Hello everyone, sorry for taking so long to send this chapter. I had to concentrate on my finals paper and, when I was finished, I lost the rhythm (and some of the more detailed ideas, but I still have the gist of it) for this fic.

That said, while I was out, I noticed something that has the potential to give a BIG change to the story… but contradicts already-estabilished points.

Mainly, that, if having her divine power flowing through Kushina's womb made Naruto partially a demigod of Artemis, wouldn't having being in the womb of Kushina and exposed to Kurama's chakra, something that caused his birthmarks (as seen with the Gold and Silver brothers who got them when consuming Kurama's flesh), made him also one of Kurama/Kaguya (just a reminder that Kurama, despite having his own skills and personality, is a part of the Juubi/Kaguya)?

So, I'm thinking of rewriting the story, with more focus on the Monster Hunter cross on the beginning (basically merging Divine Third Hunting with the story instead of having them be separate) since without it the readers have no idea of how Naruto changed so much and he seems overly-competent, at least for me. With those chapters it would probably be made clear that it is a gradual learning and training process (for those wondering the timeline, he defeated the Kecha Wacha shortly before fighting Neji, and fought the Zamtrios right before the Sasuke Retrieval).

Other changes would be the removal of Susanoo and Tsukiyomi, since Tuskiyomi's vision can be replaced by Artemis herself (only it would… you know… be an actual vision), as well as the illusion-breaking (since the light of the moon breaks the illusions of darkness or something like that), and Susanoo despite having powerful abilities with a HUGE drawback when summoned was mostly a way for him to learn Hunter Arts since they are from Generations and Naruto is living 4Ultimate.

But no, despite being the main problem people seem to have with the story, the worlds mixing, villains included, and Luke getting a Sharingan would not change… The worlds being accessible from each other is a huge future plot point, in fact the rewrite will make it more blatant. And, despite it looking like just a way to empower Luke, the Sharingan has a dual function of being an important plot point and… ok, I wanted to write a fic with a Sharingan Gunslinger eventually and giving an eye to Luke is a much better option than giving Sasuke a gun, in my opinion, since I can't really like his personality much (his design is eventually alright though).

But! I plan to keep writing both Hunter with a Divine Third and Third Divine Hunting, only slower, at least until the new fic, that I'm thinking of naming "Hunter Nin", reaches them. Which will be quick for TDH, since most of it will be unchanged, but not so much for HwaDT.

And now a quick message about something a guest reviewer pointed out: "Anony Mouse" said that in Greek mythology all heroes were demigods, thus since that is a camp of the gods demigods in the Percy Jackson means hero. That Naruto learning about the language difference would have stopped his problem with the word "hero" being talked left and right on Camp Half-Blood.
I have three things to counter this argument, though… They are personal opinions though.
The first is, while it is based on Greek mythology, it happens in modern times, and thus words that changed meanings… changed meanings. If it was just Dyonisius or Chiron talking, it would have been acceptable, but it wasn't, it was also current children.
The second is, if they were heroes just for being demigods… why are they training to become heroes, wouldn't they already be?
And the third… would knowing that something has a different meaning stop you from feeling annoyed by it being said? Naruto didn't go out of his way to make them stop calling themselves heroes, but he did feel annoyed.

IIIII

Luke massaged Naruto's throat as he let the Energy Drink go down to his stomach.

After all, this is what Naruto said he needed the food for, right? Energy?

They had been unlucky at their location, ending up without any visible fruit for them to eat. Growing impatient, Naruto downed as many candies Luke still had and risked 'unsealing' his supplies.

Now, Luke was far from sure this was what Naruto needed, but at least having something in his stomach would help? The other option was meat, but there was no way the younger boy could chew it at the moment. And he had no idea how to feed it to him even if he chewed himself first anyway, would just massage the throat like he was doing for a liquid work?

He was already in the fifth – and final – bottle, when Naruto finally coughed.

"Ah, I think… that was a bad idea…"

Luke just glared at the words.

