141AN: This fic is something I've been tossing around while on break at work. Yes I'm aware I have other fics in need of attention. Sometimes you just have to get something out there before you can move on. Thanks go out to Joe Lawyer for being my beta. If it wasn't for him I'd have quit writing a long time ago.
Pairing: Naruto/? I'm not sure who to pair him with. I'd like to try and go the single pairing route but I can't see myself sticking to such a thing. The girls featured in this chapter are options. So is anyone else including the goddesses of Olympus, "faded" beings, and ladies from the Naruto verse. Even though all these options are there don't expect him to be with a ridiculous amount of women. I'm not sure how many there will be but I know there won't be more than four… hopefully… I've put up a poll as a way to see where you as the readers are at. If I don't agree or can't see a girl working with Naruto who won on the poll then I hold the right to axe her. Hinata and Anko will NOT be an option, so no reviews saying as much, nor will any female tailed beasts (I can't stand that pairing option)!
Warnings: Strong-Powerful/ Darkish/ Intelligent/ Naruto. There will be strong language, violence, maybe drug and alcohol use (never rule out the possibility), lemons, double bloodline Naruto, though he does possess at least one more trait from his father that has yet to be revealed. And lastly, THERE WILL BE CHARACTER DEATH! No one is safe from a possible death, including possible romance options!
"Poseidon," said Chiron. "The Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
Unknown to all, high overhead, and hidden from view in a covering of dense foliage, a lone figure surveyed the gathering of kneeling demigods. Sharp, sapphire-shaded eyes ringed in gold missed nothing happening in the clearing – not one of the many angry, scared, awe-filled gazes burning into the disoriented son of Poseidon – analyzing each individual carefully for their potential to pose a threat.
"I believe we've all had enough excitement for one night." Chiron announced, eyes boring into Percy's. "Let us head to the amphitheater-"
Before the ancient centaur could finish giving the campers further instruction an interruption came in the form of a second hellhound, this one as large and vicious as the last, melting upwards from a shadow just behind the newly minted son of Poseidon and the storm-eyed blond at his side. Caught unawares, Percy and Annabeth only had time to turn in place – the sound of the beast's throat-searing roar causing chills to run down their spines – pulling up their weapons, Percy, his sword, and Annabeth, her dagger, in a destined to fail attempt to protect themselves from the creature's long, deadly teeth. Despite being taught to do otherwise, both of the demigods closed their eyes and waited for the inevitable bone-crushing blow, accepting their fate.
With their blood thundering in their ears, neither demigod heard the screams of terror turn to gasps of shock and confusion. It was Annabeth who first opened her eyes. What she saw left her as bewildered as the rest of the camp.
"What in the Styx…" Eyes wide and her fear evident, Annabeth pulled on the still braced for impact son of Poseidon's sleeve. "Percy!"
Having yet to feel the lung crushing weight of the beast on his chest and its razor sharp teeth tearing into his flesh, the boy was surprised when the next thing he knew was Annabeth pulling anxiously at the bit of shirt that hung out of his shredded and torn, too big for him armor. What he saw upon opening his eyes left him reeling and confused.
Suspended inches from him and Annabeth, its massive paws positioned to collide with and undoubtedly crush their collarbones prior to having their throats ripped out, was the snarling hellhound. Its jaws were pulled back in a ferocious, saliva dripping sneer.
"W-what's happening?" Percy stuttered. Finally realizing how lucky he was to be alive, he stepped out of the immobile creature's path. At his side Annabeth mirrored his actions, seeing the wisdom that action held. "How is it frozen like that?"
"Not frozen. Slowed," corrected a bodiless voice, assaulting them with its gentleness from all sides. It was as the fear this new voice instilled in the majority of the campers-for many had never heard such a silky, steel-laced voice before-that they realized the correction was the truth.
Taking only a second to spare a glance at the beast, everyone bore witness to the creature's minute forward progression through the air, the tiny movement of its sneering jaws slowly exposing more of its yellowing fangs. Spittle escaped its maw in disgusting globs and bursts, all of which moved at sloth-like speeds.
No sooner had they absorbed that the creature and everything about it was moving snail-like through the air, that they started searching for the owner of the voice and answers to the millions of questions burning through all of their minds.
In the campers' haste to find the intruder in their midst, none saw the mask of pure terror overtake Chiron's features. There was only one being that he knew of that possessed the ability to alter the flow of time over objects and other beings.
"Father…" the centaur spoke in a pale whisper. Realization of what he had said suddenly dawned on the immortal trainer of heroes, snapping him out of his daze and into immediate action.
"Attention everyone, I need you all to calmly make your way to the amphitheater, at once. Once there, you will not leave. Wait for myself, Mr. D or a satyr to give you further instructions." Though his tone was calm, no one could mistake his words for anything less than what they were, an order.
There was an instant outbreak of indignant yells and cries of displeasure from the braver, more action and adventure seeking campers who wanted to identify who it was that was among them. Others, a group made up mostly of children of Aphrodite and Demeter, immediately turned and started to leave the clearing, hushed conversations began speculating on why Chiron had seen fit to send them away and gossiping on the newly revealed son of Poseidon passing back and forth between them.
