[The Fox and the Hunter] Chapter 3 - The Sun's Arrival (Patreon)

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5/2/26

Chapter 3- The Sun’s Arrival

“You get back here, you stupid Fox!” 

“Haha! Now, where would be the fun in that! Aren’t you supposed to be the one to catch me?!”

“Oh, I’ll catch you alright! And when I have you…!”

“Whoa, Red, I’ll have you know I’m not that kind of guy, I’d at least have you take me out to dinner first!”

“Y-Y… You! You’re dead!”

“Haha!”

In the forest, several cries could be heard, some laughter, some shouts of anger, all of which seemed to hold an odd sense of familiarity to them. Which got him thinking, weren’t they familiar with each other?

How many times had they done this dance? 

Had they done it so many times that they knew the rhythm? Could they then, by nature of their familiarity… call themselves friends?

Were they even friends?

That was food for thought.

After all, Artemis was trying to kill him; that was pretty much the nature of their relationship, wasn’t it? But then again, if he were being honest, his closest friends had tried to kill him, too.

Sasuke, well, he had lost count of how many times they had fought; they were rivals, heated enemies, but also brothers. With Gaara, he had been much the same, though that boy had a whole other list of problems, many of which sprouted murderous and downright homicidal tendencies to them. But it had been their shared experiences that had made them friends. 

Neji— may Kami rest his soul— had also tried to kill him, and his cousin too. Trying to prove that fate was as predetermined as the wind, and he had sure shown him.

Which got him thinking, how many people he was close to back in his old life had tried to kill him?

Some might argue that the punches that Sakura had hit him with were enough to kill a man, Granny Tsunade, too. Even his old sensei Jiraya had pushed him down a cliff. Kakashi had practically tried to kill him with how neglectful he could be at times. Iruka… well, Iruka had been the exception, he supposed.

But that really meshed the line of what he thought a friend was; some might say he was too forgiving. After all, he had forgiven a whole village for their neglect.

And…

He felt himself getting off track. The question was, did he think of Artemis as a friend yet? After all, they constantly had the ‘trying to kill him’ part down—though he could do without it sometimes. She really was difficult.

He didn’t have many friends these days, though that wasn’t to say he was lonely or anything; he had made peace with himself and his loneliness long ago. It was just a change.

“Just die already, you insolent vermin!” Artemis growled, relieving him from his thoughts.

Oh yeah, that was right. The one thing that was stopping their friendship was the absolutely massive stick up her ass. 

Seriously, he wondered how it had gotten so big. After all, she was a goddess, sure, but that didn’t make her better than everyone. So what was her deal?

Naruto found an arrow weave right next to his head, so close that he could almost feel it graze his ear, possibly cutting a bit of his hair in the process as it whizzed by him. Finding itself on a tree stump that was situated right behind him…

The tree fell over.

The tree fell over.

It would seem that she wasn’t really pulling her punches, was she? 

“Eep!” Naruto squeaked, as he dodged Artemis’s follow-up attack, a few more arrows flying past him and doing devastating damage to the landscape. “Stop that! I mean—Time out! Time out! Isn’t this the part where you’re supposed to tell me your tragic backstory or something! Uhhh… Talk no-jutsu! Talk no-jutsu!” Naruto flailed. 

“Will you shut up with your nonsense!” Artemis growled even harder.

“Well, I… Uhhh—Not the face, not the face! Or the tails, or the—Ah!” the fox yelped, jumping around the field they were fighting within, trying as he might to dodge each of Artemis’s attacks. 

“Grrr—RAHHH!” Artemis yelled, charging at the blonde with her knife. Seeing as how her bow wasn’t working, she decided to get up close and personal. 

She went for an overhead slash that Naruto dodged, moving herself right into a sideswipe that nearly got Naruto in the chest, as he went for her hand to try to disarm her. It didn’t work as Artemis made to pierce him in the stomach, working to stab him then and there, she would have taken his guts out, his blood pouring onto the grass, had Naruto not rotated his body just enough to cause her to miss. Naruto grabbed at her wrist, causing her to drop the divine armament. Though Artemis was also quick, picking it up with her other hand to slash at him the opposite way, forcing Naruto to back up, relinquishing his advantage. 

“Wow, you’ve gotten alot better! You haven’t been holding out on me, have you?” Naruto remarked.

Artemis just smirked before pressuring him again, this time aiming low with her blade, forcing Naruto to back up. Which was good, she used the opportunity to capitalize on his lack of center of balance. Allowing her to perform a leg sweep upon the blonde, knocking him off balance as he fell to the ground. 

“Whoa!” the blonde yelled as he fell. Quickly, recovering, as he rolled over, grabbing the Goddess’s leg and forcing her onto the floor as well.

“Wah!” She yelled as the two tumbled on the floor, wrestling for control. 

Like before, Artemis found herself quickly on top of Naruto, not allowing him to get free as she tried to restrain the blonde. Her legs on each side of his torso as she straddled him, grabbing each of his wrists as he was pinned to the ground. A healthy amount of sweat overtakes them all, a few leaves in their hair, grass stains along their clothes, yet Naruto couldn’t be more exhilarated, his blood pumping. 

“You know, I’ve had dreams about a nice-looking redhead above me, this… usually isn’t how those dreams turn out,” he snarked. 

Causing Artemis to flush within herself. “I-I… Y-You absolutely impudent—!”

Crash!