"Can you even eat?" he asked the blond, giving him a piece of meat he found.

"Yeah, no worries… well, I'm strong enough to now. ButI feel like I drank my whole stock of energy drinks. I don't think I even need to—"

"I don't care. Meat. Bite. Now!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. All in all, despite being a traitor and trying to kill Percy the previous year, Luke was acting like an ok guy.

Then he felt it. The weight on his stomach, the feeling of the pain spreading through it.

"Ugh… Feels like I drank water before breakfast without having dinner. You know, like your body forgot that it even was hungry until you woke it up to it."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Are you safe now? As much as we are on opposite sides, I'd like to leave the demigod deaths as low as possible. It is not the children I have a problem with…"

Naruto raised his eyebrow. "You know I'm not technically a demigod, right? I mean, demi means half, and I'm a third. I'm closer to a legacy."

Luke shrugged, taking a meat for himself. "Same difference, you are a human with divine blood in your veins. Actually, maybe it is worse for you."

"I'm bad with kanji, not dyslexic. I'm easily distracted if it doesn't catch my interest, but I don't have ADHD. I think I got the better end of the deal."

"You got no powers from your divine parent either, you said it yourself earlier," Luke countered. "Even before finding out about the speed, I had some thieving abilities. And despite having an item to make you understand other languages and another to give your weapons divine energy, you needed to learn battle instincts by fighting."

"My summon technique let me call to me a species focused on hunting, and I got a second Shinto patron besides my personal match, even if I can't channel it, just because of my divine heritage."

"…what?"

Naruto looked at him. "Remember I used a technique by channeling Susanoo thanks to my mom's family? And I can use his others through chants too if I know it, but they are weaker? Well, I can't use Tsukiyomi's through anything but chants, but I wasn't supposed to have a second patron.
And I can summon talking hunter cats by using some chakra to bring them to me. I was going to learn to do it with giant ninja toads, but I used divine energy without knowing and summoned one of them instead.

Well… There is also some skill I got for hunting, but since I wasn't great on my first try like the Apollo kids are at archery, just got some potential I trained at until I got where I am. I'd like to think it isn't that much because of her, just some natural skill, like your swordmanship."

"So… instead of giving you powers and abilities, you got improved versions of skills you already had?" Luke was… impressed. True, at first glance it wasn't as much as a demigod since he had to get those abilities first to use them while a demigod gained abilities from nothing. But from what he could tell Naruto already was as powerful as the strongest demigods when he could use chakra, which would probably not be compatible with divine powers, while this way the skills he got were. Also, who knew where a new skill would appear in the future.

Naruto, however, misinterpreted his comment.

"Oi!" he complained, waving his meat in front of Luke's face. "Ok, so maybe the Palicos can't just smash buildings just by being called on top of them like toads, and I can't use Tsukiyomi's mask, but don't diss them. I saw palicos hunt giant monsters by themselves just as well as humans, and Tsukiyomi taught me to break almost every illusion and even to feel everything in the dark."

"Feel? Not see?" Luke asked, confused.

"Yeah. I can use it with my eyes closed, it is easier to use with my eyes closed. But I can't see colors, just shapes, if I don't use my eyes. And if there isn't much moonlight in the sky, it gets less and less… er… shaped."

"Precise."

"Yeah, that. So, full moon? I can see in total dark in black and white. New moon? You are a human-shaped blob, but at least I know there is a human-shaped blob where you are."

"Uh. I'd expect you to need to be where the moonlight can reach to use it."

"Well, it is a lot more tiring when it can't, but I'm kinda asking the Shinto moon god to lend me his eyes… so while I use it I am a moon."

"How much more is a lot?"

"Under the moonlight I can 'see' the whole night and not even feel it. Out of it, I'd be able to use it for an hour tops before needing to rest."

Then Naruto blinked, and shook his head. What was he doing, doing all this talking about his abilities with an enemy?

Ah right, all this talking calmly, he even forgot all about that. Plus the whole keeping him alive despite being enemies thing.

