Chapter 17

July3

Ever since the addition of Percy, Tyson and Annabeth things have been stressful as Percy kept asking stupid questions and asked if the boat could go faster. The only saving grace was Annabeth and Tyson doing their own thing, like Tyson tinkering with watch and Annabeth acting as a lookout. Naruto was currently in his quarters checking his supplies and conserving his energy for folding the whole crew and ship.

'This is going to the biggest object I'll attempt to fold.' thought Naruto, 'I hope it works.'

Silena walked in and stopped his train of thought;

"We're nearing the entrance to The Sea of Monsters." said Silena, "we're going to need you on deck soon to commence your plan."

"I'll be there in a minute." answered Naruto, "how is the rest of the group."

"Tyson made Percy a shield that converts into a watch, but other than that nothing," said Silena

"Knowing Percy, he's going to need that shield," said Naruto as he followed Silena towards the deck. He stopped momentarily as he heard Clarisse talking with someone in the storage room, he saw the door was ajar and got a better picture of who she was talking to. Naruto saw that Clarisse was having an intense conversation with her father, Ares, and he did not look happy. Apparently, Percy's presence on the quest upset Ares, and he was yelling at his daughter to make sure she gets the glory and show the son of the sea his place. Their conversation ended Ares threatening Clarisse with pain if she were to fail, that's when Naruto decided to catch up to Silena on the deck. The sight that greeted him was Annabeth and Tyson sparring as Percy practiced his sword swings;

"So which path are we taking?" asked Percy, "The tentacles that eat everything or the bottomless pit?"

"We're taking the third option," said Naruto, "we're taking the cliff."

"What?! But that will take days, and Grover needs us now." said Percy, "I say we just take Charybdis path."

"Are you crazy?! She could swallow the boat, and we'll never get the fleece or save your friend." said Naruto, "we should just stick with the plan we decided on."

"No! We should just stay the course and sail through the entrance" said Percy, "the faster we save Grover, the better."

"Percy think of the camp because not only did you endanger the camp by being here and you're the only thing of saving your friend instead of everyone else and don't forget you're technically trespassing on this quest."

"Well maybe you needed me on this quest because all of your ideas just waste time," said Percy

"Then maybe I should just leave, so I don't 'waste your time' with my ideas," said Naruto, "you can deal with telling Clarisse that I'm leaving. I'll probably meet you at the fleece's location so Goodbye and good luck." As soon as Naruto said that he flattened his body and floated away in the breeze

.

"Percy, you just drove away one of our best fight and strategist!" yelled Silena

"I have to agree with Silena on this one," said Annabeth, "I may be a thinker, but I don't have the same combat experience as Naruto and his strategies are harder to predict."

"I think we'll be fine as we do have a daughter of War with us," said Percy, "I'm sure she'll have a few plans to get up through."

"Percy, Clarisse's main form of fighting is driving in head first and think on her feet." said Silena, "That may work with you, but it won't work with us. You pretty much doomed us and made the quest harder."

Back on coast Naruto re-inflated and inspected his surroundings.

"Looks like I'm near Bambara and it looks like the Triangle is a few nautical miles away." said Naruto, "looks like I have some serious rowing ahead of me."

Naruto reached into his back pocket pulling out a brown colored squared that he threw into the water. Once it hit, it began to unfold and reveal that it was a rowboat, oars and all. He stepped in and began the process of pushing the water and propelling himself forward, only to pause momentarily when a loud resonated 'What!' rang through the air.

"I guess Clarisse found out I left," said Naruto, "Poor Percy."

It took a good half-hour until Naruto managed to reach the cliff and see just how tall the cliff actually was.

"A bit taller than I anticipated," said Naruto, "but doable, at least it isn't spouting lava."

Once he was secured to the wall, he turned back as re-flattened the boat and put it back in his pocket.

'Sometimes I love this power.' thought Naruto as he continued to climb.

The climb took longer than anticipated because there were more loose gravels and Naruto kept losing his foothold. It took about twenty minutes to reach the top but what he saw made up for it as he could see the multiple islands that reside inside the triangle. As Naruto looked around he saw that only a few of the island had greenery on them, so that was one clue;

'Ok so only two of the island have plant life while the others are dead' thought Naruto, 'but there near the middle of Triangle, fantastic.'

Naruto began the climb down, and it took just as long as it did when he climbed up, but instead of waiting to unfold the boat at the bottom he's just throwing it when he was near the bottom.

'Made it to the Sea of Monsters without going through the main entrance' thought Naruto as he climbed into the boat, 'I just made history.'

Once again, he was rowing but due to the unique tidal pattern made it difficult to navigate properly, but the situation was made worse by the appearance of a hurricane. The once calm waters became choppy and became more unpredictable.

'I hate the Sea of Monsters,' thought Naruto as he stopped a huge wave coming towards him.

A few nautical miles away on a seemingly harmless island the now calm sea delivered its most recent victim to the island's shore. He managed to regain consciousness a few minutes later and began to look around his new location.

'Where am I?' Thought a groggy Naruto, 'And how do I get off.'