That was all the opportunity Naruto needed, as he delivered a devious headbutt right onto Artemis’s forehead with a sickening crash, momentarily stunning her. This allowed Naruto to then flip their positions, so that he was on top of her, and she was helpless as he pinned her down with his weight and strength. All she could do was glare, her silvery moon-lit eyes threatening to burn him alive if she could help it, a slightly red bruise upon her forehead where he hit her. 

“Oh, come on, Red. Don’t look at me like that,” he just sighed. After all, it hadn’t been too long ago that she had pulled the same move on him. “Is this about when I wrote on your forehead?” He asked, her eyes continuing to bore a hole into him. 

He could see her cheeks flushing, too, her eyebrows furrowed, her jaw clenched, pink lips oddly trembling, her body falling rigid, and, he could swear that he was hearing the gnashing of her teeth then and there, though he might have imagined it. 

But one thing was for certain: Artemis was angry. No… she was furious. 

“NARUTO I SWEAR I’LL——!!!”

“Gotta go!” Naruto immediately shouted, jumping off the redhead and giving up the advantage in favor of choosing life. 

“GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU!!!” The Goddess of the Hunt screamed, the daughter of the strongest Olympian, Zeus, the chief god, as well as the Titan Leto, beings who were capable of shattering the Earth’s crust in two. 

Naruto, for his part, didn’t want any part of it. His entire being was screaming at him to run away, to flee from the walking monstrosity of feminine revenge and fury incarnated.

He had dealt with his mother and Tsunade in his early years; he wasn’t willing to die just yet. He was only… six…seven cent—? Probably more. How old was he again? At least twenty... that wasn’t the point. The point was that he was too young to die. 

Weaving under and around a few longs and trees, really whatever he could use to try and get even more distance front he enraged goddess. Unfortunately, she was knocking down whatever she could to get at him—— trees and all! 

“I’ll get you! If it’s the last thing I do, fox!” she growled, before taking her aim, closing her eyes, and making sure her shot was true with her trusted bow, the symbol of her divine power and mastery. Channeling all of her godhood that she could into her shot, pulling back her drawstring and…

She let go of her divine arrow. 

The bolt shoots straight through trees and the like as if it were a shot from a railgun, demolishing all within its path, its path leading itself straight at a certain blonde with relentless pursuit. 

Thump!

As it hit its mark with deadly accuracy, striking Naruto straight in the back as she watched it happen. She felt no small amount of satisfaction watching it happen. 

“Hmp!” she hummed, walking towards where she had struck him. What she expected to see was Naruto having fallen to the ground in a heap, his limbs fallen to the floor. Perhaps he was slowly crawling away; he always did have a knack for being hard to put down, much like a roach, for that matter. 

However, what she didn’t expect was for her to find her arrow embedded in… a log? 

If she was looking at things right, she saw where Naruto should have fallen; it had been replaced with a simple tree stump. Perplexing her, since her celestial enchanted arrows should have pierced right through it. 

She was almost so perplexed that she didn’t realize that her enemy had surrounded her. 

“Alright, now!” x3 a trio of Naruto’s shouted. 

Artemis looked around, preparing herself for an attack, a triple assault, having already expected this to be another one of Naruto’s tricks. However, what she didn’t expect… was for a different kind of assault. 

As it didn’t appear to be an attack made from any strange energy Naruto could form, as she had been keeping track of such a barrage. What she wasn’t expecting was for a different kind of attack to happen, a liquid dousing her before she could realize what was happening. 

“Huh?” she thought, confused, as a yellowish sticky substance began to cover her, a few drops falling into her mouth as it landed on her. It was sweet, almost like…

Pooof!

Another seal was activated; this time, a plume of another substance was shot at her, almost like a cloud. 

Feathers. She realized she was covered in honey and feathers, from head to toe.

That was the state that the Goddess of the hunt was left in, a testament to her latest ‘hunt’, her target being the ever elusive, ever resourceful Nine-tailed Bijuu, a fox who was unmistakably very powerful, a very big headache in her life. 

“Alright, yosh!” the Narutos shouted, giving each other high fives at the ‘prank’ they had just done to her. 

All the while, Artemis’s hands trembled, her fingers gripping harshly to her divine bow, nearly with the power to break it, such was her rage. 

Yet she only uttered one simple word…

“Na…”

“Huh?” the real Naruto questioned, raising an eyebrow. Artemis’s voice was surprisingly soft, almost calm. 

“Ru…”

“Uhhhh… Uh-Oh,” that only brought a feeling of trepidation over the blonde; there was no way she would be so calm after such an occasion. 

Though the act was rather harmless, it was just a simple prank— a prank! A little plan he had shaken up to try and lighten the mood a little. The blonde, having replaced himself with a kawarimi as soon as Artemis’s arrow was about to strike him (the log reinforced with seals to provide an even bigger surprise for the Goddess). From then on, he and the clones he had made earlier would regroup, as they had filled and created a few high-powered storage seals with one of the oldest tricks in the book. 

Surely Artemis wouldn’t be mad at that? It was just some harmless fun.

“...To!” she finished her words, as all hell would break loose. 

Naruto was beginning to doubt his thoughts.

As the forest was engulfed in a bright light, courtesy of one angry and irritated daughter of lightning. A rage engulfed her, and the forest was caught in the crossfire.

“Ah, shit!” was all Naruto could say in reply.