All this, however, was brought to a halt by the same deadly voice that was responsible for their current uproar.
"That will be unnecessary."
Only Chiron and Annabeth, Percy and Luke Castellan witnessed the figure descend gracefully from the trees onto the sluggishly traveling hellhound. The rest of those in attendance were alerted to his presence by the piercing, pain-filled scream that escaped the beast when it suddenly returned to normal speeds, viciously slamming into the ground under the weight and momentum of the new arrival.
With his bow aimed and arrow drawn, it was a menacing looking Chiron to first break the silence that had fallen over the clearing. "Identify yourself!"
"Is that any way to greet your brother, Chiron?" chided the figure. Pulling his gaze from the creature struggling to free itself from the foot pinned to the back of its skull, he fixed the centaur with a mischievous, almost cocky smirk. "But if you must know," he continued, ignoring the part-man's shocked intake of breath, "the names Naruto Uzumaki Kaguya."
By now the entire camp was staring at him, wondering if they had heard him right. Unknown to all but Naruto and his two hidden companions, Mr. D, also known as Dionysus, one of the twelve ruling gods of Olympus, had appeared during his introduction.
"B-brother?" mimicked Chiron in disbelief, eyeing the blond as if he were mad.
Wearing a strange mixture of current day clothing and Greek armor, the teen, now known as Naruto, proudly displayed his tanned, sinewy frame and well defined arms to the gathered onlookers. From the waist down he wore a pair of normal everyday jeans, tucked into dark, halfway done up combat boots. His torso, like many of the teen boys in the crowd, was covered in sleeveless Greek leather armor. Unlike theirs, his was strangely left unfastened on the sides.
Though the clothing he wore showcased the results of his life's hard training and the lithe body one obtains when serving as a soldier for your home, it was the fourteen year old's features that drew the most appreciative glances.
Blond tresses hung to his shoulders, with a few strands that reached further than the rest being thinly braided at his temples. His features, while being sharp to the point of giving him an aristocratic look, had an almost animalistic feel to them, which was only added to by his strange golden and blue eyes, and the three thin whisker-like marks that lined each side of his face.
"T-that's impossible." Chiron denied, his untamed shag whipping at his shoulders as he shook his head. "Kron-" he began, only to stop and chide himself. "My father has not seen the light of day in many a millennia. He was defeated by the gods. What was left of him was banished into Tartarus as punishment for his crimes. For you to be his child, you would need to be as old as I and a vast majority of the ruling twelve."
Naruto said nothing, just stood there with a howling and whining hellhound under his boot, his crooked smile still in place. Just when Chiron was going to demand he explain his lies, a blinding, golden light appeared over the blonde's head. Hanging in the air above him was a golden hourglass, seemingly filled with sand that sparkled like diamonds. Chills went down everyone's spine, including the few campers who didn't know what the symbol stood for, and Mr. D as well, who was more than aware of the consequences such a sign signified.
"Kronos, King of the Titans" Chiron said in a horrified whisper. "Titan Lord of Fate, Justice, the Harvest, and Time." Whether they started from hearing Chiron's revelation or the feel of the air around them becoming supercharged, as if lightening was about to incinerate them, all of the campers let out startled gasps.
Nodding, Naruto looked to the heavens. "Correct, big brother, though you were wrong about one thing."
"What is that?" Chiron asked. Swallowing hard as he noted the swirling of dark, menacing clouds overhead.
"I'm only fourteen."
It was only thanks to his instincts, honed by years of battles and training, which allowed the blond demi-titan to dodge the bolt of lightning that struck where he had been standing only a second before. Barely audible screams of terror and pain tore through the clearing, their sounds muffled by the initial deafening rumble that preceded the attack and the painful ringing in everyone's ears that was left after.
Zeus, King of the gods, former last born son of Kronos, and brother to the handsome half-titan was furious.
As the fallen rose shakily to their feet, their stomachs in the bottoms of their feet, the dust and bits of earth settled and cleared, a huge, smoking crater was revealed where Naruto, Percy and Annabeth had been just seconds before. All traces of the three, the snarling hellhound, and the pond that had healed Percy and the surrounding trees Naruto had initially hidden in, had been vaporized, wiped from the face of the earth.
"ANNABETH! PERSEUS!" bellowed Chiron, rising onto his hind legs and stomping like an angry stallion. The girl he had come to see as a daughter after so many years of watching over her, and the boy he had had such high hopes for were gone. Killed by Zeus, Chiron's other brother. The god's childish rage had gotten the better of him, and two innocents had paid the ultimate price as a result.
Before the immortal centaur could experience any further anguish, the shaky, uncertain voice of Percy cut through the clearing, drawing every eye like a satyr to a nymph in springtime.
"What happened?" Percy groaned, running a hand through his hair to clear his head. The son of the sea god was too disoriented to realize he was no longer standing.
Standing on the other side of the clearing, opposite the crater that was meant to be them, was a chuckling Naruto – Percy and Annabeth hanging from under his arms, the latter looking as confused as everyone else to still be alive.
