"Today we bid farewell to one of our own, and return her to the stars."

Keeping his head bowed respectfully, as was proper, Kakashi Hatake snuck a glance around him at the room full of people. Some had been friends of the departed, some family, some were high-ranking naval members, and some simply been invited as a means of serving social protocol.

Despite all their differences, on that night they shared this moment. They shared grief.

Kakashi let his gaze return to Tsunade, lying inside the clear steelite casket. All her years in command of the Konoha had hardly touched her, and to see her lying there, you could nearly mistake her for being asleep, were it not for the carefully-pressed funeral linens she wore, and her Admiral's insignia held loosely in her white hands. Kakashi absent-mindedly touched at his left breast pocket, where his own insignia now rested. The small, heavy pieces of meteoric rock were individually crafted for each Commanding Officer of the Konoha, and were a very personal reminder of the mission one had to serve the ship and everyone living on it. The only time it was EVER displayed publicly was when that mission was complete.

It was hard to believe she was gone. Anyone who knew her would have sworn she was too stubborn to follow Death on his path to whatever lay beyond this life.

Beside him, Sasuke Uchiha, his Chief Consul, stirred ever so slightly. It would have been imperceptible to anyone in the room besides him, and maybe Sasuke's wife (even then, it was debatable; Sasuke was so devoted to his work that Kakashi had probably spent more of the last fifteen years with him than Sakura had.) The dark-haired young man stood at a perfect parade's ease, his posture just as excellent as every other aspect of his job performance, but even he was unable to completely hide the effects of tonight's service.

And affected he was, just as they all were. For all of her brash tendencies, occasional rudeness, and rather unfortunate vices, Captain Tsunade had been beloved by naval crew and civilians alike. Already, in the past few years after her (begrudging) retirement, Kakashi had been feeling the effects of the very large shoes he'd been made to fill.

The Commanding Officer of the Konoha let his gaze drift, every so carefully, around the room, taking in the rest of the attendees. The funeral was a fairly small one, as most services on-ship were, for necessities' sake. He saw Naruto Uzumaki, standing against the wall to his right, absent-mindedly scratching the back of his head. On the other side of the room, Tsunade's closest friend Shizune Shurenai was standing arm-in-arm with her husband, Genma. Standing at the head of the casket was Commander Inoichi Yamanaka, his Consul of Operations, and the ship's appointed cleric. Standing at parade's ease on either side of him, a few steps behind, were the other two members of the ship's command team: the Consul of Advancement, Fugaku Uchiha, and the (very young) Consul of Information, Shikamaru Nara.

All of these youngsters, filling the upper echelon. Kakashi's lip twitched beneath the mask that covered the lower half of his face. Shikamaru, Sasuke… even he himself had been quite young when his career had begun being guided toward assuming command of the Konoha.

People had called him a prodigy, ever since he'd graduated from the Academy, setting records all throughout his time there; records that, incidentally, had almost been completely broken by the very man who now served as his second-in-command. But none of his training, nor his decades of service, had truly prepared him to be "given the reins" as Tsunade had called it. One of her favourite old Earth expressions.

She had tried, and it was thanks to her that he was even as prepared as he was. But there was truly no way to know how it felt to carry an Admiral's insignia until you did. He only hoped he could do even a third of the job she'd done in preparing Sasuke for when his time came.

Bowing his head once again, he resumed listening to Inoichi deliver the funeral address.

"The Mother watches over us all, from our birth, to our journey beyond. May she guide Tsunade Senju down that next path, and deliver her safely into the waiting arms of her dark brother."

Across the room, Naruto Uzumaki was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, trying his best to be as inconspicuous as possible- and probably failing. Subtlety wasn't something he prided himself on.

These sorts of formal services weren't his cup of tea- boring and stuffy things, for the most part, and he'd always been a believer in speaking with actions, rather than words. A Petty Officer attending the funeral of the ship's CO was exceptional in itself, which would have given him leave to excuse himself from the proceedings when the invitation was issued.

But he couldn't, not this time. Not for the woman who had taught him so much.

So he bit his tongue and kept his head bowed. For Tsunade, he could stay silent for one ceremony.

He'd received a few sideways glances when he'd arrived (not quite late, but very nearly) for the funeral, but most of those in attendance knew Tsunade very well, and therefore knew of the relationship they shared. For most of his life, Naruto had thought of her as a second mother. A foul-mouthed mother who drank a bit more than was socially normal, and gambled a bit more than that, but a second mother nonetheless.

