Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Each series belongs to their respective authors, Kishimoto and Rick Riordan.
"Standard" - Normal Speaking
'Italics'–Thoughts
"Bold" techniques.
(1999 BC)
-Aetolia-
In the tranquil embrace of nature, amidst the whispering trees and the gentle caress of the wind, Lysimachia stared at the baby as he sucked on her teat. She stared at the once brown eyes and black hair that were slowly transforming over the months.
The once brown eyes had flecks of blue within them, and the black hair roots were turning into the color of blonde.
He was a quiet, strange baby. He cried a lot for the first couple of months, but as the changes started to happen, he began to quiet down. She couldn't help but stare at the mark over the baby's heart when she bathed him every day. It looked like a diamond shaped tattoo.
"Is it one of those decorative ones?" she thought to herself as she breastfed him.
She never ventured far from her lake and mortals seldomly visit her lake, but from her distant cousins, the Aurae, she heard the tales of distant empires and their cultures; the gods punishing mortals.
From what she knows of humans, decorative tattoos were not a part of Greece traditions. Decorative tattoos mostly originated from the northern tribes of Europa, and in the east at Persia.
As she looked at the baby she was holding, the ever-increasing motherly love she got as she raised him brought her immense joy. Although forced to take care of a baby that wasn't her, she can find comfort that was not the result of being assaulted by a god. This adorable bundle somehow brings her joy and happiness.
The baby's soul was a blank canvas, devoid of any sense of self or individuality. But its soul was gradually transforming, absorbing the essence of another person. Locked memories slowly infiltrate the soul.
A flicker of intelligence surged through the baby, causing him to become self-aware as he indulged in a tantalizingly sweet and creamy treat. With renewed vigor, he began to guzzle even more eagerly.
"You're quite the glutton today, aren't you, Naruto? Sleep now," a voice with a hint of playfulness said to him.
The baby blinked, understanding the woman's words and her tune and thought, "My name is... Naruto?"
Naruto gazed at the starry skies while the woman started singing a hymn.
"Ἐν τιμῇ τῶν θεῶν, ἀναγεγράψωμεν φωναῖς ἡμῶν, Οἱ Ὀλύμπιοι, τιμώμενοι μετὰ ταπεινῶν ὀφθαλμῶν. Ζεῦς, οὗ ὁ βροντὴ διὰ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἠχεῖ, Ἥρα, βασίλισσα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἡ ἡρωική καὶ σοφή. Ἀθηνᾶ, φωτεινῆς σοφίας φέρουσα τὴν ὁδόν, Ἀπόλλων, οὗ ἡ μουσικὴ καταπαύει τὴν νύκτα. Ἄρτεμις, φύλαξ τῆς φύσεως, ἡ ἄγριος καὶ κραταιά, Ἄρης, θεὸς πολέμου, ἀντικειμένους τὴν ἰσορροπίαν ἔχων. Ἥφαιστος, τέχνης δεινῆς ποιητὴς καὶ δημιουργός," the women sang to him a hymn that praised the gods.
"Ἀφροδίτη, ἧς ἡ ἔρως πάντας κατέχει. Ποσειδῶν, τῆς θαλάσσης δεσπότης καὶ κυρίαρχος, Ἑρμῆς, ταχύς ἄγγελος, πᾶσαν ἀντλῶν ἡδονήν. Δήμητρα, τῆς γῆς εὐεργέτις καὶ δωρητρία, Ζεῦς, οὗ ἡ δίκη καθίσταται πᾶσαν γεννάδα. Σὺν αἰδοῖ, ὑμνοῦμεν, τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἀτελείωτον αἰώνιον, Τὴν πρὸς τὴν γῆν δόξαν, ἐν αἰωνίῳ φαεινῇ ἐπιστρέφοντες."
Slowly Naruto began to drift asleep, as the soothing hymn from the woman who nursed him sang him to sleep. Naruto then closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.
Lysimachia felt her baby's wondering eyes stare at her before cooing and pressing against her bosom as she sang to him. As she looked into the blue eyes flecked with brown. She could see a faint glimmer of intelligence in them before they went to sleep. Intelligence that shouldn't be there for a baby.
