"Pops? What's that?" Zetsu, now a few years old, tugged on his father's hair as he sat perched on his shoulders.
"That my dear boy is a baby" Naruto responded matter of factly.
There was indeed a baby in the blond's arms and quite the odd one at that.
"Do all humans glow like that?" the green-haired child asked.
"No Zetsu-chan… they do not" the blond nodded, very sure of himself, "she's also very hot to the touch" he also noted, feeling a surprising amount of heat through his palms.
The baby in question was quite the cute one, with a small pudgy face adorned with a small tuft of raven-black hair.
Her eyes were wide open and observing the Sage curiously.
Naruto himself was mesmerized by the beauty of her eyes, a pair of shining violets that could be compared to amethysts.
Zetsu looked down at her with similar fascination, as this was the first human-like baby he'd ever seen.
"What is she then?" He asked the obvious question and Naruto, for one, was stumped.
The Sage had found the baby on the top of the Sunlight Mountain, one named by the locals for the fact it was perpetually bathed by sunlight throughout the year.
The little one had been crying her lungs out for hours before Naruto happened upon her. The baby, as if sensing the man's warm aura, had immediately quieted down.
Naruto knew what she was, he had met beings like her before, and her energy signature was quite similar to the people like Kagutsuchi or the Shinigami.
This was a Shinto goddess.
Well, that posed an issue. He still wanted some peace, for now, to see Zetsu grow up and explore more of Yamato and the surrounding regions with his little boy, he did not want to involve himself in some petty polit-
The baby whimpered as if sensing the man's hesitance.
The decision was almost instinctive.
'Ah screw it'
He'd just have to adjust his plan to fit an extra passenger.
As he looked once again at the little girl, he raised her up so she was at eye level with Zetsu. The babe reached out with her small arms curiously making grabbing motions towards the short immortal.
Naruto gave his son his answer.
"She's your new sister," he said with a smile while Zetsu titled his head in confusion.
"Zetsu-chan… Meet Amaterasu-chan" the father said softly.
Everything about her reminded him of his late best friend's technique.
Flames as black as her hair, ones that could provide both warmth or burn anything to nothingness…
This little one had a lot of potential. He could feel it.
The baby who had been silent up until that point started babbling excitedly and reaching out for Naruto's face.
Naruto smiled and let the girl pat his whiskered cheeks.
His family was growing.
~~ When the Sun met the Sage~~
Tuckahoe State Park, Maryland, 23rd of July 2000
Artemis overlooked the diligent and coordinated work of her huntresses. The young ladies clad in the Hunt's signature silver parkas were setting up camp for the night.
They were divided into groups of three to hoist the tents, prepare the firepit, and skin their bounty for the night.
The goddess of the Hunt smiled warmly at the sight of her girls.
'They've been working hard lately' she thought, pondering on how to reward them for their perseverance.
'Maybe I could ask Aunt Hestia for a batch of her cookies' she almost salivated at the thought.
"Mine lady" a voice interrupted her musings, as she looked to the side, spotting a kneeling young woman.
Her lieutenant, sister-in-arms, and best friend, Zoe Nightshade had her head bowed. Her braided hair was adorned with a silver circlet that glowed in the moonlight.
"Hmm? What is it, Zoe?" Artemis asked.
"I never mean to question thy judgment, yet are thou knowest this entire trip was behoveful?" the dusky-skinned huntress did not rise from her bow.
Artemis cocked an eyebrow but felt no offense at Zoe's question, rather, she was more miffed with the fact the nymph still acted so professional with her even thousands of years into their friendship.
And yes, the Shakespeare speech was not helping matters.
"Hmm… Well, it's both a favor for my sister and an opportunity to test these mortals… They have two young maidens in their group last I heard" the goddess answered.
Zoe blinked up at her in surprise, before her coal-black eyes narrowed in anger "Are they… hurting them?" she hissed out.
This time, Artemis narrowed her eyes in thought "From what I've seen from my chariot? It doesn't look like it. If anything, it's the very opposite"
"How so?" Now it was the nymph's turn to be surprised.
The goddess proceeded to explain to her how she had occasionally watched over the group at night as they journeyed through the East Coast. She'd seen how the only adult in the group guided them and helped them build a makeshift campsite for the nights they spent in the wilderness. She'd also gotten a faint feel of his and his son's energy, the blond man was indeed a strange one as Athena had said.