Many of the glances he'd received were less directed at him, and more polite surprise at the fact that he'd come without his wife. As the Prelate of the Records cell, and a more reserved person in general, Hinata was much more comfortable at these sorts of functions than he was. Unfortunately, she was spending the evening with her sister Hanabi, and he knew that for her to decline an invitation to an event like this there had to be an excellent reason for her absence. Already he had heard mutterings wondering about why she would be missing, rumblings of disapproval at her lack of respect for the late Admiral. One more reason for him to compose himself, and represent them both well.

He stole a quick glance at Sasuke, standing about a pace behind Admiral Hatake's left shoulder. As stoic as ever, the man literally looked as though he were carved from stone, and Naruto had to suppress a grin. Over the years he'd tried so hard to convince Sasuke to lighten up, and take life a bit less seriously- and even though he was much more relaxed than he'd been when they went through the Academy together, his parade presence was still second to none on board.

Maybe he'd try to convince Sasuke to come for a drink after the service tonight. It'd been months since they'd spent any time together, and Naruto was aching for a chance to catch up with his best friend.

Settling back against the wall, doing his best not to look as though he was leaning, Naruto returned his attention as best as he could to the funeral rites.

As usual, Sasuke's carefully schooled expression hid a veritable whirlwind of activity in his brain.

A tiny ember of guilt burned away in his core for how he was thinking; surely, if there was a time and place for him to disengage and stop thinking about work, Tsunade's funeral would be it. But he couldn't help that he thrived on his work, and his brain simply ran a light-year a minute.

Besides, he had plenty on his mind. In less than two weeks (sensors predicted 10 days, with an accuracy factor of 93%), the Konoha would be arriving at Exploration Site III. Site III was the first site they would be surveying that had been determined by the Exploration Cell to have a survivability factor of above 70%, and in fact, it was sitting at a frankly incredible 89% survivability factor. This was by far the closest the ship had come to completing its mission, after 82 years and two unsuitable planets. By this time next month, the Konoha could be in orbit around a planet containing the very first exo-Solar System human settlement.

And what then?

That was a question for later. Right now, the logistics of exploring the planet's surface spun through Sasuke's head like an exceptionally well-controlled hurricane. Over the last few months, he and Neji Hyuuga, the Prelate of Helm, had been running drills and simulations with the helm crew to ensure they were totally prepared for approach and entry into stable orbit patterns. The Exploration Cell had already begun taking whatever readings of the planet they could across the tens of thousands of miles still between it and the ship, and were diligently preparing for more detailed investigation and, hopefully, small-craft landings.

All was proceeding exactly as it should, and Sasuke was determined to make sure it stayed that way.

Across the room, Sasuke noticed Naruto, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his shoulders ever-so-slightly pitched backward to allow him to rest his weight against the dark grey titanium of the wall behind him. Probably thinks no one can see him leaning. Sasuke couldn't help but smile slightly to himself. Naruto might not be the more proper crew member on the ship, but the man had been his best friend for about as long as either could remember.

Another warm coal of guilt settled in his chest, this time lamenting his duties to his friend. His work consumed him so much that he hadn't seen Naruto in… what had it been? Weeks? Maybe even months?

I'll have to visit. Soon.

Naruto had rescued him from a very dark place, when they were both seniors at the Academy. He'd been pushing himself to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion, every single day, venomously pushing away everyone close to him.

It had started when Itachi left. And very well could have continued until he worked himself into the infirmary, or worse, if Naruto's utterly indestructible goodwill hadn't finally managed to shatter the iron maiden of negativity he'd been slowly building for himself.

He owed Naruto his life, certainly metaphorically, perhaps literally.

Soon.

He watched a bit longer, as Naruto's head slowly started to droop to one side.

And while I'm at it, I'll have a word with him about his parade stance.

Sakura Uchiha stood at parade's ease beside her husband, not bothering to try to hide the tear tracks on her face.

Tsunade had meant so much to so many people. She knew that everyone in the room carried grief in their hearts, to varying degrees. But she knew that few of them had shared a relationship like they had.

