Naruto: My way

God of Water

By Heliosion

Chapter One: A Misty Future

Disclaimer: In honour of the Uchiha clan I am issuing a new disclaimer which is this. If I owned Naruto I wouldn't have made it so Madara didn't take the piss with the super powers. Hey I'm bored I know I'll give myself the rinnegan! - Point taken no?

I have taken on the watchful eye of Maneyan whose fic 'Ouroboros' you should all check out right away as my beta or most accurately my stricter quality control expert! Thanks!

XreviewX

The Elemental Nations, a continent filled with countries with established fixed borders set after the era of warring states by the hand of Senju Hashirama. He was a visionary born into a powerful nomadic ninja clan with the ability to tame the monsters of chakra known as the Biju. Using them as offerings to forge a brave new world and creating the first hidden village to give what would later be called the Hi no Kuni the backbone of a proper military structure the man would like his famous Mokuton create the roots of what would become the Elemental Nations.

Forging a peace, a world without violence and gave a continent so imbedded in war a chance to breathe until the events that created the first world shinobi war where the catastrophes of the former era would pale in comparison. Alongside the mighty Hi no Kuni four more powerful nations sprang up naming themselves after the primary elements of life, Kaze No Kuni, Tsuchi no Kuni, Kaminari no Kuni and lastly the warlike Mizu no Kuni whose isolated island world meant they could keep up the wars of their ancestors without impact on the rest of the world. These larger powerhouses would shape the other smaller nations that sprang up at the mercy of the great five creating smaller ninja villages where those clans who could find no home amongst the larger countries set up home. One such country even gaining initially enough military power to warrant the gift of a Biju in the hope of keeping them from prematurely triggering a bloody conflict ten years before it actually occurred.

One such nation, the third largest of the five greatest could be noted as the most benign outwardly. Internally however Mizu no Kuni after its formation of the shinobi village Kirigakure no Sato in the valley of mists on the largest island far to the south never really had forgotten the lessons of the old world. It had been said the clans there after the Rikudō Sennin spread his teachings worldwide were the first to make armed shinobi groups and wage war fuelled by grudges kept at bay by the sea. These conflicts would continue on and off like drops of rain during a storm making them unable to participate in the first shinobi war. The second war, their only participation was one battle where their Nidaime Mizukage lost his life crushing the heart out of the famous Nidaime Tsuchikage who'd been trying to take advantage of Mizu's crumbling government by trying to infiltrate and kill the daimyo.

Those events led to the brief reign of the mysterious third Mizukage whose name, origins and abilities were unknown. He would stabilise the country with influential shinobi giving birth to the Densetsu no Shinobigatana Shichininshū. Seven legendary warriors gathered from all around Mizu no Kuni whose primary responsibility was to restore glory to the tarnished reputation of Kirigakure no Sato who'd had to sit out of world politics almost to the point of becoming irreverent in the minds of the other great villages. In a harsh environment where resources were difficult to maintain, Kirigakure no Sato's infamous Sandaime before his death from a coup d'état at the hands of Sanbi no Yagura, the Sandaime created the policy of buddying up two apprentice shinobi together then making them kill the other in a final duel to the death. This cruel practice still practised today forced two random people where sex, age or culture was irrelevant to bond together. They would eat together; live together and in some cases become lovers until they were tested to see if their bond was stronger than their loyalty to the village.

One of those tested would become one of the founding members of the great shinobi swordsman Momochi Zabuza famed for slaughtering an entire class of cadets without prior training.

It didn't get any better either with the reign of the Yondaime Mizukage. In fact the bloody mist as it was now nicknamed became a hell on earth. A Jinchuuriki, a being scorned by the common people, seen as the monster and the small teenage boy taught the lessons of the darker side of humanity ruled the village with a bloody iron fist. Civilians became second class citizens governed by terror and murder. The ranks became plump with the power of hungry, desolate children eager to murder just to live a life free of fear. In a few short years Yagura brewed an army that hated him so much he often had to order the death of dissidents until those bloody skirmishes cost him too many shinobi.