"It's like looking at a Satyr without goat legs" the goddess explained as best as she could, "he just has that feel to him"
"And thou art positive he's not dangerous?" asked Zoe skeptically.
"That's what I intend to find out tonight" the goddess answered simply.
Making camp in this particular park tonight hadn't been a coincidence. From her vantage point on her chariot, Artemis had seen and heard many of the group's interactions, including their destination. While they obviously did not know where Camp Half-Blood was, they knew it was somewhere along the east coast.
Thus she had predicted their route and made sure to meet them at her leisure. Both to see if she could get two Huntresses out of it and to scrutinize the males, and if necessary, either kill them or turn them into Jackalopes.
Decisions, decisions...
Naruto led the group into the park.
Over the last month, he had been able to sense more than one pair of eyes watching them, following their movements. However, the observers never made any aggressive move so he held his hand and silently accepted Zetsu's constant "I told you so"s.
Damn, why did his son have to be so petty?
Yes, he took in a gaggle of demigods, and yes he might have unwillingly attracted the attention of the Greek gods, thus making their mission many times more difficult, but you know what?
…
Yeah no he had nothing…
Zetsu was right to be mad but that didn't mean he could hate on the kids for it, they're victims here!
His boy was not as empathetic as he was and unfortunately, that seemed to be something innate to him. Zetsu just didn't care enough about a lot of things, living or not, that wasn't immediate family. Oh sure he could warm up to people, but that usually took years.
The three demigods trudged behind him, as he continued to lead them in the direction of whoever was observing them. It wasn't like he was changing the direction of his travels, camping in that park had been within his plans since he entered the state and heard of it. On the contrary, going somewhere else would have alerted their spectators to his or Zetsu's sensing ability.
He couldn't afford to screw this up more than he did, he was sure his son was at the tip of his rope with him.
'This is so troublesome' the man thought, unknowingly channeling his inner-Shikamaru.
Being the Best Father Ever™ was hard work!
He had to set an example, as well as make sure his kids were happy. Over the years he'd come to find that, more often than not, these two things tended to be mutually exclusive.
SNAP
Much like an alert deer, Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and perked up at the sound of rustling bushes around the group. Zetsu stopped next to him while Thalia and Luke had already taken defensive positions around Annabeth. The little blonde tried to make herself look bigger by puffing her chest up and holding up a bronze dagger given to her by Luke.
'Oh that's adorable' the sage internally cooed at the little girl trying to look intimidating and he fought the urge to take her picture.
Before he could do that, however, about a dozen young girls wearing silver parkas and wielding hunting bows peaked out from the trees with the weapons trained on the group.
A cloaked girl with chestnut-color hair and hypnotizing silver eyes was at the head of the group.
To anyone else, it would look like a group of young adolescents being led by a girl their own age, if not younger.
"Halt, mortals" the girl's voice was cold and commanding.
Naruto was about to greet them, but before he could get a word in edgewise, someone beat him to the punch.
"Huh? Who are you?" Thalia quickly trained her spear on the brunette.
Her action was apparently a faux pas, as every other archer adopted a fierce expression, and trained their bows on her. The one to voice their thoughts, however, was a young lady wearing a silver circlet.
"How dare thou point thy weapon at Lady Artemis?" the girl barked at them before the apparent leader held their hand up.
"Zoe, calm down, it's a common mistake" the goddess in question interjected, making the girls reluctantly lower their weapons.
Luke, seemingly understanding the situation first, elbowed Thalia and hissed at her to drop her weapon.
Naruto was confused a little about the situation. While he had felt the leader's power and quickly singled her out as a goddess, her willingness to cause misunderstandings by turning into a young girl baffled him.
'And that other girl, is she talking like she's in medieval England?' the sage thought while scratching his head.
All in all, the entire group's mannerisms were pretty quirky.
But then again, quirky was far from bad, and it made things more fun!
Naruto smiled and raised his hands in a gesture of non-violence as he attempted to pacify the situation.
"Ah, hello there young ladies-" he tried but was rudely interrupted.
"Silence boy, do not think you can address me so casually" the goddess rebuked him.
Naruto blinked at her behavior, especially at the way she talked to him.
'Huh? What's with these trashy manners?' he narrowed his eyes briefly.
For a second there, he considered responding with something witty, maybe something like…
"What's with this sassy lost child?" Naruto would then point at her while looking at everyone else.
She'd get angry, maybe shoot him with her arrows or a curse and he'd respond as civilly as possible by punting her across the country.