For a moment she forgot how to breathe, before shaking her head as she thought, "It doesn't matter... he is my baby. When that deity comes. I know what to wish for."
She then breathed out a sigh of fondness as she felt her baby snuggle for her body's warmth. She then began to rock him before a ripple of energy in the air snapped her eyes open. Lysimachia glared at the sky, where she could feel the gaze of someone looking at her.
"A god... Mom told me about this feeling, when you catch a god's eyes. You get this tingle feeling." Lysimachia thought with a bitter glare, "I hid in the bottom of my lake to avoid this attention. If only Naruto could come with me there all the time, but if I do that he would drown. Naruto, you don't know how I much I have to sacrifice to raise you if a god shows up..."
As she observed the fire pit she had built next to the lake to keep Naruto warm during the Autumn, an amazing idea suddenly came to her.
-Olympus-
Zeus let out a loud whistle as he gazed downward at Greece from the roof of his palace and temple on Mount Olympus. He was sightseeing right now.
Zeus murmured to himself in disbelief upon seeing a stunning, curvaceous Naiad in western Greece. His expression turned sour as he noticed her tending to a fire pit and caring for a sleeping baby, while offering sacrifices to the gods.
He found the sacrifices pleasing, but...
"That damn baby..." Zeus muttered bitterly as he seemingly lost his desserts before he snorted, "I will come back for her in a decade or two. That child probably won't be around..."
"What are you doing, my dear brother..." Hestia's voice deadpanned at him as she emerged from a burst of flames on top of his temple, making Zeus yelp in surprise.
Zeus would have punished any other god for transgressing his domain, but Hestia was an exception because of her previous act of saving his marriage with Hera. It was a way to pay back Hestia's displeasure at cleaning his mess.
Zeus electric blue eyes looked at his eldest sister's warm brown eyes, that were turning into warm flickering flames from her disapproval as she tutted at him.
"Zeus... Don't make me choose between keeping this a secret from Hera or telling on you..." Hestia's exasperated expression turned worried as she said, "I didn't come to talk about this. I'm worried about Artemis. She refuses to fulfill her duties due to what happened. Her Hunters take care of her on Olympus. This can't last forever."
"Seriously, what am I supposed to do!?" Zeus grumbled, feeling bummed out as he looked at his sister. "My little moonflower won't even talk to me! Leto is the only one who always gets a response from her, and Apollo is getting overworked from her unattended duties and his own duties. Hunting, healing, being a midwife and assisting in delivering births with Eileithyia... Do you think I gave her too much time?"
"You're not just the father of your children, but also the King of Olympus," Hestia reminded him. She then added, "Don't forget that Artemis needs your support in both roles. Not a punishment."
With a nod, Zeus watched as Hestia disappeared in a burst of flames, seemingly returning to tend her hearth. Only to reappear with his wife and her sister, Hera.
Hera gave him a disappointed stare and then grabbed Zeus by the ear, dragging him off the roof with a snarl and said, "I am warning you Zeus! Don't you dare try to do something like Io again! Argus still has not reformed yet!."
Hestia shook her head ruefully and glanced at what Zeus was seeing. She smiled at the mother and child by the lake, but then her eyes became alarmed.
"I am surprised brother missed this..." she thought as she tilted her head before snorting. "He was too distracted to be paranoid and to notice a protection magic on that lake surroundings and the Naiad has magic that is not of Greek Origin..."
"It seems harmless... but things are making sense about that sacrifice to me and the rest of the goddess and how she felt Zeus gaze on her." Hestia thought as she remembered the sacrifice she got on the way to talk to Zeus about Artemis. "And I, from what I can sense, that baby doesn't have any divine blood or is a legacy. So, who cast that protection spell?"
Lysimachia felt pleased, as her sacrifices to every female Olympian apart from Aphrodite answered her prayers.
The firepit crackled warmly as Naruto slept and smiled. Lysimachia yawned and got up, glancing at the cot she made for Naruto. She placed him there and rested her head at the edge, mumbling, "We should get a hut... It would make things easier when it rains or there are thunderstorms."
When she woke up at dawn, a little hut had sprung from nowhere next to her firepit. A hut formed from a tree, simple and empty. A chaste tree, to be exact, a symbol of Hestia.
