Chapter 3

Action In the Museum!

[Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto Manga or Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book series. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Rick Riordan respectively. This fiction is just for fun and definitely not-for-profit.]

"Character Talking"

Character Thinking

Telepathic Conversation

Prophecy

"Jutsu/Magic!"

"Demon/Summon/Angry God or Goddess"

After a lot of discussion and lots of argument, the council of cabin leaders decided three campers and three Hunters together would go on the quest to rescue the goddess Artemis before the winter solstice. As everyone expected, Zoe, the lieutenant of Artemis, immediately stood up.

"I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker," she declared.

"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis Stoll, a boy with mischievous face, asked cautiously.

Zoe nodded.

"The one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor Stoll added.

"Yes," Zoe snapped. "Why?"

Travis Stoll and Connor Stoll, Stoll brother, were tall and skinny boys with brown hair that hanged in their blue eyes. Both boys were head counselors of the Hermes Cabin. Like most of the other children of Hermes, they had elfish features, upturned eyebrows, a sarcastic smile and a gleam in his eyes, like he was ready to "drop a firecracker down your shirt".

"Oh, nothing," Travis said. "Just that we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store." He held up a big silver T-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?"

Zoe sighed and took the T-shirt. "As I was saying, I will take Phoebe. And I wish Bianca to go."

Bianca looked stunned. "Me? But… I'm so new. I wouldn't be any good."

"You will do fine," Zoe insisted. "There is no better way to prove thyself."

"Who made you the lieutenant of Artemis?" All eyes turned toward Naruto, who crossed to one of the chairs, and sat down.

Zoe's face turned red with anger. "How dare thee—"

"I mean no offence, but this quest is an equivalent to S-rank mission of my world, Zoe and Bianca is not ready for this. She has little to no fighting experience. If anything happens to her, Nico will be the one hurt most."

"I'll protect her."

"Yeah, I can see that." Naruto head up the T-shirt that Stoll Brothers had given to her. He had somehow managed to steal it

under everyone's nose.

He brought it near his nose and sniffed it.

I can smell blood and... acid, Hagoromo said through their mental link.

Naruto threw the T-shirt toward Chiron. "It smells really bad."

When Chiron smelled the T-shirt, his eyes widened. "Centaur blood." He snapped his head toward Stoll Brothers. "Boys, you have now crossed your limit." His angry eyes were locked on both brothers, making them nervous, making them sweat under his gaze.

Naruto locked his eyes onto Zoe. "How will you protect Bianca and at the same time, face the opponent that your goddess has failed to defeat?"

"That is none of thy business."

"You're stubborn, Zoe. That's why I'm coming with you."

"Absolutely not." Zoe turned to Dionysus. "He is a boy. He cannot travel with us."

Mr. D looked bored while he was reading a magazine. "Well, I can't say anything on this. He is not a camper," he said, flipping through the magazine pages. This surprised everyone. It was the first time he had taken someone's side.

Now that's surprising, Chiron thought. Then he said, "We've four volunteers now. Anyone else?" His eyes met Percy's.

"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and a Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lap. "Anything to help Artemis!"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood."

"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"

"Absolutely!"

Zoe wavered. "Very well," she said. "And the last camper?"

"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.

"Whoa, wait a sec," Percy said when he suddenly realized that they'd reached the number six, and he wasn't in the group. "I want to go too."

"Oh," Grover said, suddenly aware of the problem. "Whoa, yeah, I forgot! Percy has to go. I didn't mean… I'll stay. Percy should go in my place."

"He cannot," Zoe said. "He is a boy. I won't have Hunters traveling with another boy."

Percy opened his mouth to complain, but Naruto didn't give him a chance. "He can come with us."

"Sorry, but he cannot. Your group already has reached its limit," Chiron said.

Naruto said, "You can't count me in this group. I'm neither a hunter nor a camper."

"He is right," Mr. D said, surprising everyone again.

