End of an Era (Naruto AU)

Bakkasama · Jul 4, 2018

Made a reaction post for the first part of scene 41. I think I'm starting to get the hang of making shorter reaction.

Sorry. I lied.

The Laurent said:
Act 4, Scene 41: Taking On Roles? Shizue The Responsible?!

You know, this scene's title kind of sounds like an episode of "Hey Arnold!". I hope that doesn't mean that the role is going to go straight to "gets escalating the situation in a ridiculous direction" but at least we know that we will learn beautiful moral about life.

Speaking more seriously, the title can be divided in two parts. "Taking on Roles" means we are going to assume a different position that we used to, which is understandable considering we are taking a leadership position. What's interesting is that roles is in its plural form, meaning that either a) several people are going to take charge of different roles they weren't before, or b) Shizue is taking several roles at the same time. This last option could be because Shizue is stepping up to partly replace Emiko, who inflicted several roles on herself: leader, teacher, mother, psychiatrist… she was all of that for the Emikolle, so Shizue is going to have to take part of those roles. It doesn't help that as everyone has different needs, it also meant that Emiko meant different things for each member. Shizue will probably have to adapt how she acts depending of which member of the group she is interacting with. The phrasal verb "take on" can also mean to challenge or defy something, meaning that either these new responsibilities are going to be a test to Shizue's skills or the chapter will question the validity of said roles.

"Shizue The Responsible?!" also has several interpretations. It could talk about her attitude, that she is serious and you can trust her to do what she must do. Or it could mean that she is the one that answers for the actions of others. The interrogation mark followed by an exclamation mark denotes either doubt that she can accomplish that role or surprise that she decided to take it. It's also an obscure and almost forgotten suffix that the feudal lords of 8th century japan used to mark someone as ninja-jesus but since that role is already taken I don't think that's it (unless Naruto pops up and chooses us to inherit Kurama, but what are the odds of that?)

The Laurent said:
Shizue didn't spend two hours up looking over the bingo book. No, she spent two hours thinking about her duties, thinking about what she had to do now. Thinking about whether she could do it, and what price there would be for what she was doing.

What we have been fearing has become true. The pressure was so much that Shizue has become Schizophreniac. She believes she did something, when in fact she did another thing! It has affected her memories so badly that she even forgot how the previous update ended!

The Laurent said:
She left, humming, as Shizue just stood in the kitchen and read, read until the morning light.

Well, that or she got a time machine. It is sometimes hard to tell in fiction.

So, she took this leadership thing pretty seriously. She is already taking this like it's her duty, like it's expected from her to sacrifice her time for the others. We have voted over and over again to try to help people with their problems and to try to make our room common ground so everyone could socialize, so I guess it's in character to be expected to help everyone. I'm not so sure it is to think she has to do it, or that she is expected to sacrifice something. Sure, it is unreasonable to think that taking a more active role won't have consequences; that it won't take a lot of time that she might want to use to spend in other activities or that she will have to now consider the needs of the many before her own. But what Maki asked us was to help to manage people together with Saya and Chuichi. I find thinking like she is doing now that she must have to be in charge of everything, without considering first on relying a bit on others kind of unhealthy.

By the way, I just realized something with all this talk about prices to pay and sacrificing time. Taking a leadership role will take a toll in our monthly actions, won't it?

The Laurent said:
There was always a price, always a cost, and Shizue was always willing to pay it when it came down to helping the people. Her friends, at least.

Important distinction. On one hand we have the factory workers in Tea who didn't get our help and on the other the multiple times that had us sacrificing our puppets to save people and the time we took an explosion for our teammates.

The Laurent said:
It was perhaps a mistake. It was perhaps something that was going to cost her enough that she'd change.

Not the best way to fill me with confidence about our new role, but we already took the job. Let's see where this goes.

The Laurent said:
She was thirteen, she knew there was a reason that the world had started to increase the age at which almost everyone became a Chunin, became a Jonin. Because most of the time, a fourteen year old, no matter how skilled, was not going to be able to handle the leadership pressures of being a Chunin. Better to wait a few more years, and they'll still be there to take charge if they really have the skills.

Oh yeah, I tend to forget that in the Narutoverse most of the characters are actually kid soldiers. If you take that into account it makes sense to increase the age to become chunin and jounin, since too much stress in the formative years may hinder normal growth, making them unable to reach their full potential. Plus, taking more dangerous roles later means they are more prepared for it so it decreases the mortality rate. Another reason they increased the age for promotion is because now they can afford to do that, as they don't have to produce so many ninjas to keep up with the death toll. That being said, Shizue's case it's not really the same as being promoted to chunin or jounin. After all, they not only have to be in charge of other people, they also have to start going to more dangerous missions like B ranks and A ranks…

Wait a minute. We are already doing that. And we have also been taking the decisions in high stakes situations, like how it depended on us whether we continued the casino mission or not after Genta was injured. So the main change is that now we have a lot of people asking us what to do and to mediate their problems (which most chunin's don't have to since ninjas move in 4 men squads). Ok, I see how that can be traumatizing.

The Laurent said:
Emiko wasn't too young to be a Jonin, but she was young to be a missing-nin with this kind of pressure, trying to raise a handful of children at the same time. Twenty-five seemed ancient to Shizue sometimes, but it wasn't, wasn't at all. And if Emiko was a little young for her responsibilities, what did that make Shizue?