XXX

Some Time Later.

Artemis was angry. 

No, scratch that, at this point, she was beyond angry. 

Furious. She was fuming. 

She didn’t think she had ever been so angry, and of course, there could only be one single reason for such a mood. 

Naruto Uzumaki.

The origin of all her recent headaches, and even now, he still eluded her, managing to get away once again with his ever-so-petty and cheap tricks, much like the fox he was. 

Oh, she would find him again if it were the last thing she were to do, she would find him, and wring his neck, fillet him alive, and so much more. 

Didn’t he realize what he was doing? Didn’t he realize she was a goddess? One of the Twelve Olympians, not some cheap wood nymph, or spirit of the sort. She was the leader of the Hunters, the Goddess of the Moon. Whenever her silver light shone upon every being she could tell, it was her divine nature. And yet Naruto seemed to have trampled all over that fact.

She could obliterate him if only she were in her true form. But her pride would not allow such a thing; it would be like she were conceding to him, letting him know that all of his tricks bested her. She could not have that. She would not give her the satisfaction.

And besides, if she ever did enter her true divine form, all the other of her kind would know it. They would be able to sense it, and from then on she would have to explain why she did so. 

Which she would not do, given the fact that it would reveal all of her previous blunders. 

That fact made her even more irritated; after all, it was like Naruto had her in a position in which she was forced to play this little game of hers. Well, she would play, and she would play well—-better than him, even, she would show him. 

Yet, the precedent remained, as Artemis trudged back to her hunter’s camp. The look of defeat was ever-present as she was covered in both honey and feathers, something that still boggled her mind, since she was unable to use her divine powers to cleanse herself. Something Naruto had done must’ve prevented her from removing it, much like the ‘ink’ he had used before on her and her hunters—another reason for her revenge, mind you.

Covered in Naruto’s latest ‘prank’, her body sticky with sugar and sweat, her clothing torn and marred with dirt and actual chicken feathers. As she made her way through her camp, trying to head to her tent. She would assume, like all things Naruto had done, she would be forced to thoroughly wash herself at a watering hole. The blonde, not wanting to do any permanent damage, only wanted to inflict inconvenience and wound her pride.

That was all the blonde wanted, to amuse himself. And she had fallen right for it. 

Artemis could not imagine how such a day could get any worse. 

“It is as I’ve told you, My Lord, but Lady Artemis has gone on a hunt of her own, that is all she has told us.”

“What? What do you mean, my sister is not here!”

‘Oh no,’ Artemis thought.

Realizing who was talking at that moment, as the first voice she had heard had belonged to Zoe Nightshade, of course, her lieutenant who was in charge of her camp when she was away; that much was obvious.

However, it was the second voice that had given her pause, that was because it was a male’s voice. Now, given the fact that her troop was made up primarily of women, that was a rarity in the camp. The most prominent times being… when a god was visiting. 

And she recognised this god. How could she not?

Standing a few good inches taller than all of her hunters, which wasn’t too hard to explain given how many of them were stuck in their younger teenage years, he was rather tall. Handsome, she had no doubt heard many a time, with his body very muscular, bronzed, as if he had tanned quite rigorously in the sun. His sandy golden blonde hair, which was usually around chin length, was tied up in a bun, as he had an ever-present bright smile. Wearing a golden tunic that was tied with a fine leather cord, a bow on his hip of the same color. 

All of his appearance was oddly not too dissimilar to hers, despite the differences in their skin, color, hair, and eyes, as his chin, jaw, and bone structure gave an odd resemblance.

This was Apollo, the God of the sun, the child of Zeus and Leto, and one of the Twelve Olympian gods. And also, despite everything, her Twin brother.

She knew he could not see her, especially at a time such as this. 

She had to get away, had to hide from him— 

“Wait? Ho-ho! Is that— no, it can’t be!” Her brother’s voice made out through the camp, as Artemis surely wished she could be anywhere but here. 

As the blonde made his way to his sister, seeing the state she was in, “I almost didn’t recognise you after you’re whole… transformation. What did you do, fight with a big giant monster chicken or something?” Apollo teased. 

Artemis just glared, making her way to her tent. “Was doing and the nature of my appearance isn’t any of your business, brother. I suggest you don’t look into it,” she said coldly, not wanting to deal with her brother at the moment.

“Aww, come on, Arty, what’s got your feathers in a twist?” Apollo chuckled, seemingly laughing at his own joke. 

The look Artemis had shot at him would have sent lesser men to their knees—promising that the Goddess of the Hunt was about to give hell to anyone or thing that crossed her, something Siprotes learned the hard way. Unfortunately for her, it was a look he received all too often, mostly when he ended up ‘turning’ one of her hunters or taking one of her hunting wolves. But hey, he couldn’t help it; most things found his sunny presence irresistible, and those wolves were cool, so he took a few. 

“Hmmp!” was all Artemis said, turning her shoulder, as from then on the conversation was moot, and he knew it. 

Though deep down, he really did want to find out why she was dressed like that. 

“Seriously, though, what’s her problem?” Apollo questioned in the middle of her camp, looking around at all the other hunters and hoping to receive an answer to why his older sister was looking like she had taken to the wrong end of a farmer’s coop.

But when he looked around, all of the hunters tried their best not to look at him, or avoided him when it was necessary, something that they usually did. But they also paid special attention not to look at their goddess. Which meant that whatever did happen, even Artemis’s own hunters didn’t want to get involved. 

