As you have no doubt noticed I have removed a few more of my stories from my list of published stories. Those stories have been moved to my Wattpad account where they shall remain and will not be published here again as well as the Adventreader221 Story Collection where they are up for adoption/grabs for anyone who desires to see them continue. Some wont even be republished as I felt no need to continue them as they were challenges initially before I took them up as my own. I may delete more as I am still debating on which ones I should keep or remove. I don't know how well this one will turn out but I hope it turns out better than the others I have written.
Summary: Spartans, the most dangerous warriors to have ever walked the earth. Their might has no equal, and few have ever met a Spartan on the battlefield and have lived to tell the tale. Trained from the moment they could hold something with their own two hands, they are a symbol of power and peace of their own. They fight with tactics that many would never dream of confronting head on and do not know the meaning of the word Surrender. They are taught that death is a natural occurrence and embrace the fact that to die in battle is the highest honor one could receive in their society. However, one day... a unknown god attacks the city of Sparta and destroys it and kills all who reside in the Spartan homeland... except for one. A true descendant of the Olympian Gods with more Immortal blood in his veins than mortal. Cursed to live, yet yearning to die this Lone Spartan must find out why his home was destroyed.
Enter, The Last Spartan Naruto Uzumaki. Son of Zeus the King of Olympus, Grandson of Poseidon the God of Seas, Great Grandson of Hades Lord of the Underworld as well as the Champion of Ares the God of War himself... the most powerful Demigod to have ever lived.
Spartan Naruto, Powerful Naruto, Naruto x Clarisse La Rue x Athena, Blades of Chaos Naruto.
In the time before the Titans. Before the Gods of Olympus. A great battle was waged. The wrath of the two True Primordial's, the very beings of beginning and end, forged the earth and raged out of control for an eternity. And from this rage, this madness of war, Gaea was born from the blood of Chaos and the mind of Order. Even in the age of new beginnings the two didn't cease their battling for dominion as their power swept across the land and their blood created Pontus the Primordial of the Sea. Even then, their battle did not cease. As Chaos drove his hand through the heart of Order, her last breath birthed Ouranus the Primordial of the Sky and as she fell to her death, she swiped off Chaos' head and created Tartarus as her enemies head crashed through the earth.
As Chaos died, his blood shot across the cosmos, Hemera the Primordial of Day and her twin Nyx the Primordial of Night were birthed into existence. And with that, the two True Primordial's finished the creation of the Universe and all its inhabitants.
Time moved on and Ouranus and Gaea birthed the Titans, Cyclopes, and the all powerful Hekatonkheire's from their union. However, disgusted by the sight of his single eyed and multi-dozen handed children; Ouranus created chains from Nyx's power and threw them down to Tartarus and shackled them to the chasm. Saddened by the mistreatment of her children, Gaea created a weapon from the power of her heart as well as the power of Night and Day and urged her children to use it to slay the Sky Lord. None of her children took it in fear that that would be killed by their father, but the youngest decided to listen to his mother and took the scythe and hid it away.
Making a plan to lure his father down to the earth, the youngest son of Ouranos convinced his brothers to help him. When the time came to enact their plan, the brothers leapt upon Ouranos and pinned him to the ground. Brandishing the weapon his mother created, the youngest of the Titans proceeded to hack apart his father into pieces. The blood of Ouranos burst across the globe birthing many creatures and animals such as the Centaurs and Satyrs. However, not all the creatures were good and so the creation of the monsters birthed the Furies. Neither Titan or God, mortal or shade. The Furies were bound to none for they were the guardians of Honor.
They were the enforcers of punishment and bane of all traitors. It was during the end of the Golden Age when the youngest of the Titan's named Kronos received a prophecy. The prophecy told of how one day a son he bore would overthrow him much like how he had done to his own father, and thus placed the emotion of fear into the Titan Lord. When he wed his sister Rhea he was content to live life normally and ignored the Prophecy to spend time with his bride. However, when he learned that she was pregnant, the fear of being dethroned grew ever more. And so, with the birth of his first child Hestia, he feared that even if she was a girl he would be removed from power.
And so...
He devoured her.
Rhea was distraught of her firstborn being ripped away mere minutes after having her child, and so vowed to extract her own form of revenge. Four more children would follow in their sister's footsteps as Kronos devoured them one after the other. And soon she found herself pregnant with yet another son. Worried and scared she lay upon her mothers bosom and asked how she should fool her husband. As much as she hated, she couldn't help but love him. He wasn't a bad person, far from it actually. He was just frightened at the prospect of being removed from power in a fashion similar to their own father. It was here, Gaea told her daughter what she should do.
Fashioning a baby from her own flesh, she told Rhea that when the time came, she would need to wrap the fake babe in a blanket while hiding the real away where her husband would not find him. Upon the promised day of the child's birth, Rhea had indeed fooled her beloved with the stone child and watched as he ate it right before her very eyes as he had done with the other children she had birthed. However, miles away the real child was being watched over by Metis, Titaness of Wisdom and Beauty. Years would pass in the blink of an eye for the young Zeus as he learned to fight and live on his own.
He had many grand adventures with the creatures his grandfather created upon his death, and knew that one day his destiny would come in time. But before he could reach his destiny, his mother informed him of hat he must do. Traveling to Tartarus, he spoke with the chained Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheire and told them of what was to come. However, before he could free them he was in need of a weapon. Luckily, the chained prisoners of the Sky Lord knew how to fashion weapons very well. Taking a spark of energy from Zeus body, they ripped the heavens apart and forged a weapon with no equal. The Master Bolt of Zeus.
The bolt in which all other lightning bolts are modeled after.
With his weapon, Zeus prepared for battle. However, even he knew he was no match for all the Titans on his own and sought advice from the chained uncles who had fashioned the most powerful weapon in existence. It was here that one of the Cyclopes formed the plan to make the Titans lose their place as the strongest. Fashioning a potion of mustard wine he gave it to Zeus and told him to give that specific wine to Kronos and wait. He would need to be patient and put on a act to ensure the Titans didn't suspect anything from the God who nodded in understanding. With his plan ready, the future King of the Gods released his uncles from captivity to allow them to work on other weapons for his siblings.
As this was happening, Rhea was informing her sisters about what was to happen. Only one would tell her husband and he would be spared any form of punishment from the gods. When the day came for Zeus to confront his father, he placed the disguise of a entertainer on and proceeded to dance around and make jokes at everything while he fed the Titans food and wine to ensure they would not fall for his trap. After several hours of feeding and drinking, the Titans couldn't tell left from right and Zeus enacted his plan. Feeding the potion to his father, Zeus watched as one by one his siblings were regurgitated as well as the fake rock form of himself.
The titans laughed at their lord for barfing and collapsed in a drunken heap allowing the six eldest gods of Olympus to escape undetected where they raced back to Tartarus so they could receive their weapons from their uncles so that they could wage war against the Titans. Months would pass and soon the first Titanomachy broke out. Aiding Zeus in their fight were the younger generation Titans with the exception of Atlas-Phobos-Prometheus and several more. Not only were the newer generation Titans helping, but so too were the Cyclopes and Hekatonkheire whose might easily brought multiple victories for the Gods as they hurled mountains across the sky one after the other with incredible ease.
Centuries would pass, and soon the Gods tasted victory at last. However, it wasn't for naught as the world was torn apart and could no longer sustain itself. As Gaea had lost lot of power trying to sustain herself, she could no longer keep the sky from crashing down, and thus Atlas became the Bearer of the World Pillar as punishment. Demeter helped out by becoming the Goddess of Harvest to ensure food was grown. Hestia took to the Hearth to ensure that anyone could find their way home. Poseidon, Hades and Zeus all drew lots on who should rule where.
Hades drew the lot that deigned rule over the Underworld, Poseidon the Sea and Zeus drew the lot for the Heavens. Of course it was rigged, but nobody else had knowledge of this except Hera who only did it so she could potentially become queen in her jealousy over Metis.
And so, time forged onward. The Hekatonkheire despite all their help, decided that the Titans who had been imprisoned needed guards and so took back to the depths of Tartarus to watch over their chained brethren for eternity. The Cyclopes took the time to hand craft the greatest city the gods had ever seen; Olympus so they could rule in peace. Metis had married Zeus and had become queen of Olympus and stayed by Zeus loyally regardless of what acts he pulled on earth. However, a new prophecy popped up. It wasn't like the one Kronos received, but it certainly put Zeus on the edge.
The prophecy stated that Metis would bear a son who would be far more powerful than him. This posed a problem as Metis was already pregnant with their first child. To prevent the prophecy from taking place, Zeus tricked Metis into taking the form of a fly and swallowed her. What Zeus did not know, was that Metis was pregnant with their daughter at the time. After swallowing Metis, Zeus wedded himself to Hera who was the Goddess of Marriage and Home and had multiple children with her. Hephaestus the Smith God, Ares the God of War, and many others.
Over time, however, Zeus eventually began experiencing terrible headaches so his son Hephaestus offered to put Zeus out of his misery by splitting open Zeus' head with his awl and hammer. While most of the other Olympians held Zeus down on his throne, Hephaestus banged his awl on his father's head with a mighty blow, creating a fissure, thick enough for Athena to squeeze her way out, after which she grew into a full-size goddess wearing armor, much to the astonishment of the other gods. Hephaestus subsequently stitched up the fissure in Zeus' head!
Despite the misgivings of the other gods, Zeus insisted that they welcome Athena into their ranks, and she officially became one of the Olympians, as well as the Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare. She taught the Greeks numerous skills essential for their evolution, such as mathematics, utilizing the oxen to plow their fields, and artisan activities such as weaving. She also invented the bridle, which enabled men to tame horses to be effectively used. Despite her being the Goddess of Warfare, Athena did not actually enjoy combat, but rather accepted it as an inevitable necessity at times, and was more focused on minimizing casualties and achieving victory through wise strategies. Hence, she quickly became Zeus' favorite daughter.
Soon a era of peace reigned over Olympus, and the world knew peace.
Until now.
-Land of Sparta 322 B.C.E-
Throughout the eons that Zeus existed, he had only truly been in love twice, and he married both women at different points in his life. One of them, of course, was his wife of many thousands of years, Hera – the Goddess of Familial Love, Marriage, Motherhood, and Women. The other woman, on the other hand, was not nearly as well-known as his official wife; her name was Metis, Zeus' first wife. The Titan Goddess aided the Gods in the war against Kronos and his army, and Zeus married her right after the war. He truly loved her.
But as history would suggest, power can break down any relationship.
After Gaea, the Primordial Goddess of Earth, prophesied that Metis will give birth to a son that will surpass Zeus in terms of power, his relationship with his wife was destined to fall apart. The need to preserve his throne and power over the world overpowered the love Zeus had for his wife, and the God of the Sky committed an act that he regretted to this day. He swallowed Metis when he discovered she was pregnant, trying his very all to prevent someone more powerful than him from being born – even if it would be his own son.
Of course, after that whole ordeal Athena was born from Zeus' head. At that moment, Zeus felt the anguish he had tried so very hard to bury; Metis was carrying a daughter, and because of his own desires he killed the woman he loved. Now Athena was the only thing that Zeus had of his late-wife, and she will always be his most precious and loved daughter.
The one thing Zeus never thought would happen was to meet a mortal woman that looked exactly like Metis did.
"Zeus~" moaned a lovely red haired woman as she hugged the muscular frame of her lover close. "I love you so much~"
The man on top of the woman grunted and moaned as he continued to thrust into his lover, trying make her feel as good as possible. It baffled the god that the beautiful woman holding onto him even felt the same as Metis did all those millennia ago. They had the same lavender colored eyes, same crimson red hair, same voice, same scent; even their skin felt the same against his skin. For the last six months he had been visiting this woman, Zeus had felt his suppressed feelings slowly bubble to up the surface, and he was falling in love with her, falling in love with Metis all over again.
"I love you too, beautiful."
Zeus kissed his lover tenderly on her lips as they continued to move in a synchronized form of dance that had been practiced since the existence of mankind; he made sure to avoid putting any weight on the woman's enlarged stomach, a sacred place that was carrying the child of a god. Like all his other lovers, Zeus found out the woman was pregnant with his child after their first night together, and now she was six months along. Only three more months and Zeus would have his youngest child.
"Zeus!" cried the woman as she felt her climax take over her.
Zeus grunted as he closed his eyes and moaned in pleasure, sending more of his godly essence into the chalice of his lover. "You are amazing!" muttered the god as he rested his body on top of his lover, being mindful to shift his center weight to the bed so he wouldn't harm the baby. "I haven't felt like this in so long."
The woman giggled in bliss as she pulled her lover down to a searing kiss. She wrapped her legs around Zeus and kept him on top of her, making sure to keep his essence inside her for as long as possible. Their tongues clashed as they expressed their mutual love toward one another; the only thing that mattered at that moment was their love, all their surroundings were completely ignored as they reveled in their bliss.
The two lovers, locked inside their own bliss, were oblivious to the fact that they just fulfilled an ancient prophecy.
And their union will bear fruit in just another three months.
-three months later-
The wailing of a newborn could be heard through the hut as a new life was brought into the world. The prophecy had been fulfilled. While it wasn't Metis who had completed the Prophecy, certainly things had fallen in order for it to be completed. The seers of Sparta had told of a Blood Moon so bright it showed crimson as blood. The stars would shine all blue through the red nighttime sky and shine down upon the earth as a baby wailed it's heart to the heavens. The chamber maidens heralded the child as a boy much as the seers had spoken of. A child with golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes that shone like crystal waters unlike anything ever before seen.
The mother held her newborn child in her arms with a proud smile, "Welcome to the world, my little Maelstrom. My dear precious Naruto." she named him.
-Years Later-
It had been roughly 19 winters since the birth of one Naruto Uzumaki son of Kushina Uzumaki daughter of Poseidon and granddaughter of Hades. (Which is ironic because the three brothers could hardly stand one another so it was a wonder how the brothers slept with the daughters of their brothers to procreate) From a young age, Naruto was hardly ever with his mother, having been taken away the moment he had been born to be seen if he could become a warrior worthy of Sparta. It wasn't known to outsiders, but the Spartans had a strict policy for training future soldiers of their land. The male babe's that showed no potential in their eyes (As judged by the seers and prophets of Helios himself) were literally thrown into a pit full of other dead or dying children.
Literally left to die mere hours after their birth where they were ripped from their mother's arms... well not literally ripped from their mothers arms but you get the idea. To test their constitutions, Spartan infants were often bathed in wine instead of water. They were also frequently ignored when they cried and commanded never to fear darkness or solitude. To many a Greek, these "tough love" parenting techniques are so admired by foreigners that Spartan women were widely sought after for their skill as nurses and nannies.
Those who showed potential were left to a set of boys roughly the age of 12 winters old to raise them until they were seven. They would teach them what they knew, and if they failed to teach them properly the older two would be punished for being bad teachers rather than the younger two students who were only following the orders of the two older males. At age 12, the young boys were deprived of all clothing save for a red cloak and forced to sleep outside and make their own beds from reeds. To ready them for a life in the field, the boy soldiers were also encouraged to scavenge and even steal their food, though if detected they were punished with floggings.
Much of the Spartan agoge involved typical school subjects like reading, writing, rhetoric and poetry, but the training regimen also had a vicious side. To toughen the young warriors and encourage their development as soldiers, instructors and older men would often instigate fights and arguments between trainees. The agoge was partially designed to help make the youths resistant to hardships like cold, hunger and pain, and boys who showed signs of cowardice or timidity were subject to teasing and violence by peers and superiors alike.
Even the young Spartan girls were driven to participate in this ritualized hazing. During certain religious and state ceremonies, girls would stand before Spartan dignitaries and sing choral songs about the young men of the agoge, often singling out specific trainees for ridicule in order to shame them into stepping up their performance.
And of course they cannot forget the annual Cheese Festival.
(It's not as fun as it sounds, believe it) It was a rather brutal form of training for the lads as they tried to get a wheel of cheese to eat.
One of Sparta's most brutal practices involved a so-called "contest of endurance" in which adolescents were flogged—sometimes to the death—in front of an altar at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia. Known as the "diamastigosis," this annual practice was originally used as both a religious ritual and a test of the boys' bravery and resistance to pain.
If they could withstand any form of pain they could fight longer, resist more fatal injuries in battle and whatnot. The men of the village would use whips to smack the boys' bodies as they tried to steal a cheese wheel to eat, and those that weren't lucky would of course have to hunt their meals for the night. Wine was a staple of the Spartan diet, but Spartans rarely drank to excess and often cautioned the younger children against drunkenness. In some cases, the older men would even force Helot slaves to get wildly inebriated as a way of showing young Spartans the negative effects of alcohol. It was a lesson many took to heart and kept with them.
Now, Spartan society didn't discourage romantic love far from it, but marriage and childrearing were both subject to some peculiar cultural and governmental constraints. The state counseled that men should marry at age 30 and women at 20. Since all men were required to live in a military barracks at 20 years old until they reached 30, couples who married earlier were forced to live separately until the husband completed his active duty military service. (Which was why many a husband sneaked away to see their wives in the night)
The Spartans saw marriage primarily as a means for conceiving new soldiers, and citizens were encouraged to consider the health and fitness of their mate before tying the knot. In fact, husbands who were unable to have children were expected to seek out virile substitutes to impregnate their wives. Likewise, bachelors were seen as neglecting their duty and were often publicly mocked and humiliated at religious festivals.
After turning 12 the young boys of Sparta would get students of their own to raise from infancy and the cycle would repeat itself over again. At the age of 17 winters the trial of adulthood would come, and they would put themselves to a test of sorts to prove themselves ready to join the ranks of Spartans.
Failure was not a option when it came to this test.
The villagers would hire merchants from foreign lands who did not know their customs and would send two of the... graduating boys to hunt them down. And by the meaning of Hunt, it was meant Kill. They would watch and follow their target in silence and when they were not expecting an ambush they would come up from behind and slit the merchants throat before slipping away with the item of interest (Aka the thing they were meant to steal). Very few failed this test, and those that did were punished severely. It only happened once every century or so so it was extremely rare for a failure to occur amongst the Spartan trainee's who wanted to prove themselves to the older generation Spartan Warriors.
After showing the success to a superior teacher they were allowed to forge their own sheild and spear and paint it as a final gift on their own.
Forged from the harsh world, they are turned into machines of war unlike any other. And the greatest honor one could receive was to join the Spartan 300 led by King Leonidas himself. Of course that was if the group survived the war with the Persians in the upcoming days. Today one such young man had been inducted into the ranks of Spartans. Naruto Uzumaki, son of Zeus had finally become a man worthy of Sparta. His inherent gifts from his lineage made him a better fighter yes, but his skills when he learnt them were hard to match. Sure there were other demigods in the ranks, but none as well bred as he himself was.
A master tactician, a silent creeper, excellent water based battle planner, and of course high altitude ambush planning. There was more to his impressive resume of skills no doubt, but he was a Spartan through and through and war and battle flooded his veins like any other demigod of Olympus. Naruto is the epitome of what a Spartan soldier is in that he is essentially made for battle. He is exceptionally tall, standing at a height between 6 and 7 feet, in which, due to his status a warrior, he is at his peak physical condition. He has tanned skin and a red tattoo going down the majority of his upper body and up to his face from beneath his chin. On his face, besides the aforementioned tattoo, he has a scar on his right eye from taking a sword swing to close for comfort.
Naruto wore the standard Spartan light armor that all received to do battle with. On his back was his hand made shield that he would either bring back from many glorious battles... or be carried back upon if he fell in battle. Spartan mothers were known for their do-or-die approach to military campaigns. Spartan women have sent their sons and husbands off to war with a chilling reminder: "Return with your shield or on it." If a Spartan trooper died in battle, he was viewed as having completed his duty as a citizen and was buried with honor to his name. In fact, Spartan Law mandated that only two classes of people could have their names inscribed on their tombstones: women who died in childbirth and men who fell in combat honorably.
For those few Spartans that knew the meaning of retreat, they only had one thing they could do. Either redeem themselves in combat as only a Spartan warrior could... or death by ritual custom.
Today, everything would change.
-Dawn-
Fire burned brightly, screams echoed across the sky as the great city of Sparta was torn apart. Naruto Uzumaki pushed the gigantic rock off his fellow Spartan and rolled him over, "Commander Deimos!" he called out to the warrior, "Commander wake up!" he commanded only to receive a groan, "Well, better than having to carry out back on your sheild sir." he said as he raised his toga, better safe than sorry "Time to wake up." he said as he released the dredged yellow rain onto the general.
It was sure to get him punched in the groin but if it woke the man up then it showed just how genius he was at thinking on the fly.
A yell of annoyance ripped itself from the Spartan general as Naruto quickly halted his actions as he looked down at the glaring general, "What the blazes are you doing boy?" he demanded.
"Waking you up sir, there was nothing I could use to rouse you and I had to improvise." ok so it was a half lie, but he wasn't about to tell the man that. Many Spartans piss on each other when they didn't feel like dropping a cup of wine or water on the other. In truth there was a puddle three feet away, but he didn't want to waste time splashing it into his face.
Deimos groaned in annoyance as he stood up, "What's the situation boy?" he demanded.
"The city is under attack... we don't know who it is, but from the descriptions... it's a god and not one of our own." he answered.
"Dammit, we were caught off guard. How many have fallen?" he questioned the blonde.
"Unknown. I was ordered to retrieve you immediately before I was engulfed in a flame of sorts sir. The second legion is missing as well as the fifth and eighth. And with the Spartan 300 battling the Persians we are all but defenseless, we are lost without a leader sir!" Naruto said loudly.
"Gods help us." Deimos prayed as he Naruto helped him to his feet and he looked around at the devastation. Another explosion rocked the land forcing the two warriors to raise their shields up to block a rain of dirt, "Where is General Octavia?" he asked Naruto.
"Dead, he died shortly after commanding me to find you to rally the men sir." Naruto answered as he picked up a rock and threw it towards the west as a large shadow and heard a scream of pain, "We have lost countless number sir, what are your order's?" Naruto asked him.
"Order the remaining men to gather at the base of the mountain. Order all others to flee the city and find shelter elsewhere until they return home when called upon. I hereby promote you to my Second in Command, you hear me. You are now granted title of Commander." Deimos stated.
Naruto nodded his head, "Yes sir!" Naruto gave a traditional Spartan Salute as he placed a fist to his chest and bowed his head. There was no time for ceremony as they were under attack and times were dire and he needed commanders. It didn't matter that he was not in his twenties. With that he begun to make his way towards the sounds of battle. It didn't take him long to see the legions of Spartan men in the traditional Shield Wall Formation that was nigh impenetrable to any attacking force. However, what Naruto didn't expect was to be thrown away by yet another explosion that threw him off his feet with a yell as he crashed into a tree that shattered his shield.
The entity that was attacking his home looked towards him and smirked, "Yogen no Ko..." the beast growled out. It said some other things, but Naruto didn't pay attention to it. Naruto looked up to the sky and gave a yell, "Lord Ares, hear my plea. Help me vanquish my enemy and I will serve you!" Naruto pledged loudly.
A sound of thunder was heard as the sky split apart before a hulking figure landed beside naruto. He wears a brown sleeveless tunic, shoulder pieces with wolf faces built into them, and has bracers and boots with chains on them. His boots go up to his knees. He has long hair and a beard, which seem to be made of fire. This was Ares, the God of War. He looked down at the young demigod, "You called?" he asked sarcastically.
Naruto groaned as he kneeled before the god "If you destroy my enemy, I will faithfully serve you." he pledged.
Ares looked back at the monster as it destroyed everything around it before looking to the demigod, "How about this. You swear loyalty to me, and I will grant you a weapon unlike any other to fight that monster and bring it down." he counter offered.
"If it allows me to save my home and its people I swear to you I will serve faithfully." Naruto answered again.
Ares nodded his head, "Alright, but first... you gotta die to get it." startling Naruto as he suddenly stabbed the blond warrior through the heart, "It's only temporary so don't fuss." the god whispered to him as the light vanished from the Spartans eyes, "Besides... your destiny isn't meant to be fulfilled quite yet boy." he said to himself.
-Underworld-
Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes to look around. Gazing, he saw he was surrounded by flames and screams of the damned. Tartarus, the pit itself. A chuckle drew his attention where he saw Ares and another man standing beside him, "So this is the boy who spoke the pledge is it, not bad... as expected of my bloodline." the man said. This was Hades. God of the Underworld and Lord of the Dead. Hades is a very tall, imposing and very muscular god with albino white skin (due to the little time he spent in the sunlight), intense black eyes that "glitter like frozen tar", and were either the eyes of a genius or a madman, and having a mesmerizing, evil charisma, and shoulder-length black hair, with bangs covering most of his forehead.
