This is where the story just begins. For in this world, when a person dies, they are visited by the master of the element that was the end of them, if killed by another person, they are visited by the Shinigami, the god of death.
Naruto was ruthlessly drowned, therefore, he was destined to meet Poseidon, god of the great sea's.
Moments after Naruto faded into the silent darkness that is death, light invaded his vision, now being nine years old and all alone his life, he didn't know a whole lot, and for him, bright lights typically meant a hospital, but he knew it was too quick for him to be there already.
The light continued to invade his vision until he could see what looked to be a sandy beach with waves cresting along the shore.
Naruto noticed that all the pain he had been experiencing was gone, and that he couldn't feel blood pouring down his limbs, he looked down and was quite surprised to find himself in pristine condition, no wounds, no scratches, nothing. It was then that he noticed a large person standing about twenty feet away from him, the sun shone brightly behind him, silhouetting the man and shrouding him from Naruto's view.
The man walked slowly towards Naruto and he instinctively took a few steps back, he didn't trust anyone these days.
The man continued walking towards him at a steady but non aggressive gait and reached out a large hand to Naruto and spoke in a deep baritone. "Don't be scared my child, I'm not going to hurt you, in fact I'm here to offer you something"
Naruto took a cautionary step backwards nonetheless and questioned him "Offer me what?"
From within the Silhouette Naruto could see the large man smile "A second chance. I'm sorry but you have in fact died. Normally it would be my job to guide you to the afterlife, but I've come to the end of my days as well, I've come to my retirement, and I need someone to replace me in my position, I would like you to be that person."
Naruto's young eyes widened in complete and utter disbelief "You want me? To be you? Who or what are you anyway?"
The figure crouched down to be at eye level with Naruto and he spoke softly "I am Poseidon, lord of the sea's. I deal with everyone who's death was caused by my element, I want you to take my place as the next Poseidon, in turn I can send you back to the mortal plain"
Naruto stared in disbelief "So, I'm dead. You want me to become a god? In return you're going to bring me back to life?"
Poseidon nodded "Yes, of course it will not be immediate, it will be quite a large number of years before you ascend to a god, and until then you will be taught and trained, speaking of that, Kyuubi! Come out here!"
A low growl was heard before an enormous fox, hundreds of feet tall strode out onto the sandy beach and lay down on the sand, it's huge head dwarfing both the huge man and Naruto in size "How can I help you lord Poseidon?" The giant fox asked, clearly not too happy to see the god of water.
Poseidon chuckled at the Kyuubi's tone "You've always been seeking power, what would you say to becoming a god as well?"
Kyuubi's enormous crimson eyes snapped open and to attention "What do I have to do?" the fox bellowed.
Poseidon smirked "Train this boy, make him powerful, my sister Hikouhi is also seeking retirement and she needs a replacement god of Ice, so, become an Ice demon, and when the boy ascends, you shall become the new Hikouhi"
Kyuubi closed his eyes for a second, Ice was his exact opposite, but he would give anything to ascend beyond Nine tails. "Very well, I shall train the boy and become the new Hikouhi, now can we get out of here? I hate the sand"
Poseidon nodded "Very well. Naruto, do you want to take my place as Poseidon?"
Naruto nodded, he didn't want to die yet, and he would be a god? Who would, no, who could say no? "Yeah, I'll do it"
Poseidon clapped his hands in happiness, the boy was the exact person he had been looking for to take over for him, and he'd been searching for the perfect soul for decades "Fantastic, Kyuubi, your transformation will take about a week, until then you will be sealed off from the boy, after that everything will be the same, except for you will now be the nine tailed Ice demon. I'll see you both soon, good luck"
Poseidon snapped his fingers and the fabric of their mental reality began to rip apart as Kyuubi was sent back into Naruto's mind and Naruto was thrust back into the land of the living.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Just moments before they were sent back, out in the real world a fifteen year old Mitarashi Anko was walking through the streets at night like she often did when she smelled blood in the air, lots of it.
She ran towards the source and stumbled onto the scene of Naruto floating in the fountain face down, the water dyed red with his blood.
Her eyes widened at the site and she instantly leaned over the edge of the fountain and rolled him over and scooped him out of the water, it was then that she noticed the multitude of fractures in his arms and legs, and that he also wasn't breathing.
