Camp life turned out to be… strange.
Not because of the training.
That part was simple.
I had been at Camp Half-Blood for several months now, and every day the campers trained with weapons, tactics, and survival skills. Sword fighting, archery, sparring exercises—everything meant to prepare demigods for the monsters that hunted them.
For most of the campers, it was difficult.
For me…
It was effortless.
The moment a sword was placed in my hands, decades of experience returned to me. In my previous life as Orochimaru, I had mastered countless forms of combat. My body might have been young, but my muscle memory adapted quickly.
Within weeks, it became obvious.
I was far beyond the other campers.
My weapon of choice made things even more unfair.
The blade I carried was not a normal sword.
It was the legendary Sword of Kusanagi.
The god who reincarnated me had been generous enough to include it inside one of my summoning scrolls. The blade was unnaturally sharp, nearly indestructible, and capable of extending with chakra.
A divine camp filled with demigods…
And I was walking around with one of the most dangerous swords from another universe.
Needless to say, sparring matches ended quickly.
But that wasn't the strange part.
No.
The strange part was the other campers.
Because some of the demigods training here were… historically important.
Extremely important.
One afternoon during strategy practice, I realized something that made me pause mid-thought.
Several of the campers here would grow up to shape the future of the entire world.
Among them was Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A son of Zeus.
There were others as well.
Future leaders.
Military strategists.
Influential thinkers.
And unfortunately…
Adolf Hitler was here too.
That realization had been… deeply uncomfortable.
According to what I remembered about this world's lore, the World War II was influenced heavily by conflicts between demigods descended from the most powerful Olympians.
The children of Zeus.
The children of Poseidon.
The children of Hades.
When those bloodlines clashed, the human world suffered.
Which meant the coming war wasn't just political.
It was divine.
A war between gods played out through their children.
Given that I was a child of Athena, my position in that conflict was obvious.
Athena historically sided with Zeus.
Logic, strategy, and order aligned with his rule.
Which meant my future allies were clear.
So I began spending more time with Roosevelt.
Despite being the son of Zeus, he was surprisingly reasonable. Calm, intelligent, and far less arrogant than one might expect from Zeus's bloodline.
Perhaps age would change him later.
But for now, he was someone I could work with.
Naturally, I began advising him.
Strategy came easily to me.
Decades of combat experience, combined with my enhanced intelligence, made battlefield planning almost trivial.
During training exercises—especially Capture the Flag—I began suggesting tactics.
Flanking routes.
Ambush positions.
Supply control.
Terrain advantages.
At first Roosevelt simply listened out of curiosity.
Then he started following my suggestions.
And we began winning.
Repeatedly.
Soon enough, a pattern emerged.
Roosevelt led the team.
And I stood beside him as his strategist.
His second-in-command.
Other campers began noticing.
Whispering.
Some of them seemed uncomfortable around me.
Possibly because of the snakes that occasionally appeared nearby.
Or perhaps because the way I fought with the Sword of Kusanagi looked… unnatural.
Either way, it didn't matter.
The important thing was preparation.
Because the future was already moving toward war.
A war between demigods.
A war between the children of the most powerful Olympians.
And when that war arrived…
I would ensure we were the side that won.
I watched Roosevelt studying a battlefield map during training.
Slowly, I spoke.
"You're focusing too much on the center."
He looked up.
"What do you mean?"
I pointed to the forest line on the map.
"If the enemy thinks your strongest force is here, they'll concentrate their defense. But if you move your archers through the eastern trees…"
I traced the path with my finger.
"You can collapse their entire flank."
Roosevelt studied the map for a moment.
Then he smiled slightly.
"That might actually work."
Of course it would.
I had fought in multiple wars before this body had even been born.
The coming conflict between demigods…
Would simply be another battlefield.
And this time…
I intended to win from the very beginning.