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The clearing road stretched on forever. Annabeth groaned from her perch between Kurama's shoulders, arms folded tight. "My legs are going to fall off. We should've been there yesterday!"
Kurama's tails flicked irritably. "If riding a nine-tailed fox is too slow for you, girl, then feel free to walk."
Annabeth smacked his fur. "I'm not complaining about you. I'm complaining about him!" she jabbed a finger at Naruto, strolling ahead with his hands laced behind his head, whistling off-key. "and his terrible sense of direction…"
Naruto grinned over his shoulder. "Relax. We're close. I can smell it."
Luke frowned. "Smell what, exactly?"
Naruto tapped his nose. "You guys. Demigods. I guess the divinity in your blood has a scent."
Annabeth blinked. "So you're saying we smell?"
"It's not a bad smell!" Naruto waved his hands quickly. "It's like… an aura that leaks into the world. Thalia smells like that sharp ozone before a storm, the kind that makes you nervous you'll get zapped if you don't run inside. But also the fresh air after it rains."
Thalia tilted her head, suspicious but not dismissing it. "…That's weirdly accurate."
Naruto's gaze shifted. "And Luke… you're tricky. Harder to pin down. But if I had to describe it, it's like that feeling you get when you suddenly pat your pockets to make sure nothing's missing."
Luke smirked faintly. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Annabeth leaned forward on Kurama's shoulders, eyes sharp with curiosity. "Alright, what about me? What do I smell like?"
Naruto blinked, then grinned. "Like a fresh new book. And lemons."
Annabeth flushed, sitting back quickly. "…Oh."
Kurama snorted, his voice rumbling. "My partner, the demigod bloodhound."
Before anyone could retort, the brush ahead exploded. A boy burst out, stumbling on clumsy legs. Curly hair plastered with leaves, shirt torn, hooves kicking out from under ripped jeans. His eyes went wide the instant they landed on Thalia.
"There you are!" he bleated, nearly falling to his knees. "By the gods you're alive, Thalia Grace! Daughter of Zeus!" His voice cracked into panic. "I've been searching everywhere!"
Thalia stiffened, spear lifting. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Grover!" he bleated, bounding forward. "Grover Underwood. I'm your sanctioned satyr guide! They sent me to find you, it's my job, I.." He stopped dead, finally noticing Kurama looming behind them, nine tails swaying. His jaw unhinged in terror. "Wh-what! What is that?"
Kurama bared his teeth, lips curling into something between a grin and a threat. "I'm the monster you don't want to point at."
Grover squeaked again, scrambling behind Thalia. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fantastic. Another lunatic."
"I'm not a lunatic!" Grover said, voice pitching high. "You don't understand! There's a.. There's a stampede coming! A horde of monsters, dozens, maybe hundreds. They'll be here any second!"
Luke blinked. "A stampede?"
Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "How do you know?"
"I saw them," Grover said desperately, hooves stamping the dirt. "And if you don't move now, you'll be eaten alive!"
"Not just a stampede," Naruto muttered, crouching low, his hand pressed to the soaked earth. He inhaled deep, golden eyes flickering as the ground whispered back to him. "Hundreds of monsters. Big ones too. They're coming in one direction." He opened his eyes now blue, calm despite the roar building underfoot. "Straight at us."
Kurama's tails lashed, scattering mud. "I warned you, brat. You never get peace for long."
Grover tugged at Thalia's arm, frantic. "We cant fight them. It's in our best bet to run. I can get you to camp and the magical borders will hold them back. But you have to trust me!"
Naruto straightened, staff sliding into his grip. His grin tilted sharp. "I could probably take a few."
Kurama rumbled like a rolling boulder. "You'll waste your strength for nothing. The goat is right. We should move."
"S-satyr!" Grover yelped, ears twitching.
Kurama's tails swayed lazily. "You've got hooves, horns, and smell like a petting zoo. Forgive me for the mistake."
Grover sputtered. "I do not smell like a petting zoo!"
Kurama snorted. "Kid, I've lived inside a sewer for years. Trust me. You do."
The first trees behind them snapped, monsters pouring through in snarls and gleaming eyes. There were hellhounds, dracaenae, tusked boars, and things with too many claws and not enough names.
Grover bleated in terror. "Go!"
They ran.
The forest became a blur as branches whipping their faces, roots slick with rain, the ground trembling under the pursuing horde. Grover galloped ahead with surprising speed, hooves churning mud as he shouted, "This way! Hurry!"
