Percy Jackson: The Firstborn

Chapter 39: BONUS Chapter 39: Family in the Ruins ?

”What do you think you can find there?” the Fox’s rough voice asked.

Damon was currently jumping from tree to tree at high speed, but when he heard the question, he slowed down a little so he could think of an answer.

”Hmm... honestly, I have no idea,” Damon replied simply before picking up speed again. ”But Amaterasu told me to go, so there has to be something there she wants me to find... I hope.”

”To be honest, I’m pretty interested too. I’ve never been there before, and if she recommended it, then it has to be for something important.”

”You’ve never been to Uzu?” Damon asked, surprised. ”Nowadays it’s nothing but ruins, but it used to be a great village... I truly believed the Uzumaki clan was one of the keys to finding the peace I had spent so long chasing... but I underestimated human paranoia and their greed for power,” he added, the regret clear in his voice.

Kurama raised an eyebrow, confused by how much confidence Damon had placed in one clan for something as difficult as peace, but the Fox was not the type to keep thoughts like that to himself.

”Seems like you had a lot of faith in them to say something like that.”

”Obviously,” Damon replied quickly, only making Kurama more confused. ”I mean... the Senju clan came from one of my sons, yes, but the power they inherited came more from my father than from me. The Uzumaki clan, though, is something else. They inherited almost everything from me... more or less.”

”I don’t fully get what you mean,” Kurama said, making it clear he was completely lost.

”The Senju clan was always known for Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, right?” Damon asked, receiving a hum of confirmation from the Fox. ”Do you know what the Uzumakis were known for?”

”Besides their red hair... Fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu, I think,” Kurama replied. ”But what does that have to do with anything?”

A vein popped on Damon’s forehead at the Fox’s impatience.

”A lot, Kurama. First, the red hair and their appearance. They don’t look exactly like me, but they’re close enough. Second, Fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu. I was always very interested in Fuinjutsu. It’s an art that can let a mortal stand on equal footing with a god if they know enough about sealing. I’m not exaggerating. You can seal almost anything if your knowledge is deep enough. It was one of the first things that caught my interest when I came into this world... and one of the first things I mastered as well.”

He kept moving as he spoke, his voice calm but steady.

”And Kenjutsu comes naturally to me, almost like I was born for it. My sacred weapon is a katana. Back in my world, before I died there, no one had ever seen one, and no one knew how to use one.”

Kurama was genuinely impressed by that. If what Damon was saying was true, then that katana had to be absurdly dangerous.

”On its own, it’s a very powerful weapon. Most likely the second strongest katana in history. It can cut through almost anything, even chakra itself... everything except the souls of mortals. Only the Shinigami’s katana can do that,” Damon said.

Then his eyes sharpened a little.

”But as you know, I’m also the god of destruction. After a long time training with the help of some Shinto gods, I reached the point where I can even cut through reality itself and move through dimensions with ease. So I really don’t have anything to envy from the Shinigami’s katana.”

”In fact, the one who divided my soul was the Shinigami, so I could reincarnate in human body” Damon added, remembering that day as a shiver ran through his body. ”Weirdest feeling I’ve ever had.”

He drifted a little into the memory, enough to make the Fox sweat at the thought of being split in two.

”Does everyone have a sacred weapon?” Kurama asked, trying to change the subject.

”Yeah... or at least I think so,” Damon replied, sounding a little unsure. ”It doesn’t always have to be a weapon exactly. For example, one of my brothers had a helmet that made him invisible and impossible to detect. But I do think all of them have some kind of sacred object. Of course, after Bishamon...”

”The God of War?” Kurama asked, getting a hum of confirmation out of Damon.

”He has like a thousand different weapons. I don’t even know if all of them are sacred weapons or if he just has some sacred object that lets him pull weapons out of his ass... and on top of that, he never wanted to explain it,” Damon added, sounding a little annoyed.

Kurama’s thoughts started going somewhere else. Bishamon was the god of war, while Damon was trying to bring peace to the world. They probably were not the kind of brothers who got along well from the start... or so he thought.

”He’s not a bad man,” Damon said, guessing where Kurama’s thoughts had gone.

”He’s not the god of war in that sense. He’s the god of fortune and warriors... or luck in war. People usually confuse him with Hachiman, who actually is the god of war... but he isn’t a bad god either. He just earned that title because of all the battles he fought. But he only fights when he believes the reason is just, and he doesn’t approve of the endless wars in this world. He actually helped me a lot when it came to understanding chakra, my domains, and even mastering different weapons.”

Then Damon went quiet for a moment before speaking again.

”But anyway, we can talk more about that later if you want. As for the Senjus and Uzumakis... I love both clans, but the fact that the Uzumaki clan inherited more from me made my interest in them grow even more. That’s why I made that island for them. It hit me hard the day they were destroyed.”

The conversation continued the whole way to Uzu without much trouble. Kurama knew the gods existed, but he had never actually seen one until the day he saw the Queen of the Gods with his own eyes. Ever since then, he had been a lot more curious about them. Whenever he had the chance, he would ask Damon about that world, but every conversation on the topic always ended the same way. Damon would eventually run into things from his past life that left him disturbed for a while, and when that happened, the air around him changed enough to ruin the mood completely.