Also, he may have recovered his physical energy, but without some time to recover the spiritual one he was feeling really light-headed, to the point he'd keep babbling the truth. But, now that he noticed, better to pretend nothing was wrong.

He stood up, resisting the urge to sit down again when the world started spinning.

"Alright, I'm not a hundred percent, but I feel much better already. Let's go look for a way out of this place."

Luke resisted the urge to click his tongue in annoyance. He had no idea why the blond was as forthcoming, but despite not wanting to let him die like that he still knew that he would be a thorn on his side's side and the more weaknesses he got the better. And all he got was a time limit for his night vision… And the nightvision and cat summoning seemed to be the only times he used divine energy so it was not like it weakened him too much knowing that either.

Regardless, he had a good idea. Maybe there was something alive and sentient there, maybe even a way out. But they'd hardly find anything by just sitting there.

IIIII

The Naruto clone sighed as he rowed. True, Percy could control the sea so he'd row much easier, but he would feel bad leaving all of it to him.

Besides, he had a lot to think about.

A prophecy that he could save the world or doom it… Naruto did not believe in that, but he'd still hate to have one hanging over his head. Especially because it just said "your choices can affect the lives of everyone in the world, so you have the lives of everyone you know on your shoulders, never mind we give no hints on the choice that keeps them safe".

Then suddenly he felt the water shift a bit… but if was helping him row. Blinking out of his thoughts, he saw an island in the distance, right were the current was taking him.

He idly wondered if the water taking them to land from that far away, since he thought it only happened much closer to the land… but he'd rather not look a gift in the mouth right now.

"Hey guys, I see land."

That certainly lifted the moods.

It didn't take them long to reach the island. Naruto let the current help take them to the harbor filled with different kinds of boats and ships, including what Annabeth said was a submarine, and even some flying machines were visible, all while the three looked at a small and peaceful villa, complete with a fountain in the center.

A lady in a blue suit greeted them as they got out of the boat, treating them very kindly. Too kindly, in Naruto's opinion, and the other two seemed to share his opinion this time as she made reserves for them on the "spa" despite them not seemingly having money to pay for it, herbal wrap for Annabeth and complete makeover for the other two. Then she said something about a luau, and the other two's resistance went down.

Naruto wondered if he had some resistance to whatever in these places was tricking the others or if this luau thing was that good to lower their guard, because everything screamed "trap" to him.

He poked Percy's shoulder. "Hey Percy, what's this 'lual' thing?"

The other boy turned to look at him… and froze a bit.

"…what?"

"O-oh, sorry," Percy said. "It's just that, your eyes are a light gray right now, I could have sworn they were blue."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Light gray?"

"Yeah, like… much lighter than Annabeth and the other Athena kids, not that far from a light blue, but it just feels… different."

Naruto nodded. That answered it, he was just using Susanoo's… well, his but Susanoo-taught, illusion-breaking power by instinct.

Which meant that there was definitively something trying to trick them there.

His eyes narrowed. Better to keep a watch on the other two, but not draw attention by breaking it until there was a need to.

The place… really reminded him of the Lotus Casino. White marble and blue water everywhere, terraces with swimming pools climbing a mountain in the island filled with different waterslides connecting them, many fountains, some of them impossible, unnaturally tame animals…

The guests seemed happy, all of the women relaxing, but he wondered if they were not mentally trapped like on the Casino.

As they went up a staircase, they heard a voice singing. The Naruto clone could feel his instinctual defense growing stronger. Thankfully, his divine energy was not used much during the whole bone-wearing-octopus thing.

The pendant blessed by Athena translated the song to him. How she sang about the magic of nature itself, about the things in nature most people ignored, blinded by their view of themselves. He had to resist the urge to give in to the song.
But this time, it was different. This time, the protections on his mind felt less like Susanoo, and more like Artemis, like he felt a little that time he was talking with the Aphrodite girls the previous year. Like if they were different kinds of illusions…

But it wasn't like anyone in the camp would try to put an illusion on him.