…
'Yeah no, doing that will be opening a can of whoop-ass' The sage nodded to himself at his wisdom.
He would not kick the child.
Unless he wanted to burn down the entire state in the ensuing fight with her family, he had to accept her attitude, for now.
So, reluctantly, he swallowed his pride and smiled pleasantly at the huntresses. Even though he wished to grab the goddess by the ear, and teach her some common courtesy.
Later, Artemis sat in her tent in her adult form whilst deep in thought. The travelers had been separated, with the girls being taken by her huntresses (despite their protests) to be checked for injuries, and the males being isolated to a clearing outside the camp, with clear instructions not to approach the tents, or else.
The girls would be brought before her in a few minutes, to both ask them questions and make her offer of joining the Hunt for them.
While Artemis wouldn't say it, she secretly wished the man would've taken offense or even tried something. It would've given her a quick excuse to turn him into a Jackalope. But no, as if he knew what was at stake, the man and his son (surprisingly enough) did not so much as throw a glare in her direction.
Yes she taunted them, and yes she might have also acted in a way that would've earned her a lecture by her Aunt, but she also had ample justification for it!
The oldest male was too odd, too strange for her tastes.
While he did look surprised at their arrival, he also did not look intimidated in the least. She had felt his level of power and needless to say, it was far from impressive. A little more power than the average nature spirit maybe, but nothing to ring alarm bells about.
'Could he somehow be suppressing his aura?' the goddess thought, before hurriedly scratching out that option.
No, nothing could hide from her senses. While she did not possess her brother's foresight, her other senses were the finest among the Olympians. So much so that she often, as her brother put it, 'nerfed' herself so she can enjoy life with a bit more challenges. Something these same senses allowed her to do was to assess the threat level of pretty much any creature
And yet, these same senses indicated nothing threatening about the blond, even though Athena's warnings said the opposite. She wouldn't admit it, but she felt quite miffed at how unaffected he and his son were by her aura. He was polite but not out of fear, civil but not cowed, despite the large gap in power.
That contradictory behavior confused her all the more and she could only arrive at two possible conclusions.
Either the man was an unpredictable wild card…
Or he was an idiot.
She concentrated a little on the part of her driving her chariot, it was the same ability her brother used to pretty much see any and everything under the light of his own chariot.
A scene formed in her mind's eye, one where the three males sat around a small campfire of their own and had a conversation of their own. She did, surprisingly enough, notice a brief tenseness in the father and son's posture before both relaxed and continued their discussion.
'Can they sense me too?' the goddess asked herself.
She saw the man start making funny faces, excitable movements and steer the conversation in a direction which visibly relaxed the blond demigod.
'So not an idiot... but still… as harmless as he was, he's definitely hiding something.'
Artemis nodded to herself. Just as she finished her thoughts, her tent's flaps were pried open as Zoe entered followed by the two demigoddesses. She scrutinized the two girls. While one was obviously upset (at her huntresses maybe), the other, younger one, was looking around in childish awe.
Artemis smiled warmly at the sight. While it was true that the Hunt and the Moon were her primary domains, one must not forget that she was also the patron goddess of children and maidens.
So occupied with the girls was she, that she never noticed a small black worm-like creature slithering from under the bottom of Thalia's shoe and seemingly camouflaging itself with the carpet.
The two demigoddesses had spent the night with the Hunt, while the males camped outside.
The two girls returned in the morning, with Thalia somehow having a more pronounced resting bitch face than Zetsu himself had, and Annabeth running excitedly to Naruto's figure to tell him all the details of her night.
The younger Uzumaki was honestly reaching his patience's limit with all the bullshit that recently happened. He knew taking in the three brats was a bad idea and he should have protested more to the idea. Then again, his pops was even more stubborn than a mule so that would be a worthless endeavor.
So, unbeknownst to his father, Zetsu had let go of a small part of himself and let it attach itself to Thalia so it can sneakily infiltrate the tent. Much like his own father, Zetsu could clone himself. Unlike the sage, however, he could also asexually reproduce, or at least, make more 'bodies' whose mind could be both independent or linked to his. They also had his ability of complete suppression, something that not even his own father could replicate. They were the perfect spies, unseen, unheard, and very much loyal to him.
Ugh…
He knew he was taking a risk with this, but after all the idiocy his father pulled?
Yeah, he was entitled to some safeguards.
If the Olympians wanted to play, then Zetsu was about to pull out an Uno reverse card on them.
When Uzumakis played, they played to win.