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A Shinobi Among Monsters by euphoric image
 Naruto & Percy Jackson and the Olympians Xover Rated: T, English, Adventure & Humor, Naruto U., Artemis, Apollo, Words: 208k+, Favs: 8k+, Follows: 9k+, Published: Mar 21, 2020 Updated: Jan 15 3,237Chapter 17: Full Counter
Naruto tapped his fingers against the table impatiently as his silver eyes constantly flickered around, scanning his surroundings. He was sitting to the left of Artemis; to her right sat Zoe Nightshade.
They were waiting for Aphrodite underneath a silver pavilion in an open grassy field out in the middle of nowhere, far away from any mortal eyes. Nobody was around except for the three of them. The sun shone brightly overhead in the clear blue sky, and there was a meadow of flowers off in the distance.
All in all, the perfect conditions to ruin a love goddess's day.
Hey Naruto, you got a moment?
Yeah, what is it? Naruto asked as he closed his eyes and entered a meditative state, materializing in a clearing within a forest.
"When exactly are you going to tell them that the seal doesn't actually work?" Kurama inquired inquisitively. "Because you and I both know that we're not even close to finishing it."
"Ah. Well. That's a good question," Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I was hoping... never?"
"Never," Kurama repeated slowly. "You sure?"
"I mean, I think we faked it pretty well, right? If we never tell them, then they'll never know."
During the seal testing process, when Artemis had entered her divine form and expelled Naruto's soul from his body, Kurama had taken over and acted like Naruto to fool Artemis into thinking that the seal succeeded. It was only through sheer luck that she didn't look through the Mist and see that Naruto's soul was drifting around in the deeper layer of reality.
Kurama snorted. "Yeah, they'll never know - up until the point when something goes catastrophically wrong and they do find out. And then they'll be royally pissed at you because you lied to them."
"Yeah... I was kinda hoping that we would finish the seal before that happens. But seriously though, I didn't have another choice. Artemis would've never allowed me to execute this plan if she knew that the seal didn't work and I was still vulnerable to divine forms. This is our only viable plan."
Kurama inclined his head. "Fair enough, I suppose. After all, it's not as if death is a big deal for you. It's a minor inconvenience at most. Hell, I should be the one complaining - I'm the one who has to deal with your puny human body while your soul is taking a vacation."
"Deal with my body?" Naruto repeated, an eyebrow raised. "You're making it sound like a bad thing."
Kurama smirked. "It is a bad thing. Bijuu are simply superior to humans in every way, shape, and form. Accept it."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto chuckled. "At any rate, the odds of Aphrodite actually entering her divine form is extremely small. She wouldn't want to kill me, after all - that would be boring. Honestly, the only reason why Artemis is even worried is because Aphrodite might panic and accidentally enter her divine form. And even then, I can just, you know, close my eyes, since Aphrodite's divine form isn't area-of-effect."
"Oh yeah, there's that too," Kurama agreed. "Artemis might be overreacting a bit. But I don't exactly blame her. She thought that you had died back when we fought Atlas, after all."
Naruto nodded, his expression growing serious. "Let's just make sure she doesn't find out that the seal is incomplete so she doesn't have to worry. Trust me, deceiving her leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but... well, the risk is minimal. We've faced infinitely worse odds before. And besides, this is for Zoe. I'm sure she'll understand."
Kurama hummed. "Very well then. By the way, I still say you should attack Aphrodite immediately the moment she arrives."
Naruto sighed. "I already told you. Not only is that bad combat etiquette, but I gotta at least try to convince her. Diplomatic approach, and all that."
"Diplomatic approach?" Kurama parroted incredulously. "She manipulated your mind!" he snarled. "As far as I'm concerned, that's an offense only punishable by death. Or extreme maiming. Preferably both."
Naruto paused at the sheer vehemence in Kurama's tone. Why-? Oh right. It made sense that mind manipulation was a... touchy subject for Kurama, what with the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"For what it's worth," he sighed, "it's doubtful that she'll actually make peace, so a battle is almost certain to happen."
Kurama sniffed. "Good. I expect you to take her down with extreme prejudice. Speaking of which, she's here."
Naruto sensed Aphrodite appearing as well.
"Alright. Wish me luck."
Kurama snorted. "Who needs luck when you have my chakra?"
With one last chuckle, Naruto exited his mind and opened his eyes.
XxX
"Yo Father!" Apollo greeted with a bright grin as he sauntered into the throne room. "What's up?"
Zeus looked up from his Hephaestus-tablet. "Apollo," he inclined his head in greeting. "You wished to speak with me?"
Apollo nodded as he stopped in front of Zeus's throne. "Yes. There's something important I wanted to discuss with you."
With a wave of his hand, a whiteboard materialized behind him.
Zeus groaned at the sight. "Oh gods, not another presentation. I just finished a meeting with Athena last night, and I am not in the mood to go through this again."
He looked back down at his Hephaestus-tablet, clearly dismissing Apollo.
Apollo sighed. "C'mon, Father."
"No," came the short reply. "Any presentation you give will invariably be on poetry; ergo, it's going to bore me to death."
"Not this one," Apollo promised even as his eye twitched slightly. "Trust me - you'll be interested in this topic."
"Yeah?" Zeus said doubtfully, not even looking up.
"Yeah. For you see..." Apollo smiled. "In this presentation, I'm going to thoroughly and systematically prove without a doubt that thigh highs are superior to leggings."
Zeus glanced up sharply, setting down his Hephaestus-tablet slowly. "Go on."
Apollo grinned at the sudden interest in the sky god's eyes. As he had predicted, Zeus fell for the distraction hook, line, and sinker.
I've done my part. The rest is up to you, Naruto.
XxX
"Hello there, Naruto, Artemis, Zoe," Aphrodite greeted with a smile as she took a seat across from them. Naruto tried his best to ignore how she currently resembled Kushina. "I heard you wanted to talk?"
"Aphrodite," Artemis said as she discreetly activated the anti-teleportation field. "Remove the - "
"Before we begin," Aphrodite interrupted, looking at Zoe. "Do you have any refreshments?"
Zoe nodded, pouring Aphrodite a cup from a ceramic pitcher on the desk before handing her the drink. "Here."
"Thank you," Aphrodite smiled at her. "It's good to see that you still possess some sense of hospitality - " she paused as she looked down at the cup. The molten red liquid within it bubbled and hissed back up at her. "Out of curiosity, what is this?"