She quickly set his motionless body down on the ground and rolled him onto his side in hopes of getting the water out of his lungs, sure they trained her in first aid, but she knew nothing about CPR or it's application, all she could do was pray for the frail boy before her.
It was at this moment that Naruto was sent back to life by Poseidon and suddenly lurched forward and choked up a huge volume of water a few times, enough to soak the ground before him. Then the pain that was his life hit him like a Tsunami and he cried out. "IT HURTS!" He screamed.
Anko immediately moved and scooped him up, earning another strangled cry of pain and ran off for the hospital as quick as she could, she was one of the few people in the village that didn't hate him, hell she liked him, he had to deal with more shit than she did, and that made him a great person in her book.
Anko quickly arrived at the hospital and forced some doctors to take care of Naruto by the persuasive power of a Kunai to the throat, she hated how they treated him.
She stayed in his hospital room all night, it would be a long time until Naruto recovered from this attack, there was much healing to be done, and there was no Kyuubi to aid in the healing this time around, no matter how much they may have wanted it this time.
The next morning came and with it the Hokage came to check up on Naruto the moment he received the notification from his secretary that Naruto had been attacked the night before.
When he arrived at his room he found Anko slumped on a stool leaning against the wall, looking quite exhausted. When he walked in she already had a Kunai in hand until she noticed who it was and lowered the deadly blade, "Great hospital staff you've got here, I stopped counting the number of doctors that came in here trying to hurt him, two even tried to give him poison in an IV"
Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his brow "When will these people learn. Anko you can go home, get some rest, I'll get my best Anbu to guard him. Thank you for saving him, if it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have made it"
Anko got up off the stool sluggishly and walked over to the door, "Yeah, put his ass in the academy so I don't have to do it again, let him defend himself damn it" and she closed the door behind her, not giving him a chance to respond.
Sarutobi sighed again and looked at Naruto and couldn't help but notice that he was different, not just the bandages all over him but his normally dark tan was already fading, and his fiery blond hair was already much lighter, closer to that of a Yamanaka's. But that was impossible, a change that drastic would require him to be in the hospital for months, yet he'd only been here for one night.
It troubled him but there was nothing that could be done about it at the current time, he could ask Naruto if he knew anything about it, but he wasn't going to be awake for a while.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It took Naruto the entire week of Kyuubi's transformation to wake up from his injuries. This turned out to be a pretty good thing though, because by the time he awoke, the pain from his injuries was already gone, and he had questions lobbed at him within a short time of waking up. They were almost all the same as usual, 'Do you know who did this?' 'Could you describe them in detail?' They honestly expected a nine year old, who was terrified, to be able to get an accurate detail about one person in a mob of some twenty plus?
Then the questions shifted more to himself. Sarutobi showed Naruto his new appearance with a small mirror and asked if he had any clue as to the cause of the drastic change, and it was quite the drastic change, over the course of the week his hair had grown even lighter, now a silvery-blue color with a slight hue of his old blond, fortunately his skin had not grown any lighter. In truth, Naruto liked the change, he hated his bright yellow blond hair.
Naruto said he had no idea as to the cause, even if he was positive it was the Kyuubi's change that did it.
Then Sarutobi moved to the subject Anko had suggested "Naruto, how would you like to enroll in the Shinobi academy? You could use the training to prove yourself to them"
The idea enticed him for a moment before Kyuubi chimed in "Turn down the offer, I'm going to be training you for now, that training would just interfere, you can enroll later, when we're done. You still need a way to make money after all, and if you're not fighting, you're not living" Naruto noted that that menacing growl was gone from his voice, now replaced with an ice cold chill that ran down your spine, so he agreed and shook his head at the Hokage.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'll pass for now, I have some things I'd like to do on my own before I enroll, I can enroll later, right?"
Sarutobi sighed, technically he should have enrolled last year to be on time. "Yes, but the later you enroll the farther behind you will be with kids your age, and you will likely be left behind"
Naruto smiled and laid back on his pillow "I won't ever get left behind, thank you Hokage-sama"
Sarutobi smiled warmly before taking his leave, he did like the boy, but he doubted he was any kind of prodigy, he was almost guaranteed to be left back one year already, more time would increase his odds of losing a second year.