“Come on, anybody? Zoe? Zoe?” But no matter where he looked, the daughter of Atlas was nowhere to be found, and soon all of the hunters left the area to be within their tents. 

Seriously, what had happened in this camp of theirs that he didn’t know about?

He was almost too busy thinking about such a thing, and he almost didn’t realize a small tapping on his side. 

“Huh?” he questioned, looking to see nobody there. But upon looking down, he found he was met with a young girl with heterochromatic eyes and mismatched hair. “Got something to say, little lady?” he questioned.

Though she only put her hands on her lips in a ‘shushing’ fashion, no sound running through her lips, it was then that Apollo understood that the young girl was unable to speak to him, as he nodded. She then did a very elaborate hand symbol at him, which he found to be sign language—which, being the god of music, he was able to understand all languages, even non-auditory ones. As he began to get the full story, or rather, Neo’s interpretations of things. 

All the while, the God of the Sun started to gain a very serious expression on his usually bright face. 

His fist shaking slightly at what he had heard.

XXX

Naruto felt… oddly at peace.

Following his little run-in with Artemis, life seemed to be good for the Sage.

After all, the world was in order, nothing around him seemingly needing and tuning into the natural energies, the woods singing in their joy. He had met a few wood nymphs and had been thoroughly surprised at their level of progress in the area. So much so that his schedule, which he had planned to use to cleanse the place, was rather free. So he had time, an abundance of it—not just because he was immortal. 

So he did what he liked to do when he had nothing in mind: he lived in the moment. 

Practicing a few katas, not wanting to lose his edge, even after all this time. Practicing a few chakra control exercises, then he went for a run, then he went fishing, as he slow-cooked a few bits of bass and cod he had caught. That, paired with the vegetables and fruits he had collected, as well as the other various spices he already had, should provide a nice and balanced supper for him to consume once it was all ready. He was sure of it. 

Though he did notice a rather odd thing about the day. And that was the fact that it was unbearably hot. 

It was as if the sun were absolutely glaring at him, he thought. 

Creating a shade over his eyes, it felt as if there was a solar flare being sent out right in his direction. That was how blinding it was, as the blonde rested upon a simple boulder, contemplating what he was going to do next while he waited for his food. That was the plan, anyhow, but what he didn’t expect was for a visitor to make itself known.

Shoot!

Naruto’s instincts screamed out for him to move, so he did so, jumping out of the way, and in good time too, as he found that the spot he had previously been in erupted into flames. A large scorch mark appeared on the boulder as the fire burned away.

Naruto immediately looked up as the offender made itself known. 

“Not bad, though I suppose I should have expected as much. I suppose you might be interesting,” they said, jumping in front of him so he could get a better view. 

Naruto was looking to see a similarly tanned, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed man with golden clothes and a bow that wasn’t all too dissimilar to the one he had seen Artemis wield, though the color, of course, was different. 

Honestly, it was as if he were looking at a long-lost brother of his, given his appearance, though, that was discounting the fact that he had his fox appendages. But he wouldn’t be wrong in saying that if he were in his human state, he would look like a relative. 

It would seem that Apollo was thinking the same, as he flat-out asked. “Say, you aren’t like… one of my children, are you?” he inquired. 

Naruto just shook his head, “Nah, I’m not like anything really, I’m pretty original, and I can guarantee you haven’t seen anything like me.” Naruto smirked, knowing there was no chance that they were related. 

“Ho ho, well, we’ve got some spunk in us, not bad,” Apollo returned the look. “Well, I’d just like to warn you that the first attack was pretty much a warning shot, just to test the waters a bit. A warm-up for our actual fight, that is,” the God of the Sun told him. 

“Oh, and what reason do I have to fight you?” Naruto asked, not wanting to come to blows for no reason if he could help it. Though he could tell that this person wasn’t looking for anything else.

That was when Apollo’s smile only grew, his teeth burning bright, which was ever so similar to the sun. “Well, let’s just say I’m pretty convincing, after all, let’s just say this is a little payback for what you did to someone earlier,” he eluded. 

Naruto just sighed a little, though he decided if there wasn’t any helping it, he would get into a fighting stance. After all, it wouldn’t be so bad to have a bit of a warm-up here as well. Who knows, maybe this guy could actually prove a challenge to him, though that was pretty rare. 

“Alright—” 

Woooosh!

As Naruto charged for the blonde male, speed blitzing over to his location and throwing a rather fast and surprising haymaker right towards Apollo’s chest. 

Though much to Naruto’s surprise, the God of the Sun managed to see such a thing coming, as he dodged to the side perfectly out of Naruto’s way. Apollo, light on his feet, went into a spin kick at Naruto’s side, which the shinobi was able to see and block with his hands, his arms recoiling slightly at the unexpected strength from the man. 

Backing off, Naruto waited for their next encounter, each of them merely testing the waters between them, not going at their full strength out of fear of what the other might do. 

“So, what did you say your name was again?” Naruto asked, looking at the man in a whole new light. From what he could tell, the man was powerful, alot different from the other upstarts he had seen around here. 

“Oh? Interested now, are we?” The God said, smiling a little at their confrontation. And he could already tell, this was going to be fun. “Name’s Apollo, God of the Sun, pleasure to make your acquaintance, dirtbag.”