"Liquid fire from the River Phlegethon," Zoe answered, blinking innocently. "Bianca provided it - one of the perks of being the daughter of Hades."
A disgusted expression passed over Aphrodite's face as she gingerly set the cup back down on the table before taking out a handkerchief and wiping down her hand. "How crass. You would make a terrible wife," she informed Zoe.
For the first time in - well, ever, Zoe gave Aphrodite a genuine smile. "Thank you," she said with the utmost sincerity.
"That wasn't a - " Aphrodite sighed. "Oh right. Hunter," she spat the word as if it was a personal insult, which it was. Then she smiled. "Well, not for much longer." Zoe tensed angrily up at that.
"Alright, let's cut to the chase," Naruto declared, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes slightly. "This spell on me and Zoe. Get rid of it."
"Hmm..." Aphrodite tilted her head. "No," she said sweetly. "No, I don't think I will."
Naruto sighed. "Look. I really don't want us to be enemies. I admit, I was wrong for insulting you. That's my bad. I'm sorry. Demigod impulsiveness and rashness - I'm sure you can understand."
Aphrodite raised a delicate eyebrow. "Is this you extending an olive branch?"
"It is," Naruto nodded. "So please, can we just start on a clean slate?" he asked hopefully.
Aphrodite smiled in amusement. "I'm afraid not. I would say that it's nothing personal - but it's very personal, that I assure you. No matter how much you beg, I won't lift the spell. But," she added thoughtfully, "don't let that stop you from begging. In fact, go ahead and beg a little. It'll be fun to watch."
Kurama began chuckling in anticipation. You heard her. You know what to do.
Naruto clapped his hands together. "Alright, got it. Looks like we'll have to get you to remove the spell by force."
"Ah, I'm glad that you understand - " Aphrodite's smile froze. "Wait, what did you just say?"
"I'm saying that Zoe is my family." A massive pressure exploded out from him, blanketing the area. Aphrodite tensed up, her smile finally disappearing from her face. "And nobody messes with my family," Naruto finished grimly, his silver eyes narrowed. He stood up, chakra thrumming under his skin.
"Wait!" Aphrodite cried, flinging her hand out. "Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry!" she babbled, nearly incoherent from the fear.
Naruto hesitated.
"What are you doing?" Zoe hissed. "Just attack her!"
"I'll lift the spell, I swear! Please! Just don't attack me - HAHAHAHAHA I CAN'T! OH GODS, IT'S TOO MUCH!"
Her fearful expression disappeared as she burst out in uncontrollable laughter, barely able to keep herself upright. Naruto frowned.
"I - I'm sorry," Aphrodite managed to gasp out between peals of laughter. "It's just - it's just that the three of you are so ridiculous, it's hilarious." And she broke down in another fit of giggles, tears in her eyes.
Naruto exchanged glances with Artemis and Zoe.
"What are you talking about?" Artemis tilted her head. "Did you finally crack?"
Slowly, her laughter died down. "Not at all, my dear Artemis," Aphrodite smiled with great mirth in her eyes. "I'm just laughing at how utterly predictable you three are. I mean, come on. Just how stupid do you think I am? Luring me out to the middle of nowhere in an open field so you could fight without having to worry about collateral damage and witnesses... Is it possible for this to be any more obvious that it's a trap?"
Naruto paused. "You may have a point," he admitted.
"I'm not a B-list villainess," Aphrodite reminded him, chuckling lightly. "Don't think that I'm that stupid. You have no leverage over me, you have nothing that I want, and neither Zeus nor the Council are able to do anything, so the only way for you to convince me is to do it by force. Predictable."
"At any rate," she continued, "if you thought I would stick around and fight back, then think again." She smiled. "Direct combat isn't my style, after all. And if you're going to resort to such barbaric tactics, then I won't stick around. Have a nice day~"
There was a flash of pink light. When it died down, it revealed Aphrodite to still be there, a shocked expression on her face.
"Oh, and one more thing," Naruto smirked. "We set up an anti-teleportation field just for you. You're not getting away."
For the first time since Naruto had met her, Aphrodite's ever-present confidence melted away, replaced by barely concealed worry and the smallest hint of fear.
"An anti-teleportation field?" Aphrodite breathed in horrified shock. "But - that's impossible! How?!"
"I called in a lot of favors," Artemis answered with a predatory smile. "And let me just say - worth it. There are no words in any language that can perfectly describe how much I'm going to enjoy this."
Zoe nodded, leveling the goddess of love with a piercing stare. "Aphrodite," she said in a low, dangerous tone. "Just know that what's about to happen to you is retribution for everything you have done to my family over the millennia."
Her dark eyes narrowed. "Prepare thyself for a beating you should've received a long time ago, you belligerent - " and she called Aphrodite something in Ancient Greek that had even Naruto raising his eyebrows, impressed.
"You dare?" Aphrodite seethed.
Zoe tilted her head. "Yeah," she answered nonchalantly. "I dare."
Naruto stepped forwards, his gaze deadly serious. "Aphrodite, you've had plenty of fun screwing with my life. Our lives."
He smiled dangerously as golden chakra flickered to life on his form.
"Now it's my turn."
Aphrodite paled. "You wouldn't attack a defenseless woman, right?" she tried desperately as she edged backwards cautiously.
"Nah, I totally would," Naruto replied casually as he raised his arm above his head and an Ultra Big Ball Rasengan whirled to life.
Aphrodite blanched. "Ah. Well, in that case - ARES!" she screamed, abandoning all subtlety and composure.
Naruto took a step forward - then he stopped abruptly as something entered his sensing range. His eyes widened in shock. "HOLY SAGE THERE'S NO WAY - "
His worries were confirmed when an honest-to-gods missile appeared in the sky, releasing a continuous sonic boom as it converged down on their location faster than the speed of sound.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Zoe muttered, eyeing the missile.
"Is that a nuke?!" Naruto exclaimed incredulously as the head of an incomplete Kurama avatar manifested around them. "Please, for the love of the Sage, tell me that that's not a nuke."
Artemis tilted her head, eyes glowing silver for a moment. "That's not a nuke," she said reassuringly.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the gods - "
He was cut off when the missile slammed right on top of them and detonated in a massive, fiery explosion.
A tremendous blast wave exploded outwards, followed by a supersonic shockwave. Metal shrapnel flew everywhere as a scorching firestorm ignited into existence, causing a cloud of black-and-orange smoke to mushroom upwards. The earth under their feet simply vaporized altogether as the ground around them burst into flames. In a single second, the entire landscape was completely devastated.
