All-Star Ōtsutsuki 31 (Invincible/Naruto OC-SI) (Patreon)

A lot of the presumed arguments that I thought would be coming from my teammates and allies… just never appeared. It wasn’t as if they were of a mind that they didn’t need me at all. Merely that what I had always hoped would come to pass had in fact transpired before my very eyes. I’d missed it, even, which was somewhat ironic when you thought about my eyesight.

The Guardians of the Globe had come into their own. Rudy already had steady hopes for future expansion and several hopefuls around the world that he was ideally lining up for future stages of recruitment. All of the existing members were training and operating well enough, especially those normally too squishy to make a difference in some of the high-level fights.

It was a very strange feeling, understanding all of a sudden that you weren’t needed the same level again. I’d told Rudy as much, when we were palling around in his lab. Technically speaking, the two of us were making incremental improvements on some of the jutsu shiki that he was implementing into his armor sets.

Realistically, that was just an excuse for the two of us to hang.

“I won’t lie and pretend like your absence won’t be felt,” Rudy admitted, currently hunched over a delicate piece of electronics. “But we’re no longer the weak team that came into existence from that terrible tragedy.”

The patented kind of ink he was inlaying into the circuit board was in the domain of more niche chemical sciences that I had less experience with. Where I was kind of a hyperspecialist in a field, Rudy had always been more of a multidisciplinary guy. It was why I was more than happy to farm out the knowledge base of chakra, if only because I could then benefit from the advancements other people made.

Generally, that was how science progressed. A bunch of tiny, almost miniscule improvements by a bunch of people that added up to a big result.

“It just feels like I’m abandoning you guys.”

“Genji, we’re all superheroes. Each and every one of us took on this job to help and save others,” Rudy absentmindedly commented, the faint sizzle of his tools breaking up the words. “Your care is appreciated and perhaps even warranted…”

“But a little overbearing?” I finished.

Sitting up from his work, he gave me an arched brow. “You said it, not me.”

“I know,” I sighed. “Guess it’s just nerves. Or me getting used to being the strongest person on the planet. I always feel a little responsible for how certain things shake out.”

I didn’t remember always being this responsible. Apparently, actually making an effort to care about the lives of people around you was a good way to have an overdeveloped sense of empathy. Who would have known?

“For all of your might, I would put your humanity as one of your strongest virtues,” Rudy said, giving me a smile, warm and friendly. “I’ll miss your company while you’re gone.”

“I’m only ever a portal away, y’know,” I pointed out. “And I did specifically make those relays so that you guys could get my attention.”

“I know. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you found something interesting and got distracted for days on end.”

“Hey,” I weakly protested. “I resent that remark.”

We both shared a laugh, if brief, as the time that we spent working together came to an end. Both of us had our own responsibilities, and things we needed to attend to. For the erstwhile leader of the Guardians, he had duty rosters to compile, new recruits to inspect, and somehow found the time to be so specifically oblivious about Kate’s interest in him.

If he hadn’t figured it out by the time I came back, I swore that I was just going to bluntly tell him about it. Otherwise, she might keep toying with the poor man, seasoning him up like a lamb for the slaughter. Which was funny to look at, but at a certain point you just had to take mercy on him.

I didn’t have much left to do for myself, outside of saying goodbye to people and making sure someone would check in on my apartment while I was gone. Though I had made a promise to Allen to spar with him. Something we were more than happy to do before the two of us flew to the ship waiting to transport us to Talescira.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Allen asked. “I don’t really know my own strength anymore. It’s kind of a problem.”

“No better time than the present to get used to it,” I telepathically communicated back, as the two of us stood on the surface of the moon. “Now, let’s get to it.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, which was a level of aggression that I could appreciate. The moment that I gave him the confirmation that it was okay to fight, he rushed me, flying forward with whatever propelled him through space. Darting in, he delivered a few quick, powerful jabs, the kind that had pretty good form and posture.

There were parts where he overextended himself just a little, though. Given how much he’d grown physically from the last time we’d met, I wasn’t that surprised he was still getting used to his new physique. It could be disorienting at the best of times to go through a chance that radical.