Thalia sprinted close behind, her spear sparking with electricity every time the storm flickered overhead. Luke and Annabeth pushed hard to keep pace, their breath ragged, eyes wide with panic.
Naruto brought up the rear, his spear flashing as he swatted aside snapping jaws and lashing tails. He moved with maddening ease, almost laughing as he vaulted a fallen log. "Come on! You'll have to do better than that!" he taunted over his shoulder at the monsters.
A hellhound leapt for Annabeth's back but Naruto spun, his palm slamming to the ground. A wall of roots exploded upward, catching the beast midair and flinging it aside in a spray of mud. "Eyes forward, Annie!"
"Don't call me that!" Annabeth shouted, but she didn't slow.
Kurama thundered alongside them, tails smashing into any monster that drew too close. "Stay tight," he snarled. "If one of you falls behind, you're dead."
The roars behind them grew louder, the forest breaking apart under the sheer weight of the horde. Thunder cracked above, lightning spilling across Thalia's bronze spear as she pushed herself faster.
"How much farther?" Luke gasped.
"Almost there!" Grover called back, his voice shrill with desperation. "The border's just ahead, and once we get over it the barrier will hold them!"
Naruto sniffed the air. The sweet, heady tang of divinity hit his senses, fresh and overwhelming. His grin sharpened. "He's right. I can smell it. The blood of demigods. Lots of it."
Thalia spared him a glance even as she sprinted. "And that means?"
"Means we're really close."
The trees suddenly broke apart. Ahead, the hill rose steep and open, rain streaming down its grassy slope. At the top, a single pine tree loomed, lightning frozen in its branches, its glow cutting through the storm. Beyond it stretched fields of green, flickering faint under protective wards.
"It's the border!" Grover cried, waving them on. "Run for the tree!"
The horde behind them roared as one, crashing through the last line of trees, eyes blazing in the storm. The earth shook with their stampede, but the hill was clear.
Naruto turned at the base of the slope, staff planting in the mud, his grin wide. "I'll hold them.. Get up there!"
The others scrambled up the hill toward the pine, the storm splitting overhead. Behind them, Naruto and Kurama stood shoulder to shoulder as the tide of monsters broke against the foot of Camp Half-Blood's border.
The ground shook as the stampede burst from the treeline. Hellhounds by the dozen, dracaenae screeching with blades raised, cyclopes bellowing, skeletal soldiers rattling like an avalanche. All of it funneled straight toward the hill for Thalia.
Grover screamed, nearly tripping over his hooves as he scrambled up the slope. "Run! Get to the tree!"
Thalia shoved Annabeth forward, Luke close behind. They sprinted for the crest where the great Rain hammered the hill in sheets, lightning cutting the sky open. Naruto stood at the base, hair plastered to his brow, staff spinning lazy in his grip. His grin tilted sharp and defiant.
"Been a while since we had odds this crazy, huh?"
Kurama prowled up beside him, nine tails slicing arcs through the storm. His rumble rolled like an avalanche. "Odds? This is barely a warm-up. You better not embarrass me, brat."
Naruto cracked his neck, grin stretching wider. "Embarrass you? Please. Try to keep up."
The horde screamed and charged. The ground buckled under their weight.
Naruto crouched, palms slamming into the mud. His chakra blasted outward, ripping through the battlefield like a second thunderclap.
"Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
The battlefield tore apart as a forest ripped skyward. Trunks split the soil, smashing monsters mid-leap. Roots surged like tidal waves, wrapping around bodies and crushing bones until they snapped like dry branches. Flowers burst open instantly, golden pollen spinning into the storm, carried by the rain like glittering fire.
Hellhounds gagged and turned to ash. Dracaenae dropped their weapons, clawing at their throats. Even cyclopes staggered, swinging sluggishly before collapsing into the mud.
Kurama's eyes blazed. "Good. Now kill them."
Naruto's grin sharpened. "With pleasure. Water Dragon!"
Rain and mud twisted together, spiraling into a colossal serpent of stormwater. Its eyes glowed gold, body coiling with a roar that rivaled thunder. It crashed into the horde, swallowing monsters whole, smashing them into dust under the weight of its body.
Kurama threw his head back and laughed, tails flaring wide. "Pathetic! THIS is power!"
He lunged. One tail skewered a dracaena clean through the chest, lifting her screaming into the air before slamming her into the mud with a crunch. His claws ripped a hellhound in half, blood hissing in the rain before the beast dissolved into ash.
