I'm back! After a ten-month wait! Sorry, but life kept throwing curve balls at me that made it hard to get this out. Such as homework when school was in, band, girl scouts, family things that I had to go to, other things my mom made me go to, and youth group stuff. Yeah, I apologize for this being so late.

Otherwise, I don't really have too much to say other than we are now going to enter Lightning Thief and that there are a ridiculous number of sudden scene changes. Sorry for those who wanted to actually have more little kid Minato, but I was ready to move on to the story and actually some of the parts that I wanted to write. And to Spyrkle10, I did spell Ares wrong… Oops… Beware, Minato has some really big OOC moments, but you have to remember that while he has the mentality of a grown man, his emotional control is still shot. Plus, before he was thrown into the PJATO world Kushina just died and he had just turned Naruto into a jinchuuriki. He hasn't exactly had time to recover from that because he's had to cope with being in a world full of gods and goddesses that can easily kill someone with a flick of a finger if they so desired.

Disclaimer: I do not own either, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or Naruto other than a few books!

Chapter Three:

Stolen Symbol and Teacher Dust

Minato fiddled with the bead necklace around his neck absentmindedly as he rested his chin in his free hand. Five years had passed in the blink of an eye, and he was missing Konoha and his son more each passing day. Granted, there was the few times he was able to visit Naruto in his dreams, but being unable to talk, he had become the younger blonde's confidant and "imaginary" friend. A smiled tugged at his lips as he thought about the one time he had startled the Sandaime by grabbing Naruto's shoulder while the boy had visited the Hokage, earning a kunai through the stomach.

"—nato. Minato Namikaze!"

The blonde jumped, snapping back to the lesson that Mrs. Dodds was trying to teach. He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yes, Mrs. Dodds?"

"Now that you are finally back in the land of the living," the woman smirked as if she was humored by her own words, "what is the answer to the problem?" She indicated said equation on the board. Minato sighed internally as his eyes quickly took it in:

5x+67=15x-22

"The answer is x=8.9, Mrs. Dodds." The blonde replied easily, not even thinking twice about his answer after doing it in his head.

"Correct, Mister Namikaze." She said, a clear note of anger tinting her voice for a second, making two piercing blue eyes narrow a miniscule amount. The teacher looked around the room, locking on a black-haired boy with bright, sea green eyes who was currently trying to make himself invisible, and smirked. "Mister Jackson, please answer the next question."

"Crap…" The blonde heard him mutter, and Minato sighed. Percy Jackson was one of the few friends he had made here at Yancy Academy, and Mrs. Dodds had made it her personal goal to make him look stupid in front of everyone, especially Nancy Bobofit—who was the class bully and an angel in Mrs. Dodds' eyes. The black-haired preteen squinted at the board, trying to make sense of the equation with letters in it. Slowly, he replied, "Um… x=7…?"

"Correct…" Mrs. Dodds said, and suddenly the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

Minato followed Percy and Grover—who had crutches to explain his odd gate and fake feet on—out of the room last, having helped to pick up the books Nancy had knocked from Grover's desk. The blonde took one last look over his shoulder, and could have sworn that the teacher's eyes—which were trying to burn holes in his back—glowed a coal-red for a millisecond. For the first time in a while, he heard Kyuubi growl in the back of his mind, and the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up as he hurriedly caught up to his friends.

"—annoys me!" Percy finished; green eyes stormy. Minato faintly caught the scent of the ocean in the hallway before it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Who? Mrs. Dodds, Bobofit, or both of them?" Minato grinned, adjusting his backpack as they headed to the dorms.

"Both!" Percy exclaimed, and Minato could not help the laugh that escaped him. "Minato, what are you laughing at?"

"Ah, nothing really, you just remind me a little bit of someone I know." The smile on his face slipped a little as he thought about Naruto and the way teachers treated him unfairly, not caring that other students were bullying the boy. The elder blonde had scared a teacher out the door during one of Naruto's classes when he had decided to pick up a piece of chalk and write on the black-board:

Treat him nicely Suzuki-san, or you WILL regret it.

–Namikaze

P.S. You know whom I am talking about, too.

When the teacher had swiped his hand through Minato, then grabbed the piece of chalk, the blonde had smiled evilly, and the teacher's face had paled several shades before he ran out of the room screaming about kid ghosts of the Yondaime. Minato had spent the rest of the class writing notes on the board, with stunned students copying them down. A grin had been on Naruto's face the entire class, only growing larger when the Sandaime had stepped in to tell the class that Suzuki would not be back, having quit his job.

"Who do I remind you of?" Percy asked, and Minato jumped back into the present.

"A friend named Naruto. Unfortunately, you will never meet him, he's too far away." The blonde explained as they stopped outside of his dormitory door.

"Oh… Well what are you doing over Christmas Break?" Percy asked, and Minato gave him a sheepish grin.

"Going to go to the camp I go to during the summer. Like I've told you before, my parents don't really like me being around, even at Christmas." He lied easily, without even batting an eye or moving oddly. It was a skill that had saved his neck before in the Elemental Nations, but was one that he was not extremely proud of.

"Man, that's got to suck…" Percy sympathized, then his face lit up. "Hey, how about you come over to my apartment, my mom won't mind."