But there was nobody else who'd be able to do it. Maki could help, but that wasn't the same as being able to do what she could. Sometimes you did something because there was nobody else.

Emiko is a single mother of 10 children at 25, trying to put food at the table while saving the world in her spare time. No pressure. It is especially tough since she wasn't really expecting at least 7 of those kids (there is a joke about oops babies there). This got me thinking though. If she was planning to take two or three students from the Archipelago while she already had so much on her plate… why did she want to have a genin team at that time?

The Laurent said:
"One moment," Maki called out, hoarsely, her voice a little less polished and controlled than the one she used day-to-day, the one that she'd clearly been practicing. Shizue actually had to wait for three full minutes before Maki pulled the door open. She'd gotten dressed, but from what it looked like, just in yesterday's clothes. Pants, a shirt, a vest. Maki hadn't yet taken to dressing all that different from the way she had before, really. Not when she was in mission-mode. That was probably going to change very soon, if she could just learn to believe in herself. Or perhaps not.

Shizue knew far too little about all of this, was playing at all by ear and trusting in them.

No one is a Lady at 5 in the morning. Or everyone is, if you didn't go to sleep yet and have some beers on. I at least find it a bit funny that Genta's mission attire is the same as Jitsuko's.

The Laurent said:
"Okay, so I have a book… Emiko's target is in here. Somewhere in here."

It took not all that long to find it.

Name: Aoyume (See incident report A-1A5) Isao

So basically they looked the only S-rank ninja in the whole thing. I guess that the fact he came from a minor village made the whole thing a lot easier.

That reminds me; we voted that we wanted to find out more about minor villages. Did Jitsuko give us the bingo book because of that vote or it was planned all along?

How normal do you think it is that they put report numbers in bingo books? I don't think it's really practical that after reading the bingo book they have to go to their archives to look what they were talking about, though I guess it's understandable if you think about village security. You don't want everyone to know about your village secrets if the bingo book falls in the wrong hands (like this case) and you only really need the cliff notes if you run into him unless you are actively hunting for him.

Also there's an incident report about the guy's clan. That could mean several things. Maybe they were planning a coup, or several of them were killed. Or if you want to make the guy even more mysterious then the report could be a justification of why they put that name. Like, "OK, to be fair, we don't really know who this guy is. Due to some clues in this report we think his original identity was an Aoyume, but then, who knows?"

The guy's surname is Aoyume, which means "blue dream/illusion". The name Isao could mean different things according on how it's written. Some meanings are "brave man", "Achievement" and "Honor". So the name seems to mean something along the lines of giving the impression of bravery, being a brave man who uses illusions or achieving things through illusions or being the honor of achievement from Dream.

On an unrelated topic, before this I was pretty sure that the one that Emiko wanted to kill was the ANBU leader of Iwa. You know, that mysterious and all knowing spy master that appeared in the intro of season two. Wonder what happened to him.

The Laurent said:
"Hidden Dream," Maki had muttered at that. "An infamous clan, as far as it goes. They can create genjutsu that manipulate people's emotions, and more than that they don't need anything more than an audio inductor… or in other words, they don't have to see you, you don't have to see them, as long as you can hear them, or they can hear you perhaps…"

"Oh," Shizue said, realizing just how bad that could get.

There is lots of stuff to analyze here. First let's do a recap of what we know about hidden dream (from the naruto wiki, apparently it is from a video game). It's a minor village that's located in a small country next to Fire country. The location of the village is next of the Forest of Illusions and the mountain of Mythical beasts. It's a small village, composed by three ninja clans yet they managed to firm a peace treaty with Konoha. The reason behind this being that they managed to seal a giant Chakra beast of similar power of a tailed beast, named The Three-Heads. The village's specialty is the transformation technique, which they have modified for combat purposes. In the game this meant that either they took combat forms (like werewolves or oni) or that they used fuinjutsu to get the power of the people they transformed into, at the cost of using lifeforce as fuel. Though I doubt The Laurent would let them have that last technique since it's kind of overpowered, it might be interesting if the village still has transformation technique as one of their specialties. It could be another reason of why this guy is so good with infiltration.

We don't know if The Laurent is going to use the same clans in the game, but just in case here is a quick summary of their abilities:

1) Amagiri clan: Founders of Yumegakure, they are a clan that specializes in the use of poisons, normally as poison mists that can either damage or paralyze their enemies. They summon giant insects that besides being poisonous also explode in poisonous mist when they are killed. Their weapon of choice is the Kusari-gama, which they enhance with fire chakra flow. In the game one of the bosses of this clan transformed in a giant beetle.

2) Tenro clan: The ones that sealed the Three-Heads, they specialize in the use of Taijutsu and ninja weapons. They have a special transformation technique that turns them into werewolves, increasing their taijutsu. Some of their members train ninken to fight alongside them, which use bladed weapons attached to their legs. Another known strategy is attacking from underground using drill-like weapons.

3) Hirasaka clan: the third Yumegakure clan. They use different techniques to either seal their opponent's chakra or to confuse them in order to make them attack their opponents. They can summon monsters called Nuiba, which are like rock throwing ogres. They also have a transformation in which transform in ogres.