Hades dons an imposing black Stygian Iron armor with a blood-red cape and his terrifying Helm (elaborately engraved with images of death and torture) which he hold in hand. He arms himself with both a black Stygian Iron Bident and a mighty sword of Bronze Inlayed Steel. He is also known to wear two rings: a silver skull one, and a Opal one (his wedding ring from Persephone) on his left hand.
Naruto gulps as he takes in the sight before him, "Lord Hades..." he says in a quiet whisper getting a nod from the god.
"Come, we have much to do and little time to do it in." Hades commanded as Ares left, "Tell me, what do you know of the Underworld?" he asked the blonde who walked beside him.
"It is the end for all except the gods themselves. Mortals rarely come here during their lifetime and those that do rarely return with their sanity." he said to the death god.
"Yes, however, what many don't know is is that this realm, is not in fact the last. I am only bringing you here to forge the weapon that Ares wants you to have while you serve him. Nothing more and nothing less. You will make these blades by yourself, and will only recieve the materials needed to make the weapons of servtitude." he spoke seriously.
"How long will this take?" Naruto asked.
"Depends on how fast you work." Hades answered.
With the door to a unknown room opened Naruto was pushed in, and the door shut. It was dark, incredibly so. However it didn't last as a flame of light burst into existence nearby. As Naruto reached into the fire, he ignored the burning log against his hand, he pulled out a large hammer with Greek Runes carved into it. There was also a chisel tied to the handle as well, though he didn't know what he was going to use it for. Turning around he noticed a mold for a sword, a very prominent looking sword. It was connected to a chain, but he couldn't tell the length of it properly. With a sigh he looked around for the materials he would need.
He didn't have to look around that much, they were in a pile that covered a rather large table. It was mainly papers of which runes to carve and where they needed be carved at. The metal he was going to be working with was Steel, Bronze, Stygian Iron, and Celestial Gold. There were several gems to decorate a pommel, but he doubted he would use them. Beside the ores were several jars of energy which were labeled from 1-15 and each jar of energy was different. With nothing else he could do, begun to look around for the anvil as well as the funnel so he could pour the alloys without danger.
With that done he set to work. Rather than use traditional Greek smelting furnaces, he opted do use one his mother told him about in a story. It was known as a Tatara. The Tatara clay vessel is about 1.1 meters (4 feet) tall, 3 meters (12 feet) long, and 1.1 meters (4 feet) wide when completely constructed. After the clay tub has dried, a charcoal fire is started from soft pine charcoal inside, then the blonde had to wait for the fire to reach the correct temperature. At that point, he began to complete the addition of what was known iron-sand, into the flames. This would be layered in with more charcoal and more iron-sand over the next 72 hours. He would not be able to rest as the process had to be done for many hours.
For three days and three nights Naruto worked continuously without rest. He went through roughly 500 pounds of the Iron Sand and had ran out of the materials he needed to use to make the metal he needed for his blade, but this was what he wanted. Sleeping for roughly 10 hours Naruto quickly got back to work on his current project. Breaking apart the furnace he used to make his metal, Naruto grabbed the 835 pound lump of metal and proceeded to drop it into a large drum over a extremely hot fire where it begun to heat up once more and slowly begun to melt into slag once again. Satisfied with that, he walked over to the table of jars and grabbed the first one as instructed and opened it up.
Slowly and very carefully, he poured the liquid fire of the Underworld into the drum and watched as it sank into the mostly melted metals where they begun to glow. Taking a large... rod, he begun to stir the mixture of metal until he saw it had... melted the... stick-rod... it melted his tool. With a shake of his head he simply tossed it away and went back to the table where he saw a glowing green twister inside and grabbed it. Once again he repeated the process, and nearly broke the jar when the cork was removed. For six weeks, Naruto labored this forge of unknown qualities as he worked to make a set of weapons to fight.
When it was said and done, he had two large swords of roughly three feet long that had chains attached to them that were only six feet in length but had been imbued with magic to allow them to extend for a further eight feet. With the leftover material Naruto created a suit of armor that had a sun embroidered on the chest. He even managed to scrape together a helmet as well as shield to replace his own broken one back at Sparta. He hoped that this was worth it all in the end. As he grasped the pommels of the twin swords he was shocked when the ends of the chains wrapped themselves around his forearms and burnt themselves into his wrists and let out a scream of pain.
A sign of his oath of servitude to the God of War.
And suddenly, the door that held him inside the room burst open to reveal both Ares and his great grandfather to him. Ares saw the chains wrapped around Naruto's arms and nodded his head, "Alright then, time to keep your oath." he said as he turned around and walked away.
Shaking his head to clear away the pain, Naruto strapped the swords to his back and picked up his sheild and helmet and placed it on his head and arm respectively where the shield quickly folded in on itself so he could move around and his helmet gained a head of golden flames down the center of the head which caused his armor to glow a golden orange like the sun. Walking out, Naruto merely followed the war god who stopped shortly after and turned around, "Here, you're gonna need this." he said tossing him a vial of blue liquid, "The only thing I need to explain now is that we will see each other soon and I will tell you what you need to do next." he told Naruto who nodded his head.
"Smash that vial into your heart, now." Ares commanded as Naruto did just that.
The blue liquid glowed and soon naruto found himself surrounded by a light purple glow that felt euphoric in a sense. Seconds later, Naruto vanished from the underworld and his soul returned to his body. With a gasp, the demigod sat up and felt everything. He felt his helmet upon his head,, the armor he had crafted by hand, and the searing pain that came with the oath binding him to the war god as the chains seared into his skin. With a grunt, the blonde rose up from the ground and gave a yell as he charged the entity in front of him and drawing its attention. He couldn't see that everything he knew and loved was dead and gone, but he could see that many of them were unmoving.
With a leap, he attacked his foe.
-2000+ Years Later-
Naruto groaned as he felt his eyes glitter open, only to shut them as he felt the searing light of Helios struck them with the force of a warhammer. Covering his head he roughly heard as someone called for Chiron... wait, Chiron the Trainer? wasn't he in self imposed exile at the moment? Well shit, he must have been defeated by that unknown God. He knew it was a Time God, it had said as much, and even made a wager against him and then spoke some form of incantation before all Naruto knew was darkness. Had the God cursed him or something?
That was probably the most irritable thing to do to someone who was just waking up after a unintended and long nap, Naruto mused as he slowly came back to consciousness. A hand pressed down on his shoulder and Naruto grabbed it with his own. His eyes met the owner's warm brown. The brown eyes belonged to a simple beauty of a maiden that had long black hair. He could see his reflection in her eyes, and he looked rather annoyed.
"Stop. Yelling." Naruto grunted out. "Huh, was my voice always that deep?"
"We're not yelling," a voice to his left said. Naruto turned to see a maiden with honey blonde hair and calculating grey eyes.
Naruto squinted at her, for she seemed familiar. "Lady Athena?"
The other maiden snickered while the Athena lookalike shook her head. "I'm Annabeth. Athena is my mother."
"The goddess of wisdom has forsaken her vows... when did this happen?" he asked.
"Not exactly. It's more along the lines of how she was born that I came to be." Annabeth said.
"Someone smashed a hammer into your fathers head to release you as well?" Naruto asked getting a series of snickers from the other maiden.
"Uh... not exactly that either." Annabeth stated, "I'll explain later." she said quickly.
"Very well then." he stated, "May I inquire as to where I am at currently. You stated that someone was to retrieve the Trainer of Hero's." he stated.
"You are currently at Camp Half Blood. It's the only remaining Safe Haven for those descended of the gods left on the planet." the other maiden stated.
"What is Camp Half Blood?" Naruto asked.
"It's the place where Hero's train. Chiron oversees this place and teaches us to the best of his abilities." Annabeth stated.
"I understand what he does, and I know what a camp is. I meant what is the... ugh never-mind." he sighed out.
"Alright then, guess we should let you rest til Chiron gets here." Annabeth looked to the black haired beauty, "Come Katie, we have things we need to do." she said.
"Like what, make eyes at your boyfriend?"
"Oh please."
"You're not denying it." Katie smirked.
Naruto snorted his head. Children, always so lackluster. Forcing himself to ignore the pain his body felt, the blonde demigod rose up and looked around him. Well, it was nice to see that he was in a familiar setting, an infirmary. Looking around he saw his armor as well as shield and blades sitting on a table and walked over to them. He could feel the burning in his arms as he gently grasped his forearms which were wrapped in a smooth leather. "I see ypu found your possessions young man." a male voice spoke up behind him.
Naruto nodded, "Master Chiron, it is a pleasure to meet you. I had thought your exile was still in place?"
"I returned to the training of heros when many of them began dying needless deaths." Chiron said as Naruto finished dressing and turned around, 'I was actually surprised to hear that someone of your stature had suddenly burst out of a large rock formation, but upon looking at you further I knew the reason you did. Spartan." he stated.
"Of course I'm Spartan, what gave it away?"
"The shield for one. Now that your are awake I see that you hold yourself in the same fashion as they did long ago." Chiron said as Naruto turned around, "Wouldn't you like some other clothing, I assure you that you would be glad to have them." he told Naruto.
The blonde looked to his attire, "What's wrong with what I am wearing, it is the traditional Spartan armor." Naruto said looking back at the hybrid.
"In today's society it makes you stand out." he told the blond, "Come on, I'll have one of the other's dress you. Then we can see just why you appeared the way you did."
"This I have to see." Naruto muttered to himself.
XxX
Having introduced themselves, Chiron had decided a tour of the camp was in order. Chiron motioned around him and watched as Naruto looked around in confusion, "These are the cabins in which the children of the Gods sleep. You have your father's cabin of course as well as Lady Hera's own though it is ceremonial more than anything. After that you have Poseidon, Demeter, Dionysus, Hermes, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Artemis. And not specifically in that order." he told the blond.
"Ok, what about the Lord of the Dead as well as the minor gods' offspring? Surely they must have one of these huts as well. Also, what happened to sleeping in a tent or on the ground?" he asked in a confused tone.
"Hades isn't all that welcome here, and the minor gods are considered primitive compared to the Olympians. The sleeping in a tent or on the ground theme is outdated, people these days say it is nicer to give the young a roof over their head. Unlike Sparta, the people here are rather timid when it comes to the weather." Chiron stated.
"Pssh, pathetic. And these are the ones people depend on to defend them from monsters. I can only pity them." Naruto stated.
"I know it seems weak, but times have changed since the Age of Sparta. The times have evolved the gods and man alike." Chiron stated.
"You keep referring to Sparta in the past tense, why do you do that?" he asked.
Chiron sighed as he looked to the demigod, "I don't know how to put it to you this way Naruto, but Sparta fell roughly 2,358 years ago. I'm sorry, but you are for all intents and purposes the Last Spartan alive on this earth." he said as Naruto felt his heart stop in his chest.
H-He was the sole remaining Spartan... T-That was impossible. He was just in the land of Sparta itself battling... What was he battling.
Chiron cleared his throat drawing him out of his thoughts, "Either way, as far as I know things happened when Sparta fell and everyone died. From what Ares tells all Spartans died fighting some type of immortal. He said that one of the Spartans swore a oath of servitude and perished in the battle. I cannot say what exactly happened, but seeing you here tells me that something happened and you were spared through unknown means." he said. Clearing his throat, "Now I don't know about you, but I believe a change of clothes was what we were about to do before we got side tracked yes." he said.
"As long as I don't look like a fool." Naruto muttered.
"That's the spirit."
XxX
"These are the most uncomfortable fabrics I've ever worn," Naruto said a moment after he finished changing into the jeans. Next to him, Mitchell, a son of Aphrodite, rolled his eyes. Naruto caught it and frowned at the one that helped him change into the strange attire. "What? They are! Stiff and limiting. I doubt one could run very well with these."
"They're made of more durable fabric, and they break in quicker than leather would. We could look around the camp store for some running pants, they might be looser for you. I told you to put the underwear on instead of that... thong." Mitchell shuddered. "How can you stand that thing?" he asked in a confused yet curious tone.
"...I stand very well, thank you." Naruto replied while he furrowed his brows. "What is a thong?"
"Mitchell, stop goofing around in there!" Annabeth's annoyed voice called from outside of the changing room.
"It's not my fault he's a fashion disaster!" Mitchell returned with a scowl on his face. He huffed and turned back to Naruto. "Word of advice, Annabeth's the smartest in camp, but sometimes she's not the kindest. She can be very bossy. I just hope Percy Jackson can handle that as a girlfriend. Whole camp knows they're going to end up together for as many quests they've been on. My money is it happens after summer."
Naruto arched a brow. "Girlfriend? Is that different than a friend who is a woman?"
"Wow, man Ancient Greece must've been boring. Didn't you have a word for a, um...romantic interest before you married?" Mitchel asked as he held a shirt up to Naruto's chest. He frowned. "A medium is going to be tight. My sisters would like that, but..."
"If I can function in combat with it, it won't be a problem. If it is, I'll rid myself of the nuisance," Naruto said dryly. He thought about what Mitchel said and beamed. "Ah, you speak of a Hetaira!"
"What are you talking about in there Mitchell!?" Annabeth yelled at the son of Aphrodite.
"Guy stuff! Gods know that he needs the help!" Mitchell returned with a frown. He offered the shirt to Naruto and then grabbed a larger shirt for himself. "Watch and copy, this is how you put it on."
After mistaking the arm and head holes a few times, Naruto managed to get the camp shirt on. He ran his hand over the fabric that clung to his chest and hummed. "A Pegasus, hmm? Noble, airborne and just. Met one once when I was a boy. This cloth is far more comfortable than the jeans."
"That's cotton," Mitchell said. He stepped back and gave the ancient demigod a once over. He nodded. "Yep. You're going to be the new camp heartthrob. You've got that heroic build, a strong chin, and a bit of a feral vibe to you from your looks."
Naruto groaned as he ran a hand through his hair, "Curse my father's flawless appearance. If I could grow a beard I would..."
"Next word of advice, most of the girls here don't care about the size of your facial hair. It's not as much of a status thing anymore," Mitchell said. turning around he looked at the blondes former attire, "I don't understand just how you guys could move in such heavy armor and fight so well to boot." he said as he looked back at the blonde himself.
"Spartan Armor is always handmade by the wearer. The instructors were always a child of the Smith God and we learned fast or were punished. Much of everything we did was either to teach us or mold us into a weapon of war." Naruto said as he grasped his new Paul Newman Rolex Daytona watch that hid his shield within and had Mitchell help him put it on. It also handily told time much like a sundial would so that was a plus.
"Seriously, that's messed up. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in Sparta." Mitchell stated as he watched Naruto grab his twin swords and strap them to his back with the left pommel pointed up while the right was pointed downward.
"Life growing up as a Male Spartan is not as easy as most would portray. We were hand chosen by the seers of Helios to serve in our nations military at birth. Those who weren't worthy of this honor were thrown in a pit of other corpses from chosen children who didn't make the standards, and were left to die. Those who were lucky enough were found and adopted by traveling families. We are then handed to other males to be watched over and trained until we are seven where we will watch the other men training and we learnt through watching them. If we failed to tutor a younger set of boys we were punished for doing it wrong." Naruto said to the wide eyed demigod.
"When the time came for us to learn how to resist pain we would participate in what was known as the yearly Annual Cheese Festival. The men would stand guard over a set of Cheese Wheels with whips in their hands and would hit us with them to ward us away as we attempted to steal the cheese. Sometimes trainees are actually beaten to death on a rare occurrence. Those who managed to get a cheese wheel got to eat it with their fellow initiate while those who failed to do so were forced to hunt for a meal. We were given a strict diet and we don't indulge ourselves in alcohol like the slaves would. It was meant to teach us limitations on what a true warrior was supposed to do." he said factually.
"By the Gods, your people were brutal." Mitchell stated.
"No, we were serious. Brutal would be the ritual suicide for the deserters." Naruto said honestly, "When we went to war we were told by the women we were with or knew, 'Come home with your shield, or return upon it' because of how we lived and fought." he said before shaking his head, "But enough about my customs." Naruto said as he looked around, "We were supposed to be leaving yes?"
""What about your helmet?" Mitchell asked.
"Ah yes, thank you for reminding me." Naruto said as he grabbed it and watched as it transformed into a ball cap with a Spartan Helmet on top of the rim and shrugged as he put it on his head, "Very nice, no doubt to cover my eyes from Helios' rays." he said.
"Uh, you do know that Apollo is the Sun God now right?"
"Hmm, did the Sun Lord retire?" Naruto asked.
"Something like that." the son of the Love Goddess said. He forgot that this guy was around when the Titan God ruled his domain.
"Hmm, I would not mind seeing what the new Sun Lord is like, maybe I can have a competition of shooting arrows with him." Naruto wondered to himself.
"Wow, a good looking guy and a comedian? The girls here are going to eat you alive!"
Naruto's eyes widened and he drew his swords where he held them in a defensive reverse grip as he looked around fearfully. "There's cannibalism here?! How could you allow such a thing to take place?!"
Mitchell brought his hands up in surrender. "Dude, relax, it's a figure of speech. It just means that the girls will really like you." His eyes went to the burning blades that was held by the older demigod. "Er, please don't slice off my arms, I'm quite attached to them."
Naruto blinked and relaxed his stance. "Oh..." He frowned. "Your language is strange...why didn't the world just stick with Greek?"
"Ancient Greek."
"...Thank you for the reminder." Naruto glowered. With that done he followed Mitchell out of the room.
"The world evolves man, even the gods have to follow that rule." The son of love shrugged and pulled off the over-sized camp shirt. "Don't worry about it, you seem like a smart guy. We'll have you caught up to speed in no time."
The ancient demigod gave the modern one a small smile of gratitude before he looked at the expectant Annabeth and Katie. He smiled at the two maidens and presented himself. "Well? Does it suit your standards?"
"...Katie likey a lot..." Katie mumbled. She grunted when Annabeth elbowed her in the side.
"Reel it in, Gardener." Annabeth warned. She nodded at Naruto. "You look good, I guess."
Mitchell smirked at her and crossed his arms. "He isn't Percy Jackson though."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Annabeth said.
Mitchell rolled his eyes. "Right. Later Naruto. Look me up if you want to continue our 'modern' lessons."
"Thank you, Mitchell." Naruto nodded. He grinned at his two female guides roguishly. "Then let us meet Master Chiron once again! I'm sure there's much for him to enlighten me with."
"I'll catch up with you later, I have to run the camp shop." Katie sighed sadly.
Naruto gave her a small smile of approval before he looked at Annabeth. "Shall we?"
"Sure, follow me."
And with that, the two begun to walk through the camp. As they walked people pointed and whispered about the blonde who simply ignored them. He was below their childish whispering. As they reached the edge of the War Gods cabin, six teens walked out with the leader being what could be described as a goddess in Naruto's eyes. The young beauty is rather tall (Around his height with him being the taller one between them) and well built. She has dark sapphire colored eyes, and pale brown hair that is described as stringy though he can tell she takes good care for it as he sees the shining glimmer to it in the sunlight.
This was Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares.
"Hey Chase, what's up?" she asked haughtily.
Annabeth sighed, "Nothing of your concern right now Clarisse, move out of the way, Chiron wishes to speak with Naruto." she said.
Clarisse looked over to the blonde Spartan Warrior and smirked, "So you're the new guy that the camp is all whispering about eh. Have you been given the initiation yet?" she asked.
"I know not what this Initiation is, maybe you can tell me about it when I return from meeting the centaur." Naruto said.
"Oh, but this won't do. Come on, we'll show you what we mean." one of the males sneered.
"I would rather you step out of the way so I can take care of my business first, when I have concluded it I will be more than glad to allow you to show me this initiation." Naruto spoke again.
"Now see here buddy." the male said again she he grabbed Naruto by the shirt, "You're going to get your initiation now or you're gonna regret it." the teen remarked.
"I don't see how any form of hazing can be described as a initiation." Annabeth growled.
"I do not see how a owl headed know it all brat could interfere with other peoples business." the man who grabbed Naruto spat out.
Naruto growled as he reached up and calmly grasped the wrist of the teen in front of him, "You do not insult a woman, especially in front of me." Naruto said as he removed the teens hand.
"Oh and what are you gonna do about it, whine to your mother?" the teen snarled.
"Mark, I wouldn't do what you're about to do. I would seriously caution you not to challenge him, you don't-SMACK the child of Athena was sent flying as the teen slapped her across the face, "Shut it bitch." he said as he turned back to Naruto, "Now where were we?" he asked with a mad gleam in his eyes.
"I believe we were talking about a initiation." Naruto growled.
"Yes, that's what I'm Talking about pretty boy. Maybe if I rough you up a bit you can learn what it means to be a real man so you don't have to hide who you are behind a paper bag."
Naruto stepped up to the teen, "You do not want this fight." Naruto warned him as the siblings were actually looking worried for a moment. This had gotten way out of hand to fast.
"Mark, enough. This isn't what we do." Clarisse stated.
"Shut it, this is between me and the blonde fool here." he spat out before he sneered at Naruto, "As for a fight between us. Pretty sure I do." before a open-palmed slap cracked across his face, jerking the blonde's visage to the side. He did not retaliate. Instead he accepted the blow without hesitation, weathered the man's contempt like a stone against the ocean.
The campers of the surrounding cabins all watched in shock as a fight potentially broke out. Mark was easily one of the stronger sons of Ares, and his blows could easily shatter boulders. To see someone simply stand there and take a blow from him and only turn his head from it spoke volumes. Especially with how hard they heard the blow struck was.
A twitch of his muscled neck brought the blonde about to face the fool once more, but this time the children of Ares caught the telltale glimmer of anger lurking behind those eyes. This time, when Mark stepped forward, Naruto immediately moved to meet him, glowering down at the shorter man with the controlled fury of a thousand warriors.
"Leave. Now." he commanded.
A wide sneer greeted him, "You are going to have to kick my ass for that to happen." the teen challenged. Clenched knuckles barreled into his face again, and once more, Naruto didn't budge. A fist slammed home into his stomach and still, he remained rooted where he stood. Irritated by his refusal to fight, the stranger snarled and struck him once more in the face, then reeled in his arm to do so again-
On the fourth, he wasn't so fortunate.
A open palm shot out and caught his fist in mid-swing, drawing a startled grunt. Eyes ablaze, Naruto twisted the stranger's arm backwards in a vicious vice, bending him over himself where he stood, "I warned you." Naruto growled out.
With one final reluctant glance over his shoulder towards Annabeth who was wiping blood from her lip, he reared a wrapped arm back to strike.
Mark simply laughed, "Finally!"
In a wordless roar his fist rammed home against the teens face with a sickening crunch, flinging him head over heels into the dirt. Blood burst. Cartilage cracked. Bones broke. Impossibly, Mark's short-lived flight didn't last long; and he flopped onto his hands and knees, shaking his head in disbelief as he spit out a puddle of blood as he tried to understand what had just happened to him. "You would not listen." Naruto said as he turned to the others, "Leave, now." he commanded.
The three brothers nodded as they gathered their dazed brother and hurried away while Clarisse gave a laugh, "Who are you?" she couldn't help but ask him as he helped up Annabeth. Strong enough to withstand one of her brothers hits like nothing, scary enough to make her father look like a kid, good looking...
She was in love, no doubt about it.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I am from Sparta." he declared proudly.
"Clarisse La Rue, Phoenix Arizona." she said. She doubted the guy before her was from Sparta of all places, but she'd let him live with his delusions. Nobody had been born inside of Sparta in the last 2000+ years since it was destroyed.
"It is nice to meet you, Clarisse La Rue." Naruto said with a nod towards the girl.
"Same could be said about you, Uzumaki." she said with a grin towards him.
Annabeth groaned in annoyance. Gods above, they were flirting now! What happened to meeting up with Chiron?
-Olympus-
Ares had heard the news. A living Spartan had appeared out of thin air in the middle of the camp. A actual to fucking Olympus Spartan. After hearing what happened to the land of the once mighty warrior race, he had lost hope in thinking that nobody could become his champion. Especially when his last one from the dead land had suddenly vanished without a trace and took the blades with him. Now that same teen had returned with his weapons. He waved his hands and watched as the mist formed into a vision of his children standing in front of the very Spartan he had seen vow himself to his service. It had been a long time, but he could never forget a Spartan with that look.