What Naruto doesn't know if he was being watched by the inhabitance, Gynaíka aráchn or spider-women. These women are decedents of the original spider woman, Arachne, but were banished to the island after Athena discovered their existence. Most of the western world forgot about them, but the eastern world remembered them and even hide some before Athena could get all. The ones that lived on the island become bitter and now resent humans. As the years went by the banished spiders came in contact with multiple humans and like the black widow seduced and ate the males, while the females were converted and become one of them. The woman, in particular, was modeled after the small breeds of spiders, quick and harder to see, so they became scouts. The group of three scurried towards the center of the island and reported what they saw to their queen.

Meanwhile, Naruto was walking further inland and discovered that a certain animal seems to rule the island, spiders. The various webs in the trees and along the roots proved this theory. There were other animals, but they just seemed to be the spider's prey, this was proven by the sight of a tarantula eating a toad. A normal person would be creeped out, but for some reason, Naruto felt at home which is weird as his mother was Athena and had a hereditary fear of arachnids.

"What an interesting place." Commented Naruto as he looked around, "I bet there some cross-species here."

Naruto crouched and began to observe as Sydney Funnel-web build its home.

"To think one of the most dangerous spiders in the world is so beautiful to look at." Said Naruto, only to be surprised when the spider he was watching come out and approached him.

Naruto stayed still as the spider walked towards him only for the spider to start rubbing against his leg like a dog would.

"Well, aren't you friendly." Said Naruto as he laid his hand down for the spider to climb on.

In the brush surrounding the demigod, a lone figure was watching as Naruto interacted with the spider. Upon closer inspection this figure was female with medium length lavender hair, her eyes were red and monochromatic. Her outfit consisted of a halter top that exposed her stomach and waist. Her arms had a black outer shell covering her elbows, forearms, and fingers. Her lower body was that of a black widow's, with a skull on her thorax. She would be classified as a medium-sized spider as she could spin webs but didn't have strong hunter instincts. She was amazed that a mere child could handle the funnel-web and not get bit, even their queen as some difficulty handling that species of spider. She quickly left before Naruto, or any of the scouts noticed her presence.

Naruto continued to walk, now with a funnel-web spider on his shoulder, and try to find some other people. He heard some rustling from the surrounding foliage, but he thought they were the local wildlife, so he ignored it. He looked ahead and saw a giant rock with various caves and crevices going through it.

"I think found the home for giant spiders." Said Naruto

As Naruto was exploring his foot allied pressure to a nearly invisible strand of silk laying on the ground, alerting the long-legged spider women, These women were the hunters and made sure that the colony wasn't invaded. They had a strong hunting instinct but could not spin webs, so they work with the scouting parties. They felt a disturbance a few seconds after Naruto stepped on the bounty thread and decided to investigate. Their long leg helps them move quickly through bush and apprehend their prey. Leading them was a daddy-long-legs with medium brown hair and wearing a camouflage jacket with a matching hat on her head, her name was Sarah.

"So~ should I go to the giant rock or should I start building a raft?" Asked Naruto to the spider on his shoulder. The reply he got was the spider presenting its fangs and turning around.

"I guess I should start on the raft then." Said Naruto

As he started to turn around, he heard some rushing in the bushes and jumped back. He looked at the ground and found a dart where his neck would have been.

"Well, looks like someone doesn't want to leave." Commented Naruto as he looked around and the spider bared its fangs.

Back in the bushes, Sarah wasn't happy that the stealth approach didn't work, so her squad would have to resort to a more physical method. She and the rest of the group jumped out of the bushes and tried to grab the male intruder, but Naruto was resisting them the best he could. The struggle lasted for a few minutes, but Sarah and her squad managed to apprehended Naruto.

Aranea was the 20th ruling queen of the colony and had only seen one male human personally. She had long black hair with pale skin and monochronic red eyes. Aranea's outfit consisted black dress with the cuffs of the sleeves flared and a gold crown sitting on her head. Her lower abdomen was that of an albino flower spider, a rarity among her species. She was currently sitting on her throne waiting for the waiting of the male to arrive.

"What can you tell me about the male?" said Aranea

"Apparently, it's a child," said one of her assistance, "but your hunters appeared to have trouble apprehending him. They were in for a surprise; he managed to tame the funnel-web."

"Are you jesting with me?" asked Aranea, "That is a species that even I haven't tamed."

"I'm not jesting, he was seen with the spider on his shoulder." said the assistant

"Interesting, I thought only my great grandmother could tame that species," whispered Aranea

The noise of talons hitting stone got her attention as three of her guards and Naruto came walking in, the funnel still on his shoulder.

"Why is the spider still on his shoulder?" asked the Queen

"It kept hissing at us, and we're not immune to his venom." answered one of the guards

'Whatever,' thought Aranea

"Well male why are you on our island?" asked Aranea as she addressed Naruto

"My boat was destroyed during a storm, and I washed up on the island." answered Naruto, "I'm just looking for some food and lumber to make a boat.

"He's telling the truth," whispered one of the guards to the queen, "There was a huge storm last night, and some of the scouts found some wreckage near the shore."

"Your story seems to check out, but we can let you leave," said Aranea, "You know of our existence and we rather not kill you. You manage to tame a Funnel-web, one of the deadliest spiders in the world, and such skill should be passed down."

"What?" said Naruto having a bad feeling about where this is leading.

"Take him to my daughter's room and tell her we found her a husband." said a smirking Aranea

"Wait! Wait! Don't I have a say in this!" yelled Naruto as he was being dragged away.