"Can't say that was unexpected," Naruto commented, setting his two hitchhikers down.
Back on his feet Percy gaped at the level of destruction that lay before them. Annabeth, on the other hand, kept her storm-shaded gaze trained on their savior.
"I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." Mr. D said seriously, revealing his presence to the campers and Chiron. Though the term "ask" had been used, it was clear his words were in no way a request. "You've been granted an audience with Lord Zeus and the rest of the ruling council."
Before the god had even finished speaking Naruto was already shaking his head in the negative. "Pass on my thanks for the invitation, but I'm going to have to turn you down. There's no way I'd step foot on Olympus without some form of bargaining chip. I'd be dead in the blink of an eye."
"You have no choice in the matter." Dionysus' eyes were now pools of purple fire that made those surrounding the two back away in fear. "You will be taken in front of the rest of the council. Once there, your fate will be judged."
Not giving the blond-enigma a chance to respond, grapevines erupted from the soil at his feet, drawing surprised yelps from Annabeth and Percy, the only two who hadn't backed away at the sight of the angry god. Entwining and ensnaring their way up his body, the constricting vines stopped once they had encased him up to his neck.
"Foolish hero," Mr. D sneered. The usual contempt he reserved for the campers was making an appearance in his voice. "Whether it's demigods or titans, it changes nothing. Your arrogance will always be your downfall."
"Self-love and pride can only be mistaken as arrogance if one's insolence is unfounded." Naruto stated coolly, taking Dionysus aback by the sudden disappearance of humor from his tone. It was the only warning the god received that the half-titan was up to something.
It was to the sound of ripping and tearing flesh that an explosion of white lances tore themselves from within the blond, destroying a majority of the vines cocooning him. Silence unlike any the campers had ever experienced before descended amongst them. All were horrified and sickened by the apparent death. Even the normally bloodthirsty children of Ares felt their stomachs turn at the gory sight.
It was Annabeth who first noticed that despite the bone-colored spears protruding from his flesh that the son of Kronos was still very much alive.
"H-how?" she whispered, pulling the others' attention to the still focused, and living eyes of Naruto.
In response Naruto began to spin. He spun faster than any of them had ever seen a person move before. And when his rotations came to an end the ground around him was littered with the tattered remains of his vine-based prison. Only a few strands still clung to his body, but this amazing feat wasn't what drew the eyes and shock of the gathered. It was the fact that the white spears, the long, blood-tipped lances that had torn and ripped at his flesh, freeing him of the wine god's restraints, were in fact his bones.
Naruto, oblivious to the shock of those around him (or that was what they were made to believe), dusted the last remaining strands of vine from his person, as the gore flecked bones retreated back into his flesh in a sick imitation of a snake's retreating head back into its den after giving a lethal strike. His skin was left as unmarred as it had been before.
"As I said, nephew," Naruto sneered, making the final word as demeaning as possible, leveling his golden and blue glare on the wine god. "I won't be going to Olympus. Run to your daddy and tell him as much if you like. If he and the rest of the family truly wish to pass judgment on me, they can come here to do so."
"You dare mock me?" Dionysus growled. Reacting to the wine god's rage, the clearing and underbrush that surrounded them was abruptly overtaken by grapevines, filling the air with their intoxicating scent. "I have destroyed the minds of greater men than you boy, and for offenses far less than your own!"
Naruto's smirk made a reappearance. It was as he began to speak, an insult budding against the brim of his lips, that off in the distance the ground was struck by lightning. The force of the strike was so great that it shook the earth beneath their feet even from the great distance the surge of power had landed.
"It struck by the cabins," a fetching black haired, blue eyed daughter of Aphrodite pointed out, her voice betraying her worry for their home. Naruto recalled hearing one of her cabin mates calling out to her during the game. She had been the only daughter of the love goddess to participate in the competition, while the rest of her siblings had sat on the sidelines watching. Her name was Silena Beauregard.
Silena, along with her brothers, sisters, and the rest of the campers, turned when the sound of Naruto's haunting laughter ghosted through the clearing.
Shaking his head, he fixed them with an impish, knowing smile. "It seems some good will actually come of my arrival here today." Seeing the looks of curiosity that made it through all the apprehension being sent his way, he answered their unspoken question. "The ruling twelve of Olympus, have descended upon Camp Half-blood… After they judge me to be too dangerous to let live, you may all be lucky enough to meet with your godly parent in the flesh."
Naruto watched in a detached state of mind as his announcement sent waves of excitement through the crowd. Only a small majority of the campers didn't look thrilled by this news. Perhaps they were bitter with their godly parent, Naruto mused, as campers took off in the direction of the cabins where they lived and slept. Of the few that weren't happy about the prospect of meeting the divine being that had sired them, it was an even smaller number who showed any horror at the thought of him being killed. Percy, Annabeth and Silena were amongst this number.
"Come Naruto, our brother awaits your presence." Trotting up next to him, Chiron studied the teen that should have never been. An existence that could very well spell trouble for all the world, especially for the individuals who knew of the gods and the Greek hidden world. A life, that depending on the mood of the king of the gods, could very well be brought to an early end.