He watched as his son Mark challenged him, even landed a few good hits, before he was laid out with one blow from his brother where he laughed harshly at his son. That's what he got for challenging a Spartan. They didn't play around and they were more rugged than any demigod of the modern era could hope to be. When his sons carried Mark away he saw his daughter Clarisse begin flirting with him, and he had to admit. A spartan looking after his most prized daughter... it felt pretty damn good.
He could hardly wait to see what the Spartan did next.
Naruto looked to the Trainer with a look of disbelief, "You want me to do what now?" he questioned the centaur.
"Oh come on Naruto, you would be bringing valuable skills into their life as a demigod. Teach them some of the things that you know. Shield formations, fighting tactics, knowledge of the land that kind of thing. I haven't had a Spartan in my ranks in thousands of years and with you showing up I can try and add a bit of discipline to them as well... gods only know how much I've tried and failed to do it." Chiron muttered.
"No, I will not." Naruto denied his uncle, "Do you know how harsh I would have to discipline them to make them fight like a proper warrior Chiron? The amount of yelling alone would make you want to rip my head off. I could teach them formations and such, but they would never be able to handle me disciplining them. Spartans are soldiers for a reason, Chiron, and there is no way they can understand how I teach them as roughly as I would even if I wanted to teach them to begin with." Naruto declared. Shaking his head he looked Chiron in the eyes, "I'm sorry Chiron, but I cannot train these modern demigods the way you would train a demigod from my time."
"Sure your techniques are similar to what they were centuries ago, but the skills you yourself honed have begun to dull. I see no desire for teamwork in their eyes. It is more along the lines of every man for them-self. If one were to fall behind they would not even dare to stop and help unless it was a sibling or lover. Don't try and deny it you know I'm right." Naruto said before walking off, "Besides, I'm still getting used to these jeans I'm wearing." Naruto declared.
"So the rumor of you wearing a thong is true?!" Chiron asked.
"What's a thong?" Naruto asked again as he looked back.
Chiron chuckled at the blonde Spartan, "I'll explain later. Why don't you explore the camp grounds and familiarize yourself with it." he offered as he walked off, "I have business to attend to, like that son of Ares you nearly took apart with a punch." he muttered at the end.
Clarisse had wide eyes as she heard what Naruto and Chiron talk about. Learning from a actual Spartan?! Hell yeah, that would be awesome! She shook her head to clear the sheer amount of excitement that came with the idea of learning from a actual Spartan warrior before she realized something... HE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH! Holy shit, there was a actual Spartan in the camp, and he was her age... Well, not entirely as he was older than her, but you get the idea. Seeing him walk away she quickly caught up to him, "So you were telling the truth about being a Spartan?" she asked him.
Naruto nodded his head, "Yes, Spartans are taught from a young age that telling the truth rather than lying would give you less of a hassle than any form of lying. It is a philosophy we picked up from Helios before we begin our schooling in other forms of combat and the likes." he told her.
Annabeth came jogging up next, "So you really won't teach us any form of shield formations or battle tactics, the sheer amount of knowledge that disappeared when Sparta fell was astronomical so if we learned even a fraction of what you currently did we would be leaps above what monsters could do." she said.
"No, you see, the reason I am not teaching any of you is because the sheer pressure of my expectations as well as how harsh I treated you would make you break in both body and in spirit. I was trained from a week old on how to carry a weapon and shield in battle. I can give you a report on how a Shield Formation Lock as well as the Phalanx Formation(1) could work right now, and you would never understand it unless you knew what I was explaining you should be trying to do personally." Naruto explained as he walked into the woods, "It's not that I am trying to be rude, I am just being honest." he said to the blonde.
Clarisse nodded in understanding, "So the fact that we are not disciplined enough or whatnot is the only reason you wont teach us?" she asked him.
"Among other things."
"So why not just tell us exactly how they would treat you back in your time?" Annabeth asked him. She knew that Spartans were trained with extreme vigilance but she would love to learn how they trained.
"Ok, you wish to know that badl. I will tell you." Naruto said as he continued his trek through the woods, "We are flogged for improper movement, speaking out of line, and sometimes trainees were even beaten to death during a yearly Cheese Wheel Fretival to try and teach us to ignore pain." he said simplifying what he told Mitchell.
"That sounds horrible!" Annabeth said appaled.
"Then you do not know Spartan custom as well as you think you do. We are machines of war and as such we cannot do anything except fight. Men had no choice in what they wanted to do, we were chosen specifically to train in our ways. Those deemed as unworthy were abandoned and left to their fates." he stated, "Do you wish for me to continue because I tire of giving this explanation." Naruto said.
Annabeth shook her head as well as Clarisse. They knew he was harshly trained, but not like that. Suddenly, the ground shook harshly enough that it actually caused the three of them to stumble, "What was that?" Clarisse asked as she looked around.
"I don't know?" Annabeth said in confusion.
The ground shook again before the trio heard a earth-shattering roar in the distance that made Naruto's ears perk up, "You have drakon's here? I thought that the beasts had died out long ago?" Naruto questioned.
"Monsters have been coming back for awhile now and have been terrorizing demigos for ages now." Annabeth clarified getting a nod from the blonde.
"Then we must hurry, before anyone gets hurt by the beast." Naruto said as he turned towards the sound of crashing and roars. It didn't take them long to reach a clearing where they saw the beast they were looking for. Around it were the best demigod fighters of the current era. And the beast they were trying to fight... was huge. Correction, huge was a understatement. It was gigantic!
"WHAT THE HECK!" Annabeth cried out in shock, "Are they supposed to get that big?!" she exclaimed. The Drakon in question was in fact quite large. The facial structure of the dragons resemble those of ceratopsian dinosaurs, with characteristics including a beaks, horn, and a large spiked frill while the entirety of his back is covered in large, jagged stones.
"Normally no, unless they have been given a blessing of sorts by a god." Clarisse said, "The last time this happened the Lord of the Dead was overwhelmed before they managed to kill it." she stated.
"Ok, how do you know that?" Annabeth asked.
"I read sometimes." she shrugged.
"We need to do something, normal tacics will not work. Have the others fall fack a safe distance. I will handle the beast myself." Naruto said with a gleam of battle in his eyes.
"Are you crazy?!" the two girls exclaimed in shock.
"No, the only way for this thing to be brought down-he shoved the two of them down as the tail swiped over their heads before he stood back up, "Is for one person to battle it while others provide support from a distance. Archers would be best for this." he stated.
"Well how are you going to battle it anyways?" Annabeth demanded.
"You will see. First, I will need a ax if I am to do this." he said.
"Why an ax?" Clarisse asked him as she watched the Drakon release a beam of LIGHTNING from its mouth of all things.
"Because, a spear is to long and flimsy. A sword will not provide me the reach I need. A ax is sturdy, but it also has the length needed to hit what a sword cannot and will not break like a spear more than likely would." he stated.
With that he ordered them to split up as he raced forward. Clarisse ran up to Chiron who was ordering the demigods in the fight, "Chiron!" she called out as she ducked under the tail once again before she stumbled when the beast stomped a foot.
"Clarisse, where were you, we have been getting pushed back for too long. We have sustained many injured and we don't know how long we will last if this keeps up." the trainer said as he fired another arrow at the Drakon.
"I was showing our Spartan friend around. We had just about reached the creek when we heard this thing attack." she explained, "By the way, he says he wants everyone not holding a bow to pull back and help the injured." she told him as the Drakon gave a roar.
"WHAT!" Chiron exclaimed, "Is he insane, nobody can battle a monster this size on their own." he said as he stumbled.
"I know, that's what me and Annabeth said, she's going to get him a ax right now, but he's charging at the Drakon so he can fight it." she said. She continued to explain what he wanted, before she looked up to see Naruto running up the Drakon's back and up above the frill where he jumped up and drew a sword from his back and slammed it down into the beasts thick scaled hide where he once again jumped off and swung up under the mouth and back around to land on the top jaw again.
"YERARGH!" Naruto snarled as he used his immense strength to pull the beast away from the demigods. The beast groaned as he was forced to follow Naruto's movement as the blonde forcefully pulled it away from its prey. The demigods below were stunned into silence as they watched Naruto pull the feats before them. With a yank of his arm, the blade he used ripped itself out of the scales and unwound from the jaw of the Drakon. Sheathing his blade he slammed a fist into the frill causing it to stumble away further.
"Naruto!" Annabeth's voice called out drawing his attention, "Catch!" she said throwing it up towards him.
That fool, did she know how had it was for him to control both a battle and the air currents so he could catch a weapon by the handle-oh not that hard actually as the blade landed in his hand through the kindness of Tyche herself. With a jump, he used his control over the air to push him away from the snapping jaws of the beast as he landed several feet away, with no fear in his eyes.
Time to get wild...
He saw the beasts maw open widely as it begun to inhale. Clarisse gave a yelp of surprise, and this forced Naruto to shove her out of the way and behind a upturned boulder that was slowly turning upside. With a yell, Naruto leapt up shocking the half bloods as he landed inside the jaws which snapped shut moments later. "NO!" Chiron called out in horror.
"H-He saved me..." Clarisse muttered in shock.
"W-Why did he do something so stupid?" Annabeth questioned. The Last Spartan had died protecting them for no reason.
However, the horror they had felt ended when they heard the Drakon moan in displeasure as suddenly, the jaws it had once closed begun to slowly pry themselves apart to reveal the unharmed form of Naruto himself, "I'm not out of this fight just yet you filthy beast!" he boasted proudly, "THIS! IS! FOR SPARTA!" he declared as he smashed the blade into the roof of the reptiles jaw. The Drakon growled as it moved its tongue to try and dislodge Naruto from his position, but the Spartan demigod wasn't so stupid, and he sliced downward and cut a chunk of the flesh off which caused it to wriggle around in pain before he shoved the ax back up into the roof of its maw once again.
When the beast went to give a loud roar, Naruto slammed the sharp ax back down into the tongue and sliced it right down the middle forcing the jaw to open wider as it spat him back out. Landing in a roll, Naruto turned to face the draconian creature as it glared hatefully at him for giving it such injuries. It would enjoy feasting on this human first! Naruto turned back to the stunned campers and gave a yell, "GO ON, GET OUT OF HERE!" he commanded. Looking back at his prey, he watched as it released a mighty bellow at him that shook the land and sky as it let its anger take hold. This fight, it would enjoy it immensely.
Lightning sparked across it's body shocking Naruto as he watched the beast inhaled deeply before releasing a powerful beam of lightning from its mouth. Naruto didn't hesitate to deploy his shield and intercepted the blast that somehow pushed him back. As a son of Zeus, he was immune to the immense electrical power of the blast that was given by the beast, that didn't mean he couldn't be pushed back though. Hi feet dug deep into the ground and formed little grooves as he tried to stand his ground. When it died down, Naruto glared... he knew this beast. It was the offspring of Zeus and Echidna the mate of Typhoon. A powerful being in its own right, but not without its weaknesses.
Why did his father have to be a man-whore?
He watched as pools of lightning sprang up around him and watched as lightning burst into the sky above. Well, that was just great. He may not be able to be hurt by electricity, but the other demigods could. With a snarl he hurled the ax at the dragon and watched as it struck straight into a eyeball which caused the beast to recoil in pain. Using his limited knowledge of magic he held his hand open and watched as the ax swiftly returned to his hand. With a leap he burst into the sky. Much to the shock of the other demigods, Naruto didn't fall to the ground and stayed hooked in the air above.
"Alright, now how am I gonna take you down..." Naruto wondered as he dodged another beam of lightning. However, this was what the beast wanted, and it swung its tail into Naruto causing the demigod to grunt in annoyance as he was swatted down from the sky where he crashed against the ground and rolled for several feet. It was during this roll, Naruto managed to roll onto his feet and plant them where he slid back for several feet, "Alright so you will not let me fly, so how am I to beat you on the ground. We are both at a disadvantage and it is me who will suffer most if this battle is drawn out longer than need be." Naruto told himself.
"Naruto, catch!" Clarisse said as she tossed him a glowing red crystal-like item.
"What is this?!" Naruto demanded as he dodged a swipe of the beasts hand.
"It's a prototype weapon that the son of Hecate and the kids of Hephaestus made, try throwing it at the dragon." she told him from afar, "We only have a dozen of them, so make them count!" she said loudly as he picked it up off the ground.
"What does it do?" he asked as he looked at it then to the dragon.
"I don't know, just throw the damn thing!"
"Rargh!" Naruto yelled as he threw it at the beast as it gathered lightning once again. What was shocking, was the fact that as it made contact with the Drakon, it exploded which resulted in the Drakon bellowing out in pain before collapsing to the ground in a daze, "Ok, I want more of those to carry. Very useful against monsters with magic abilities." he muttered. His Spartan battle tactic teachings coming into play easily thought of hundreds of battle applications for these weapons. His mortal teenage male thoughts on explosives was "IT! GOES! BOOM! I LOVE IT!" and it was here, Naruto would learn to love the amazing beauty of explosives.
Like father like son eh?
Seeing as the beast was down, he quickly rushed up and gave a yell as he struck the hide of the beast. With a yell, he surged his lightning based power through the ax and smashed it into the beast and caused it to groan as it rose up and stumbled away in pain. Leaping over the blonde, it spun around and roared in challenge once more as it shook its head to clear the fog of dizziness away. With a loud roar, it reared up onto its hind legs and stomped down releasing a wave of lightning at Naruto who simply used his own to negate it. He would not let it harm those explosives if the reaction to lightning was like before.
It gave a roar as it tried to slam a paw down on top of him, but the Spartan warrior rolled out of the way and sliced into the scales of the underhand which caused it to recoil from the blow. Dragging it's claws across the ground, Naruto once again leapt over the hand and threw his ax at the head of the animal and watched as it struck but caused hardly any damage. Hmm, he would have to get creative then. He watched as the beast released a burst of lightning from it's mouth across the earth to form a kind of barrier to separate the two, but Naruto merely snorted. This wouldn't stop him, "Woman, give me another one of those crystals!" he called out.
"Here ya go!" Clarisse said as she tossed another one to him which he kicked at the Drakon once more where it bounced off it's scales and touched the lightning before exploding in its hurt eye causing it to stumble once again but held itself up.
Naruto had already formulated a dozen plans just from seeing both the crystals, the way the demigods fought, and how the Drakon did battle. Nodding he his head he spoke loudly, "Listen up, fire arrows imbued with magic at the injury above it's eye while it is trying to attack. I will throw some of those crystals at it to try and daze it. Do not let up whatever you do!" he commanded, "Those who are tending the injured, lock shields to provide a larger cover so that they are not harmed by the fighting. Those of you not tending to the wounded make sure those proving cover fire with arrows have a steady supply so they can continue to cover me in my fight." he said loudly.
"What about you?!" a demigod yelled out.
"I will fight the beast up close on my own." Naruto said as he motioned for another crystal and took it from Clarisse. Watching as the beast inhaled once more where lightning burst around it's jaw, Naruto once again threw it at the beast and watched as it exploded against the electricity where the Drakon collapsed once again, "Keep firing your arrows! Just because it is dazed does not mean it is weak!" Naruto yelled as he charged forward and smashed his ax into the ground and gave a yell as he swung it upwards which sent a wave of sharp rock soaring at the head of the beast. With a swing he released his ax and watched as it spun in the air and sliced into the thick scales a dozen times before he called it back to his hand.
"He's right, just because it's down doesn't mean it's out!" Annabeth yelled as she shot a arrow. With that, the demigods proceeded to heed the daughter of wisdom's advice as well as Naruto's order. The Drakon gave a roar as it rose back up and smashed its beak-like jaw into Naruto causing him to stumble back as it rose back up. With a roar, it smashed a hand into the ground and raked it sideways furiously and showered the surroundings in a spray of rock and dust. As if that wasn't enough, the Drakon gave a snarl as it rose to its hindquarters and stomped on the ground once and caused the round to shake as a blast of air raced forward.
Naruto wasn't fast enough to stop it as he recovered from stumbling prior due to the stomp that caused the blast. It slammed into him without mercy and threw him away causing the son of the sky to crash into a rock with an annoyed grunt. The blast hadn't been kind to the other demigods either and they had been thrown off their feet as well. The shield wall had been brought down because of the demigods inability to brace themselves against a frontal assault as strong as the one before them. He couldn't blame them though, it had been a long time since he had faced such an adversary.
The last time he had, he was fifteen and he and his brother in arms Aegaeon had fought the monster... uh, he forgot the name but it had a lion body and snake tail. It had other features but those were the ones that stood out. It had cost many a life to take it down, and many a Spartan had been carried home on their shield in honor, but the price had been too much for many mothers. There was a reason why it had happened. It had caught them by surprise and they couldn't form proer ranks to defend themselves and many had been ripped apart almost by the beast, so when they had made their ranks it didn't take long to counter it.
However that battle had indeed taught many a lesson to the warrior. The first was to never underestimate ones enemy no matter who or what they were. The second was to never let his guard down even for a moment as it could prove to be fatal. Third was to always watch with a keen eye to spot a pattern of attack and defense to exploit that pattern. Fourth was to always attack when it least expected an attack, be unpredictable and none could match you in battle. Finally, always rip the enemies head off to ensure death, but kill them with honor to their name and bury them with such.
The beast gave a feral roar as it smashed a hand into the ground near him but Naruto simply threw the ax and watched as it spiraled around and sliced into the appendage several times forcing it to be withdrawn. As it gave a new roar, it once again gathered lightning in it's jaw. Luckily, Naruto didn't need to motion for another explosive as help came in the form of Clarisse as she threw it at the monster and watched it explode in a bright red cloud of energy that made the beast collapse once again. Not hesitating, Naruto once more jumped at the beast and smashed the ax down into its hide forcing it to awaken where it roared in anger before rising.
Naruto grunted as he rolled away. This was taking to long. He needed something to-Bingo! Spotting a outcropping of rock Naruto gave a whistle to Chiron, "Chiron, the rocks!" he called out.
"What about them?!" the centaur demanded as he fired yet another arrow into the Drakon's hide.
"Look at em!" Naruto yelled as he dodged a swipe of the claws. It was getting better at combat in close quarters with the Spartan.
"I don't see how a bunch of rocks is gonna do anything!" a son of Apollo yelled out.
"Look closely at them, what shape are they?!" Naruto demanded as he threw his ax at the Dragon.
"They look like a giant-Ooh I get it, good idea!" the spawn of Apollo said.
"When I tell you to, throw one of the explosives up on top of the rock formation." Naruto commanded.
"Nobody has that kind of arm strength man, it'll take a miracle for that to happen!" Annabeth cried out.
"We have the gods on our side, do not let fear take its place inside your heart. Believe in yourself and pray that it'll make it." Naruto responded as he sliced into the hand once again, "Do it now!" he commanded, "Lord of the heavens, king of the sky, make their aim true so that they may not die!" Naruto prayed to Zeus and with his prayer heard, the explosive somehow landed on top of the rock, "Give me another one!" Naruto yelled to Clarisse.
"We only have one left, so make it count!" she yelled as Naruto caught it in his hand.
"I thought you said you had a dozen?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"You used them!"
"I only used three or four, that's not a dozen dammit!"
"You don't pay that good of attention!"
"The hell I don't!"
"WILL YOU TWO JUST FOCUS!"
With a yell, Naruto leapt at the Drakon and smashed his foot into it's face causing it to stumble. With it now where he wanted it, all need be done was for it to open it's jaw and roar once again, "Roar for you son of a bitch!" Naruto yelled as he smashed his ax into its wish granted, the beast gathered lightning to strike against him once again, and with that, Naruto threw the remaining explosive at the feet of the beast and watched as it begun to glow a deep blood red before it exploded causing the beast to cry out and stumble. Above, the lightning had charged the other crystal and it exploded causing a large spire to fall.
With a yell, Naruto leapt up and grabbed it and stabbed it into the beast from above getting to roar out in pain while everyone gaped in shock at the sheer brutality. He needed to move fast, and so he grabbed what had not been stabbed into the beasts head and yanked it towards the rock formation. It was close enough that he could reach out and grab it. Not wasting any time, Naruto grabbed hold of part of the formation as he dragged the beast close to its demise he gave a yell as he had the beast impaled upon a large rock where he was showered in a spray of crimson ichor that painted him across his body.
"It's still alive, well in that case!" Naruto roared as he grabbed the beast by it's frill and yanked on it harder and pulled it further onto the rock with another roar of pain from the beast. However, the rock was unable to hold out for long and it snapped apart and the Drakon pulled itself away, half the rock embedded in its neck. Lightning surged around the beast and Naruto had finally had enough. With a yell he pulled as hard as he could and the rock was spat out the other side of the beasts thick hide and the Drakon proceeded to begin drowning in its own blood as it gave out gurgles of agony while trying to roar.
The lightning had stopped charging and built up behind the rock inside its neck before it was unleashed in a mighty explosion that tore it open where the demigods had to cover their faces from the blast. Naruto let go and performed a flip in the air before he landed on the ground while looking up. He heard the call to get out of the way, only to remain standing. He would be fine. And as he predicted, the beast collapsed to the ground dead with a resounding crash, with him in between the jaws of the formerly living Drakon unharmed. Nodding to himself Naruto cracked his neck and proceeded to walk away while the demigods rushed up towards him excitedly chattering.
Ugh, the lack of discipline was almost visible. Annabeth had a large smile on her face, "Wow, I can't believe that just happened." she said with a huff.
Chiron chuckled, "Indeed. But there hasn't been a slaying of a creature this large since the hydra nearly 2000 years ago." he said.
Clarisse and her siblings walked forward with excitement, "You have to teach us how to fight like you." she said straight to the point.
Naruto looked to the trainer who had a small, but visible, smirk on his lips. Looking to the children of the War God, he shook his head, "No." he said shocking them.
"Oh come on man, why not?" a camper asked.
"Because all of you lack the proper discipline to follow even the simplest of orders." he said.
"That's why we learn." Annabeth said, "Please, we will do anything to learn how to fight light that." she begged.
"Again, no." he refuted.
Chiron chuckled, "They won't stop until you do, it'd be best just to agree with them. Besides, I'm sure Dionysus would be glad to have less campers to deal with." he muttered at the end. He also desperately needed the help with teaching them to behave as well so having the Spartan warrior there to teach them that skill would help him out in so many ways he couldn't describe.
Naruto sighed, "If what you say is true, then I guess I have no choice." he said. Chiron could have at least told him that much beforehand. The demigods cheered loudly but Naruto gave a sharp whistle to shut them up, "However, when I am teaching you I expect that what I say to be done immediately without hesitation. I may not be able to teach you in the same manner I was, but I will make it as close as I can possibly ake it. Unfortunately a lot of Chiron's teachings have faded through time and now I must use my own knowledge to teach undisciplined brats how to fight like their ancestors should. The era has made you weak, and I intend to rectify that." Naruto said.
This of course caused many to scowl, "Do not look at me like that, I can see it in each of your eyes. In the age of Sparta, men were not classified as such until they learned to plow a field on their own as a farmhand. Now, I will not say you are weak as much as you think that I think you are, because inside each of you is a warrior unlike any other. And I intend to bring them out of each of those who learn under me." he said before clearing his throat, "Now, I need all of the children of the Smith God to immediately step forward." he said as around 2 dozen did as he asked, "Who is the eldest of you?" he asked as a dark skinned young man stepped up.
"My name is Charles Beckendorf, but you can call me Beck." he said, "What is it you need from us?" he asked.
"Help me carve apart this beast and I'll show you what to do with the bones, scales as well as those teeth." he said as he motioned them to begin the process, "I will be over there momentarily, now sons and daughters of the new Sun Lord, step up." he requested as-Gods damn 35 at the least, stepped forward, "I assume that in this age you do not know how to truly heal like in the days of old?" he asked as most of them nodded, "Good then I will take great joy in teaching you how to heal like proper sons and daughters of Apollo. You see, the bones of a Drakon are special. If ground up into a powder you can mix it with Ambrosia and Nector before applying it to a wound." he said.
"The healing would be much faster than usual as the properties of the Drakon's magic would detect any ailments the body has and seek to rectify them by removing them. The meat can be baked or boiled before cut into thin strips and mixed with a soup of herbs that can cure upset stomachs as well as other internal functions that have you bedridden." e said.
"Well what about the scales and the teeth of it?" a young woman asked.