What's wrong with him today? Why is he taking Naruto's side? Chiron wondered. He couldn't go against a god's decision. "The quest is for Artemis. Thalia, Percy and Grover will accompany Zoe, Bianca, Phoebe," He looked at Naruto, "and Naruto. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods," he glanced at Dionysus, "present company included, we hope—be with you."

Once everyone had left out, the only remaining people inside were Naruto, Chiron and Dionysus. Naruto walked toward the Wine God. He took a scroll and unsealed five Sake bottles.

"A deal is deal. These are bottles of Mt. Myoboku Fire Sake, strongest sake known to man… and toads," he said to Dionysus.

"Good," Mr. D said. He waved his hand and the bottles were gone.

Chiron finally understood everything. "You bribed him to get him on your side," he said.

"It wasn't a bribe. It was an offering," Naruto said, smirking inside.

Chiron turned to Dionysus. "What about your restriction, Mr. D?"

Mr. D smirked. "Those bottles are for a special occasion."

...oOo...

Naruto opened his eyes and saw white, empty space all around him. There was nothing else, except one man. He was tall and handsome. He had blue eyes and blond hair the same color, but it was wilder.

"Dad," Naruto said.

"Hey, son." Minato gasped from the sharp pain in his stomach where Naruto had punched him.

"This is for not telling me about you and mom being gods."

"This is unfair. You didn't hit your mother, when you met her, but you hit me twice. Why?"

"Life is not always fair, dad."

Minato shook his head and then smiled. "How are you, my son?"

Naruto folded his arms. "I'm still mad on you and mom."

Smile on Minato's face melted. "We're sorry, Naruto. The Elemental Nations doesn't come under our rules; it left us very few options to help you. But we did everything."

"I don't remember anything you and mom have done for me."

"Who do think gave you all those birthday gifts, free Ichikura Ramen coupons and monthly allowances till you become a gennin."

"I thought it was gramps."

"It was us, Naruto."

Naruto thought about it for a minute and nodded. "Dad, are you here to tell me who you and mom really are?" he asked.

"There is a time for everything, and I believe this is not the right time."

"Yeah, right."

"Life is what it is. It is not always fair. We don't always get what we want and think we deserve."

Naruto gave him a deadpan look. "You are using my own words on me."

Minato smirked. "Yeah, playback is sweet," he said. "Anyway, how are you taking all things that suddenly happened in your life?"

"I can't tell how I truly feel about everything. Earth is different from the Elemental Nations in many ways. It has more than a thousand languages and cultures, advanced technology, and many more. Then there are Greek gods, like you and mom. God of the Sun, Goddess of the moon, Goddess of Love, God of Super-pervert—"

"Wait a minute, what was the last one?"

"God of Super-pervert."

"Who is he?"

"Zeus."

Minato nearly fell flat on his face. "Naruto, you shouldn't say something like this about Zeus. He is the king of the gods, the god of sky and weather, law, order, and justice."

"He is also one who has most demigod children," Naruto pointed out. "But why are you defending him?"

Minato signed. "Let's change the topic, shall we?" He got a nod from Naruto. "I've got something for you." He held his hand up and a golden light proceeded. When it cleared, he was holding a golden egg with the red ancient Greek marking over its shell. It was about the size of an ostrich egg, but was spilling off a golden-red aura. "Happy Birthday."

Naruto took the egg from his father's hand. "Thanks for the gift, but what am I going to do with a big egg?" he asked.

"Can't you see it?"

Naruto locked his eyes on the egg. His eyes shifted into his dual doujutsu. He finally saw what he had been unable to see before. Raw Chakra. The creature made of raw chakra inside the egg.

"Do you like your gift?"

"Yeah." Naruto eyes still fixed on the egg. "But how am I going to carry it?" In a flash, the egg changed into a small golden pearl. "Never mind."

Minato smiled and ruffled his son hair. He was still taller than him. "Now, wake up, or you'll be late for the quest of saving Artemis." His son gave him a nod and then faded from the existence. "Tch, I don't understand why they're taking the troublemaker son of Poseidon with them."

"You always have a problem with demigod children of Poseidon and Hades."