Once Sarutobi had left the room Naruto closed his eyes and sunk into his subconscious to talk to the Kyuubi, while he could communicate with him in real time, it took a bit more effort, and he looked strange doing so.
Naruto quickly located the Kyuubi's cage, he found it funny that he was able to find it so easily, and yet the Kyuubi was supposed to sealed off from him completely, with no access.
Naruto walked up to the bars of the giant cage and found that the sewage water from about forty feet out from the bars was frozen solid, and the bars were slick with ice.
Naruto called out for the great fox and a moment later the Kyuubi emerged, a completely different fox from the last time Naruto had seen him. His fur was all completely white now, and his eyes were no longer crimson, they were now a chilling icy blue, almost gray color. "What do you want?" He answered groggily.
Naruto shrugged in a way that only a nine year old could make convincing "I dunno, I was thinking we could talk. Like what your gonna be teaching me, and how, that kinda stuff"
Kyuubi grinned, baring pink gums and razor sharp teeth "Well, even though you aren't the new Poseidon yet, you still hold almost all of his control of water, couple that control with your natural human affinity to wind, and you can wield ice, not to the same magnitude that I now can, but to a similar level of control and complexity. So I'm going to train you to use ice, it's better than water in just about every aspect as well, stronger defenses, more vicious offenses. Water does have the advantage of fluidity though, in that it can defend and attack at the same time, but I'll get more into that when I train you about water, for now I'm going to train you harder than you want for the next twelve months. Five months of Ice, five months of water, and two months teaching you everything you could need to go to the academy."
The amount of information that the Kyuubi bombarded Naruto with astounded him, and he didn't quite catch everything, but he got the meaning, lots and lots of training, and he was happy with that, training meant strength, which meant a better life. "Kyuubi? I know you just got through with your transformation today, but do you think you could heal me? The sooner I can start training, the better"
The Kyuubi sighed, but nodded his giant white head "Yes, now get out of here"
The Kyuubi kicked Naruto back into the real world and the mind scape faded from his view.
Naruto reopened his eyes to find himself back in the hospital, lying in the bed once again. But he instantly noticed the Kyuubi's inhuman ability to heal him taking place. He relaxed and let sleep take him once again, even with the Kyuubi's power it would still probably be about a day before he could leave.
The next day Naruto woke up feeling great, apparently having the Kyuubi willing to support him led to even faster healing than before.
He removed all of his bandages, not waiting for a doctors approval, and against the request of the Anbu that he leave them in place. He again disobeyed his guardian Anbu by getting out of his bed to stretch.
Shortly thereafter he put on his crummy, blood soaked orange jumpsuit and told the Anbu that he was leaving, and to inform the doctors as such, and he walked out of the hospital, leaving said Anbu behind.
He headed towards his shabby apartment for a fresh jumpsuit and on the way there, took the risk of talking to the Kyuubi while fully conscious. 'So, what's the plan? What do I do first?'
Kyuubi smirked "Before we do anything, you're getting rid of that horrid suit, head to a clothing store"
Naruto stopped walking and focused more on the Kyuubi 'How do I do that? No one will ever sell me anything but this piece of crap' he said, while pulling on the front of his orange jacket.
Kyuubi chuckled "Who said anything about asking? Take the stuff, leave the money, don't say a word to them, if they try anything, just take the stuff and leave, sucks to be them"
Naruto shrugged 'Can't hurt to try I suppose'
Kyuubi grinned "Good, that's what I want to hear, now get the hell over to those shops and do it!"
Naruto shrugged once more and headed towards the shops, it really couldn't hurt to try, worst that could happen is that he would get another beating, and at least he had the Kyuubi fully backing him now.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto arrived at the store of his chosen destination before long, he chose a store he had never ventured into before, so it would at least take them a minute to recognize who he was.
He pushed the door open slowly and walked inside. He instantly noticed the lack of a shopkeeper at the main desk and mentally sighed, at least he could have a few minutes of silence. He quickly got to work on picking through the shelves of clothes for the items of his size.
After a few minutes of searching through clothes he gathered up everything he could afford to buy with his measly funds and walked towards the main counter. To his great pleasure the store owner was still nowhere to be found. He thanked his tiny fraction of luck and left the required amount of money on the counter and scampered out of the store with his purchases under his arms.