Lysimachia's alarmed expression softened, and she lifted Naruto from his cot, waking him up and tells him, "The gods are looking out for us..."
And then she smelled the horrible smell coming from Naruto, as he soiled his clothed diaper and tells him with a disgruntled sigh, "Let wash you up..."
(1991 BC)
Naruto's pulse quickened with a mixture of excitement and trepidation as he ventured deeper into the forest. Ignoring his mother's warnings, he was getting bored listening to his mother. After nine years of listening to his mother's warnings, he was tired of it.
His mother sheltered him from everything, never left out of her sight until recently. Oh, he loved his mom. Her tales about gods during the night were the best. But it was getting repetitive by now.
He ventured into the forest east of the marshes of his mother's lake. Pushing through a thicket of brambles, he scaled trees and carefully walked on branches. Despite the frosty glares from the dryads, he smiled at them, surprising them with his unabashed smile that made them smile back.
"Mom must be lying.. nobody wants to hurt me..." thought Naruto with a frown before a grin as he climbed even higher for a higher vantage point to see what was beyond the forest and then began to jump between trees, "I want to see other people and more of this world..."
A sharp shooting pain stabbed Naruto's mind, causing him to lose his grip on a branch. He jumped higher than intended, crashing face first into a tree. With a yelp, he tumbled down into a clearing in the forest.
The clearing was bathed in golden sunlight. Naruto was in awe as he looked up at the blazing sun. His eyes widening as a shadow covered him - it was a massive bear, with glistening fur, standing tall and swinging down towards him.
Only to hit the dirt, as Naruto barely rolled out of the way, and began to run with a look of terror on his face.
"Mom was right!" Naruto thought, hearing the bear growl and its paws shake the ground as it chased him.
Naruto reached a tree and started climbing, but a swipe from the bear knocked him down, causing him to crash to the ground and spit out dirt from his mouth. Through the pain, Naruto saw the bear above him, its angry amber eyes showing, causing his mistake. His curiosity had led him into an unknown and dangerous world. Tears began to well up as the nine-year-old blonde kid muttered, "Save me... Mom."
As Naruto faced his end, tears streamed down his face. His brief life flashed in his mind, evoking laughter that echoed across the silent clearing. Unfamiliar emotions and jagged memories began to creep within him.
A crackle in the air, and something in Naruto shifted as he ignored the pulsing pain that was now etched into his heart and it began to spread an orange glow across his body in an almost symmetric curved and straight geometric pattern that glowed orange and seared his skin.
Two clashing sets of memories began to fight for dominance over his mind as power welled up from Naruto's body, making the bear cower back. Dazed, the boy's vacant eyes stared ahead as he stood up, his body moving like a marionette. In a flash of movement, Naruto grabbed the bear's neck and ripped it open with his fingers. The bear's surprised groan died in its throat as the gash in its throat showered Naruto with blood before it slumped forward and crashed directly on top of Naruto.
Lysimachia was panicking, for a moment she let Naruto out of her sight as she talked to a passing Aurae.
While she talking to her visitor, she glanced towards where Naruto should have been, only to be horrified when she realized he had vanished without a trace.
She thoroughly searched the hut and carefully examined every part of the area around the lake, until she found faint traces of his footprints, which seemed to go east. She immediately sprinted in that direction with all her might.
Lysimachia's heart pounded like a drum in her chest as she raced through the forest, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Every step she took felt like an eternity, her mind consumed by fear and desperation for her precious son. The dense foliage seemed to claw at her, slowing her down until she reached the end of his trail of footprints.
"Naruto! Naruto, where are you?" Lysimachia cried out in hysterically , her yells ragging her throat, as she called for her son. The woods responded with eerie silence, broken only by the rustle of leaves and her footsteps.
Frantically, she scanned the forest for any sign of her son. Her mind raced with horrifying possibilities as she searched for any sign of him. What if he had stumbled upon a dangerous animal? What if he fell into a ravine or got swept away by a fast stream? The thought of losing him sent waves of dread crashing over her...
After hours of searching, Lysimachia collapsed to her knees and began to feel tears of frustration well up in her eyes before she forced herself to keep moving. Soon she reached, a pretty old part for the forest and leaned on one of the trees for support.