Naturally, they remained completely unscathed. Naruto's golden chakra had negated all the damage, absorbing the blast wave and shockwaves and causing the metal shrapnel to flatten against it harmlessly. The immense heat was unable to penetrate the protective chakra.
"Chakra truly is amazing," Artemis murmured as she analyzed the interior of the incomplete Kurama avatar. "The durability and resilience of this is astonishing."
Loud, hearty laughter suddenly rang out through the now-wasteland. "Oh, I can already tell that this is gonna be a good fight."
With the threat gone, Naruto let the Kurama avatar fade away. Using pure elemental chakra manipulation alone, he unleashed a blast of wind that cleared the cloud of smoke immediately and extinguished the flames on the ground.
Standing in front of Aphrodite was a man with a crew cut dressed in black jeans, combat boots, a black leather biker's jacket, and a white muscle shirt. Wraparound shades hid his eyes, and he radiated power in a way only a god could. He had crashed down to the ground along with the missile, though Naruto hadn't really been focused on him - the missile had been slightly more important.
Behind Ares, Aphrodite was also unharmed by the explosion. The moment before the missile had detonated, Naruto had sensed a red energy envelope Aphrodite, protecting her from damage.
Ares, the god of war, smirked. "Hey. What's up?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Oh COME ON!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed with a frustrated scowl. "Are you serious? You couldn't have shown up about three minutes earlier?"
Ares blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"We literally just finished our pre-fight banter and monologues!" Naruto ranted. "All you had to do was show up earlier, and it would've been fine. But noo, you just had to ruin our ENTIRE buildup by coming in late!"
To his credit, Ares did look slightly sheepish. "Ah, yeah, that's my bad. But in my defense, an epic entrance supersedes all else in a fight. And you gotta admit, the timing and method of my entrance was sweet as hell."
Naruto paused before he inclined his head. "Okay, I'll give you that," he admitted. "Riding in on that missile was almost as cool as arriving on top of several gigantic toads."
Ares frowned. Toads? he mouthed, puzzled.
Zoe looked at Ares with a rather annoyed expression. "See, this is why we should've just attacked Aphrodite immediately without any warning," she told Naruto in a mutter. "Now he's involved, which means more headaches for us."
I emphatically agree.
Aphrodite snapped her fingers. "Ah, that's right. Zoe, after Ares beats Naruto into a bloody pulp, remind me to send you a nurse costume." She winked at Zoe. "I'm sure he'll enjoy it."
Due to the effects of the still-active spell, Naruto and Zoe blushed simultaneously, much to their chagrin. Aphrodite lit up in glee at the sight.
"Never," Zoe hissed vehemently, her cheeks flushed red.
"Bold of you to assume that Ares would win the fight," Naruto attempted to redirect the conversation.
"Speaking of which..." Artemis narrowed her eyes at Ares. "Did you really launch a missile at us?" she demanded. "You do realize that you broke several Ancient Laws with that move, correct? Not only did you attack an Olympian, but you also attacked a hero first, before they could challenge you."
To preserve peace - and prevent worldwide catastrophic disaster - Zeus had decreed an Ancient Law several millennia ago that stated an Olympian may not engage in battle with a fellow Olympian. This was the reason why in the upcoming battle against Aphrodite, Artemis would only join the fight as a last resort. They wished to defeat Aphrodite within the laws just so she would have no excuses whatsoever.
Similarly, Zeus had also decreed an Ancient Law several centuries ago that stated gods may only attack demigods after being challenged or attacked first. In their wisdom, the Council had concurred that they needed to impose limits upon the gods to protect the demigods.
Officially, that is.
Unofficially, the reason for the law's creation was because a demigod had been killed in Camp Half-Blood - right in front of Chiron. Needless to say, he had been livid. The immortal teacher of heroes had stormed into the throne room and demanded Zeus to pass the law - and he was terrifying enough that even the Council didn't dare argue against him. Most of them agreed with him, anyways.
"I didn't break any Ancient Laws though," Ares responded innocently.
"... you literally attacked us," Artemis said.
"I wasn't attacking you guys," Ares blatantly lied with a straight face.
Artemis stared at him. "I'm fairly certain a missile strike counts as an attack."
"It was a missile strike, yes," Ares agreed, "But it wasn't aimed at you guys. I was simply trying to kill a spider I saw on the field. Aphrodite's afraid of spiders, you see."
There was a disbelieving silence for a moment.
"A spider," Artemis repeated, looking at Ares incredulously. "And it just so happened that the spider was at the exact same location as us?"
Ares shrugged. "What can I say? Lucky coincidence, I guess."
"And you decided to kill a little spider with a missile strike?"
Ares shrugged again. "I had to be thorough. Those little buggers can survive the damndest things."
Artemis gave Ares an unimpressed look. "You really think Father would accept that excuse?"
The god of war chuckled. "I certainly hope so. Enough of that, though."
Ares cracked his knuckles as a massive double-handed broadsword materialized in the air next to him, his expression becoming serious as he turned his attention to Naruto.
"Naruto. As a fighter, I respect you - anyone who takes on Atlas has balls of steel," his face darkened. "But you just tried to attack my girl. I can't forgive you for that, not without a lengthy beating and a few beers first."
Ares grabbed the floating broadsword and pointed it at Naruto, a menacing grin appearing on his face as a set of armor materialized on his body. "Get ready for the beatdown of your lifetime, kid."
Naruto narrowed his silver eyes. "I only attacked her because she forced us to fall in love first," he countered. "And I promise you that by the end of this day, she will have lifted the spell - even if I need to beat the shit out of two Olympians to do it."
Ares smiled approvingly. "That's the spirit."
For a single moment, everything was still, a palpable tension in the scorching air. The seconds slowly dragged on until -
Ares coughed slightly. "Err, you have to attack me first. Ancient Laws, and all that."
"Ohhh right," Naruto nodded in understanding. "Forgot about that."
Five shadow clones popped into existence, rushing Ares with loud battle cries.
"Clones?" Ares snarled distastefully. " Don't hide behind cannon fodder. Face me like a true warrior."
He snapped his fingers and swords materialized in the air behind him, nearly a hundred of them, their tips pointing towards the charging clones. Then there was a loud BOOM as the swords shot forward, breaking the sonic barrier and piercing through the clones before they could even scratch Ares.
Then the clones exploded.
Bunshin Daibakuha.