"So what do you expect the chances are that Zeus will be overjoyed to know he's no longer the youngest?" Naruto joked, earning shocked looks from Annabeth and Percy, both of whom were walking opposite Chiron.
The half man, half horse grimaced. "I'm unsure of how much information you have on the current happenings of Olympus at the moment, but things are…"
"Stressed?" Naruto supplied. "I know."
Ignoring the curious looks Annabeth and Percy were giving them, Chiron fixed Naruto with a tight-lipped frown. "Then you should also be aware of how your arrival and the disappearance of that item will be perceived. I dare say your existence will be the catalyst needed to end the squabbling between Poseidon and Zeus."
"And turn their and the rest of the council's eyes on me." The tone of genuine boredom used by the blond had him receiving looks of incredulous disbelief. "There's no need to fret, brother. I'm aware of how my presence here, the theft of Zeus' masterbolt, and even the appearance of those hellhounds within the boundaries of the camp, looks."
From beside him Annabeth gasped. "The masterbolt was stolen?" she demanded, unthinkingly grabbing him by the shoulder until she remembered the bones that had shredded through Dionysus' vines. Looking sheepish and just a bit afraid, she released her hold on his arm.
Neither Annabeth nor Naruto witnessed the hardening in Chiron's eyes.
Not minding her invasion of his personal space, Naruto nodded. "Yes, and as you would expect, Zeus automatically blamed Poseidon. He thinks, or perhaps it would be better to say 'thought', Poseidon took it in a move to usurp his throne. Now, however, with my arrival and the revelation of Percy's siring, one of two conclusions will be made by Zeus."
"He'll either assume myself and Percy stole the bolt for our respective fathers, or that I stole it on my own, and plan to use it in some kind of scheme to dethrone the gods. The latter of which should instantly be ruled out since revealing myself would be detrimental to such a plan's success."
"It is rare for gods to see things in a rational light. Especially at the times when they are experiencing powerful emotions, as they are now," explained Chiron.
As the foursome drew near the cabins and the waiting gods each structure represented, the sound of exuberant laughter and eager campers drifting back to them, Percy spoke to Naruto for the first time.
"Surely they won't just kill you because of who your father is." All three of his companions noted the worry in his voice.
"The old horror stories of ancient Greece are more than old tales of warning passed down from one generation to the next. If you continue on with the same mindset you possess now, in the future you may not receive the chance to regret it… or worse still, you may live to regret the damage such an innocent outlook can reap."
Turning into the crescent the cabins formed, Naruto and his group were greeted by the sight of the campers standing bunched together whispering and pointing at the twelve individuals standing proudly in front of the cabin that represented them and housed their offspring. All of them were beautiful in their own right. Even Hephaestus – a god, who was said to be deformed and ugly beyond compare, had an air about him that could easily draw in the opposite sex. His broad muscled shoulders, deep intelligent eyes, and dark, almost ebony tanned skin, earned from millennia spent working in his forge, were all pleasing to the eye.
Naruto continued forward alone, Chiron having held Annabeth and Percy back. Moving confidently forward, unmindful of the gaze of every being present turning upon him, he took note of one of the twelve, a surly looking man dressed almost entirely in leather, who stood on the opposite side of a regal looking woman that Naruto assumed was Hera. Unlike the others, all of whom had a tall and glorious cabin that shared traits with their aspects of power standing behind them, this man had none.
"Since I'm new to this world, you'll have to forgive my lack of knowledge of your customs and traditions." Coming to a stop between the final two cabins and the gods standing in front of each, Hermes before cabin eleven and Dionysus in front of number twelve, Naruto sent the gods and goddesses a foxlike smile. "So how do we begin this lynching?"
Ignoring the flirtatious giggling coming from the goddess standing before cabin ten and the shocked murmuring coming from the demigod children in attendance, the god dressed in an expensive pinstriped suit glared at the blond demi-titan with electric, power filled, blue eyes.
"It is required of all to kneel before their king." His tone demanded respect and obedience, the look in his cold eyes demanded it, as he glared over the fire-pit that set directly between them, even the way he held himself did – it was the stance of a man who was not afraid of being attacked, for no one would dare attack a being as mighty as he – all of this would have told Naruto what he had known the moment he had laid eyes on him. This man was Zeus, king of the gods.
"I've taken a knee for only two individuals in my life. Both were men of great honor and power, who had earned my respect well before either of those occasions. To bow to you or any other would be a lie. An act as disrespectful as spitting on the grave of the one you love. But more so, I've done all the bowing I will in one lifetime… and I'm still quite young."
As he spoke the smile he had greeted the Olympians with vanished from his face, leaving behind the aged eyes of a blooded warrior. Eyes that belonged to a man who had taken the lives of those who stood in his way, both to preserve innocence, as well as for his own personal gain – to prove his existence. When he had finished speaking the same crooked, foxy smile twisted his lips as if what he had said was an inside joke that he alone understood.
