The Shinobi Visitor

Chapter 14 - The Legendary Sea Horse...!

-Kenpachi vs Hidan-

"HAH!"

Hidan blocked another strike that pushed him back and crashed through a building and embedded into another. His cloak is all tattered with the right half missing along with the left shoe and pant leg. Blood is running down the right side of his forehead, but that same maniacal grin was still present on the Shinobi's face. Despite getting his ass kicked, he still enjoys the fight with the juggernaut of a Shinigami.

Speaking of which, here he comes!

"Yah!" Kenpachi shouted as he swung his sword vertical, filled with his Spirit Energy.

Hidan quickly escaped the wall and rolled out of the way before slashing at Kenpachi's exposed left side, drawing blood as a result. Kenpachi retaliated with a quick horizontal strike aimed at Hidan's midsection, drawing blood as well before the latter jumped back ignoring the profuse bleeding from his stomach.

Both men still have their similar maniacal grins as they charged each other and unleashed barrages of blade strikes. This is a battle of the maniacs with no regard to other disciplines. Neither will admit defeat nor shall lose until either one is dead or less than that.

Minutes passed and the two combatants still kept slashing at each other with no sign of fatigue. That is until Kenpachi broke through Hidan's rhythm and guard.

A large shower of blood spread on the ground and building walls as Hidan staggered backwards while clutching the deep gash on his body. It started from the bottom of his right hip across the torso until it ends at the left shoulder. His arms, legs and face were covered with slash marks and blood dripping from those wounds. His coat is torn to shreds, leaving his upper torso exposed and revealing more slash marks.

Kenpachi was the same with slash marks on his shoulders, left torso and right leg and his Captain's cloak was soaked with blood. But he paid no attention to it as he started cackling madly. "This is great! I love fighting, especially against someone like you kid. It's a shame that you have to die, but I plan to continue this fight as long as I have to."

"As long as you have to? You mean you weren't taking me seriously?" muttered Hidan before he snapped his head, glaring madly at Kenpachi. "How dare you mock me and Jashin?! You mean to say you've been holding back!" His dark purple Chakra flared around his body, shattering the ground and creating winds from the power output. "Let's put it all into this strike! When I win, I'm taking your head!"

Kenpachi marveled at the power of his opponent's Spiritual Pressure and complied by taking off his eye-patch. The moment he did that, a massive surge of golden green Spirit Energy erupted from the Shinigami before forming into a skull above him. As if it responded to the challenge, Hidan's Chakra started to surge even more before it formed into a man's head with black skin and white tattoos around its face, similar to Hidan's forbidden technique.

A lone leaf slowly floated down in the middle and when it touched the ground, both warriors charged and swung their weapons when in close range of each other, enveloped in a bright light.

-Byakuya vs Kakuzu-

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

Byakuya Shunpoed from the tornado-like attack's range with the building he was standing on being the unfortunate target. When he appeared on another building, a bright light followed by a huge explosion from afar caught his attention and the other captains as well. That explosion is where Kenpachi and Hidan are fighting. "You shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent."

Swiftly Byakuya spun around and swung his sword at Kakuzu, but was blocked again by the latter's black arms. "Your Ninjutsu is impressive just like Uzumaki said." He pushed back the Shinobi before firing another Byakurai that was dodged as well.

"So the Nine-Tails brat told you about me and my abilities… am I to assume he told you people about my idiot partner's abilities as well." No reply came forward. "Doesn't matter since you all will bow before the Shinju," declared Kakuzu as he formed several hand-signs. "Taste defeat by my Earth Grudge, Shinigami." Byakura remained stoic even when the Spiritual Pressure and appearance of his opponent changed dramatically. There were hundreds of thick, grey tendrils and black threads formed like tentacles with one of them coming out of Kakuzu's mouth. "Farewell."

The five tentacles shot towards the Shinigami Captain with no hesitation and connected, causing a shockwave. Victory is in hand.

"Scatter… Senbonzakura."