With that in mind he heartlessly took the ire off him and aimed it towards the kekkei genkai clans, shinobi born with unique powers and abilities. In the past these shinobi were often called upon to suppress uprisings on the orders of the Mizukage. The Shodaime especially in the latter years of his brief reign came to rely on the kekkei genkai clans and like the wars left behind a deep nearly invisible impression was hanging over them like a sword of Damocles.

Well that was until Yagura lit the fires of hatred with his campaign of hatred. Not since the second shinobi war had a man united the feuding factions of Mizu no Kuni in a cause. It was not long before his brutal ascension to power was seemingly forgotten in a few short years when the shinobi, many bearing grudges of past defeats were given the power to quench their bloodlust. Many caught unaware bloodline clans died in a few months; others were quick enough to see the writing on the wall not so long after the destruction of Uzushiogakure no Sato and fought back forming a ragtag rebel army led by the massacred leftovers of the Terumi clan later bolstered by the sickened Densetsu no Shinobigatana Shichininshū.

It was all for naught. The rebellion ruined what little there was left of Mizu no Kuni. Entire islands were destroyed, the economy in ruins, thousands massacred and the rebellion violently crushed. The remnants were invited to settle in Konohagakure no Sato suffering a manpower shortage after the events of the Third Shinobi War. There they would forge a new legend, a world of swords, peace and strength by the hand of the Yondaime Hokage, the legendary Yellow Flash, and Kiiroi Senko Namikaze Minato.

However the curse of Yagura would linger on perpetually blighting the land of Mizu no Kuni and shutting off all contact with the outside world. Nobody knew what was going on inside during the modern era. Stories described a desolate wasteland and with the death of their hidden village turmoil would stir as others sought to take their place.

Only time would tell what might happen next.

XreviewX

Namikaze Naruto worshipped his heroes as a young boy. He'd grown up fascinated about them, the foreigners who chose to accept his father's invitation to settle here. Many had links to his mother's people the Uzumaki clan, some distant cousins whilst others had been allies or former enemies alike.

Mother had not been keen to see her son's love towards the bloody warring Kiri shinobi; his father had his pride stolen by his small child's dreams revolving around becoming like his newfound heroes. Naruto had based his whole world around it, causing much loss of face to the famed Namikaze clan.

He chose to embody their spirit, the will of water to forge his destiny as a shinobi. It led him down a darker path, a world where his father's idealism was diluted by the stories of people so eager to kill each other at the drop of a hat. A sense of reality was behind his philosophy, a man determined to create peace but not naïve enough to forget war was still everywhere among the smaller nations desiring the title of the fifth great nation.

Naruto had killed many of these men, slaughtered hundreds of bloodthirsty shinobi eager to be recognised by the behemoths that'd used their lands to stage the wars of the past. Ame, Kusa, Hoshi and Taki… Konoha's former allies alongside everyone else were now trapped in the steel trap of warfare. The big nations had been halted by these conflicts too wary to make big steps in their agendas in the fear that it could lead to their destruction. Iwa once a giant was whimpering from the loss of allies more interested in their own interests to be cowered by the wounded bear it once was and Suna had seen a massive geopolitical change with the new Godaime Kazekage, Shakuton no Pakura.

Mind you all that political crap didn't matter to Naruto at the moment. He had more pressing concerns with four shinobi who were at this moment in time currently trying to end his life. Each a member of Hoshigakure no Sato's depleted shinobi force. His mission: Retrieve the star from the shrine in the nearby hidden village for analysis and if possible kill the leader whom presumptively dared call himself a Kage for a few meaningless victories against Amegakure a week before. Intelligence indicated those were feints and an intercepted estimated body count held by one of their couriers made grim reading if you were wearing a forehead protector with a star on it.

Naruto danced in the white moonlight around one enemy foe, flowing like water past an open palm thrust from a second and flipped sideways into an exaggerated cartwheel to bait the fourth waiting on the fringes to attack. His tilted head allowed a kunai to fly past his neck by millimetres and on the end of that spin produce then launch a barrage of senbon needles hidden deep within the confines of his jounin vest.