Not for the first time, Zeus and the other Olympians were taken aback by the way the teen spoke. All had been watching his earlier interaction with Dionysus. And like before, when he had looked one of their own in the eye and defied him, the weight of his words resonated deeply within them, striking them all with their soul searing melody. Such brutal, unflinching honesty, to the point of being disrespectful was, if nothing else, refreshing. Not since the time of the heroes of the distant past, those brave demi-beings who had no predecessors or ancestors' exploits to mimic in times of great peril, had such backhanded respect been paid to them.
Breaking the silence that had fallen after his claim was a woman who looked exceedingly like the young blonde Naruto had saved earlier. "Choosing not to show respect to your king and those who sway the very fabric of the universe is an entitled decision, is it not?"
"You'll have to forgive me Lady Athena, but I fail to see a reason why I should take the time to even offer respect to the Olympian twelve, when two of your number have already attacked me. Let alone why I should lower my head to any of you." It didn't escape Naruto's notice that as he spoke of Zeus' earlier attack how the goddess of wisdom's hands flexed unconsciously. "Tell me my lady, would you kneel to one who has wronged you for no other reason than your existence displeased them? The being that just moments before recklessly endangered two innocent bystanders – a king incapable of controlling his own emotions?" Overhead lightning forked angrily through the cloudless sky.
"You should show respect to those who hold your fate in their hands." Zeus spat, scaring the campers. The teens standing directly behind Naruto made no attempt to hide what they were doing as they fought one another to get away from the path of the King of Olympus' wrath.
"And here I thought it was my father who controlled fate," mused Naruto, mockingly.
"Ah yes," Zeus gritted out through clenched teeth. His thinly narrowed eyes impossibly found a way to be filled with an expressive anger that had toppled civilizations and destroyed any who had incurred such an unstoppable rage. "We've come to the source of our current quandary. How is it that our father was able to sire and claim you, somehow doing so without leaving the confines of the prison he's been in for a greater time than any mortal could possibly fathom?"
Naruto started to answer, but was cut off by Zeus before he could say a word. "Or perhaps what has really taken place here is that you've been sent by another as a distraction. Smoke and mirrors, given human form. A poorly thought out attempt to draw my attention away from more pressing matters!" Before he even finished speaking, Zeus shot a glare at Poseidon who glared right back at his brother. The animosity between them filled the air like a cloying poison, robbing those in attendance of their very breath.
Out in the deep waters that bordered the camp, giant, ship-capsizing waves seemed to reach for the quickly approaching dark clouds. Forked lightning vaporized each rolling wave, only to be replaced seconds later by stronger, more deadly tides. As a result of the sky and sea's mutually destructive assaults on one another the lands and forests of Camp Half-Blood were quickly being encroached by a wall of thick, sight obscuring fog. It was as if the brother's virulent hostility towards each other had been given a physical form.
"Or possibly," Naruto drawled, interrupting the two brothers' glaring contest, "a set of unforeseen circumstances took place over a vast amount of time that resulted in my birth."
"Nonsense!" Zeus roared. "As a half-blood you would have received traits and abilities of your divine parent. Nowhere in the long memory of Olympus does it speak of him possessing an ability such as the one you demonstrated earlier."
"That's because I received the ability from my human mother." Zeus snorted, while other members of the council scoffed at such a ridiculous claim.
If there was one person Naruto respected above all others, his father, the third Hokage, his friend and teacher Kakashi, and anyone else you could think of, it was his mother who possessed his undying loyalty.
Lips curled and his whisker marks a shade darker than they had been moments before, Naruto gave a rumbling growl. "It's not uncommon for clans of the Elemental Nations to possess such traits – traits passed down through blood."
"How do you know of those lands, boy?" Poseidon demanded before his brother could, his tone as blunt and deadly as the waves pounding towards the sky far off in the distance. Around the sea god, his fellow council members were noticeably stiffer than they had been just moments before. "Those lands are a secret we discovered well after our father had been overthrown."
Now it was Naruto's turn to scoff. "Are you all so arrogant as to believe father, a being who took your strongest members to usurp, would be unaware of such lands? That you were the first generation to discover the lands of the shinobi." Chuckling, he shook his head chidingly at the divine beings. "Do you really believe that father would have shared all his secrets with you, a creature as secretive and paranoid as he?"
"What secrets he possessed or not are of no consequence," Hades interjected, turning the tide of attention upon himself. "It changes nothing. He still lies within the same prison he has since the time of his defeat. He remains there, and will for all eternity."
"Maybe, maybe not," Naruto shrugged. "But none amongst your council can deny that he possessed powers beyond your own. It was one such power that led to my birth."
"What's this power you're spewing about, punk?" Naruto turned his taunting eyes upon the beast of a man standing before the cabin adorned with a severed boar's head.
"He could create a single duplicate of himself, equal in all aspects to the original." This time the campers' reactions were drowned out by that of the gods. The earth, skies, seas, sun and moon, the very universe around them shook for a single heartbeat – frozen for an instant in what was undoubtedly overwhelming terror.