Kakuzu's eyes widen in surprise when the tentacles were shredded into small fragments by millions of sakura blades and the Shinigami unharmed. "What is the matter Kakuzu? You look like you've never seen the Shikai of a Zanapakuto." The residing audience could've sworn a small teasing smile crept on the Captain's face for a moment and realized something else. Ignoring the indignant shout of "Did he just make a joke," Byakuya lifted his Zanpakuto after its blade reformed again. "It's odd," Kakuzu snapped out of his stupor, "In all my years as a Shinigami, I don't think I've met an opponent like you Kakuzu. Unfortunately, your end is now."

Whatever words Kakuzu was about to say vanished as he felt an indescribable pain after Byakuya was suddenly behind him. Not his physical body, but internal like his soul was ripped from him. His eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground lifeless after his Chakra was extinguished.

Byakuya sighed as he sheathed his blade while he gazed at the lifeless corpse. The Senka technique allows one to use Shunpo to move to their opponent's back while directly attacking and sealing a person's Saketsu and Hakusui. Doing so effectively cuts the opponent's energy flow.

"What is it now?" asked Byakuya without looking back as Soi-Fon and the others appeared behind him via Shunpo.

-(Meanwhile)-Urahara's Shop-Karakura Town-

"Naruto was what?!"

Ichigo moved his jaw to pop his ears to make sure they're working as Rukia explained further. "It's just what Ichigo said: Naruto's been kidnapped," said Rukia as she sat on her knees like Ichigo and Renji. Urahara and Yoruichi were present in the room as were Uryuu, Chad and Orihime. As for Ururu, Jinta and Tessai, they were making something for everyone to drink to cool things down even if it's for a moment.

"By who?" asked a concerned Orihime covering her hands over her well-endowed figure.

Renji shook his head. "That's the worse part. We don't know who took him or where he is." If the Bounts are behind this, then they're in serious trouble. Naruto's full might is unknown to Ichigo and the others, but he shouldn't have trouble taking out whoever kidnapped him.

"Hmph," Urahara pondered this with his hand on his chin. "Do we have any clue as to who's behind it?"

It was Ichigo's turn to speak.

"All we know is that Naruto turned into water and disintegrated into mist before Rukia got the message about Soul Society being invaded. What are we going to do, Urahara?"

"… First we're going to find out the identities of the intruders then we'll go find Naruto." Urahara spoke again when Ichigo was about to interject, "Naruto is powerful enough to fight Yamamoto without dying. You should have more faith in his abilities."

"Right you are."

Ichigo and everyone turned their heads so fast, they might as well break their necks and saw a tall man with an open Hawaiian shirt that showed the blue tattoos on his chest and arms, Bermuda shorts and a golden three-prong spear in his right hand. The teens are wondering how the man managed to sneak up on them and why didn't he attack them when their guard was down?

"Poseidon! How are you old friend?" asked Urahara casually with his face covered by his fan.

"Wait… did he-" said a shocked Renji.

"Just say-" interjected an equally shocked Rukia.

"POSEIDON?!"

The said Olympian faced and chuckled at the shocked teenagers. "That's the same expression your friend had although he was a bit dramatic in his part."

Urahara spoke when he saw Ichigo about to move towards Poseidon, "Ichigo don't do anything. Poseidon is an old friend of mine and I'm pretty sure how this relates to Naruto." When did he become friends with an Olympian? He then looked at his old friend who was creeping against the shy Orihime and perversely commented on her body. "Still the pervert I see."

"Is that so?" said Poseidon incredulously, "How about that one time when you managed to get a naked picture of Yor-" Urahara jumped on his back and clamped his hands on his mouth, silencing the words.

"What did he mean by that?" Urahara tensed as he felt Yoruichi's glare piercing through his back, "Don't tell me that was you two peeping at me in the showers that time?" Jaunty whistles reached her ears, "That was you two!"

Pronounced sweat-drops slid down on everybody's head as they watched Yoruichi bringing the wrath of a scorned woman on the two males. "He's an Olympian God yet he's getting his ass kicked by a woman."

"Still feisty as always Yoruichi," murmured Poseidon as he got up using his Trident to balance him-self with numerous bumps on his head. "Now to what I came here to do. I-"

"-chose Naruto to be your Champion in the Wager of Gods between and yourself and your brothers. Is that right?"