Finally we have the clan of the man in question, the Aoyume, a clan that emphasizes in using genjutsu to control other people emotions. They are similar in that way to the Hirasaka, since their ability to confuse people in the game probably means they are actually genjutsu users. However I think that in Naruto: Kizuna Drive they had to hit you with a mask to cause confusion state, which isn't particularly subtle. Hence the reason a new clan had to be created for the main enemy of the quest, as he needed to have the ability to manipulate others without being noticed to orchestrate a war. About his clan, Genta for some reasons calls it an infamous clan. So either they are feared because they are powerful, because the way their jutsu works scares people (like people outside konoha fear the Yamanaka) or because they have participated in criminal or questionable acts. The fact that there is a footnote of an incident report besides the clan name seems to indicate the last one.

About the clan techniques, there's two things that make their genjutsu special. The first one is that it affects people's emotions. This involves fear, anger, hope, despair, love, happiness, indifference. It means that they can make allies hate each other, make people fall in love with them to secure their loyalty, or change someone's emotions according to different stimuli so he thinks he desires things he actually doesn't. So it's an ability made to manipulate others. It also has the advantage that unlike visual or auditory illusions it isn't so simple to find flaws in the illusion. Even an Uchiha would have trouble realizing that he is under a Genjutsu, since his senses aren't really affected. So the only way to find out that you are under an illusion is to stay calm, know yourself very well, find incredibly out of character how you are feeling, and actually know or suspect that there's a guy going around that can manipulate emotions. And the second criteria may be almost impossible to realize, depending how long term are this guy's plans. If the change in emotions is gradual –and we are talking about a guy that is known for delving in long term genjutsu- then you may think that you came to those conclusions on your own. Worst case scenario you could be under his spell for years and neither you nor anyone around would realize it. It's even worse that one can't really think clearly when they are riding high on emotion, meaning that it would be even harder to stop and think "wait, this is not like me. I'm probably under a genjutsu from the bogeyman in the bingo book!". Mechanically speaking, his Genjutsu will probably be ones that alter your emotion and forces you to do certain actions unless you pass a willpower check against his Genjutsu, with a malus to our willpower since it will be affected by our emotions. Since he is an S rank ninja with 30 years of experience specializing in Genjutsu and infiltration, he probably has a Genjutsu skill of about 100 (and I'm being incredibly optimistic here, thinking that he didn't overspecialize too much so he could increase his other skills to the level of the people he impersonates). Which means that unless we reach at least 90 willpower, fighting his illusions is going to be a bitch, especially since we would need Chakra molding to similar levels to break free, and very high level of Notice to even realize we are in a genjutsu to begin with. I guess a possible failsafe against his genjutsu could be to get someone from the Narani clan of Hoshigakure to join our ranks, but that seems kind of hard.

Hey, now that I think about it, doesn't altering people's emotions sound like what happened to us in the hidden temple? You know, when we were in the stand off and after seeing the seals in the walls everyone started to go berserk?

Moving on, the second way the Aoyume clan's genjutsu is special is in the way it's transmitted since it's made by sound. Since it isn't that hard in the Naruto world to make sound look like it comes from different places than where it comes, this means that he can put people under genjutsu easily while staying hidden. Actually, there is a D rank wind jutsu that works just like our whispering technique, except that at rank 5 the range is 250 feet (and can be noticed with an awareness check, but good luck against an S rank ninja). Basically this means that he can place a ninja under a genjutsu from more than 80 meters away without any of his teammates hearing a thing. Another advantage of using sound as a medium is that it can reach a lot of people at the same time, so depending how much chakra he has and what techniques he knows we might even face the possibility of mass scale genjutsu. It's the same that happened in the Shikamaru Hiden novel; Gengo, the main villain of the novel, was a missing nin from Kiri that had developed auditory genjutsu. Everyone that heard him for a while was compelled to obey him and thought that he was in the right. He used this ability while giving public speeches so everyone who heard him became his subject. On the bright side, if sound is his main mean of placing illusions, it means that if we keep developing Ninja Art: Sound Dampening we might end up developing a jutsu that hinders that way of attack. Mind you, it could probably also limit the use of our sound jutsu, but it would mean that he could now only place us in his S rank genjutsu by touching us, making us see him, making us touch a seal, entering an area with a genjutsu placed or by making us drink or smell something, now that genjutsu poison is also a thing. Kind of like Itachi's genjutsu without Tsukomi. So yeah, we wouldn't be safe either way.

The Laurent said:
Aliases: Date Natsumi (Classified), [Classified], [Classified] (See incident report #45523 9A/B), Eizo Reo (See Incidents [Classified]), [Classified], Hatake Ko

"Well, now I know why Emiko-sensei didn't share his name. Natsumi's a top lieutenant in Road, Bo-san is a prominent Jonin-level missing-nin of the… rather well known Hatake family from Konoha. And Reo-san."

Eizo. Shizue blinked. "Wait! True Home?"

"Yes. Eizo-sama was one of the three founders of the True Home movement. And if one of them was secretly Emiko's target, then does that mean that they were actually up to no good? It's hard to tell. Some of the dates mean that at least some of the aliases are clearly assumed. Hatake-san, for one. So it could be that Eizo-sama founded it and trained your friend Abe-san."