"What about smelly Gabe, Percy? Last that I checked, his attitude is worse than his stench." Minato told him, walking into his room and dropping his school stuff on his bed with the small duffel bag crammed full of a week and a half of clothes to last him the majority of the Break.

"He can get over it. If you can come over, then don't forget you have to behave exceptionally well. That means no back-talk." The black-haired boy informed and Minato chuckled.

"I'll see what I can do with the camp director."

Grover's warning look went ignored.

-::- -::- -::-

"No, Minato, you may not go over to Percy's apartment under any circumstances." Chiron told him, in full centaur form as they stood at the camp's archery range, standing ankle deep in snow. Minato opened his mouth to complain, but was cut off by the centaur before he could make a single sound. "Minato, you know very well that you smell like a strong demigod in your own right, and if you are around Percy for even a single day then you will draw unwanted attention to the both of you. Percy's scent may not be as prominent as yours due to the fact that he does not know what he is or who his father really is, but it's still really noticeable and your scent is extremely strong because of multiple reasons."

"I know that, Chiron, but still! Please, just for an hour?" Minato all-but begged, watching as the centaur let loose six arrows in rapid succession. Each of the arrows hit the center circle of the target in different spots with dull thunks! that the blonde heard even with the hundred yards in between.

"You may not, Minato. That is final and an order." He said, looking down at the blonde that he easily towered over in centaur form.

Minato's eyes narrowed into icy blue chips before turned on his heel, and stiffly walked away. His thunderous expression made the year-round campers stay away as he headed towards the lake. He threw off his coat to lay in the snow and, without hesitating, channeled chakra into his feet, through his shoes, and stepped onto the surface of the water that he knew was ice-cold. Once in the middle of the lake he made five shadow clones and drew out two of his three-pronged kunai, settling into a wide stance before engaging the five one at a time in a mock-battle to release up his pent up feelings. As he slashed at one of the clone's head, watching as it dodged and tried to punch him, Minato slid into his thoughts as he blocked the strike and swept the legs out from underneath his clone.

He was so confused about everything, even after five years. Naruto had grown up so much already without him, his father, there for the boy, and the daddy side of him really hated every minute that he was stuck in this world, away from his only living family. Then there was the fact that these gods used their own children as pawns, and made their kids lives even more dangerous than they already were for just being born. Some cared, that much was shown, but they were not involved enough with their own children—but Zeus was to blame for that with his law. Parents should at least be able to associate with their children.

The first clone puffed away in a cloud of smoke as he stabbed it viciously in the throat in a clean strike, and another stepped in to fight him.

Then there was him, the jinchuuriki: the outcast among the odd. He was an adult trapped in a child's body—a father no less! He was a jounin-ranked shinobi with a "flee on sight" warning in the Bingo book back home! He was the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō (#1) and the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure! How could many of the people here understand him very well? Yes, he had friends, but in a way they could not fully understand him even though he had tried to explain things to them. Okay, maybe not try to explain everything, but he had explained little pieces.

That was not exactly what irked him though, it was the fact that the some of the gods tried to use him as a pawn just as they did with their children. At first he had not really noticed it, trying to get accustomed to the new world he had been thrown into against his will. Also the mentality difference of that of a child compared to that of an adult had not helped, on top of all of the migraines he gained—apparently an adult's memories and knowledge in a mind developed for a child was to blame for the headaches. But as time passed, he had noticed that Zeus kept an extremely close eye on his seal, never letting Minato check it, always making another god check it, usually Hades. Ares was also one of the controlling gods who loved to manipulate him with his ability to enhance all emotions to a fever pitch to the point of irrationality. The final was Hera, who would constantly give him hard looks every time he saw her—looks that he had no clue as to why he was receiving them. The rest of the Olympians were actually pretty good, with the exception of the constant, slightly distasteful looks he got from Artemis—but after someone had explained that it was because she disliked all males he was semi-fine with it although he did tread carefully when he saw her.

Minato solidly kicked the second clone in the chest and the smoke cloud that it produced limited his vision enough that he did not see the kunai thrown by the third clone. Hissing as he was cut on his cheek, the blonde engaged his doppelganger, breaking out of his thoughts in favor of the battle. Dispelling that one with a well-placed punch, he let his second-to last clone step up. They clashed with kunais, stabbing and slashing at each other with quick, precise movements. The clone lost after a couple of minutes of battling with a thrown kunai striking its' chest. Diving to catch the kunai so it would not sink into the water, Minato missed the blonde figure standing on the bank.

"Minato!" A female voice called and Minato's concentration over his larger than average chakra reserves slipped. He broke through the surface of the water, his clone dispelling as well, and the freezing temperature stole his breath away to the point that he actually could not breath even though his head was above the surface. The voice turned frantic. "Minato!"

Clawing his way out of the water as he pushed chakra through his entire body to warm it, he climbed out of the cold liquid and onto the surface as if were a solid instead, gasping for air as he finally got his lungs to work again. With his entire body trembling, he shakily staggered to his feet, clutching his arms. Through his chattering teeth he called, "An-Anna… A-An-Annabe-Annabeth-th! C-Cold!"