“Hmmm, and you’re Artemis’s brother, I assume,” Naruto noted, finally figuring out who this guy was and why he was here. He should’ve figured as much, after how many times he had come across Artemis and fought/defeated her. Someone from her faction or pantheon or whatever was bound to show up, either for revenge or something else. 

“Ho Ho! So you’ve figured that out, not bad, eh? But yeah, let’s just say Arty is my little sister, and I heard you and her have been going through it a bit, had to see what all the fuss was about,” Apollo told him.

“I see, well, if it means anything to you, I suppose I should point out that it’s really been Red who’s been coming after me. I would be perfectly fine leaving her alone if it meant she wasn’t constantly trying to kill me every once in a while,” Naruto explained his side of the situation. 

Sure, he had seen her bathing that one time, but it wasn’t like he had done anything besides that to warrant her constantly coming after him. Well, apart from his pranks on her, but those were really only done after she had sought him out with the intention of attacking him. From then on, it was fair game. 

“Well, you know, actually it kind of does, I mean it’s been a while since Arty has been any at all interested in spending time around a man—— discounting anyone from the Olympians of course, though I suspect if she had it her way she wouldn’t interact with any of us if she could help it,” the man said.

“So does that mean you and I are not gonna fight?”

“What? Are you kidding? Of course not! After all, I still got a reputation to maintain, the duty of a brother to make sure nobody is picking on his sister, you understand,” he explained. Though, he usually wasn’t one to get in the middle of his sisters fights seeing as she didn’t like it when he did.

“I can’t say that I do, I’ve always been an only child, though I’ve had sister figures in my life,” Naruto admitted, not sure why, but there was something about this guy that was slightly comforting, almost beckoning him to open up to him. 

“Ah, well, you don’t know what you’re missing, man. I mean, I love my sister to death; even if she can be a little—— or a lot… hostile sometimes. But hey, it seems like you’ve been taking the brunt of her anger lately, which means I haven’t been the usual target for her ire lately. Thanks for that, by the way,” he admitted. 

“Uh-huh, she is troublesome, isn’t she?” Naruto said, smiling. Though he had to admit, she was entertaining, never a dull moment when she was around. He could do without the part with her trying to kill him, though.

“Like you would not believe!” Apollo grinned before getting into a fighting stance. 

Naruto doing the same, raising his arms, bouncing on his feet, shifting the center of balance, and preparing for any sort of attack the man could hope to offer. He already knew that the conversation was over, and from then on, they would fight, so he was ready. There was nothing left to say between them. 

Apollo was the first one to be on the offensive, already having put his bow away, as within an instant the blonde rounded on him, aiming to deliver a devastating side kick to Naruto’s chest. It was blocked, of course, Naruto moving his arms into an ‘X’ to block the kick, pushing the God of the Sun away from him, as he tried to strike back at him with a punch, but Apollo evaded. 

Naruto rounded on him, trying to go for a jab to his side, but it was blocked and grabbed, which allowed Apollo the confidence to try and make a swipe for his head, Naruto managing to break free from his grip, just in time as he ducked to dodge. This allowed the Sun God to aim low, trying to swipe his feet from under him, and it would have worked, had Naruto not shifted himself onto his hands, throwing himself over Apollo’s back and giving him free rein along his unprotected backside. 

Naruto meant to strike at the man with his elbow, though the Sun god was quick to realize Naruto’s advantage, as he swung at him with his right leg. Naruto grabbed it. Apollo twisted his body, aiming a second kick with his other leg, using the fox as a springboard, as he was sent into the air right above Naruto, crashing down. 

Naruto had half a mind to dodge, and he was glad he did, as Apollo’s strike hit the ground with enough force to shatter it, producing a rather large crater in the field, much like how Sakura did in their second bell test. Shattering the floor completely, as dust was kicked upward. 

“Heh!” was all he said, a small laugh at this minor display of his power, as Naruto landed somewhere near the outside of the destruction. 

“Hey, man, you know this place was actually looking quite nice until you came along!” Naruto shouted. He was a sage, and destroying any landscape was wrong to him, knowing the effects it could produce on every other ecosystem around. 

As Apollo removed his leg from the ground and actually looked apologetic, “Sorry,” he said, slightly sheepishly. After all, he was the God of the Sun, not quite the God of agriculture or nature, but he did have a pretty prevalent effect on it, given how plants fed off of his sunlight. 

“Alright! Let’s try this again!” Naruto announced, before throwing his coat off to the side, as now he was fully shirtless, allowing for easier movements and the like. 

Apollo just grinned, “Oh, finally getting into this, it seems?” he questioned.

For his response, Naruto rushed towards him, attempting to deliver a powerful knee to his gut, which Apollo caught with both of his hands. This allowed Naruto the chance to throw a light jab towards the man’s solar plexus. 

“Ooof,” knocking the wind right out of the God of the Sun. Only to push back even harder against Naruto, jabbing him straight in the right side.

“---Krk!” Naruto grits his teeth from the pain, but immediately rights himself. And parrying another punch, as Apollo went for a new one, which Naruto kicked away. 

It was the blonde shinobi who tried to swipe at him with the edge of his hand, which Apollo blocked with his palm, allowing Naruto to punch at him with a right hook, jolting him. Though he was stunned, the God didn’t stop trying to punch him. Naruto parried the blow, but what he was unable to do was block the following kick to his side.

