Chapter 1

The Greek gods have always feared that which they cannot control in some way, beings with potential to over power them, included. From slumbering Titans, to prophecies about their down fall.

They do the irrational and selfish thing of removing that which brings them fear, or they try to. They try to control the fate of themselves, and others, by trying to steer the results of prophecies to either not happen or be beneficial to them. Usually they were unable to in the end, as it all comes full circle and they complete the prophecies themselves. But this is not a story about them.

Not completely anyway.

No this is about a boy. A special boy.

One that fate has no hold over. Someone nobody has control over.

His name? Well . . . . . . you will find out soon.

World of Mortals

In the surrounding forests of Long Island, New York a figure can be found walking seemingly aimlessly through it. Not much could be told of what they looked like, the beige hooded cloak they wore hiding most everything of their being. With the exception being the lower part of their face, showing a neutral expression and tanned skin. The rest hidden within the shadows of the hood. But there was a length of thick string diagonally across their body, from shoulder to hip, leading to a sheathed, curved sword with the handle peaking over the figures right shoulder.

The handle itself was simple, wrapped in white cloth with a gold buttcap and a square tsuba, or the hand guard piece. The scabbard was black painted wood. In the end it was meant for nothing more than to be used. The figure's footwear was seen as well, being a pair of dirty and worn sneaker, the original colour lost beneath wear, scuffs and dirt. The only other noticeable thing would be the lack of feminine curves, leading to the figure being presumed male and that they were about 5"6 in height.

It was night currently, but there was nary a cloud in the sky letting the moon shine its radiance upon those below it. The canopy doing little to block it, especially in the small clearing he came upon. But the figure was no longer alone, for in the clearing was three people, well more like two and a half people, since one, a male, had the legs of a sheep or something.

The other two were another boy, bout 12 – 13 if the figure guessed right, having unkempt black hair, an olive skin tone and sea green eyes. From a very brief assessment, the figure concluded that he wasn't very athletic from the lack of serious muscle.

The last person was a woman, probably the boy's mother, not the one with sheep legs since she had none herself. Or she could be, and was into some weird things, the figure wasn't one to judge. But the biggest give away was their shared that same olive complexion, but she was a beauty. Her brown hair with grey streaks not detracting from it at all. Her blue eyes focused on the boy, her son. A loving gaze was all she gave. No hint of fear at all.

Now the three were nothing troubling, well if you don't count the sheep legs, but it was the fact there was also a giant, hairy, bull man with them. The woman was in the bull man's giant hand, the sheep guy was out of it leaning against a tree and groaning. While the boy was sort of just standing there, in shock of what was about to happen.

The figure could tell what was about to happen though, he could see it in the way the bull man's muscles tensed. His hand came up, gripping the handle of his sword he took a step forward and disappeared with the wind.

On the crest of the hill the clearing was situated on, a group of people had reached the top. Having heard the roars of the bull man from a distance. The group consisted of males and females ranging from 10 to 17 all in various types of sleep wear on and assorted pieces of leather armour. The two that stood out the most though were the man with the horse's body for his legs, and the blonde girl standing by him.

They had arrived just in time though, to watch the unthinkable. To them anyway.

For faster than almost all of their eyes could keep up with, a hooded and cloaked person appeared mid-air by the Minotaur's – the official name of the bull man – head. His back facing the monster and looking like he was crouching where he was. But there was also the distinct sound of a sword sliding into its sheath. When the inevitable *click* was echoed all around for all to hear. That was when the Minotaur stiffened, as if frozen in the arctic winds. Then its head slowly slid from its shoulders, gold dust escaping the wound instead of the usual red blood that was expected.

Despite killing the creature, the figure was not fast enough to stop it from completing its action. Which resulted in both the monster and the woman exploding into golden dust like particles.

The black-haired kid finally reacted, just as the cloaked figure landed in his crouch, screaming at the loss of his mother "NOOO! MOM!" reaching out, as if she would come back and take his hand. He started to tear up, but couldn't really let the waterworks go as he passed out, the stress of his strange day, and the adrenaline from the last few minutes leaving his system and letting his tiredness from earlier catch up to him.

The person stood from their crouch, coming to their full height. They looked over to the gathering of people at the top of the hill, near the large pine tree. Well the group thought he did, as his hood was turned towards them, but they couldn't tell much more because of the shadow of the hood.

The horseman watched silently and with critical eyes as the figure then moved to who he knew as Percy Jackson, grabbing him by the back of his shirt collar and dragged him over to the incoherent Satyr, Grover Underwood, before doing the same and dragging the both behind him up the hill towards his group of campers.