They finally reached a room filled with expensive-looking furniture, one of the walls just windows, the other just mirrors. Naruto had to admit, he liked the effect.

There was a pet cage there too, with some kind of animal hidden inside.

And there was a woman weaving something in there too. Pretty skillfully too, even Naruto not being big on decoration could appreciate it.
She had been the one singing.

"Beautiful," she heard Annabeth say, drawing the woman's attention.

Her name was C.C., she said, so they said their names. The sound of guinea pigs got agitated by that, drawing Naruto's attention, all the other animals were much calmer than them.

The woman didn't seem to like Percy much, which really seemed to depress the guy… And looked at Naruto with a confused expression.

Naruto raised an eyebrow back, tilting his head.

"You… are a very curious person," she said finally. "I wonder what manner of animal you are, deep inside. I can feel the fierceness, connection to instincts, appetite for freedom and protectiveness of the wolf, the independence, spirit of adventure, curiosity and independence yet enjoyment of company of the cat, the cunning, quick-thinking and mischievousness of the fox… You connect well with all three, but none of them is exclusively your spirit animal... If you were forced to be only one, I wonder which would prevail… Or if one of them would prevail at all…"

She then turned her attention to Percy. "Regardless… you two need my help."

Percy was confused. Why did he get such a cold shoulder, while Naruto got all that spiel?

Meanwhile, C.C. called their guide and asked her to take Annabeth to her treatment, including a change of clothes and hairstyle. To unlock her true self or something.

Apparently he and Naruto required her personal attention, specially him.

He noticed a bit of panic filling Naruto's eyes, yet the guy smiled and hugged Annabeth before she left, saying something in her ear.
He was so preoccupied with his stomach filling with lead for no reason he knew of that he did not notice her now confused but more alert expression.

The next thing he was aware of, he and Naruto were side by side looking at the wall of mirrors.

"You see, boys ... to unlock your potential, you'll need serious help. The first step is admitting that you're not happy the way you are."

Percy stared, noticing all his imperfections, the small details that he did not usually care for, but that he for some reason did care for that day.

He could see Naruto leaning closer to him to say something in his ear, but C.C. stopped him, saying they had to be their personal musings. But to be honest Percy didn't know if he'd have liked to hear what he had to say right now.

But for some reason… C.C. seemed to be frustrated with Naruto.

"Oh dear, this is not working… Naruto dear, could you give us a minute?"

Naruto tried to talk back, saying he needed to tell Percy something, but Percy was concentrated on his flaws, on what he had to fix.

So Naruto left.

C.C. then turned back to Percy. "How about we try… this."

IIIII

Naruto could feel the magic in the door. As far as he was aware, nothing he could do would let him figure out what was going on inside from out there.

He had a mind to look for Annabeth, but she was smart, she'd figure out what was going on now that she was free. And if he went for her, how would he help Percy?

He was thinking for so long, Annabeth herself arrived.

She was… different. In a silk dress, with made-up hair and make-up…

"You look like someone from Aphrodite's."

"What are you doing out here?" she asked confused, ignoring his words.

"She kicked me out to focus on Percy. And I didn't want to tip her that I wasn't affected by her control.

Annabeth nodded.

"Well, I was told to come talk to her as soon as they finished with me. Do you think you can try to free him too while I distract her?"

Naruto nodded seriously, and hid behind the wall.

With her own nod, Annabeth knocked on the door. "Miss C.C.?"

Annabeth opened the room, and Naruto entered and hid himself as soon as he noticed she was busy with the guinea pigs. Fortunately, it seemed he had been quick enough.

He looked around, while Annabeth tried to distract her asking about Percy and C.C. tried distracting her back by talking about the tour, not finding the male demigod anywhere.

One of the guinea pigs was being very loud ever since he entered though… Was it trying to tell her about him?

Naruto turned to the guinea pig, still keeping an ear as the woman tried to convince Annabeth to become her apprentice or something. It was small. Smaller and better cared for than the others that came out attracted by his sounds.