Tsunade had been phenomenally gifted in the practice of medicine, having studied it very briefly before the launch of the Konoha 82 years ago. However, she was quickly eyed as third-in-line for command of the ship, and as such was immediately inserted into the initial crew as Prelate of Helm, a common role to prepare future Commanding Officers. Then, when Danzo Shimura had been killed in the riots in the Maintenance Sector, abruptly shifting her to next-in-line to command, she was thrust into the role of Chief Consul early, to prepare her to succeed old Admiral Hiruzen Sarutobi. As such, her passion for the medical arts had very little, if any, chance to manifest in her work.

Instead, she taught Sakura. It wasn't hyperbole to say that the late Admiral was responsible for nearly everything Sakura knew. She'd studied fleet medicine at the Academy, of course- she'd known from a very early age that the Medical cell was her calling- but without Tsunade, there were a thousand intricacies and specialities that she never would have truly mastered. Sakura was now the Prelate of the Medical Cell, working directly under Commander Yamanaka, and her career success was due in no small part to Tsunade's tutelage.

And now she was gone. It felt like a piece of Sakura's chest had been carved away and left exposed to the blackness of space.

Keeping her stance, she reached out her right hand toward Sasuke. Without looking, or even giving any other indication that he'd noticed, he reached out and took it, squeezing gently.

The contact made Sakura feel a bit better. It wasn't proper parade stance, technically, but given the circumstances of the evening no one was going to raise a fuss.

Although, if anyone was going to… Sakura let her gaze slowly pass over the two figures standing on the far side of the room, at the foot of Tsunade's casket. Asuma and Kurenai Sarutobi's faces were both perfect pictures of despair, and though Sakura had no doubt that there had to be at least some genuine grief between the two of them, she'd wager it wasn't much.

Asuma was the son of Admiral Hiruzen Sarutobi, the first Commanding Officer of the Konoha. His role on the ship was no secret; he was here to make sure that the Sarutobi Family was well-represented and satisfied with the progress of the hugely significant (and massively expensive) expedition they had financed.

Asuma had attended the Academy, but by the time he was prepared to graduate, the line of succession to Commanding Officer had already been set as close to stone as it could be, and there was no place there for him. Following that realization, he claimed "personal trauma" as reasoning for not graduating the Academy and entering the Naval Corps, instead putting his good name and his father's money into financing several business ventures aboard the Konoha. Asuma and Kurenai were now fabulously wealthy, incredibly comfortable, and trusted by most of the ship- Sakura included- about as far as they could throw both at once.

In practice, the Commanding Officer had full authority over the Konoha, and Asuma's lack of any recognized position or rank meant he should have little influence over matters of ship governance. However, as the old Earth phrase said, "Money talks", and as such, Asuma spent a great deal of time inserting himself into every situation he could, nearly always as a foil to the whims of first Tsunade, then Kakashi. On several occasions, he had been a hair's breadth away from causing severe trouble for Tsunade based on some of her more questionable habits, and only through the support of her very dedicated command team was he prevented from ousting her on grounds of unsuitability to command. Kakashi, with his significantly more stable persona and dependable results as CO, had forced Asuma to stop his public bids for more control of the ship, but Sakura had never been able to shake the nagging feeling of a shark, circling in the water, just waiting for the slightest whiff of blood.

Forcing herself not to think any more about the machinations of the Sarutobi heir, Sakura cast her mind back to her more pleasant memories of Tsunade. She remembered the birth of Sarada, when Tsunade had been the very first visitor through the doors of the medical bay to meet her. Sasuke told her later that day that Tsunade had actually blown off the weekly command meeting to see her, and had given exactly zero notice to the rest of the command team that she would not be attending; Kakashi had been forced to mediate the meeting with no preparation, and Sakura had laughed until her whole body hurt at the thought of the poor man trying to maintain control of Fugaku, Kushina Uzumaki, Jiraiya Hikigaeru and Sasuke all at once with no warning.

Tsunade was so proud of Sarada, Sakura knew that much. Her daughter had graduated the year prior, and was posted directly to the Helm crew, which reflected very highly on her abilities; in that, as well as many other regards, she was truly her father's daughter. And no matter how hard Sasuke worked, no matter how many friendships strained under his lack of attention, he always found time for Sarada. It was what Sakura loved most about him.

Squeezing her husband's hand back, she let go and returned both hands to clasp behind her.