They could also get a better look, now that the cloak was opened as his arms were extended behind him. They could see his orange shirt and black pants, along with the single strap of something on his back, in a similar position to the string of his blade.

Once close enough, the figure let go of the two he was dragging along the dirt, his body hidden by his cloak once more. The horseman, a centaur by the name of Chiron, examined the person.

While most of the campers wouldn't have been able to, he was able to keep up with this mysterious figure's speed.

He had seen him zoom in, closing the distance between him and the Minotaur, before jumping in at a faster speed than he ran with, unsheathed his sword, one he recognized to be a Japanese Katana, began a frontal flip while in the same movement beheaded the bull man. Completing his flip and sheathing his blade in the same instant.

Quite the accomplishment.

For the centaur had not seen speed like that for a few years, from a child of Hermes in the 1920's if memory served correctly.

Since the person didn't seem to want to strike up conversation, Chiron decided to instead "Welcome to Camp Half Blood, I am Chiron and these are my campers, I would like to thank you for what you have done, but may I ask whether you be friend or foe?" his tone was inquisitive, but nonthreatening. Lest he get an answer he does not like.

The hooded person was quiet for a moment, contemplating if he should reply. But seeing the campers raise the weapons they wielded, in case of attack, he seemed to sigh in exasperation.

Having people attempt to drive sharp pointy objects into his flesh was not on his to-do list today.

His hand rose up, parting his cloak and swept his hood back, letting his uncontrollable sun kissed blonde hair free, the spikes going everywhere, some falling onto his forehead. Chiron and the campers could also now see his face. He had electric blue eyes, which Chiron likened to those that a child of Zeus would have. They could clearly see his tanned skin, that showed his extended time in the sun. On his both cheeks, there were three lines, that some of the camper's thought were scars. They looked like cute whiskers to a few of them, the more girly ones at least. Also known as Aphrodite's children.

Then he spoke, loud and clear, his tone calm and collected, regal even "I am Naruto Uzumaki-"

Whatever else he was going to say though was cut off by an exclamation of "Whiskers!?" from the blonde girl next to Chiron. To everyone who heard it, the shout sounded more like the calling of a name than an outburst of surprise at his facial features.

At the shout, the now named Naruto turned to the speaker, or shouter, he guessed, taking in their appearance. She looked 12 standing at 5"4 with tanned skin, stormy grey eyes, blonde hair in princess curls and a great figure that looked athletic. For clothes she wore white sneakers, blue jeans, a short sleeve orange shirt under a leather breastplate, and a string necklace around her neck with wooden beads on it and a college ring. He recognized her. But for the life of him he couldn't remember where from.

He narrowed his eyes in concentration, matched with his 'whiskers', gave him the image of a fox. He tapped his lips, the answer on the tip of his tongue. "Where do I know you from?" he asked himself quietly. Then abruptly he reached forward, invading the blonde girl's personal space and grabbed handfuls of her hair, and held up the bunches he grabbed in a crude imitation of pigtails.

"Aha!" his face lit up, finally remembering. He grabbed a hold of her again, and brought her in for a giant hug, lifting her off her feet. "Book-Worm! Long-time no see!" his giant happy grin was seen by all the stunned campers. For no longer did he seem like a battle-hardened warrior who they just witnessed slay the Minotaur in one swing of his blade.

No. Now he just seemed like some carefree idiot wandering the woods. Totally the opposite of what they first pegged him as.

'Book-Worm' though was red in the face, having forgotten the name he had given her when they were young and stupid, well when he was stupider and she less intelligent "My name is Annabeth you idiot!" she cried outrageously, struggling in his hold. "And put me down!" he did as told, setting her on her feet where Annabeth promptly huffed, crossing her arms and turned away. Only to find all the other campers snickering at her flustered state. Huffing again, she stomped away in annoyance.

Naruto watched after her, scratching his head in confusion, one eyebrow raised as well. "What's with her? You'd think she'd be happy to see me"

Chiron just shook his head while suppressing his chuckle, amused by the ordeal. It seems this 'Naruto' had history with the child of Athena, thus it would be safe to assume him to not be hostile.

Which was good, as it means he wasn't here to attack the camp.

He turned his attention to the campers "Now back to bed everyone, the threat is no longer here. But someone please grab Mr Jackson and Grover, they need to be taken to the sick bay" he saw most of them nod, while others were already leaving to go back to sleep. Two of the stronger campers moved to pick up the two he mentioned from the ground.

Giving his attention to Naruto once more he spoke "Now, would you mind coming with me? I'd like to talk with you" Chiron was assuming that with the speed, strength and skill he displayed by eliminating the bull man, along with the fact he could even see the Minotaur that he must have been a demigod. For clear sighted mortals were few and far between. And for the boy to be half god it was only logical in Chiron's mind.