"Smart as always, Kisuke. That's what I like about you," Poseidon felt the shocked gazes piercing through him and faced younger audience, particularly Ichigo, Rukia and Renji. "So the Shinigami are still around… that's good 'cause Naruto's going to need your help soon." He pointed his left finger at a confused Ichigo.

Renji raised a brow, "What do you mean by that?" Instead of an answer, Poseidon then teleported from his spot with mist covering his tracks and location. "Great. Now what?"

Suddenly three projection screens came out of nowhere in the middle of the room, surprising everyone. Two of them showed unknown figures and abilities but there was one familiar whiskered blonde that they all know. "There's Naruto!" Rukia pointed at the screen on the far right, directing everyone's attention. "And what is he doing?" They watched Naruto sheathing his sword before meeting the charge of the creature he's facing and they heard three words…

"Wind Style: Rasengan!"

Just before the moment they clashed, a bluish-white Rasengan came to life and a bright light covered them both.

-Naruto vs Nemean Lion-

A big dust cloud blocked out the clear sky and a small shockwave shook the ground itself as a result from contact with the wind variant of the Rasengan, especially on direct contact with it.

On cue, a gust of wind blew away the dust, revealing Naruto in the spot he met the lion's charge with his arms stretched out and palms facing out from utilizing the Wind Style: Rasengan. He pulled in his arms and looked at his hands before he whistled appreciatively. "I've got to start using that technique often," Naruto muttered to him-self as he took a deep breath, hoping it's over.

Roar!

No, it's not over yet.

"Of course, it wouldn't have an effect on him." When the cloud dissipated and revealed the creature, Naruto was surprised to see the lion's forehead was actually scorching on the spot where he slammed his technique. Not only that, the lion was also ten yards away from him unlike the last time with trench marks in the ground. "I take that back."

"So your Wind Chakra has an effect against that overgrown cat's face." Kurama paused before continuing, "If your Ninjutsu has an effect on its face…"

"Perhaps its internal body is vulnerable as well." Naruto caught on as he dodged a claw swipe from the charging lion, infuriating it further. "Good thinking, partner."

Kurama snorted proudly with a grin. "Of course! I am the strongest and most powerful of the nine Tailed Beasts." Since their father-figure's death, the fox had a philosophy of the strongest between the Tailed Beasts by the number of tails they have. However that changed after he and Naruto became friends and partners. But there are times when that philosophy comes back depending on the situation.

Naruto rolled his eyes at his partner's pride. "Okay! Dial it back a bit, 'Strongest'. We don't want to inflate your ego too big or your head will explode." He said after doing a series of backward handstands to dodge another poorly attempted pounce from the lion.

"Bite me!"

"They're not in season yet," Naruto teased the fox further.

Kurama gasped in horror and shock before anger took over, "How dare you!? I can't believe you actually said that to me."

"I better cut the link before he leaves me unable to hear… again," Naruto muttered before he closed the link, silencing any of the fox's rambling. "That's better." He then heard another roar and formed the familiar cross-seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several clones popped next to him, much to the lion's surprise. "Get him, boys!"

"HAI!" shouted at the clones.

The Nemean Lion was perplexed as the identical clones armed themselves with knives in their hands. Some of them jumped while others charged towards it. It snarled with a deep growl in its throat before it roared at the approaching clones and met the opposing force with its might. The lion swiped its right claw at an incoming clone and let out a surprised grunt when the said clone turned into a puff of smoke.

With his arms folded behind his back, Naruto watched the lion tear apart his clones with impressive speed despite its huge size and sheer strength, given that it just sent a clone into the woods, knocking a few trees down as a result. He then saw the lion snatched the last clone with his fangs digging into its torso before it chomped into the body further.

"Bye-Bye," said Naruto casually waving at the lion.

Instead of the puff of smoke the clones emit, blue lightning touched its senses especially its internal body and shocked the lion violently. It may have impenetrable fur that can withstand anything life throws at it, but its internal body is just as vulnerable like any other living creature. A few moments later, the creature fell to the ground, eyes bleeding out and its last breath of air exhaled from its body.