Many levels above the funeral chamber, on the Konoha's bridge, Lieutenant Neji Hyuuga was on duty, supervising the operations of the Helm crew. The day shit had left, and he was preparing to leave himself; the last item on his to-do list was to wait for acknowledgement of the mission status report, beamed to Earth 18 minutes ago. The massive distance the message travelled meant that the transmissions had to be impossibly precise, and every now and then, reports were missed, so he made a habit of not leaving until he was sure that Earth had received the data. These back-and-forth exchanges, once every ship's day, were the only contact the ship had with its point of origin.

Neji had heard stories that, in the ship's early days, many of the helm crew were uncomfortable with the near-total radio silence from Earth. Neji had decided nearly immediately upon his assuming command of the bridge that he preferred it this way; it kept him focused on the here-and-now. Earth was so impossibly distant that there was literally no way for them to affect the ship's operations, or vice versa, so why worry? Everyone on board knew that this mission was one way. None of them would ever see Earth, but if the Exploration Cell's readings were to be believed, they would see an entirely new world.

Neji never would have admitted it, but he was excited. Incredibly so.

"Lieutenant Hyuuga? Sir?"

Neji turned to the sensor operator on duty, a young Ensign named Sarada- Sasuke and Sakura's daughter. A very perceptive and motivated young woman, Neji had been immediately pleased to have her assigned to him. She had a very bright career ahead of her.

"Report, Ensign."

"Sir, the Byakugan has tracked a small meteor on approach toward the ship, but it's passed into the blind spot. Shall we deploy countermeasures?"

Neji licked his lips. The Byakugan was the ship's master radar, designed by engineers of the Hyuuga Family Corporation. It was incredibly powerful, able to provide sensor readings for miles around the ship, but the nature of its design meant that the sensors had a small blind spot located at the base of the radar where it was fixed to the bridge.

"Let's take a look first, Ensign. Switch to exterior view, beneath the 'Gan."

"Hai, Sir."

Standing beside Sarada's console, Neji watched the complex linework of the Byakugan's sensor readout be replaced by an image, showing the view toward the rear of the ship, directly underneath the sensor module. Sure enough, a small shiny object could be seen floating in the vicinity of the ship, several thousand feet back.

"Get me telemetry on the meteor."

Sarada pressed a few keys on her console, and the image on the screen suddenly expanded, becoming a 3-dimensional hologram of the image floating in front of them. The holographic meteor began emitting a series of thick red lines, showing a path along the surface of the ship, before passing by the bridge and continuing on into space.

"It looks like we won't need to worry. Hold the countermeasures, but keep an eye on the projected course for the next little while just in case."

Sarada nodded, already directing her full attention back to her console. Satisfied, Neji returned to his station to see a message from Earth flashing on his data pad.

Report Received. Well All.

Nodding, Neji tapped the screen and logged the message, before packing his data pad into a pocket on the leg of his uniform coveralls. Then, with his final act complete, he turned and exited the bridge, pausing at the doorway to raise a hand to night shift crew.

"Good night, everyone."

"We come from the stars, and to the stars we return, to make our final journey."

Back in the funeral chamber, Kakashi remembered the last conversation he'd had with Tsunade. It had been less than twelve hours ago, when the ship's medical staff had discreetly informed him that the end was imminent.

He was sitting next to her bed, watching her lying there, taking such horribly long, slow breaths. No matter how strong she was, how ageless she had always looked, finally time had caught up.

"Kakashi"

He blinked. She had turned her head, ever so slightly, to look at him. Her eyes burned, a brilliant golden yellow, just as bright as they always had. If you could only see her eyes, you would believe that she was prepared to make Death himself wait.

"Hai, ma'am?"

"Oh, cut that shit." She tried to wave her hand dismissively, but all she could manage was a vague sweeping gesture with her wrist. "You know as well as I do that I'm beyond pleasantries."

She looked him directly in the eye, vivid gold to inky black. "Reach under my pillow."

Kakashi blinked, unsure if he'd heard correctly. By the Mother, don't tell me her mind is going. I was afraid this-

"Just do it! There's something under there I need you to have."

Kakashi sighed, and very carefully lifted her head with one hand while reaching under her pillow with the other. To his mild surprise, his fingers closed around a small, cool object. His mild surprise became bemused disbelief when he saw what he held.

"...you're giving me a nearly-empty bottle of whiskey?

Tsunade's eyes gleamed, and she laughed weakly. "Open it, and see what's inside."

As he brought the bottle toward him to open, Kakashi immediately realized that he'd been wrong; the weight of the bottle was all wrong to be liquid, and there was something clinking off the insides. Unscrewing the cap, he upended the bottle over his palm. A small sliver of blue circuitry fell out of the neck with a soft thud.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed in confusion over his mask. "A data card?"