It seems I wasn't so far off in that maybe they weren't sure of his real name. Those are a lot of Aliases. Not really sure how that works, to be honest. It seems like it's not clear whether he was them from the start or if they were real people and he replaced them. In some cases it seems to be the latter, but if that's the case, did he make them disappear somehow? Or he impersonated them for a particular incident but are still alive? The fact that the bingo book calls those name aliases makes it sound like they are saying you that if you heard about them then it's probably him. But if that's the case you would have to wonder how spread is this information, since some of those roles are dangerous if they know you are a fake. For instance, Date Natsumi. Liutenant of Hidden Road. Option a) is that the name Date Natsumi was a pseudonym used by him to join and lose trail of the people following him. The grunts don't know who he really is but the top brass know and they are happy to have an S rank nuke nin with them. Option b) is that he replaced the real Date Natsumi, Hidden Road doesn't know it, and the guys in Yumegakure are torn apart between ROFLMAO at them or being scared shitless. Option c) is that they actually know, but are scared of calling his bluff. I'm more inclined for option a) in this case. Hatake Ko is a missing nin from konoha, jounin level. Again, you have to wonder how much of that is common knowledge. Is the original guy alive and he threw the blame of something else at him? Is Hatake Ko dead and he is using his persona to take jobs in other areas? Did he replace him before or after becoming a missing nin?

Finally, there is Reo Eizo, one of the founders of the true home. Did he replace him before or after that project? If it's before, it could mean that he supported that project to create dissent between civilians and ninjas. It would also mean that Uzumaki Hikaru knew it was him, since I doubt his transformation can fool the byakugan. Actually, I think he said before that they worked together.

The Laurent said:
"Would that he be simply an enemy. He's… mostly an enemy, but we've worked together, once. Overlapping goals." Hikaru shrugged. "I don't trust him, but you know what, I hate it sometimes, but I am a ninja, and ninja don't have to trust each other."

So if he was talking about the true home, then that means that he replaced Eizo before the movement started, or Eizo never existed to begin with. Probably the first, since Abe knew him from when he was a Samurai

The Laurent said:
He was no longer smiling. "Perhaps they were wrong, perhaps we were naive. I wasn't directly a part of the movement, I had my own career as an actor and puppeteer, after I quit being a Samurai...that's actually how I first met Eizo-senpai, one of the three founders of the movement. I knew something of chakra, and he taught me of more of it than I could imagine, and also of the beauty that exists in the world, and the culture that can live there too. I was a young boy, you see, and I knew nothing but what my family wanted. It's not a past I will air for you," he admitted, "But it's part of the story."

It probably means too that he knows a bit of kenjutsu to pull the role, by the way. Anyways, we can suppose then that he was one of the founders of the True Home (If he had killed Eizo afterwards Hikaru would outright called him an enemy) so part of the disconnect between civilians and ninjas may or may not have been part of his plan. Also, Hikaru left his village after that, so the anger that made him leave may or may not have been part of a genjutsu too. Not likely, but possible.

The Laurent said:
The theatre-master, the one who'd helped her and who she'd helped in returned. "But then at some later date, or…"

"Yes. It's hard to tell for sure. But even the three names we have are important figures. Road, True Home, the missing-nin scene in lower Earth Country, where Hatake is. Missing-nin usually don't operate close to their old homes. Everyone knows that Emiko-sensei only operates in her home country when she has to. Though I think she misses it."

Quick note just to point out that he worked on Earth country as Hatake Ko and that we think Isao was related to a tsuchikage murder attempt. Might have replaced Hatake Ko to escape that.

The Laurent said:
Shizue nodded, and read the next line.

Former Rank: Jonin.
Age: 46
Village: Hidden Dream
Defection Date: 72 PN

"At… eighteen?" Shizue asked.

"There is a reason they don't like giving children power." Maki shrugged. "I am sure that when I look back decades from now, should I live that long, I will shake my head. But yes, the age does mean that he must have replaced at least a few of them. Hatake's in his late forties, Natsumi is a thirty-seven year old woman. He's taking identities and using them, which means the people behind them--"

"Oh," Shizue said. She had this sick image in her head of Emiko being caught, Emiko being replaced. Who would ever know? Shizue wasn't sure. But the thought itself was enough to drive her almost out of her mind.

Jounin at 18 years old, just like the Mizukage. You know, that guy that can summon giant storms to sink entire fleets by himself. Well, actually he was jounin at least when he was 18. Could have been younger, actually. I hope everybody learnt Maki's lesson: don't overtrain your ninja at least until his rebellious years passed.

Here is the part where the kids start to realize how terrifying that guy is. He changes identities like old clothes and you have not real way of knowing who he is right now. This greatly increases the importance of Maki's Shomeigan training.

Also, Natsume is a girl. So I guess that he is actually under disguise in road after all. Funny fact, this guy became missing nin at the time Hidden Road was funded.

The Laurent said:
Threat Level: S (Flee on sight, Do not engage)

"Well…" Maki said faintly.

Noted Skills: Stealth, Infiltration, Human Experimentation (all captured agents are instructed to commit suicide), Genjutsu (See Incident Cabinet 7-D), Manipulation.