A cyclops swung at him, tree-trunk club crashing down. Kurama caught it in his jaws, teeth crunching straight through wood and bone. The cyclops roared once before Kurama ripped its throat out with a snap, tossing the body aside like garbage.
Another pack rushed him from the side. His tails blurred—two skewered hellhounds, another smashed to paste. The last barely touched the ground before a glowing orb spiraled into existence at Kurama's maw.
"Mini Bijūdama!"
The blast lit the storm. BOOM. A crater ripped open, shockwaves shredding the battlefield. Dozens of monsters were vaporized in an instant, their ashes scattered on the wind.
Naruto staggered back, eyes wide. "Damn it, Kurama, warn me before you level half the field!"
Kurama smirked, blood dripping from his fangs. "Move faster, and you won't need a warning."
Naruto scowled, slammed his hands together. "Wood Clone Technique!"
Dozens of Narutos burst from the trees, each grinning, each armed, each already charging. They poured into the battle, staffs cracking, fists flying, roots answering their every command. Monsters screamed as they were cut down from every direction.
The Water Dragon swept back, smashing hellhounds into the mud with crushing force. Kurama ripped another dracaena's arm clean off before tossing her into her sisters, claws tearing through the rest like paper. His tails flicked, sending another mini bijūdama screaming into the mob.
The battlefield was carnage. Forest blooming in the rain. Dragons raging. A demon fox ripping monsters apart with tooth and claw, blasting the rest into ash. And a boy grinning in the center of it all, clones swarming, staff swinging like thunder.
Together, Naruto and Kurama annihilated the army.
The horde shrieked, staggered, and dissolved into black dust. Silence followed, broken only by the hiss of rain against steaming craters.
Naruto straightened, staff braced against the mud, chest heaving. He laughed through the storm, breathless but wild. "Guess I don't need to hold back when you're here."
Kurama licked blood from his fangs, tails curling lazily as the last ashes blew away. "You'd die if you tried. Remember that."
On the hilltop, the campers stood frozen. The forest glowed faint in the stormlight, craters smoking, trees still groaning. They hadn't just watched a battle. They'd witnessed a force of nature unleashed—boy and beast, side by side, untouchable.
One camper swallowed hard, voice thin. "That's not the power of a demigod. That's… something else."
Another gripped his sword tighter, staring at Naruto in the storm. "Then what is he?"
The campers murmured to each other, half fear, half awe.
Among them, Chiron stood in silence, his human torso rising tall above his horse's frame. His ancient eyes fixed on Naruto, calm but wary. He had seen demigods display power, seen heroes wield blessings from the gods. But this…
This was different.
Below, Naruto stood with Kurama at his side, dragons spiraling back into nothing, the flowering forest already settling. Rain washed the pollen from the air, leaving only silence and the shimmer of petals on the mud.
Naruto straightened, resting his spear on his shoulder, grin wide despite the carnage. "Guess that takes care of it."
Kurama's rumble shook the earth, his tails curling slowly. "Brat. You're going to terrify them."
Naruto glanced up the hill, meeting the sea of stunned eyes behind the barrier. His grin didn't falter. "Let 'em be terrified. I said I'd get them all here safe."
Thunder cracked overhead, lightning etching the battlefield into stark black and white. The monsters were gone, nothing left but roots, blossoms, and ash.
And from the crest of the hill, every camper even Chiron watched the boy who had just scattered Hades' army, and wondered if he was really human at all.
Thalia, Luke, Annabeth, and Grover stumbled over the crest of the hill, dripping with rain and mud. The shimmer of the barrier rippled around them like a curtain of glass, then let them through without resistance. They collapsed onto the soft grass of Camp Half-Blood, gasping for breath.
Campers had already gathered near the pine, drawn by the storm and the roar of battle. Dozens of them crowded the slope, weapons in hand. But their eyes weren't on Thalia or Luke or even Grover.
They were fixed on the figures still outside.
Naruto walked steadily up the hill, staff balanced across his shoulders, blue eyes bright under the drizzle. Kurama padded beside him, each of his nine tails swaying like scythes in the mist.
The barrier shimmered faintly and the campers tensed.
"He won't make it," someone muttered near the front. "That thing, whatever it is, won't be allowed inside."
Chiron stood among them, his human half straight-backed, arms folded across his chest. His old eyes stayed fixed on the boy and the beast, calm but unreadable.
"We shall see."
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