"The teeth are heavily starched with Magic and thus will have to be handled by the children of the Smith God, but right now they will leave them be. As for the scales, they can be melted down and combined with bronze and steel to make a special alloy called Tamahagane or in your tongue 'Bright Steel' due to it's unique look and properties. It is much harder than steel, but it is as flexible as bronze would be and it will not dull. It is a very rare alloy and those who were able to make weapons out of them became splendid warriors." he said as he cleared his throat, "Anyways, I want you to all help here while I have the other demigods help cut apart the Drakon."
"You need to help your brothers in arms recover, so I need that done as swiftly as you possibly can." he said before turning to the children of Ares, "Sons and daughters of Ares, move over here." he commanded and close to 20-25 or so moved to where he pointed to a spot, "I want each of you to stand by and wait here. I will get to each of you in a moment." before moving to a spot next to them, "Those who are of Athena's blood move here." he said as roughly 25-30 did so, "Same with those of Ares' blood wait here and I will get back to you." he told them, "Everyone else, split up into the groups that your family specializes in and standby, I must help the children of Hephaestus." he said.
Walking up to the beasts body he quickly helped himself up and begun to carve out scales and dropping them to the ground in a pile. It was here a young woman with a red bandanna wrapped around her head walked over, "Hey, my name is Nyssa Barrera daughter of Hephaestus." she introduced herself.
"Naruto, son of Zeus, grandchild of Poseidon, great grandchild of Hades." he said simply as he shook her surprised hand, "What is it I may help you with?" he asked.
"Oh nothing much I just wanted to tell you how some of the things you knew and what we do differed. See when a demigod kills a monster in this day, they usually turn to a golden dust and are sent to the Underworld before they eventually come back to life in the mortal world. I was just shocked that the Drakon didn't turn into a fang weapon or something." she said.
"I see, that is indeed different. It must have a reason to stay here in it's flesh form rather than return as you said." he thought to himself.
"Maybe it did this so you can teach us about this?" she questioned.
"I agree. It is said that Lady Athena always has a plan, maybe this is a way the Gods can have me show you things that will prepare you for your own teachings in the future for other demigods." Naruto nodded to himself as he told her this.
Nyssa shrugged her shoulder's, "Most likely. So, what are we gonna be doing with the body parts?" she asked.
"You and your brothers will be forging Spears and Shields for the special training I will be teaching to the children of Ares and Athena. Anyone else who wishes to join this training ay do so." he told her.
"Well how big will they be, the Shields and Spears that is?" she asked him.
"The spears will be a standard 2 meter long spear and the shields will be steel shields with a bronze overlay to them with a bit of a sharp outer ring which I will explain the purposes for momentarily. See the reason the spears will be so long is because unless the enemy has a longer weapon, they cannot touch the user, and with the shields so large they can form a wall. Gather enough of both the shields and spears and you can make a nigh impenetrable wall of strength and endurance. Along with the spears there will be a special shortsword call a Xiphos which is a double-edged, one-handed straight shortsword used for extreme close quarters combat." he said as he pried up another scale and tossed it down.
"Ok, so how long are these... Xiphos?" Beck asked as he carved away some of the flesh with a small look of disgust.
"They are generally 1 1/2 in length. They are meant for quick drawning and slashes to an opponent." Naruto stated.
"So, I have to ask, why is everyone else standing around for?" Beck asked him.
"Because I am about to use this large scale as a sort of example shield." Naruto said as he pried the scale in question up and then hopped down, "Alright. Those who are not children of Apollo, Ares or Ladt Athena get up on that thing and help them out." he said as he walked towards his group.
"So, you basically split us up for no reason?" a kid from Hermes' cabin asked.
"No, I did it so I could see which group stands where. Now this is a small lesson for you in discipline son of Hermes." he said shocking the teen, "Now, as I said before those who I did not specify please go help them cut apart the Drakon." he said.
"Ugh, and why should we?" a snarky young woman of incredible beauty demanded.
"Because I said so that is why."
"And get dirty cutting up that lizard, no thank you." she sneered.
"You must be of Aphrodite's blood. Still suckling on your mothers teat are you?" Naruto remarked, "Trying to impress her in the ways of the whore?" he demanded, "Because if so then you are doing a marvelous job of proving the fact that the daughter of the sky is the biggest of them all." he stated.
The young woman gave a bark of laughter, "Oh I'm going to enjoy it when my mother makes your love life a living hell." she said with a jab at him.
"Unlike you I prefer to judge a person by their character rather than looks. Something you have yet to understand. What is your name woman?" he demanded.
"My name isn't woman, it's Drew Tanaka and you best remember it or I'll mess you up good and proper." Drew Tanaka stated.
"Very well then, if you think you can do it then place yourself where you think you stand." Naruto told her.
Drew sneered at him as she walked up to him, "Ok, if you ask." she said before launching her knee into his groin.
Naruto didn't flinch from the act and those who watched felt their jaws drop. Drew felt her own heart stop as he reached out and grabbed her, "Is that really the best insult that you have woman, because if so then your mother is more of a disappointment than even I thought." he said holding her by the hair as he reached into his back pocket and retrieved a small penny with a Spartan helmet on it. With a flick of his wrist Drew watched as it turned into a small knife of crude design "Let me show you why the Spartans are considered ruthless." he said with a growl.
"Naruto, no, don't do it!" Chiron cried out.
What Chiron wasn't expecting however, was for the blonde to lash out and slice her hair at the base and he held it up as Drew cried out in rage as she begun to wail on his body with weak hits, "This is the price that any of those who defy my command will pay. They will lose that they deem precious to them. Be lucky that is just the hair. Next time I will take the nails off your fingers and then dip them in wine before covering them in salt." he said as he pushed her towards the large body, "Now get to work." he commanded the crying teen, "Anyone else want to challenge my commands?" he asked and got many head-shakes of 'No' as he nodded in satisfaction.
Clearing his throat he threw the hair to the ground and then held the scale up once he picked it back up, "Now then, can I have a volunteer please come forward." he said as a young man with blonde hair walked up, "Here, take this and hold the top with one hand as a demonstration if you will." he said handing it to the teen. "This is the usual size of a shield that a Spartan uses, but this is simply for demonstration purposes." he said as he pulled out a small pen from his pocket and clicked the end as shown, "And this is the typical spear that my people used." he said as he handed it to the teen to hold with his other hand.
Activating his watch they watched as it expanded into a rather large shield around 4 feet in diameter which was slightly larger than the scale, "Can someone toss me a spear for demonstration?" he called out and held his hand out to catch a four foot spear from Clarisse. Clearing his throat, "Now, when the rest of the shields and spear along with other commodities are complete I will have you wear light armor as well as a helmet, but for now just listen." he said to them, "As children of the two gods of war the way a Shield Wall works is by having the two men next to you place their shoulders against your own like such." Naruto said as he placed his shoulder against the son of Athena.
"Place you spear up and hold it at around two feet from the base." Naruto instructed as he walked around and helped the kid adjust it before getting behind him, "Now a standard Phalanx formation is formed from a gathering of 30-40 men wide and around 10 deep in case one fall in battle to replace the fallen. If one of the sides is breached it can lead to disaster so it is best deployed in narrow passages and paths. If you want to fight against a army from all sides you would need four Standard Sized Phalanx Formations to fight. This forms a complete and utterly impenetrable wall of steel if you will." he told them as he took his place in front of the teen.
"When I tell you, I want you to thrust you spear out alright?' he said getting a nod, "Now, for this to work what is needed is complete synchronicity from the men to the left and to the right. You will have two spears for one shoulder for each person that makes the formation." Naruto said moving behind the teen once again, "Thrust." he commanded as he pulled his spear back a bit, "Withdraw." he said thrusting his own spear out, "As you can see when the man to the front withdraws his own spear the man behind has thrust his own out. What this creates is a virtual wall of death to an enemy at close quarters due to the fact they will not be able to reach the wall to fight." he stated.
Now, I know each of you have a shield so bring it out." he said and nearly winced at the sizes. They were half as big as his own, "Those with Spears please raise them." he said as several did as such. Nodding his head he cleared his throat, "All of those with spears step up to the front and you may return this to the pile and hand me my spear back." he said taking his spear away and watched as roughly half the group before him stepped forward. He took a deep breath, "Alright, stand shoulder to shoulder as I showed you and hold your spears up to while some of you get behind the others." he said and they quickly did as told.
He worked quickly to fix their forms and soon every other shoulder had a spear where he fixed the ones at the front to mimic what he knew. He then broke it down to where there were nine teens at the front and formed a wall at the front with the next line holding nine as well where the others stood behind, "As you can see this shield wall is linked closely to the seams and it holds a sense of power to it. Now when I say advance I want each of you to begin walking forward." he said as he motioned for the rest to the side to watch, "Prepare to advance!" Naruto called out, "I said prepare!" he called out when a couple stepped forward, "Get back into position." he demanded.
"Prepare to advance!" he said again and then lowered his hand, "Advance" he stated and they each took steps forward, "Moving as a solitary unit allows you to control the fight. You can ensure that the enemy has to climb over their own forces and become unbalanced and incohesive as they come forward." Naruto said, "When I say withdraw do so alright." Naruto said sternly, "Prepare to withdraw!" he called out, "With-draw." he said with a swipe of his hand, "No, you don't turn around. If you turn around you expose your back to the enemy and they can cut you down. Never expose such a weakness to an enemy because it will ultimately lead to death!" he yelled out as he stopped them.
"Get back to where you were, when I say withdraw you walk backwards alright. Gods be damned." he yelled out.
"Ok no need to be a dick about it." a son of Ares grumbled out.
"I am being a prick to you to ensure you survive a drawn out battle, if you do not heed these teachings then get out of my formation!" he yelled angrily.
Chiron cleared his throat, "Naruto, you have to remember, they are not Spartans. They haven't been taught the ways of true war like you were." he told the blonde.
"Hey, you wanted me to teach them, well let me teach them alright. If you have a problem with how I instruct these kids then tell me how I did later. Until then let me work here." he scowled. He worked or a total of thirty minutes before he told them to go back to what they were doing before the attack. With that done he walked back over to the body and saw it was mostly bones now and he shrugged as he walked over to a child of the smith god, "Are all the scales off?" he asked.
"Yeah, we finished somewhere around the middle of your instructions of the meat grinder." the young man said.
"Well, leave the remaining bits of the Drakon to the others, get your siblings to grab as many scales as you each can carry. It's time I show you some blacksmith techniques." he said.
"Really, alright then." the young man said before sending the call out. Beck walked over with roughly a dozen large scales in his arms, "Well, you ready, cuz I know I am." he said eagerly.
"Alright, lead me to your cabin." Naruto said.
"Why?" Nyssa asked him.
"I am going to teach you something that will shock you to your soul." he said as he walked away.
Beck shrugged his shoulders as he caught up to the blonde, "So what can you teach us that Chiron and older siblings haven't?" he asked eagerly.
"You shall see." he said as he continued his trek towards the cabin. Beck led the blonde warrior into the camp grounds and pointed out his fathers cabin, "That ne?" Naruto asked and got a nod, "Ok I will see you all inside. Make sure you place those scales inside a furnace with a collector underneath them and do not let the fire that melts them burn out." he instructed the smiths as he looked to another son of Hephaestus, "I need a trough that holds a large amount of ice within it and I need another with a large amount of flammable items inside burning ok. Can you get those things for me?" he asked as he walked away without waitng for an response.
"Nyssa, where do you store the weapons that you have recently finished?" he asked her.
"Over there, there should be a couple dozen or so inside." she told him.
Nodding his head he went over to where they were pointed out and took six of the newly made weapons and walked outside. He watched as other campers gathered to watch him do his work and he motioned for the kids bringing him the troughs to stop several meters away from the forge, "Right here should do just fine. Separate them by five feet. Ensure that nothing has spilled out of them." he instructed loud enough for them to hear before he ignited the strange smelling liquid inside the second trough. Setting a couple of the blades inside he allowed for the liquid fire to do its job as he walked back inside, "Do not touch those blades." he called back as he entered the cabin.
"Keep stroking that flame, these scales will be important later. Make sure they are white and stay that way, or else what I am going to show you will not work." he said as he threw a dozen logs into the furnace and grabbed a billow, "Make it feel like Lord Helios shines down in this place." he said pumping the billow quickly, making the heat rise to incredible degrees.
"Man it's so hot in here, more than usual." Beck said loudly.
"I know that just bear with it. You will thank me when this is done. Get me a mold of a long sword of four feet." he instructed, "After that I want you to smelt some steel into it regular steel." he told the child of the smith. Quickly pumping the billow he watched as the scales begun to turn red before giving a whistle to another smith, "Keep pumping that billow and no matter what happens do not stop or else you will ruin those scales." he said before he walked back outside, "I need those who are not working in the forge to bring as much water skins as you can. The sheer heat is going to drain them and they will need as much liquid as possible to keep working."
With that said he walked over to the liquid flame and motioned for several of the smith gods children to gather around before he pulled out a dimly glowing blade, "What is the most important thing to making a good blade, Fire or Ice?" he asked them as he begun inspecting the blade. It was well made that was for sure, but what he was about to show them would astound them and generations to come. It was a old technique that the smiths of Sparta used when teaching the warriors how to craft their own weapons. It was a secret passed down from generation to generation, from father to son and then from father to son once the boy reached age to learn the secret of smithing.
"Fire?" a young woman asked getting Naruto's head to snap at her with a raised eyebrow, "Ice?" she asked him.
"Are you certain?' he asked her.
She nodded uncertainly, and in a shocking move, Naruto swung the blade down onto the ice and broke it in the middle before dunking it in the water trough next to it. He looked to her as he grabbed the second blade and looked back at her, "Fire and Ice, together." he said as he slowly sunk the blade into the ice, "This is the true mystery of making steel." he said as the liquid inside the ice trough ignited brightly, the flames that burned were a magenta color. The crowd watched with wide eyes as the flames burned purple for three minutes before turning a golden color where Naruto removed the blade. Motioning for them to move he handed the blade to the young woman.
Stacking the other four blades he then led head over to them and grasped her hands before he simply guided her hand down gently and felt a sense of pride as everyone watched wide eyed as the blade cut through the harder steel like a hot knife through butter. Even Chiron was in shock as he watched this happen. He did not know that a sword could do that. And he had watched the blonde simply heat up the blade enough to glow. "As you can see, it is already nearly three times as sharp as the regular swords that you all make. I have just taught you a old and forgotten lesson of black smithing. I hope you teach it to those who come after you and many generations to come." he said before walking back inside the forge.
"Alright get me a set of tongs!" he called out as he walked over to a billow, "Those of you who are inside not working go out and grab some water and bring it back inside for those who are working to drink and recover." he told them as he took the tongs offered to him, "Did you pour that mold yet Beck?" he asked and got a nod, "Good, bring it over here." he said as he took the solid white scale of large size out of the fire.
"It just got dunked in that strange combination of ice and flame outside, but I don't know how you're gonna show us how to make this better.." he said uncertainly.
"Just watch kid." he said. He had spent six months in a forge learning many things as a young boy. Showing these upstarts a few things was definitely work the hassle. Taking the scale he laid it down on the concrete floor and grabbed a hammer before he took the sword, "Get me a large set bronze rods if you please. And make sure there are six that are three inches thick." he said as he clamped the scale and sword together before he turned the two on the side and begun hammering the side of the scale down enough to fold it almost over the other side of the blade. Beck quickly returned with the rod and Naruto took it and placed it on the flat side of the scale he had been hammering on.
He watched closely as the bronze melted away quickly from the heat where it coated the scale in a thin layer of the golden alloy. Naruto spread it across the surface of the scale and then watched as it was absorbed into the former Drakon Scale and then proceeded to once again smear the rest across the steel blade and then hammered the scale down in a fold. Stashing the sword in a lightly burning furnace he grabbed a large shield mold and proceed to yank a different scale out before he placed the scale down on the mold and began to furiously hammer down onto the scale until he couldn't get it to go down any further.
Removing the scale he took another rod and proceeded to cover it in a thin film of bronze where he quickly took it outside and placed half of it in the Ice/Fire combination and slowly moved it back and forth for a second before yanking it out and flipping it to repeat the process and then returning inside the forge. With that done, he proceeded to then set the scale back into the fire it had come from to allow the bronze to physically weld itself into scale. He walked over to the sword wrapped in a scale and pulled it out of the cooler fire and broke the extra scale off, "Fold those in on each other and make a rod for them and you have to twist them together to make the rod." he said, "Be quick, or it'll cool."
He proceeded to hammer of more of the scale and put it back in the flame while he took another bronze rod and melted it across the now red colored scale and watched as it ran across the forming of a much better blade. Beck returned quickly, "Here, just as you asked." he said handing the tongs to Naruto who nodded when he looked at the rod.
"You work fast, very nice." he said as he begun hammering the rod down to make it curve greatly. Taking the blade he was working on he then placed the rod around the blade and proceeded to Forge Weld them together as he beat the rod down against the blade.
"What are you doing, why mix the two techniques, can you explain that much?" Nyssa asked him as she watched him work.
"This is a old process called Forge Welding. Forge welding is a process of joining metals by heating them beyond a certain threshold and forcing them together with enough pressure to cause deformation of the weld surfaces, creating a metallic bond between the two forms of the metals. This method consists of placing a solid part into a molten metal contained in a mold and allowing it to solidify without actually melting both metals, such as the blade of a sword into the tang. What I am currently doing is the first process of Forge Welding. I'll tell you about it in detail later, but right now I need to wait for this to heat up again so I can finish the blade." he said.
Thrusting the blade back into the hotter flame he took the making of the shield out and nodded as he took a bar or plain bronze and laid it on top of the scale and atched as it quickly melted and ran over it in a thick watery lumps of boiling bronze. Taking a brush he scraped it across the large scale and even ran back over the area he brushed before to inlay the lighter alloy into the harder scale, "Dunk that and let it cool. That is complete." he said when the melding process was finished. With that complete he pulled the sword he was working on out and proceeded to beat on it some more and the smiths watched as slowly, the form of a large sword begun to take shape.
Taking it outside he grabbed the first blade he used the fire/ice combination on and proceeded to cut the weapon in half before he stabbed the sword into the ground while he took the two halves back inside. Beck could only look on in confusion, "What's he doing? I am so lost right now." he uttered.
"Just let him work, I'm sure he will explain it when he finishes." Annabeth sighed. What was this guy, a Spartan or a blacksmith?
Nearly a hour passed before Naruto came back out with two weapons. One was a short sword of 1 1/2 feet and the other was a 2 meter long spear. He had obviously continued working on them without a break as it was shown through his heavy sweating and lightly labored breaths. He grabbed a grindstone and sat down on the small seat and begun to turn it very quickly while sticking the sword to it. Six minutes later he flipped it and repeated the process before he did the same to the spear. Standing back up he walked over to the shield laying on the ground and dropped the sword point first to the dirt and stabbed the spear into the ground.
"Clarisse, step forward." he ordered her tiredly and the young woman did as such. He grabbed the new shield and handed it to her before he grabbed the spear and short sword, "Now, I know you told me about your lightning spear, but I think you'll like this one better." he said as he handed it to her, "Think of a bolt of lightning channeling itself through the spear and point it at the tree over there." he said pointing to one of the trees.
"Ok, I'm curious, what's gonna happen?" Annabeth asked curiously.
Naruto merely smirked, "Just watch. Go ahead, do it." he instructed and Clarisse watched with wide eyes as a large bolt of electricity burst forward off the spear and struck the tree where it fell to the side moments later,.
"Holy. Shit. He made a miniaturized Master Bolt!" A young man called out in shock.
Naruto nodded his head, "Indeed. By mixing a steel sword with one of the large scales harvested from the Drakon's body and then using the latent magical power stored within its teeth and running it across the spear upon completion the spear was imbued with the power of Lightning. The same goes with this Xiphos as well, but on a much weaker level. The shield is extremely durable as well as it can be hit by the fist of a powerful target and keep itself from crumpling in unlike a standard bronze shield. Now that I have shared these lessons with you, I hope you are all willing to learn from me and listen to what I tell you all if you do desire to learn how to fight."
"Hell yeah man." Mark cried out. He had been rather humbled when he had been laid out by that one shot punch earlier.
"Good. Now, I am tired and hungry so I am going to grab a meal. The children of the Smith God will keep their projects going inside, the rest of you who are willing to learn how to fight, meet me in the forest by the Drakon's bones." he said before walking off.
Naruto sat down on the ground with a platter of food in his hand. Having given a offering to Lord Ares for allowing him to teach the ways of a warrior, Hades for watching the balance of the living and dead, as well as Lady Hestia for a good meal he felt pretty satisfied. Grabbing the fork, he cut apart the pork on his plate and stuck it in his mouth. As he was chewing, he watched as Annabeth walked over to him, Swallowing he asked, "What is it that I can do for you?" before he popped some berries into his mouth.
Annabeth looked to the tables, "I was just wondering why you sit on the ground rather than a table?" she asked him.
Naruto shrugged, "Feels better to sit on something that wont stick itself up my arse." he said honestly getting a chuckle.
"Yeah, but you don't have to sit on the ground. It must be uncomfortable."
"Not as much as you think. After everything I have experienced in my short life, the greatest comfort I consider is the ability to have a nice seat on the ground underneath me and enjoy a delicious meal."
Annabeth nodded her head, "I understand where you come from, old habits and all for yourself. It must be strange, waking up in a time where everything is so much more advanced and incomprehensible to you."
Naruto shrugged, "The hardest part is learning. After all, time does not sit still for anyone. Not even the gods are immune to this fact, even if they are immortal."
"Well, other than ask why you choose to sit on the ground I came to tell you I'm going to go meet a friend outside the camp and I won't be back for a couple days at the most. I'm sure Percy will be ecstatic to meet a cousin of his when he gets here." she said with a smile.
"This Percy, is he the one people are calling the Son of Poseidon?" he asked and got a nod, "I have a few things I wish to tell you of my personal opinion that I have deduced from what I have heard and I want you to tell me if I am wrong, if that is alright with you." he said as Annabeth shrugged, "I have heard that he doesn't listen to anyone and goes off on his own to do what he thinks needs to be done, is this correct?" he asked her.
Annabeth nodded, "Yes, but there are reasons he has done it. The first time was when he had no choice but to return Zeus' Master Bolt to him and the second was when we had to rescue a good friend of ours from the Sea of Monsters. He usually is a good person, but he has his moments of idiocy. He doesn't know much of his heritage as a demigod, but his mother sheltered him for most his life so he couldn't help it I suppose. I usually have to explain the things he doesn't comprehend... which is most the time." she sighed out.
"So, insubordinate-brash-illiterate, I feel sorry for the world if this is who the gods fear most." Naruto said shaking his head.
"You know of the prophecy?" she asked. Though she would agree on the deduction of Percy as it was rather accurate. Ok scratch that, it was a perfect description of the Kelp Headed idiot.
He nodded, "Yes, I took the time and discussed it with Chiron. Even though I am a son of Zeus and descended of Poseidon through my mother and Hades through my grandparents I am considered unable to fulfill the prophecy due to the fact that I am older than 16 as I was born around the falling of Sparta. Thus I am incapable of destroying Olympus. Not that I would want to anyway, to much of a hassle to begin with and I would never consider usurping the gods regardless of the fact I despise my father. I respect him for his position and the fact I was born of a loving union between him and my mother, but other then that I wouldn't even piss on his ass if it was burning." he admitted.
This caused Annabeth to laugh at the analogy, "If anything, I respect Lord Hades for his dedication to maintaining the balance of the living and dead rather than ruling the heavens like a paranoid woman who is bleeding." Naruto said uncaring for the fact he was badmouthing his own father, "That and I don't wish to be labeled as a Kin-slayer also helps my decision."
"I now that murder is different for the two of us, but explain something to me, how bad would you be labeled if you killed say a brother or maybe your mother? Also, why do you dislike Zeus so much?" she asked him.
"Bad enough to be beaten to death with stone or logs. It is highly frowned upon in my culture even remotely think of contemplating it. It is why the men are handed to the younger trainees at a young age to understand who they will be helping teach to become a warrior. And as time goes by, the mere thought of wanting to hurt a loved one is taken out of you due to the fact you hardly spend time with family as any time one has is spent most time training to lead a life of fighting unless one was a helot slave." he said honestly, "The only murder I know of is the state sanctioned murder in order to enter the elite forces of the Spartan 300 known as the Krypteia which were our black ops forces in which there are only 10 to compose the group." (1)
"The Krypteia were hand picked due to the ruthlessness one exhibited in battle. These are usually the most bloodthirsty and war driven fighters who prove they can kill in cold blood. As for my dislike of Zeus, let me place perspective on it. Zeus has the most devoted of wives by his side for all eternity and he decides to go out and fuck any woman he defines as beautiful because he is the King of Olympus and more than likely could care less of what he does. Add onto the fact he didn't even make it a century into a Oath on the River Styx and sired a child with a woman just adds onto my contempt to him. Honestly, if I was him I would ask Lady Hera if I could go out to do such things and live with the fact she said no and then let time move forward knowing I was unable to go out and frolicker around like a fool having bastards."