I like how human experimentation is listed with the other skills. It's like he has done it so much that it stopped being a hobby and turned it into an art

. Stat wise it means he has rather high Intelligence, but besides that there isn't a stat for human experimentation, it depends what he is experimenting with. First things that come to mind are Fuinjutsu/medical Jutsu /Poisons, but not necessarily. Throwing new jutsus to a guy to see what happens is also human experimentation and doesn't need any of the previous skills.

The rest of his skills is about as expected. All his identities are due high Infiltration and he comes from a genjutsu clan. The Manipulation bit it's in part due to his jutsu, but it probably also means he has rather high Persuasion, Power and Social.
…
Well, I will be dammed. The Big Bad has a Social Build.

The Stealth part makes sense in the context that he probably prefers to stay hidden until his genjutsu take effect. To be honest, if you are based on this it would seem the only thing that justifies the Flee on Sight is his genjutsu, though it could be that his other skills aren't listed because they are "barely" A rank. Also, let's be real here: he has a Flee on Sight designation, but that's Yumagakure's bingo book. It's a minor village. One might argue that they are the ones that know his strength the best, but the guy is probably their only S rank ninja. And it could be that the guy knows information of the village or their weaknesses that the village chiefs don't want their ninjas to find out.

The Laurent said:
"That's… fudge," Shizue said. He was behind all of this, wasn't he? He was… was.

"A Monster."

Bounty (Dead): N/A
Bounty (Alive): N/A
Information: [Classified]

No bounty. Ok. They don't even want people adding to the death count. Or he doesn't hold any particular grudge towards his villages and they don't want to waste resources at him, so they decided to let him be other people's problem. But that's both unlikely and a dick move, so I don't think so. It may be that he has information to blackmail his own village to withdraw the bounty. It would support the theory that the "flee on sight" was because they don't want him to spread harmful information. If it was that he is still working for the village they would have put a bounty on him to make it less suspicious, so I don't think that's it.

The Laurent said:
Then on the other side, there was a picture. He was tall, or so it seemed, pale and thin, with a face that was perhaps a little bit angular, dressed in a white vest and darker clothes, the Hidden Dream forehead protector across his neck, one of his fingers playing with it. He wasn't smiling, but there was something almost playful in his eyes. Despite all of those individual features, there was a sort of blandness to him that reminded her of… well. Of how people looked at Emiko-sensei sometimes, when she was out and about.

"The last known photo. Nearly thirty years, and yet they're sure he's alive," Maki said, quietly.

So, has anyone wondered how photos in the bingo books work? I mean, he is clearly posing for this one. Do they let people pose how they like for their ninja ID? Or they search the ninja's house the best picture they can find of them? I like to imagine there is somewhere a bingo book entry with a photo of the ninja with a hat and a birthday cake or something like that because "it was the photo you best saw his face".

The Laurent said:
"Oh," Shizue said. "And she's going after…"

"A genjutsu master who can play people like instruments," Maki said quietly. "I'm not thrilled at all. And this monster's skillset would explain hers. Knowing genjutsu that have long-term impact on the minds of others isn't common. Even many Jonin-level genjutsu practitioners know very little in that respect. But she was able to wipe memories, and search them as well, and she took to that genjutsu poison remarkably fast. She's using the…" Maki blinked. "I'm pretty sure that the reference I was about to make wouldn't make much sense. But there's a saying I heard once, how the master's tools cannot destroy the master's house. She's trying to beat him at his own game because she doesn't know what else to do." Maki sighed. "Yet… she's had her successes, she had to have."

So she is trying to copy his skillset as much as she can because that way she can understand him and be prepared for what he is going to do. It makes sense in the way that you want a master manipulator to understand another, or be an infiltrator to understand how another would disguise himself. I'm not sure trying to compete in Genjutsu is the best idea, but then again it's not like she can implant herself a doujutsu like the byakugan to counter it. It helps to know it if the guy likes to experiment with new genjutsu because it prepares you to know what the guy could do, but if she wants to beat him Emiko will probably have to find something else.

Isao's willingness to experiment how to make long term genjutsu probably means that he was responsible of the creation of the Genjutsu Poison. Which means that he is the boss of Ken and his merry band of bandits (at least 2 more special jounin), that he knows who we are (didn't he gave Ken the order not to kill us?) and that he has plans with Wind Country.

The Laurent said:
"And we need to help her do all of this," Shizue said, frowning.

"No. I'm pretty sure that she is going to find a way to shuck us off. We're not going to let her. Okay?"

"Of course," Shizue said. Was that even really a question?

Yeah, they are going to outsmart Emiko.

The Laurent said:
"Now, I thought. We could work together. I could figure out what everyone is going to do, and you could go through a list. Oversee things. And I'll be on standby if two things overlap," Maki said.

Maki, you don't have to "figure out what everyone is going to do". You just have to ask. Use your ears, not your eyes.

Also, I thought he and Saya were managing people before we got back. I kind of assumed she was going to help in taking a leadership role too.

The Laurent said:
"Don't tell anyone? Okay, I can do that," Akachi said, drily, as Shizue was going over the schedule they'd drawn up. Akachi was smiling but of course, it was his kind of smile.

