oppose/kill Dionysus. They tried to reach Mt. Olympus by stacking mountains on top of each other. Ares went to confront them, was defeated, captured and put in a bronze jar for 13 months until Artemis killed the giants and Hermes pulled Ares out of the jar.

3. Nemean Lion's skin is impenetrable but when Percy briefly wore the jacket and he was hit with bullets, he could still feel the impact. That means even if you can't cut or damage the lion's skin, technique like Gentle Fist, Frog Kata that bypass toughness will be effective against it.

4. Before you say anything, yes It's my head canon.

5. Pallas was a naiad. When Athena was young Zeus sent her to live with the naiads in Lybia. Pallas and Athena were BFFs. One day Zeus looked down and saw the two sparring. The spar was so intense that Zeus feared for his beloved daughter's safety (he forgot that she's immortal) so he appeared in the sky behind Athena and showed Aegis to Pallas, who flinched and couldn't dodge Athena's spear in time. Pallas died at Athena's hands.

Later, Athena made a statue of Pallas but because the statue looked remarkably similar to the goddess herself, people began calling it 'Pallas Athena'. The goddess happily accepted the name.

Fun fact— There was a prophecy that as long as the statue of Pallas Athena remained in the city, Troy would never fall. Odysseus stole the statue in the Trojan war, ensuring Greek victory.

6. Demeter Khrysaoros literally means Demeter of the Golden Blade. Some myths say that it is the same blade that Kronos used to kill Ouranos.

7. If you were wondering, here are some of Athena's epithets—

Artytone— the Unwearying

Parthenos— the Virgin

Promachos— She who fights in the Front

Polias— 'of the City'

Ergane— the Industrious

Hippia— Equestrian (because she invented bridle, chariot and wagons)

Promachroma— Protector of the Anchorage

Hygieia— Personified Health

And last but not the least, Athena Glaukopis— Bright-Eyed Athena aka Gray-Eyed Athena

8. Alfheim, the home of Light Elves is described as 'same as midgard, only brighter and without nightfall'. Alfheim has police force, TVs, mobiles, etc. It is also compared to upscale neighbourhoods of Boston. I used this to show that Ninja world and Percy Jackson world can be similar and connected without breaking logic. I hope it worked.