"Lightning Style: Shadow Clone Jutsu… Never leave home without learning it," He was about to leave when something caught his eye, "What the…" Naruto muttered as a surprising event is happening before him; the lion turned into gold dust instead of decomposing like other living beings, but that's not even the surprising part. What surprised him was the pelt of fur left behind just laying there on the ground. He picked it and inspected the golden fur, "Now what do I do with this?"

"Keep it kid. From the legends, Heracles took the pelt and wore it as a cape to show his success and its magic still works." So he decided to stop rambling and got over his hurt pride.

"You mean it's still impenetrable?" Naruto asked with brows raised. Kurama growled his answer. "Okay… I wonder if I can get this turned into a jacket."

When he said that, the pelt growled brightly for a moment. The glow stopped a moment later and revealed a black leather jacket with golden lines originating from the sleeves to the shoulders, connected to a light circle with the golden lines stretching to the back of the jacket to reveal a golden Uzumaki swirl crest in the middle of it.

"Wow," said Naruto with Kurama agreeing as well.

"Put it on, Naruto. With this and the Golden Fleece together, you're virtually indestructible!" Kurama chuckled to him-self before laughing maniacally at thought of his Jinchuriki winning the Wager with no problems. "Now no one can stop us now!"

"Take it easy. Now to find out exactly where I am." Naruto put on the new leather jacket with minor difficulty due the Fleece clinging to his arm. "Nice fit. Comfy and soft too." He said after he sealed his old one away in a scroll before Shunshining to the large sign that would tell him of his location.

He read the words embedded in the sign and it displayed "Welcome to the state of Colorado!"

"So I'm in Colorado and Los Angeles is in California if I recall correctly… which is in the west." Naruto put his right finger in his mouth before putting it high in the air. He felt the wind breezing from his right side. He then turned his body to the opposing direction of the wind breeze, "West is that way." Naruto said as he loosened his shoulders, arms and legs before he blended in with the environment around him.

All that can tell his presence were the deep, multiple footprints imprinted into the grass and an indistinguishable blur leading to the west.

-Underworld-

Underneath the surprising purple sky stands a castle-like mansion with the feeling of grace and nobility. In the main living room at the center of the building are several couches and tables. In the center of the room are three floating projecting screen and in front of it stood a man and a woman, the latter standing behind him.

"My, my. This is quite surprising," said a man with interest in his tone. He was a tall and young looking man in his early 20's with shoulder-length crimson red hair and blue-green eyes. He wears a caped shoulder armor that makes look hardcore. "Grayfia, sweetie, what do you think of this man here?" He asked without looking at said woman as he pointed at one screen.

The woman is beautiful in her early twenties with silver hair and matching eyes. Her hairs flows all the way down to her back and features a long braid on each side with small blue ribbons at the end, while the rest is down, ending in two braids. Her attire is a blue and white French maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband over her head and red lipstick. Plus she looked very professional. This is Grayfia Lucifuge; Queen and wife to Sirzechs. Her title is 'The Strongest Queen' for her immense strength on par with the Four Satans.

The screen showed the man in the brown coat and suit blasted a gust of wind at a group of the creatures called Medusas: vicious creatures that were once women but have snakes for hair, scaly snake bodies and venomous fangs to go along with yellow eyes.

"Sirzechs… the man in the brown coat is known as Jin Kariya, a member and leader of the soul vampires," Grayfia said with utmost professionalism. "We've known about them for a long time as you know. However…" She then looked at the other two screens that showed the black hooded figure and the blonde whiskered teenager battling giant scorpion-like creatures and the Nemean Lion respectively with their own strange abilities. "For those two, they are a complete mystery. To have gone for so long without detection of any kind is… impressive."

"Yes, but I'm more interested in the young boy. He obviously had training in combat and his abilities are somewhat different yet unique. Hmmm…"

Grayfia looked at her husband who looked to be spacing out. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that things are about to get interesting around here from now on."

-Throne of Heaven-

A bright world with everlasting sun and peaceful tranquility uphold the opposite of the Realm of the Underworld: the Heavens, home of the God of the Bible and His creations: the Angels.