As fast as his tight, cold muscles would let him; Minato shuffled to the shore. Tugging on his coat he glared at the curly haired blonde girl that was fussing over him, his blue eyes starling bright in his abnormally pale face. He briefly flared his chakra to create a small blanket over his skin and felt the worse case of pins-and-needles he had ever experienced as warmth suddenly rushed through him.

"I'm so sorry, Minato! I-I didn't mean—Oh, gods I'm so sorry!" Annabeth squawked as she began to herd him to the Big House, which looked like it had been purposely glazed in snow and ice.

"Y-You d-didn't kn-know I w-would l-loose con-concentration, A-Annabeth." Minato stuttered.

"I still shouldn't have called to you so suddenly," she said as the finally made it up the steps and into the welcoming warmth of the house. Minato sighed in relief, still letting her lead him, and almost missed her saying, "I just wanted to know why you were so mad earlier."

"O-Oh, th-that… Nothing that's a really big deal, Annabeth, I just wanted to visit a friend from school." He said to his fellow blonde as they entered the infirmary, finally stopping his stuttering, and the two sat on the floor right next to the fireplace after Minato had tugged two blankets off one of the beds. He was happy the shivering was slowly going away.

"Really?" Annabeth asked, somewhat wistfully, after wrapping herself up in one of the blankets with Minato surrounding himself with the other.

"Yes, but Chiron wouldn't let me because he is a demigod, and has a pretty strong scent on his own. So if I went over then that would draw way too much attention to him from monsters. He wouldn't even let me go over for an hour, and even went as far as ordering me not to go." Minato told her, running a hand through his hair, feeling the dampness and the familiar cloth of his headband secured around his head.

"Wow, you must have wanted to go really bad for Chiron to order you not to go." Annabeth smiled, shaking her head with a tiny smile on her face.

"He's one of the few friends that I have, Annabeth."

"If you wouldn't push just about everyone away then—"

"I know that, Annabeth!" Minato snapped, and cringed when she flinched. "Sorry. But I know that, I'm just scared to make friends…"

"Why, Minato?" She scooted closer, her gray eyes wide as she pushed a stray curl from her face. "What are you, Mr. Fearless, afraid of?"

A lot of stuff, Annabeth, more than you possibly could know… He thought, but said, "I'm scared, because if I manage to get home like I want to, my friends can't come with me. They have to stay here."

"But surely there has to be a way you will be able to get in contact with us?" Her eyes were wide, showing her uncertainty in her own statement in their gray depths. She looked at the solemn look on Minato's face.

"I don't know that for sure, Annabeth. So…"

"So you distance yourself." The unsure look was gone, replaced by anger. She stood up to tower over him with her blanket falling to the floor. "You distance yourself to not hurt others for something that may or may not happen. You do it to protect them from future pain, while, right now, you are suffering! You put yourself into a pained position to protect others later on! I see no point in that, Minato! Yes, it will hurt me when and if you leave because I'm loosing a friend, but I will respect your decision and live with it. Why are you hurting yourself in the long run to save the feelings of others? Why do that, Minato! Why! It's completely stupid!"

The daughter of Athena stormed out of the room, not letting him answer and left a stunned-silent Minato still sitting on the floor. Clutching his blanket around him tighter as he felt a sudden chill go through him that had nothing to do with falling into the water earlier, the blonde turned to the fire, gazing silently into the orange flames. He tilted his head down, throwing his face into shadow as his eyes pricked dangerously with tears. Silently, a few of the traitorous droplets streamed down his face as the emotions he had buried since coming here finally broke through. He eventually was lulled into sleep on the floor by the warmth and crackling of the fire, and was curled up in the now-damp blanket as exhaustion from the long day coupled with his training and warming up using his chakra hit him.

-::- -::- -::-

Minato watched with the rest of the campers from the sidelines as Zeus argued with Poseidon about something, his chin cupped in his hand. Gradually, the blonde's blue eyes drifted around the room. Ares looked positively bored as he fiddled with a knife, but the small smirk on his face showed his slight amusement over the situation. Artemis was glaring at her twin as he lounged back in his chair, ear-buds in his ears as he obliviously listened to music with his foot tapping along. Hermes simply looked at his caduceus while the two snakes writhed along the staff in annoyance, his face shifting through expressions as he mentally talked to them. Hephaestus was tinkering with something in his lap like the first time the jinchuuriki had seen him, a small, delicate bird slowly taking shape. Athena's gray eyes were locked on her father and uncle, raptly listening to the two gods' bickering. Aphrodite was doing her make-up using a small compact to make it possible—a quick glance at the campers confirmed Minato's assumptions that her daughter's were doing the same. Dionysus was making the vines of his chair twist into different patterns and unwind to weave back together again. Hera had a slightly exasperated look in her eyes as she looked at her husband. Hades sat on his randomly pulled up chair, a slightly drawn look gracing his countenance.

"I wonder who's going to blow a gasket first." Clarise whispered softly behind the blonde, and a small smirk curled his lips. Clarise was a daughter of Ares, and while Minato may not get along very well with her father, some of his children, the jinchuuriki did not mind all that much.

"No telling." One of the Stoll brothers responded, Travis he confirmed with a short look back accompanied with a quick chakra check. He had found that while chakra was not very abundant in this world, demigods had more than mortals did, but it was only able to be used through powers gained from a demigod's godly parent.