I, meanwhile, merely had to slide out of the way or use the most optimum amount of force with my hands to redirect it. That didn’t seem to be something he was intent on letting stop him, as Allen threw in uppercuts, twisting kicks, or tried to use his ability to create his own leverage to come out in different directions. Given the opportunity, I took it to try and make a reasonable observation on his fighting style.

If I had to describe Allen’s preference, it was built on being strong enough to take hits. He didn’t have what I would call exceptional amounts of technical skill in a fight, relying on his natural strength and durability to see him through. What he did have going for him besides those parameters was a keen battle instinct.

Certain things you couldn’t train into a person. They had to be born with it, or so I genuinely believed, as we sparred on the surface of the moon. When I threw jabs, he took the blows before he started to gradually, almost unconsciously respond. It wasn’t like he was learning my martial arts just from watching me use them. That’d be silly.

He wasn’t just letting me wail on him, though. He was attempting to improve and get better, which is more than what I could say about most. It didn’t stop me from doing so, though, especially when he mostly seemed prepared for straightforward combat like punches and kicks. When it came to actually throwing my esoteric abilities at Allen, that was where he really started to lag behind me.

Many of them were just things he didn’t have the faintest defense for. One moment he’s charging at me; the next he’s finding out I’d replaced myself with an ice clone and was actually behind him, punching the alien into the pockmarked surface of the moon. Between our efforts, we’d left a few new craters on the surface.

If I had to rate his strength, though, it was definitely higher than anyone on the planet that wasn’t me. The same with his durability. We weren’t trying to kill each other, so that extra bit of feral ferocity wasn’t in either of our strikes. That didn’t mean I wasn’t confident that he wouldn’t give a good showing to even Nolan, if it had come down to it.

“So? How’d I do?” He asked, as we wound down and took seats on some nearby boulders.

“Pretty good, honestly,” I admitted, without any hint of real umbrage. “I’ve only ever fought the one Viltrumite, so you’ll have to take my observations with a grain of salt.”

“More than I’ve fought, and from the sound of things, you came out in better shape than I did. I’ll take anything you can give me.”

“I’d rate you favorably, if we’re being honest about it. Nolan’s strikes were powerful, and you’re somewhere in that range. Though, I think your ability to take hits and keep on going is more impressive.”

“Too stubborn to quit, I guess,” Allen mentally laughed, eye crinkling in such a way that made his amusement clear.

"There are worse qualities to have in a fight. From all of the conflicts that I’ve taken a part of, the moment you feel like victory is plainly outside of your grasp, it usually is.” 

Willpower was an immensely understated quality of being in a martial conflict. The drive to live and win alone wouldn’t cross the gulf that came from innate physical abilities or powers. I wasn’t saying something so silly. What I did feel like, though, was that if you didn’t take it seriously and give it your all, flagging morale could prove your downfall sooner than any enemy.

“Pretty wise words.”

“I like to pride myself on my intelligence.” Except for all of the times that I’d been stupid. But he didn’t need to know about all of those occasions.

“Anyway, if we’re all wrapped up here, ready to head on over to my ship?”  He paused, before speaking again. “Not really MY ship, but like, the ship we’re going to be traveling on.”

“Am I ready? I was born ready! I’ve never been on a spaceship before, so this should prove interesting.”

Allen gave me a smile. “I think the reality will end up disappointing you.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Just like someone might imagine, it turned out that space travel was not instantaneous or fast. It was speedy in the same way that any form of FTL travel seemed to be based on science I was barely familiar with, yet still managed to cross the great distances of space in a somewhat timely fashion. It might have taken days, or weeks, to cross entire stretches of the galactic reach, yet that seemed fair to me.

I was more baffled by how normal everything was on the vessel that I was on. It was called the Venture, a sleek, custom-built ship that was apparently designed for exploration missions to the furthest reaches of space. Something about the name did make me think of Star Trek, and even the outfits that the staff wore were seemingly evocative of that to a degree.

One thing that I very much appreciated was that they basically had a treatment that allowed you to get the mental telepathic implants for free. Bundled in with the nanite injection was a translation capability as well, which made it almost senseless to refuse. It wasn’t treated like some sort of weird, new fringe treatment but basically just the standard everyone got.

So, I didn’t really have much of a reason to refuse. Who knew if I couldn’t figure out an interesting way to use this? I’d never had the capability to so directly project my own thoughts into another’s skull before, and frankly, I was a little curious to see if I could lace my thoughts with genjutsu or use it as an attack.