"You're the last person I want to hear this from, and you know it, Kushina." Minato turned to see his wife. "You literally hate almost every demigod."

Kushina folded her arm and said, "I blame you for that."

...oOo...

"Where are they?" Zoe fumed in anger while she waited on Half-Blood Hill for the last two members of the group.

"Sorry, I'm late."

The voice, close behind her, made Zoe almost jump. She whirled around and glared at Naruto. "Don't do that again, Uzumaki! And Why are thee late?"

"What?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Why are you late?" Thalia repeated Zoe's question. She didn't want to waste another couple of minutes on a useless argument.

"Oh," Naruto looked at Zoe, "Sorry, I got lost on the road of life."

"What kind of excuse is this?"

"A very good one," Naruto said, smiling. He looked at the hunter who had asked him that question. She was beefy and big, and had ginger colored hair. "You must be Phoebe. It's nice to meet you. I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

Phoebe turned her eyes away with a look of disgust upon her face.

Naruto sighed. What's wrong with all hunters? He looked around and tried to find the son of Poseidon. "Where is Percy?" he asked.

"I'm afraid," Chiron said with a sigh, "I've looked everywhere, but I didn't find him."

"We can't afford to waste any more time searching one irresponsible boy," Zoe said. Grover wanted to say something in defense of his best friend, but she didn't let him. "Our goddess needs us. We must leave immediately."

Chiron said, "I got the keys to the van right here."

So after a final farewell and a warning from Zoe concerning her Hunters safety, the Quest for Artemis officially began with six quest takers piling into a fairly nice looking van.

...oOo...

Our five out of six quest takers were facing the first problem in the quest of Artemis. Zoe Nightshade's worst driving. She was driving like a maniac on the road swerving through traffic like a crazy person looking to die. She passed a car with other cars coming head on and just making it back in the lane.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" one driver leaned out his car window and yelled at her.

"Stupid, man," Zoe grumbled under her breath.

Seeing the D.C. lane approaching, she shifted gears and went into a turn. The car's rear end skidded before allowing the momentum to turn it in a glide. She stamped down on the accelerator and sped up to a hundred mph.

"Slow down, Nightshade!" Thalia screamed.

Finally, the van started to slow down. It crossed the Potomac River into central Washington.

"Zoe, we're there," Grover said.

Driving across the street, Zoe pulled into a parking space adjacent to one of the big buildings lining the Mall.

Naruto leaned out the window. He saw the big building that said NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM.

"The Smithsonian," Thalia muttered. She opened the door of the van to get out on land.

Naruto got out as well. He his eyes lingered on the large building in front of them.

"The Mist is thick today," Phoebe commented with a frown. She knelt down and ran her hand through the snow. "And the power is shifted. Something powerful came through here."

Naruto closed his eyes and let his senses roam free. "We're not alone. Two strong taints are in there along with one familiar," he said. His eyes were open, but fixed in a particular direction. Percy is here, but who is near him? That energy signature feels familiar.

...oOo...

Invisibility cap on, Percy's eyes were on the black sedan that had been following his friends. He watched the door of the black sedan open. A man with gray hair and a military buzz cut got out. He was wearing dark shades and a black overcoat. The guy took out his mobile phone and said something into it. Then he looked around, making sure the coast was clear. When he turned toward him, Percy froze as he recognized his face. It was Dr. Thorn, the manticore from Westover Hall.

If he has survived that fall from the cliff, then... Percy thought, and he followed Thorn.

Thorn climbed the steps of the Museum of Natural History. There was a big sign on the door said CLOSED FOR PRIVATE EVENT. Percy followed Dr. Thorn inside, through a huge chamber full of mastodons and dinosaur skeletons. Two guards stood outside. They opened the doors for Thorn. Percy had to sprint to get inside before they closed them again.

Inside, what Percy saw was so terrible. He was in a huge round room with a balcony ringing the second level. At least a dozen mortal guards stood on the balcony, plus two monsters—reptilian women with double-snake trunks instead of legs. Scythian dracaenae. That wasn't the worse of it. Standing between the snake women was his old enemy Luke Castellan. He was a demigod son of Hermes and traitor to the Olympians. He looked terrible. His skin was pale and his blond hair looked almost gray, as if he'd aged ten years in just a few months.