"I'm betting Zeus full on, but if Hades enters he may just loose it first." Connor Stoll countered his unofficial twin. Minato snorted softly, and he felt their eyes lock on the back of his head.

He turned around slightly in his seat, and murmured over his shoulder, "Hades-sama probably has the most level head of the Big Three. While when he does loose it, the results can be quite catastrophic, he has more self-control than his two brothers' do. Both the Sky and Sea do not like to be restrained, and their fury, when let loose, is devastating, but Death, on the other hand, has a controlled stealth to it, which makes it a far more formidable foe. Death is—for a lack of better words—a shadow that envelopes a living body in its' curtain of darkness. Whether it comes silently or not is up to the one who controls Death itself."

The three remained silent for a moment, staring at the blonde with wide eyes. Zeus and Poseidon continued in their dispute, thunder rumbling in the room threateningly. Travis finally spoke up once he found his voice again, "You are freaking scary sometimes, you know that right?"

"You don't have to say that again, Travis. I know." Minato chuckled softly, nodding. Looking back at the Twelve Olympians, the blonde noticed that Athena was now looking down at him with sharp gray eyes, and he shivered, a cold chill racing down his spine that had nothing to do with the winter weather outside. The wind whispered softly through the chamber suddenly, almost unnoticeably, and he stiffened when his sharp ears picked up faint words carried on it:

"Take them… When their guards are down take them… Their Symbols of power… Let the gods and Olympus be razed to the ground in a marvelous civil war…!"

The voice was old. Older than the weariness that Minato had sometimes heard in Chiron's voice as he spoke about past heroes. It sounded even older than the Olympians, and a great deal colder, darker, intimidating, compelling.

Deep in his mind the Kyuubi growled. A mental image of the fox crouching behind bars with his nine tails lashing behind him came to the forefront of the blonde's mind. The kitsune's red eyes were ablaze with more anger than what they normally held in their crimson gaze, his teeth bared more in rage and bloodlust.

He looked around the room, the hairs on the nape of his neck standing on end, back ramrod straight. Goosebumps prickled at his arms underneath his coat. There was no one other than the gods, goddesses, their demigod children, a few satyrs, Chiron, and him in the giant throne room. No one else seemed to have heard the voice whispering in their ear to steal something of the gods' either.

"Minato, are you okay?" Annabeth asked him in a hushed undertone. The eleven-year-old looked at his friend, cerulean eyes locking with stormy gray.

"Y-Yeah." He replied, attempting to sound convincing, but it sounded weak even to his own ears.

"You're sweating." She stated, her blonde eyebrows drawing together and she gently moved his headband away from his forehead, pressing the back of her hand against his head. The girl's eyes widened, and she jerked her hand away to rest in her lap. "You're burning up!"

"Annabeth, I'm fine." He lied and managed to sound convincing this time. His stomach was rolling, and he could feel small traces of the fox's chakra leaking through the seal, his body trying to fix the amount to a non-dangerous level. A small headache was forming behind his eyes, and he shoved his headband back down to its' proper place. "I just need some fresh air…"

"Minato—" She started to say, but he cut her off.

"I'm fine, Anna'." The Yondaime told her and got up to talk to Chiron. "If I wasn't you would know, trust me."

"Minato, what is it?" The centaur asked, his horse half tucked away in his magic wheelchair.

"I have a headache, he's not too happy right now and is taking it out on me right now. Would it be okay if I could go outside so I could meditate and talk to him?" He asked softly, leaning in so the curious campers would not be able to pick up what he was saying.

"Yes, but go out of the side entrance. I'm sure that the gods will understand, but be back before the end." Chiron replied, to which Minato gave a grateful nod.

The blonde ducked his head as he walked briskly to the door, finally letting his face twist in discomfort once he had turned his back on the campers and it was covered in shadow. He could feel more than one pair of curious eyes bore into his back as he headed out. As soon as he closed the door behind him he let out a sigh that he had not realized he was holding, tilting his face to the sky.

"Damn, fox." He grumbled, switching to his native language. Minato sat down on the cold marble near the door, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes. "Let me see what this is about, shall I."

He let his mind relax and slid into his mindscape. The white stone of the neatly carved tunnel around him was streaked with ribbons of yellow and red. Not bothering to turn around and see where the way behind him led, Minato strode toward where the red ribbons grew slightly thicker.

Suddenly, the tunnel ended to a brightly lit cavernous room that reached up into shadows without a defined ceiling. Giant, golden bars were placed in front of Minato, red streaks reaching underneath them despite the large tag with the kanji for seal painted on it. Two crimson, cat-like eyes glared at him from the darkness on the other side.

"So you come to greet me, Yondaime-gaki." A deep voice stated, and a giant, red-orange fox head came into view, revealing the owner of the burning eyes. Teeth as tall as said blonde were bared at him, but he did not flinch. Black lips pulled back as the fox sneered, "I should feel honored."

"Kyuubi," Minato nodded, trying to show the fox a little bit of respect. While he did not particularly like the bijou, he figured that he had to at least get along with him to some extent now that they were sharing the same body and that the fox could influence his chakra if he desired when the blonde was angered.

