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

It had been days since I first entered the Land of Waves, and things were going... well, not great but not terrible either. Currently, Ayumu was standing on an empty crate outside of one of the poorer districts in the Wave's largest city, preaching.

The reaction was about what I expected: a lot of people gave me strange looks and hurried away, some listened for a bit before realizing they had other things to do, and finally, there were the few who listened intently to my words, hanging onto every sentence.

"Friends, please listen to my words. This world is a place of chaos and uncertainty. Constant war and suffering seem to plague this planet. For those who live here on the Land of Waves, I'm sure you know better than most on how cruel life can be..."

Right now, I am giving a speech to around 20-30 people that were gathered around me. Most were homeless or beggars. While it wasn't as bad as in the series, there were still plenty of poor people here. For many of them, Gatō's takeover of the country was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

"But despite all of this pain and suffering, we must still come together! Only through unity and perseverance can we overcome what life throws at us. All you who struggle each day with nowhere to go or no one to turn to, do not lose hope! When times are rough, remember the good things you still have and hold on to them. When times are dark, light a candle and share its warmth with those who need it! Praise The Watcher Behind the Stars!"

With those words, I felt a spark in my Divine Power pool. A small flash, like a static shock, before it faded. Yesssss... another believer for the collection. That makes 42! Soon I will rule the world!

Well, maybe not, but the reaction to my preaching had been relatively positive.

People were desperate for a way out, and even though I wasn't offering an immediate solution, just the idea that things could get better was enough for most. This did mean that people weren't exactly worshiping me; most seemed to think of god-me as some sort of vague deity that would maybe save them if they just kept being good people.

That was fine for now, but it meant I'd have to find a way to encourage them to actively pray to me rather than just thinking about me.

And yes, I did name myself The Watcher Behind the Stars, it sounded cool and mysterious.

Once I had finished my speech for the day, the crowd dispersed slowly. Most left quickly, while a few remained behind to talk to me or each other. Some wanted advice on what to do, others thanked me for giving them some hope, and a couple of them wanted to give me some food as a donation.

I accepted their gifts gratefully and after conversing with the remaining people for a few more minutes, started walking towards the local orphanage. With all the turmoil this country faced, there were plenty of kids who lost their parents. I checked my Divine Power stockpile. 

DP:254.8

That was actually pretty good, turn out worshiping yourself is very inefficient. About 1 day of self-prayer yielded 0.1 DP while the same amount of time preaching earned me over 20 times that. As an added bonus, once someone decided to start praying to me, I got a vague 'awareness' of them and the surrounding area, based on how faithful they were.

It seemed that DP income from just having someone believe in you was proportional to how much they believed in you. The second variable was the amount of effort put into praying. Those who actually set aside time to pray to me provided significantly more DP than those who just casually thought about me.

My thoughts were interrupted when I reached the orphanage and entered the main room. I was greeted by several children who excitedly ran up to me. They all started talking at once, asking questions, saying hello, or telling me about what they had done today.

I smiled and patiently listened to each child before answering any questions they may have had. After saying hi to all of them, I made my way over to the director, a woman in her late thirties named Noriko. She was standing next to another caretaker, Haruka. They both noticed me approaching and waved.

"Hello Ayumu-sama. I hope things went well for you today." Noriko asked.

"They did, thank you," I replied as I took out most of the food I was given and handed it to her. "This should help a little."

She frowned as she stared at the food in my hands. "Ayumu-sama, I'm grateful for your kindness but there's no need to go so far. If anything, we should be giving you food since you're taking time out of your day to help us out."

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. You have a lot of children under your care; they need all the food they can get."

"No, don't think we haven't noticed you've been looking thinner over the past few days." Haruka said, crossing her arms. "You've been giving us food every day since you've gotten here, and while we appreciate it, that doesn't mean you should starve yourself."

"Give us half of what you have. No more than that." Noriko said with a tone that brooked no argument.

This was another part of my plan to cement my religion.

I sighed reluctantly and looked around the room at the children who were now playing together or watching us curiously. "...Let's speak in a more private space then." They both looked confused but nodded anyway, leading me into a back room.

"Why did you want to talk here?" Haruka asked after she closed the door behind us.

"Well... there's no easy way to say this, but I'm dying.

"Noriko gasped and covered her mouth in shock while Haruka's eyes widened.

"W-what do you mean? Are you sick?"

"No, not quite. I have an incurable condition that will kill me within a few months. It's why I came here; I wanted to help those who needed it most before my time comes. To leave this world a better place than how I found it."

Tears began gathering in Haruka's eyes as she realized that I wasn't joking, and Noriko was more put together but also clearly shaken up.

Damn, I felt like an asshole for lying like this. I didn't expect for them to react this badly, since it's only been a couple of days. They seemed to have taken a liking to me fairly quickly.

"So... What exactly are we going to do about this?" Noriko asked once she recovered slightly. Her voice had gone quiet, barely louder than a whisper.