...oOo...

Percy watched the General—that's what Luke and Thorn called him. He was tall and muscular, with light brown skin and slicked-back dark hair. He wore an expensive brown silk suit. He had a brutal face, huge shoulders, and hands that could snap a flagpole in half. His eyes were like stone.

The General ordered another mortal guard to bring the tyrannosaurus' teeth after his first attempt to bring a terrible monster back to life failed in a very embarrassing way. The guard ran off to carry out his orders.

"Imbeciles," the General muttered.

"This is why I don't use mortals," Luke said. "They are unreliable."

"They are weak-minded, easily bought, and violent," the General said. "I love them."

A minute later, the guard hustled into the room with his hands full of large pointy teeth.

"Excellent," the General said. He climbed onto the balcony railing and jumped down, twenty feet. Where he landed, the marble floor cracked under his leather shoes. He stood, wincing, and rubbed his shoulders. "Curse my stiff neck."

"Another hot pad, sir?" a guard asked. "More Tylenol?"

"No! It will pass." The General brushed off his silk suit, then snatched up the teeth. "I shall do this myself." He held up one of the teeth and smiled. "Dinosaur teeth—ha! Those foolish mortals don't even know when they have dragon teeth in their possession. And not just any dragon teeth. These come from the ancient Sybaris herself! They shall do nicely."

He planted them in the dirt, twelve in all. Then he scooped up the watering can. He sprinkled the soil with red liquid, tossed the can away, and held his arms out wide.

"Rise!"

The dirt trembled. A single, skeletal hand shot out of the ground, grasping at the air.

The General looked up at the balcony. "Quickly, do you have the scent?"

"Yesssss, lord," one of the snake ladies said. She took out a sash of silvery fabric, like the kind the Hunters wore.

"Excellent," the General said. "Once my warriors catch its scent, they will pursue its owner relentlessly. Nothing can stop them, no weapons known to half-blood or Hunter. They will tear the Hunters and their allies to shreds. Toss it here!"

As he finished, skeletons erupted from the ground. There were twelve of them, one for each tooth the General had planted. They were nothing like Halloween skeletons. These were growing flesh. They turned into men, but men with dull gray skin, yellow eyes, and modern clothes—gray muscle shirts, camo pants, and combat boots. Their flesh was transparent and their bones shimmered underneath, like X-ray images. One of them looked straight at Percy, freezing the boy his place as he realized that the cap of invisibility wouldn't fool it.

The snake lady released the scarf and it fluttered down toward the General's hand. Percy knew if the General gave it to the warriors, they would hunt Zoe and the others until they were extinct. He ran and jumped up, plowing into the warriors and snatching the scarf out of the air.

"What's this?" the General bellowed.

Percy landed at the feet of a skeleton warrior, who hissed.

"An intruder," the General growled. "One cloaked in darkness. Seal the doors!"

Percy sprinted for the exit, but heard a ripping sound and realized the skeleton warrior had taken a chunk out of his sleeve. Ignoring it, he had just reached the doors when the General's energy blasted him away from the door. Percy slammed into the wall and his invisibility cap fell down, making him visible to everyone.

Luke snarled at him. "Seize him!"

Two mortal guards moved toward the Son of Poseidon, but then Naruto showed up. He grabbed the rifle of one of the guard and pulled the man with the gun. He then flung him against another, knocking both of them out.

"Need help, Percy?" Naruto said.

He brought his hand up, palm facing forward as the bullet fired by remaining guards stopped in mid-air, and fell to the ground. He then used his free hand to grab three shuriken from his pouch and tossed them toward the General and skeleton warriors. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"Three shuriken turned three thousand and rained down toward their targets.

The General caught the shuriken that had come too close to his body in his hands and flared his power to destroy the remaining ones. "This won't work on me, boy," he said, crushing the shuriken with his bare fist.

"Then maybe, this will."