A voice called out to her as a young woman appeared from a nearby tree. The woman had olive skin, brown eyes, and brunette hair as thick as roots. Her long, pointed ears twitched as she introduced herself, saying, " You are that Naiad who lives in that lake, aren't you?"
"Yes," murmured Lysimachia before she looked at the dryad and asked her desperately, "You haven't seen a boy, about nine summers old?"
Lysimachia felt a comforting hand on her shoulder as the dryad gave her a nod.
"Of course I saw him, cute little thing climbed my tree and apologized to me with a smile before going north before I could warn him not to," Melia said with pursed lip as she looked worried before explaining, "My name is Melia… The north of the forest has been cursed ever since Lady Artemis had been rumored to have abandoned her duties in the mortal realm. Animals in that part of the forest have lost their minds there thanks to Lyssa… That goddess had to regulate the animals with madness in the absence of Artemis hunting."
Following Melia, Lysimachia could feel something was very wrong, and the sudden scent of dried blood as they trekked north confirmed her worst fears as tears began to well in her eyes and she trudged through the forest, she came across a clearing and then she saw him—a tiny figure lying amidst the pool of dried, next to a dead bear, his blond hair glinting from the blood and evening sunlight. With a cry, she rushed to his side, gathering him into her arms with tears streaming down her cheeks.
She shook his body, desperate for any sign of life. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and widened at the sight of her. Overwhelmed with emotion, he started crying and sobbing in her embrace, a behavior he hadn't exhibited since he was a baby of six months old.
Split: "Holy Hera..." Melia's voice echoed behind her as she stared at the sight in front of her. "That bear is the biggest animal in this region. It was afflicted by Lyssa to kill the mortals that have disrespected Artemis' hunting grounds in her absence. And your kid killed it... Who is the father?"
Lysimachia covered Naruto's ears and looked at Melia with a frown.
"I don't know... he is adopted, and he doesn't know that." hissed Lysimachia to her with a frown before she soothed and stroked her crying son's hair and began to hum, "You are okay... I am not angry with you anymore... you are okay... I am not angry with you anymore..."
"Well, the spoils of the hunt belong to him." Melia says with a shake of her head as she peered at Naruto, sniffing, and wiping his tears in his mother's arm, "Law of the hunt dictates it, kid. You have full rights over the bear corpse. Just be respectful of it so you don't earn the wrath of the gods."
"Who are you?" Naruto asked her rudely with a sniff.
"Manners, Naruto." chided Lysimachia as she flicked one of his ears before telling him, "That's your Aunt Melia."
"Hey!" protested Melia before feeling touched by expressing Lysimachia that told her she won't take no fine for an answer.
Melia then gave Naruto an exasperated sigh before grinning at him, "Come here, you little punk. You still haven't apologized for that branch you broke, but your Auntie Melia forgives you because I am awesome."
Naruto just sticks his out tongue at her and tells her, "Don't care."
Lysimachia disapprovingly frowns at the disrespectful behavior, then swiftly whacks his head and orders him, saying, "That is unworthy and ungrateful. Apologize to her."
"Yes... Mom." Naruto says glumly as he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head before muttering out, "Sorry."
Olympus
Artemis looked around her palace as the shadows danced, and silence echoed in her wake. The desolate palace of Artemis stood as a testament to her profound despair. Once filled with the vibrant camaraderie of her handmaidens and the unwavering loyalty of her hunters, it now lay as a cold and desolate sanctuary for nine years.
The memory of her opponent's fists pounding her face with sadistic joy haunted her. He then proceeded to target and injure one of her trusted maidens before callously tossing a severely wounded Eleni, whom she had recently sworn in, at her feet.
"When you hunt and fight a group, go for the weakest and the inexperienced ones first." She remembered him saying as the voice echoed in her mind.
Even in death, the haunting icy blue eyes that shifted between different and many unique patterns and hues of colors sent shivers down her spine in her dreams. By observing her hunters and witnessing how Artemis' fight against him. These blue eyes surpass the cunning and ruthlessness of Ares and Athena combined.