"Wow! The Olympians have strong champions, don't they Michael?" asked a woman childlike. She was incredibly beautiful with curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and a voluptuous figure. She was wearing a white armor similar to her brother with her halo floating above her head. This is Gabriel; the second-in-command Angel and Seraph of the Throne of Heaven. Her unparalleled beauty is what earned her the title 'The Most Beautiful Woman in Heaven.'

"Yes, they do Gabriel," replied the Angel as he stares at the three projection screens floating in front of them.

Michael was a young-looking man with long blonde hair, green eyes and twelve golden wings unlike his sister's ten white wings. He was wearing the golden armor version of his sister with a golden halo hovering over his head. He is the Archangel and current leader of the Heavens forces and maintaining order across the Earth. "I've heard of Humans having potential for magic, but those two…" He pointed at the screen that showed repeats of Naruto fighting the lion and the black-hooded figure disposing the scorpions. "They certainly can change things around here."

If one of them proves to be pure-hearted with no wickedness and hatred, then he can reincarnate him to be one of them: an Angel or even a Seraph along with him and his other siblings if he proves to be extremely powerful yet show humbleness.

Gabriel looked at her older brother, "What do you mean?" Michael sighed as he watches the fights before them.

"I mean they will be targets."

-Unknown Location-

"*chuckle* I don't know how Hades managed to find me, but I'm glad he did 'cause he just showed me three potential candidates for the three artificial Sacred Gear I just invented," said a man in green robe with his arms folded behind his back as he stands while watching the three screens. He looked to be in his twenties with black and golden bangs, a small black goatee and twelve jet-black wings on his back. This is Azazel; Governor of the Grigori and leader of the Fallen Angels.

This is just what he needed for his research. However he assumes that his rival, Michael, must be watching the Wager as well and as such he has to move quickly and snatch one of the three Champions without the Gods knowing about it at all. Over the centuries, he heard rumors that the Olympians were protective and serious about their game during their reign and the Champions who represents them and will retaliate no matter what during the old days.

"That tall guy with the scar on his chin is powerful, but how powerful exactly? The blonde whiskered kid looks powerful too." First there's that boy that attends at Kuoh Academy with a very powerful Sacred Gear and now these two show up out of nowhere with interesting powers unlike anything he's ever seen.

Guess he'll have to find out soon if he continues to watch the Wager.

"He doesn't look so tough, Azazel."

Azazel chuckled when the person who spoke walked next to him and looked at him. The person was a young man with dark silver hair and light blue eyes and wears dark attire: a black coat with matching shirt and pants.

"Don't be hasty to criticize one's appearance, Vali. You should never underestimate your opponents if even you've never met them," said Azazel sitting on a chair that was behind him. "Come on! Take a seat and relax and try to enjoy the show." Vali snorted but complied as he took a seat next to the Fallen Angel.

-(Few Hours Later)-Los Angeles-

The Griffith Observatory is one of L.A.'s tourist attractions with state-of-the-art space technology and informative experts to teach the visiting citizens from other states and countries. Unfortunately the road to get to the building is full of cars, attempting to get to the observatory's special event: the showing of Halley's Comet.

In a Chevy SUV, a mother of three is waiting her seat, frustration present on her face. One of her children, a boy, was looking out the right rear window when he saw an invisible figure sprint past them. "Mommy! Mommy!" cried out the scared boy.

"What is it?"

"I just saw the Predator!"

The mother sighed in response and regretted letting her son watch those 'Predators' movies. Although she did notice a small trail of dirt on a nearby closed dirt-path and wondered if her son was right.

"Whoo! Finally made it!" cried Naruto as he jumped and landed on the 'H' of the recognized sign 'Hollywood.' "Good thing I learned English through the Telepathy Link and the Sage's training." Along the way during training, the Sage chose to instruct Naruto to speak and write the multiple languages the latter may encounter during his mission and it turns out to be the right choice. Thank goodness for the man's vast and adaptive intelligence.