"What is it you want, baka." The kitsune growled back, not caring for formalities.

"Why did you react so violently to that voice?" The boy responded, cutting to the chase.

"That's it?" Kyuubi asked, only to give a humorless laugh at the nod he received. The chilling laughter echoed loudly off the stone. "I would have thought it would be easy for you to figure out. You're just as dense as you wife and child!"

"Don't bring Naruto or Kushina into this, fox!" Minato snapped; struggling to reign in his temper, cursing the impulsiveness that came with being a child again. "And what do you mean by it being easy to figure out?"

"That's rich, the Yondaime can't figure it out when the answer is staring him in the face." The fox shifted closer to the bars, more of his orange body coming into view, and mocked, "Are you a prodigy ninja who can figure things out with little to no information and be correct about seventy-five percent of the time or not?"

"I don't have time for this!" The pre-teen exclaimed.

"Then, by all means leave. Go back to watching your surroundings. You'll find you have a visitor." Kyuubi rumbled, his nose curling even more in disdain.

Minato pinched the bridge of his nose, and mumbled, "You're insufferable…" Louder he said, "Just answer my question, Kyuubi."

"He hates the gods more than even the monsters that the demigods kill in droves in a worthless cause. He hates them because one betrayed him. He wants the gods gone, forever, and his power rivals that of even me due to how he manipulates it." The fox pulled back into the shadows, the sound of him settling on the stone reaching Minato's ears. His red irises disappeared as he shut both eyes. "That should be enough information to puzzle it out. Leave."

"Huh? But that told me nothing! That's nowhere near enough information to draw an answer!" Minato shouted at the bijou, but its' shadowy figure did not move. "Damn it, Kyuubi!"

The blonde pulled himself back into the outside world with a growl as he snapped his eyes open. Glaring at the sky, he mulled over the information that he had been given.

He hates the gods more than monsters, an Olympian betrayed him, and is as powerful as the Kyuubi… Minato thought, his eyes growing wide at the implication. "Ah, shit. That's not good."

"What's not good?" A female voice asked in English and Minato jolted out of his thoughts, his bronze knife in his hand reflexively. "Whoa their, Minato!"

"Hestia-sama… Why do you insist on sneaking up on me when I come here on the winter solstice?" Minato asked—switching to English easily. The goddess of home and hearth sat down in front of him. She was in the form of a girl about his age, her eyes warm, and reminding him of Konoha with the gentle flames in them.

"You do it to me enough at the hearth fire at the camp," she laughed, her eyes glowing slightly in a way that did not resemble Ares' supernova eyes. They were welcoming, and permeated a sense of safety rather than anger.

"Yeah, right. You always know when I'm behind you, Hestia-sama." The blonde replied, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Yes, but you still try." The goddess smiled.

"Hestia-sama, I would like to ask you a question." He said cautiously.

"Go ahead."

"Well… How can you always tell when I'm behind you? I always suppress my chakra, so I know that's not the reason, and I tread so lightly that even I cannot hear myself—and my ears are incredibly sharp due to the fox. So how?" The eleven-year-old asked, his head tilting to the side slightly.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask me that question." Hestia gave him a smaller smile. "It's because this—" –she tapped her finger over his heart– "—longs for your hearth, Minato."

"Konohagakure…" he whispered to the goddess; a feeling of homesickness sweeping over him.

"That's the feeling that alerts me to your presence." She said gently, her smile warm.

"You know what I find ironic." He said after a moment of silence between them. "That I miss the Land of Fire, and you, Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, can sense my longing for a place of Fire."

She smiled at him, eyes warm. "Yes, that is ironic. You need to be heading back now; the meeting is drawing to a close. Zeus would not like it if you were not there for Hades to check the seal."

"I understand, Hestia-sama." Minato got to his feet easily, giving the goddess a quick bow out of respect. He turned, feeling the goddess' gaze locked on him as he opened up the side door to enter the throne room again.

-::- -::- -::-

Minato stared out of the bus window, azure eyes locked on the stormy sky that was threatening rain. Ever since the Winter Solstice the weather had been wacky, and Chiron always kept an eye on him—not that the blonde blamed the centaur, he did break the orders given to him, having gone to Percy's just long enough to greet the boy's mother before politely excusing himself. Yet he figured that was not the only reason that Chiron was keeping a close watch over him. Discretely, he looked at the disguised centaur that was absorbed in a book up front, briefly catching the eyes of Mrs. Dodds. Deep within his seal, the Yondaime felt the Kyuubi stir slightly in response.

Shaking his head, Minato looked away from the Pre-Algebra teacher and back at Grover and Percy only to scowl deeply. Bobofit was throwing pieces of a peanut butter sandwich at the disguised satyr, the globs sticking in his curly hair. Percy was sending a death-glare towards the orange-freckled girl even while Grover tried to calm the boy down. Focusing his senses, the blonde concentrated his hearing only on them when Percy started to talk.

"I'm going to kill her," Percy mumbled, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"It's okay. I like peanut butter." Grover tried to placate, and was forced to dodge another wad of sandwich.

"That's it!" The dark-haired boy growled, moving to get up, but Grover tugged him back into his seat with surprising strength for his thin frame.

