The Stars and the Moon (Naruto AU Quest)

Update!

I haven't yet updated character sheets to reflect the XP investment since I think the current system could use a few changes: it's unclear, kind of esoteric, and just doesn't feel all that rewarding to progress along. I have some ideas I want to experiment with—mostly along making progression about qualitative improvements rather than just bigger numbers—although any feedback / requests in this area would be great to have.

Thanks to @keios, @bidoof, and @Oh I am slain! for feedbacks on this chapter.

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Hoshi changes quickly.

You're pretty surprised. You'd gotten pretty used to the way things were, and then suddenly, they're different. A few of the houses on the fringe start to empty out. Parks filled with playing children—it's easy to forget that they're your age, technically—start to thin out. The little takoyaki stand in front of the training ground packs up one day and doesn't come back. The streets suddenly fill up with ninja in uniform, and even though it's the same people as always, they look more serious, harder. You suppose they actually are—it's patrols now instead of peaceful walks, after all. Even the weather changes, clear blue sky giving way to swollen frowning clouds which threaten to belch their contents onto the ground below at the slightest provocation.

Your father's house quickly fills up with paperwork—requisition forms, consignment lists, lists of numbers and symbols that you're pretty sure are weakly encrypted orders of battle. They sit in huge piles strewn across every surface, and every day a small troop of genin and chuunin orderlies come by to deliver another cartful before spending hours combing through and rearranging it all.

You wonder why they have to fill up your home with this stuff when your father demonstrably has a large office that could be used for the purpose instead. You presume it's to make up for his new, even-more-than-normal absence; a balance must be maintained, after all.

So many things are different that you're not sure what to do in the morning any longer, except head off to train. It's something to occupy yourself with, at least, so you put all you have into it. That your village is at war, that you could be attacked here or in the field at any moment, only makes the need more pressing.

Hotarubi-sensei is more scarce now, what with his responsibilities and his required attendance at the various strategy and planning meetings. Training for you is split between exercising your existing techniques, practice spars with Ikki and, once a week, meditating in the presence of the fallen star.

With the practical concerns you know to be ahead of you, your focus skews more to applications than fundamentals. You find yourself experimenting with the specifics of your favorite techniques rather than improving your ability to handle chakra in general, and you make several breakthroughs along these lines.

(+3xp to Seiton: Needle. Seiton: Needle is now rank 21!)
(+3xp to Seiton: Impact. Seiton: Impact is now rank 17!)
(+3xp to Seiton: Plasma Armor. Seiton: Plasma Armor is now rank 13!)

Your focus on the Needle technique has provided you with a unique breakthrough!

Article:

[] Mass Driver—experimentation with shape control has allowed you to form your chakra into a more coherent, heavier, and more damaging projectile. Your Needles are significantly more damaging and hit hard enough to send unprepared targets tumbling. Also, unlock the B-rank technique "Seiton: Great Spear".
[] Trick Shot—your familiarity with this technique has risen to the point where you have some control over how your Needles behave in flight. Your Needles are now usable at long range, can be arced around cover or other obstacles, and can even track juking targets to a limited degree. Also, unlock the B-rank technique "Seiton: Quill Field".
[] Second Nature—hours and hours of training have reduced the motions of Needle to pure reflex; it now no longer demands any conscious focus. You can use Needle even when actively dodging, in melee, or otherwise engaged in activity that demands your full attention. Also, unlock the B-rank technique "Seiton: Needle Storm".

Your focus on the Impact technique has provided you with a unique breakthrough!

Article:

[] Breaking Blow—by better controlling the shape of Impact's initial chakra release, you can push more of the technique's energy into your intended target rather than simply toward it. Your hits with Impact now partially bypass most kinds of armor and defensive jutsu that rely on physical buffers.
[] Full Contact—you've managed to isolate and refine the chakra formation that Impact requires, and can now emit the technique from any part of your body, so long as you have the presence of mind to ready it. This can, with sufficient practice, also have defensive applications, letting you counteract incoming attacks with opposing force of your own.
[] More Impact—you've decided the proper way to use Impact is just to use more of it. You hit harder, and the extra channeled force means that even glancing blows can be damaging, although the additional chakra used means you tire out more easily.

===

You don't even remember your own birthday, when it comes around. Your father was never one for lavish celebrations, so your own experience with them could be described as rather muted—a nicer-than-normal dinner, maybe some family members, very little else.

Ikki is the one who remembers this time. He arrives at your place with a little parcel wrapped up in string.

"For you," he mumbles.

You stare at the little package in your hands. You're not sure what to do with it. Would it be rude to just set it aside?

You eventually decide to just open it up. The parcel contains a small wooden box, and the box contains a necklace—a tiny little butterfly on a thin chain, painted a light shade of purple.

"It came in on one of the last carts my dad pulled in before all of—before the war stuff started," he says.

"It's pretty," you say.

"Yeah," he says, a hand on the back of his neck. There's a brief moment where he seems like he's not sure what to say, and then— "Hey, how about food?"

Which sounds like just as good a plan as any.

As for the necklace, you decide to:

Article:

[] Wear it.
[] Keep it somewhere safe.

===

You're summoned to your father's office again almost a full week from the day you learned of the war. All that radio silence, of you being left in the dark while everything changed, has made you antsy and a little bit terse. Part of you had planned on marching in and demanding answers—what was going on? Why? When will it be over?—but it all melts away when you see how tired your father looks.