Unlucky number four went down twitching. Naruto was given a brief respite, a second enough for the other three to look back to see the fate of what might've been the leader only to fall into his trap and each in turn was delivered a paralysing needle to the back of the neck. Like marionettes with their strings cut they fell to the barren earth. Behind them was the famed canyon surrounding the perimeter of their village spewing a natural poison gas, most likely the reason they built it here. A barrage of hand seals whipped up a torrent of water originating around the ground around him washing away the unconscious men to their doom from either the fall or the toxic fumes.

"Shinobi have really gone down in standards these days," Naruto remarked humorously. His large fluttering black jacket whipped in the air rushing up from the canyon floor. The pale moonlight floating in the clear sky shone off his forehead where he kept his forehead protector converted into a helmet like ornament much like the Kage of old of his village he admired so much. His jounin vest was streamlined sacrificing protection to add some speed to his swiftly moving body. The small watery gourd hanging around his back next to his katana hanging from his shoulder soaked up the water beneath his feet and what little survived the fall off the canyon with a simple hand sign.

"They were too easy if you can find the time to pose like that," japed a mystery voice. A flicker of light bending particles revealed the hidden form of his best friend Hōzuki Suigetsu who literally was water for a few minutes. His older brother had created a jutsu using water to refract light rendering one invisible without needing to use chakra making anyone unfamiliar with it in dire straits. Snowy haired with deep purple eyes, the ōdachi waving swordsman garbed in a skin tight white shirt with his clan symbol on the front and back was covered in red blood running down his black pants, making his shark like toothy smile all the more ironic.

"Nah Hoshi just sucks," Naruto retorted to his old sparring partner, "Oba-chan wouldn't have to wrinkle her cute nose to finish these morons off."

"It's creepy the way you talk about your aunt even if she's a babe," Suigetsu said, grimacing, "But on the other hand you're mum…" Suigetsu wolf whistled adjusting his sword hanging over his shoulder lazily. "Now that is one hell of a foxy lady."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the bad pun and leapt into the air abruptly. A pair of senbon needles flew into the night silently and hit their target. A woman wreathed in purple chakra collapsed clutching her obstructed wind pipe. He didn't give her another thought writhing in agony on the dusty floor.

"I felt them," Suigetsu declared, spinning in a circle with his enormous sword using both hands for that added oomph. Two splashes of blood revealed two concealed ninja as did the soft thud of their dead torn in two meaty chunks bodies. Naruto reacted again and his barrage of needles was finally repelled by a kunai. Well it was one needle and the other five made it through. Naruto felt killing intent ignoring Suigetsu finishing off what Naruto had hit, searching around him curiously until after he looked up to admire the purple energy chakra wings they'd been briefed about above them.

Naruto liked the 'trick' Hoshi specialised in, knowing they were employing chakra leeched off a mystery rock that fell from the sky to enhance their ability to manipulate raw chakra, much like the Uzumaki clan could do when creating their feared chains. It was an interesting sight, shame though there was no cloud to hide in. He could've compared them to grotesque butterflies but was more interested in defeating them. The charismatic blonde formed hand seals and pulled the moisture out of the air. He span on the spot, generating a whirlpool under his feet that lifted him into the air.

Whilst still surrounded by the water another half hand seal spurted the water around him up like a geyser over his head to make rain. Another turned that falling water into razor needles and peppered the aerial attackers. They were made to land to shield themselves from the needles of doom by using the wings as barriers. Suigetsu on the other hand just threw his sword with ninja wire on the hilt to bisect one unwary attacker forcibly grounded and as he recalled it copied his ally and spun on the spot tearing apart another struggling to move with his knee caps sporting holes.

Naruto moved on the sound of the enormous sword stabbing into the soul and took advantage of the water on the ground to glide across the ground like he was using ice skates. Niftily drawing his katana to finish off who was left Suigetsu had his weapon thrown back to him. Taking out one masked female who had managed to receive only minor injuries, Naruto figured the rest hadn't anticipated his speed or the sweeping slashing strikes that took the rest out.