"Nothing, I've already tried everything I could think of to cure myself. But it's proven to be useless. The best thing you two can do for me is to accept the food. Make sure these kids get as much out of life as they can before I'm gone."

"You're just going to give up?" Haruka asked through her tears. She seemed to have been hit harder by the news than Noriko. But she was young, if I had to guess, she was in her early 20s at most.

"There's nothing else I can do, I'm afraid." I gave them a sad smile. "While this might seem sudden for you two, I've known about this for quite some time now, so I'm more at peace with it than either of you. So please don't be too upset on my behalf."

"That's..." Haruka began but stopped herself and lowered her head.

Noriko looked conflicted for a moment before nodding slowly. "If that's your choice, then we will respect it. It would be insulting if we insisted otherwise after hearing everything you've told us."

Haruka didn't say anything, but I could tell she agreed with Noriko even though she was still clearly distraught.

"I promise not to leave without saying goodbye," I said.

"And you're sure there isn't anything we can do to help?" Noriko asked again. She still seemed unconvinced by what I'd told them.

I just shook my head. "Unfortunately not. As I said, I've known about this for a while, 4 Years to be exact, and I have been searching for a way to stop it from progressing, but nothing has worked." Both women looked saddened again when I said that, although they seemed more accepting of the situation this time.

"What exactly is this disease that you have? You've mentioned it being incurable, but why are you so certain?"

"My Chakra System is atrophying, the energy my body produces is steadily decreasing until it will eventually not produce enough to sustain my body anymore. Once it reaches that point, I will die shortly afterward. A medical-nin or someone trained in the transfer of Chakra could keep me alive longer by supplying me with their own, but it's not a permanent solution. The only thing that can save me would be to somehow regenerate my chakra system entirely."

The two women both gave me uncomprehending looks upon hearing about my condition, clearly neither knew much about Chakra.

Noriko took a deep breath and placed her hand on my shoulder. "Thank you for telling us everything, Ayumu-sama, we appreciate your honesty." She paused for a moment before continuing to speak again. "If there truly isn't anything else that can be done for you, then please allow us to do what little we can for you."

Haruka nodded at Noriko's words.

"I refuse." They both looked at me with surprise as I spoke again. "I know you want to help me, but that isn't necessary. What's important now is making sure these children get whatever they need. I already decided I will spend my last days trying to bring some good into the world, and this orphanage is one place where people are truly in need."

They still didn't look too happy about it, but neither woman argued further with me either.

"...Alright, Ayumu-sama, we understand," Noriko said reluctantly. Haruka continued to remain silent, but her expression showed she felt the same way as Noriko. I nodded at them both gratefully before we left the room.

I spent the next hour talking with Noriko and Haruka as well as playing with some of the kids who wanted to play with me. It wasn't long until it got dark outside, and everyone started getting ready for bed. After wishing everyone goodnight, I returned to the streets, looking for a place to rest.

I still felt bad about lying to them like that, but I crushed that feeling down. A religion isn't built in a few weeks, it takes years. Years I didn't have if I wanted to avoid having my worshipers wiped out by Madara or Kaguya. I could leave it all to Naruto and hope my presence didn't mess anything up too badly, but... what if he didn't succeed?

What if I just stood by and watched as this world burned?

My god-self relegated to watch over a dead world for a potential eternity sounded like hell. Not to mention all of the people who would suffer horribly because I was too scared to get involved. People like those kids in the orphanage. I wasn't a hero, but I'd be an absolute asshole after meeting all these kind and desperate people, then letting them die without at least trying to save them.

But if actually making a religion took so long, how would I have enough DP to do anything? Simple, there was a way to boost a religion's growth in a relatively short amount of time.

A Martyr.

While it sounded simple enough, it was difficult to pull off well. Any old fool could throw himself off a cliff and call it a sacrifice, but that wouldn't do much to encourage faith in any normal person. 

So my plan is simple: create a small following here on the Land of Waves, gain their trust. Then once Gatō starts cracking down on my little cult, sacrifice myself.

Me making up an incurable disease just made sure the select few that got close to me wouldn't be too broken up about my death. After all, if they already thought I was going to die anyway, dying to Gatō would only be a minor change in their expectations.

This body was useless in the long term anyway, without Chakra, I wouldn't be able to survive in this world of magic super ninjas. And since this body lacked a Chakra system, it was utterly impossible to use Jutsu with it, even after years of training. At most, I'd be able to perform Taijutsu techniques, and even then, I wouldn't be anywhere near the level of a true Shinobi without the help of Chakra enhancements. 

So this body would pave the way in blood, a sacrifice to hopefully elevate my godly self into something powerful enough to change things in this world.

After that, I'd hopefully have enough DP to help them overthrow Gatō or at least push him out of the country. If not, well, hopefully I had enough DP to make another body for myself to possess.

...And if not even that works then...

Well, let's just hope this goes well.