"You're already on probation, you know who'll get blamed if anything happens." The satyr reminded, receiving a grudging agreement from Percy. He looked towards Minato helplessly and earned a sympathetic smile from the blonde.

When the bus full of children arrived at the museum there was a frantic struggle between the kids to get off the bus first, which Minato used as the perfect excuse to discretely trip Nancy with his foot. The girl fell out of the bus's door, landing flat on her face with a surprised cry, and the blonde quickly put on a façade of caring as he rushed down to her. In a rather convincing tone of worry, he asked, "Are you okay, Nancy?"

She shoved him away, her freckles mostly hiding the flush of a mix between embarrassment and anger on her face. Whipping her head around so she could glare at him, she snapped, "Of course I'm okay! Like it would matter to you, foreigner!"

He skillfully hid the minute anger he felt behind a fake expression of hurt, and purposely let her shove past him despite every instinct and fiber of his being telling him to put her on a one way ticket to the ground again. As soon as she was hidden behind the other students and he was sure no one was looking, a small smirk curled his lips. "You're welcome, Cheesy."

"Minato!" Percy hissed to him, a grin plastered on his face. The blonde raised an eyebrow questioningly, pointedly ignoring Grover's disapproving look. "That was awesome!"

"What? The fact that Bobofit tripped on her own feet, tumbled out of the bus, and landed on her face?" He asked innocently, nodding slightly so the other boy knew that he was responsible for the incident.

"Yes!"

"Ah, well, she is a klutz." Minato commented and Percy laughed before going on ahead slightly.

"And you need to be more careful." Grover grumbled softly, knowing that the boy slightly in front of him would hear.

"No one but you, Mr. Brunner, and me know. Plus, I tripped her so fast that no one could have possibly seen." The Yondaime breathed, walking into the museums' doors and holding the door for the satyr.

"Just be more careful, Minato." The curly-haired satyr warned in a sigh.

"When am I not?" He shot back cheekily, letting the childish impulses that he has had since he came to this world take over. Grover merely grumbled something incomprehensible that made the blonde chuckle despite not understanding the Greek words, patting his friend on the back.

The two of them along with Percy trailed at the back of the group while Chiron led them through the museum. Minato took in the galleries, statues, and glass cases full of ancient artifacts with a skilled eye, internally marveling at the fact that stuff from thousands of years ago was still in presentable shape—or somewhat in some cases. The group stopped before a large statue that was a grave marker for a girl of about twelve or so. Percy kept telling the chattering students to shut up in soft hisses as Chiron talked about the stele, while Mrs. Dodds gave him a glare each time that flickered briefly to the blonde every now and then.

"Will you shut up?" Percy snarled suddenly to Bobofit who was snickering about the naked man on the stele. Unfortunately, he said it too loud, causing the whole group to burst out in laughter and Chiron to stop in his story.

"Mr. Jackson," the disguised centaur said in his no-nonsense voice even though he was perfectly aware of the whole situation, "did you have a comment?"

"No, sir…" The dark-haired boy said, his face as red as a tomato.

Without warning, Chiron pointed to a picture on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?" Percy's shoulders sagged slightly in relief as he recognized it while Minato pondered over the information he knew of the Titan.

"Yes. And he did this because…?" Chiron asked, waiting for a greater explanation.

"Well… Kronos was the king god, and—"

"God?" Minato winced at the underlying sharp edge to the centaur's voice and resisted the urge to rub at his shoulder where the arrow had made him into a human target five years ago. Despite the horrible wound, he had no scar.

Percy immediately corrected himself. "Titan. And… he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zues, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zues grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters, and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, and the gods won."

The Yondaime zoned out and quit listening to the words that were being said, but kept alert for any possible threat nearby. His eyes darted to Mrs. Dodds. Since the beginning of the year, he always got weird vibes around the teacher. She was currently looking Percy over as if the boy was a piece of meat, and the blonde mentally snarled, eyes narrowing to slits of blue ice. He could hear Chiron telling a deeper version of the story that Percy had summarized, the words striking a chord that brought him back to the world around him. As he blinked into awareness to Chiron's voice, the blonde missed a rather sharp glare from Mrs. Dodds.

"—On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?" The disguised centaur said, making the class drift off after the Pre-Algebra teacher. "Mr. Jackson."

The three friends halted at the back of the group. Percy sighed, "Go on ahead. I'll catch up with you two outside."

"Okay, Percy." Minato grinned, knowing that Chiron just wanted to talk to the oblivious demigod about his answer to the question. He walked out silently with Grover by his side, and sat on the small wall of the water fountain. Tilting his head back, the blonde narrowed his eyes in confusion at the dark sky. "Looks like it will storm. Guess the big guy isn't happy."

"Blahahaha! I guess so…" Grover chuckled nervously, and the shinobi's eyes flicked to the satyr in suspicion.

"Grover…" He said warningly, but was prevented from continuing when a rather bored looking Percy walked over and plopped himself between them. The boy's sea-green eyes roved over their classmates throwing crackers at pigeons and Nancy trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse. Minato mentally snorted at the freckled girl's lack of skill at the task.

"Detention?" Grover asked, quickly changing the subject with their friend's entrance.

"Nah." Percy said, pulling out his sandwich and his Coca-Cola. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."