"LIES! YOU SPEAK LIES!" Zeus roared, taking an angry step forward. Electricity sparked and jumped across his body, burning his suit and the ground beneath his feet. "Had he possessed such an ability he would have undoubtedly used it the day we dethroned him!"
Naruto gave a dry, humorless chuckle. "Unless there was an already in existence clone being used to explore the uncharted lands of the Elemental Nations. Then the original would have been unable to summon the aid of his imprint, effectively cutting his ability to defend himself and his throne in half."
Taking only a second to enjoy the effect his words had on his audience, the stunned masses looking on in abject horror, Naruto continued. "As I'm sure you're aware of by now, the Elemental Nations possess their own pantheon of gods and goddesses. My father, having encountered them early on after his initial discovery of their lands, brought his second self into existence and sent it ahead with the intent of finding a way to create a foothold for himself to sneak in and seize control of their lands and powers."
"What he didn't know was that his second persona had been found out early on. The gods and goddesses of my world soundly defeated him, with little effort on their part. But father isn't called 'The Crooked One' for nothing," Naruto mused, equal parts pride and envy filling his voice. "It was their arrogance that led to him escaping their clutches, grievously injured, but still alive and whole. Needing time to recover from his wounds, but his pride not allowing him to walk away without getting the last laugh, he took on a human form, a persona that would alter the fate of the Elemental Nations irrevocably. He became the legendary Sage of the Six Paths!"
"What was so important about this 'Sage of the Six Paths?'" questioned Athena, looking enthralled by all the new information she had been receiving, despite the terrible consequences it could mean.
"Since all means of access for the gods of this world to the Elemental Nations have been destroyed by those who rule there, you may be unaware that the shinobi of my lands possess a source of power that allows them to bend the elements to their wills, along with gifting them the ability to do incredible feats. It was the Sage of the Six Paths who first 'unlocked' this energy in humanity. He called it chakra, and from him it passed on to his children and their children and so forth, until a vast majority of the occupants of that world can now utilize it."
"To ensure the continued survival of the chakra chromosome in the humans of my original world, and as he admitted to me once, his own personal enjoyment, he continued to take the form of powerful, world-altering shinobi over the millennia – his original world and form all but forgotten to him. First there was the Sage of the Six Paths, much later there was Hashirama Senju the first Hokage, and more recently the fourth Hokage and my father, Minato Namikaze."
"But unlike before," continued Naruto, the enthralled gathering following his every word, "there was something different this time. Father had changed over the many years, and after millennia of taking on human forms he had slowly become a better being than the original version that you all know. He fell victim to the most powerful of human emotions. He began to love the women who bore his children."
"On the day of my birth an unthinkable tragedy struck our home village. A being as great and terrible as your Typhon, a creature capable of defeating even the gods and goddesses of my homelands, descended upon the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Knowing of only one way to defeat the beast, father… did what was needed to protect the villagers he now saw as family." Naruto's eyes grew unfocused for a short time before he resumed speaking once more, the lingering of a haunting pain evident in his eyes. "Seeing just how easily my mother could be taken from him, father ghosted us away from the village. Bestowing upon her immortality, they raised me as we traveled the world, training me to utilize my birthrights to their full potential."
"And you?" questioned the god to his left, an impish looking man that Naruto felt it would be unwise to leave items he cared for unattended around. "Why were you not gifted with immortality? "
"I'm only fourteen. To become immortal at such a young age or earlier would be to stunt my own ability and growth as a warrior."
"You don't look so tough to me. What's there to stunt?" Naruto smirked at this, earning a sneer from his antagonist, Ares.
Before the god of war could continue to bait the anger of the demi-titan, a woman standing before cabin eight, an auburn haired, silvery-yellow eyed beauty spoke up. "And why is it you've chosen to venture into our world, young one? From the sound of your tale it would appear you were happy being at you mother's and father's side. Why leave it?"
"After I came of age in my world, a time when one is allowed to join the ranks of our village's shinobi, I, along with my mother and father, returned to our home village. It was there that I was placed in a three man cell, unknowingly partnered with the beloved son of the sun goddess, Amaterasu." Running a hand through his long hair, he sighed. "We became as close as brothers, but that didn't change the darkness that resided within him. He had suffered a tragic event at a young age, and it left its mark upon his very soul, scarring his very being. His personal demons warped him until he was no longer the man I called brother, and when they led him astray I ended his personal hell for him."
"And this angered the sun goddess, did it not?" Poseidon nodded, he understood too well how Amaterasu felt.
"Indeed she was. Her searing and blinding rage was felt by all the lands. To protect my mother and father, who had assumed new identities after first leaving the village, I drew the attention of the gods and goddesses who were calling for my blood away from them. After being on the run for a time, I discovered a way to travel between this world and my own. Naturally, seeing a way to distance myself from the divine rage that had been stalking me, I made the rash decision to come to this world."
"You came here knowing the reputation in this world of the man you call father?" Athena questioned.
"Father disclosed his past wrongs to me, his actions before he separated from the original Titan Lord."
