Hey readers and welcome to the next chapter. Now I know it has been a LONG time since I put something into this story and for that I am sorry. But, sadly I just have been busy and haven't been able to work on it…but I am gonna try and focus a bit more to hopefully it won't be as long in between the next one. Though I do have to admit I kind of had to get myself 'warmed up' before writing this so if it seems a bit off for it. My plan is to try and get right back to where I had the story but you will all be the judge. Just know that I am going to be trying my best. Oh, and on a side note I did the same for my other story as well and saw just how bad my writing was on it…for that story I may work on fixing it a bit rather than putting up a new chapter…

Chapter 7

~In line to get on elevator of Gateway arch~

So, thanks to Annabeth's forcefulness the entire group of teens were now walking into the tourist trap that was called the Gateway arch.

"Guys I don't like this…I swear I smell a monster nearby." Grover whispered to them making Naruto look around cautiously.

"Bah, your nose is just stuffed up from our last encounter." Annabeth told him too excited finally to care.

"…I don't know Annabeth if he senses something we should give it at least some merit." Naruto told her not wanting to just ignore even the slightest hint of possible danger. After all those that ignored danger in the ninja world often didn't last long.

"Come on Naruto we will all be together…let's just get this over with." Percy told him wanting to just continue on the quest. Which in this case meant putting up with a bit of sight-seeing to get Annabeth refocused. Though needless to say this didn't sit well with Naruto or Grover but the other two kept pushing them along in the line to get into a small elevator anyways.

"Honestly I get Percy due to his inexperience with missions…quests… whatever. But Annabeth is supposed to be one of the smartest of the camp! How could she put some stupid building above her own groups safety logically?" Naruto thought annoyed. But seeing as Grover already gave up he had no choice but to go along with it as well. But Naruto made a mental note to order Chiron to make sure the demi-gods were properly trained in the future. After all, for one of the 'wise' kids to be forgetting such as danger sense was insanity to him.

Still he simply let himself get forced closer to the elevator figuring he would have to simply be ready to try and bail them out of a predicament at any moment...

"I'm sorry only two more can fit." A worker told the group when they were finally standing by the elevator door.

"…I guess we should just wait for the next one then." Grover muttered only for Annabeth to simply grab Percy and bring him into the elevator with her.

"Well guys I guess you will just have to catch the next one and meet us at the top." Annabeth told them with an excited smile ignoring the frown Naruto gained. Still before they could even think of doing anything the door shut.

"Baahh, I don't like this Naruto." Grover told him extremely concerned.

"I am as well bud but at least I made it so I can help them if needed." Naruto told the satyr with a smirk.

"Oh, and how can you do that?" Grover asks his friend now curious.

"Well my friend that is all thanks to some of the cool abilities I found out that I have." Naruto told Grover with a smirk but didn't explain anymore. For Naruto quickly decided it would be far too much trouble telling Grover about his shadow clones.

(ANT: Will worry about explaining Naruto's use of shadows later on)

~On the elevator~

_Percy_

Percy currently was feeling like a sardine in the small metal box that was the elevator. "Why are so many people even here to see this stupid archway? I mean it has been here for years most people that wanted to see this stupid thing HAD to have gone at least once by now." Percy mentally complained already sick of dealing with people. He then glanced around at the people around him; who mostly were all just what you would imagine an average person to look like. Though one woman did seem strange to him.

For she stood in one of the elevator's corners stood one pudgy old lady who everyone seemed to give a wide area to. The next thing he found weird was that for some reason everyone was just ignoring the fact that she had a chihuahua with her on a leash that was baring at everyone. "How did the security of this stupid thing just manage to completely ignore a woman brining a dog into this place?" Percy questioned confused but eventually pushed it to the side of his mind and simply focused on hoping to be at the top already. Meanwhile Annabeth was happily in her own world just excited to see one of the wonders that were around America. Though neither one of the ever looked up at the strange sight above them.