Then he noticed something hidden under the cage.

Clothes.

Percy's clothes.

Naruto cursed under his breath.

As he thought what to do, he heard C.C. confirm she was Circe, and confirming herself Naruto's suspicions.

She was still trying to recruit Annabeth, claiming that this was the only way she'd be recognized, that Percy would be well-treated as a guinea pig… and, despite her knowing what was going on, her face looked soon as unfocused as Percy's had been before Naruto had been pushed away.

"Let me think about it," he heard Annabeth say. "Just... give me a minute alone. To say goodbye."

"Of course, my dear. I still need to take care of your other friend," Circe said. "I won't take long.
Oh ... and so you have absolute privacy…"

Iron bars blocked the window wall, and the door was locked from outside.

Annabeth soon came near Naruto, her face back to normal.

"You… are a scarily good actress."

Annabeth shrugged. "Not really. But since I knew about her trying to control our mind, I could concentrate on not being controlled.

What about Percy? Why didn't you break him out of the illusion too before he was turned?" she asked annoyed, looking for the real Percy among the guinea pigs.

"He's the one that doesn't seem like he's been fighting and losing for years," Naruto pointed out. "And I tried. I can't just hug another guy, it is not done usually and she'd know I was doing something. And when I tried to pretent to talk to him about the visions she was giving us she stopped me."

But Annabeth wasn't paying attention, she was taking the vitamins from Percy's clothes and taking one.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked. "Is this the time for this?"

"These are gifts from Hermes. Did you read about Circe yet?"

Naruto nodded, and took a vitamin himself… "Wait, how did he know we were gonna end up here?"

"Apollo gave a tip, probably," she replied. "They are close friends. How long do you think we got?"

"Experience tells me she figured out I disappeared and is running back already to check on you…"

He then ran at high speeds towards the door, and jumped, kicking the door closed right on Circe's face.

"By dose! Da baphdar bwoke by dose!"

Annabeth blanched. "I… really don't think you should have done that. She is one of the strongest known sorceresses ever!"

"That means she focuses her anger on me. Find a way to bring Percy back while I distract her!"

"How?" she asked, "Odysseus forced her to undo the magic, how would we do that?"

Before Naruto could answer, the door exploded open. Luckily it was more force than damage, and the clone did not dispel.

Circe was furious.

"You bastard…" she said, her nose fixed once more. "I was going to make an exception of you. I was going to let you live here, even if as a guard dog. But now… nevermind a guinea pig, I'll turn you into a worm!"

Saying that, blue fire surrounded Naruto, and…

…nothing happened.

"What?" Circe exclaimed, confused. "How?"

Luckily, like Naruto expected, she was so focused on him she did not notice Annabeth hitting her in the legs and making her fall to the ground.

That was the moment when she saw the bottle of multivitamins.

And when her followers started casting magic to defend her, being too surprised before with her fury to do anything.

Naruto jumped over her, running towards them—

"No, stop! They can't hurt you for now, those vitamins make you immune to magic, please don't hurt them!"

Naruto would have skidded on the ground, but a bit of chakra made him stop immediately. He looked at Circe's eyes. She was telling the truth.

He walked backwards from the attendants, and grabbed the multivitamins. That would be useful to have, then.

Meanwhile, Annabeth twisted Circe's arm.

"Turn Percy back to a human or else!"

"I can't!"

Annabeth didn't take long to thing of a second way, though.

"Naruto, if those vitamins make us immune to magic…"

He nodded, and counted the guinea pigs. Even if he knew which was Percy, it wasn't like the others deserved to stay transformed either.

Soon Percy was back, somehow clothed too, together with six other guys, one of them with a pitch-black beard.

"No! You don't understand, those are the worst!"

"I wouldn't be the best if I was turned into a guinea pig either," Naruto countered.

"But you stopped," Circe shot back. "You stopped from hurting the girls when I asked you to! But they won't!"

"And now witch," said the bearded one, with a heavy accent Naruto could not recognize, "the magic of ya lasses cannae stop us anymore. Argggh!"