"It's not that I wholly despise my father, but it's the fact that he believes that just because he is who he is and he does what he does that makes me dislike him. Personally if I was in Lady Hera's position, I would simply cut his most prized possession off again before force feeding it to him and then tell him to not do it again or else for every child he had after the same thing would happen again until he learned to never sire a bastard." he said honestly. (2) Gods knew that it happened to Spartans for doing it with someone they were not betrothed to only Spartans only had one cock and would become a eunuch after their spear had been removed.
"Ok, personal opinions aside, who would usually form this Krypteia group?" she inquired. While she knew of the Spartans best fighting force, it was better to understand how they worked firsthand rather than read about it in a book.
"It was usually the sons of Ares that formed it due to their ability to be ruthless, but for those who were not of Ares' blood it would usually be a son of Zeus Hades or Poseidon. I was to be inducted into the Krypteia, but unfortunately, Sparta had come under attack a week before my induction could take place." he admitted with a saddened look on his face. He truly missed his homeland, and those he had fought and bled with during the time. To know that over 2000 years had passed in the blink of an eye for him truly hurt him as he hadn't even been able to settle down to have a family of his own before he either fought in battle and died or retired of old age.
"Interesting. Thank you for telling me this. It actually gives me a clearer picture than the books I have read. I heard the mentioning of such a force, but to hear about it straight from someone who knows of it firsthand is much better." she said, "Well, I best be going, need to make sure that the idiot doesn't get himself hurt." she said as she quickly begun to walk away, her talk with the Last Spartan had certainly given her something to think about.
"Very well then. Thank you for the conversation." he said as he bid her farewell.
XxX
Naruto stood in front of the students he had taken as the camps new battle class and watched them closely as the formed the formation and then had the ones at the front sit down so he could address all of them without them having to jump up and try to listen to him instruct them, "Now, as you know, the Phalanx Formation is composed of 30-40 men in width with there being 9 others to step forward to replace the fallen. However, what many do not know is the weakness of the Phalanx Formation. Can anyone guess the strengths and the weakness of this formation and tell me how the weakness of the formation it is best avoided?" he asked as a couple hands went up.
"Yes, you right there." he said to a young man of roughly 17.
"A weakness to the formation would most likely be the sides." he said.
"Exactly. The sides of the Phalanx Formation are indeed the greatest weak-point that can be hit. Now, can you tell me how this can be avoided to ensure it isn't exploited?"
"Well, the smart thing would be to deploy the formation in places where it wouldn't be easily overtaken such as a narrow passage or somewhere easily defended."
"Yes again. Now, can someone tell me another weakness of the Phalanx Formation?" Naruto asked only to see no hands rise, "Anyone at all?" and he side as he shook his head, "Alright since nobody can see that I will tell you. The back of the Phalanx Formation is perhaps the greatest weakness besides the flanks that can be taken. The reason being is that the formation is always deployed in narrow passages to ensure that none can take the passage, but if the enemy ere to take or find a path around the formation, they can and most likely would come up from behind and destroy the formation which is always a bad thing." he said.
"How can this be avoided?" a young woman asked him.
Naruto nodded his head as he pointed in her direction, "That is a very excellent question. The best way to avoid such a confrontation would be to have a additional Phalanx behind the first while having it face the oppostie direction to ensure it isn't overrun. And when the enemy force withdraws switch some of the fighters around so that those who have been fighting can rest and recover their strength. As a Spartan, we are taught a form of endurance. When the summer season arrives we have to take our shoes off and walk barefoot so we can harden our feet and learn to endure the pain of having to walk in painful circumstances."
"Unfortunately this area lacks the ground I would need as well as the heat necessary to show you how to overcome this obstacle so I would like to teach you through a different method which would easily be substituted by having you learning to walk over hot coals." Naruto said, "Speaking of which, I will have you learn to do that near the end of your training." he admitted. Hearing the horn blow to signal the end of the day Naruto clapped his hands together loudly, "Alright that signals the end of today's teachings. Tomorrow will consist of live action battle simulation between a Phalanx Formation and a regular fighting force. Those of you who I chose will be meeting me at the end of the valley passage tomorrow." he said loudly.
"However, before you go, I need those I choose for this simulation to stop by the Hephaestus cabin to pick up the shields, blunt spears and swords alright, class dismissed." he said, "Sons and daughters of Ares, as the better fighters you will be the ones not forming the formation, that means that the children of Athena will be the ones to become the... defaux Spartans to fight in the Phalanx Formation." he said, "Now go off and do your own stuff and get out of my face." he said as the others walked away.
Walking over to a spot he leaned down and grabbed a spear and inspected it. It was roughly five feet, and looked to be near broken. The reason why, it had been pit against one of the newer styled spears made through his teachings of Hephaestus' children. With a careless look he simply snapped it over his knee so that the smiths could work on a newer weapon when they melted down the broken one. The sound of galloping feet drew Naruto's attention and he saw Chiron running up to him, though not out of worry as it looked like he merely wanted to talk, "Chiron, what can I do you for?" he asked the trainer.
"Naruto." he greeted, "I heard from the others that you are taking your ways of teachings seriously." he said.
"I am. The way you train them is getting or has gotten sloppy." he admitted.
"Sheesh, you know to lay it on thick." he said.
"I don't know what that means." the blonde said with a blank face.
"It means that you don't hold back your criticism." Chiron explained before clearing his throat, "Anyways, I've received word of there being a couple potential new members of the camp, cousins of yours actually. Children of Hades from before the Oath much like yourself would be are supposed to be coming to join us." he said.
"Cousins you say, interesting. I would have thought that the son of Poseidon would be the only one I would meet. But this is good, it means I can still teach them how to fight and defend themselves if a big fight broke out." Naruto said.
"I figured you say that." Chiron smiled.
"Family has always been important to me Chiron. While I do not know my father due to my life as a Spartan, that does not mean I haven't met others who did and knew him. Not only that, but I also barely knew my mother when I was growing up due to the way of life I had been chosen to live through. I grew up as a child soldier remember." he stated honestly.
"Yes, I forgot that you Spartans have that way of life." the centaur muttered.
Naruto waved the trainers concern off, "It's fine Chiron, besides I would rather that way of life stick with me." he admitted.
Chiron cleared his throat,, "Anyways, I heard a rumor you wished to teach the students for the battle strategy and such how to walk on burning coals, why?" he asked.
"I told you didn't I, I would make them as close to a Spartan or a demigod of Greece as I could. Rather than stick to the teachings of old you allowed the students you have taken to take what you would use to hone their skills of survival and throw them away while taking what skills they wished to learn. Well, I aim to rectify that by giving them the teachings you should have kept. It's not that you are a bad teacher, it's just that you have unintentionally gone soft as time has advanced forward. I do not blame you, but I blame the student who could not handle the fact they were as weak as they were to try and diminish your true skills." Naruto said.
Chiron nodded, "Yes I see."
"Anyways, I'm going to go work on my ax and see what I can do to improve it." Naruto said as he begun to walk away, "I think we should have another one of these talks Chiron, I find it calms my nerves greatly."
Chiron smiled, "I do as well."
"Very well then, how about we talk sometime soon, yes. About the true days of demigods and such trivial bullshit and the likes."
Chiron gave a laugh, "Oh yes, when the gods were true to their words and not acting like a bunch of weak zealous mortals." he joked.
"Oh yes." Naruto called back with a bit of cheer.
XxX
At the campfire Naruto sat on the ground once more with his meal, but he wasn't very interested in it. His mind was currently on the ax in front of him. He had sharpened it recently, to a point it could cut a boulder in two with a couple swings in fact, He had had the children of the Smith God imbue some magical properties into it and had told them to surprise him with their newfound skills and needless to say, he had indeed been surprised. They had found some old runic crystals lying around in the back of their forge and had used them to enhance the weapons own abilities. What were the abilities you might ask, well it was quite amazing if he said so himself.
The Smith Gods children had really done a amazing job with his ax by imbuing it with Frost Abilities that could freeze anything it touched if it used enough power. They had dubbed their creation, The Leviathan Ax... The Ax of Frost and Cold. The name itself was rather catchy if he admitted so himself. Finishing his meal, he dumped the rest into the flames and offered them to Lady Hera in apology for his father doing her wrong for so long before he decided to find a place to rest that wasn't so lavishing in marble. He'd kill a couple harpies during the night, but they had it coming for disturbing his sleep and he was not the kind who slept deeply and took shit from anyone who woke him early.
The camp would be rather grateful for a couple of the harpies gone but that as just the campers personal opinion.
Two days later when the sun was rising Naruto would be having a free hour after breakfast, as usual to let the others go learn other things, and he was witness to the most unusual sight his eyes had ever seen. A large box-like thing with wheels crashed into the lake he sat by to meditate and clear his mind. He watched as the strange... thing moved to land and opening appeared in the side where a bunch of young women walked out with haunted looks in their eyes followed by a young rough looking young woman with black spiky hair came out on shaking knees followed by a black haired green eyed teen, satyr, and then a feminine looking blonde man (In his personal opinion) who gave a laugh.
"Not bad little sister, not bad. Little rough around the edges but not bad." he said.
"Cease thy praise of her terrible skills of driving Lord Apollo, thee daughter of Zeus nearly killed all of us!" a young woman with a strange crown on her head said.
Huh, so Apollo was a girly man, go figure.
Naruto stood up and walked over, "Lord Apollo, what brings you to camp?" he asked him.
Apollo turned and faced him before waving, "Yo, whats up?"
"The sky Lord Apollo, again I ask what brings you to this camp?" Naruto said without hesitation.
Apollo gained a look of confusion, "You making fun of me?" he asked.
"No, Lord Apollo I am merely asking why you have come to this location with such a group in your company. As the new sun lord I am sure your duties are more important than watching children than to control Lord Helios' chariot which was relinquished over to you." he said.
Apollo smacked a fist to his palm, "Oh I see who you are now, your that demigod that was somehow sent through time here to the current era. I believe a Spartan if I remember right, yes?" he asked and got a nod, "Ok so you aren't like the other demigods I've met. Right, well I was tasked by lil sis-"Lady Artemis, Lord Apollo!"-to drop off these guys at the camp. This one here is in charge of the Hunters, her name is Zoe so she and her group can settle in this place just fine." he said pointing to the group of young women, "This here is Percy Jackson son of Poseidon and beside him is Grover Underwood and Thalia Grace who is the daughter of Zeus." he introduced.
"I see, and what of Lady Artemis? I assume she is elsewhere seeing as her ladyship isn't among the group?" Naruto inquired.
Apollo nodded, "Yeah she's elsewhere at the moment, something about hunting a old monster she hasn't encountered in a long time or something like that." Apollo answered, "So I have to ask, whose is your sire, you look almost like a mix between my old man and Percy Jackson's." he said looking at him closely.
Naruto nodded his head, "I am Naruto Uzumaki, son of Zeus, grandson of Poseidon and great grandson of Lord Hades. In that order." he said.
"Ho ho, now that's one hell of a family tree you got there kid. A very rare Legacy indeed." Apollo said excitedly before clapping his hands, "Well I best be going, can't stay in one place to long and the sun has to move or else things will be out of balance and all that. See ya later." he said as he snapped his fingers to change the strange contraption into yet another strange contraption (Albeit a much nicer design to it) and he flew off.
Naruto shook his head, "And they say that Lord Zeus is the more dramatic of the gods." he muttered.
"You there, boy take us to Chiron." the young woman with the strange crown on her head demanded.
Naruto looked to her, "No, if you have time to demand me of anything then you have the time to find the trainer on your own. Besides I'm on break from teaching these demigods on how to fight properly in battle." he responded as he sat back down.
Zoe seethed in anger, "You dare ignore me, the lieutenant of Lady Artemis' hunt?" she demanded.
"Yes." he responded simply, "Did I not tell you, I am on break." he said simply, "Now leave me be woman before I am forced to fight you." he said.
Seeing as she was about to explode, Percy stepped forward, "How about I take you to Chiron, that way he can have his break and you can speak to Chiron as you want." he said.
Zoe snorted, "Very well then, but know this Percy Jackson, you will lead us straight to the centaur and nowhere else." she sneered.
Percy nodded and lead the Hunters away. Naruto watched them leave and snorted, "What a spoiled little girl. I do not pity her parentage if they abandoned her." he said before leaning out the way as a arrow zipped by courtesy of Zoe herself, "So tell me sister, where is my ally Annabeth Chase, she was supposed to come with your group upon return." he said.
"Missing, she fell off of a cliff with a manticore and we haven't seen her since then." she responded before asking, "Are you really a Spartan cuz those guys are supposed to be the ultimate bad asses?"
Naruto snorted, "I know not what that means, but to answer your question, yes I am a Spartan. And apparently I am the last of my people. So I would appreciate it if you wouldn't bring such a subject up between us." he requested his younger sister.
Grover walked up to him, "For a man that's not in the right time, you sure do clean up nicely."
Naruto shrugged, "Again I don't know what that means, but I am trying to learn what your meanings convey. My name is Naruto Uzumaki." he said to the satyr.
"Grover Underwood, welcome to Camp Halfblood." he said.
"So I have to ask did anything of interest happen while we were gone, things like a fight or something?" Thalia asked.
"A type of monster appeared inside the boundary of the camp, a Drakon that was of larger than normality in size. I was the one to bring it down and use the body to show the children of the Smith God how to imbue certain alloys into the scales to make better weapons for your people." he said.
"What, and we missed out on the fun, man that sucks so much." Thalia said in a pouting voice.
Naruto gave a chuckle, "Do not worry so much sister, there are plenty of battles you may experience against such creatures in the future, but for now be thankful that you were not at this particular fight. It was much more than you think, many were injured and it was only thanks to some rock that I managed to lay the beast down." he said as he pat her on the shoulder.
"What are you, some old fashioned talker or something?" she chuckled. (3)
"No, this is how I usually speak, what is wrong with how I talk?"
"Nothing, it's just strange to me."
"Very well then, I shall attempt to learn how to speak like a modern mortal would." Naruto said.
"Better not go to Brooklyn, that place is not somewhere you wanna learn how to speak." Grover interjected with a grin.
Thalia burst into laughter before she calmed down as quickly as she could, though she couldn't help but let out a couple snickers. Naruto simply ignored the obvious hazing towards his cultural dialect before he cleared his throat, "Are you two finished, if so we must go to Chiron." he said.
"Why, you said you were on break." Grover said with a heavy breath.
"I can always finish my break early." the blonde said before walking away towards the big house, "Come, we more than likely will be called there to discuss what is to happen." Naruto said.
"So, do you like jokes?" the satyr asked him.
"Jokes, I do but I unfortunately don't have a sense of humor I'm told." Naruto said.
"What about knock knock jokes?" Thalia asked.
"Where I'm from, the game that is taught to our children is when someone says 'knock knock', you shut the fuck up and hide."
The laughter from Grover and Thalia was heard from the camp followed by Naruto's demand of, 'What the hell is so funny?!'
-Big House-
Chiron cleared his throat as Naruto entered the large building and grabbed a seat while he grumbled about ungrateful brats. Thalia and Grover were snickering to themselves leaving the others confused. He leaned back in his seat and he watched the other's interact. He could see that they had all recently bathed if the fact the clean clothes and the smell of soap wasn't anything to go by. Charlie Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard both sat on Naruto's other side, placing him opposite of the Stoll brothers, and whispered to each other about the new counselor. Three chairs remained open for a member of Athena's cabin, Percy and Thalia, who entered after three minutes of waiting.
A throat was cleared as Chiron entered with his guise of being handicapped up so he could wheel in the room without knocking anything over, "This meeting, which has been called in order to prepare for the upcoming Campers v Hunters Capture-The-Flag game is now in session," Chiron began formally, before dropping the formality and asking almost pleadingly, "Anyone got any ideas?" in a tone that gave Naruto a raised brow. Must be bad if he as pleading.
Naruto raised a hand, "What exactly is this capture the flag, if I may ask?" he questioned.
Chiron cleared his throat, "That's right we didn't exactly go over the details for the entire camp before you were caught up in your teachings. Well, it's a training exercise or game depending on how you look at it. It-he didn't finish as Clarisse spoke up
"Capture the flag is a traditional outdoor game where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base to try and win the game." she told him.
Naruto nodded his head, "I see... Sparta didn't have things like this when I as young. If anything this reminds me of a training exercise used to teach us teamwork and promote camaraderie through the ranks. Of course the losing team would be beaten with whips as punishment, but it as all ell and good." he said with a shrug as some of the teens looked appalled at what they heard.
Chiron cleared his throat, "Well yes, anyways, do you have anything that could help us win this game?" he asked.
"Yeah, we can't lose to them again after fifty losses."
Naruto nodded his head, "I do. Get a fire going and I'll sho you ho we fought dirty back in my day." he said with a smirk, "Also, I want ten people for this little excursion. First is Clarisse because of her prowess in combative situations. Next is Perseus Jackson for his healing ability along with my sister Thalia for her Aerokinesis. Son of Hades, you must sit this one out due to you being inexperienced in your power." he said politely, "It is not because I believe you are a child, but you simply are inexperienced in battle." he said quickly after getting a glare.
"And what about the rest?" Matt asked him.
"I will need the best fighters from the rest of the cabins." he said before he walked out, "I will explain my plan in detail upon my return, but for now I must go retrieve some of my effects." he said loudly.
-Roughly three hours later-
It as nearing the time for the game to start. Naruto was sitting at a fire with ten other people as requested. The blonde demigod also had a bucket of water next to his feet to put the fire out in a moment. Clearing his throat he explained his plan, "Now, as some of you know, my plan for victory lies in a slight of hand maneuver. That's why I have each of you gathered by this fire. Because hen the night comes, we ill be using it as our advantage. The other cabins will be guarding the flag as I have instructed them to. Hopefully they don't start fighting between themselves to see who should be leading." he grumbled out to himself.
"Yeah, I have to ask, what's with th fire anyways, you never explained that." Percy said.
"Wow, you really are illiterate. How can someone like you be my cousin as well as uncle I shall never know, but I will answer your question. Camouflage." he said as he dumped the water into the flames and a ave of steam burst into existence. Setting the bucket don he then took his Xiphos and proceeded to cut half of his pan legs off around his knees and set them to the side, "I suggest each of you do the same, and remove those shoes as well, you won't be needing them anyways." he said as he passed the blade to Percy, "You do know how to use that right, I shouldn't want you to cut your leg off because of incompetence." he said.
Percy scowled at the Spartan, "Ok, what's the problem you have with me?" he demanded.
Naruto looked at him in confusion, "Problem, I have no problem with you. I have yet to gauge your actual prowess and I am simply asking if you know how to cut the jeans you're wearing without inflicting harm on yourself." he said. Why as the kid getting defensive over him asking how to use a knife? He shook his head at the piss-ant brat. Clearing his throat he grasped the denim with three fingers and proceeded to cut the leg down the middle. Setting on the ground he placed his foot on it and then made little cuts here he needed them before he tied a couple knots out of the small cuts he had made before repeating the process again with his other foot.
"That is why I said you will not be needing them." he said before placing his foot into the muddy ashes and then stepping out to walk around in some mud nearby, "Go ahead, do it." he said passing his blade to the teenager next to him. He cleared his throat and watched as their eyes turned to him, "Now then, the reason I am having you all do this is simple. You all rely on the things you have and fail to realize that everything around you is a weapon. The grass, trees, this pile of muddy ash." he said as he scooped some of the ash up and proceeded to grind his fist into the ashes to grind them further, "However, I will teach you how to be stealthy with this." he said.
And with that he begun to smear it up and down his arm before repeating the process with his other arm where he then walked over to the muddy riverbank and then took the mud and placed it all over his legs. Percy watched in confusion as the blonde did this. Clarisse sighed as she looked to the sea for brains idiot, "He's doing something that modern soldiers do, he's making war paint out of his surroundings and he's using the jeans around his feet as mufflers to his footsteps as ell as allow him to walk lightly and leave no tracks behind, it's not that complicated Percy." she said in an annoyed tone.
"Precisely." Naruto said as he grabbed some grass and stuck it to his legs for added effect as well as wrapped his wrists in a bit of grass and he tied it to ensure it wouldn't fall off anytime soon. The other demigods didn't hesitate to follow his example and quickly covered themselves in the ashes and mud nearby and left their faces clean as Naruto helped them wrap their feet with the cut jeans they had. And with a smirk, he then climbed a tree and proceeded to cut off several large branches and watched as they fell to the ground below him where he jumped down and then motioned for Percy to come over.
He told him to put the bronze armor on and then lathered it in the combined ash and mud before he tied some of the branches around his ches and legs and then made a laurel out of some branches and placed it on his head. Next he took some more ash and proceeded to clover his neck and parts of his face and forehead and when finished he took some leaves, stuck them over his face for a finishing touch. Nodding his head in satisfaction he pointed to a tree, "Go stand against that tree and close your eyes." he instructed and watched as Percy Jackson, became one with nature.
Mark felt his eyes widen, "Holy shit, he looks like he's part of the damn tree!" he exclaimed.
Naruto smirked "Well, what are you waiting for, get some ash and mud and cover yourselves." he said as he smeared some over his own throat and neck and then his face before he repeated the process of making a laurel of sticks and leaves to cover his blonde hair that shines like the sun and then took some long weeds and draped them over his head to cover his ears and parts of his face. He honestly could say he was slightly excited to see how this game would go. He had never done something like this and would certainly take this teaching to hi heart as he did with anything else he learned from the past few dats of being in the camp he had come to find himself in.
This was going to be a fight that the hunters would never forget.
The newest game of Capture the Flag was about to be issued, but before that could happen, Naruto had gathered some of the better demigods and formed a special group to specifically take the flag under the cover of darkness while using quick and silent techniques of old (For them anyways) so they could win the challenge. However, this part takes place slightly before the game is called out and issued. Naruto looked at each of the demigods and nodded in satisfaction at their disguises and gave a whistle to Percy, "Bring your weapon." he ordered.
"Why?"
"Just do it, we are not leaving this spot. I am simply giving you a quick lesson." he told the teen. Without question, Percy simply sighed and grabbed his sword as Naruto dropped his spear to the ground next to his sheild before drawing his Xiphos, "I understand you have handled a sword before, but can you handle it in a battle?"
Percy snorted, "I defeated Ares." he said proudly.
"Only because of the ancient laws that forbade him to use his true ability. I am talking in a actual battle that isn't against a god or monster but another human being outside of your training."
Percy couldn't help but deflate. Well, that was one way to rub it in. In the end, he simply shook his head negative, "No, been no need." Percy answered honestly.
"I see." he said as he swung the sword around, "First lesson. Any type of weapon you have, is part of you. An extension of your being." Naruto said swinging it a couple more times before pointing it towards his cousin, "I like to compare it to the sting of a wasp." he commented as Percy lightly moved it away from his neck, "You must stay focused, know what is around you," he said as he swung around Percy and struck a stance that was easily defensible or switched to an offensive one which Percy quickly understood and mimicked the pose as best he could, "Make sure to keep your balance at all times." he said turning his neck back towards his cousin where he swiped his feet out from under him.
"You fall," he said as the other demigods chuckled when he placed his sword against his chest, "You die." he commented honestly. For them it was a nice thing seeing the son of Poseidon being brought down a couple pegs. Naruto stepped back as he watched Percy give him a agitated look, "On your feet. Get up." he commanded as Percy did as he was told. However, as he was trying to get to his feet, Naruto snarled as he swung down ruthlessly and Percy felt his eyes widen before he blocked the strike. Blow after blow Naruto swung downward before he clashed again and this time struck the dirt as Percy rolled out of the way and Naruto's strength caused the dirt to fly around them.
Naruto went to spin in an attempt to remove Percy's head, but Percy quickly spun around as Naruto sliced a tree down in one swing of his sword and watched it crash into the river. Naruto simply smirked as he turned around to face the shocked teenager, "Don't- he didn't finish as Naruto attacked him again. Percy had no choice but to raise Riptide up and block a swing form Naruto before he tried to stab him in the gut which Percy was glad he was able to block as he swung downward and avoided the lethal pierce towards his gut. Naruto growled as he swung at Percy's head again, and this time Percy ducked under it and grabbed his wrist and twisted it forcing him to drop the blade.