_Naruto_

If they did, they would see their blond friend sitting on the roof of the elevator keeping a careful eye on his teammates. Though what was concerning him the most was the fact that the strange looking lady and dog seemed to be basically wallowing in dark emotions. "Ugh great idea wise girl. We know that at least one god has it out for us as well as ALL monsters but yet your idea is to keep us in a small confined area for a long period of time….this is not going to going to end well but hopefully I will be able to help get them out of this alive somehow." Naruto thought. This is why he snuck on personally rather than sending a clone in. For in his mind Grover could still run away and was perfectly capable of doing so well enough to get out of harm's way. Meanwhile Percy was still new to fighting and Annabeth only had a small knife to fight with while in a very confined area. Though he already was getting more annoyed with the ride itself simply due to his more advanced sense of smell was making the mix of body odor and perfumes almost maddening.

Thankfully he somehow managed to survive the trip up and quickly walked out of the elevator and walked along the roof into a bit more 'fresh' air. Something that made him want to complain to Annabeth even more after they got out of the tin can they were now in. Though he refocused on splitting his time to watch Percy, Annabeth, and the woman that was giving him bad vibes.

_Percy_

"Oh, look at this marvelous work." Annabeth says happily as she wanders around the archway spewing off facts that she memorized of it to Percy.

"Yea…cool." Percy told her trying his hardest not to sound completely uninterested. He was also trying to avoid looking out the window too much due to feeling strange about being so high up. So, instead he spent his time sneaking peaks at the people around the place. The most interesting thing he could see was a little kid that kept trying to pester his mother about the weird lady's dog that kept barking at everyone. The weird thing is that no one seemed to be paying the dog's bark any attention at all really other than the kid.

"Son is this really the best time? There are so many people around." The weird lady told her dog which simply kept barking.

"Mommy the doggy!" The little boy told his mother pulling on her pant leg.

"Not now honey." She told him not even looking at him.

"Bark! Bark!"

"Come on dear there are all these nice people around." The lady told the dog as if trying to reason with it. A weird fact that he couldn't help but try and figure out a bit more.

"Um, mam why are you talking with your chihuahua?" Percy asked the women who chuckled a bit while the barks seemed to get louder and the dog seemed to be a decent bit larger than before.
"Silly dear he is a Chimera not a chihuahua." She told him with a smile as Percy quickly looked at the dog that was now rapidly growing bigger with its annoying bark becoming more monstrous.

"Big doggy!" the little kid said terrified but soon was picked up by his mother as she and the rest of the civilians ran towards the exit as fast as they could. At this point Annabeth was over her sight-seeing and quickly ran over to Percy with her knife in hand.

"What the hell is going on!?" She asked carefully watching the Chimera.

"I don't know! This lady was just was hiding as a human with a dog and it suddenly became this!" Percy told her freaked out. They both then jumped when they heard a thud behind them causing them to jump.

"You just HAD to go into a small unescapable chamber and force all of us into this didn't you wise girl" Naruto told her sarcastically. Clearly not happy at the moment.

"Naruto! How did you get up here?" She asked surprised.

"Not important focus on the enemy." Naruto ordered her summoning his black katana into his hand. Course the woman seemed to be ignoring their conversation and instead focused on Percy.

"Oh, dear you know its rude to point and just call me a lady." The woman told him with a small vicious smile. "You know it is rare of Lord Zeus to allow me to test a hero out with one of my brood. For I am the mother of monsters, the terrible Echidna!" She told him with her smirk growing as Percy realized he didn't have his weapon on and quickly began fumbling with his pen.

"U-um, isn't that some kind of ant eater?" Percy asked a bit dumbly simply too surprised by the turn of events. Sadly, this turned out to be one of the worst things he could say as Echidna growled in anger.

"I always have hated Australia for naming that stupid animal after me." She grumbled before the chimera barked loudly bringing Percy's attention to it. Though he couldn't help but have one of the first things he noticed be the rhinestone collar and dog tag that said CHIMERA—RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS—IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS—EXT. 954. Course he didn't have too long to ponder this before Echidna sent the chimera after Percy.

"Dodge!" Naruto ordered his group that quickly did just that and managed to avoid a giant fireball that landed just behind where they were all standing melting a hole straight through the side. It also had the affect of splitting their group apart. With Percy now basically being trapped in front of the growling face of the chimera while Naruto and Annabeth were on its side.