Naruto was behind the General with a blue, spinning sphere rotating on his palm. "Rasengan!" He slammed the blue ball down into his back. The Rasengan exploded, literally destroying the marble floor.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto appeared next to Percy. "We have to go, Percy. I don't think it will hold them much long," he said.

Percy glanced back. To his horror, the skeleton warriors were reforming, picking their own body. "Naruto, they have my scent," he said in panic.

"No, they haven't," Naruto said, holding the fabric that the skeleton warrior had ripped out of his sleeve.

"How?"

"A ninja never reveals his secrets." He grabbed Percy's shoulder and body flickered out of there.

One guard walked over to the General and bent down. "Sir, are you alright?" he asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

The General grabbed him by his neck and tossed him over the side. He cursed something in ancient Greek and slowly got to his feet. He lowered his hands and watched his golden blood, ichor, slowly drop onto the floor.

"General," Thorn said.

"I underestimate that boy," he said. Everyone shivered at the tone of his voice and his dark aura. "What is his name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki," Luke answered. "He is from the Elemental Nations."

The General's eyes widened slightly just a brief second. "We need to deal with that boy before he creates any problem for us."

He opened his hand and looked at the tiny piece of orange fabric that he had managed to rip out of the boy's coat. He tossed it at a skeleton warrior. One skeleton warrior caught the piece of cloth. He held it up to his nose and sniffed the scent before handing it around to his friends.

"Finish him!" the General said.

...oOo...

Once they appeared in the Air and Space Museum, Naruto let go of Percy's shoulder. The son of Poseidon suddenly felt dizzy and before he knew it, fell to the ground.

"Ah, you're feeling the side-effects of the body flicker... Don't worry, it's just for a bit," Naruto said. "Anyway, I gotta go, so see ya later."

"Where ar— " Recovering, Percy looked up, but Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, he got up and walked toward the admissions area.

The main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so anyone could look at the exhibits from all different heights. The place wasn't crowded, just a few families and a couple of tour groups of kids.

Percy looked around to find Thalia and Grover and the Hunters. He ran into, literally ran into, Thalia. He was barreling up the ramp to the top-floor balcony and slammed into her, knocking her into an Apollo space capsule. Grover yelped in surprise. The Hunters had arrows notched, aimed at Percy chest before he could regain his balance.

They finally realized who he was as Zoe said, "Jackson?"

"Percy!" Grover said. "Thank goodness."

"Where have you been?" Thalia glared at Percy, angrily demanding some explanation.

Percy said, "Luke, he's here."

Anger in Thalia's eyes immediately melted. She put her hand on her silver bracelet. "Where?"

Percy told them everything that had happened in the Natural History Museum.

"The General is here?" Zoe looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie."

"Why would I lie? Ask Naruto, if you don't believe me. He was also there."

"Stop lying. Uzumaki is with us the whole time." Phoebe said, and she moved aside.

Percy just stood staring at Naruto, who was standing behind Phoebe, in disbelief.

"So you met Boss," Naruto said, calmly in bored tone.

"Boss?" Percy asked.

"He's taking about me, Percy."

Percy moved suddenly to the side, like a frightened horse. His green eyes widened as he stared back at another Naruto, his mouth dropping open in an oafish gape of surprise. Thalia, Grover and the Hunters were not much better than him. They stared back and forth between both Naruto.

Naruto, who was behind them, waved at them before vanishing in puffs of smoke.

"That was my clone," Naruto said to clear up confusion.

"You can clone yourself?" Bianca asked.

"Yes." Naruto said, smiling. "I can make thousand."

"Oh, great. Just great! A boy who can make thousands of himself," Zoe muttered under her breath.

Thousand clones, Percy thought. Just what he could do with the thousand clones of himself.

Naruto said, "Anyway, Percy is telling the truth about the General and there are also the Skeleton warriors—"

"What?" Thalia shouted. "How many?"

"Twelve," Percy said when he finally came out of his daydream and understood what they were taking about. "And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate,' to distract you over here. A monster."