"As proven by the fact that I have to help you frequently with Algebra." Minato teased, letting the black-haired boy shove his shoulder. "What? It's true."

"Letters do not belong in math. Math is for numbers." Percy stated matter-of-factly.

Surprisingly, Grover stayed quiet, a contemplating look in his eyes. The pensive air about him shattered when he asked simply to Percy, "Can I have your apple?"

The blonde snorted at the abrupt change in topic once again before taking a sip of his water from his personal bottle. Percy rolled his eyes, passing the apple to the satyr, then glanced at Minato to become even more exasperated. Blue eyes met with green.

"Why do you never drink anything that someone offers you? You always drink from that bottle. Are you scared that someone will poison your drink, Minato?" He joked, a smile on his face.

"Yes." Said the eleven-year-old seriously, only earning a stunned blink before Percy zoned out.

They sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, but it did not last long. Nancy appeared in front of them, what she probably assumed was a threatening sneer on her freckled face. Percy looked up at her in annoyance when she dumped her half eaten lunch on Grover's lap.

"Oops." She said falsely, smiling to reveal crooked teeth.

Minato glared at her sharply, feeling the fox shift in the seal again at the sudden change in his emotions. He turned his head slightly to Percy, saw his eyes flash an angry, stormy color, and moved away from the wall of water that surged from the fountain. The water pulled at Nancy, gushing back into the fountain before splashing back down with the girl still trapped in the liquid. The blonde's eyes widened when his sensitive nose was hit with the overwhelming scent of seawater over the stench of the street wafting on the breeze.

"Percy pushed me!" The freckle-faced girl squawked loudly, and Mrs. Dodds literally flickered to Percy's side.

The blonde flinched; his hand twitching towards his sheathed knife hidden tucked in the waistband of his pants. He ignored the kids muttering, opting to stare at the teacher, his cerulean eyes flickering to Chiron. The disguised centaur was absorbed in his book seemingly, but his brown eyes briefly glanced up at the scene with a small, nearly unnoticeable crease forming on his forehead.

"Now honey—" Mrs. Dodds cooed to Percy, a triumphant light in her dark eyes.

"I know. A month of erasing workbooks." Percy mumbled in dismay.

"Come with me."

At the back of Minato's mind, the fox growled, making the fine hairs on the back of the blonde's neck stand on end. Grover hopped up and opened his mouth to say something, but he grabbed the satyr's arm. The words visibly halted in the curly-haired guy's throat, and he gave the Yondaime a terrified look even as he received a head shake. They watched Percy dejectedly follow the woman up the stairs and into the museum before Grover rounded on Minato.

"What in Hades was that for?!"

"She wasn't going to listen to you anyway, so I saved you the trouble. Now, if you'll excuse me, Grover, I have to go to the restroom." Minato lied easily, and walked to the museum. He passed Chiron close enough to whisper to him, "I'll go make sure nothing bad happens. The fox has been riled up recently."

"Okay, but take this. If anything bad happens… let him handle it." Chiron murmured, discretely passing over a nondescript, plastic pen. The blonde took it without another word.

Silently, he crept through the museum; breathing deeply and following the scent trail left behind by the duo. Minato felt a cold pulse of shock as something about Mrs. Dodds' scent shifted from being human, to something animalistic. She also reeked of underground and blood—blood that had an odd, magical tang to its' smell. Demigod blood.

"Shit!"Minato hissed underneath his breath in his native language, quickly bursting into a sprint. He charged into the Greek and Roman gallery of the museum. A stunned Percy was staring in fear at a bat-like monster with Mrs. Dodds' head. Her mouth was full of yellow fangs rather than human teeth. Her eyes were a demonic red and her fingers extended out into deadly claws. "Fury!"

Switching back to English, the blonde yelled, "Percy! Catch!"

The blonde tossed the pen to the stunned demigod, flicking the cap off the end. The plastic writing utensil changed into a sword mid-air. The Fury lunged at Percy before he caught it, harmlessly swooping past the boy when he ducked at the last second. The black-haired demigod stared at the sword with stunned, sea colored eyes flashing with recognition at the sight of the glowing blade.

Minato prepared himself to place a genjutsu over his friend, a small stab of guilt penetrating him. Percy was visibly nervous; his arms and legs shaking. The sword-point was trembling. He ignored it when the Fury whirled around and shot towards Percy again with a shout.

"Die, Honey!"

Almost instinctively, the boy swung the sword. It connected with the Fury's shoulder and it dissolved into a pile of sand with a hiss. The boy's face was startled.

Minato instantly put the genjutsu into place.

The blonde watched him look around in confusion, quickly putting the cap on the tip of the sword so it shrank back down into a pen again. He rushed out of the room, dropping the illusion, and exited the museum at a sedated pace. Casually, he walked over to Grover, hands in the pockets of the white coat he always wore that resembled the one he had when he was a genin, ignoring the rain wetting his hair slowly. The satyr grumbled something under his breath, opening a map and tenting it over his head as protection. Nancy was still dripping from her trip into the fountain.

"What's the name of the new teacher?" Minato whispered, pulling up his hood. His sharp blue eyes took in the new lady smiling from underneath an umbrella, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Mrs. Kerr."