"How long is it going to take those two fuckwads to fucking give us a signal already?" Suigetsu growled. Up ahead in the dense smog of toxic fumes was the village of Hoshigakure no Sato hidden very well from curious eyes. "If I didn't know pinky hated playboys I'd be thinking Sas-Uke was getting some instead of doing his part of the mission."

"Why do you think he always gets paired up with Sakura-chan?" Naruto said wryly, slashing his sword in the air to get the blood off. The teenager ran his finger along the edge, chakra laden so it was sparking off its conductive metal just to be sure he hadn't missed any. "But we can't complain really. They gave us the fun part of this mission. All this cannon fodder," he added, gesturing to the bodies in the desolate environment, "To rip to pieces is just getting my blood all pumped up. Isn't it the same for you too?"

"It's enough for a workout I suppose," Suigetsu answered coolly, nodding his head to Naruto's left resignedly. The blonde rolled his eyes again and slung a senbon needle that appeared with a wisp of smoke between his fingers. Surrounded by pale moonlight and having used the tactic several times the foe's kunai pinged as it bounced off it. The needle hidden just behind it hit the jackpot piercing the throat from front to back. The enemy shinobi reappeared and spluttered coughing up blood on the way down to the hard earth. "Why do you think they're still trying to ambush us when they know we know they're there?"

"Has anyone said you're a very eloquent speaker," Naruto sniped sarcastically. Suigetsu gave him a one fingered salute. In return Naruto shrugged lazily. "Who knows what cannon fodder thinks? They ain't important enough for us to think about. Remember what Zabuza-sensei says?"

"Cannon fodder is just sword practice with a living target I know."

"Damn straight!" Naruto agreed proudly, "None of these fools matter and why should they? I've never been fodder in my life so I've always meant something. Ameyuri-sensei would fry both of us like catfish if we sucked that much."

The bantering byplay between the two swordsmen roused the anger of their adversaries. All of them materialised one by one from the shadows of the night, purple meteor chakra burning like a blast furnace from them all. The chakra acted like it was alive, tendrils like lightning bolts bouncing from one Hoshi shinobi to another. To anyone not a jounin it was undoubtedly rather intimidating. Suigetsu rather immaturely stuck out his tongue in provocation and on cue they all charged forward eager for blood.

Suigetsu ran for one half of the encircling enemy formation roaring a battle cry and Naruto excited as ever took the other side. The blonde weaved a set of one handed hand seals on his gloved hand and took in a deep breath. He spat out bullets made of hard water whilst the open gourd on his back gurgled like a blocked drain and fired up angled artillery rounds into the air. Another set of blurring half seals inches from engaging the target gave the flying water balls form in the shape of vipers that opened their maws on the descent to swallow unwary prey. Several fell victim to the trap and were mulched by crushing water pressure. Others nearer the back took a step back to watch tightly packed comrades in the front rows be hit by water bullets the size of cannon balls employing blunt force trauma to shatter bones on contact.

The rest were treated to more of his kenjutsu. His graceful skirting over the soaked earth made bobbing and weaving through the ranks with inhuman ease frightening to these chumps. Bodies flew everywhere, blood spurting from severed arteries and body parts flying like a free for all at an organ donation drive. The ranks already disorganised by attacking someone with real skill collapsed into anarchy and made the teenager cutting through the irradiated shinobi job stress-free. It was starting to make sense why they chose to stay invisible and using hit and run tactics. None of them could be more than a genin. None of them stood out. No unique or difficult jutsu were being deployed. They moved, fought and died like the little bitches genin they were until their jounin sensei (which he'd probably killed) made them ship shape. Following that line of thought it was making sense they would leave their better forces, the ones doing the fighting with Amegakure no Sato to stay behind in the village to protect their super weapon.

Naruto sheathed the glittering sword in conclusion of his slaughter and decided to watch the show his friend would put on. His fight hadn't been all that much fun.