Zoe took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "If Percy is telling the truth," she said, "we have no time to argue… We must leave now."

"What is this weird smell?" Naruto asked as he sniffed the air.

Grover's eyes widened as he took in the scent.

"Everyone move!" Phoebe, who was looking up, shouted.

Seven teenagers moved out of the way as a shadow covered them and a roar hit their ears. Landing in place where they used to be was a lion, large enough to be a pick-up truck. Its fur nearly matched Naruto's blond hair, but glistened and gave off a more molten gold appearance, as its claws shined and looked silver. Gleaming fangs were exposed and dripping with saliva.

Grover gasped. "The Nemean Lion."

The Lion let out a loud roar.

Naruto quickly tossed some shuriken at the lion aimed at his head. To his shock, the shuriken bounced off the large cat's fur like it was nothing. "Damn!" He pulled out a Kunai, wrapped an explosive tag around the handle and threw it toward the big cat.

The kunai landed right beneath the lion's forepaws. The lion looked down just as the explosive tag detonated, making it roar in pain at being blinded.

Naruto jumped up and landed beside Zoe. "Any suggestion?" he asked.

"Yes," Zoe said. "Try to keep it distracted."

"Well, I can do that."

Naruto ran towards the monster. He leaped up and delivered a powerful punch straight to the lion's face, hard enough to send him flying back several feet through the air.

"Wow!" Grover said.

"Focus on your work, Grover!" Thalia shouted. "Clear the area!"

"Sorry."

The Hunters rained down hundreds of arrows within seconds on the beast. However, not a single arrow was able to pierce his fur. Roaring angrily, the Lion got to his feet and began making his way toward the Hunters, crushing the arrows beneath his massive paws.

Naruto, use Kusanagi. She can cut through almost anything, Hagoromo said.

I almost forgot about her, thanks for reminding me, old man.

Naruto focused his chakra in the snake tattoos covering his wrist. The snake came back to life and crawled toward the open palm of his hand. He closed his hand. The snake hissed in agony before transforming into the legendary blade Kusanagi. He instantly jumped out of the way to avoid being crushed under the massive paw of the Lion. Gripping the handle of Kusanagi tightly, he raced forward. His heterochromia eyes sparkled before he disappeared in a burst of speed. He slashed with his sword. Sword of Kusanagi was truly the sword of legend, revered to be able to cut through almost anything as she easily pierced through the creature's skin. The Lion roared in pain, tried to rake him with his claws. He had no choice but to jump back.

Naruto channeled his wind chakra through Kusanagi, sharpening the blade. He raised the sword above his head, ready to stab in the Lion's head. Just then, a dark green blob of toxic acid came out of nowhere and hit him.

"Whew! That almost hit me!" Naruto said, black tomoe spinning rapidly in his blood-red eyes. Where he'd been standing just a moment before, he saw a hissing, melting black spot growing. Glad, I swapped places with a shuriken. He closed his eyes to deactivate the dual doujutsu and then stood up from his crouching position.

"This," Grover said, his trembling voice betraying his fear, "is not good."

Another monster had come to aid of the Lion. It was a huge and scaly lizard-like monster with long necks and nine heads to match. It had many rows of razor-sharp teeth, its hands were clawed, had a tail.

Percy recognized it immediately. He had fought it before. "Hydra," he said.

"We can't fight with both," Bianca said, her voice shaking.

"Yes, we can," Naruto said, landing beside her. "I'll take care of the lizard. The six of you, deal with the big cat and kill him before he can harm others."

"But only your weapon is better suited to fight with him," Phoebe said.

Naruto said, "He is weak now." His pointed at the Lion, who was trying to stand steady on his feet. "Kusanagi's poison has entered his bloodstream." He charged toward the Hydra.

"Just don't cut off the heads!" Thalia yelled, "Two more will just grow back for each one you cut off!"

Naruto jumped over the railing and land on top of one Hydra's head only other heads to try to bite him off. With perfect control of his body, he jumped on top of a second head and shoved the sword deeper into its skull. The head was wracked in pain.