"Yes, but where do we go from here?" asked Kurama as Naruto deactivated the Transparency Jutsu, his body becoming visible to the world once again. The boy learned the technique, courtesy of remembering Jiraiya who used the said technique to spy on women for his 'research' as he called it. "The Sea God didn't exactly tell us where to go next."

"Good point," replied Naruto before an idea came up. If Poseidon can talk to him and Kurama, then there must be a link somewhere. The problem is trying to find the link. Kurama groaned at the idea, "We got to try at least." He sat down cross-legged and prepared to meditate to find the link.

Before he could attempt to meditate, a huge weight tackled against his back and downhill he rolled.

Kurama winced and cringed at each time when Naruto rolled against and brought down rows of trees; big and small. Thanks to his durability. When he finally stopped rolling in a clearing with no one nearby, he spoke to the boy. "Naruto, you good?"

"No, Kurama. I just enjoyed the whatever-tackled-me-down-the-hill-and-smashing-through-trees-game," remarked Naruto sarcastically as he tried to pick him-self up. He was about to hear Kurama's reply when he heard shuffling behind him and dived forward before getting into a roll, causing whatever tackled him to miss this time.

"I thought you were better than this, Poseidon's Champion…" a voice snarled with disgust and rage in his tone. Naruto looked up at the sky to find the man in the brown coat and scar on his chin standing in the air like it was the ground itself.

"You're the Champion of Zeus… I'm going to kick your ass for making me roll down the hill!" Naruto shouted animatedly with his right fist shaking from the frustration, "I didn't even sense him coming at all. He must be skilled at concealing his Spirit Energy. He's mostly likely a Captain-level fighter." He jumped and gathered the reishi under his feet from the air and stood at the same altitude as his opponent. Reishi isn't as abundant in the World of the Living as it is in Soul Society.

"How can the pathetic seaweed of a Olympian choose you to be his Champion?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man. "You better watch your mouth, bud. Besides how is that you're able to stand in the air like that? You're not a Shinigami from I can tell." A flash of anger crossed the man's face, giving Naruto a different theory. "You hate the Shinigami for whatever they did to you… You're a Bount, aren't you?" That sounded like a statement than a question. "You any relation to that lady in the train tracks two weeks ago?"

The man smirked smugly after a moment of silence. "So you are an ally of the Shinigami. Do you by chance know someone named Ichigo Kurosaki?" No reply came from the motionless blonde. "No matter since I already know of him and you… Uzumaki."

"How do you know my last name? Kabuto only mentioned my first name back in the Hall."

"And that lady you mentioned… her name is Yoshino and she runs away from us at times, but she always comes back to us one way or another." Naruto narrowed his eyes as he suppressed his anger at the man ignoring his question about his name and the way he talked about the woman like she was some dog that would return to its owner. "Why would they have you, a Human, an ally?"

"Like I'm going to tell you…"

"Kariya… Jin Kariya; leader of the Bounts."

"I didn't ask for your title or your name, jackass." Naruto deadpanned as the sun slowly dips under the horizon, letting the nighttime take over. "So I'm going to take a wild guess that Zeus told you about the prize located here?" A stern nod was his answer, "Then that means-" Naruto was cut off when he blocked a punch with his right hand. A small shockwave erupted from the impact between the fists in the air. "Eager aren't we?" He asked before swiftly delivering a left high kick to the chin.

Before the attack could connect, Kariya stopped it with a knee strike, stopping its full movement. On cue, both fighters let go of each other and jumped back while processing each other's physical capabilities. "Impressive reflexes. I lived for thousands of years and never have I encountered someone able to intercept my attacks and be unfazed by them. Even with Zeus's Gauntlet strengthening my attributes," commented Kariya as he took a quick glance at the Gauntlet on his left arm.

"I'm truly flattered," remarked Naruto unimpressed as he glanced at the Golden Fleece before shifting his gaze back to Kariya. Could've he block that amplified punch without the Golden Fleece? That's a question for another time since the man took out what seems to be a card case from his coat. "What are you planning to do with that?" A brief glow encased Kariya's right arm and when it dimmed down to reveal a sort of weapon merged with his right arm and emblazoned with a weird symbol and a solidified wind blade coming out of it. "Oh I see… So your weapon can manipulate wind. Unfortunately, that will have to wait."