"Percy!" Annabeth called out and tried to go towards him only to have to dodge the snake head as it attacked her. Meanwhile the chimera was trying its hardest to bite Percy who was managing to dodge its jaws while trying to attack it. Though each dodge was a close call showing due to lack of maneuvering space. Eventually his inexperience and lack of space Percy got nicked by one of the teeth that was enough to get its poisonous saliva into his blood stream

"Damn it" Naruto muttered and joined Annabeth in the goal of attacking the monster's side which was having limited results due to the snake head. "we are leaving wounds and will eventually kill this damn thing if it doesn't switch it's focus but it doesn't seem to care." Naruto thought annoyed as he tried to find a way to kill the beast even though a lot of his jutsu weren't useable in such a small area where if it was destroyed, they would all fall to their death.

"What are you going to do Perseus Jackson. Your friends can't get to you and you are slowly dying to my son's poison." Enchida told him with a smirk clearly enjoying this even though she saw the damage her son was also receiving. "You don't trust the gods Perseus. Call upon your father." She ordered him.

"Honestly what is going on here?" Naruto thought confused. "She is attacking us with this beast with clear intent to cause harm but instead of stopping us from injuring her 'weapon' she simply focuses on one person. Not only that but she is telling him to get something that will only help him instead of killing him when she has a chance." Naruto thought trying to figure it out before coming up with an idea. "She was sent to test Percy? By Zeus? But I thought that he wanted nothing more but to kill him for being the son of one of his brothers…gah this is so confusing." Naruto complained mentally not fully understanding.

"Percy jump into the water. We can handle ourselves!" Naruto told the dying boy who glanced out the hole in the wall at the water that was seemingly miles below.

"Are you crazy! He will die if he falls from that height!" Annabeth told Naruto dodging another bite from the snake.

"And he will die up here without being healed." Naruto told her making her realize the stupidity of her last statement. "Of course she is ordering Percy who resents the gods to have to trust his father….it is a strange test!" Annabeth realized herself.

"H-he's right Percy you have to do it." She told Percy who looked like he wanted to do anything but jump.

Percy then truly felt the affects of the poison was getting to him making his vision blurry and his limbs beginning to feel numb. "I-I am really going to die." Percy thinks honestly with his thoughts going to his friends, the mission, and lastly to his mother. "No. I have to finish this!" Percy thought before slowly backing up to the hole while still dodging attacks. "Father…please let me survive this!" Percy thought as a prayer before letting himself fall out of the hole as a fireball past through it seconds after. He then fell through the air for what seemed like ages until he finally hit the water with a large splash.

~On top~

"And now that my job is done with him…" Enchida said with her smirk still on her face as she turned and looked at the two left up top. "Time to deal with the two that weren't supposed to stay up here." She told them with the chimera now turning to face them.

"Like we would ever abandon our friend!" Naruto told her.

"Either way my job is done…and they never said I couldn't have some fun with the rest of the group…have fun son." She told the chimera with a sadistic smile, and as soon as she said this the chimera wasted no time in lunging at Annabeth and Naruto. Sadly, they both soon faced the same problem that Percy had of not having enough space to fight like they wanted. Though at least both of them were efficient enough with their weapons to be able to fend the attacks off much better.

"Naruto my son." Naruto heard in his head.

"A little too busy to talk." Naruto mumbled out too focused on dodging sharp teeth to bother worrying about thinking it rather than saying it.

"Yes, you must escape this area is no place for a battle to be held. Use your powers." Hades told his son letting information of how to use shadows enter Naruto's mind.

"Thanks dad." Naruto told him with a smirk and concentrated on the shadows that were around them being created by various debris and gathered it all underneath the chimera. "Let's hope this works." Naruto told himself before willing the shadows to shoot up in a spear. Now being one of the more intelligent monsters the chimera sensed danger and tried to avoid it only to be hindered by the small area as well. Thanks to this it avoided a fatal blow but still got pierced through its side making it roar out in pain as it began losing a lot of blood.

"Heh, I can get use to this." Naruto thought happily now that he had a 'jutsu' that wouldn't destroy the place or harm them.

"My son!" Enchida called out in concern before looking at the spike of shadow that slowly was falling back into the ground as if it was a liquid. "Damn you son of darkness!" She growled out and prepared to join the fight with her son; rules be damned. Though at this point Naruto found more information being pushed into his mind and quickly understood what he was being told to do. So, before an attack could happen, he scooped up Annabeth in a princess carry and began running towards a spot where one of the larger shadows in the place currently was being cast.