The Nemean Lion roared. Thalia stepped into his path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled.

"ROOOAAAR!"

"Hi-yah!" Thalia said. "Back!"

The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire. He crawled backwards slowly, his muscles tense, ready to pounce.

Percy saw it. "Hey!" He charged the beast and slashed with Riptide, a good strike, but the blade just clanged against his fur in a burst of sparks. Oh, come on. Naruto's sword easily cut through his fur, but mine didn't even give him a scratch.

The lion raked him with his claws, ripping off a chunk of his coat and pushing him against the railing. He sprang at him, one thousand pounds of monster, giving the son of the sea god no choice but to turn and jump. However, soon, he realized that jumping off the railing, which was so far off the ground, was a worst choice to save your life.

Naruto grabbed Percy midair before kicking the lion away, who had jumped after Percy. He safely put him on the wing of an old-fashioned silver airplane and then puffed out of existence.

Clone, Percy thought.

The lion jumped onto the aircraft, which pitched and almost spilled Percy to the floor, three stories below. The Lion took a few steps toward Percy and the cords holding the plane began to groan. Percy jumped onto a weird-looking spacecraft with blades like a helicopter. He looked up and saw the lion roar—inside its maw, a pink tongue and throat.

His mouth, he thought. He turned toward the hunters. "Zoe! Target the mouth!"

The hunter already had an arrow on her bow. Weakened by the poison, the lion suddenly slipped and fell down onto the spaceship. An arrow zipped past him, missing completely. He slowly stood up and growled at Percy.

"Shit," Percy cursed. He jumped from the spaceship onto the top of a floor exhibit, a huge model of the earth.

Naruto jumped onto the neck of Hydra's one head and swung himself, so he was on the back of it and shimmied up to the top as quickly as possible. The other heads froze as they tried to figure out how to bite him without biting itself, allowing him to get to the top without resistance. Once he was there, he pulled his fist back and punched the Hydra directly in the eye, knocking that head out cold.

"Four down, five to go," he said to himself as he landed on the ground. He outstretched his palm and Kusanagi came flying back to him. "This is taking too much time."

Naruto rolled out of the way as soon as one head dove at him with its mouth wide open. He dodged again, this time avoiding another head. Deciding to make some distractions, he made a hand seal and two clones popped into existence. While his clone distracted the monster, Naruto jumped onto the head, and used it as a stepping stone to reach the ceiling of the museum. He hung upside down over the Hydra, his feet sticking to the ceiling.

Naruto gave a signal to his clones. The clones moved back away from the Hydra and slammed their both hands onto the ground. Several golden chakra chains shot out of the ground around the Hydra and dug deep into its flesh. The monster roared over and over as it's struggled to free itself from the chains. But it was all in vain, the chains didn't even budge no matter what it did.

"Time to end this in a lightening style," Naruto said.

Thalia jabbed at the beast and backed up. The lion pressed her.

"Percy," she called, "whatever you're going to do—"

The lion roared and swatted her like a cat toy, sending her flying into the side of a Titan rocket. Her head hit the metal and she slid to the floor.

"Hey!" Percy yelled at the lion. He was too far away to strike, so he hurled Riptide like a throwing knife. It bounced off the lion's side, but that was enough to get the monster's attention.

The lion turned toward him and snarled.

Percy charged which was the only way to get close to the beast, and as the lion leaped to intercept him, he chucked a space food, pouch into its maw—a chunk of cellophane-wrapped, freeze-dried strawberry parfait.

The lion's eyes got wide and he gagged like a cat with a hairball.

"Zoe, get ready!" Percy yelled.

The beast choked down the space food packet and looked at Percy with pure hate. He opened his mouth and roared. This time, Percy shoved an ice-cream sandwich in his throat. The lion's eyes bugged and he backed away from him.

Percy saw this chance and yelled, "Now!"

Immediately, six arrows pierced the lion's maw. The lion reared back onto his hind legs from the strike before falling forward.

Grover knelt at Thalia's side and helped her up. She seemed okay, just a little dazed. The Hunters dropped from the balcony and landed next to Percy.