Whilst the scion of the Namikaze family treated water like it was its king, Suigetsu was more of a traditional sort. He was in the thick of it, sword swinging like a maniac for maximum carnage. The surrounding enemy force unwisely tried to overwhelm him using numerical superiority with absolutely no success. Every stab of their kunai neither purple jutsu shaped like claws or butterfly wings made a dent. They just passed right through the white haired swordsman. He was using his watery body to absorb hits leaving a tangible arm to slash and hack through their ranks with his long sword. His friend was in a whole other league of skill making him impervious to regular attacks and the arrogance of the Hoshi ninja was reduced to pathetic desperation.

"Oi finish up already!" Naruto shouted, pointing to his wrist where a watch would be if he had such a thing. "I want to get home sometime this year!"

"I'll be right with you after I finish killing these morons," Suigetsu boasted. His rampage ended not a minute later in a dervish of cuts using his watery body as a corkscrew in a cheap knock off of Naruto's own jutsu. He returned to his normal body, unsealed a bottle of water from his forearm and finished it in one go. "That really hit the spot," Suigetsu said, sheathing his enormous sword diagonally from shoulder to knee.

"So would some sake and a girl," Naruto said, searching the field of battle laden with corpses. A few dying moans were put right with a bit of good old fashioned stomping with his heavy duty steel toe capped boots. Suigetsu was having a bit too much fun with the humiliation. "Dude you should've went before we left the village," Naruto japed at his partner pulling down his pants to pee on one of their beaten foes. It was gross but it wasn't the worst thing Naruto had seen from a Konoha shinobi on one of their crushed foes.

Just then in the night sky the piercing whistle of a firework broke off their banter. Suigetsu zipped up his trousers and looked up to see the colour of their signal. It was blue meaning to move in. Both swallowed a temporary inoculating chakra pill to protect them from the poisonous mist and crossed the canyon to the outskirts of dense woodland.

Hoshigakure from their high viewpoint was a tiny mud hole of a crappy village. It was built in a natural clearing with a few shacks and a temple of some kind in the middle. A well-worn path fed from the top of the high hills to the dwellings below in constant view of a tree house. Pandemonium was going on. Shinobi were running around like headless chickens and others were in battle.

"At least we know where they are," Suigetsu observed. He was using a pair of binoculars to watch the carnage below. Fire had claimed one house which was rapidly spreading to other homes. The woodland wasn't unscathed either spreading unnaturally swiftly like a hurricane was blowing the fires onwards when there wasn't a drop of wind. Tonight was still, soft fitting the occasion of a massacre. It allowed warriors to pour their hearts out before they died with their assailants able to hear their frustrations at being so utterly inadequate before their antagonists' power. "I found Haruno."

"Has she got the box?" Naruto questioned.

"No I can't see it. She's engaging the head of the village and the fat ass is getting mauled. Four more wearing council robes are lying unmoving to her two, four and eight o'clock."

"They really got in that easily to find the time to pull off the secondary objectives as well?" Naruto mused. "Any sign of Sasuke?"

"Sas-Uke? Nah can't see him at all. Only the Haruno chick and she's just sliced the oh so mighty Hoshikage in half from head to ass." Suigetsu swooned with a theatrical sigh. "Naruto I think I'm in love."

"She isn't always so messy. The ass had to have said something to piss her off."

"And she's leaving none for us to play with! Naruto make us an expressway before there's none left!"

"Yes master," Naruto drawled. Both hands blurred forming the hand seals. He stilled his breath as he deployed his extreme affinity to the water element by pulling it out from all around him. Leftovers from their skirmishes, the water vapours from the very air, everything if Suigetsu wasn't in his solid body was pulled around him and shaped into his next jutsu. An enormous tsunami splashed down the canyon as an unstoppable force uprooted trees, soil and likely drowned a fair few ninjas hiding out from the on-going bloodbath. Suigetsu rode the top of the waves becoming one with it and the creator of the jutsu followed suit surfing on the top. The juggernaut tore through the whole forest up to the very fringes of the village. Naruto landed into hell on earth seeing the charred remains of the once proud forest. He dismissed his tidal wave by turning it into a spout and allowed it to rain down once again. Any stubborn fires were extinguished but it drew the attention of their opposition. Naruto could see it in their eyes the shame of failing to protect their homes, spouses and children. Children were among the drowning victims and battle lines were being drawn.