Naruto blocks Apollo’s following punch as he slammed his fist straight into Apollo’s nose, his knuckles cracking under the pressure, a soundwave resonating as he struck him. Nearly sending the God of the Sun’s body jolting. 

However, he bit back the pain, moving for a feint that Naruto took, and when he moved into a right hook, the blonde was only barely able to block it. This left him vulnerable to the absolutely earth-shattering uppercut from his other hand, causing Naruto to stagger slightly, but only enough to register Apollo’s next strike at the last second. Ducking under the blow aimed for his head, he went for the opening at his opponent’s center with both hands, which Apollo blocked by quickly crossing his arms. 

The God of the Sun parried his counterattack and, grabbing his arm, this allowed him to get a slight jab in at his side, disorienting him. Naruto pushed the God off of him, as Apollo rotated his body for a slash with his hands, forcing Naruto back in order to dodge, the God pushing forwards as Naruto’s balance shifted. Finding his next jab being blocked and parried, allowing for Naruto to strike at an opening with his foot as he kicked Apollo in the side. 

Apollo stepped back after that one, a small amount of golden ichor leaking from his nose. Naruto did the same, wiping his lips with his thumb to find a small amount of redness, both due to the other. 

“You know, you’re a bit more direct than Artemis is; usually, it takes a while before I’m at it like this with her,” Naruto told him, noticing the differences between the two siblings. 

“Heh, well, I’ve never been one for theatrics—at least when it comes to fighting, everything else… not so much. Though I have to say, this reminds me of the time me and the ol’ war god had it out, and you do smell a whole lot better than that guy,” Apollo smirked, activating his godly power of healing on himself—and although he wasn’t quite as good as his son Asclepius, it worked well enough. Being the God of healing, from what he could tell, the man in front of him also had some kind of regeneration ability, though he couldn’t quite detect his origin.

“I’m… going to take that as a compliment,” Naruto said, unsure of how to react to that. 

“You should, I mean, I don’t mind the guy well enough, and he’s not a halfway bad fighter, but unless you like the smell of blood and iron, I’d rather suggest you not try to be like him,” he said.

“Right…” Naruto gulped slightly, remembering his time way back when he and his team had encountered Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist, who always had a similar smell to him. Always smelling like murder, he’d much rather avoid anyone who was like that if he could help it.

“Now, let’s say we kick this up a notch. I know you've got more up your sleeve than this!” Apollo yelled, readying his fists, as a slightly red hue covered his body, almost as if he had regrown even more tan. And, if he was really paying attention, a small white haze radiated from the God’s fists, perplexing Naruto. 

He didn’t get much time to think about such a matter, as Apollo was then upon him once again, leading with a right hook followed by a roundhouse, all of which were dodged by Naruto, as he was on the defensive. Apollo pushed on him aggressively, as Naruto struggled to find his opening. Attempting to send a light jab at his side, Apollo evaded, but he didn’t allow Naruto to press on further, as he threw a flurry of punches. 

On one such occasion, he threw a left haymaker, which Naruto was able to parry and grab, as he would then use the opportunity to get a blow in on his unprotected side, using the chance to finally put the God on the back burner, following up with a right knee, then a left kick to the hip, as he would finally have the advantage.

At least, that was how it was supposed to go; you never could tell with these kinds of fights.

“Ahhh!” Naruto screamed out as soon as he touched Apollo’s forearm, immediately pulling his hand back as he found a burning sensation.

This surprise gave his opponent just the opportunity, as he found a blow connecting with his unprotected right side, a leg to his hip, and a light jab to his face, which also felt searing. 

Naruto backed up, still recoiling, as he tried to make sense of the situation, his hand still burning from touching his opponent, even as his regeneration worked on overdrive to heal it and mitigate the pain. Looking at Apollo, he couldn’t help but glare at him slightly. 

“What’s the matter, too hot to handle?” Apollo smirked, given the fact that he was the God of the Sun, he could heat his internal temperature, almost to the point of his chariot. It made for a nice edge in these close encounters like this one. 

As Naruto fixed his expression, his wounds steaming from his Nine-tails chakra, as he fit himself into a more neutral tone, he spoke. “No, let’s just say you reminded me of an old friend.”

Of course, he was talking about Itachi Uchiha, who had the distinct ability to conjure the flames of Amaterasu with his Magekyou sharingan, which were said to burn as brightly as the sun’s surface. He would remember seeing such an ability for the first time, burning through the mouth of a toad’s stomach, when he and his Sensei Jiraiya were en route to Tanzuku Gai to find Tsunade. Sasuke would later inherit such an ability, as he would learn to master such flames and incorporate them into his very own jutsu. 

So it wasn’t like he was used to getting burned from time to time. 

“Let me show you how exactly I used to kick his ass too!” Naruto grinned. 

“Oh yeah?” Apollo grinned back. 

As Naruto charged, moving for an obvious right hook to his head, and like clockwork, Apollo dodged, backing up as he waited for the blow to pass him by. Allowing him to counterattack with said opening in his guard and—-

Wham!

The sickening feeling of a force not unlike the weight of Atlas was sent straight at his head, utterly shocking Apollo as he had not been expecting such a blow. Naruto followed up with another blow to his left hand side, as he recoiled, each blow with enough strength to break a mountain, reminding him like that of Hercules. 

As Naruto then finished him with a palm strike straight to Apollo’s chest, sending the God skidding, leaving behind a scorched trail in his wake, as he found a nice resting place on the ground along his way. 