"Why would you reveal yourself to us, hero?" Hera asked, her eyes narrowed in a way that was similar to her husband's. "Did you perhaps expect to be shown leniency because you share an ancestry with half of the council? You will find no love with us simply because that being used your mother to dull his long boredom."
"Lord Zeus, I'd suggest putting a muzzle on that hag you call a wife, before I leave and take my offer with me."
Hera's narrowed eyes widened in incredulous disbelief. Before she could act upon the anger coursing through her, Zeus cut her off by giving voice to his rage. "You speak of disrespect, and yet you would say such words against my queen."
"She disrespected my mother; she's lucky I don't show her how all-encompassing my rage can truly be. Introduce her to the terrible, soul wrenching acts I'm capable of." As if accentuating his words his blue and golden eyes took on a demonic red-tint and his pupils thinned and elongated into slits. "Don't let the fact that I avoided confrontation with the divines in my world lead you to underestimating me, I am not someone you want as an enemy."
"What is this offer you speak of?" the most beautiful of the goddesses asked. As Naruto looked at her he witnessed an overlay of a number of kunoichi he had encountered in the past blend into this one perfect creature.
"I know of the great prophecy," he stated, shocking the council. "I also know that Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades have always shared a great rivalry. Tell me Lord Zeus, do you not feel that Poseidon has won in some way since it will be his legacy to fulfill the prophecy and not yours?"
Eyes still red, his lips curled into a mocking smirk when Zeus failed to deny his claim. "What if I told you that I could place all three of you on equal footing once more…?"
"Do not toy with me," Zeus rumbled. "No more riddles, spit out what it is you have to offer, or I'll show you how terrible I am!"
"I can bring Thalia out of her current state without destroying the protections her tree offers the camp. Once returned to her human form she will be thirteen years of age. The same age as Percy and Lord Hades' eldest living child." As he had expected, chaos was unleashed at his revelation – every member of the council of twelve exploded, some in anger, some in disbelief.
"How did you come to know about their existence?" Hades howled, his enraged stomping shook the entirety of the camp and a good part of Long Island. The only thing that kept him from charging forward was Poseidon and Zeus converging on him, though it wasn't enough to end his throat damaging yells. "No one has known the truth of them or of their presence in this world for over eighty years! I will be the one to bring about the end of your pathetic existence! I will spend all of eternity showing you what true pain is!"
It was with a deep sense of foreboding that Naruto turned from the arguing brothers, Zeus and Poseidon both were curious about the hidden children of Hades, and the rest of the upset and debating gods and goddesses too, making his way over to Chiron, Percy and Annabeth. As he drew near them it was only a few that didn't edge away from him, with Annabeth being the only one to actively approach him.
"Is it true?" she demanded, her voice shaking and fragile with hope. "Can you truly free Thalia from her prison?"
For the first time since he had revealed himself to the camp, Naruto graced them with a genuine smile. "I'd have to be one sick individual to promise something like that and not be able to deliver."
"How will you do it?" It was the first time the son of Poseidon had witnessed such a soft aura about the daughter of Athena. Her eyes, her voice, even the way she leaned toward the titan son was all done in a way that would suggest she would do anything for him, all he need do was ask.
"Being the son of the titan lord of the harvest has its perks." he revealed mysteriously.
Eyeing the now beaming Annabeth with a gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomach, unaware that said feeling was called jealousy, Percy made his presence known. "Um, Naruto, was it? What did you mean about the 'great prophecy' and that it would be Poseidon's 'legacy' to fulfill it? The gods looked really freaked out that you knew anything about it."
"Being a child of the more powerful divines often means our destinies are not our own to control… at least that's what the gods like for us to believe." The way he spoke left no doubt in the young son of Poseidon's mind that Naruto didn't believe this. "You are the only demigod son of Poseidon to be born in some time. You've come into play at a time when a prophecy that holds great sway over this world could apply to you or two others. Your courage, daring, and all the things that lead to being a true hero will be tested in the coming years. My advice to you is to try not to become a pawn in the game of the gods."
Chiron, who had up till now been attempting to calm an exuberant Annabeth, while also holding in his own delight that the girl who had sacrificed so much for two of his favorite campers would have a second chance on life, turned to face his much younger brother, a look of concern marring the otherwise normally happy centaur's face.
"The gods do not take kindly to vanity." The way the centaur spoke made his words more of a statement than a warning.
"I guess that means the gods aren't exempt from those of us who don't like to see ourselves in others."
Chiron smiled. "How is it that you know so much of our world? Had Zeus known of this way you speak of to free his daughter, I doubt he would have hesitated to do so."
"I too am curious about your knowledge of our most closely held secrets, mortal." Silence fell at the sound of Zeus' booming voice. Standing in groups just as their children were, the gods gave Naruto their full attention once more. "How is it that you know of a way to free my Thalia, when all others have thought her freedom beyond the realm of possibility?"
Without missing a beat Hades added his own question. "How is it you knew of my children, when only I previously knew of their existence?"