"Sure, nothing better to do. Just let me get my valuables first" Naruto replied. Walking back to where the Minotaur was, in the remnants of the dust, lay the severed head of the bull monster, its lifeless eyes staring . . . . well . . . . lifelessly into nowhere. Picking the large head up by the large gold nose ring, Naruto brought it with him back to Chiron. He thought out loud as he did "Now what should I have done with you?"

Chiron, hearing the muttering as the boy walked past him, deduced that this must not have been the first time he had encountered a monster, especially if he was having considerations on what to do with the trophy of his kill.

Just as he was about to speak up, Naruto crossed the invisible protective Barrier Line. The one that protected the camp from attacking monsters and kept out mortals unless they are invited in by a camper, the very one that had been in place for many centuries and recently empowered by the pine tree that Zeus transformed his demigod daughter into five years ago. But as Chiron watched Naruto cross over, for an instant the boy was enveloped by a red bubbling energy, that took the general shape of his body, bar the large ears that extended from the cocoon of energy in the shape of rabbits ears along with the singular tail that swished behind the boy.

But it only lasted as second, as once he was past the energy vanished, though Naruto did stop and turned to Chiron, an eyebrow raised "You said your name was Chiron, right?"

With a raised eyebrow of his own and dismissing the odd sight he witnessed Chiron replied "Yes, that is my name"

"What was it I was meant to do?" he whispered out loud to himself, tapping his chin in thought. "I remember now!" snapping his fingers in remembrance, Naruto reach behind himself, under the cloak. Then in the instance that the centaur blinked in confusion at his action, he felt a cold wet liquid like substance splatter across his face. "Garry from the Florida Chapter says hi" Naruto said, continuing on into the camp, leaving the centaur sputtering covered in hot pink paint and forgetting that Chiron had wanted to talk with him.

Next Morning

It was breakfast the next morning and all the campers were in the dining pavilion, sitting at their respective tables and chatting away with their brothers and sisters while eating.

But all chatter and noise stopped when a loud yawn was released from one Naruto Uzumaki, lacking his cloak this time so his tight orange shirt could be seen by the campers, as well as his toned muscular frame that had the daughters of Aphrodite swooning, as he ambled into the pavilion. His sword no longer on his person, but there was a single shoulder strap bag hanging behind him. They all stared, some recognising him from the night before while others confused as to who he was, having never seen him before.

Well, Naruto just stared back with a tired but hungry look on his face "Yo" was all he said, unbothered by all their eyes being on him. His eyes panned along the entire gathering, seemingly looking for someone specific. And he found that person when his eyes locked onto the form of Annabeth, who was trying to make herself as small and unassuming as possible to try and avoid him. But Naruto would have none of that.

Sauntering up to the Athena table with a face splitting grin upon his visage, all the other campers watched with baited breath as he forced some of the goddesses children to the side to make room for himself beside his childhood friend. They all expected him to be smoted, cursed or something when he sat. As it was a rule to sit at only your cabins table or risk the wrath of the gods. But this guy had the balls to do otherwise and nothing happened. So far. So they all sat in quiet terror.

"Book-Worm! Were you trying to hide from me? I couldn't find you last night so we could talk" Naruto said to the year rounder, mock sadness in his voice. Hurt she would avoid him after not seeing each other for so long.

"Stop calling me that knucklehead!" Annabeth rounded on him, frustrated with the childish name he called her. Her face was heated in her anger as she gave one of her patented glares at him, trying to intimidate him into doing what she wanted. Said glare had cowed many other campers when used on them. And she was sure it would work on her fellow blond.

But it had no effect on Naruto, having faced scarier than her and only found the look she gave him cute. "Well I would but you call me names as well, so I only find it fair to call you one"

Sighing in exasperation Annabeth tried a different approach. Neither paying attention to the fact her brothers and sisters were listening to them, the curious bunch they were, along with most of the other campers.

Mr. D included since after he was informed about the spiky haired blond, and Perry Johnson last night by Chiron he had tried to look for him. Since he is Director of Camp Half Blood if a random boy just walked into camp and he did nothing, his father Zeus would most likely extend his punishment simply for being lax with the duties forced upon him. But Mr. D could not find hide nor hair of him, until he mysteriously strolled in just before. Then again, the wine god did only look for at most 3 minutes. Long enough to say he tried and not get on his father's bad side again.

"Why are you here then? How did you even know where here even is?" she needed to know, because as far as she knew the Naruto she knew from years ago had no care for anything Greek. Or learning about it. And he was no demigod. That she was absolutely sure of.