Even as he finished molding the Rasenshuriken, Naruto couldn't help but grin slightly. Alongside the Shuriken Shadow Clone technique, he had also learned and perfected the Clone Great Explosion. He had had a lot of free time in the mansion. Of course, learning it had been difficult and had involved too many accidental explosions - and property damage - to count, but it was so worth it.
Ares spluttered, but he was completely unharmed. The explosion wasn't strong enough to cause any damage to him. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his wraparound shades - the dark glasses had shattered under the shockwave and the cracked frames were now dangling precariously on one ear.
He growled angrily as he tore off his broken shades, carelessly tossing them to the side. Instead of eyes, he had miniature explosions for eyes; intense white-hot flames that shone with rage. "You punk, these were my favorite pair of - "
Ares froze as he saw two spinning shurikens of pure destruction emitting a bright silver-purple light in Naruto's hands. "Whoa," he breathed. "I want that-!"
Fuuton: Rasenrenshuriken!
Ares instantly leaped back at breakneck speeds, trying to evade the double Rasenshurikens. A shield materialized in front of him in an attempt to block the attack, but the sharp winds sliced through the shield like a kunai through warm butter and kept on going, losing none of its momentum.
His mind raced as he categorically searched for a way to counter the attack. There had to be something. A counterattack always existed. The problem was, all the counterattacks he could think of required him going into his divine form, and there was no way he was going to enter his divine form when fighting against a mere demigod -
Wait. Dimly, a memory surfaced to his mind. During the post-quest camp counselor meeting... hadn't Naruto said that he wasn't mortal? And if that was the case, then divine forms were fair game.
An intense angry red light exploded out from Ares as he entered his divine form. Naruto immediately slammed his eyes shut.
With a mighty yell, Ares crossed his arms to form an X in front of his chest and braced himself for the inevitable collision, concentrating nearly all his divine power to reinforce his defense. A moment later, the first Rasenshuriken slammed into his guard, then the second one.
Immediately, he skidded back several meters, digging deep grooves into the ground. He grunted from the effort as he pushed back with all his might. The wind whirled and whined furiously but it was unable to penetrate his defenses. It soon became clear that it was a stalemate.
"Holy shit! I stopped your attack!" Ares roared in triumph, a savage grin on his face. "Oh man, I did not expect this to actually work - "
His eyes widened as he registered the vision of the instantaneous future that had automatically appeared in his mind due to his combat precognition. His instincts screamed at him.
"... oh fuck."
Then the central spheres of the Rasenshurikens detonated.
Blades of wind and tiny shards of silver light numbering in the millions exploded outwards in a massive expanding vortex of wind. For a split second, Ares's divine energy seemed like it would hold against the attack as he channeled even more divine energy into his defenses. However, it was ultimately futile; the red aura shield around him shattered under the combined assault of chakra and Artemis's divine energy, piercing through his armor effortlessly like it was a thin sheet of paper.
Ares bellowed in pain and agony as he was virtually shredded by the attack. Golden ichor splattered to the ground as thousands of cuts and lacerations opened up on his body which was suspended in the air by the sheer force of the gales. Teleporting away wasn't an option due to the anti-teleportation field.
However, Ares was never one to teleport away, even if he had the option. It went against his pride as a fighter.
He roared, a radial pulse of divine energy shot outwards, followed by a concussive force that dispelled the chaotic vortex of wind.
Naruto was impressed. Ares had actually managed to disperse the Rasenrenshuriken. Granted, the attack was about to disperse in a few seconds anyway, but it was still a testament to his strength.
It didn't matter, though. Ares had already sustained enough damage to be incapacitated -
Oh? Naruto raised an eyebrow when he sensed Ares standing upright. The god was breathing heavily but clearly not beaten.
Naruto couldn't help but be a little miffed though that, once again, his Rasenshuriken wasn't enough to end the fight.
It was kinda dumb, if he did say so himself.
XxX
" - and that is why thigh highs are infinitely superior to leggings," Apollo finished with a flourish.
Zeus rubbed his beard thoughtfully, a contemplative expression on his face. "I see. You make some excellent points - "
They both stiffened as they felt their respective domains and powers warn them that something was wrong.
For Apollo, it was both his domain of the sun and domain of prophecy. As the god of the sun and light, he possessed a supernatural sight that allowed him to see nearly anything, provided it was in neutral domain and wasn't shielded with strong, ancient magic such as Mount Othrys.
For Zeus, it was his domain of the sky. As the god of the sky, he too possessed a supernatural sight that rivaled Apollo's.
It was a well-known fact that gods existed in multiple places at once. However, their levels of consciousness manifested in different states.
For example, Apollo's primary consciousness was currently manifested in his mortal form in the throne room. However, a tiny fragment of his consciousness also piloted the sun chariot every day. That fragment had but a small fraction of Apollo's divine power, and only possessed enough sentience to drive the sun chariot and alert the primary consciousness if it saw any potentially catastrophic events with its supernatural sight.
It was the same with Zeus. The small fragment of his consciousness in charge of maintaining his duties as the god of the sky also alerted Zeus's primary consciousness of anything extremely conspicuous and extraordinary going on.
"What was that-?"
"It's nothing," Apollo said immediately, trying to forestall Zeus from activating his supernatural sight. "I already checked. It's nothing you have to worry about."
Zeus frowned slightly but nodded. "Very well. Anyway, as I was saying, do you - "
They paused as they both heard the sound of explosions off in the faraway distance, interspersed with bursts of divine power.
"Say, Apollo... You sure nothing is going on?"
Apollo laughed nervously as sweat slowly trickled down the side of his face. "I'm sure. Don't worry about it."
Zeus stared at Apollo suspiciously. "I can't help but get the feeling that you're lying to me. Because judging by the tremendous amounts of Ares's and Artemis's divine power that I can sense, they're throwing around some large-scale, destructive attacks - you know, the things that I do have to worry about."
Thunder began booming overhead as electricity gathered in Zeus's hands.
Apollo swallowed nervously, a bead of sweat trickling down his face. "Ah. Well - "
"It's a pity, really," Zeus sighed, the raw lightning in his hands dissipating, "that I'm too engrossed in our intellectual conversation to check out what's going on."
Apollo blinked. "Wait, what?"
"You heard me. Now then... where were we again?" Zeus mused.
Apollo didn't understand, but he wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth.
"Thigh highs," he responded. "To be specific, thigh highs being taken off. I'm sure you can agree that that's objectively the best part of the experience."
