Hey all! I'm back with another Naruto story, having already hinted at the Otsutsuki threat in a few of my earlier fics- I thought of giving a shot at writing a tale focusing exclusively on it.
This is kind of a One-Shot chapter, I'm testing waters to understand if my readers are interested first.
Few disclaimers, the inspiration for this came from Halo. The war between humanity and Covenant made me think of a similar scenario in the Narutoverse playing out between humanity (Shinobi) and the Otsutsuki.
This has barely anything to do with cannon except for the origins of chakra and a few basic timelines and diverges completely from there, it's a new concept and will include different things like changed history, timelines, technology, characters in a different timeline you will have never seen in most stories in this fandom atleast. That way, this is completely AU! Of course, we will have our favorite knucklehead (Naruto) as the central character as he experiences a galactic level war alongside other characters and humanity.
In a way, this will be like a Halo style adaptation of the Narutoverse.
If the response from the audience is not that receptive to the idea, I will keep this as a One-shot only or may delete this prologue from the site itself, so do let me know what you think as this is an experimental idea at best.
Prologue: Declaration of War
Mankind.
The single most ruthless creatures of Earth were also its most ingenious and stubborn inheritors who had an indomitable spirit to always try to reach for something greater than themselves.
Their endless thirst for more led them down a path of conflict amongst themselves, which only became more lethal once humanity gained the power of chakra.
What was originally intended by the Sage of Six Paths to be a power that united humanity turned into a weapon of destruction which they freely used upon each other.
Countless cycles of violence and wars followed from the Blood Feud Wars started by the sons of the Sage of Six Paths, to the thousand year Clan Wars Era which ultimately evolved into the Great Ninja Wars when shinobi clans united under the flag of various hidden military villages answerable to feudal lords wishing to expand their own power with mankind's desire for more.
Several more generations of humanity's children were bloodied and buried in those conflicts until the carnage became too great, even for the ruthless inheritors of Earth.
The Insurrection Wars followed as shinobi rose up to gain independence from feudal daimyo's who used them in their never ending conflicts.
When the dust finally settled three decades later, Mankind was utterly exhausted.
The pain of losing so many scarred the hearts of the survivors and ruin followed for several decades until Mankind learned a truth that would change its destiny forever.
They learned of their doom.
For in the ancient writings of Sage of Six Paths found unexpectedly by a group of shinobi researchers searching for history of their power's origins, the ruthless sons and daughters of Earth learned the dark beginnings of the power of chakra they had used so callously.
And the ones who sought that power and everything including their world for themselves.
The Otsutsuki.
Many refused to believe that such other worldly beings could ever exist and the godly power they wielded to alter not just a world, but the broader universe which they just learned existed in reality.
But a handful of surviving veterans from prior wars accepted the revelations and decided to act on the Sage's fateful words to prepare for the threat the only way they knew how.
The Unification War followed as the shinobi once again armed with a renewed purpose fought to unite all of humanity under a single banner. Through the sacrifice of countless lives and destruction, the goal was eventually achieved as the Unified Shinobi Alliance assumed full control of Earth.
Learning from history for once, they adopted a democratic form of civilian government to truly bring everyone together and worked for the next several centuries towards the upliftment of their species.
Advancement in science and the power of chakra allowed them to eventually reach the Moon, an aspiration countless generation of their forefathers had only dreamed about in their lives.
Yet mankind's thirst for more didn't end there as humanity soon went beyond its homeworld to establish itself upon more and more habitable planets with the shinobi leading the exploration and conquest of those new worlds.
In a few of those worlds, they encountered similar origins of chakra at the hands of the Otsutsuki which only strengthened their belief that the enemy was real and would come for them one day as prophesized by the Sage of Six Paths and his mother who belonged from the same clan and started them down upon their path.
The Unified Shinobi Alliance eventually transformed into the Terran Federation entrusted with the protection of Earth and its more than 500 plus colonies, distant settlements and outposts on asteroids in the Orion Belt.
Yet as time passed and no end to their conquest of new worlds, humanity forgot the purpose it united for and waged war among itself once again until the threat finally arrived knocking at their doorstep to seal their fate.
Hashirama Senju had been serving as the indisputable leader of the Terran Federation for more than five years, respected by his peers and loved by most of his people- he felt a responsibility to continue elevating humanity's place in the galaxy for his forebearers had sacrificed so much for.
The job was becoming more harder each day as he could not stop mankind from doing the one thing they had been good at since their beginnings.
War.
Whichever dreamy fool had thought the conquest of stars would finally unite their race till eternity would have gotten an earful from the leader of humanity if the idiot was ever discovered, as Hashirama read the latest casualty reports from the civil war encompassing their race at the moment.
"Will this madness ever end?" he lamented with sorrow,
"Not until you thoroughly annihilate the scum who dare raise arms against their own kind, old friend"
Hashirama looked at the speaker of such a drastic ultimatum and found a man similar in age as him donning the military uniform of The Supreme Commander of The Terran Federation's Military.
One who was also his childhood friend and a brother in all but blood.