Ares despised strategy and favored relying solely on his brute force in battles. Athena felt intense dislike towards that display of barbarity. While her chosen strategies and tactics could be ruthless, they still carried a certain grace and honor. Her older siblings had greater experience in combat compared to her, but Artemis knew that she and Apollo were the most powerful children of Zeus on Olympus.
Seeing it as a mere game, he found amusement in the chaos, especially during the final showdown between her and Britomartis. However, Britomartis' ill-fated decision to wield celestial bronze nets as a weapon resulted in unintended consequences. In a chaotic turn of events, Britomartis found herself entangled and then forcefully dragged away by a duplicate of their enemy. Britomartis revealed later that he had tied her tightly to a towering tree and left her hanging there before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
As she attempted to drive an arrow into his skull from a distance, he suddenly materialized in front of her. He yanked her bow of her hands and unleashing a flurry of blows with it, causing her great humiliation. With a powerful blow from her silver bow, he sent her crashing to the ground. The impact of the hit left a deep gash on her head, and golden Ichior started to trickle out.
He then shifted his attention to one of her hunters. The hunter had fallen to her knees, visibly trembling with fear and making a deliberate effort to avoid eye contact. A look of displeasure crossed her opponent's face.
She swiftly grabbed hold of his foot before he could do anything, her desperation clear as she pleaded for him to stop. She knew the hunters' lives were slipping away because of their serious injuries.
When she mentioned it, a brief flicker of pity appeared on his face. However, it was quickly replaced by conflict and agitation. The last thing she saw was him disappearing in a burst of orange light, with his life force fading rapidly.
Following that, Artemis faced difficulties in healing her hunters, until Britomartis, who was bruised and battered, came to her aid, helping to tend to the wounded.
After losing badly, Artemis could feel her confidence shatter like a fragile glass. The weight of that fateful encounter hung heavily in her mind, causing her endless torment. The night grew darker, and the weight of tragedy grew heavier than she sadly counted the lives of her five beloved adopted daughters, lost too soon because of their injuries.
After Zeus's vengeful wrath against the being who humiliated his daughters, she retreated from the world, forsaking the responsibilities that once defined her as a prominent Olympian. The whispers of Artemis's handmaidens and hunters, filled with desperation, faded into the air as she stubbornly refused to return to her mortal world. In her weakened state, Britomartis was requested by Artemis to take charge of half of her hunters. The rest of the hunters faithfully served Artemis as her handmaidens on Olympus.
Eileithyia was putting in additional time to cover for Artemis' absence, diligently carrying out their shared duties of midwifery and assisting in childbirth in the mortal realm. Whenever needed, Apollo would offer his assistance, ensuring Artemis' responsibilities were still taken care of.
News of Artemis's self-imposed exile from the mortal realm and duties reached the celestial halls of Mount Olympus. Zeus, her formidable father, firmly requested that she regain her senses and carry out her obligations before relenting, visibly taken aback by her insolent reply.
Apollo, her radiant twin, checked on her in these nine years. His voice filled with tender concern, attempting to break through her emotional barriers. However, Artemis would often follow with a half-hearted warning, causing him to retreat and respect her need for space.
Even though Poseidon tried to teach her fishing and Athena attempted to take her for a stroll in Athens to bring back a sense of normalcy, Artemis declined both offers.
Hephaestus made her a new bow. Despite being an improvement, Artemis had not yet interacted with the new one. Hera checked on her and told her to take all the time she needed.
It was only when her mother, Leto, and her aunt Hestia talked to her she felt like talking. She cried in her mother's arms and listened to her aunt Hestia talk about anything. When she wasn't moping, she was watching half of hunters here who were living in her palace on Olympus, as Britomartis took the other half. Every two weeks, Britomartis returned to Olympus with her hunters and rested for a week. Afterwards, she'd swap with the other half of the hunters and take charge of a hunt.
"My lady..." Kallisto voice shook her out her trance, "Lord Zeus wants you to attend the feast tonight."
About to refuse, Artemis sensed a sacrifice being offered to her. An enormous bear's pelt that would have taken down any mortal hunter. Her eyebrows raised in interest, never having received such an enormous sacrifice from a hunter in nine years away from the mortal realm.