Naruto nodded his head, "Second lesson. Your enemy will not wait for you to retrieve your stance or weapon. It is kill or be killed and you will have to use that skill to live another day." he said. Breaking the hold, Naruto ducked under Percy's swing as he grabbed his sword and blocked three more strikes from the son of Poseidon without looking his direction. With a mule kick, Naruto sent Percy flying into a tree and watched as it tilted away as Percy groaned from the pain, "Lesson three. Pain is only what the mind perceives. It is a weakness that will leave the body eventually. So if you learn to ignore pain, you can fight a battle longer and be stronger." he tutored the demigod.
"Fourth lesson." the blonde said as he raised his sword and blocked Percy's mad swing, "Anger can be a weapon, if you can use it. Control it. And you, Percy Jackson, clearly cannot." he said as he blocked the next few swings without moving from his spot before he punched the teenager in the gut and made him double over before Naruto planted his elbow in the middle of his back and made him fall to the ground before he smacked him away with his foot, "Next lesson. Your anger, you can get lost in it. Do not allow the rage to consume your thoughts, if they do then you will get lost inside and they will turn you into the very thing you wish to avoid becoming."
Percy took a deep breath and calmed himself as he listened to Naruto's words. He understood that Naruto wasn't beating him up to be mean, he completely understood where he as coming from with this fight, but he also knew that the lessons being taught to him could help him out in the long run. He also understood his opponent was far superior in both combat and prowess due to his upbringing and if he wanted to fight him and beat him, he'd need a advantage, only Naruto wasn't moving from his spot nor was he allowing Percy to get to the water to recover (Mostly due to their disguises) and heal himself.
Percy gave a yell as he swung again, and Naruto brought his blade up to block, but was surprised when at the last moment, Percy moved and struck at his side and winced as the blade dug into his flesh. With a growl he smashed his arm down onto Percy's hand and dislodged the blade from his side and grabbed both his hand and the blade, "There is the Greek blood of your father in you, right there. You may be able to handle just under a tenth of my true power, but don't think that anyone else will be as kind as I was in this lesson. Use this skill, and become a true demigod worthy of the bards singing it through history." he said, "But don't think the next lesson will be as merciful." he finished as he released the demigod.
"Take that to your heart or die ignoring the teachings I have just given you." Naruto said as he reapplied the ash and mud to his body and replacing the grass around his ankles. The sound of a horn being blown drew their attention and Naruto nodded, "Now, we wait for nightfall." he said silently as he took a cube of ambrosia from one of the other demigods and swallowed it and felt his flesh close up.
"So, are you gonna relight the fire?" Percy asked.
"No. Best allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness naturally. A fire at night would serve only to hinder us and reveal where we are to the Hunters of Artemis and allow them to beat us. As it stands, we are simply avoiding detection right now so we can search for the flag as the other's prepare to fight them as they attempt to take the flag. While that happens we will moves through the woods silently and locate the flag. If we are discovered by the Huntresses, then I will fight them alone and allow for the ones guarding the flag to escape and return it to our side to ensure victory. However, if you are enough to match the group I will head for the flag." he responded.
"Ok why would you do that, it's not right" Mark said.
"The needs of the many outweigh the few. I am not so weak as to fall against my enemy so easily. Besides, none of you know combat as well as I. Believe me when I say, my plans are far superior to anything a child of Athena could think up." he said as he strapped his sword away along with his spear and shield as his helmet came into being once again where he quickly lathered it with mud, ash, leaves and other commodities and he placed the laurel and other things he had on his head on his helmet before he placed it on his head. Something told him he was going to need it. He didn't know how or why, but a age old saying of 'listen to your gut' came to his mind.
The sound of a horn being blown made the others get alert as Naruto held up a hand, "Stay put. All we have to do now is wait for the alert from one of the other demigods before we set out to take the flag of the enemy." he stated. Of course they waited for nearly two more hours and the sun had set by then, but when Beck came running up, he gave a whistle that Naruto had told him to give and Naruto quickly returned it and saw the teen walked out, "Alright Beck, is everything ready?" he asked the teen.
Beck smirked, "Currently we have a stalemate with the Hunters, they're trying to find a way to get around the wall of shields and spears, but we have two men that stretches nearly the entire way around the boundary of our flag, the only spot unmanned is the spot where I came from which would allow those who took the flag to return. Of course we can fix this if they spot it by closing the gap by moving a couple bodies around to ensure the wall stays untouched. If they do find it, then you'll have to go the long way around to get it back to our side." he told them.
"Alright, return to the others. I assure you, that flag will be on your side and the losing streak is over tonight." he told Beck who nodded and ran off as silently as he could. Turning around, Naruto signaled them to follow him as he set out in a walk towards the other area to take the other flag.
It wasn't hard to sneak through the woods to where they needed to go, their footfalls were silent, like Hades, as they walked through the woods. They could hear some of the hunters engaging the (Thankfully nonlethal) wall of shields and spears that the demigods had made to hold back the well trained huntresses that Lady Artemis had adopted as her own and taught them. However, Naruto knew that there were also other parties of the Hunter's group that would be wondering around to ensure that their flag wasn't taken so easily.
"Phoebe, there's no way that Zoe an the other's would lose to the demigods." a whisper was heard by Naruto's well trained ears. Naruto raised a fist up and stopped his group from moving. Waving a couple fingers he motioned for them to begin heading to the left so they could go around them. However, as fate would have it, one of them (Percy most likely, as it was directly behind him like Percy was) stepped on a twig and snapped it.
"There's someone here, they have a stealth team trying to look for the flag." a Hunter said.
"Form up." a young woman said
Naruto narrowed his eyes as he turned to give a glare at his cousin/uncle who shrugged. It wasn't his entire fault that there were leaves and twigs that could be stepped on. This was a forest after all. However, a cry of, "There!" drew the Spartan out of his thoughts as he was forced to bring his shield arm up to save his life as a hail of arrows stabbed into the shield with one of them coming through enough to nearly poke him in the eye.
"Scatter, take them on one on one, do not waste your movements." Naruto commanded as he ran forward, "I will go get the flag!" he said as he ran by one of the Hunters who pointed her bow into the heavens.
However, what she said next made his heart skip, "We who are about to die, salute you." she said.
Naruto halted in his tracks. That saying... He spun around with wide eyes, "You are Spartan?" he demanded.
Phoebe couldn't help it and smirked, "On my mother's side yes, my father, not so much." she told him as she got into a familiar stance. A stance that only a Spartan could with years of training, a true fighting stance.
"So I am not the last of my people?" he asked her, "How many of us survived? Are there any you can call upon to speak with right now?" he asked her rapidly, hopefully.
Phoebe shook her head, "I gave up the Spartan lifestyle thousands of years ago. While I keep the old teachings of my home in my heart, I owe my allegiance to Lady Artemis I'm afraid. And I am sad to say, there are none of us left. I joined the Hunt roughly a century before Sparta fell so I cannot tell you if there were survivors or not." she answered honestly.
Naruto nodded his head sadly. While it was not what he had wished to hear, it was what he needed to hear, "I understand. Live free, die well." he said as he called upon his shield and sword.
"Let us begin, Ghost of Sparta." Phoebe said.
Naruto smirked as he spun his sword around, "Clarisse, go ahead while the rest of these Hunter's are distracted by our group. The flag is nearby and you are the one with better knowledge of the area. Take it and return to the rally point. I will fight my fellow Spartan and any who challenge me." he said.
"Are you sure?" Clarisse asked him.
Naruto nodded his head, "Of course I am. Go, now." he commanded.
"Now sister's, do not interfere." Phoebe declared as she walked forward towards Naruto. Drawing her own sword Naruto raised his eyes at the design, "An Egyptian styled curved sword?" he questioned he asked.
"Yeah, I feel like showing off a little. We may not use them, but they are great for certain tasks." she told him.
"In that case I won't need to use these." Naruto said seriously as he dropped his shield and his regular sword as he drew both his chain blades, he had yet to give them a proper name though, which kinda saddened him as they were superb weapons.
"What kind of weapons are those?" Phoebe asked him.
"Fight me and you'll see." Naruto told her as he threw the blade in his right hand at her, the blade encased with unholy flames of the underworld. Phoebe could only gasp as she brought her sword up and smacked the blade away where it stabbed into a tree nearby, but this didn't bother Naruto as he simply gave a yank and pulled it back to his hand. Using the shock factor his blade had given him, Naruto swiped both the blades to the right in a arc of red fire which had the hunter's all jump out of the way as Naruto struck down all the tree's around him, and alight with fire. Naruto gave a loud grunt as he wound his arms up, creating a small cyclone of flames as the chains rewound around his arms.
"Still liking that blade of yours Lady Phoebe?" Naruto asked her.
"For right now, not really. You have a long reach that should be impossible for a chain sword of that design, much less two of them." she responded as Naruto struck down in a powerful arc that destroyed the ground in a spray of dirt forcing her to dodge.
"These are not swords meant for mere mortals." Naruto responded as he rose up onto one leg (Slightly) and he begun to spin in a flurry of steel and flame that forced the group of hunters to jump back. They couldn't even get close to him with the Spartan spinning like a madman. With a loud growl Narut proceeded to slam on of his chain blades into the ground forcing the group of women to dodge as he raised his other arm up over his head and then slammed it down into the ground in a spray of dirt.
Suddenly the horn bellowed out as the sound of the campers begun to cheer, "Victory to the campers!" Chiron announced in, hat appeared to be, a proud voice.
Naruto sheathed his weapons and nodded to Phoebe, "A good fight is it's own reward." he said bowing his head.
"Much like a good death is it's own victory." the beauty told him.
Percy, Clarisse and Mark came running up with large grins on their faces, "Yo Naruto, we've won the game." Percy said with a large grin.
"Indeed. Now let us go-
"My god she's never been out, what's happening!" a camper cried drawing Naruto's attention as he saw a mummy stumbling towards him.
It eventually stopped right in front of him and glowed brightly before a new figure took its place. It was Aegaeon, his eldest friend. But this was impossible, he had died ages ago and right in front of his very eyes no less, "To the goddess in chains seven shall go, In the land without rain five will learn of true sorrow."
"Aegaeon, how are you- he never got to finish as the astral figure turned into a different, yet familiar, figure with long crimson hair. She also looked identical to him with the exception of her red hair, "Mother?" He asked inc confusion.
"United as one, Hunters and Campers shall prevail" the woman said, "As the bane of Olympus reveals the trail."
"Impossible, you were murdered when I was a boy..." Naruto said in confusion.
Then Kushina Uzumaki suddenly changed into somebody he knew personally. His brother, Perseus. He had died protecting him on a quest ages ago when he was fifteen, "For the Titan one must act as four," the man said to Naruto, "And life is born from the belly of war." the oracle said before reverting back to normal and crumbled to the ground in front of the hyperventilating Naruto. So he had never gotten over his fear of the dead, sue the man. You can't be a hard core bad-ass Spartan all the time without some form of fear. Chiron stared before cursing as he realized what was happening, "He's going into shock! Get out of my way!"
Naruto's vision went dark as the Centaur and his fellow Campers approached while Zoe knelt at the Oracle's side with wide eyes.
The world was torn apart as the two monster's clashed. A growl could be heard as a tree was ripped up out of the ground and swung around to be smashed into his foes face and the said enemy was sent flying off. Of course the man didn't seem fazed as he appeared in front of Naruto with a fist drawn back and tried to hit him in the face. His own hand caught the fist before striking his own out towards his enemy only for it to be caught, "Your not that bad demigod. Perhaps you'll provide me with a decent fight." the man said.
"I'll do more than that!" he said as he pushed the man back only for the man to brace himself on a large crack in the ground. The two then grunted as they begun to push against one another. The ground shook and shattered as the ground underneath them begun to spread apart causing cars and trees and even a couple of buildings to crumble.
"Before this ends, I would at least like to know the name of the one demigod who could actually put up a decent fight against one of the Titan's." he said.
"I am Naruto Uzumaki, of Sparta. Remember it for it will be the last name you hear before your defeat." Naruto introduced himself.
"Very well then, Naruto Uzumaki, I guess the honor was mine to meet such a worthy foe. Before this ends, I will honor you with my own, I am the great titan, Atlas, so remember it for when we next meet."
Naruto's eyes snapped open with a loud gasp and he shot up in his bed. He looked to the left and right only to find himself not alone as he was surrounded by Clarisse and Silena with Chiron as well. The three ceased their talking and walked over, a bit quickly but they were worried for him, and Chiron cleared his throat, "So, you're awake. How are you?" he asked.
"I don't know. I was just haunted by three spirits I know dead." Naruto answered.
"The only way for the Oracle is able to hand out a prophecy is to take the guise of somebody the receiver knows personally. It's not wonder you saw both this Aegaeon as well a your mother and brother." the centaur said.
"So, what happened to the Hunters after I passed out? I assume they weren't to happy to hear of their lady being captured." Naruto said.
"No, they currently wait for you in the Big House so they can hear what you have to say. Come, we shold't keep them waiting or they might just leave on their own." he said as he got up.
"Indeed. It would be unwise to forsake them any more than they already are."
"So, how was the nap?" Silena asked him.
"It was... strange in a sense. I have never dreamed something so lifelike in the entirety of my life." Narto said.
"Can you describe it?"
"I was at a large building, and I was in a bout. Apparently the foe I was facing is the Great Titan Atlas. I had just smashed his head in with a tree and he wasn't even hurt by my blow." Naruto said.
"Atlas, the bearer of the heavens? That Atlas?" Clarisse asked.
"Indeed." Naruto nodded.
"This isn't good. We need to hurry, come." Chiron said as he sped up.
Upon reaching the Big House and entering Chiron called the Hunters forward, "Master Chiron, any news on what we are to do next?" a worried Phoebe asked him.
"Yes. But I'm afraid you are not going to like it." the man horse. said.
"This meeting is pointless!" Zoe announced as she sat along with the other counselors, Grover, Mr. D and Chiron, "The Hunters need to leave immediately!"
"In case you forgot, the Oracle told Naruto that 'United as one Hunters and Campers will prevail', so it's pointless to just up and go." Thalia quipped with a smirk as Zoe's teeth clenched.
"Huh, I didn't expect the other cabins to be present." Naruto said.
"It involves everyone until you set off on the quest." Chiron said.
"I see." Naruto said.
"However, she's right, Miss Nightshade," Chiron said as he turned to the huntress in the corner, "You wouldn't be allowed to leave without Naruto anyway as he was the one granted the quest."
"He hath no right!" Zoe interjected with a growl, "This quest belongs to the Hunters! Not some...some... child of the elder womanizing God!"
"And I can just feel the love from you." Naruto said dully. He then crossed his arms over his chest, "So...how do we get this show on the road?"
"You must choose five to join you," Chiron said as he came around the table, "and then your journey leads you West."
"A mix of Campers and Hunters, too I presume..." Mr. D said from the opposite side of the room. He idly flipped through a magazine and answered the upcoming question, "You're leaving Narnia, and so I might as well see you off..." he told him, "Though I am curious about one thing, the 'One must act as four, and Life is born from the belly of war' has me racking my brain rather hard dear brother." the Wine God said.
"It's simple really. The first is simple, one person will fight in place of four people and then the next is easier to decipher. A child of Lord Ares will begin the process of motherhood." Naruto said, "That was rather obvious if I say so myself." the blonde Spartan stated.
"So... what exactly does that mean? That either a sister of mine or myself get's stuck on diaper duty soon?" Clarisse growled, "Cuz if so then I say none of Ares' daughter should be going on this quest." she said.
"We have no other choice. Clarisse, as a child of Ares, you are a vital part of this prophecy. It may not even be on this quest when you are impregnated so there is little to no fear of such things happening yet." Chiron said.
Clarisse growled as she turned to him, "Fine, but if I'm stuck changing diapers in nine months then your stuck on the floor for the next ten afterwards." she said.
"I would never dream of violating you in a way unless we were wedded to one another." Naruto said, "But I wish to return to the subject at hand. ho will be joining me on this journey. I will allow the Hunters to discuss who comes on the quest first." Naruto said.
"Fine, thou art the 'quest leader'," Zoe reluctantly agreed with a growl, "I will gather five sisters and we will leave at dawn."
"The hell you will!" Clarisse spat as she stood, "One camper is not plural, Nightshade! I'm going with you!"
"So am I." Thalia said as she turned to the hunter.
"That's five, who will be the last?" Chiron asked.
"I will go." Percy volunteered.
"No." Naruto said as he stood up.
"What, why not?" Percy whined.
"No not that. Thalia, while you are powerful in your own right, you are also highly inexperienced. As is Percy. However, I propose a three day teaching period before leaving on the quest. And I will also need a tracker and user of woodland magic so a Satyr is must." Naruto said.
"Well, there a plenty of Satyrs around the camp." Chiron pointed out.
"I know, but I have never journeyed with one. I will leave that to the campers to decide." Naruto said.
"Grover's the best tracker and while inexperienced in Woodland Magic he is still skilled." Thalia said.
"Very well then, Grover may join us. And that is the solution for the campers. All we need now are the Hunters of Artemis." Naruto said.
"I must go. As the Lieutenant of Lady Artemis is I that must go." Zoe said.
Naruto nodded, "Exactly. Lady Artemis is your matron and leader, so I wouldn't think about leaving you behind. Choose another Hunter and join us tomorrow at the gates by dawn in three days."
"Fine. Phoebe and I shall meet thou then. She is the best tracker aside from myself and a much better healer than thou," Zoe announced.
Naruto nodded and she turned to leave before another voice stopped him. "Wait...Phoebe is the tall girl built like a tank, right?" Travis Stoll asked. Zoe slowly nodded, making him smile while Conner grinned, both boys gaining a glint in their eyes. Due to the tingling of a prank about to be sprung, Naruto took note of it and walked behind Travis and snagged the item they held and raised his hand with the shirt once hidden by the brothers in his hand. He unrolled it and read it aloud.
"'The Artemis Hunting Tour 2004?' Seriously? A garment laced with..." Naruto sniffed the shirt a few times before coughing, "Ugh, gross! Centaur blood? How in Hades name did you even get this?"
"Uh..." Travis and Conner simultaneously faltered for an answer. Naruto shook his head and tossed the shirt to Chiron, who was scowling at the boys, before he clamped down on their shoulders, "Extra training these next three days for you two." he said.
"Oh come on, that's not fair." the twins groaned.
"You tried to hinder the quest. It is only right to punish you for doing so." Naruto said.
"Very well. Tomorrow you may begin teaching them. I believe it is only right that each of you go out to the eating area and grab a meal. Tomorrow you will need all your strength. And that concludes this meeting." Chiron said
-The next day-
Naruto sighed as he looked at the teenagers around him, "Before I go on this quest in three days. I will hammer the skills necessary to survive a full on battle into those things on your shoulder's called a skull. There will be little rest, so I suggest each of you eat a good meal. Not to much to make you throw up, for the lesson I will hammer into your brains will make you want to cry for your mothers teat." Naruto said, "Now, shield wall!" Naruto commanded and watched as the teenagers each formed a line of shields that seemed untouchable. With a yell Naruto startled the whole lot of them by simply charging head long into it and battering through like a bull.
He of course kicked a couple and smashed a couple with his fists, but in the end his lesson was there, "Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, and dead. The whole lot of you are all dead." Naruto announced, "Especially you." he said pointing to a lanky young man at the front, "When you make a shield wall, you are making exactly that. A wall. This means that each layer of this shield wall is meant to be locked together like a chain stronger than iron or steel. If you have a suit of armor, the armor is supposed to be maintained. If left unchecked you will eventually get a kink in that armor, and where there is a kink there is weakness." Naruto called out.
"You can't exactly expect us to be prepared when you suddenly charge at us like that!" a girl called out.
"So what?" Naruto questioned, "You expect the enemy to simply come to you, the enemy could be anywhere or anyone. Learn to expect the unexpected. In three days time, each of you will learn how it is to fight like a true fighter. Not the ones you think you are going to become, but the ones that destiny has desired for you to become." Naruto said loudly.
"And what happens then?" Clarisse asked him.
"Forge on to the next day. Live as you are intended, but never forget just who you are and where you come from. Now, if all of you are done questioning me, follow." he said as he begun to walk off. He couldn't help but enjoy the muttered curses aimed at him. Seems he was doing his job as a instructor after all. He led the group of some 200 campers to a large clearing that was, hopefully, large enough to fit the whole lot of them. Across the clearing in even spreads apart were training dummies made of hay. Why waste something that has no use to others, "Find a dummy and wait. If you don't have one then I'll have another brought out here tomorrow."
After fifteen minutes he saw that the lines were filled and each dummy had surprised him with only one camper. He cleared his throat, "No, as you can see, the dummy before you has a target across the chest. You job is to listen to the numbers I call out. Stick to the number for the drill and listen to the order they are called. 1 is a simple jab of the spear into the chest. 2 is a block with the pole of the spear. 3 is a strike that comes from the bottom of the spear." Naruto commanded.
"And what about 4?' a kid asked.
"There is no 4." he answered, "1" he called out immediately and watched as only half of them threw up the spear, "1" he called again and then the rest followed suit, "3-3-1-2-3-2-2-1-1-2-3" and the drilling begun. It would last for nearly three hours, and by the time drills were done, many were openly crying about the blisters they held on their hands. For Naruto, it was a sign they needed a different type of activity so they could have time to recover with the ambrosia and nectar. He shook his head, they had a long ways to go, "Alright, stop!" Naruto commanded them causing them to slump in relief, "Ten minute break, then meet me back here with bows and arrows."
Of course Naruto was forced to extend the ten minutes up to twenty as some of the blisters were rather bad and needed a application of ambrosia and nectar to heal them. When he had the rambunctious teenagers beside a dummy again he cleared his throat, "Now, the archery lessons. Rather than hit a stationary target, you are going to be striking at this moving one. As you can see it spins and arches so that you have a harder time aiming. Since none of you have ever fought a actual enemy with a long range fighter on any quests, I think it is necessary to have you learn the skills to ensure that when the time comes you do not lose anyone." Naruto yelled out as he took a bo and arrow, and without looking at his target, shot one on the bulls-eye, "Any questions?' he asked.
"Yeah, when do we begin?" a eager male cried out.
"I need each of you to line up, each of you will have three shots to try and hit a target. After that the next in line ill get their go. This is simply because there is not enough time to allow you to get the hang of it during the day. In fact, I am having more of these built so that more of you can get the practice you need in. I'd say about fifty of these will be sufficient enough to work." Naruto thought to himself before clearing his throat, "Line up!" he yelled out. He nodded in mild satisfaction as the teens quickly formed a line. Of course there was the pushing and shoving, but he simply gave a whistle and told them to hurry up, "Remember, three shots. Do not focus on any solitary target. Shoot at the one that falls into your sight. Breathe in once. Relax the mind, then release upon the exhale." Naruto instructed.
Of course each of them missed, with there being a few exceptions hitting the target but not where the middle was. When all 200 of the demigods had went once, Naruto then had them form a circle for hand to hand combat lesson, "Now, I know you know how to fight a fighting style of Greek combat. What you do not know, is how to fight unfair. If you fight dirty, then you are liable to in regardless. Do not ever let the enemy get the upper hand, or you ill lose. I need a volunteer, no." he spoke as a young man from Ares' cabin stepped up, "What I aim to teach you before the sun sets, is how to turn the odds into your favor regardless if you are fighting one or ten men." he said before turning to his volunteer, "Attack me." he commanded.
And with a yell the teen attacked, Naruto simply took a solitary step to the right and gripped his head and pulled back causing him to instantly hit the ground, "Get up." Naruto said as he reached down and helped him up, "Again." he said and this time the kid drew his sword and begun to swipe at Naruto. Naruto ducked and dodged under each and waited until the kid messed up. It didn't take long for the blood of Ares to consume him in anger and he overextended his arm in a swing and Naruto pushed himself to the right and wrapped a arm over the left shoulder and the other under the right armpit and locked his hands together before he physically lifted the teen up off the ground and body slammed him down.
"Partner up." Naruto commanded.
"But that was only two techniques!" Percy exclaimed.
"And you saw that even with two, I still beat him on both occasions. Very well then, why don't you step up and I will teach some more cousin." Naruto commanded.
"Uh, no thanks." Percy said.