Tsunade nodded, turning away from him and laying her head back to gaze at the ceiling. The artificial sunlight created by the windowscreen on the wall beside her was beginning to sink below the virtual horizon.

"Old Hiruzen gave me that key, just before he kicked it. He told me I was to keep it, until our new home had been found, then access the contents." She looked at Kakashi out of the corner of her eye. "I'm telling you the same now. When we reach Site III, if it's all that Exploration is making it out to be, once you're safely in orbit, watch that recording. If it's not, then give it to that handsome protege of yours, when your time comes."

Not even Kakashi's mask could hide his confusion at this point. "Admiral Sarutobi gave you this? Without telling you what's on it?"

Tsunade turned to the side once again, looking into his eyes for the last time. All at once, he was horribly aware of just how old she looked- but her eyes burned like the sun, just as they always had.

"I don't make the rules, kid. I've done my part, and it's your show now. Now let me sleep."

"Admiral Hatake? The last word is yours, sir."

Kakashi roused himself at the sound of Inoichi delivering the traditional ending line of the funeral rites. Stepping forward, he placed one hand on the cold surface of Tsunade's final resting place. For the briefest of moments, the words of response stuck in his throat; he hadn't been required to perform many funerals in his command thus far, and none had affected him like this one.

"Admiral Senju, you are relieved. May the stars guide you home"

Without a sound, the casket pedestal lowered slowly into the floor, bound for the airlock, and the depths of space beyond. And beyond that? Who knew.

As the funeral of Admiral (ret'd) Tsunade Senju concluded, and the mourners began to mingle and share their fond memories of the departed, deep in the massive vehicle bay of the Konoha, a hooded figure approached the rear wall of the space. Walking along a thin, metal catwalk that snaked its way around nearly the entire perimeter of the room, the figure looked back the way it had come, considered for a brief moment, then continued walking.

Once they reached the stern wall of the hangar, the main catwalk took a ninety degree turn to the left to follow the hangar wall. However, tucked away so as to be barely noticeable, a small service shaft cut into the sheer surface of the titanium, leading down into the depths of the ship. The figure climbed onto the ladder and began descending into cramped space, the darkness lit only by the dim fluorescence of the occasional service light sunk into the shaft's walls.

At the bottom of the service shaft, a lone door stood, much older-looking than the sleek new implements throughout most of the ship. A dusty and rusted sign adorned the top of the door frame, reading "Maintenance." Below that, a much larger sign hung down in front of the door itself: "ADMITTANCE TO AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY."

The shadowy figure knocked on the door, paused for a few seconds, then knocked twice more. For a moment, there was silence. Then, with an agonized grinding sound, the door slid open, revealing a scruffy, short man wearing oily working coveralls. His face was smeared with grease, he looked at the shadowy figure distastefully.

Pulling back her hood, Hinata Uzumaki returned the gaze with what she hoped was a look of calculated disinterest. "I'm expected." she held up both hands to show that they were empty, then opened the satchel she carried to show a data pad and a collection of data cards.

"I'm here about Sector 7."

The man studied her for a few moments, saying nothing. Then, his beady eyes glittering, he turned and gestured with his head for her to follow.

Hinata stepped into the doorway, took one final look back toward the hangar, and the world of the Konoha she'd always known.

Then she stepped into the darkness, and the door slid shut behind her with a grinding clang.

Authour's Note

This story has been brewing in my head for quite a while now, and I think I've finally reached a point of preparedness where I'm able to start putting pen to paper and fingers to keys to make it a reality.

The planning for this story sort of got away from me as it was happening, to the point that I have a RIDICULOUS amount of background documents and other bits of world-building that I'm hoping to integrate naturally into the story. At the very least, hopefully by the end the whole thing will at least make sense.

As you've probably intuited from reading the first chapter, this is HEAVILY AU, and probably the only things that will actually be pulled from Naruto itself will be the characters and some of the relationships (and a few Easter eggs here and there, like the Byakugan RADAR having a blind spot). There will be characters that are slightly different, and some non-canon relationships... we'll just have to see, how they serve the story.

Last but not least, I plan to keep to a proper release schedule for this story, of releasing a new chapter every Sunday evening.

Welcome to the world of Sector 7, I hope you enjoy your stay.