I'm a God, Ok? (Naruto/God-SI)

Orochimaru dodged another swing from Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō copy, annoyance building within him.

He was being stalled, it was clear, he reassessed the objective of The Order's forces.

They wanted to eradicate Otogakure, slowly and methodically. He did not like that, at the end of the day, while Otogakure was replaceable, it would be extremely inconvenient for him to rebuild it again.

Still, Kabuto should be back soon, that should turn the tides somewhat, even if it might kill a good portion of his men.

His sword flicked out, aiming for Zabuza's heart, only for the swordsman to knock it off course with a downward swing.

Orochimaru's arm twisted unnaturally, making sure the tip was pointed towards Zabuza's thigh, quickly channeling Chakra into Kusanagi, its blade stabbed into Zabuza's leg.

He had to dodge immediately as the Executioner's Blade came swinging at him, this time an upward arc aiming for his neck.

Water gathered around Zabuza's wound, healing it in the time it took Orochimaru to find another opening.

How annoying, he noted. This fight was a complete waste of time.

"You are pretty annoying to fight, you know?" Zabuza said casually, seemingly having fun. "I wonder how human you really are beneath that pale skin of yours?"

"Perhaps if yo-" Orochimaru was interrupted by a second Zabuza bursting out from the ground behind him, swinging his blade upwards.

Orochimaru barely managed to dodge, his arm getting sliced off as he jumped backwards.

A Shadow Clone?

Snakes burst out of his stump, reforming his lost limb in half a second. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he slashed apart the Shadow Clone, it dispelled in a puff of smoke.

As they were fighting. Kabuto must have finished summoning all the snakes, because from far away, Orochimaru heard low bangs echoing across the battlefield.

"Looks like your forces will soon die, Zabuza-kun." Orochimaru taunted. "I wonder how many people will be able to escape on time?"

Zabuza looked out into the distance for a moment.

High above the Order's forces, dozens of large spheres were falling towards them, the Order responded quickly, Kunai, arrows and Jutsu intercepted them, but as the orbs exploded, clouds of poison covered the sky, slowly falling down.

"Do you think we would not have prepared for gas?" Zabuza asked plainly. "We have prepared for everything, Orochimaru."

Dozens of Order members started weaving hand-seals together, each using Wind-Release to clear the skies, quickly blowing the poison into the general direction of Otogakure.

"How foolish, to think you can prepare for everything." Orochimaru said. "There are many things you cannot expect."

As the poison washed over the Otogakure army, the Shinobi didn't scream in pain, instead they screamed with fury, their muscles bulging as their strength grew.

That was formula 16-T, if you lacked the pre-injected antibodies, then it acted as a simple nerve agent, causing seizures and eventual death.

But for those who had been prepared, it enhanced strength, speed, and most importantly, reaction speed by up to 40%.

It will kill approximately 30% of his forces in a day or two, but that was an acceptable price, in Orochimaru's opinion.

The Otokagure army retreated into the cloud of poison, taking advantage of the fact that The Order forces could not fight them inside of it without dying to it.

"Probably true, but this isn't one of them." Zabuza grinned beneath his mask. "Look up, Snake."

Orochimaru glanced up, only to see clouds, nothing else, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

He didn't have to wonder for long, as out of the clouds descended 20 ice dragons, all aimed at his Shinobi.

His expression turned sour, he gathered his Chakra and rushed towards his men with a Body Flicker, a Double Rashōmon should be enough.

***

Zabuza watched as Orochimaru ran, he was glad that their planning worked out, they, of course, hadn't planned for this exact scenario, but close enough.

Haku had been hiding in clouds with his dragon constructs sealed inside scrolls, waiting for the enemy to gather or retreat into a single location before raining death upon them.

And the possibility of poison and gas was brought up, which is why all the Initiates knew wind Jutsu, it was a basic requirement for being part of the main force.

But Orochimaru was about to leave his range, so he should get started quickly, he smacked his hands together with a clap, he focused on the Blessing deep within himself, and for the first time since he had gotten it, he activated it.

To everyone else, Orochimaru and Zabuza disappeared from the world.

***

MONTHS EARLIER

"Simply walk into the main chamber."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes in suspicion, why was this fucking crow always giving him headaches, did he like doing that?

"That's it?" He asked plainly. "That's the test?"

"Yes, as far as I have been informed, that is what you must do."

Zabuza let out a huff but still followed the order, walking down the hallways of this shrine, finally stopping at a large door, he pushed it open and walked inside.

It was completely dark, when he stepped inside, the door slowly closed behind him.

He was left alone in pitch-black darkness for a few seconds, until suddenly, thousands of stars ignited around him.

This again, he still vividly remembered the first and only meeting he had with The Watcher.

The same pressure descended upon him, but maybe due to his increased strength, or his familiarity with the Watcher's power from his blessings, it wasn't as suffocating this time.

The Watcher appeared in the distance, staring directly at him.

The Watcher approached Zabuza at a slow pace, stopping in front of him, looming over Zabuza.

And then... The Watcher shrank? His body compressed into a much smaller form, a human-sized one, standing barely taller than Zabuza himself.