"Heh, and here I had thought had some form of potential. Pathetic. To think that the gods fear someone who sucks on his mother's breasts even now. What, you wish mommy were here to tell you a story?" Naruto taunted, "Oh wait, let me guess. You want mommy to hold your hand on everything? Heh, good luck surviving the war against the Titans, pussy." Naruto spat in his face(1) and Percy charged with a roar. Only for Naruto to smash his fist into his face from the left and right so quickly Percy wasn't able to think. And with a snarl Naruto smashed his wrist into his neck and threw him off his feet, "You are not worth my time Jackson. Go home, you don't deserve the looks of fear from the gods." Naruto said with a shake of his head before he kicked him in the stomach.
"Hey, you don't have to do that!" a young woman cried out.
"Grow up. You think I don't know this. I am teaching all of you to survive!" he called back.
"But you don't have to goad him to fight you like that!" the same girl said.
"And, you think if he goes out into a pub and picks a fight with somebody that is aiming to hurt him will fight fair. I don't think so. The lessons you learn from me here and now are meant to teach you one thing and one thing only. That is, to survive. I don't care how, but it will help you live to see another day. Now, partner up. You have three minutes." Naruto said before looking down, "And for your information Percy Jackson, I am only being rude because that is what my upbringing has taught me. To be rude and harden the hearts of others to make them better. It is not that I hate you, I wish for you to better yourself so that you may live another day." he told him before he walked off.
-Day 2-
"1-2-2-3-1-2-3-1" Naruto yelled "Lift your elbows Jackson, these swords aren't toys. You stumble, you die. It's why the lesson is called 'How not to stab yourself' and you are doing it horribly. Sheesh, we already had one of you do that without even holding the damn things!" Naruto said. Walking forward he looked at a young girl, "Both eyes open when you hold a dagger. You never close one. You miss, you are liable to be found and hit back." Naruto said as he picked up a dagger and then held it properly, "Loosen the wrists as well, if you are to tense you may let the blade go to early or late and it'll make you miss your target. Relax, the only time you need to worry is on the battlefield and you are dying." he told her before he pat her shoulder, "Again, 1-3-1" and the drilling with spears continued until archery came up a hour later.
He cringed at Percy Jackson's terrible aim, "Keep practicing kid." he said as he walked forward, "Stand up tall." he said as he placed his bow to the kids groin and caused him to stiffen up and hit a bulls-eye, "Nice, keep up that mentality." he said before walking over to Chiron teaching hand to hand combative techniques, "If you must, then place a leg in between your opponents and then take a step back. Sometimes improvisations are the perfect answer to a fight. Don't forget to lock your wrist when going for a shoulder throw." Naruto said to Clarisse who nodded in understanding.
"Shield wall, form!" Naruto yelled suddenly and watched as the teens all summoned a shield and stood quickly against each other's shoulder, "Good, speed is everything when you are aiming to make a defense. Never forget that all fights are unexpected and should be seen as the last."
-Day 3-
"Alright, this is the first test I am going to give you. If you pass, then I will give each of you a lesson on any form of fighting you desire. Just the two of us." Naruto said, "And the class continues learning how to fight." he said.
"A test, he never mentioned a test."
"And today's lesson is what exactly?" a daughter of Apollo asked.
"You are to try to kill me. Do not hesitate, do not hold back or falter. If you do I shall nick your armor. And no matter how many times you fall you can still get back up. Each of you has three hits on me, the third time, I shall consider you a casualty of this lesson." Naruto told each of his stunned students, "Attack when I give a whistle understand!" he commanded.
"Yes sir!" the teens called out.
"Good." Naruto said before taking a stroll to the other side of the clearing. The clearing is roughly the size of two football fields so it was good enough.. A sharp whistle is soon heard and suddenly the teenagers all release their battle cries. Naruto watches calmly as the small platoon of demigods runs at him. He saw them reach three fourths distance away from him before he begun to jog towards them before he burst into a sprint. Quickly meeting them, he burst into their ranks as he sent several of them flying back as he struck against them using his superior strength. As he rushed into the deeper part of the small group he had to punch several using his fist (Those didn't count til he got a weapon) as he charged on.
He dodged a spear that had been thrown at him and actually felt it cut into his ear a bit. While he didn't know who had thrown it, he was quite impressed by the accuracy used. He growled as he grabbed two of them by their throats and slammed them into the dirt before he performed a mule kick into a son of Ares and sent him flying back. As another tried to lop his head off, he simply stepped back and kicked the sword out of the holder's grip and had it smash the pommel into another campers face causing them to cry out from the broken nose they received. Usually he'd laugh, but he was currently focused on grading the test he had given them.
He grabbed the sword off the ground and proceeded to slash away as he spun and slashed in circular movements as he dodged and put down opponents left and right. As Percy tried to slice him down the middle, Naruto held the blade he had acquired and blocked it with the flat of the blade before he bent the one he held around his hands and kneed him in the legs and slashed his armor and then elbowed him in the face as he continued on. On and on he slashed and fought away as they did as he instructed them to do. Until, they messed up and tried to hit him with a spear to the leg. Grabbing it, he broke the tip off and begun to dance a different... dance?
Grabbing it he spun it over his head three times before he bent back to the point his knees had placed themselves in a 90 degree angle to dodge a swipe of a sword before he rose himself back up. After this, Naruto begun to spin his pole around and smash it into the campers faces and chests as they attacked him head on. He then gave simple jab of the spear into the chest of Clarisse before he smashed her across the face. Hearing a yell from behind Naruto spun around and performed a quick block with the pole of the spear before he lashed out with a strike that came from the bottom of the spear.
Channeling his Electric based powers through it he raised the spear up and smashed it into the ground with a yell that sent dozens of the teenagers flying back in shock (Quite literally) as dirt flew into the air from the smash. Seeing that the spear was useless he simply dropped it before he picked a sword up off the ground. Before he could place himself into a stance, Naruto noticed that several of the campers that had remained untouched had reached him and decided to indulge them. He noticed Thalia had her trusty spear in her hand had been the closest and so with that, Naruto lashed out.
She of course dodged and coated her spear in electricity while a son of Hephaestus had a hammer raised above his head. There were of course other's, but these stood out as these had been the second type spears that he had taught them to make. Seems they had improved their equipment as well. He saw as they raised their weapons up to try and take him don and smirked. Naruto growled as he kicked his foot out and smashed it into Thalia's gut causing her to actually cough up blood due to the force of his kick. This in turn sent the daughter of Zeus flying back before she crashed into another camper.
Now, one must understand. To hit a person in the stomach with enough force to actually cough up blood is astronomical. The fact that she was now coughing up blood made her situation that much worse due to the fact that it showed she now held severe internal injuries from the one hit alone. Naruto grabbed the hammer from the son of the Smith God and ripped it from his grasp before he smashed it into his chest forcing him to bend over in pain from the hit, and this allowed Naruto to smash a elbow into his back causing him to crash into the dirt in a spray of dust and rocks. After this Naruto lashed out in retaliation by simply charging forward into the recovering demigods.
The twins of Hermes named Conner and Travis gasped in shock as Naruto appeared beside them and jumped into the air where he kicked Travis in the chest while punching Conner in the face. The two of them found themselves flying in opposing directions by the powerful blows and soon they too had crashed into a couple trees with grunts of pain. Naruto once more rushed forward and vanished once more where he appeared in front of Silena Beauregard and jumped into the air and did a round house to her face and sent the stunning beauty flying away. Of course, Naruto still hadn't truly gotten serious. These kids had not tactics, formations or strategy formed to stop him.
The best way that the could have stopped him was for them to gather all the spear users and form a box around him with the shields at the front and the archers behind the shield wall where the sword holders were just behind the spears. Box him in, easy peesy rice and cheesy. Anyways, where was this going again? Oh, that's right! :
Naruto kicked a camper in the face and then punched another across the jaw as he followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent another to the ground unconscious. One swung a sword arm at him in a attempt to cleave his head off his shoulder's, but he skillfully ducked under it and gave a mighty reverse heel kick that sent him skidding across the ground with his upper body slipping and sliding across the dirt. Naruto then turned and leaned back as another enemy swung a spear at him before he gave a powerful right cross and then jumped on the mans face and leapt off to go to another part of the armies ranks.
It was almost like he was soaring above them, but when he landed it was death (Not really as he didn't kill any of them) incarnate as he proceeded to tear the enemy apart. Ducking under yet another sword he grabbed a young woman by her wrists and spun her around and let her go where she crashed into her comrades who shouted in surprise. Like a dance of fury he spun in circles while disabling his opponents with ease. Strike after strike was dealt and Naruto looked at each of his enemies with a calculating eye before he charged through their ranks once more like a unstoppable force of nature.
Using his enhanced strength Naruto caved a mans chest piece in and relieved him of his sword and began to take his enemies down mercilessly. He spun and cut a mans knee's forcing him to fall to his knees before he too was kicked away. He'd be fine with some healing. One man thought it would be a great idea to throw dagger with a spark of electricity coming off of it towards him. How wrong he was when with precise skill Naruto turned and caught the blade between his middle and pointer fingers. Spinning around, he simply shoved it into the kink of a campers armor and spun around where he quickly kicked the man away before he smashed his fist into the camper who had thrown the dagger's face.
The man that had the dagger placed on him screamed in fear as he tried to remove it, but was to late as it detonated and electrocuted several dozen of his friends. With that done Naruto grabbed another sword and begun to skillfully spin around and cut through the enemy ranks. Without even using his sight he reached out and grabbed a enemies wrist where with a quick twist it snapped. He then brought his legs in and kicked them to his sides striking two enemies at the same time.
Before Naruto could engage the campers again, Chiron came galloping onto the scene, "Enough, the test is finished." Chiron announced loudly to the moaning and groaning teens scattered across the ground.
"And why is that Chiron? I believe I said I would scratch each of them three times. Why hinder my teaching's? It's not like I was fighting all out." Naruto said
"Ah, screw you." a teen said in pain.
"Should have never volunteered to take that test."
"Such horse-shit."
Naruto scowled, "To the pit the lot of you." he muttered.
"Gladly..." Silena muttered.
-Dinner-
"Can't say I didn't try." Percy said with a wide smirk.
"Do or do not, there is no try." Naruto said.
Percy raised a brow, "You quoting Yoda now?" he asked.
"I have no knowledge of who that is." he said.
"You know, 'Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.' that Yoda." Percy said.
"That is why you train. Remember, a one's strength flows from the heart. But beware, anger, fear, aggression. The dark emotions are always there. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny." Naruto said.
"Exactly! That's Yoda right there!" Percy said.
"No, that is something they teach us in Sparta. If I ever meet this Yoda I shall show him not to steal from us." Naruto said.
"He's not even real, he's a movie character!" Percy said.
"What's a movie?" Naruto asked.
"Ok, when the quest is over, I'm taking you to my home to show you the greatness that is Star Wars." Percy said.
Naruto shrugged, "Whatever suits your needs." he said.
-1 day until departure-
Naruto stood in the forge late at night and hammered away at his project. This would truly put his skill as a warrior to a test if this proved to work. Already there was several complete sets already made. He just hoped that they did the job and didn't screw him or the other's over. Over on the wall of armor sets there were six sets of armor.(1) The first suit of armor was a silver-blue color with a set of howling maws on the breast. The waist guard had a silver overlay that was split into three sections. For the wrist guards, the design held aspects of the chest and waist. There was three slots that held purple gems that had been embedded into the breastplate, wrist guards and the waist lining.
The second suit was of similar design, but it was colored red. It had a olden trim laid into the border of the armor with three red gems that had a golden carving etched into them. This armor also had three red gems in the breast, waist, and wrist pieces.
The third suit of armor was a bronze set of armor that had a green-blue aura surrounding it while the design showed a intersecting gold overlay upon a strong cross-forged steel. The shoulder guards had a extra shielding to increase the protection of the neck as there was a second one installed. The waist guard had a stacked bronze plate with three plates stacked into two separate columns. The wrists had a extension near the elbows to add just a bit more protection as it folded out towards the air. There was three gems embedded into the armor of purple color as well.
The fourth suit of armor was of similar design, but rather than focus on bronze, this suit of armor was crafted with a bold silver in design with high shoulder guards with intricate designs carved into the steel. The waist guard had a similar design of stacked silver plates with three plates stacked into two separate columns. The wrists guards were also extended to provide extra protection as the end was folded outwards as well. There was three blue gems placed into the armor pieces.
The fifth suit of armor had two golden wolves in the breastplate jumping at one another with a high neck guard built in the back of the breastplate. The waist-guard had a golden design that seemed to spiral in two different directions with a spartan-like design behind the main guard. The wrist guards had intricate gold designs that resembled the sun and even had a silver outline around the hem. This also had a set of gold gems placed into each piece of armor that had silver carvings placed into them to increase the design.
The sixth suit of armor was a blue scale-mail design. The Breast plate had no additions placed upon it and was of simple crisscrossing the scales. The difference between this shoulder guard design and the previous ones was that the additional guard was placed under the first shoulder guard to protect the upper arm rather than the neck of the wearer. The waist protector was a scale design much like the chest, but it was built in three separate pieces before the three scale plates were connected with golden rivets on strong leather. The wrists guards were also extended to provide extra protection as the end was folded outwards as well. There were three gem slots that held red gems that had silver designs carved into them.
The final suit of armor was a delicate suit to craft. This was the armor meant for Zoe Nightshade. When it was done, it would truly set her apart from the rest of the hunters of Lady Artemis. Seeing as it was incomplete, the reveal would say it all.
Percy, Clarisse, Thalia, Grover, Zoe, Grover and himself, that is who the armors are made for.
-Day of Departure-
Chiron, Clarisse, Grover, Thalia, Phoebe, Zoe all looked at the covered stands in confusion. Clarisse held up a finger, "Can you please explain why we are out here? And just what is with the cloak and dagger stuff with the covers?" she asked.
"Where is Perseus Jackson?" Naruto asked, "I would have assumed he would have come seeing as he is part of this quest and one of these is his." he said.
"Prissy went missing sometime last night and nobody has seen him since." Clarisse scowled.
Naruto groaned as he rubbed his forehead, "Seriously, this is why in Sparta they beat obedience into us as children. The fact he is not in the camp shows just ho insubordinate he is." Naruto said.
"Well, it's a good thing this isn't Sparta then." Phoebe said.
"Silence woman, your council is unwanted. When I require your council, then I will ask for it." Naruto said.
Before Zoe could speak up, Clarisse clapped her hands, "Ok, lets just see what is under the sheets alright." she said.
"Very well, feat your eyes on my latest creations for questing." Naruto said as he pulled a rope that ripped all the sheets off the stands to reveal all the suits of armor.
"Oh wow, this is beautiful." Thalia said running her hands over the red suit of armor.
"Thank you. I had much help from the sons and daughters of the Smith God, but there is more to these suits of armor than you might think." he told them before he pulled Clarisse over to the red suit of armor, "This one is yours." he told her before moving Thalia to the one resembling the red, "And this one belongs to you." he told his half sister. Grabbing Grover he moved him over to the one with the green-blue aura, "I crafted this one personally for you Grover Underwood." he told the satyr. He motioned to the gold and silver suits of armor, "Huntresses of Artemis, I crafted these with your best skills kept in mind. Choose one." he offered.
"What about those two?" Grover asked as he looked over his suit in wonder.
"The blue scaled one belongs to me while the wolf inlaid one is Perseus Jackson's." Naruto told the satyr.
"Oh. I guess that makes sense." he said shrugging.
"I would either place the armor on or place it in the van. But seeing as I trust my armor I am suiting it upon my flesh." Naruto said as he swiftly placed the armor on and strapped it in place in precisely three minutes.
"Alright, since we've established Prissy isn't here, let's get going. I don't know about any of you but I think standing around with our thumbs up our asses isn't going to finish this quest." she said.
"So, who's driving this... vehicle?' Naruto asked as he looked at the van in front of him.
"I shalt be the one to driveth the van." Zoe said as she climbed into the driver seat.
Clarisse shrugged and climbed into the back of the van as Naruto climbed into the front passenger seat while the rest of the campers climbed into the back. When the door to the van closed, Zoe started the car.
Phoebe quickly buckled up causing Grover to look at her, "Why are you buckling up, this is a van?" he asked.
"You'll see." she said cringing.
XxX
"LOOK OUT!" Clarisse cried in panic.
"PEDESTRIAN, PEDESTRIAN!" Grover bleated out.
"BY ZEUS'S BEARD, WHAT KIND OF MADNESS IS THIS, STOP THIS VEHICLE OF DAMNATION!" Naruto pleaded as Zoe swerved around another vehicle and into the ditch.
"BY THE GOD'S WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO DRIVE?!" Thalia cried out.
"It was in WWII where she learned to drive. She had to dodge enemy mortal shells as she saved children from both sides." Phoebe said calmly, despite the jostling of the van.
"I STILL DON'T SEE HOW YOU'RE SO CLAM IN THIS SITUATION!" Naruto cried back at her.
"It's not that bad." Phoebe said.
"YOU'RE CRAZY!" the other's cried at her.
"Seriously, it's not so bad. I don't see ho-BARK-and silence ensued the cabin of the van. "Ok, I take that back." she said.
"That poor puppy." Thalia said in terror.
"I am never riding shotgun again if she's driving." Clarisse said.
"Then you should have asked how's her driving next time." Grover bleated.
"I will." she responded.
"I shalt never taketh any of you on a trip again Phoebe." Zoe said sourly.
"Says the one that ran over a dog." Phoebe retorted smugly.
"I hate you." Zoe said in a dry tone.
"Pull the van over, right now!" Clarisse commanded.
"Ugh, fine, as thou wishes." Zoe said as she yanked the wheel and pulled into the parking lot of some strange building (At least to Naruto) that had a giant stone man sitting in a chair. The Smithsonian Museum, the second largest museum in the world that detailed most of america's history.
Naruto unclipped his seatbelt and jumped out of the vehicle, "Blessed Apollo, thank you for bringing salvation in my time of dire need." he said falling to his knees.
"Oh it's so dramatic." Phoebe snorted.
"Says you." Clarisse sighed as she stepped out of the van.
"So, now what?" Zoe asked.
"I think a short walk around should do us some good. Get something to eat, calm the mind. You know, the basics." Grover bleated out.
"The satyr has a point, but make sure you leave your armors by the van, but keep them hidden." Naruto commanded as something powerful entered his sensory range, "Keep alert, there is something here." he told them. However, rather than take his own armor off, he simply proceeded to walk off.
"Hey, I thought you said to leave our armor behind?" Grover asked.
"I was talking about you guys. There is something I have to check out. Just don't wonder off to far." he told them as he called his hand rose up and he summoned his frost ax to his hand. Seeing as his blades were always strapped to his back, he need not call them to his side.
"But why are you taking all your weapons?" Grover asked.
"Just in case, now get going. I shall search the area just in case there are enemies." he said as he walked away from the group of demigods and satyr and Hunters. He, unfortunately, needed to see just what this feeling was. If it was a enemy, he'd kill them then.
And without even waiting, the Ghost of Sparta crouched down and leapt to the air with a powerful leap that sent him to the roof of a large building. It was also conveniently named National Air and Space Museum and unfortunately our protagonist is a ancient Spartan that read Greek. He was only taking a few steps as he ran across them before he used his divine energy (As the people called in in the age of gods) to improve how high and how far he jumped. As he got to the museum, the flapping of wings appeared in the air making him halt and look around in the sky and around the nearby buildings.
After a moment of searching, he saw the figure again from last time though this time it was more visible then before and he could make it out. He recognized the shape immediately; it was a black Pegasus with a five foot long wings on each side that that looked glossy from the morning sun. However on the back he noticed a figure. He could not quite make them out since their head was hiding in the hair and neck of the Pegasus but Naruto could not help but feel angry when he saw it, 'So, pErseus Jackson decided to leave before the labor officially begun. This is not something a demigod should be doing, even if he is the son of the Sea God, and it very unbecoming of one. Mistress Ichylda would have his head on a platter if she had seen something like that.' the blonde thought to himself.
He thought before he ran over to the entrance of the giant museum and landed on the steps leading up to the entrance.
On the entrance door there was a big sign saying CLOSED FOR PRIVATE EVENT. Naruto raised an eyebrow at it but knew this had something to do with what the energy he sensed earlier. He ignored he sigh and threw it away before he walked forward and pushed the door open while breaking the lock. Naruto stepped in and immediately looked around the giant entrance hall to the museum. A large replica of an African Elephant stood proudly to his left as he walked on the white and black tiled floor.
As he walked along the hallway of the museum the scent of the ocean hit him and he inwardly growled and he clenched his fist, 'I am going to kill him, bring him back from the Underworld and then kill him all over again.' Naruto thought as he followed the scent. He continued down the path and stopped momentarily when he saw a giant skeleton of a dinosaur making him whistle a little in amazement, 'That is so cool. I wonder what they were like when they were alive.' He thought. They would also make one awesome war animal to take into battle.
He walked forward and followed the scent but he stopped when he heard voices coming from behind him. Crouching down he leapt up into the air and used his control over the wind to keep him afloat in the air above the exhibit, hiding himself from view as the voices got louder. He waited patiently for a moment before two slightly bigger than humans Cyclops walked past in some armor with large clubs in their hands. Both looked mean and nasty but they were no problem to Naruto. Drawing his blades he waited. As the two monsters walked underneath him he drew his arms back and slung the two blades downward in a arc of fire that sliced the two into twine.
He could only nod in satisfaction when the two cyclopes fell into matching piles of golden dust. Placing his blades away Naruto slowly lowered himself to the ground and collected the skulls of his enemies that remained behind as his trophy, 'Since those Cyclops are here then it means I am definitely in the right place.' he thought to himself before looking around to make sure there hadn't been any other onlookers. Upon seeing nobody else, the blonde nodded in satisfaction before he decided to continue down the large hallway. He walked for a few moments before he began sensing a couple of energy signatures up ahead.
One he recognized and made him narrow his eyes, another felt like a monster and from the scent in the air smelt like one as well. But there was another there as well and it stood out from the rest. It was large, extremely large. The only time he had felt a power like that was with Lord Ares but this felt endless like their power did not seem to have some kind of stopping point.
It felt older as well and it smelt potent too. It made him shudder when he felt it because it meant whoever was in there was extremely powerful.
'This one, the unending pool of energy, this must be the one responsible for Lady Artemis going missing. If I can force some answers from him, then the mission shall be that much easier to complete before the Solstice.' Naruto thought to himself.
Following the scents and power signatures, it eventually led him to a large room that had a second balcony ringing around the room. Naruto hid behind a few chairs and lowered his power to the point where no one would be able to feel it. Around at certain points of the balcony were about a dozen mortal bodyguards along with a couple of monsters all stationed around the entrances. He guesses that the two Cyclops he killed were the ones that were meant to guard the entrance that he arrived in.
Looking down into the center of the hall were three people. Two were standing while the third was sitting on a make shift throne, his face and most of his body being obscured from view but Naruto recognized him as the one who at the large, power signature and the one that he had to be careful around.
One of the people standing he recognized immediately. It was Luke Castellan, the traitorous son of Hermes and the one that pulled the wool over everyone's eyes back at camp. He had heard about how he had turned traitor and nearly killed several of the campers a year beforehand. He'd die the next possible chance. Shame he didn't bring his bow, he would have loved to play 'Hit the apple' right now. And the apple in this instance would definitely be the boys head. However, when Naruto looked at him he frowned a little at the state he was in. He was pale, extremely pale and his hair had lost all of its shine that showed he was alive and youthful. His eyes had dark rings around them indicating he had not been sleeping well.
'What in Lord Hades' happened to him?' Naruto thought but then turned his attention towards the other standing person standing next to Luke.
She looked like a regular girl of African American descent and had dark curly hair that went past her shoulders and reminded him in a way of Medusa's hair with the way it curled and looked like snakes. She was wearing regular civilian clothes and had this sexy, sly look about her like she was not afraid to use her gifts as a woman to get what she wanted.
Despite her appearance, he could smell that she was a monster but what kind exactly he was unsure. 'She must be a kind of monster that can alter her appearance, like the Furies.' He thought before he tried again to get a good look at the man sitting on the make shift throne.
All that he could make out was that he was wearing some kind of business like pants with black expensive shoes. From the hand that he could see he saw he had coppery colored skin that in a way reminded him of Zoe's skin tone.
The man on the throne coughed as he cleared his throat before his voice called out.