Annabeth gasped. "I recognize you! Edward Teach, son of Ares?"

"Aye, lass. Though most call me Blackbeard!" He then turned his attention back to Circe, and motioned with his hand. "There's the sorceress what captured us, lads. Run her through, and then I mean to find me a big bowl of celery! Arggggh!"

Circe screamed and jumped away from Annabeth, whose grip slackened with the distraction, and ran from the room with her attendants, followed by the pirates.

Naruto ignored Annabeth and Percy's talk, trying to think about what he heard.

"Naruto, come on! We have to run away while Circe is distracted!"

He nodded, and they went to the harbor, ignoring the pirates destroying everything.

Well, mostly. "Annabeth… who is Blackbeard?"

"He was one of the most feared pirates in the 18th century."

Naruto nodded. He got an idea of what a pirate was, basically a seafaring missing-nin. "What do you think he will do to them?"

"To Circe? He seemed pretty mad…" Percy asked. "Not that I can disagree with him."

"To her, and to the rest of the people in the island," Naruto replied.

"Well, it's not like we can afford to try to do damage control," Annabeth said, callously but truthfully.

They arrived at the harbor, and Naruto grabbed the bow and quiver he had left there earlier while Annabeth grabbed the lance and Percy the shield.

Percy had a gut feeling, and the three went to an older ship, with the writings "Queen Anne's Revenge".

Percy and Annabeth went to board the ship… but Naruto stayed behind.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Percy," he asked seriously, "do you think you two can go on without me? At least until the boss arrives?"

"What… what are you talking about?"

"I can't just leave them like this," Naruto said. "I… I know I said I wouldn't forgive myself if I left you guys to fend by yourself, but I can't just let this go on without anything to control them."

"But Naruto, even you can't hope to fight them all by yourself! Not weakened as you are!" Annabeth said.

The clone just smiled. "Then I'll have to fight smarter instead of harder, won't I? I mean, the worst that can happen is that I fail."

Percy nodded. "Take care. The people on this island are counting on you."

"And Grover is counting on you," the Naruto shot back.

"Argggh!" echoed Blackbeard's voice from somewhere. "Those scalawags are a-boarding me vessel! Get'em, lads!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, and shot an arrow to land between the pirate's feet.

Blackbeard growled, looking at Naruto and the ship leaving them all behind.

"I commend your bravery boy. But do you really think you can escape punishment for this?"

Naruto only grabbed another arrow, spinning it on his hand.

IIIII

"Ok, I'll bite," Luke said, running out of patience. "What is an abandoned pirate ship doing so far in-land?"

Ignoring the outburst, Naruto decided to check the ship itself. "S. S. Invincible… Well, at least it seems to live up to its name, I'm no smith but it seems as good as the Arluq to me…"

"Yar. I don't know what this Arluq is, but this ship was built by sea spirits themselves!"

"I can believe…"

Eyes widening, she young shinobi turned around… and paled.

Between him and Luke was a tall and muscled man, wearing leather boots, pants and muscle shirt and with a red scarf tied to his neck. Adding the master mustache and ponytail, they could swear he was Ares' pirate brother, or maybe a son.

But what made Naruto pale was… the man was transparent, and deathly pale.

"G-g-ghost!"

"C-c-coward!" the ghost mocked, drawing from a pocket and lighting a transparent cigar.

Luke blinked at the exchange.

"…Naruto, didn't you invade the Land of the Dead? Why are you afraid of one dead spirit?"

"Those were mostly spirits of the dead, Castellan. They were where they were supposed to be," Naruto answered, preparing himself to battle, as futile as it would be. The spirit only took a deep drag and blew some smoke to the air. "This here is a ghost. An unstoppable spirit that will not stop unless sealed or driven away by a trained exorcist and can't be harmed and much less killed since it is already dead. All we can do is distract it while trying to run away."

The spirit rolled his eyes. "Did ya ever fight a ghost before, kiddo? Wait, don't answer. Ya obviously didn't."