"N-naruto what are you doing?" Annabeth asked blushing at the fact that she was being held like a girl would in a romance novel…not that she read any of course. Though the blond didn't respond and instead just ran into the shadow just as the chimera began its charge, and soon enough the chimera's rage filled eyes became the last Annabeth saw before it all turned to darkness.

(Now just so you are aware I have never seen this 'wonderful' exhibit but I assume it is very well lit up. So, before anyone gets annoyed about this please remember there was not only heavy damage done to it through the battle but also was a giant beast casting a shadow as well. So, it is not hard to imagine that there would be a decent amount of shadows to use)

~On the ground; woods near grover~

"Oh, I knew I should have tried to stop them. Now who knows what kind of danger they are in." Grover muttered worried about his friends after seeing everyone flee in terror and hearing the roars of something big. His fears only grew even more when he saw the massive fireball come out of the side of the building and soon began praying for his friend's safety. A prayer that was answered soon after when he heard noise coming from the nearby water and went to look into it. It was there he saw Percy walk slowly out of the water seemingly shell-shocked by the events that had just happened.

"You're alive!" Grover called out happily giving his friend a large hug.

"Y-yea, but I don't want to do that again any time soon." He told his friend still terrified by the large fall he just went through. "Have you seen Naruto and Annabeth come down yet?" he asked Grover who shook his head sadly.

"No, not a single person has used the elevator since the normal people all rushed out of it." Grover told his friend fearing the worst.

"Wow that felt strange!" they heard Naruto say loudly from the woods surprising both of them. So, the two boys rushed into the woods and saw Naruto still holding Annabeth.

"You're okay!" Percy called out happily with Grover following with a large smile.

"Yea, turns out your dad isn't the only one that gives cool tricks." Naruto jokingly told him confusing both of them. "it turn out-" Naruto began only for them to see a news truck coming pretty close to them. So, they quickly stopped talking and hid in the woods.

"This is Amelia Rodeheart reporting from the gateway arch. From witnesses' statements it seems our once glorious arch was hit by a terrorist attack. It was also stated that the terrorist was none other than Perseus Jackson who has been at large for several days now. Police are asking for anyone that sees him or his accomplices to alert your local authorities. They are to be considered dangerous and possibly armed. Now for those of you watching at home here is the newest picture we have of the group of delinquents." The reporter said into a microphone while a man holding a camera had it pointed at her and you could clearly see the damage to the arch behind her. Still they didn't stick around to listen to her for long and instead quietly got away from all the people.

*huff* *huff* "I think this is far enough." Grover told them panting from running soon after they were sure that they were out of hearing range.

"Yes…and would you please put me down Naruto!?" Annabeth asked with a blush still on her from the embarrassment of being carried.

"Oh, sorry." Naruto told her letting her stand by herself. He then rubbed the back of his head after his hands are free. "Sort of got caught up in the moment." Naruto admitted.

"I-its fine." She told him still a bit embarrassed. "Anyways what was that?" She asked now curious about the strange abilities Naruto showed.

"Well it turns out that Percy wasn't the only one that had to trust their dad…he spoke with me mentally and gave me information on how to control shadows for both travel and other uses. Naruto told her with a happy smile. He then created a portal in front of them that appeared as portal of that seemed to absorb the light around it. (Imagine the kingdom hearts nobody's portal)

"Interesting." Grover admitted though felt nervous about the idea of going through it. "And you are sure you have complete control of it…like making sure it will let people out?" He asked concerned.

"Heh ya, don't worry as long as I am the person that makes it; I have complete control over what travels where." Naruto told him with a smile. After all he was more than excited to get the time later on to fully work on using his new found powers.

"Nice to hear…anyways let's continue on this quest." Percy muttered.

"Yea…oh and for the record Annabeth next time let's not go into a confined area when one of our 'sensors' thinks there is even a small chance of danger present. Naruto told the girl who nodded with a frown.

"I will accept that I let my own feelings cloud my judgement." She told him with a frown.