"Zabuza Momochi." He spoke, his voice still that impossible sound, whereas before it shook reality itself, now it just shook his bones. "I offer you a choice."

Zabuza couldn't help but be wary, this was not what he was expecting when he was told he might be getting a promotion.

"What choice?" He asked cautiously.

"You can receive a normal blessing, similar to those already bestowed upon you."

That sounded pretty good.

"Or you can become my First Templar."

His expectations were instantly shattered.

He knew what a Templar was, it was the highest rank that a member of the Military Order could hold, none were good enough yet to ascend to that rank.

So, why was the Watcher offering this to him? While he was the Head of the Military Wing, he always expected it to be a temporary position, one day an Acolyte would earn a Templar's position, and Zabuza would step down from leadership.

He simply didn't worship the Watcher, he acknowledged him as a god, but never participated in the ceremonies or prayers.

"Why?" He blurted out, without thinking. "Why me?"

The Watcher stood silently for a moment.

"Follow." Without another word, The Watcher turned around and walked into the starry void, Zabuza quickly followed him as he walked.

He just now noticed they were technically standing on nothing, but as they walked, from the darkness beneath him rose stone, every step he took brought up more of it, until they were walking on a large circular platform.

They continued on silently, before finally, they reached the edges of the platform.

The Watcher simply sat down on the ledge, tapping the stone to his side, signaling Zabuza to sit down next to him.

Zabuza hesitantly walked over and was stunned by the view before him. Below them floated the world itself, blue and green, painted with white clouds, he could recognize the Elemental Nations anywhere.

He carefully sat down next to The Watcher, noticing they were actually on a massive tower.

"What do you think?" The Watcher asked plainly.

It took Zabuza a moment to realize that the question had asked, taken by the view in front of him.

"It's... so very small."

He wasn't talking about the planet itself, he was talking about The Land of Waves, The Land of Water, all of them, even the whole Elemental Nations felt... tiny.

"Yes." The Watcher agreed. "It is easy to feel big when standing in small ponds, let me show something else."

A vision appeared, of a baby being born, to a small family, poor but happy, the baby gre, childhood passing in seconds.

 Zabuza saw him become a man and get married, he watched as he plowed a field, then again, and again and again, interspersed with scene from his life, a failed romance, a good friendship, a drunken brawl at a bar, until finally, on a sunny day, the man's heart gave out, and he died right there in the field he spent years taking care off.

More scenes appeared around them, first a handful, then hundreds, then thousands, people being born, dying, it became too much for Zabuza to even remotely follow.

"Does it still fell small? The tens of thousands of people that have lived and are living in my lands?" The Watcher asked, the question ringing out through the sea of images surrounding them, many overlapping and continuing without stop.

Zabuza stared silently, taking it all in, watching lives blink by in seconds.

"I suppose it's bigger than I thought." He answered eventually.

"Yes." The Watcher agreed calmly. "I am not all powerful, or all knowing, my power is vast, I could sink The Land of Waves into a watery abyss, but there will always be a life that slips through my hands."

The Watcher waved his hand again and the visions faded away, leaving the two of them staring at the world itself.

"If I cannot protect all of them, then I will shape a force that can." The Watcher turned to look Zabuza in the eyes. "You are already part of this force, you lead it, guide it. But, you still distance yourself from it. You see yourself as separate, unwilling to put your entire self into it."

Zabuza frowned, that was closer to the truth than he liked, he had pledged his loyalty to Haruka, but even now, months later, he still saw himself as separate from the true worshipers.

He saw The Watcher's Will as his boss, a scary boss that could pull some absolute bullshit out of thin air, but still a boss.

"I do not fault you for this." The Watcher interrupted his thoughts. "But your lack of faith is not an issue, faith does not determine if you are capable of protecting my people."

Frown still on his face, Zabuza spoke up.

"I'm not a protector, I'm a killer, and you know that."

Zabuza wasn't ashamed of what he was, he enjoyed it, the thrill of battle and the satisfaction of placing his life against an enemy, knowing that one of them would die. Killing was what he was doing in the earliest memory he remembered, and it would be the thing he was doing when he breathed his last.

The Watcher tilted his head.

"You misunderstand, in a kinder world, a protector would not be a killer, but we do not live in a kind world." The Watcher stood up from where he was sitting. "This world is seeped in blood, outside my lands, violence is abundant, you know this truth well."

The Watcher extended his hand to Zabuza, offering to help him stand up.

"I do not ask you to change yourself into something you are not, I ask you to kill, cut down those standing in our path, protect the world I am building by destroying those who would see it burn."

The Watcher's tone shifted, the stars within his void-flesh brightened, around them, the darkness grew deeper.

"If this world cannot accept my kindness, then I shall give it my wrath, I will feed it blood and bodies until it is sick of them. And you can be the one who makes it so."

Zabuza had forgotten that The Watcher was not human, no matter how much he acted like it, but the being before him wasn't. The pressure that descended upon him reminded him of exactly what was looking at him.

Zabuza made his decision.