If I thought about Chris Chan, could I blast the entire semantic context for that clusterfuck into someone’s mind to stun them? There was no such thing as cheating too much in combat, in my eyes. Something I’d come to appreciate more and more as time went on.

Having a tool meant that you’d be kneecapping yourself if you didn’t think of every way it could be abused for your benefit.

Even the novel nature of the environment I was in could fade with time, though. Between the artificial gravity and the rather sedate, normal suites of rooms and whatnot, nothing about the environment felt that weird. It mostly was like I was running around a cruise ship, weirdly enough, except for the parts where I could see out into the inky blackness of space. Or all of the stars passing us by.

I spent two days stock still, entranced by the sensory phatasmogoria that had almost entranced me with my Byakugan as we moved through FTL. When Allen came to check on me, that was when I’d swore off the practice. My brain was already screwy enough, between my human memories and my Ōtsutsuki ones. No reason to hazard what might happen if I stared even further into the cosmic abyss.

Likely even with the stockpiled movies, comics, and games I’d brought with me, I did get a little stir crazy. Not that I’d realized it, but I’d gotten used to be exceptionally, extremely mobile, hopping all around Earth or into space on little jaunts for whatever reason. Training and meditation had to be kept to a minimum, especially on anything that might have been destructive to the environment.

So by the midpoint of the trip, it was understandable that I was chomping at the bit and threatening to climb the walls. Thankfully, it was also time where I got to actually get to know Allen. For as little as I understood about the guy, it turned out that he was a pretty alright dude.

Unopans, his race, had resisted the Viltrumites and didn’t get summarily wiped out for the trouble. It’d been a near enough thing where they’d had to go to some extreme lengths to try and save themselves from extinction, though. Allen was a result of their eugenics projects, which was why he had all of this latent potential inside of himself in the first place.

He’d been a failure in that he couldn’t actually defeat a Viltrumite in direct combat.

“That’s like saying just because you’re not a champion athlete, you don’t have any value,” I griped. “Also, they didn’t even take into account your latent powers.”

“They didn’t know about them at the time. I didn’t have any idea that anything but me dying would happen when I stood up to those three Viltrumites.”

It was a fair point, despite the way it made me purse my lips. “I’ll concede the point, as much as I don’t like it.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Allen drawled, looking amused. “I won’t go and say it isn’t like some crazy things haven’t happened in my life. But I’m happy with how things have ended up. I’ve got a job I like, a girlfriend, and I get to go into work every day knowing I’m doing the right thing. What’s the point on dwelling on the past with all of that in my present?”

I couldn’t help but stare at someone who I suspected might genuinely be the most contented individual that I’d ever met. Most people I’d met had some greater aspiration or goal, yet outside of stopping the Viltrumites, which was basically an imperative if he wanted to keep breathing at all… the guy was happy with his lot in life. Most sapients couldn’t exactly say the same, now could they?

“You’re one of a kind, Allen.”

He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. “I try.”

There were other topics that I did want to ask about, now that I had what was basically a captive audience. “What exactly do I have to look forward to when we arrive?” I asked.

So far I’d been more than willing to go with the flow and take things as they were. Yet Cecil had genuinely asked me to gather information, and I owed him that much. Politicking and subterfuge weren’t my strong points, but if I couldn’t figure out something useful, I might as well hang up the hat.

“Questions. A lot of questions,” Allen admitted, grimacing softly. “No one’s ever heard of an Ōtsutsuki before, but if you can defeat Viltrumites, they’re going to be keen to have you help out. The Viltrumite Empire is voracious, and combatants of that level are rare.”

“Like Thokk.”

Another wince, as I hadn’t indeed forgotten that we’d handed off the frozen alien to the Coalition of Planets. “Whatever happened to him?”

“Well…” Allen trailed off, looking distinctly unhappy. “After we unfrosted him, specifically on an uninhabited planet, the guy did rage a bit. And name you specifically, questioning where you were.”

“To which you lied, right?”

Allen stared at me, and I stared back, feeling an increasing level of anxiety. “You did lie to the alien strong enough to beat me like a rented drum, yes?”

“...No…” Allen admitted, glancing away sheepishly. “B-But we did manage to recruit him to fight the Viltrumite auxiliaries. He’ll probably be light-years away, on the frontline, hoping to find a Viltrumite to fight.”