"Well, you remember Mifune-Sensei? The guy who looked after me when we were little?" the female of the two of them nodded, remembering the balding grey-haired elder man who Naruto lived with, having met him several times when she was on 'playdates' with Naruto when they were younger. "Well, you also know how he was a samurai nut, with all those Katana's and suits of armour?" Annabeth nodded again, it explained the Katana Naruto had, and his skill with it. "Well, apparently he was an acolyte of the Shinto god of Storms, Susanoo" thunder boomed in the sky at the mention of the other god. It scared all the campers enough that some decided that they had lost their appetites and left to get ready for camp activities.

"And before he kicked the bucket, he told me I have some great power in me and he was tasked with preparing me to one day harness that power. Weird right?" he finished with a grin, not caring that he might have revealed possibly sensitive information.

But the way he was phrasing his words caught Annabeth's attention more than the reveal that her friend held some great power. "What do you mean 'was'? Did something happen to him Naruto" it was strange for everyone to see the usually strict and bossy Annabeth so caring and kind. Especially in the reveal of new and interesting facts.

It was scary honestly.

"Hmm?" Naruto looked back at Annabeth, his mouth full of bacon as he had turned away to eat some of the food in front of him. Swallowing his mouthful Naruto answered her "He died of old age when I was 10, I've been travelling the country ever since. Learning what I could about various things, seeing the sights - killing the odd supposedly mythical beast. Oh! That reminds me!" He exclaimed in excitement at the end, torso twisted to grab his bag and sit it in his lap. The sword user opened the flap of his bag. Two hands stuck in the object carrying accessory, Naruto rummaged around in it. Trying to find what he was looking for.

Annabeth watched, as her whiskered friend then did what seemed impossible and stuck his arms in the bag. Right up to the shoulders with his head almost in it too. He wasn't bothered though as he kept talking.

"I said I travelled and well as I did, I remembered you always going on and on about all the different places you wanted to see when you were old enough" still trying to find what he was looking for. He pulled out a very realistic toy spider "Had been looking for this" he muttered to himself before he handed it to one of Annabeth's many brothers that was sitting next to him "Hold onto that for a second will ya?"

Despite knowing it wasn't real the boy still took it with hands shakier than a leaf in a hurricane. His siblings backing away from the him since he held the spider.

Annabeth nodded. It was and still is one of her greatest dreams to visit all the famous architectural structures around the country, then possibly the world. But what did that have to do with anything? She also kept the toy spider in sight, she was taking no chances when it came to the eight-legged demons.

"So, like I said, I travelled. And I went to some of the places you mentioned and I immediately thought of you. Here it is!" Naruto yelled in triumph pulling something from his bag. "Wait no. Not it either" he said. This time pulling a box from the bag. A decently sized box, roughly the same shape and size as a pet carrier for a plane.

It must have been a present of some kind, judging by the orange bow the box had atop of it. Other than the colour there was nothing significant about it. But Annabeth easily spied a sticker on the side of the box that read 'Do Not Open!', along with what seemed to be a couple hole for breathing.

Beginning to put it together, Annabeth was about to ask if there was something in the box when the box jumped by itself in Naruto's hands.

"Whoa! Forgot I had this in here" he shook the box himself this time. And in return a dull screech was heard.

"Naruto. What is in there?" the fact a noise was heard from the box, let alone a screech of all things, was very concerning for Annabeth. So she had to ask because despite not seeing each other for years, she was ready to give him a piece of her mind for such animal neglect.

"This?" he shook the box again, another screech and a nod from Annabeth "It was a going away present from some guys I stayed with for a while, they thought it funny to put a miniature drakon in a box and give it to me as a gift"

"A present? Who would even think something dangerous like that would make a good gift?" anybody who knew what a drakon even was would know how dangerous a regular one was, let alone other species such as the Lydian Drakon.

"Party Ponies" was all Naruto said in return.

"Party Ponies?"

"Party Ponies" Naruto nodded matter of factly. He put the box with the drakon in it on the table. And dove back into the bag.

"Right. Party Ponies" Annabeth repeated blandly. Seeing as she wasn't going to get a more in depth answer out of him.

Only Mr. D saw the way Chiron tensed at the mention of his more . . . wild brethren.

"You know what, never mind" spoke Naruto, disappointment clear in his voice. Not actually finding what he was looking for, the last thing he pulled out was a round sphere, the size of a marble. "I'll give it to you later when I can find it" Naruto mindlessly chucked the sphere over his shoulder, where it landed in the middle of the most sat at table.

The Hermes cabin table.