“Hnghh!” Apollo groaned as he flew, no small amount of golden blood flowing from his body as he had formed a crater in the ground, kicking up dust and debris into the air as he did so.

“Had enough yet?” Naruto asked, walking over to the fallen man. 

But, as he walked over, seeing the God of the Sun, what he expected to see was a look of scorn, or at the very least anger, much like he would come to see on his less-than-friendly sister. Yet, he didn’t see that look at all, as what he saw was a look of confidence and of determination. 

“What? Are you kidding? And miss out on all this fun? Not on your life!” Apollo said with a smirk, rising from his fallen position as he healed his wounds. His body is heating up in the wake of his newfound passion.

Looking up at his fellow blonde, the fox who had entertained Artemis’s company ever so much. And what he saw, was instead of his usual blue eyes he had come to expecting, Naruto’s eyes were now bright golden with a bar slit for pupils, the orange pigmentation of Sage mode finally on display.

Apollo didn’t understand what had changed with the blonde, nor did he understand the makings of frog kumite. But what he did understand was that this guy was strong. 

And he wouldn’t mind a challenge such as this. 

Naruto found that he didn’t mind either. 

As the Battle between God and Fox soon went underway once again…

XXX

… Several Hours Later.

The landscape that both had set their eyes upon that morning had been changed, with several trees uprooted, several holes kicked up, and scorches and cracks all along the ground. 

And that was nothing to say about their own characters, with each person’s clothing having been torn, muddied with dirt, and stained with either red or gold—— depending on whose blood it was. With several bruises along each other’s bodies, and several burns on Naruto. Neither’s healing ability working at the moment; both are either too exhausted or too overworked to fix them at the moment, as their bodies worked to make sure their organs were just puddles of liquid in their stomachs. 

Each one was lying on the ground, the sky in their view, panting and out of breath, though both did have a rather large smile on their face, even if it was rather strained and smeared with blood upon their cheeks.

“Damn, that was alot more fun than I would’ve expected,” Naruto commented. 

“Right? I tell ya, there ain’t nothing like a good  fight to get the ichor pumping, we might have to do this more often!” Apollo grinned. 

“I don’t know about that,” Naruto said, looking around to see the destroyed landscape.

“What? The forest, oh don’t worry about that, I know a few wood nymphs I can call to fix this place up, it’ll be as good as new, I know they’ll be happy to help,” the god said.

“Ah, okay… well that’s good,” the blonde stated. 

A silence overtakes the two, it only being filled with the breathing and slight winces of both figures. No birds were able to be heard, nor any wildlife, all of which had been scared off due to the battle. 

“Soo….” Apollo drawled. “What are you going to do after this?” he asked, awkwardly breaking the silence.

“Well, I was going to have lunch—— now dinner,” Naruto told him his plans for what would have happened, had he not been attacked by a blonde Sun-wielding deity that is.

“Right, right,” Apollo nodded. “And that was?”

“I don’t know, I guess some fish soup, with some cooked vegetables,” he told him.

“Uh-huh… you know, that sounds good…” the god gestured. “You think I could…maybe…”

Naruto just sighed. “... I don’t see why not.”

XXX

Artemis’s anger didn’t quell much, though she would admit she did feel alot better now that she had taken a bath. And, sure enough, the moment she did so, the sticky substance she had been covered with had dissolved. That had made her feel better—especially because there wasn’t any Peeping Tom trying to spy on her during her bath in the river, so she could finally enjoy herself. It was relaxing, and she could finally get her mind at ease.

Though she didn’t stop herself from wanting to get back at the man who had done it to her. 

And so, the next chance she got—when she wasn’t caught up with her godly duties, that is, she went off to go and meet him again. 

From then on, they would have a thorough chat, so to speak.

Maybe then her anger could be satiated. 

So that was what she did, all she could think about was getting her revenge for the one who had crossed her. Managing to track that bastard fox’s trail, and what she had found was… not what she had expected.

.

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“---And that big giant swirling orb you summoned, come on, tell me that wasn’t cool. I want to know how to do that!” Apollo and Naruto sat around a makeshift campfire, eating the meal Naruto had cooked up for them on a couple of logs. 

“Sorry, man, but that orb is actually something pretty special. I’m not sure I can teach you as it was really only something my dad invented it,” the shinobi explained. 

“I see, and is he…”

“No, he’s not a son of yours either!” Naruto shouted.

“Hey, I just had to ask, you don’t know how many blondes I’ve come across that are distant relatives of my offspring,” Apollo remarked.

Naruto just palmed his face, “Seriously, who does that? It can’t be all that hard to keep track.”

“Hey, if you think I’m bad, you should see the rest of my family, like my father, or Dite, if anything, I’m celibate compared to them, well… not celibate, because, you know…” Apollo said, and it wasn’t that he had anything against the two; in fact, Dite was probably one of the Olympians he liked more than the rest of them.

“Right…” Naruto said, not sure how to feel about such a thing. 

“Honestly, pretty much all of the Greek Pantheon are like how we are. Well, of course, that’s discounting my sister, who’s too much of a prude to do anything with anyone. And Hestia, but she’s pretty lovable all around, and Athena, but she does that weird mind meld to make a baby thing, so I’m not sure that counts. Those are pretty much the only virgins in my entire family,” Apollo explained.