Damon kept moving toward the ruined village, though he was no longer in a hurry. He honestly did not think he was ready to see what had become of Uzu after the war.

”I still don’t know why the hell I’m doing this,” Damon muttered to himself.

It was not that he was unprepared. It was that, deep down, he had never wanted to come here in the first place. He still blamed himself for all of this. Part of him felt like he did not deserve to step on these lands.

”Stop blaming yourself for what happened, Naruto. You had nothing to do with this, so keep moving forward... and if you can’t do it for yourself, do it for the Uzumakis who died,” Kurama said without getting any answer back, only a low grunt from Damon.

The forest still smelled like blood from the massacre, and the whole place felt cursed or something close to it. Not even a single bird could be heard. There was only a sepulchral silence, the kind that would make even a brave man uncomfortable, and that only made things worse. Damon did not even want to imagine what the ruins of the village would look like.

He kept walking without looking too much at his surroundings. He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible and leave. There were too many memories here, too much pain, too many reminders of past lives.

He was so focused on not looking around that he did not even realize he was already standing at the entrance of the village until he finally lifted his head. What he saw caught him off guard.

It was still there.

The entrance looked almost untouched, as if nothing had ever happened there. The vegetation had spread over the stone and around the walls, but not in a way that looked wild or random. It was too neat, too deliberate. Damon had expected ruins, destruction, signs of battle... but the fighting had not gone past the forest. The village itself looked more abandoned than destroyed.

He let out a long breath and kept moving, looking at everything around him more carefully now. The vegetation wrapped around the empty buildings, and here and there he could even see small animals running through the area.

More than a village that had gone through war, it looked like a place nature had quietly reclaimed. He did not know what to think. Everything looked almost arranged on purpose, as if someone had shaped the forest around the sadness of the place.

In the end, Damon decided not to think too much about it. This was still better than seeing collapsed buildings and blood-stained streets everywhere, so he kept walking.

”Well... I’m here now. What exactly am I supposed to do?” Damon asked no one in particular. ”I don’t even know where to start.”

”Start with the leader’s tower,” Kurama answered right away. ”If there’s anything important left here, that’s the most likely place.”

Damon did not reply, but he agreed. He changed direction and started heading toward the Kage tower, observing everything around him without missing a detail.

After a short walk, he finally reached the tower and went inside, searching for anything that could help him. But to his annoyance, the place was completely empty. The furniture was broken and worn down, but there were no scrolls, no books, nothing hidden in the drawers, not that he needed any after all he already knew everything related to this clan.

Everything was gone.

But then he heard a howl

”Wolves?” Damon muttered to himself.

Damon quickly followed the sound of the howls, ending up in an empty part of the village.

”Behind you.”

When Damon heard Kurama’s warning, he turned around quickly to see what the fox was talking about, and what he saw surprised him even more. A completely black wolf was staring at him without moving. Damon did not know what to do or say, so he just stood there quietly, staring back at the enormous black wolf, which was as big as a horse.

”Uh... hi?” Damon asked, not really sure what the right move was in a situation like this.

He got no answer. The wolf just kept staring at him, almost like it was analyzing him inch by inch, but Damon could have sworn he saw it smile after he spoke.

How the hell did it smile? I don’t even know anymore.

The silence started getting uncomfortable, and Damon was already getting annoyed, so he decided to ignore it and keep going.

Everything seemed fine. The huge black wolf did not show any hostility and simply kept walking beside him like some kind of guard. If it planned to attack, then why wait this long? But then another howl rang out, the same one Damon had heard inside the tower.

Too close.

The giant wolf at his side stopped. Damon turned sharply and started hearing movement all around him. Something was coming closer, and he was not alone anymore.

As soon as the howl ended, wolves began appearing from between the buildings, closing in around the small clearing in the middle of the village. Big wolves, small wolves, wolves with different colors, even a few pups that looked unsure whether to approach him or not. They surrounded both Damon and the large black wolf in front of him.

Damon was not afraid. Why would he..... If anything, it almost felt familiar. Like family.

A feeling he had not felt in a very long time.

And somehow they were back in the same situation as before, the two of them standing there and staring at each other while Damon’s patience started running out.

”I don’t know why I’m here or why we’re suddenly surrounded by more of you, but if you’re going to attack, then do it already. I don’t have all day,” Damon said, slipping into a defensive stance.

”I am not going to attack you. I only want to see if you are worthy of having us as your sacred animals.” the wolf said, its voice deep and commanding.

Damon rubbed his face in frustration. This whole day was turning into a mess, and now it looked like a giant talking wolf had shown up just to confuse him even more.

The wolf noticed Damon’s irritation and seemed to hold back a laugh while Damon’s mind started searching for new ways to get irritated.

”You disappeared a long time ago... Damon,” the wolf said, smiling at Damon’s reaction.

>>>>

who the fck are this wolves and were they come from???

25 more stones I drop another

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