The ghost took another drag of his spirit cigar.

"For starters, if I was gonna attack ya I'd have already done so," he pointed out. "And since you didn't notice me until I spoke, it'd have been easy. So you have nothing to fear from me."

Naruto calmed down a bit, but still looked at him warily. "Then what are you doing here?"

The spirit looked down on the ground, saddened. "Name's Fargo, captain Fargo. And a captain goes down with the ship. Until someone comes that can take over this lady, I'll stay here with her."

Luke looked around, and at the distance of the ship from the sea. "It'll take a while… doubt many people will arrive here with both the want and the means to take this big a ship to the shore. Or fix it, for the matter."

Fargo scoofed. "The sea always cared for me, even after death. If I asked it, this lady would already be sailing. And she is perfectly fine for it. No, the problem is that I refuse to do it until someone worthy of her arrives and get rid of these pests infesting her."

"Pests?" Naruto asked, confused. "That's your big test?"

"Heh, big words coming from someone like ya."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, getting angry.

Luke blinked. He could have sworn Naruto's eyes flased red.

"Ya'r afraid of ghosts."

"…I'm pretty sure I already said why. And what that has to do with anything?"

"Naruto, I'm pretty sure he meant the 'pests' in there are ghosts."

Naruto blinked. Then looked at Luke. Then back at Fargo.

"…you will stay here for a while if you are waiting for someone able to get rid of ghosts before moving on, old man."

Fargo said nothing, taking a lungful of his cigar and exhaling a big smoke ring.

Naruto's eye twitched.

"I admit, the way ya think ghosts work they seem a bit hard to deal with," Fargo finally said.

"But as I said, ya clearly never fought a ghost for real."

Naruto blinked. "…uh?"

"When I was alive, me an' mah crew used to pretend to be a ghost ship. We even had mist around us for effect.

Then an actual ghost ship took umbrage and attacked us."

Naruto gulped. "Is… is that how you died?"

Fargo just smiled. "Nah, far from it. Actually they were pretty easy for me ta deal with.

Ya see, ghosts are not invincible. They just don't show the damage they take."

Fargo looked at the two teens, knowing he had their attention.

"They're made of some energy slime thing, so when they are damaged they seem to fix themselves, or even that ye attacks go through… but they actually lose some energy. If ya keep hitting, they won't be able to take enough energy and before you notice it they pop like a balloon. Take a while ta come back too, and even more to recover enough ta be a threat again.

But it is kinda hard to fight a ghost army when ya're a ghost too, so…"

"So ya need us to clean the house, tebayo!"

Fargo smirked. "Ya seems much better now."

"Believe it. If I can fight them, then they are not so scary anymore! …I'll just need to remember that while fighting them…"

"But we better be careful," countered Luke. "We are still hurt and weak, and we don't know how many ghosts we'd need to defeat."

"Jus' da big one on the deck," Fargo said. "When da boss is scared away, the others will leave too."

Naruto nodded.

Then he blinked. "Wait, so, if we get rid of the big ghost you'll give us your ship? Just like that?"

Fargo shrugged. "Ta be fair, ya were right, I'm running out of options. And… ya seems like ya really need it. So if ya can do it, I'll take ya home with the S. S. Invincible until I find a worthy captain for it. Better ta look for a worthy one outside this island no one visits."

Naruto nodded, turning to enter the ship.

Then paused, remembering something.

"Oh, we need to stop somewhere first before going home, can you take us there first?"

Fargo shrugged.

Luke looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What, not trusting Jackson to be able to do it by himself? Not that I'd complain taking the Fleece from him earlier, but I was planning to do it after your group left the Sea of Monsters."

Naruto frowned at him. "Just because I trust them to do it, doesn't mean I won't do my best to help them."

Then he started climbing a hanging rope towards an open window or whatever it is called, looking full of a confidence to fight the ghosts he didn't really have.

Luke shrugged and went after him.

Fargo frowned. He was forgetting something…

IIIII

Naruto just sat there, together with the two sisters.