“That sounds… weird,” Naruto said, not sure how he felt about the fact that there was an entire family of what were practically reckless horn dogs with the powers they had. 

But hey, given the environment she was raised in, that did give a few brownie points towards Artemis’s way, he knew it was hard to shy away from being the product you were raised in, and that too conscious effort, which he could respect. 

Now, if only she weren’t so proud, then they might actually get along. 

As he looked over to Apollo, who was savoring his food. He actually wasn’t all a bad guy when it came down to it, easy-going, and pretty chill, not letting much get him down.

He was alright in his book.

Though one thing did still confuse him. “Hey, so if you’re like… the God of the Sun, how does that work up there!” Naruto asked, pointing to the sun that was floating above their heads. The same sun that floated above in his time. If he were the God of it, then was he the god of it in his time? Or did he, like, choose such a mantle later on? He didn’t quite know. 

“Ah, well that,” Apollo said, actually thinking on the matter. “I suppose it’s best to say that I got a fragment of myself driving a bright golden chariot across the sky that represents the sun, you know,” he explained.

Naruto didn’t understand it one bit. 

But he decided it was best not to think on the matter. His world was his own, and this new Greek one was something different, which he was just getting used to.

In fact, he was so lost in thought contemplating this fact that he didn’t notice a few rustlings of leaves off in the distance.

That was, until Apollo’s voice rang through his ears, catching his attention. “Oh, hey, Arty, we were just talking about you!” the Sun god’s voice spoke. 

As it was then, the blonde shinobi looked up to see that indeed Artemis had come onto the scene, finding them. Appearing fresh and serene in her silver tunic, her silver eyes looked pointedly in their direction.

“Yes, hello, brother, Naruto,” Artemis sounded, the laddar of her words sounding more like a hiss than anything. 

“Uh, hey, Red!” the fox said, and he could see the Goddess’s brow twitch slightly as he pronounced her nickname. 

“Indeed, it is… unexpected to see you and my brother getting along. I had not been made aware of such a fact,” the goddess said fluently, calm almost.

Naruto could sense that something was wrong.

As he felt Apollo’s arm wrap around his neck, a friendly gesture, “What, me and foxy over here, the best of friends now after the just fight we had, did you know he could make his eyes turn golden and give him super strength, reminded me so much of Herc, you know,” the God laughed. 

As Artemis’s hair shadowed her eyes, though, he would point out, he could still see her gleaming, almost glowing orbs in the darkness, which only made her more eerie. 

Nevertheless, she spoke, “Why yes, I suppose I have seen such an ability from him, once.” That was right, he had shown her an ability like that when they had first met. And she had indeed realized that such an ability made him stronger.

He hadn’t deigned to show her such a power again.

“That’s cool! This guy has so many abilities that I didn’t know were possible from—well, someone not like us, go figure,” Apollo smiled, ignorant of his sister’s burning emotions. And, like a kettle, she was beginning to overflow, as if she was about to burst.

“That’s nice,” Artemis smiled, almost sweetly, a look which began to send shivers down his spine. 

“Though I have to wonder… why does my brother get such preferential treatment, meanwhile, I am doused with both sugars and feathers,” she said. 

“Ah, that, well that’s…” Apollo tried to say, but it was only then that he began to see Artemis’s anger. 

She did have a point. When she and Naruto faced Naruto, he would always be evasive, playing pranks on her and trying to humiliate her. Why was her brother different?

“We've got to get out of here, no way am I dealing with two crazy sky siblings in a row!” Naruto shouted, immediately throwing Apollo’s arm to the side in favor of running away. 

Apollo quickly ran after him, “Hey, wait, don’t leave me with her—Ow! Arty, I swear, not the face, not the face!” 

As the two ran, Artemis pulled out her bow in an instant to try to shoot at them both. “I’LL GET YOU!! IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!!!” she shouted. 

Quickly running after the fox, the ever-so-exuberant Sun god in tow.

He didn’t quite know what the future held.

One thing was for certain: Naruto’s slow way of life was about to change.

Things were just getting interesting!

End Chapter. 

An: And there we go.

I know this fic has been much anticipated, and here we go with the third update. 

Not much happening, though it does mark the occasion with Naruto’s SECOND Olympian met, at least for now, who knows how many more he will meet. And of course, the beginning, with the not-so-nicely ended fight between Naruto and Artemis (will she ever learn?)

Apollo was an interesting character to write, with him in the book being almost like a laid-back surfer dude sort of. So I tried to capture that here, with him not exactly being a fight maniac, but he does enjoy a good one.

I semi-struggled thinking up how Apollo will fight in this, mainly because there is a TON of references to use, I even considered having him be more like Record of Ragnarok’s version with his thread-based fighting. Overall, you can see I didn’t go with that, but did take some inspiration when writing Apollo’s character. With Apollo in ROR being one of the few gods I actually rooted for in his fight with Leonidas.

I didn’t know exactly what I was going for, but I knew I basically wanted to end this with Naruto and Apollo becoming bros by the end of it. Which I suppose I successfully delivered.

Anyways, not much else to say, thank you all for keeping up with this fic, the responses have always been astounding. 

The next chapter will hopefully focus on Naruto’s interaction with a character I already introduced, so you have that to look forward to.

See ya! 

Please leave me Lots and Lots of NICE reviews. It does help out alot, especially if you enjoy it, and Patreon peeps, pls "Heart" the fic as well.

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