Zoe eyed Percy. "That was… an interesting strategy."

"Hey, it worked."

She didn't argue.

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker. The sound of a hundred wings flapping filled the air.

"What's going on?" Thalia asked.

"Look up," Bianca said, pointing at the ceiling.

Naruto was standing upside down on the ceiling with red lightning dancing around his body and sword. Bringing his weapon toward the Hydra, he came down like a massive lightning bolt comes from the sky down, illuminating the museum with red light and sending sparks across everywhere. The Hydra roared and writhed in pain as a high-voltage jolt of electricity coursed through its body. Large cracks formed all over its body and it began to disintegrate slowly into golden dust, leaving nothing but a smoking hot crater.

"Can you do that?" Grover asked wide eyes after watching such a large-scale lightning attack.

"I don't know," the daughter of Zeus said, unsure. She had never seen lightning in such unique color before.

Percy saw how much destruction Naruto caused in one attack. Burns and scratch marks on the once smooth flooring, a large smoking crater where the lightning attack had hit, and small, burnt pieces of planes perhaps only things had left. He had literary destroyed the one portion of the museum.

"Hope the museum has insurance," he murmured.

"Hey! Your lion is melting!"

Percy spun around and thrust his sword forward, but Naruto grabbed the tip of the blade with his bare hand.

"Whoa! Just take it easy, Percy," he said.

"Naruto?" Percy breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was Naruto. "Please, don't do that again."

"Don't do what?"

"Never mind."

Percy looked toward the beast they slew. Naruto was right; the lion seemed to be melting, until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat, and even that seemed to be shrinking in the size of a normal lion's pelt.

"Take it," Zoe told me.

Percy stared at her. "What, the lion's fur? Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?"

"It is a spoil of war," Zoe said. "It is rightly thine."

"You killed it."

She shook her head. "I think thy ice-cream sandwich did that. Fair is fair, Percy Jackson. Take the fur."

Percy lifted it up, which it was surprisingly light. The fur was smooth and soft. Then the pelt shifted and changed into a coat—a full-length golden-brown duster.

"Not exactly my style," he murmured.

"That's unfair," Naruto said. Stabbing the sword into the floor, he folded his arm. "You got a coat, but I got nothing in return."

"Hmm, Naruto," Grover said, "look down at your sword."

Naruto looked down. He saw a black aura oozing out of the Kusanagi's blade and slowly eating the floor. Eventually, it created a small hole in it. "Sweet, my sword got an upgrade," he said.

Naruto pulled the sword free and gave some practice swings in the confined space. Then Kusanagi transformed into her white snake form and melted back into his skin. He turned and rubbed back of his head when he saw the damage he did to the museum.

He said, "I think I've overdone it a bit."

Bianca sent him a look of utter disbelief. "You think," she said.

"Yeah," Naruto replied. He cupped his hand and closed the eyes.

"We have to get out of here, now" Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."

It was strange that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest them. They were scrambling in all directions except theirs, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other.

Percy noticed for the first time. "You did that?" he asked Grover.

Grover nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds."

"Uzumaki, what are you doing?" Phoebe asked.

"Praying," Naruto said, his eyes still closed.

A thick unnatural mist curled over the museum and grew into a thick fog. When it cleared, all quest takers saw everything had been restored back to their original state. Floor had been repaired, all exhibits were on their rightful places in their perfect condition, and there was no sign of fighting.

"Thanks mom," Naruto said.

"We have to go Now," Zoe said. "Look."

Through the glass walls of the museum, they could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits.

"The skeleton warriors," Percy said.

Naruto made a quick hand sign and a single shadow clone popped up. "Go and distract them."

The clone gave a salute to his creator and body flickered out of there to do his jobs. Naruto looked at Zoe. "So, what's the plan?" he asked.

(TBC)

Hey, it is me, YamiNaruto!

I want to say thanks for reading "The Blood of Gods" story.

If you have to say anything relating my story, then send me PM or Left review. I will do my best to reply you.

See you later!