You wonder when the last time he slept was. You know for a fact he hasn't been home at all.

Still, tired or not, he wastes no time getting to business.

"As of this week, we are at war," he says. You already know this, and you can see he knows you know, but there's something heavy about hearing the words straight from your father's mouth. "Hoshi is not yet on the lines of battle, so I hope you will not see the worst of it. But one should always prepare for the worst."

You nod. You're not sure where this is going, but nodding seems like the right response.

"Ninja must work together to be effective in combat," he says. "This is a process learned slowly through training and daily practice, or quickly and at great cost on the battlefield. In the event that we must commit our reserves, I would rather see you experience the former than the latter. As such, I will be placing you in a unit, so that you may have time to undergo this learning."

You look at him questioningly.

"I would like you to lead this unit. Hotarubi-san and your own mission reports make me believe this will not be a problem."

"But I'm not chuunin yet," you blurt out.

"Yes, and that problem can be solved when your presence is required in the field. For now, it is only a matter of familiarity."

When, not if. There's some political reasoning here too, then—if your side gains the upper hand, you could acquit yourself as a competent team leader in some relatively low-risk clean-up missions, which would do a great deal to solidify your position. And if your side starts losing, well, you'd be needed in the field just the same then.

"Who'll be on the team?"

"Yourself and the Azuma boy, a Koizumi genin, and Mitsui Takeo."

Wait. That can't have just been by chance. It must have shown on your face, as your father immediately continues.

"Akahoshi offered his son for this team as a gesture of cooperation. We cannot afford to be divided at home when enemies threaten us from abroad."

Huh. Well, that makes sense at least.

"You will meet them here, tomorrow morning, for your official assignment as a unit."

He finishes. Normally, this would be it, but, well… you may not be feeling confrontational any more, but you're still curious. You waver long enough trying to figure out a way to bring it up that your father notices.

"Do you have a question, Kana-chan?"

Well, that was unexpected, but it works well enough.

"Father, what is the war about?"

It's his turn to be surprised at the directness. For a second he looks like he might laugh, but he doesn't.

"It is a complex issue, Kana-chan. Are you sure it's something you're interested in?" He manages to say this without any hint of condescension, although it's clear that he doesn't think you would be.

"I will succeed you someday, Father, and I have a duty to be as prepared as I can be for that task."

He strokes his chin. "I suppose that's good enough, and I have some time until my next appointment." He brushes some papers aside.

"Are you familiar with Kusagakure?"

"Hidden Grass. They have… poisons?"

"Poisons and diplomatic liberties, yes. Iwa has been seeking to expand their influence lately.approached Kusa with an offer of alliance. Kusa rejected it, Iwa threatened military action and annexation, and Kusa approached Konoha for help."

"And Konoha helped, because Kusa's right on the border between them."

"Yes," says your father. "This is where we are now: Konoha and Kusa on one side, Iwa on the other. Many of Kusa's lesser neighbors are beginning to declare for one or the other." He peers at you. "What do you think happens next?"

You think about it. Obviously Hoshi will be drawn into the war soon, since you're allied with Iwa. You imagine that many other smaller villages are connected to either Iwa or Konoha in the same way. Even the other Great Villages have diplomatic obligations. One way or another, this will touch almost everyone.

"Alliances," you say. "Suna is tied to Konoha, Kumo to Iwa. Kiri may be the deciding factor, but they've historically disliked Konoha, so they're likely to throw in with us."

"Exactly right," your father says approvingly. "So here we are. That is the broad outline, at least. I am certain you'll receive more details than you care for at the next council meeting, once war plans are finalized."

There is a great weight of finality to the last bit, and you know the conversation is over for now.

"Thank you, Father," you say.

===

The next day there are, indeed, a trio of other genin waiting in front of your father's office. You're a little miffed to find yourself the shortest person there—both Takeo and the new boy have a good head of height on you—although you suppose that a lot of it just comes from the age difference.

The whole process can't be more than fifteen minutes from start to finish. You're ushered into the office, some paperwork is produced and filed away, and then you're handed a big thick folder of papers.

"Information on the team and your training ground schedules," says the orderly who hands it to you. You nod.

At the very end, somebody bothers to introduce you to everyone. It's mostly a formality, as you already know two of the three other members, but you finally learn the last boy's name is Koizumi Keizo, 11 years old and the second son of some non-inheriting branch of his clan. You suspect he was chosen purely for symbolism—rounding out the membership of the three major clans of Hoshi in the team led by the kage's own daughter.

That seems to be the story of this team, too. It certainly wasn't chosen for effectiveness—while you and Ikki are fairly familiar with each other, you know that with the succession issue Takeo is none too fond of either of you, and nobody on the team has so much as spoken to Keizo. Your upbringing and progression hasn't quite separated you from your peers so much that there wouldn't be someone better for your team than a person who most assuredly hates your guts and someone you've literally never met.

Politics is politics, though, and it's something you'd better get used to if you really want to be comfortable doing your father's job a few decades down the line.

Takeo chooses to make himself scarce almost immediately, shooting you a dirty look as he goes. Keizo remains with you and Ikki, looking a little uncertain.

Will you:

Article:

[] Ask Keizo to come with. It's important that you get to know each other if your team is to work at all.
[] Gracefully deflect. It might be good to get Ikki's perspective on this team thing, and you'll see plenty of him later.