"Well, where are they?" He asked as his powerful voice rang out through the hall and made shivers go down Naruto's spine again.
As soon as Naruto heard it he narrowed his eyes at him. While the voice did not sound very malicious, it was a voice that demanded respect and held a lot of power in it.
Though he glared at the hidden man because from those few words he knew almost immediately that this was the guy that was both in charge of this group and the one responsible for Lady Artemis' kidnapping. He took a silent deep breath keeping his anger in check as his eyes flashed red for a moment before he managed to keep in control. 'As much as I want to rip this guy apart, I will need to wait and see if he has any information that's worth having. Plus I can't make a mistake from someone of this power.'
"They are here, General." Luke's voice said. Even his voice sounded weaker then what he had expected.
"I know that you fool. I want to know how many there are? I want to know my enemies before they arrive on my doorstep." The powerful man said as he leaned forward.
Naruto tried to get a glimpse of his face but again his face was obscured from view still. Though he did see that the man had dark hair. "I'm sorry my Lord. They are over in the National Air and Space museum but from what we understand there is one missing from the quest." Luke answered.
The man looked at Luke with narrowed eyes before he waved his right hand, "Who is with them? Name the ones that are here you incompetent little fool." He bellowed making Luke take a step back. Naruto thought the very sound of the voice would be strong enough to knock Luke down.
"Yes my lord. There is satyr with them, Grove Underwood who I know from back at camp. He is useless for a satyr and his woodland magic is far lower than a normal satyr. He won't be a problem." Luke told the hidden man. Naruto growled at the description Luke gave as the man motioned for him to continue. Though not very strong, Grover still had aptitude for his gifts. To talk so rudely about somebody like that didn't sit right in Naruto's books.
"Another is a daughter of Ares himself. Before I left the camp she was very skilled, her only skills being her using a electric spear. However since then she has improved by major leaps and bounds apparently. My spy has said that she has actually been given improved armor and weapons by some newcomer."
The man grunted. "A daughter of Ares has become a great known warrior? Warriors in this world really have dropped in standards. The only talent they have is her mother's talents in spreading her legs and giving pleasure." He said as a throaty chuckle escaped his throat. Luke nodded as if he was just trying to kiss up to the big man while Naruto looked ready to rip all of them into pieces while his eyes flashed red again and this time anyone who dared to describe his friend and ally in such a way then was going to get buried.
"Continue."
"The other is a huntress with a silver circlet around her head." Luke said but Naruto heard the man growl.
"There is no need. That one I know too well. Make sure that she dies. I don't want that little traitor to live beyond this week."
Now Naruto's anger was replaced with curiosity. How does this guy no Zoe? Does Zoe know this guy? Did something happen between them to get this kind of antagonistic feelings towards her. Whatever Zoe did to this man, it made him want to see her dead at his feet.
"Of course my lord. The only other with them is the daughter of Zeus. She was recognized due to her dressing habits and her Aegis shield. It seems she truly was revived from the tree."
"Good, this is good." The man said as he looked down towards Luke. "Now my boy, the first thing we must do is isolate the half-blood Thalia. The monster we seek will then come to her."
"So she is the key to potentially bring down Olympus?" Luke asked while the woman beside him looked at the powerful man in a flirty manor as if trying to get his attention.
"She is. She is most likely the one of the prophecy and therefore bringing her to our side will be the best way to ensure our victory."
'A prophecy? Just what is this prophecy?' Naruto though since other then the gods who obviously knew it, Chiron and Annabeth were also aware of it.
"Out of curiosity who is the person that is missing from the group." He asked with his voice full of authority.
Luke winced a little. "The other is the special demigod my Lord. It appears there is a Spartan son of Zeus that is descended of both Poseidon and Hades. It has been discovered the while he is out of date for the era, he is the one who is leading the quest. He is said to be very strong my lord, he could be a threat to your plans." Luke said as the man leaning back into his throne while his fingers tapped on the throne.
"And are the rumors true?" the man asked.
"I believe they are. Apparently a couple hours into his first day at the camp he slew the offspring monster between Zeus and her though I have heard he did have help in slaying the beast." Luke told the man.
The big man said nothing and tapped the throne arm, "He could potentially be a threat, I see that. With those damn Olympian abilities granted to him through his bloodline, it makes him unpredictable. With him here it makes things difficult, it gives him even more a reason to fight us and it gives him more of a purpose then the huntress." the man stated heatedly.
At least he had been considered a threat, and they had ade the correct assumption, for a Spartan is a true threat regardless of stature.
"I will come up with a way to get rid of him but if that fails then I will get rid of him myself." the man commented.
"What of the huntress Zoe-" luke tried to ask only to be interrupted.
"Do not speak her name." the man hissed out.
Luke swallowed and recoiled a little bit in fear. "S-sorry, General. I just-"
The General silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Let me show you my boy how we will bring the Hunters down. The Hunters are not as strong as they make themselves out to be. If we can take Artemis with little hassle then it means they will not be a problem. The lieutenant may try to save her but ultimately she will fail. "
Now Naruto's thoughts were confirmed. 'This is the man who took Lady Artemis. That means this guy has to be a Titan of some kind. It's the only explanation.'
The powerful man stared down towards he woman who was now looking at Luke with a flirty look. "Do you have the teeth?"
The woman looked up at him and gave him a flirty yet fanged look. Looking closer at the woman Naruto saw her teeth looked like fangs.
"I do General, they are right here." She said as she patted her back pocket on her left cheek while leaning forward a little, trying to show some of her cleavage to the all powerful man.
"Plant them." He said not even bothering with her attempts in trying to seduce him.
The woman huffed in annoyance before she turned around and began walking towards a big circle of dirt. It had large footprints in the dirt indicting that it was a previously an exhibit for some kind of large skeleton.
As Naruto leaned in from the side he now began to notice that the scent of the ocean was hitting his nose and looked over around to see where it was originating.
Looking over he noticed that down on the ground floor close to the circle of soil was a ripple in the air that he recognized as invisibility magic.
'He is in so much trouble.' He thought as Naruto gritted his teeth and silently began watching what the woman was doing. She took sharp white teeth out of the pot and pushed them into the soil. She smoothed them over while the General leaned forward a little.
"Ready General." She said as she picked up a small watering can that was next to the circle of soil.
"Excellent! Water them, and we will let them scent their prey."
The dark skinned woman nodded and began pouring a dark red liquid substance over the buried teeth.
The effect was instant as the soil erupted shooting soil everywhere as well as making the invisible demi god take a couple of steps back.
Naruto watched with baited breath to see what was coming out of the ground until a single sound came out and sounded out through the silent hall.
"Mew"
Naruto had to stop for a moment as he looked towards the dirt and did his best to not start laughing when he saw a couple of little kitten colored like a tiger with stripes down their backs push out of the ground and begin rolling around in the dirt while playing with each other.
Everyone in the room stared in disbelief while the General was practically shaking in his throne with rage and anger.
The General roared. "What is this? Cute cuddly kittens? Where did you find those teeth?"
The woman shook in her spot while trying to keep eye contact with the General. "I-I got them from him." she said pointing towards a guard stationed near the Generals throne.
"WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE TEETH?" He roared as the guard shaking walked towards him and bowed. His voice was shaky as he spoke.
"From the exhibit, sir! Just like you said. The saber-tooted tiger-" He started before the General brought his fist down on the edge of the arm on his throne. The slam rang out through the hall.
"No, you idiot! I said the tyrannosaurus! Gather up those-those infernal beasts and take them outside." He said towards the cyclopes who nodded its head furiously before it grabbed the kittens and took them away.
"You however." He said glaring at the guard at his feet before the General threw his hand forward and a beam of energy engulfed the poor guard. There as not even a scream as the beam faded away and showed that nothing remained of the guard. No bones or dust.
Naruto could not believe how this man treated his own subordinates. It kind of reminded him of Midas, the greedy king. If you couldn't give him coin then you had nothing of worth to live for. Deciding he had seen enough he left the hall just after the cyclopes had. He stayed silent as he stayed behind the monster. As Naruto and the Cyclopes exited the building Naruto used his ability to fly to get in the air but stopped just in time to catch sight of the disguised cyclops carrying the five kittens. Now normally, he would've just either ignored the sight or attacked and then left, but the kittens had something he couldn't get enough of.
Orange fur.
Orange fur.
...
'Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, MINE!' The Ghost of Sparta thought as he adjusted his footing and built energy up in his legs. Time for a Fry and Die!
Naruto managed to fly up almost twenty feet into the air and arced slightly before coming back towards the ground feet first. Using the small gap between his feet as a reticulated, Naruto aimed at the side of the cyclops' head. A second later, and his feet collided with the force of a freight train behind them thanks to gravity's intervention. The cyclops went flying and as a result, the kittens were dropped in the snow, mewing adorably out of freight.
Naruto grinned as he watched the cyclops soar into the nearest tree...and through it. That one would be waking up with a bad headache. The blonde's eyes looked down at the kittens and he grinned. Cute and Orange? That would be what his mother would call a 'win of epic proportions'.
Kneeling down, Naruto picked the closest one up and examined it. Two small fangs protruded from its upper jaw and came out over the bottom. Almost like a...no, that'd be stupid! Yes he had heard that they were Saber-Tooth-Tigers, but they had gone extinct roughly a decade before his conception. He had heard how the elders told stories on how the beasts could make even the bravest of Spartans cower in fear due to their ferocity in battle.
'The others may find this a bad idea, but I can't find myself to care right now!' Naruto mused as he began stroking the little cat's head and getting a purr in response. As much as he wanted to continue playing with the kitten he named Briares, after the Hekatonkheires of legend, Naruto knew that he had to get a move on. And so with another piece of leather and his wrist-wrappings, Naruto gathered the five kittens up, comfortably wrapped them up and put the new location of transport on the blanket he carried on his back. But not before he ripped a piece of his shirt off and used it to mark Briares as his.
XxX
A second later, Chiron looked down as a bundle appeared before him, moving and oddly enough mewing. Grabbing the piece of paper hastily pinned to the blanket by a knife, the centaur read the message before paling. To his fear, one of the kitten heads popped out and mewed at him.
Later that day, Chiron had gathered the entire camp to tell them what had happened, "What Mr. D told you was partially true. However!" Chiron would later proclaim after he revealed the kittens to the campers, "I did not, nor shall I ever, scream like a 'little girl' so don't go making rumors!" He then dispersed the remaining four kittens to the Athena Cabin, a gift specifically for Annabeth as she had been the first to greet him when he woke and to act as a cabin guard when older; the Ares Cabin, because they nearly demanded they have one, would then lend the cat to Hephaestus' cabin once grown; the Demeter and Aphrodite Cabin, for the same reason as Athena's new kitten; and the last kitten went to the Hunters of Artemis as a gift from their cousin. The Hermes and Apollo Cabins would share responsibility over Ranger until Naruto returned.
XxX
Back at the plot, Naruto resumed his journey to the Air and Space Museum, arriving through the doors and easily spotting his group. Thalia and Zoë were nearly butting heads, but Grover and for some reason Phoebe were holding them back. This struck him as odd as Naruto assumed Phoebe would've let Zoë get in a fight with the raven-haired demigoddess. The blonde then took note of the nervous Percy standing to the side, looking guilty and shifting uncomfortably, "Oh, so you finally decide to join us Perseus Jackson, do tell me, why it is exactly, you deemed it necessary to leave before each of us had done so?" he demanded.
"I...I was called out to help a friend the night before you left," Percy replied before looking around, trying to deflect the Spartans decidedly scary glare.
"Hey, eyes on me Perseus Jackson." Naruto snapped at him.
The blond pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh of irritation. At least he had made use of himself. He then lowered his hand and pointed at Percy, "Next time, tell us you're up to no good before we have to leave on a Labor for the gods, understand." he commanded, "Let us go, there are things we must discuss, and I would prefer it not to be near an enemy stronghold." he told the others.
"Hey, pretty sure we can talk now." Percy said looking to Naruto, "Like, how did you manage to evade that General dude and Luke?" he asked the Spartan.
Naruto sighed as he stopped and looked to Percy, "Do you know how futile it is to explain just how bad you messed up?" he asked the boy.
"No, but I assume you'r going to explain it to me." Percy said.
"Indeed." Naruto said, "See, I told you to go to sleep, not prance and play around and do what you wanted. I can understand that the Pegasus left with you on its back unintentionally bringing you to the place we would meet. But next time a leader or a commander tells you to listen to them, its best to not ignore or overrule their command and do what it is they tell you to. Insubordination can only go so far before you become a problem and two things are done to take care of those problems. Do you wish to hear how those problems are eliminated, or do you wish to contradict them?" he asked the teen.
"I'll hear them." Percy said.
"The first is to remove the insubordinate from the ranks, kick them out if you will. The second is the more simplistic way of doing things. The second is simply death, but it has always proven a good point to many others, and here is the fun thing, you can't walk away from death." Naruto said.
"Ok, but what would you have me do, Blackjack took off with no warning and he still managed to bring me to a spot that I would meet up with you guys." Percy responded, "I thought you would be at least surprised to know I'm still alive."
"No, Perseus Jackson, that is the thing. I thought I could trust you with simple instructions, and you spit that trust back in my face." Naruto said calmly, "I trusted you to be with the group before everything went the way it did. And yet you weren't." he said to the boy before placing a hand on his shoulder, "I am not angered at you, Perseus Jackson, but I am still very upset that you denied my advice and took it upon yourself to act before you thought things out." he told the boy before sighing, "Let me tell you something my brother figure told me, and these words I share to you." Naruto said.
"He told me 'Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.' Do not let your actions ruin that destiny you have created for yourself." he told Percy calmly, "I know it may seem like I am mad, but I am just upset that you didn't do as the others and got a good night of sleep so we could tackle this mission as a proper team. Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. And this is just one of the many mistakes you shall make throughout your life. Now come, we have a mission to complete before the week is done." he said as he pat his cousin on the shoulder.
However, before they could go any further a loud laughing could be heard from behind them, "Such wise words for one so young, as expected of a True Greek Descendant." the deep voice of the General spoke up from behind them.
Zoe, Phoebe, Thalia, Grover, Clarisse, Percy all gasped in shock. Naruto however stepped up to the front of the group, "All of you, get out of here. You are of no match for this man." he commanded them.
"Neither are you." Zoe said shivering in terror, "T-That's Kronos's most trusted General, he's a Titan!" she said loudly.
"Indeed young traitor." the General said grinning broadly, "I am in fact a Titan, which one I am is up for debate." he stated.
"Go, now!" Naruto roared at them as he drew his Frost Ax and thew it at the General.
Naruto stood in front of the man who had so easily caught his weapon, his face a mask of calm as the man gave a chuckle, "Not bad, not bad at all." he complimented Naruto as he stood up straight, "It's been eons since I saw my own blood be drawn from my flesh, you are the first to do so in my memory besides Helios." the man told Naruto. And as far as the demigod knew, the only Titan that Helios had physically drawn blood from was-
"So, you are the Titan of Endurance, Atlas the Bearer of Heavens. A honor to meet such an esteemed enemy." he said as Atlas threw his axe back to him.
"Finally, someone who respects their betters, may I know the name of the moral whose life I am about to take?" he asked respectfully.
"I am a son of Sparta. Son of Zeus, descendant of Lord Hades and Lord Poseidon as well." he informed Atlas.
"I see, a very fitting name for such a child of your bloodline." Atlas hummed in thought. He didn't really care if he wasn't given the true name of the blonde, he just wanted to know his enemy.
Naruto nodded his head, "I would share some wine with you milord, but I have a labor to complete, and unfortunately you stand in my path." he told his enemy.
"Yes, it is indeed unfortunate, and while I do detest fighting like this, at least I have been given a proper enemy, one worthy of the challenge much like that goddess was before she was suppressed and stuffed under the sky." Atlas nodded as he got into a basic Greek fighting stance. He wasn't even drawing a weapon against him which meant Naruto wouldn't pose a challenge to him, which he probably wasn't as Atlas was a Second Generation Titan and was one of the strongest to be.
Naruto threw his axe once again, but to his surprise, Atlas had vanished from sight causing him to put his guard up, only for the titan to reappear behind him with a laugh where the Spartan to turn around and grunt as he was punched in the gut and then the lower jaw, which sent him flying up into the air where he smashed into the stone of the building and then over the building where he smashed into the back area behind. Grunting as he slammed into the ground, he looked back to see Atlas come flying down with the speed of a falling star when Naruto opted to roll out of the way as the immortal crashed down where he was.
Naruto had rolled to his feet almost instantly, but even he could tell this was not a bout for fun, this was a life or death battle. Atlas shook his head, "How incredibly disappointing." he told the blonde before egging him on, "Come on then." he urged him to fight. Naruto rushed forth with the speed of Hermes and slammed into Atlas causing him to bend over. Naruto took the opportunity to ram his knee into the titans mouth and then ram another into his stomach where he then grabbed the man by his hair and pull back to begin smashing his fist into his face, blood spraying out with each incredibly powerful blow he landed.
However, Atlas wasn't called the titan of endurance for nothing and he suddenly grabbed Naruto by the wrist and begun to swing him up and over his head where he smashed the blonde into the ground over and over again, relentlessly hammering him into two different craters with each blow. Not wanting to have any of it, Naruto summoned his axe and grasped it in his hand before he swung downwards and into the titans shoulder getting a cry of anger where he was released into the air on a swing and flew into a wall. Shaking his head, the spartan rose once more to fight. This fight, it hasn't even started. This fight, was one for the ages for sure.
This fight, was kinda fun now that Naruto thought about it.
XxX
The group ran to the van with panicked movement, "I can't believe he would challenge a titan so foolishly like that." Clarisse said as she jumped in the driver seat, it would be safer that way.
"The Spartan knows battle, thus it made sense for him to combat the general." Zoe said as she jumped in the passenger seat.
An explosion rattled the ground causing the car to sway as a blast of lightning flew down from the sky that was quickly followed by the sound of thunder, "Seems like he's got it handled pretty well for now." Phoebe said as the ground shook once again.
"Yes, but the General is powerful and can outlast the Spartan in a fight." Zoe responded.
"He knows what he's doing, we just have to have faith in him." Grover whimpered as a section of a museum crumbled to the ground as a large form was sent crashing into it followed by a much smaller one, "And right now I'm betting drachma on Naruto." he said.
"Geez, they're tearing this place apart!" Percy gawked.
"This is what battle between immortal's is like Prissy, make sure you remember that before you try to do something as stupid as challenge the general next time alright." Clarisse told the son of Poseidon before she drove off like she was told. However, she didn't get as far as she had hoped as something crashed into the van unexpectedly.
XxX
Naruto growled as he felt himself be embedded into the stone of the building the titan had thrown him into, "By Ares' flaming beard he packs a punch." Naruto said spitting out a glob of spit.
Atlas smirked up at the demigod, "Is that all you've got in you, I would have assumed somebody of your breeding would have been much more better at fighting. Maybe I should visit that one daughter of Ares that you seemingly fancy and take her in front of you to show her what a real man is like before leaving her with my child, how ironic it would be." the titan laughed.
That was the wrong thing to say, cuz for one, Naruto was protective over those under his command, and two, yea, he did fancy Clarisse in a romantic way but he wasn't sure as he had only known her a couple days. Not only that, he had been forced into such a situation before many years ago when he was but a boy, and it was his own mother who had been forcefully taken against her will and caused the birth of his younger brother Aegaeon. Something came over him in that moment, and it wasn't just anger for what the titan had said to him. No, it was something far worse than that and it would spark something dark inside the Spartans heart for all those who made a enemy of the Last Spartan alive.
It was a rage unlike any other, and it was very visible on his visage. Atlas laughed as he blocked several blows with simple ease and then performed a kick to the warriors gut that sent him flying. The Ghost of Sparta found himself embedded into a wall quite deeply as Atlas laughed at him, "What's the matter? Have I struck a nerve?" Atlas taunted the demigod, "I think it might just suit me if I did go enjoy those young ladies. I could kill the boys as they are nothing to me, but those would definitely be a prize to enjoy myself before I kill all your gods in front of you Spartan." the titan groused out.
Naruto growled in so much rage and fury that his world bled crimson. Flames erupted around his fists and up his arms as he released a yell so mighty it almost made the titan step back. Naruto then forced his way out of his prison and smashed a sharp hook into Atlas's face where the titan was sent flying back through several walls and into the parking lot where he plowed across the ground and smashed into the van of the escaping quest goers. The power so great that it started flipping the vehicle horizontally end over end before it came to a stop upon crashing into another section of the museum.
Atlas shook his head to rid himself of the dizziness brought on by the mortal's incredible blow. He could see the trail of damage his body had left when he had been sent flying, but he could admit that it was a hell of a blow dealt to him by a mere mortal. This fight would indeed be a great one. He looked around and noticed that the van that the mortals had been using had been ruined as it was smoking heavily and several windows were broken out. The humans were bleeding but otherwise unhurt. The sound of something crashing into the ground drew his attention where he noticed the mortal that had struck him.
XxX
Percy groaned as he opened his eyes and put a hand to his head. He pulled it away when he felt something wet and sticky and almost cringed when he saw that it was his own blood. Looking around he noticed that the others were also bleeding but otherwise unhurt by whatever had struck the van.
Clarisse cursed as she wiped some blood from her eyes, "Anyone get the name of the thing that rammed us off the road?" she asked.
"I think I have an answer." Grover bleated nervously where the group wearily turn to gaze to the fighting warriors as Atlas rose up and cracked his neck before he began advancing towards the Spartan.
"What the hell... what's wrong with the Spartan?" Zoe asked in shock while ignoring her injuries.
"Is he on fire?" Phoebe asked herself
Suddenly Naruto appeared before Atlas and ducked under a right hook and then delivered a shockingly powerful uppercut the ripped the titan up off the ground. But Naruto wasn't done yet, as the titan was about to pass his head, Naruto reached out and grabbed Atlas by his foot and slammed him down into the ground with such force that the bearer of the heavens cratered the earth, and a swift kick launched the titan away with a shockwave that shattered windows. With a leap, Naruto jumped into the air, "GRAH!" and he clasped his hands together and went to slam his hands down on the titan.
Atlas was quick to recover and rolled out of the way as Naruto slammed down and blasted the ground away with his strike. A stomp of his foot and a large boulder was shot up for the blond to grab before he hurled it at the titan and he watched as it slammed into Atlas. Looking to the van, Naruto allowed his rage to fade enough to yell out to the quest goer's, "Go, go now while I hold off Atlas! I will catch up shortly I swear to the gods!" he promised before he was punched by Atlas in the gut and his rage once more took him over as he slammed into one of the few remaining trees in the area.
Clarisse was quick to listen as she helped the others out of the van, "Come on, we don't have much time, and there is no telling what kind of havoc those two will wreck on the area." she said rushing off with the others.
"B-But what about Naruto?" Percy asked.
"The spartan shall be fine, we must hurry and procure transportation to reach our destination." Zoe said.
"What?! I did not get that at all." Grover said.
"She means we need a car to get going." Phoebe stated as she followed as a explosion sounded behind them.
XxX
The world was torn apart as the two monster's clashed. A growl could be heard as a tree was ripped up out of the ground and swung around to be smashed into his foes face and the said enemy was sent flying off. Of course the man didn't seem fazed as he appeared in front of Naruto with a fist drawn back and tried to hit him in the face. His own hand caught the fist before striking his own out towards his enemy only for it to be caught, "Your not that bad demigod. Perhaps you'll provide me with a decent fight." the man said seemingly pleased by what was happening.
"I'll do more than that!" he said as he pushed the man back only for the man to brace himself on a large crack in the ground. The two then grunted as they begun to push against one another. The ground shook and shattered as the ground underneath them begun to spread apart causing cars and trees and even a couple of buildings to crumble.
"Before this ends, I would at least like to know the name of the one demigod who could actually put up a decent fight against one of the Titan's." he said.
"I am Naruto Uzumaki, of Sparta. Remember it for it will be the last name you hear before your defeat." Naruto introduced himself.
"Naruto huh, the word for Cataclysm in the forbidden east, Maelstrom for the Greek. A name indeed worthy of your prowess. I guess the honor was mine to meet such a worthy foe. Before this ends, I will honor you with my own, I am the great titan, Atlas, so remember it for when we next meet." the titan told Naruto, though the blonde already knew the titans name.
So yes, this is decommissioned-over a year without touching this leaves little enjoyment at seeing the same date over and over again. I however will not be fully abandoning this as I do enjoy the concept and will be returning to a idea SIMILAR to this one at a later date.