See? That´s the key to success: delegation of work. "Okay Akachi, I'm going to watch over everyone, help them train, solve their arguments, make dinner and solve the logistics of how to keep our almost-a-hidden-village working. You stay quiet."

I'm not really sure why she told Akachi and Ookie about Aoyume-san though, and then asked them to not tell the rest. Are they going to help finding him somehow? What abilities do they have over everyone else? Or is it that she told Ookie because he is her boyfriend and Akachi was there because he is Ookie's bro?

Also there's a reminder there of how Akachi is dealing with depression. It points out how he is smiling, but it's "his kind of smile" which is different than a happy smile. Someday we should inquire about this, especially since we already had a suicide attempt. We already have a twisted tradition of burning an Emikolle girl in every mayor arc, let's not start another.

The Laurent said:
"Team… what?" Okiie asked, staring at the schedule. "Oh, nice. You set out some lunchtime. I'll make sure to be there, Shizue-chan. You can count on me."

"I know I can. I always can," Shizue said, leaning forward to capture a kiss with him. It was going to be okay… if only because Okiie was the kind of boy who understood what it was to be busy. He was doing a lot himself, with all his own training.

She wondered about that sometime. Surely someone so nice and accepting would have some limit, some line… but she hadn't seen it yet.

Ookie is a stay at home husbando. His mother trained him for that.

I think there may be a hint here of self depreciation or crush idealization in how Shizue is making a huge sacrifice for the sake of the whole team and her thoughts go to how her boyfriend could stand her spending less time with him. And a bit of how there is different expectations from men and women. But it could also be that she understands a relationship is built by the two of them and she is happy he understands there are other important things for her too. I guess interpretation depends on which mood you read it in.

The Laurent said:
"Thanks," Okiie said. "So, Team Sasuke?"

"Well, so, a relatively young shinobi that possibly broods a lot leaves their major village for revenge, and there's a bad guy experimenting."

You know Emiko isn't on the ball anymore because she hasn't appeared yet making a remark that she wasn't broody a teenager.

The Laurent said:
That day was a… learning experience. She went to talk to Junko, and got a slightly sullen apology, and then a guilty smile. "I, just. It's. Really fun. I like doing it. I don't know."

Junko liked stealing things.

So Junko has Kleptomania. I thought at first that she was stealing things as a call for attention, especially since the previous update when we confronted her, but looking back this has been coming from a while. I think the first mention of it was just after the Rancher's mission.

The Laurent said:
"As well, you should talk to Junko-chan about hide and seek. She needs the practice, and I think she's getting antsy. I was informed of a certain act a little… too late to do anything about it, besides that I was gone while it happened."

"A certain act?" Shizue asked.

"Yuichi-kun was feeling guilty and open, and he told me that apparently Junko-chan had stolen something from a shopkeeper, back before we got here." Emiko tilted her head and said, "Some kind of comic, and from the way Yuichi-kun was talking, you would think that it was the crown jewels. However…"

Shizue's breath hitched as she realized what it had to be. She bit her lip, trying to work through the why's of the act. Finally she gave up, "Why?"

"I'm surprised you have to ask," Emiko pointed out, rubbing her eyes. "It's not much to steal, and the store was selling it for too much, so it wouldn't hurt to just take it."

Shizue flushed, looking away as she played with her hands to try not to focus on the fact that she wasn't exactly free of such… guilt.

"And, besides deserving it, Junko-chan is a shinobi. I'm rather afraid that it's easy to say that the rules don't apply to you, because they don't." Emiko shrugged, rolling her eyes, "If you want your child to grow up honest and forthright and law-abiding, you don't let them model themselves after a shinobi, that's for certain."

Shizue looked at Emiko, Emiko looked at Shizue. Finally, Shizue asked, "Is it a problem, then?"

"If she makes a habit of it, yes," Emiko pointed out. "It's just something to watch for, I suppose. I'll have to monitor for it."

"Monitor for it?" Shizue asked.

Emiko shrugged. "Perhaps you can make a game of hunting for the listening devices," Emiko said. Then she frowned, thoughtfully. "I should tell people about them."

Shizue's eyes were wide. "Listening devices?"

Emiko had the grace to look guilty for all of one second, before she said, "Just a few, here and there. Main, public areas, mostly."

Which made the other day, when she and Okiie had wound up kissing in the kitchen, even more awkward.

"Oh," Shizue said.

"Just… for me, if you notice Junko-chan up to anything, tell me." Emiko said it so sincerely that Shizue didn't know how to even begin to question her about the… well. Monitoring. "And if you notice any of the recording devices now, please tell me."

"Why?"

"So I can hide them better," Emiko said.

She also once took a comic book from Seiichiro in the missing nin camp, but considering the circumstances in that occasion I don't think it counts. Anyways, the point is that this problem has been going for a while now. Which is worrisome, not only for moral reasons (personally I think that moral implications in this case are secondary, since she can't really control this) but for safety reasons. Shoplifting a civilian in this case is easy and won't necessarily have repercussions for her, but problems will arise if she ends up stealing something of value in a mission and people send a ninja team after her. Or if a ninja from other village sees her stealing and catch her, or if by stealing she compromises her cover. Another worrisome point is that kleptomania is associated with other disorders. Anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorder, gambling addiction and pyromania can coexist in a patient with kleptomania, so we may from now on try to be on guard for that.