He ran to his house through the allies, so not to be seen with the clothes and chased for being a 'thief' and he thankfully got there without any trouble.
Once inside he quickly changed out of his jumpsuit and threw it, and all of it's identical counterparts, away. He then slipped into his new set of clothes, simple black cargo pants and an icy blue T-shirt.
Once he got dressed he addressed the Kyuubi once again 'Kyuubi, what do I do know? What's next?'
Kyuubi nodded "The plan is fairly simple, head to a training ground where you won't be bothered, then we begin your training for the next twelve months"
Naruto nodded and headed for the door to begin his twelve months of training.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto made his way through the village and after about thirty minutes of walking he made it to the training ground he never saw anyone ever use, it was probably because it lay just a scant fifty yards from the fences that surrounded the forest of death. He had heard the rumors that Shinobi spread of the evils that resided in those woods, but the mysterious forest intrigued him greatly, and he was sure there was nothing in those woods that could remotely compare to the nine tailed demon that resided in him.
Once he had situated himself in the center of the training ground he contacted the Kyuubi 'Kyuubi-sama, Where do we start?' he queried.
If the great fox had eyebrows, that would be in his nonexistent hair. "-sama?" He asked.
Naruto nodded 'Yeah, You are training me after all. Also, are you not the king of the demons? Demons or not, a king deserves respect, ne?"
Kyuubi cracked a wry smile, though Naruto couldn't see it "I like you kid, I like you a lot. The first thing we need to do is, of course, un lock your chakra."
Naruto grinned 'Okay, how do we do that?'
Kyuubi sighed 'There is no we in this instance. This is something you must do entirely on your own. You must close your eyes and meditate. You need to explore your body and mind and find the place where they meet. You must then find a way to grasp the energy that is created at that meeting point. That is your chakra. Once you've grasped your chakra, you need to draw it out, and control it, you must command it to bend to your will, and you must get it to circulate throughout your entire chakra coils before you can release it. If you cannot command it through your entire coils it will recede once again, and it will be harder to command. Fail to many times, and you will never be able to unlock your chakra, for it will not bend to the weak willed'
Naruto gulped and nodded 'O-okay. That doesn't sound to difficult'
Kyuubi nodded 'It's not all that difficult, but it requires diligence and patience. Take your time with it, and do not fail me, and more importantly, do not fail yourself'
Naruto nodded in return at the advice and focused 'Okay, I'm going to begin Kyuubi-sama' He cut his connection with Kyuubi and drew himself into his mind. He was not the most patient person, but the Hokage had taught him how to meditate once, and it was proving helpful.
After searching his mind and body for about an hour Naruto found the place where his body and mind met. There was a great pool of energy there, it was a pale icy blue color, and there was a vastness to it that Naruto couldn't comprehend. He was bathed in the energy, lost in it. It took him another thirty minutes to finally grasp the amount of it and take hold of the energy, once he did that he begin the extremely laborious task of drudging up the enormous amount of energy and slowly dragging it throughout his entire being. Which in itself was a daunting task. He didn't realize just how far his chakra coils spanned. It stretched from the very center of his stomach where the well of energy originated all the way to the tips of his fingers and the hair follicles on his scalp, this was going to be a grueling task.
Finally, many hours later Naruto succeeded in unlocking his chakra after almost losing it over a dozen times. The pale blue essence that was his chakra surged through his being and empowered him with renewed vigor and energy. He felt better than he had in his entire life. But alas, the surge of power did not last forever and when his burst of chakra ebbed away to his normal, but extremely high, levels, his high left him and he was exhausted from the days efforts.
He glanced around the training ground and saw that everything was being bathed in the pale red orange glow of the sun as it was just setting over the horizon. 'Congratulations' Kyuubi called to him 'I wasn't entirely expecting you to succeed in unlocking your chakra today. Tomorrow, I'll begin teaching you chakra control exercises, and I will begin showing you everything you will need to successfully make it through the academy. Bare with me these next few months. It will be boring, but it is necessary. Now go home and rest for tonight, you've more than earned it'
Naruto nodded tiredly and dragged himself back to his apartment and promptly collapsed on his bed.