"Indeed," Zeus declared, slapping his hand against the armrest of his throne for emphasis. "Ah, I see you're a god of culture as well."
As Apollo grinned and responded, he silently breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted.
Still though... Why was Zeus being so unconcerned about this?
XxX
"Now that was a beautiful attack," Ares complimented, rolling his neck. He paused for a moment when he saw that Naruto had closed his eyes, but quickly dismissed it as a quirk or something. "If I'm not mistaken, I was just pierced by several million microscopic wind blades, correct?"
"You can tell?" Naruto asked, surprised. Ares raised his eyebrows. "Oh right, god of war. Yeah, the Rasenshuriken does damage on the cellular level."
Ares grinned. "That's awesome."
Naruto grinned back. "I know, right?" He then scratched his head. "Err, by the way, how are you even standing right now? Shouldn't you be, like, unconscious or something? You took a direct hit from my Rasenrenshuriken."
"Battle continuation," Ares explained. "It's one of my powers as the god of war. It's the same ability that lets warriors keep on fighting even after they sustain mortal wounds that by all rights should've killed them."
"I see," Naruto nodded in understanding. "That's definitely useful."
Oi, I hate to interrupt your bonding moment, but could you stop wasting time with this small fry and take him out already? Kurama said as he stifled a yawn.
Maa, so impatient.
Impatient? Naruto, you realize that there's a time limit to the anti-teleportation field, right? Kurama reminded him. Don't tell me you already forgot.
Naruto froze before he laughed anxiously. Forget about the time limit? Ahahaha, I would never!
Yeah, right, Kurama chuckled fondly. Just hurry up and defeat him already. It'll make us look bad if he's able to stand his ground against us for a decent amount of time.
Ares paused. "Umm... did you seriously just blank out on me in the middle of a battle? Hello? Shit, I can't attack you if you're AFK - that would make me look like an asshole. C'mon, say something."
Naruto blinked as he refocused. "Ah, that's my bad. Let's end this."
A bloodthirsty grin spread across Ares's face as another broadsword materialized in his hand. He lowered into a stance, his entire body brimming with the searing red light of his divine form.
Naruto simply regarded him, his posture completely relaxed and his eyes still closed.
Oh hey, by the way, you don't have to hold back this time, like you did with Atlas, Kurama remarked. After all, the sky won't collapse if you accidentally overpower a move. On top of that, Zeus knows that you won't betray Olympus, so war is unlikely to break out. Let's see if you can defeat him with just one punch.
Naruto paused before giving a mental shrug. Y'know what? I'm down.
Ares frowned when he caught sight of the silver pigmentation around Naruto's eyes vanishing. "Did you just magically remove your eye shadow?" he asked in bewilderment. He ignored how his battle instincts and senses suddenly exploded, sending warning signals after warning signals that blared in his mind, or how he unconsciously started trembling slightly.
Naruto chuckled. "Not quite."
Then he moved.
XxX
Ares's eyes widened when Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash. Almost instantly, his combat precognition ability activated and a vision automatically appeared in his mind. His battle instincts screamed at him to move.
Before he could react, however, he felt his body explode with pain as something struck his chest with the force of a bomb. He heard a loud CRACK, and his powers told him that his ribs hadn't only just cracked - they had shattered like glass under the sheer force of the attack. If he wasn't a god, he would be dead.
There was another golden flicker of light at the edge of his vision. A split second later, he slammed into the scorched ground, cracking it and sending out tremors through the earth.
He lay there unmoving for a moment as he coughed out golden ichor and tried to bring the pain down to manageable levels. The loud boom of the sound barrier breaking finally reached him. His mind struggled to comprehend what had just transpired.
Ares hadn't been able to perceive Naruto's movements at all; the only thing he saw was a flash of golden light. It didn't matter if his combat precognition told him what Naruto was going to do before he even did it if Ares wasn't fast enough to react in time.
Since when did Naruto know how to teleport-? Wait. They were within an anti-teleportation field that prevented all teleportation. Which meant...
This was Naruto's pure speed alone.
What a terrifying thought.
The god of war tried to get up, but his wounds were too severe. Even with his battle continuation, he couldn't move.
He tried to let out a weak chuckle, but with his collapsed lungs, it was more of an inaudible rattle of breath.
Ares, the god of war and one of the strongest deities, was taken down with just two hits in the span of about half a second.
Today was not a good day.
XxX
A heavy silence descended over the battlefield. A tangible stillness permeated in the air.
Artemis and Zoe were staring at Ares's motionless body with wide, disbelieving eyes.
The goddess knew that Naruto came from another dimension and had defeated a goddess, but she never imagined that he would be this strong.
As the lieutenant of the Hunters with thousands of years of experience as well as being the daughter of Atlas, Zoe knew that she was good. But Naruto...
He was just on another level.
XxX
A pen slowly clattered out of Athena's hand from where she was observing the fight. She didn't move to pick it up. For once, her mind had screeched to a complete and abrupt halt; dozens of simultaneous thought processes sputtering out as sheer shock and disbelief clouded her brilliant mind.
She knew that Naruto was powerful, having stood up to Atlas. But she hadn't expected anything even remotely close to this.
They made a mistake. Even though fighting Atlas and surviving for a considerable amount of time was an impressive feat, Athena and the rest of the Council had just assumed that Atlas had underestimated Naruto and wasn't fighting at his full power.
After all, not only had Atlas not entered his divine form, but the location of the battlefield itself was also an important factor. In the Titan War, Atlas had collapsed entire mountains with his attacks. Seeing as how they were fighting on Mount Othrys, Atlas obviously had to heavily restrain himself to prevent the sky from collapsing. Not to mention how he probably didn't want to damage their base.
As such, the Council had just concluded that Naruto had only fought against a small fraction of Atlas's true power. Which was still impressive, for a demigod.
However...
Athena clenched her fists tightly.
She had made a miscalculation. A major one.
The goddess of wisdom had failed to take into account that Naruto had been undoubtedly holding back as well.
XxX
Hephaestus choked on his popcorn. He had been reclining on a large couch and watching the fight on a large floating television. One of his spy satellites had detected the fight by pure luck and sent the footage to his watch. When he had glanced at his wrist and saw Naruto facing down Ares, he had quickly transferred the footage to his television and sat down to enjoy the show.
Only to see whatever the Hades it was he just saw.
He dimly wondered if his spy satellite was malfunctioning before he dismissed the thought. He knew that it was working perfectly.