So I would 100% be assured to run into him at some point. I knew tropes; I knew how this shit worked out. Saying that it was unlikely for me to run into him just made it seem exceptionally more likely for that exact thing to occur. “So I’m dead.”

“You’re being dramatic,” Allen spoke before hastily changing the topic. “As for the council, they’re gonna do what I said before. Maybe try to persuade you to try and move to their worlds, rather than the remote location of Earth.”

“Which isn’t happening.”

“I figured, yeah.”

“It’s not that I can’t see the appeal of living in an advanced society that needs me,” I pointed out. “I very much can. But until I’m confident that earth can stand on its own two feet, I think I’m not ready to let go of those ties.”

Allen lifted up his hands defensively. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. Talescira is my home, but that’s because of Little Unopa and so many of my people being there. I’d never tell someone else to leave where they love, even if it’s only an adopted world.”

“Anyway, while Thaddeus might be disappointed if you don’t hop straight into the war effort, he’ll probably be more than happy with the list of weaknesses and stuff that we’ve gathered.”

“True. If that doesn’t get Earth some major kudos, I know what will.”

“I’d be amazed if there weren’t votes to try and bring in Earth to the Coalition properly, rather than at a remove,” Allen admitted. “Doing this much, even remotely, to forestall the Viltrumite threat is what would normally cost planets countless credits to manage.”

Cecil was bound to be happy to hear that much. Though, once the technology was in his hands, I could only imagine what he and his eggheads were going to do with it. Nothing nefarious, mind you, I just figured they were going to be expanding the GDA’s power like never before. Whether or not that was a good thing, we’d have to wait and see.

Whatever my concerns on the matter were, I learned a bit more about the Coalition of Planets talking to Allen. They were largely a democracy, and in theory, every planet was as equal as their peers. Realistically speaking, some were more equal than others. I’d like to say this was unfair, yet even the United States tended to base representative politics based on the actual populations of their states.

Let alone the actual merit that could be brought to the table. Some civilizations were bound to remain first among equals, and Talescira’s influence over the larger Virgo supercluster of celestial bodies ensured that it retained that top spot. Thaddeus, the leader of the Coalition, had done no small amount of work to keep it that way.

The more things changed, the more they seemed to stay the same, it seemed. As for the rest of the voyage, I took it easy, not doing much outside of catching up on some totally purposeless junk food media that I’d been falling behind on. Having an excuse to cut back and relax was enjoyable when I got past the impulse that every second I didn’t spend actively improving myself, I was marching toward my death.

And in no time at all, or so it seemed, we arrived at Talescira. 

I wasn’t sure if going to an alien planet was going to live up to the hype. It’d genuinely been a concern that I had, despite how silly that might have been to fret over. Out of the myriad other, more important things that I ought to have been focused about, that was the thing that had me rolling in my meditation. Thankfully, it turned out that this was something that indeed was as good as advertised.

Talescira was genuinely beautiful, breathtaking in almost every way, at a distance. Rather than being green and blue, like Earth, it was a more vibrant palette of golden oceans, teal skies, and, from where I stood, pastel-hued sprawls of architecture. There were ships that seemed to come in and out almost endlessly, in the clogged traffic, along with the orbital stations hovering around the planet.

“It’s… pretty impressive,” I admitted, feeling that anxious energy begin to fill me once again. So many things I wanted to know or see, and I didn’t have the faintest clue as to where to start.

“You’re not the first person to have that reaction,” Allen admitted, smiling at my face. “Welcome to the beating heart of the Coalition of Planets.”

“Let’s see if it lives up to the hype.”

“Thaddeus also probably wants to meet you right away,” Allen mentioned, making me perk up immediately.

“Your boss?”

“That’s the one!”

“Shit, lead the way then!”

If there was a benefit to being with Allen, I got to bypass what were presumably not insignificant amounts of screening to actually enter into the planet. Considering that I didn’t have ID yet, a fact that was going to be worked on later, I would have had to sit through a lot of hullabaloo. When it came to my situation, we just flew in toward the headquarters, no appointment needed.

