"The soul of a Shinobi remains the same"-Uchiha Sasuke
The Sage of Six Paths and the birth of an organized militant civilization; the ninja and the samurai. Almost everyone in this world knows about the tale of the messiah that saved mankind from the corrupted one, but as humanity progress, will they deviate from the commandments of the Sage? It is indeed evident that men strayed from the teachings of the Sage, they have diverted their attention on worldly desires and ridiculed the heavens as history repeats itself. Perhaps the birth of scientific ninja tools is the living proof that causes men to fall apart, and as we look back, the world we knew before and compared to now, marks an end of an era. Many are called but few are chosen, not all who call upon the heavens will be answered by the Sage, but those who have heart for him shall not perish but witness a wonderful sight that men's eyes cannot fathom.
The Sage existed during the Tōitsu Period, a time where men and the nine heavenly guardians were in unity, each of these guardians are revered as gods in the eyes of men, they are: Inugamiomo no Shukaku, Nekogami no Matatabi, Kame-ou no Isobu, Sarugami no Son Goku, Kiri no Kokuo, Un no Chomei, Tako-ushi no Gyuuki, and Kurama no Tamae, the latter being the strongest among all. Legends said that they are overseers of mankind as they provide chakra fruits as men's daily bread in impossible tasks.
Otsutsuki Kaguya, an imperial princess from a faraway land became the first human to permanently wield chakra by defying the nine heavenly guardians through eating the chakra fruit of wisdom and defeated the tyrant Emperor Han and ascended to the heavens. Kaguya then gave birth to her two sons, one would be the messiah and the other the father of the Hyuuga, Hagoromo and Hamura, and upon the birth of her sons marked a new age where the nine guardians would no longer provide the power of the fruits as humans can now utilize it within, the guardians in the same token separated the holy trees from the mortal plane — a place where no mortal could find and where secrets are revealed to those worthy. Hagoromo fulfilled his destiny as the messiah who taught Ninshu and saved men from the evil god, Jashin, while Hamura and his household became guardians of the unknown plane. In spite of attaining the Rinnegan's benefit of immortality, Hagoromo chose to remain mortal and unlike his mother whose physical form and spirit ascended to the heavens, he died a mortal and his spirit became omnipresent.
Through Hagoromo's sons, Otsutsuki Indra and Otsutsuki Asura, Ninshu continued with Asura as the successor. Indra didn't take it well and rebelled against his younger brother(which would escalate through many generations), he then invented a weaponized version of Ninshu that we use today and that is Ninjutsu. Kurama no Tamae, one of the nine guardians who is known for her good fortune and mischief cursed Indra for his rebellion and his eyes were dyed in red, his bloodline through generations will experience the curse of the fox. As a result, the enmity between Indra and Asura brought forth the Shinobi era.
The Konran Period, widely known as the "Warring States Era" and the period that succeeded the Tōitsu Period, was a period sparked during Indra and Asura's feud, their respective ideals paved the way to different types of civilization and beliefs, the teachings of Ninshu was mitigated as Ninjutsu became prominent due to constant warring. In this era, it was not inherently the will of ninja to fight as their nature were morally gray (even today) and out of obedience, while the Samurai was living a much better life, considering their allegiance to the Feudal Lords and the Emperor as law enforcers in their countries, the ninja on the other hand were merely assassins for hire and entertainment to the Emperor. Those who were against the Emperor's wishes are executed by the Samurai, many disobeyed and the result was only death, however, Tamae the nine tailed Yōkai aka "The Goddess of Fortune and Mischief", resurfaced, she knew well of the disaster she caused by cursing Indra and his descendants/sympathizers and sought to manipulate events that would lead to the end of the war.
Throughout the course of the war, Tamae never failed to cease the opportunity to disguise herself as a historical figure, having transformed into countless people of fame or not, her objective was clear - to make the Senju and Uchiha, her performers come to a realization about their petty feud, she did everything she could to unite both clans. Despite of the failures throughout her trial, eventually an Uchiha and Senju came to terms, and together they would form the first ninja village with the Sarutobi and Hyuuga and in the same manner, others would too, as a matter of fact, Tamae did not see it coming. She was pleased with the outcome, yet was also displeased because, it was not her who manipulated the path for them, the final test that Tamae schemed; a battle between the Emperor's forces against the unity of the four clans. Ultimately, Takumi and Seigirama defeated the Emperor and became the victor, the crafty fox is once again pleased as things were in her favor yet no so much, she never expected the ninja' victory against the forces of the Emperor and concluded that their unity was worth it, or so what the legends would say.
To conclude the chase, I'd like to quote a friend and I thank him for making me realize this and I'm sure you would too:
"Naruto as an RP is an interesting setting, so I don't think it should fail by lack of competence at least. But, luck will always be a factor of maintenance and with active ninja instead of trainees, you can focus on actual missions that could advance the plot in someway or another.
Like having them investigate right about these things instead of stumbling upon them."
The story would be narrative and character driven. We could roll with the plots but what makes a Naruto character progress is the bonds that escalates to the tied developments of Narrative-Character. Therefore our characters would be Chunin ranked and are about 15 years old of age and above.
To set everyone's minds on the right track. The current setting is that of Meiji Restoration and ninja are declining as per Boruto analogue.