Apparently, even though far from a saint, Blackbeard's cruelty had been… exaggerated. Not that he would ever complain, since he favored intimidation rather than force. But yeah, it seemed like pirates were just naval black ops or something, they attacked the enemies of their countries but were not outright considered naval forces to avoid said enemies being able to use them as excuses to start actual war.

Of course, said reputation worked against him with Circe…

But yeah, he was pissed over Circe's actions, but he just captured the girls and locked them away so they couldn't transform them again after the vitamins' effects ended.

Well, save for the two girls that fought back and almost killed some of the pirates. They decided to consider them, and Naruto, honorary pirates.

Well, after Naruto told them why they stole their ship. Blackbeard was a very pissed at that at the time, but as a demigod himself he agreed saving the camp, and with it many other demigods in training, was a good enough reason to steal a ship.

All in all, despite the island being taken over by a group of pirates and most of the people there being outfitted with magic-dampening collars, it was pretty peaceful.

Which is why everyone was surprised when a piercing cry was heard from inside one of the few restricted places in the island.

"Oh no!" Circe cried, running towards the bonfire the pirates were eating around. "Quick, you need to take this collar off me! Now!"

"And why'd we do it, witch?" asked Blackbeard. But… he hesitated.

In her eyes, she was really afraid of something. And it was not him.

"I… to power the island, I decided to save on magic and caught a creature that generates electricity about a decade ago. It takes less power to hold it in place than to power the whole place. But without my magic holding it in place…"

A crack of lightning was heard, and a piece of the wall of a building exploded.

Something that looked like a dragon mated with a firefly slowly walked out of the hole. And it looked pissed.

Naruto could feel the headache coming. Of course it was a Hunting Grounds monster that he never saw before.

And all he had was a bow and arrow, a weapon he was only good enough with to act as support, not as the main fighter.

IIIII

As the group left the ruins, it was already late at night.

They were happy. They had finally a direction to the Golden Fleece, and it was not that far – even if they had to row to get there.

But… there was something wrong. It felt as if most of the animals were hiding, even the nocturnal ones…

"Down!" Naruto yelled, tackling Clarisse out of the way just in time to avoid the claws of a blue blur.

The feeling of wrongness got everyone alert, but… most of them were used to mythical monsters, monsters with a feeling of wrongness, of unnaturalness. Naruto was the only one that got much experience with monsters that felt as if a part of nature.

They looked at the tree, and there was… a giant, blue owl?

IIIII

"Hey Luke, am I the only one wanting to re-kill Fargo?"

"No, you are not."

The way up wasn't that hard a work… at first glance. Despite still being afraid of the ghosts, Naruto was able to ignore them and attack automatically until they faded from lack of energy. Backbiter fought them just as easily as the younger blond's knives, easier since unlike him Luke wasn't fighting against his own terror.

But the number of ghosts on their way slowed them down, and tired them. So they only arrived on the deck after it was already night and the ghosts were visibly stronger.

And then they merged into one big… blob. The two were pretty sure this would be either the boss ghost or about as strong, so they were ready to fight it.

Which was why they were so surprised when it was slammed and destroyed by a long, pink tail.

They looked from the tail to its owner, a big and long serpent-like monster, with mainly light pink scales save for mane-like dark ones on the neck and on the spine, and with a face that really reminded them of a giant pink fox.

And it looked angry.

IIIII

Yeah, next chapter the three Narutos will fight, an Astalos by himself, a Malfestio with a group, and in duo with Luke of all people an enraged Mizutsune. And all but the Mizutsune with just a bow and limited arrows.
Yes, the Astalos will definitely be the harder one.

I admit, the S. S. Invincible and Fargo were a surprise for me. I was going to make them find the remains of Princess Andromeda ended up there somehow.

As said before, sorry for taking so long. But, you know, studies come first.

And sorry if the first part with Naruto and Luke seem different from the rest. I wrote it while working on my finals papers months ago, while the rest was done this week, so…