Kariya raised a brow when he heard this but still kept his guard up. "How observant of you knowing my Doll's power, but what do you mean by waiting?" Suddenly the grinning blonde got into his personal space and said three words.

"Shadow Clone Explosion."

A loud explosion in the air is a fine way to attract the attention of scared tourists.

-(Moments Earlier)-Somewhere in Los Angeles-

An amazed Naruto wondered through the crowds of people on the busy streets. His sword is sealed away to avoid panic of a teenager being on a delusional rampage. For defensive and security measures, he created several clones and set them up around the city as checkpoints to see if Kabuto and Zeus's Champion is in the city.

A moment later a loud explosion was heard, scaring the people around him as well as alerting the authorities in the process.

Naruto smirked when he received his clone's memories. "Shadow Clone Jutsu… I love that technique and its variant jutsus. So that guy's name is Kariya and the leader of Bounts." He then noticed the passing people looking at him, specifically his arm. "I guess Poseidon was right about the Fleece being disguised as something else by everybody." A few comments of 'what happened to his arm', 'nice cast' and 'cool jacket' were thrown here and there, but that didn't matter to him. He eventually stopped in front of a building and sighed since he has no idea what to do next. "Any ideas, Kurama?" asked Naruto with his hands in his jacket's pockets.

"…"

"Kurama?"

"Look at the building next to you."

Naruto raised a confused brow as he complied. "What's there?"

"I don't know, but I feel like something's calling to me. Don't you feel it?"

Now that he thinks about it, there was something drawing him to building. He had no clue how to navigate the busy streets of one of the major cities in the United States and yet he's here with no problem.

"Okay, you're onto something Kurama. Let's check it out," muttered Naruto as he walked up the stairs to the building. When he reached the entrance, a hand stopped him from moving further and found that hand belonging to a man in a black suit. Switching to English, he spoke to the man. "Why did you stop me, mister?"

"Kid, the museum is closing. Look at the sign." Naruto followed the man's finger pointed behind him and saw a sign that showcased the opening and closing time, which is now. "You'll have to wait until tomorrow, kid." The man said with a gruff accent.

"If you don't mind my asking, is there some sort of event going on in the museum?"

"Some archaeologist found a very rare and ancient artifact from a temple in Greece. From what I heard, it's supposed to be a myth."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion." Do you know what it is?" The man shook his head, "Okay… guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see this artifact. Thank you and have a good night."

He bid the man farewell and walked around the corner until he turned right into an ally. Looking to make sure no one is around, Naruto ran up the wall like it was solid ground until he made it to the roof and discreetly walked over to the ledge to find the museum adjacent from the building. He unsealed a binoculars from a green scroll and cased out the building for any entrances and exits as well the surrounding buildings for possible escape routes for what he's about to do.

"This will be a piece of cake," said Naruto switching back to his Japanese dialect as he formed a few hand-signs. "Transparency Jutsu." His body once again blended with the nighttime skies and stars with the thought of easy echoed in the blonde's mind.

Few minutes later, alarms were blaring throughout the building as well as the known sirens of the police cars signaled their arrival.

"Damn it! How the hell did that happen?" shouted Naruto as he Shunshined on another building's roof about three blocks from the museum. "I was careful all the way!"

"You were until you lifted the glass case from the display and that triggered the alarm. Didn't you pay attention to the movies?" Naruto did a double-take while Kurama cursed him-self, "Forget I said that."

"Not in a million years I would ever hear you say something like that… I'm going to have fun teasing you." Naruto commented with a grin, ignoring Kurama's curses thrown at him. He looked at the object under his armpit and set it down in front of him as he kneeled on his right knee. It was an odd-looking stone of unknown material with ocean blue color and a weird picture depicting of a creature with the head of a horse and weird looking limbs. "What is that?"

"You must go to the ocean."

Naruto's eyes widen for a moment before he realized it was Poseidon. "Why? Is this the reward?"

"No. The reward is near the ocean but you will need help from the creature inside that stone to retrieve it. I can sense its craving for freedom," said Poseidon sadly which Naruto caught with his perceptive listening.