Gods could see everything and hear everything on the earth, except the places or domains of other gods. All gods could do it. They just had to pay attention and focus, and they can pinpoint others with their mind.
While receiving the sacrifice, Artemis's attention was drawn to a grumpy nine-year-old blonde boy. In her mind, she saw him being wrapped in gauze and bandages by a Naiad and a Dryad. His gaze was fixed on the burning pelt of the enormous bear.
"I earned that," the blonde boy said bitterly, staring at the burning pelt. He yelped in pain as the Naiad tugged on his bandages, making them tighter. "That hurts, mom... Why should I sacrifice it for a goddess who did nothing for me in the entirety of my life?"
The Naiad, who was the boy's mother, gave him a smile that told him she knew better. "Son, Appeasing a goddess like Artemis for a hunt is honorable. She will bless you for this sacrifice. She is the protector of hunters and the guardian of all children. So the next time you go missing in the forest, this won't happen again."
"And you should respect and honor the gods, Naruto," the dryad told him before chuckling at his unamused expression. "If you continue to disrespect them like this, one day they may turn you into a squirrel! But if that happens, I'll let you live in my tree."
The astonishing scene made Artemis do something she ever did these days, suppressing a snort and an amused smile.
The boy called Naruto glared at the dryad before his shoulders slumped as he sighed, "Fine, I'll pray to Artemis then."
"Sister?" Britomartis' voice called out in the hallway as she had returned from another hunt, "I heard that father wants us to join the feast tonight."
Giddiness overcame Artemis, causing her to laugh and giggle even harder as she saw the boy glare at the dryad before slumping his shoulders in defeat.
"I don't know what to pray from you..." Artemis hears the boy whisper, "But I hope you become happy with this sacrifice... Go do something, other than listen to this boy pray for things he doesn't really need."
Typically, Artemis would have taken offense at such a daring prayer, but this time it caught her off guard. She shook her head, remembering the nine years of emptiness she experienced on Olympus, and acknowledged that the boy's words held truth. She reluctantly agreed with the boy, feeling shame wash over her. Summoning her new bow into her hand, she sighed in resignation. She faced her two attendants, smiled at them, and muttered, "I am sorry for being a fool. Let go out and hunt again..."
"Father that I am going on my a hunt," Artemis announced as she entered the throne room.
Zeus, seated upon his throne stormy and broody expression, turns into a smile as he asks his daughter, "A hunt, you say? Are you feeling better Artemis?"
"Yes, father," Artemis replied with a steady voice. "I won't let you or Olympus down again..."
Zeus shakes his head, "You didn't let me down, Moonflower. I was just worried for you, and so was everyone."
"Well, I am going now..." Artemis says with a quick bow before she disappeared in a flash of silver light.
Zeus smiles and his laughter echoes the empty throne room of Olympus as he sends a festive of lightning all over Greece.
Naruto yelps and ducks into his mother's arms as the skies above him boom with thunder and crackle with lightning on a clear sky day, as fear fills him. Ever since he was young, he feared lightning it always gave him a sense of discomfort.
"Don't worry, Lord Zeus isn't after you..." he heard his mother mummer as she pulled him into the lake to give him a bath.
Looking at his mother lake, Naruto stared at his reflection to see an elderly man reflected at him, an elderly man he felt like he knew because he had the same blue eyes as his expect they were tired and weary, the man in the reflection turned younger but his expression become one of emotionless. Before Naruto could understand what he was seeing in the water reflection, he found himself staring at himself.
(1983 BC)
As Naruto stood before his mother, a determined gleam sparkled in his eyes. He was now eighteen years old, filled with the restless energy of youth and an insatiable thirst to get out of his sheltered life.
"Mom," he began, his voice filled with excitement and determination, "I love you but I want to explore the world beyond the forest, see new places, and experience life outside of this forest and lake. It is getting old and repetitive in here… I want to meet people, make friends and maybe even fall in love. I want people to know me, so I can be a story, that other mothers will tell their children about. I want to be the first mortal whose story will be told for his good deeds. Not like those mortals with the floods."
Lysimachia regarded her son with a mixture of pride and concern. She knew this day would come, but it didn't make it any easier to let him go. Yet, she also understood his longing for freedom and discovery. She knew the god that handed this boy to her gave her the greatest gift she could wish for, and that god had already granted her wish from the start.