"Do you truly expect us to believe your arrival and the missing property of my brother and his resulting accusations against me are nothing more than coincidence?" Poseidon's opinion of the demi-titan hadn't improved with the revelation that he could free Zeus' daughter or that Hades had two children in hiding. "And now you just so happen to show up with news that leads half the council to forgetting the current situation, my two brothers included!"
"Believe what you will brother, it makes no difference to me. Nor will it affect my actions or their outcome. I'm giving Thalia, Bianca, and Nico a second lease on life, as much for them as earning a favorable light with the council. I also come with the offer to go in search of Zeus' missing property. But make no mistake, no matter what choice the council makes, whether it's to let me be or to place a bounty on my head, I am not allied with Olympus or its gods and goddesses."
"If you are not with us then you are against us!" Hera spat venomously, practically shaking with hate. Zeus' love child being freed from her prison was not a plan she liked very much. The little demigoddess ruined her idea of a perfect family.
"Then pray my loyalty never comes to be questioned. You would not like the taste of my answer."
Zeus eyed the enigmatic boy. On the one hand he was a son of Kronos, which automatically made him a very serious threat, halfblooded or not. No child of that titan had ever been anything but powerful, and then added to the unknown powers he had received from their father he also possessed at least one strange and undoubtedly dangerous ability from his mother's clan, not to mention the use of chakra and the resulting ability to control the elements with its aid. He was disrespectful, impudent, and had already admitted in front of the council to not being loyal to Olympus. He was an enigma, a wild card.
He was dangerous.
Though he had offered to free Thalia from her wooden prison.
Zeus may have appeared to be a hard ass, but that was only because he was, in fact, a hard ass. That didn't change the fact that he loved every single child he had ever sired, even Hephaestus, his "ugly" child and Ares, the belligerent idiot amongst his offspring. Thalia had been no different. After his rash decision to turn her into a pine tree, he had tried on a number of occasions to return her to her former form, and had been unable to do so each time. Sometimes he wondered if Hera had anything to do with his inability to reverse his actions.
If this boy before him could return his daughter to her former glory, a strong and powerful demigoddess he was proud to call his own, then what did it matter if he was disrespectful? Zeus was much the same personality-wise in his younger years. And if it ever came down to it, and the need for his end should arise, he could simply destroy him. After all, Kronos' son or not, he was only a demi-titan.
"Very well," Zeus nodded, wearing a look of deep contempt. "If you can free my daughter of her prison and bring me my missing property, I will allow you to move about our realm freely." This was met by shouts of anger from more than a few of the council, Hera and Dionysus included. "But should you fail in either task I will see about your end personally."
"Excellent. Gaara, Tayuya you may come out now!" Percy and Annabeth jumped when on both sides of Naruto appeared two redheaded individuals, one male, and the other female. What had surprised everyone, including the gods and Chiron was how they had appeared. The male, who looked a year younger than Naruto, had arrived in a swirl of sand. The girl's arrival, a beauty with sharp, superior eyes, had been accompanied by a light breeze and the haunting melody of an expertly played flute.
"Will you be attending Thalia's rebirth, or will you be leaving us?" Naruto questioned. He made no attempt to explain the two new presences by his side, nor did he acknowledge their arrival after calling for them.
"You can perform her extraction immediately?" Zeus inquired. He along with everyone else missed the small tells Naruto and his two friends gave at the word "extraction".
"I can."
"By what means will you free her?"
"Father once took on the form of Hashirama Senju, a ninja renowned the world over for his ability to use a special bloodline trait. He could control and create wood, trees, seeds, and even plants. This 'bloodline trait' was of course his power as Titan Lord of the harvest. A power…" he trailed off, holding his hand out in front of him, "which was passed on to me."
Gods and mortals alike watched in awe as a wooden kunai melted from his palm. Testing its weight, his hand suddenly blurred out of sight, sending the newly created weapon squarely between the sandaled feet of a stunned Hera.
"So are we all ready to begin?"
AN: So before I start getting heckled by someone who "knows" everything about Naruto (sarcasm), yes it is possible for those who can use Wood Release to create wood and other aspects of trees' such as plants, seeds, and so forth from their bodies by turning their chakra into a source of life. This aside, not everything in this fiction is going to match up to canon, Naruto's nor Percy Jackson's, so please no reviews about how I've "messed up", "bastardized" or my "lack of knowledge" pertaining to the source materials.
And before anyone points it out (or as a reference for those curious about as much) Naruto's appearance is (unintentionally) based off that of Achilles from the movie Troy. I didn't realize it until I was rereading the chapter that Naruto's description – minus that of his eyes and whisker marks – were uncannily similar to that of Achilles.
Yes, Naruto is cocky. But as was pointed out to Dionysus he has a reason to be. He's been raised by his parents and is a strong shinobi. While his attitude didn't result in his death in this chapter that doesn't mean it won't get him in serious trouble in the future, and as you could see during his meeting with the gods it has made him some enemies already. Yes he will be strong but so will his enemies, who will include other shinobi from his world.
Thanks for reading. If you liked it leave a review, if not, I'm not opposed to hearing what you disliked about it. All I ask is that you show respect when conveying what didn't appeal to you. Until next time!