"Okay then." With that and enduring another jolt of a painful headache, Naruto secured the stone under his left armpit and began running through the air towards the nearest and less crowded beach. As he took cover in the blanket of foggy clouds, Naruto kept thinking about what kind of creature that is in the stone.

There are all kinds of creatures in Greek Mythology, not to mention from other religions and myths as well, but the way Poseidon talked about the creature as if he personally knew the creature and considered it… family.

"Oh…" Apparently Kurama figured it out too. Naruto nodded in agreement and started his descent to the ground below when he saw a beach by slowly decreasing the amount of Reishi under his feet. However that changed when a loud screech from the sky caught his attention and Naruto's eyes widen when he saw a huge creature nose-diving straight at him. "Naruto!"

Naruto grunted in response before he stopped the channel flow and pulled down by the gravity, narrowly dodging the creature's head but was sent flying by its wing, knocking the wind of him and losing the stone in the process. He managed to right him-self in mid-air and landed on the water surface with Chakra under his feet. Naruto searched for the stone and found it floating twenty yards away from him while he was close to the shore.

Before he could even make a move, another loud screech caught his attention. When Naruto looked up and got a clear image of the creature that wanted him for dinner and surprise doesn't cover it… not even the slightest.

Hovering in the air before him was a humongous eagle with yellow lightning-colored eyes and golden armor covering its equally large body, wings and head. On top of its head was its rider and that rider was not other than Kariya whose pants was singed but the coat and shirt was gone, leaving his torso and a weird tattoo on his left side exposed. Other than that, he didn't seem to be in any pain.

"Kariya, did you like the gift I sent you?" teased Naruto with a grin while keeping his guard up. His answer didn't come from Kariya but behind him.

"*chuckle* Still a child I see. You haven't changed much, Naruto," said Kabuto as the earth was shaking in tandem.

Naruto sighed as he turned to face him but was met with another huge creature's limp coming down on, forcing him to Shunshine to the ocean behind the eagle and Kariya. He then looked forward and saw the creature standing guard next to Kabuto; it was a large creature charcoal skin with lava-like rash and lines around its body but the most distinctive characteristic was that it has three dog-like heads, each with red eyes.

The only thing in common between the two animals are their sheer size.

"You've got to kidding me. Cerberus and the Eagle… these creatures are symbols to Hades and Zeus." Then he realized something else… Kariya and Kabuto aren't attacking each other since they only attacked him. That means one thing. "You guys are working together aren't you?" stated Naruto as he bit his thumb, drawing blood before forming the necessary hand-signs. He was about to perform the summoning when a light blue light brightly glowed behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that it was the stone he carried earlier and that it was growing? "What the…?"

Ceberus and the Eagle snarled and screeched at the unknown while Kariya and Kabuto had reactions: one was stunned and other being interested. The huge figure stopped growing and the light ceased shining, allowing the Champions to set their eyes on the creature. None of them was as stunned as Naruto who was gaping like a fish.

The creature was massive, easily the same size of Gamabunta but equaling the sizes of Cerberus and Eagle. It has a horse-like head, arthropod limbs in the front with three massive back-mounted claws, a tremendous bulk and long serpent-like tail. The majority of its body is water with molten-lava like core in the center of the bulk, protected by huge amounts of rocks.

Naruto has read about this creature countless times and knew very well what it was. This is the Hippocampi, Poseidon's personal creatures that would pull his chariot during the Ancient Greek Times.

The creature lowered its head to the gaping Naruto and it squealed at him as if it was thanking him.

"S-sure. No problem," said Naruto before snapping out of his stupor. He slowly put his hand on the creature's massive head and it nuzzled against his touch, bringing a smile on the Jinchuriki's face, "Will you help me beat these clowns and win the Wager for Poseidon?" A positive snort was his answer. " All righty then." Naruto climbed on the top of its head and held on with Chakra as the Hippocampi lifted its head to face its new opponents. "Things are finally getting exciting in this Wager!"

The Hippocampi roared loudly agreeing with the one who set him free and prepared itself for the upcoming battle its about to enter.