The Laurent said:
Shizue thought about that for a long moment, pacing back and forth. "I'm not… I'm your friend, right Junko-chan?"

"Yeah," Junko said.

Yuichi and Seiichiro were watching, their hands clasped, so very clearly stressed and uncertain.

Well, the chibis are in this together. They are the ones that spend the most time with Junko, so clearly they were the first to notice. Which sucks for them, because they have watched her friend doing something morally reprehensible, something they know is wrong, but can't really reconcile with this because of loyalty. They are her friends, and don't want her to be in trouble. Their body language expresses both worry that Junko is in trouble and at the same time hope that we can help to solve the issue. Also, that they are listening to us means that they also somewhat recognize our authority, even if it's only because we are their sempai.

The Laurent said:
"But I'm also going to be trying to help out around here more. So, let me ask your friends: why haven't they told Emiko-sensei how long it's been going on? It's clearly not new, and it's been ongoing, right?"

"Well, she sometimes steals our stuff," Seiichiro admitted. "But she always gives it back, and usually before we have to ask."

Well, they are an enabling family. I remember talking once with people in a rehab clinic that told me that one of the factors determining whether an addict relapsed was the family support. However, sometimes family's conduct hindered recovery. One of those examples was to make excuses for the patient to hide the problem, while other was belittling the problem. Though Junko's problem isn't substance abuse, we can see both behaviors from the kids. It's their way of coping with the situation, but doesn't necessarily help.

Also, note how everything is crumbling. Not long ago it wouldn't have been necessary to tell Emiko.

The Laurent said:
That sounded… odd. That sounded problematic, even. Shizue thought and thought, glaring at them,

Shizue used Glare. The chibis are paralyzed.

The Laurent said:
aware that she had to watch Akachi and Rika train in thirty minutes,

Why? Are they training something in which Shizue's experience may help them? Because a lot of our talents are quite unique, so I doubt we are going to teach them anything. If it's only supervision (like watching they don't slack off or helping like a personal trainer in a gym) I might understand it, since it increases training efficiency, but somehow I find it like a weird way to spend time if she is short on time. Then again, Maki made the list, so maybe she just put everything she thought may help. She is too observant in that aspect.

You know, Akachi and Rika training together isn't as weird as I originally thought. Both have their own niche, but for the most part their fighting style uses a lot of the ninja basics, so they can find things in common.

The Laurent said:
and then she'd have to figure out if the cleaning and cooking schedule was alright, and then and then.

That is another thing that can be partially delegated. Someone else can check if it's right. She will have to break the news or solve arguments if it isn't right

The Laurent said:
"Okay, Junko-chan. Would you like to help test my trap-making ability? Say, tonight. I set up a hallway full of traps, and make them non-lethal. If you get through them, there's some trinkets of mine that you can take. Or… something like that." Shizue thought it through, frowning.

I like Shizue's leading style. Did you do something wrong? You help me test my traps. Effective too, considering we ended up raising traps by 12 points.

I don't think that's going to help Junko though. From what I have read, kleptomania is about impulse control, more similar to OCD. It's not like a kleptomaniac has a quota of things to steal a deal and that's it. They feel the urge to steal which rises causing anxiety until they do it. It could appear at any moment. So just giving them stuff or programming stealing sessions with someone that agrees won't work if she has kleptomania. It might work if this is just a phase or a call for attention. If it is kleptomania I read that aversion therapy and pharmacological therapy with antidepressants is supposed to work, though there aren't studies yet that actually prove it. We don't know how advanced are ninjas in that regard though. In this setting Hidden Star village is supposed to be pretty advanced in psychological treatment so that would be our best bet.

The Laurent said:
"We'll work the specifics out, but if it's training, that's different than just taking from people. If you can just focus the acquisitive parts into something more useful--"

This sounds like the plot of Dexter.

The Laurent said:
That's what the whole day was. There was a restful pause in the middle for lunch with Okiie, which actually just turned into a makeout session--but Shizue really didn't regret that--but other than that she was hustling all day.

Who needs to eat when you can replenish your energy with the power of love?

The Laurent said:
And then came the meal, and those were comfortable and fun, but Shizue did double-duty with Chuichi to help fill Emiko in, and she could see the way people were looking at her.

She was being seen differently, and not in an entirely positive way.

So not everyone is happy with us taking charge of the group or with us ratting out information to Emiko. Which sucks. I don't think either Maki or Ookie would have a problem with it, but I don't know about the others. The chibis won't be happy with us telling Emiko of Junko's problem. Akachi would say something if he had a problem. Saya may not really like the situation of someone else taking charge, though I originally thought she had spoken about it with Maki. Rika may find it weird, but I don't think she would particularly disagree. No idea what would Ichiman think.

The Laurent said:
And then she had preparation to do, and her own training, and setting up some spars with Saya to see how her new and improved puppets did under physical stress,

I wonder how that went. "Hey Saya, I need someone with a lot of brute strength to hit this parts to see if they break".

Also, is this right? Didn't "test how to repair the puppets" win instead of "work on testing out the puppets and see how they do"?