Some part of me that used to be human might have felt a little chagrined by this nepotism and favoritism. Here and now, I was just happy to not have to deal with the long, drawn-out process of having to deal with the machinery of bureaucracy. You’d think that my tolerance for it might have increased as time had went on, but no! It actually decreased.

Whether or not I was praising whatever god existed for saving me from it, we found ourselves moving through the palatial, huge structure where the actual government business was performed. I’d give the inhabitants of the world this much, and it was the fact that nothing about what they built seemed to be on the smaller side of things. And the people!

A lot of them were weirdly humanlike, which I guess was another point for Star Trek being correct. Not that they always had organs or even structures in their bodies that were analogous to human bodies. Sometimes they only looked superficially the same, while being drastically different beneath the surface. Yet for the first time, I was starting to come around to intelligent design, weirdly enough.

Unless life had been seeded across the universe by people really invested in humanoid body plans, this was just too weird to be explained through random chance. Either that, or humanoid proportions were just what a species needed to become spacefaring, on an insanely high ratio.

My idle musings took up most of our travel through the luxurious building, before we entered past the doors of the office. Right toward the energy signature that had taken up so much of my attention, when it came into my range. Chiefly because it seemed like onf of the few that could genuinely threaten me.

“Sir! I’ve returned, and I’m proud to call it a partial mission accomplished,” Allen spoke, as we entered into an office.

I’d thought that I’d stop being surprised so much, but the apparent leader of the Coalition of Planets was down to prove me wrong. Most people don’t think of their politicians needing to have an abject amount of combat power. Given that real life wasn’t actually Naruto, where the heads of state were also enormously potent combatants, that made sense. Thaddeus had not gotten the memo.

Despite the fact that he wore robes that obscured much of his body, he was absolutely jacked underneath them. Truly muscular, in a way that almost felt like it belonged to a much younger man, considering his aged features. Regal as well, though with a swelteringly high signature of physical energy that made me a little wary of him.

If things came to blows, this guy would hit nearly as hard as Nolan. Maybe roughly in the same general range of power. Not for the first time, I was thankful that this was a diplomatic mission, first and foremost.

“You must be Taijitu, the alien I’ve heard so much about,” the man intoned, his voice deep and sounding about as old as he looked.

“That’s me. And you must be Thaddeus,” I said.

“Indeed,” he spoke, with a smile that almost seemed vaguely friendly, and he nodded slowly my way. “We’ve much to discuss. I’m happy that your voyage to Talescira was one without trouble.”

A snort escaped Allen. “This guy went catatonic for a little bit, staring off into space.”

It was enough to make me glower at the big, bulky alien. “First off, shut up. Secondly, I was pondering the mysteries of the universe and got lost in my meditation.”

“A likely excuse.”

Clearing his throat, Thaddeus gave Allen a significant look, as the cyclops cut off his teasing. Even if there was still very much of a smile on his face. “While there will be a more formal council session later, I imagined it’d be more appropriate for us to have a frank discussion. Please, have a seat.”

Sitting up straight in the offered chair, I figured that it was about time to lock in and focus. “I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure what I can do for the war front. This sort of conflict is… outside of my scale of reference.”

“That’s a solvable issue. And one we can cut to the heart of in this moment. What I am personally interested in is what has been done with the defeated Viltrumite that we were informed of. And, more importantly, the disposition of his heir. From someone who’s spent more time around him than the managed hours Allen has.”

For all of his congenial, polite behavior, his emotions were far more complex. Tredpitation swirled around him, along with a cool, icy blue that I could recognize as a certain willingness to kill. I’d seen it on Nolan before, after all.

Something told me this wasn’t just the simple conversation that it’d been sold to me as.

Author’s Notes

The mental Chris Chan attack isn’t unfortunately something I thought of myself. It comes from a web serial, DIE TRYING, which I can tentatively recommend just for that horrific weapon the MC comes up with. 

As for the interactions with Allen, well, he’s kind of an important character. So it’s relatively good to give the MC some time so that he can get to know Allen. Just one of those things that needs to get done, at least in my eyes.

Outside of that stuff, made a goof on the patreon when I was trying to fix chapter twenty-six not being in the collection. I thought I hadn't uploaded it, I did, and when I tried to delete the new one, accidentally deleted the old version I could have just put on the collection instead. That's my mistake, my goof, and while I'll be pained by the new inconsistency in my posts, I'll live.