"Madara, these are our people who are being led astray by foul elements in society. We need to use words, not more violence. How much more blood shall we shed?" asked Hashirama seriously,
"We don't negotiate with terrorists who kill non-combatants to seek independence from Earth and the Terran Federation. We kill them!" reminded Madara sternly,
"We have fought these wars for three years already and lost millions! The problem is not getting resolved with more war, when will you understand that?" asked Hashirama angrily, earning an equally stubborn glare from his old friend.
"That's because you don't let our military do its job fully! We need to raze one or two Insurrectionists Worlds to make them see the writing on the wall!"
"Absolutely not!"
Madara was stunned by the iron clad reply from his leader and the cold determination in his eyes daring him to defy his command. Before they could argue more, they were interrupted by Hashirama's adjutant who sought their attention as she came into the room.
The look of horror upon her face as she carried a datapad only made the veteran shinobi in front of her prepare themselves for even more dire news.
"What is it, Ikumi? I told you already we were not to be disturbed unless an emergency has happened" said Hashirama calmly,
The brunette to her credit didn't cower in the face of Hashirama's question and Madara's glare.
"It is one, Lord Hashirama. The world of Honshu...it's gone"
The words seemed to make all color drain away from Hashirama's face and even the usually composed Supreme Commander of their Military looked stunned upon hearing her words even as she passed the datapad to the two men while fighting off her tears.
They looked at one of humanity's farthest colonies in the galaxy and felt their hearts sink.
Where once was a thriving world full of forests, oceans, mountains and a determined group of humans settled upon various continents to make a new life...now only remained destruction.
The world was dead.
Entire continents which were once full of beauty and life were now in complete desolation.
Forests had withered away, lush green pastures had been turned into ash colored fields, oceans had evaporated leaving giant craters across the planet as a tale of absolute destruction.
The very life itself had been sucked out of the planet and no sign of its human inhabitants alongwith local flora and docile creatures alongside wild animals that once roamed its surface.
"Where are the Navy Ships and local army garrison we had deployed to protect such new worlds?" asked Hashirama wearily, but a part of him already knew the answer deep within his heart when he saw Madara close his eyes.
"They were annihilated completely, Lord Hashirama. Only Battleship Yammamoto survived long enough to send us an urgent message and these footages before it too was destroyed" reported Ikumi gravely, as she directed the two leaders of humanity to the last footage sent by the destroyed vessel.
Hashirama and Madara grimly watched as they were showed a video footage from the destroyed Battleship.
They saw the face of an older balding man in his late forties wearing the insignia of Captain and the standard Terran Navy uniform grimly recording the message as his ship suffered fatal explosions all over and the alarmed shouts of the crew.
"To all Terran Forces, this is Captain Shiki Aburame of Taskforce Sirius. On 24th August- 12.15 galactic standard time, the world of Honshu came under attack from unknown enemy forces. They came out of nowhere and laid waste to many of our ships immediately. Attempts to identify them proved unsuccessful until the enemy sent us a message"
The Captain typed something on his datapad which played a feed that made Hashirama freeze and Madara grimace.
For in front of them was the face of a being that looked just like a human, but at the same time a completely different entity. It had the body of what resembled a man with twin horns sticking out of his head and pale white eyes of a Byakugan. Its long blue hair was in stark contrast to his own pale skin and he was dressed in white robes and seemed to standing in some form of astral projection.
"To the vermin who have dared pollute our nursery with your filth- consider this a declaration of War from the Otsutsuki clan. We will cleanse this galaxy of your kind and erase the mistake of the traitor-Kaguya"
The projection ended as the grim and resigned face of Captain Shiki Aburame appeared before the two highest leaders of humanity.
"Our Naval Taskforce is destroyed, my ship is the last one standing but has suffered critical damage rendering us incapable of escape. Our ancient enemy has already landed on the colony and it's a one sided slaughter. We will try to hold off the enemy force for as long as we can to give you time and leave a stealth satellite in orbit to give you any intelligence before we are annihilated. For Earth and Humanity!" relayed the doomed Captain faithfully, as he offered a last salute before the feed vanished.
Hashirama watched with great sadness as the last human ship was soon destroyed by an armada four times their size. But the stealth satellite they left behind showed the real time destruction of one of their worlds and every living being on it.
They saw hordes upon hordes of enemy land upon the planet, strange creatures they had never seen before from various new species being led by handful of Otsutsuki to carry out a slaughter like never before.
No mercy or quarter was given including to innocent children who were cut down right alongside their parents and elders, before the Otsutsuki forces performed a long ritual that started draining the very life from the planet by sucking away its very essence.
"I've seen enough!"
Madara's stern command made Ikumi stop the feed and look at the Supreme Commander of their Military stare earnestly at Hashirama.
"So it has come to pass" whispered Hashirama hesitantly,
"The enemy has arrived, Hashirama. And we are not ready for them! We need to get our house in order fast as Honshu is just the first of the worlds to fall. Do I have your permission to do what's necessary?" asked Madara seriously,
Hashirama clenched his fist knowing exactly what his old friend and leader of their military meant by those words.
Humanity would have to unite once again or risk annihilation by their true enemy that would give them no quarter.
He gave a weary and reluctant nod that would mark the beginning of the bloodiest war that mankind would ever fight.
The Otsutsuki Wars had just began.