"I understand, Naruto," she replied, her voice soft but firm. "You have grown into a fine young man, and it's natural for you to want to venture out into the world. Just promise me one thing."
Naruto nodded eagerly, hanging onto her every word.
"Promise me that you'll be cautious," Lysimachia continued, her worried gaze locking with his. "The world can be a dangerous place, especially for someone young and unexperienced like you."
Naruto's expression faltered slightly at the mention of his supernatural strength, but he quickly regained his composure and nodded.
"Very well," Lysimachia said as she smiled softly, a mixture of pride and apprehension in her eyes, her voice filled with both sadness and acceptance as she told her most precious thing in her long life. "Go, explore, and follow your heart, Naruto. Just remember that no matter where you go or what you do, you'll always have a home here."
As Naruto prepared to depart, Lysimachia's expression grew more solemn, her gaze heavy with concern. She gently reached out to touch his arm, drawing his attention back to her.
"Naruto, there's something else I need to tell you," Lysimachia said, her voice tinged with a hint of urgency. "As you venture beyond the forest you will find settlements, you'll encounter mortals. They can be... unpredictable, and sometimes even unfair to you and others."
Naruto furrowed his brow, a flicker of confusion crossing his features. He had heard tales of mortals, of their fleeting lives and fragile bodies from his mother and the aunts of his in the forest, but he had never truly understood the extent of their complexity.
"What do you mean, Mom?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.
Lysimachia took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to say.
"Mortals can be kind and compassionate, but they can also be driven by fear and prejudice," she explained, her voice grave with warning. "Some don't fear the gods and commit the sins and kill others for money and insignificant things."
Naruto's expression darkened as he absorbed her words, a sense of foreboding settling over him. He couldn't understand what his mother was talking about but now he couldn't help but wonder if the world beyond the forest was as dangerous as his mother described.
"But what can I do about that, Mom?" he asked her his voice tinged with uncertainty.
Lysimachia reached out to cup his cheek, her touch gentle yet firm.
"Stay true to yourself, Naruto," she said, her blue eyes locking with his blue eyes. "Remember who you are and where you come from. And if you ever find yourself in danger, trust your instincts and protect yourself. But above all else, never anger the gods."
"I won't forget, Mom," he vowed, his voice steady. "I'll remember your words, and I'll do my best to stay safe."
With a last embrace and a silent prayer for her son's safety, Lysimachia watched from her hut as Naruto disappeared into the forest and into the unknown, her heart heavy with worry yet filled with pride. And as he ventured out into the world beyond the forest, she could only hope that he would not be corrupted by Humanity.
A/N: So R8handman is here, I am extremely pleased with reception I got for this, and the demand for a second chapter. So here it is.
please check out CH 1 first cuz I edited it. And read the notes. This is not the end of Lysimachia and her role in the story ofcourse. We are very early in Greek mythology, Dionysus had not been born yet, Persephone had not been kidnapped yet. The chronology is hard to make sense off, but I have planned it out. As for the pantheons Naruto would wipe some of them off, and befriend others. As for the Otsutsuki plot point that will be a major headache for Naruto.
As you see, Naruto thinks he is a normal mortal, oblivious of his locked memories and power for now. I still haven't choose to ship anyone with Naruto yet cuz I want to write the story and the romance will probably be a slow burn.
And now to answer questions:
Razberry17 (Chapter 1): The Ōtsutsuki is an OC, he will be very important to the story.
Forgottenkami (Chapter 1): Naruto would be interested in those trees definitely but I wont talk much about them now due to spoilers.
Whatif-inator (Chapter 1): So I cant go into much details about what happened to Naruto in the eight hundred years he had been alive. Yes Naruto is much stronger than Olympains of he taps into his full powers, but he can be injured more easily than them. And the fact the gods in PJO had barely shown the tip of the iceberg of their powers like turning mortals into ash with a mere thought and then there is the annoying immorality is something Naruto would despise each time if he fights an Olympian. As for deleting pantheons that something he be doing if he judges them too be parasitic on the planet, he deems his new home. But it will take a lot out of him and can do it under specific conditions.