For a few seconds the children of the god of travellers, and all the unclaimed demigods, eyed the sphere curiously. Nothing happened, until one of Hermes' own demigods, Travis Stoll, reached for it to inspect the seemingly harmless item.

Just as he was about to lay a finger on it.

Bam!

It exploded in his face, and the faces of all those around him as a cloud of dark green gas expanded and enveloped the whole table.

A stink bomb. A very powerful stink bomb at that.

The smell was the first thing everyone else noticed, it permeated through the air and stunk out the whole pavilion. Even the tables furthest away could smell whatever foul and horrid concoction was inside the sphere.

Coughing became a prevalent noise as all the campers cleared from the pavilion. No one wanting to stay with such a vomit inducing stench. But the ones who had it worst were the table at it's epicentre.

Many of the Hermes campers were out cold either on the floor or in the food. The strength of the smell having overwhelmed their senses, with the only ones still standing being two children of Hermes. The Stoll brothers being the resident pranksters were mostly unaffected, having grown used to their own stink bombs but they never had used anything close to this level of stink.

It was worse then that time they used three month old rotten eggs mixed with satyr excretion. And when they set that off in the Aphrodite Cabin, it had been unliveable for two weeks!

Would have been longer but them children of Aphrodite had some stronger perfume.

The Stoll brothers brown eyes met. Each pinching their noses and despite pretty much bathing in the stench cloud they grinned. Big ear to ear grins. For they knew.

They knew.

They had been in the presence of a fellow prankster.

Mr. D had teleported away as soon as it went off, his maniac cackle being heard in the distance as he took great joy in the stinky torment of the campers. Chiron used to the antics of children of Hermes such as the Stoll's as well as the many years of suffering at the hands of his brethren when they visited Chiron knew it was best to vacate as soon as possible and did so as soon as Mr. D had left in a flash of godly power.

Ditching his wheelchair in the process as he galloped off, an archery lesson he needed to prepare for would be his excuse for not staying and ensuring the campers were fine.

Over on the docks of Canoe Lake, our reunited duo could now be found. The owner of the stink bomb that just went off having got them out in time.

Said owner was also now rolling on the wooden planks, clutching his stomach as he busted his gut laughing. Annabeth, was leaning over the side railing and letting the lake have whatever food she had managed to eat for breakfast. A result of moving at such high speeds for the first time.

Severe motion sickness.

Giving one last dry heave, to make sure nothing else was going to decide to come back up. Annabeth rounded on Naruto. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" the blonde asked between fits of laughter.

"Set off a stink bomb in the middle of a meal!" her arms crossed over her chest. And her foot began tapping impatiently against the wooden walkway.

"I didn't mean to!" the blonde held up his hands in defense when Annabeth took a threatening step towards him. "I swear! Those things have an expiration date y'know. And I thought that one was past it's own" he finally stopped laughing and now settled down with his legs hanging off the edge of the dock and looking out into the lake.

Where if you looked closely, one could see the naiads angrily shaking their fists towards Annabeth for puking in their lake.

Said girl joined her friend soon after. Sitting next to him and just looking into the distance.

"The Party Ponies" Naruto broke the silence that settled between them.

"What?" despite being the goddess of Wisdom's daughter. This was Annabeth's only reply.

"You asked earlier why I was here. How I even knew where this place even is. The Party Ponies told me" the whisker cheeked boy leaned back, propping himself up with his arms. He also began kicking his legs back and forth.

"And why would they do that?" her inquisitive grey eyes looked him over. She tried to look him in the eyes. But he wouldn't turn to meet her gaze.

"People don't give them enough credit. They may be wild and like to party. But they know when something is happening. They didn't go into much detail. Not that they would go into detail about anything other than parties mind you, but what I was told was that something big was happening" Naruto leaned forward, elbows on knees and head in hands.

"And that was all they said? That something big was happening? Nothing else" for someone who thrived on new knowledge, it bugged her when she was teased with something like this. It was like finding a new book. Reading it's title and then the librarian takes it away before she can begin reading.

"Well, they gave me a map to find this place" he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. "And then told me I had to get here as soon as possible. Didn't bother to ask why, because you know it is serious when centaurs that have been partying for the better part of two centuries are serious themselves"

Looking over the map, Annabeth wasn't too surprised to find it was one of Long Island. Or that the place where camp would usually be on a map was circled with glued down confetti.

"So what is this 'great power' you said you have in you? Is that how you are able to see the monsters?"

"Yeah. It is how I see them" he answered her second question first.

Then he turned to her finally. A sheepish grin on his face as his hand was scratching the back of his head nervously.

". . . And the power? It's not exactly mine"