As incredible as it was, Naruto had just effectively annihilated Ares in less than a second.
His respect for the son of Artemis rose by several notches.
Fear, as well.
XxX
At the back of his mind, Apollo slowly became aware that the explosions and bursts of divine power had stopped.
Making sure Zeus didn't notice, he quickly sent a beam of thought to his fragment of consciousness observing the fight.
Yo, what just happened?
...
Hello?
You'll have to see for yourself, dude. I... I have no words.
Apollo frowned internally as he received a memory packet. He replayed the memory in his mind.
Unbeknownst to him, Zeus had also discreetly received a memory packet from his own fragment of consciousness, and he too was replaying the memory in his mind.
A few seconds later, both gods' eyes promptly widened in shock.
"What the fuck?!" Apollo blurted out.
"I know, right?" Zeus agreed, shell-shocked.
XxX
In his lifetime, Ares had known many defeats. It was only natural; after all, a fighter had to lose in order to grow and improve. Sometimes, you had to lose a battle to win the war. As the god of war, he knew that.
He could generally classify his losses into three categories.
The first category was composed of the defeats he suffered as a result of holding back. The defeats against Percy Jackson, Diomedes, and Heracles were included in this category. Unfortunately, to Ares's irritation, whenever people retold these fights, they always conveniently forgot to mention that Ares had only been fighting at a tiny fraction of his full power.
The second category was composed of the defeats he suffered in skill matchup fights. These were the fights where he fought against an adversary who possessed approximately the same level of raw power as him, so the outcome of the fight was entirely dependent on their ability and skill. His losses against Apollo and Athena were included in this category.
The third category was the smallest category, composed of the defeats where Ares was justflat-out overpowered and steamrolled. These were the fights where his opponent destroyed him without even trying, where he was completely and utterly outclassed, where he was overwhelmed with sheer destructive power alone.
There were only three total defeats in this category - his defeat against Zeus, his defeat against Poseidon, and his defeat against Hades. He had challenged all three of them - separately, of course - and had been destroyed in all three fights - if they could even be called fights. Zeus had absently blasted him with a single master bolt, Poseidon had yawned while summoning a hurricane, and Hades had just looked at him with his helm of darkness on.
And now, there was a fourth to be added to the list.
His loss at the hands of Naruto, the son of Artemis.
Ares closed his eyes, conceding his absolute defeat. The bright glow around him faded as he exited his divine form.
Sorry, Aphrodite. I... lost. Please... just apologize to him, and hope to Hades that he'll show you mercy.
XxX
Aphrodite paled as primal terror filled her mind.
Then she steeled herself. She was the goddess of love, and love was the most powerful force in the world, capable of overcoming anything.
She refused to back down now.
XxX
It took you two hits to take Ares down? Disgraceful.
Naruto mentally rolled his eyes as Kurama chuckled. Yeah, yeah. But holy Hades, I had forgotten just how broken Super Sage Gramps's power was. I did all that damage with a Rasengan.
Father is the best, Kurama agreed.
"Aphrodite," Naruto called. "Release the spell."
Aphrodite narrowed her eyes as she entered her divine form, radiating bright pink light. "No."
A wave of divine power crashed over Naruto. Instantly, thousands of emotions barraged his mind. Love, desire, affection, spite, jealousy, envy, need - all aimed towards different things. A chaotic whirlwind of feelings and sensations that was enough to drive any mortal mad. Even a god.
Love could, after all, bring even the gods to their knees.
Unfortunately for Aphrodite, Naruto was the perfect counter to her powers. As the son of Artemis, he received a partial immunity that allowed him to merely grunt and weather the attack.
She dares?! Kurama bellowed in rage. She dares to still try to manipulate your mind? Her sheer audacity!
Naruto's face darkened at her refusal and attack. "Wrong answer."
He blurred out of existence, appearing in front of her with a silver Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan held in his hand. Aphrodite's eyes widened as he slammed it down.
END HER!
At the very last second, Naruto let the swirling mass of dense silver chakra dissipate, instead redirecting the path of his fist to punch her in the face.
The resulting loud CRACK was one of the most satisfying things he'd ever heard.
YEEEESSSSSSSS! Kurama cackled with maniacal laughter in his mind. OH, SAGE YES! MANIPULATE THIS IDIOT'S MIND AGAIN! I DARE YOU, GODDESS!
Hey, what do you mean by 'idiot'?!
Aphrodite was sent flying back from the sheer force of the punch. She haphazardly crashed into the ground, rolling for a few dozen meters before finally coming to a stop. Her divine form slowly fizzled out.
The fight was over.
XxX
Apollo and Zeus both winced at the devastating punch Aphrodite just received. The two of them had been watching the fight in silence, their eyes glowing golden and blue respectively.
Zeus summed everything up in one word. "Wow."
"Yeah."
Then Apollo finally registered just who was talking, and he stiffened. He cast a sidelong glance at his father, gauging his response.
Strangely enough, Zeus didn't look surprised that Naruto was fighting Aphrodite. Nor did he seem pissed.
Apollo frowned momentarily before something clicked in his mind. His eyes widened.
The anti-teleportation spell was an extremely powerful and ancient magic that prevented a god from teleporting. Apollo didn't exactly know how the theory behind it worked - his eyes had glazed over thirty seconds into Athena's explanation - and his knowledge on it was limited to its applications and necessary prerequisites.
There were two main methods to apply the anti-teleportation spell. The first method was to imbue the spell into an object - a relatively simple thing to do. Every Olympian was capable of this method, and several minor gods were as well. This was the method Hephaestus had utilized to catch Ares and Aphrodite in their infamous compromising position; he had enchanted Celestial Bronze chains with an anti-teleportation spell to prevent Aphrodite and Ares from escaping. This was also the method Hera had used when she bound Zeus during the Rebellion of Olympus.
The second method was casting the spell as an area-of-effect field - an infinitely more difficult thing to do. While any Olympian could imbue the spell into chains, it required multiple Olympians working in tandem to cast the spell as an area-of-effect field. To put it into perspective, the last time an anti-teleportation field had been used was when the six Elder Olympians had stormed Mount Othrys itself.
Apollo initially hadn't questioned how Artemis managed to set up an anti-teleportation field, but now that he actually thought about it...
Just who were the ones who set up the anti-teleportation spell?
Artemis, for sure.
Who else?
Ah, that's right. Hestia would definitely help.