Suigetsu needed nothing to prevent his assault. His ōdachi shimmered and sang as it was eviscerating anything that got too close. He was moving to where Sakura was no doubt hidden in the back of one of the few surviving buildings. Naruto stayed on the spot to let three defenders get close. His katana was pulled to his left hip and all of his chakra concentrated on his thighs. He unsheathed at god like speed or and vanished in the same heartbeat. His return to the naked eye left a furrow in the ashen soil with his left foot as he clicked the beautiful blade back into its sheath and stopped his burst of acceleration. The results were delayed, his feet faster and Battōjutsu swifter than the rending of flesh from bone. His adversaries appeared fine just strangely still in the maelstrom going on until from their waists their torsos slid from their pelvises.

Naruto walked on like before without caring a bit about the results of his attack. With big strides the teenager of fifteen autumns whistled a merry tune in the wake of Suigetsu's enthusiasm. He studied the simple layout of the streets, tasted the smell of smoke and death all too familiar to the ninja these days. It was so invigorating. Naruto couldn't imagine a world where he was powerless, stuck in-between the strong and the chaos impotent to shape the constant wars in any way.

Thank the gods Naruto was born into a shinobi family. His trained eyes watched the cowering civilians that weren't worth killing hiding poorly in dark corners trying hopelessly not to move. Bodies were strewn around everywhere with the signature cuts of Haruno Sakura. Her blitzing technique was very obvious to those who knew her so like Suigetsu followed the bloody swath of victims to her to find the location of the box.

The 'box' was a cubed containment unit reinforced by containment seals to turn it into something reminiscent of the fuinjutsu deployed to contain Biju into Jinchuuriki. His father's work with a dash of the barrier division's head it was made specifically to contain the radiation of the star. Losing it was an instant mission fail since most of the work done on it was classified top secret with a guaranteed death sentence if you were caught trying to steal it.

At the top of a slight gradient Naruto stopped to listen to the sound of a naginata cutting through the air. Smirking he ran the last few feet up to the small temple. He peered from the corner on the street playfully and tilting his head Naruto admired the show.

Pink haired Haruno Sakura, his old genin teammate, first girlfriend (his onetime to overcome Zabuza-sensei's training that failed epically) and the youngest woman to ever become a jounin just beating Tsunade-sama, the lush by about three months. She was a beautiful full bodied woman in her skin-tight purple body suit that hid nothing. Sexuality was wafting from her pores, full bodied hair tied back with a red ribbon, boobs which were a weapon on their own and an ass matching her long and slender legs. She was sex on legs and best of all monogamous. You bagged her (three had managed this feat) and you had a loyal committed girlfriend until you inevitably fucked up something. Her brown lacquered naginata was a haze of sweeping circular actions leaving nothing but death in its path. The paper tape wrapped to its pole moved around her acting as a weapon and shield. Parts of it had seals spitting out poisons, smoke and dangerous chemicals reducing her weaknesses by half. Getting close to her signed your death warrant and arguably made her the strongest kunoichi in the village. Tsunade-sama was retired and drinking her days away, Kushina his mother hadn't seen battle in two decades and she hated using her Biju if she could avoid it during the last war.

That left Haruno Sakura whose dance partner with the giant sword was competing for most kills. Both of them were rather competitive and their biggest differences were what prevented them from getting along. Suigetsu played by his own rhythm whilst Sakura followed the code of the shinobi to the latter on the field with no room for compromise. She was incredibly intelligent and had to put the head doctor into his own hospital when he wouldn't take a 'no' for an answer when she refused to join. She was a girl preferring to inflict damage than repair it. The dragon motif on her weapon was supposed to represent a kamikaze or 'divine' wind which suited her style of combat.