"Mmm…"

"I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt!" Nancy barked, bringing the spiky-haired boy's attention to a puzzled looking Percy.

He blinked in confusion. "Who?"

"Our teacher. Duh!" The freckled girl rolled her eyes like the dark-haired boy was stupid, and walked away.

"Grover, who's Mrs. Kerr?" Percy asked, standing in front of them. His sea green eyes were puzzled.

"Who?" Grover said in a small way after a short pause, he would not look Percy in the eyes.

"Not funny man, this is serious." Percy frowned.

A shiver ran down Minato's spine when a concussion of sound announced a clap of thunder. Without really thinking, the boy tilted his head back, rain splattering his face and dripping underneath his coat. The gray clouds were darkening the sky, and the rain swirled in small flurries.

"Minato, is this your pen?"

The blonde looked at the offered pen in the black-haired boy's hand and smiled, taking it. He slipped it into his coat pocket, noting Chiron's quick glance his way. "Yeah, I thought I lost it. Thanks for finding it, Percy."

"Uh… You're welcome…" His eyebrows drew together in thought. "So, do you know where Mrs. Dodds is, Minato?"

"Nope, I don't even know who she is, honest." Minato squinted up at his friend's face in concern, hating that he had to lie about something so simple. The jinchuuriki convinced himself that it was to protect his friend. "Are you sure you aren't just imagining things again, Percy?"

Percy looked at him with affronted green eyes, and shook his head. He ran his hand through his dark hair, making it stick up in every which way temporarily. "Just forget it." The unknowing demigod wandered over to Chiron.

"Grover, you need to work on your lying." Minato mumbled, leaning over as if to tie his shoe.

"Not everyone is a ninja, Minato." The curly-haired satyr muttered right back.

The blonde chuckled lightly, pricking his ears to catch the last bit of Percy and Chiron's conversation.

"—there's no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

-::- -::- -::-

"He's going to find out." Minato said, leaning easily against the doorframe to Chiron's office. He was in a pair of blue sweatpants and a black t-shirt, his bare feet on the tile floor. His arms were crossed over his chest.

"I know that, but for now, it's safer if he doesn't know." The disguised centaur looked up, his brown eyes heavy with age. He was still in his magical wheelchair.

"And when he does find out, his trust in the three of us will be gone for an unknown length of time." The Yondaime Hokage stood up straight, showing his current height of four and a half feet to the fullest extent that he could. His shoulders were set in a commanding manner despite his short stature. Blue eyes blazed in his face. "How long do you think that we can keep this half of himself from him when—even without knowing his lineage—he gives of such a powerful scent? Even though he hasn't been in this hallway recently, I can still smell his demigod scent when I unblock my senses. Monsters are going to find him. Easily."

"Minato, I know this." The centaur sighed. "I know that Monsters are going to be able to smell him from miles away, which is why I personally came here to protect him. Grover is here as the satyr assigned to protect him. And you, Minato, are here—"

"I'm here as an extra protection for when you can't get there in time." The blonde ignored the laughter from the fox at the back of his mind.

You're just a baby-sitter.

Shut up. If I'm a baby-sitter for Percy, then I'm a tailed-beast-sitter for you, Kyuubi.

Gaki!

And you are an over sensitive fur-ball. Minato ended smartly, mentally rolling his eyes at the giant kitsune.

"Correct."

"Chiron, he's going to find out soon, and will pay a price for it." Minato said solemnly, a dark shadow crossing through his azure eyes. He sighed, glancing at the clock. "It's late, I'm going to go to bed. See you tomorrow during class. But first…" Easily, he tossed the throw-away pen to Chiron who caught it easily. "I believe this is yours."

Minato puffed away, revealing it to be a clone.

"And you've paid that price before, haven't you, Minato?" The centaur said to the empty room.

-::- -::- -::-

Up in bed, the real Minato sighed, rolling over to face the window. His roommate was snoring softly in the other bed, filling the room with the sound. The blonde's eyes traveled over the stars, searching out constellations that he could remember, a small part of him missing the sky of his old world.

"Sometimes, it sucks to be alone…" He breathed in his native tongue, staring at the crescent moon hanging in the sky.

You're not alone, Yondaime-baka. There is me. Kyuubi growled deeply at the back of Minato's mind.

As if you are the best of company, but at least you're a constant… He responded grudgingly before blocking his thoughts from the fox. I wonder what you're doing in the otherworld, Kushina. I hope you're happy and watching over Naruto… That way at least one of us is… Next time I see my sensei, I'm going to kick his ass. I understand why he's not watching over Naruto—I know he has his spy network to monitor, but he could at least check up on the boy once and a while.

-::- -::- -::-

In the world of the Elemental Nations, Jiraiya sneezed as a chill ran down his spine. He stopped writing and glanced up at his surroundings to find nothing wrong with the forest around him. The Sannin hummed in contemplating way.

"Someone's talking about me, and not in a good way."

Author's Notes:

(#1) Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō: Yellow Flash of the Leaf

(#2) Yondaime Hokage: Fourth Fire Shadow

F.Y.I. Minato never really got a chance to mourn over Kushina's death with all of the problems he faced with being thrown into a brand new world and being a child again.