But just the two of them alone wouldn't have enough divine power to create an anti-teleportation field large enough to contain the entire battleground. Since the combat zone was smaller than Mount Othrys, it wouldn't require as many gods to cast the spell, but it would still require four Olympians at the very least.
Apollo cast another glance at Zeus.
There's no way...
And yet, there was no other possibility. Zeus must have been one of the gods setting up the anti-teleportation field, which meant he already knew of the plan to force Aphrodite to remove the spell.
But then why would Artemis and Naruto ask Apollo to distract Zeus-?
Apollo's eyes widened in realization.
"Plausible deniability," he breathed.
Zeus looked at him with a confused expression. "What are you talking about?"
Then he winked.
Apollo stared at him for a moment before he began laughing.
Of course. If word got out that Zeus had sanctioned and even aided in setting up a trap for Aphrodite, it would look really bad. However, if Apollo had "distracted" Zeus during the proceedings, then Zeus could claim that he genuinely had no idea of what was going on. Plausible deniability at its finest.
"Nothing," he chuckled. "It's nothing."
Zeus's blue eyes twinkled as he smiled. "Good. Now then, as I was saying..."
XxX
"You know, I never wanted this," Naruto sighed as he sat down next to Aphrodite's fallen form.
But I did.
The goddess of love whimpered in pain.
"I bet Ally wishes she was here," Zoe remarked as she and Artemis made their way over.
Artemis chuckled. "Indeed. That's a good look on you, Aphrodite."
"Artemis," Aphrodite spat, mustering enough energy to glare at her.
"Release the spell," Artemis commanded.
Aphrodite smiled defiantly. "No."
Naruto, Zoe, and Artemis all narrowed their eyes.
"No?" Naruto asked dangerously. "You do realize the position that you're in right now, right?"
"If you're talking about the fact that the time limit for the anti-teleportation field is running out soon, then yes, I do," Aphrodite smirked. "So go ahead, son of Artemis. Punch me, bite me, hit me with all the attacks you want. I won't release the spell though."
Naruto tilted his head. "I see," he murmured softly. "Then I suppose we have no choice but to take away your domains."
Aphrodite froze. "What?"
"What?!" Zoe spun around to look at Naruto, shocked.
Naruto nodded. "Yup."
"I see," a new voice said.
They turned to see Athena walking up to them, a pair of glasses resting on her face and a notebook in hand.
"Athena?" Zoe frowned.
Athena inclined her head. "Hello," she greeted before she turned to Naruto. "So this is what you were planning on doing."
Naruto nodded. "It is."
"Hold up," Zoe held up a hand, looking between Naruto and Athena. "What's going on?"
"A few days ago, Naruto got into contact with me," Athena elucidated. "As you know, the Titans had planned on removing Artemis's domains. Naruto figured out a way to reverse-engineer the method with his chakra, and wanted my professional opinion on whether it would work or not."
"Would it work?" Aphrodite asked, clearly worried.
Athena turned her clinical gaze to the love goddess. "Yes," she answered emotionlessly. "It would."
Aphrodite's eyes flashed with fear.
"Prepare yourself," Naruto said softly as a silver glow surrounded his hand.
"No!" Aphrodite yelled, terror in her tone. She shifted her pleading gaze to Athena. "Athena, you have to stop him! You can't let him do this!" She struggled to move, but only managed a small twitch. Naruto's punch had effectively paralyzed her.
Athena chuckled. "How? Do you want me to force him to stop?" she looked pointedly at her, then Ares. "We both know how that would turn out."
She raised her notebook and began scribbling something down with her pen. "I am, however, interested in observing the domain-removing process. This is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon."
"Naruto!" Zoe said urgently. "Please reconsider. As much as I hate Aphrodite, if Zeus discovers you did this - "
"Then he'll have to deal with it," Naruto responded bluntly. "And besides, with the upcoming war against the Titans, I doubt he would care all that much."
"Zoe," Artemis spoke up reassuringly. "It's alright."
Zoe bit her lip but nodded.
"You're bluffing," Aphrodite suddenly said. "You won't do it."
Naruto looked Aphrodite dead in the eye, and she trembled at what she saw. His silver eyes were filled with cold determination and unshakable resolve. He was utterly serious. He was going to take away her domains. He was going to take away her domains.
"Sorry, Aphrodite," Naruto said as a wave of suffocating Killing Intent exploded out from him. He tilted his head. "If it's any consolation, you should survive the process."
Then his hand began descending down to Aphrodite's heart.
Aphrodite cracked.
"Okay, okay!" She yelled. "I'll lift the spell, I swear!"
Naruto narrowed his eyes as his hand paused in its movement. "Do it."
There was a brief flash of pink light surrounding Naruto and Zoe before it died down.
The foreign emotions are gone, Kurama stated.
"The spell appears to be lifted," Zoe smiled in relief. "I'm back to normal."
"That's not enough," Artemis interjected. "Swear on the River Styx that you won't take revenge, and that you would never ever cause my Hunters to fall in love again, either directly or indirectly."
Aphrodite hesitated.
Naruto's hand twitched.
"Okay!" Aphrodite shouted. "I swear on the River Styx that I won't seek revenge, nor will I cause your Hunters to fall in love ever again, either directly or indirectly! So please, just stop!"
Naruto looked at Artemis. "You think we should let her go?"
Artemis hummed. "It will be a massive pain to explain to Father that we took away her domains."
"Granting her mercy is the wisest course of action to take," Athena added, still writing in her notebook.
"True, true," Naruto nodded. "Alright then." The silver glow on his hand faded.
Artemis snapped her fingers, and the anti-teleportation field collapsed. "Now get out of my sight."
Aphrodite didn't need to be told twice. She dematerialized in a flash of pink light. Ares disappeared too a moment later.
XxX
Apollo frowned as a thought occurred to him. Who was the fourth Olympian involved in setting up the anti-teleportation field?
Oh well, whatever. It worked, and that was all that mattered. He would find out later.
XxX
There was a moment of silence.
"You're insane," Zoe suddenly said, whirling on Naruto. "You're actually insane. I can't believe you were about to take away Aphrodite's domains."
Naruto exchanged glances with Artemis and Athena, their faces indecipherable. Then he began snickering, and the two goddesses smiled in amusement.
Zoe furrowed her brow. "What?"
Naruto laughed. "I wasn't about to take away her domains. Or rather, I couldn't."
Zoe's frown deepened. "Huh?"