=Meanwhile; Artemis camp=

For the past few days Artemis was in a funk that even her hunters noticed as they spent their days traveling the world. She spent most of her time seemingly in her own thoughts rather than focusing on the hunt as she usually did...something that concerned her 'family' greatly. Though Artemis was unaware of this as she currently sat in her tent thinking about the male that recently caught her attention. Naruto as much as she hated to admit it wormed his way into a rather decent friendship with her as they spent time playing as he thought shew as simply a mortal girl. Though this recently had changed.

The big changer for their happy friendship was something the blond had no control of, his father. Artemis currently was at a loss to whether she would want to or even be able to retain her friendship with the blond demi-god. Now most demi-gods wouldn't understand the problem simply because they don't fully understand what claiming a child does. When a child is claimed not only does the parent and people around them know but so does all of the other gods and goddesses. In fact, for them it was as if there was a stamp placed on the child forever marking the demi-god with their parent. Course this mark also added more rules about meeting with the mortals and increased what could only be called a 6th sense for the demi-god. This sense for some reason making it even easier for them to access their godly bloods power especially to almost sense when they are around something powerful/a deity.

A fact that in Artemis' mind was the big problem. For if the blond found out that he was friends with a goddess rather than some random girl he may get cocky about it or even worse…start asking for favor after favor. Something that would in turn devastate Artemis seeing as even though she didn't want to fully admit it she really did have fun hanging out with Naruto. He was something that only a handful of men and gods could claim to be; one of her true friends. Though with this new fact that all changed and she was at a loss of what she wanted to do. For she could easily just ignore the blond and hope he forgets his friend…or she could take a risk and see what happens when he inevitably found out that she was a goddess.

"Grr damn that idiot for making me feel this lost…with what I know about you one side of me really wants to give you the respect you earned from me and at least give you a chance to keep our friendship…but then another side wants me to just forget/destroy anything that has to do with this before SHE tries to annoy me with it for the next century again." Artemis thought annoyed remembering each time she gained a friendship with some random human male Aphrodite would always end up either trying some trick or simply teasing her relentlessly…even with the arrows this caused to be sent her way.

*sigh* "No matter what I am not going to be able to keep my simple friendship am I?" She muttered with the frown still on her face.

"Milady?" She heard a voice call to her from outside the tent.

"Yes Zoe?" She responded after taking a moment to push her thoughts to the side.

"The hunters have been concerned for a while about you…for the past several days you have been acting troubled…Is there something that we can help you with?" Zoe asked concerned.

*sigh* "No Zoe I am fine. Just tell the hunters to prepare for a hunt. We leave tomorrow." Artemis tells her she then expected to hear footsteps only to note that Zoe instead just stood still.

"…Milady does your troubles have anything to do with the young blond that you would occasionally visit?" Zoe asked surprising Artemis a bit. She then walked out of the tent to see Zoe face to face with an expression that surprised the 'teenage' girl greatly.

"I am sorry if I over stepped my boundary." Zoe apologized getting a small smirk on Artemis' face.

"No Zoe I am not upset with you…you are just too wise for your own good." Artemis told her with the smirk on her face. "Yes, I am thinking about the blond…you see it turns out that he was a demi-god and I fear he will turn out to be like most of the others." She admitted to the girl who glared at the idea.

"If that happens milady simply let us know and we will hunt him down for betraying your trust." She told her honestly. For just like any of the other hunters if something made their leader upset, they would do everything they could to get rid of it.

*haha* "I am sure you would…but I will allow you to do so only if the situation calls for." She told her happier simply by the loyalty the girls had for her. "But I suppose we should give him a chance before letting our fears run rampant…and thank you." Artemis tells her before walking back into her tent to get some rest herself. Not that she needed it but just to relax in the slight peace of mind her lieutenant gave her. After all she now realizes that while her fears were only speculation, she still had friend and allies to rely on no matter the outcome…though for some reason the thought of the blond as an enemy still didn't completely sit right in her mind.

And that is where I am gonna end it for this chapter. Now I don't give any promises about when I will be able to get another chapter out simply due to being busy but I will be hopefully making space in my plan to figure out how to put out a few every now and then for both of my two "side" stories. It won't be fast simply because I like to focus a decent bit on one story at a time (hence why I haven't taken up/ created any other stories). Still this is a me problem not for you people. So Ja Ne for now.