Naruto smirked. "I never had the ability to take away her domains. It was just a bluff, a con, and a negotiation."
Her eyes widened. "What?!" she exclaimed incredulously. Then she turned to Athena. "Wait, but you said - "
"I," Athena interrupted, "was the first person Artemis asked for help when Aphrodite initially cast her spell on you two." She smiled. "I aided Artemis and Naruto in creating the plan and setting up the anti-teleportation field. My job was to help Naruto sell his bluff and make it more authentic so Aphrodite would be fully convinced."
"Forgive me, Zoe, for not telling you," Artemis added, "But we had to make sure your reactions were completely genuine."
"Huh." Zoe was silent for a moment. Then an exhilarated smile spread across her face. "Holy Hades, so you're telling me that we just bluffed Aphrodite into lifting the spell and swearing an oath on the River Styx?"
"Yup!" Naruto replied with a smile. "And Aphrodite was completely fooled."
Zoe laughed, shaking her head. "I don't rescind my previous statement, by the way. You're actually insane."
"Insanely brilliant, yes," Naruto grinned brightly.
He turned to Athena and bowed. "Once again, thank you for helping, Lady Athena."
"It was my pleasure," Athena gave him a small smile. "At any rate, now that it's over, I'll take my leave. However," she narrowed her piercing grey eyes, "we need to have a talk."
Naruto nodded. "Sure."
Athena inclined her head, satisfied. "I'll give you the meeting date later. Farewell."
With that, her form glowed a bright grey light before she dematerialized.
"Hey, Naruto?" Zoe spoke up.
"Yeah?"
Naruto was caught off guard when Zoe stepped in and gave him a big hug. "Thank you," she whispered. A moment later, she pulled back, and Naruto was glad to see that there was no blush on her cheeks whatsoever. They were both back to normal.
He smiled. "Anytime."
Aphrodite wouldn't be bothering them anymore. Finally, it was over.
XxX
"Yo, Hestia!" Naruto greeted.
Hestia turned around with a smile. "Naruto. I assume it went well?"
"Yup!" Naruto grinned. "The plan worked perfectly, thanks to you helping convince Zeus and setting up the anti-teleportation field. Thank you."
"My pleasure," Hestia smiled warmly. "I'm just glad that the Hunters won't be fractured."
Naruto nodded, looking up at the night sky where the moon shone brightly. "All is well."
Hestia paused. "You just jinxed it, you know."
Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh shit."
XxX
"We have a problem."
Apollo glanced up from where he was playing the piano. Naruto and Artemis had just appeared in his mansion.
"Yo," he greeted with a grin. "What happened? I thought you guys were celebrating."
"We were," Naruto replied. "And halfway through the celebration, I realized that I wasn't attracted to Zoe anymore."
Apollo frowned. "Isn't that a good thing?"
Naruto shook his head. "Allow me to rephrase. I wasn't attracted to just Zoe anymore."
Apollo tilted his head. "What do you mean - " he paused as the implication hit. "Oh. You're now attracted to multiple Hunters...?" he trailed off slowly when Naruto nodded.
"Yeah."
"Is it Aphrodite?"
"No," Artemis responded. "I already checked him for traces of any foreign power. There were none."
"Hmm..." Apollo scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. "I admit, I have no idea - "
He froze as he caught sight of something. "Naruto, did you just grow?"
Naruto frowned. "What are you tAlKiNg about?" He paused. "Huh, voice crack. Haven't had one of those in a while."
Apollo's mind went into overdrive.
"Naruto, I need to check something real quick." He laid his hand on Naruto's head. A moment later, he nodded and drew his hand back. "I see..." he said in a mutter.
"What is it?" Artemis instantly asked. "What's the problem?"
"Aphrodite's spell must've been the cause, acting like a trigger of some sort," Apollo muttered, ignoring her. "I've never seen anything like this before - but then again, this is a unique circumstance."
"What is?" Naruto demanded.
"Increased growth rate," Apollo continued muttering under his breath. "Voice cracks. Sudden attraction to the opposite sex. Increased production of certain hormones... It all lines up."
Artemis's eyes went wide. "Wait, you don't mean - "
Apollo nodded, his expression fully serious. "I do."
"I don't get it!" Naruto exclaimed frustratedly. "What do hormones and voice cracks have to do with anything - "
He froze.
"Indeed," Apollo nodded grimly. "Naruto... You're currently going through puberty. Accelerated puberty."
Naruto's mind promptly shut down.
"I see," Artemis nodded. "That makes sense."
"It must be a residual effect of Aphrodite's spell," Apollo mused. "Or perhaps a side effect. I'm not sure."
A small part of Naruto's mind realized that this must be why he hadn't felt that strongly about the opposite gender in the past few years. It wasn't because of Artemis's influence, like he had previously thought; rather, it was simply because he hadn't gone through puberty yet.
The rest of Naruto's mind, however, was busy imploding on itself.
"It's nothing to worry about," Apollo assured Artemis. "This would've happened anyway; Aphrodite's spell must've just triggered it ahead of time."
Artemis smiled. "Thank goodness. I was scared for a moment there."
Naruto's mind finally rebooted. "No, no, no," he began muttering, a horrified expression on his face as he shook his head.
Artemis frowned. "What's wrong?"
Naruto didn't appear to have heard her as he continued slowly shaking his head.
"No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! NO! NO!" He screamed in abject frustration as he slashed his hand across his chest, Apollo and Artemis looking at him with concern. "There are many things that I can accept, but this is not one of them!"
He threw his head back and howled, "I AM NOT GOING THROUGH PUBERTY AGAIN!"
And finally, finally the Aphrodite arc ends after six long months.
Don't worry, Aphrodite will show up again later and be properly Talk no Jutsu'd. I just couldn't fit it into this fight.
Only the Big Three can casually break oaths on the River Styx. Aphrodite is nowhere as powerful, so the oath is actually significant for her.
One last thing - I messed up. Naruto shouldn't have either SO6P or TSO. He shouldn't have SO6P because he lacks Rikudo chakra (only he and Kurama were transported to new dimension; the 9 Bijuu were left behind) and he shouln't have his TSO because they were left behind in the Kaguya dimension (TSO can't be transported across dimensions). So just consider this a small AU, and apologies for not following canon (Naruto only has Rikudo chakra in Boruto because he's the pseudo-Ten Tails Jinchuuriki).
This is a PJO AU. This means that yes, gods are stronger than their canon counterparts.
Thank you all for reading, and please review :)
euphoric
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