The Laurent said:
Saya accidentally almost tearing Stinger's arm off,

Not so good. Luckily we have 45 extra xp for our puppets in case we want to improve them though we probably won't do it again until after getting the third puppet.

*Suddenly thinks of making the puppet's arm into a grenade pin in case it is torn off*

No! Bad Bakka! Those are expensive to fix!

The Laurent said:
Okiie's lips, kissing him softly because she didn't have time for anything else, let alone a full conversation, once lunch was out of the way, and then being interrupted anyways, by a moderately apologetic Rika who wanted to go over med supplies to pick up in town.

Not cool Rika, not cool.

The Laurent said:
Junko sneaking through a minefield, dancing all the while, even though the sound was enough to eliminate the sneaking aspect. But she was doing it on purpose, so of course it was going to be a little loud.

Shizue found the perfect way to fuse her trap making and her Yaramachi blood and made a minefield in an underground base. Yet Junko Eri-danced all the way through it like nothing. And she did it being invisible too, since otherwise I can't think another way to sneak while dancing. Well, let's see how she dances now that we raised explosives and traps by 12 each! Bwahahahaha!

No, seriously. She is beating us too often for my liking. We started on the right foot by winning the miniquest of mastering Cloak of Invisibility and we found her in a hide and seek game in the missing nin camp, but after moving into this base she owned us in another hide &seek and now she defeated our minefield. We are only ahead because the mock chunin exam right now. We have to get our sempai honor back!

The Laurent said:
"And what about how to make a Rasengan?" Jitsuko asked.

"How, precisely, would I know that?" Emiko asked.

"The books and stories all but give away every single step to learn how to do it.

Well, to be fair, it's a jutsu that was made over a hundred years ago. The copyright license of the jutsu has already expired.

So… if the rasengan is practically common knowledge… Can we learn it? We are going to raise Chakra Molding because of puppetry and ninjutsu is our secondary mean of attack, so sooner or later we will have the skills to do it. We will probably never use it in combat even if we learn it, but still is a cool jutsu. Who needs a drill to work on their puppets when you can do ninja-Jesus' signature move instead?

The Laurent said:
That doesn't mean it's not difficult, but a twelve year old, albeit an impressive and powerful one, learned how to do it." Jitsuko smirked.

Well yeah, Naruto had just fought in a tournament, survived a ninja invasion, then fought and defeated a jinchuriki, then fought and survived two S rank missing nin. He had lots of xp and nothing better to spend it in. Of course he learnt the rasengan at 12. Though if you think about it like that then learning the rasengan can't cost more than (B rank fight+A rank mission+S rank fightx2). It is still a lot of xp, which probably was used to raise ninjutsu and chakra molding too.

The Laurent said:
"I can do it. I just don't, because it's never going to be a move that works well with my style, any more than it does with yours. But it did impress Uzumaki, the first time we sparred."

"Uzumaki is too easily impressed, for a missing-nin," Emiko said. "Next question?"

I would be impressed too if someone suddenly pulled my family's secret jutsu like that.

I find it amusing how casually she said she sparred with him. S rank ninjas in this era are far more social than in the past unless they were part of a boy band (Konan doesn't count because she was with the leader).

The Laurent said:
The questions were only getting more and more difficult, until Shizue didn't even know what some of them meant, so sunk were they in jutsu mechanics, obscure details from a city she'd never visited (but that Emiko was suspect to perfectly know, well enough to blend in), and bizarre details about other missing-nin and their styles.

Ok, this is already getting out of hand. How is someone supposed to know all of that? What's next, knowing what the name of the Mizukage's childhood crush is?

…

Ok, that might actually be relevant for an infiltration expert, but still!

The Laurent said:
By the end of the week, even Maki was gaping

Wait, by the end of the week? You mean she didn't find the previous ones completely ridiculous?

The Laurent said:
at some of them,

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOME OF THEM? God, we are surrounded by nerds.

The Laurent said:
and yet Emiko kept up a relatively high… well. It was clear she was studying her heart out, and Shizue didn't know whether to approve or be worried.

I would go with worried. At the point they start considering those questions normal you start doubting their mental health.

The Laurent said:
She was getting used to being worried. Getting used to headaches when Seiichiro went out at night with Akachi, just exploring a little and looking up at the stars… and yet getting back at midnight.

Akachi said that she shouldn't wait up, but what was she supposed to do?

It's official. We became the group's mother. It didn't take a full update.

The Laurent said:
Chuichi could have been there, but he'd been working hard to train all the people Shizue couldn't get to, and then he'd been working with Emiko for a reading session, and then--

Chuichi is getting overworked. He deserves a raise. Oh wait, I forgot. Nobody is paying him, he is doing all this out of loyalty towards a woman he met 4 months ago. Someday we will have to ask him why he keeps putting up with this, whether it is hero worship or he just has nothing better to do.

Or it could be just be because he wanted to be a teacher. He is living the dream!

The Laurent said:
One week becomes two, and April slowly reaches its end before there was even a hint that something was going to change, that Jitsuko would ever leave. Certainly, in some ways Emiko seems better off than she did before, in other ways worse. It was an orchestra with a few wrong notes bringing it all down.

Oh look, I was right. Taking care of everything else made us lose a training vote. That was more intense than I expected.

The Laurent said:
So when she met up with Chuichi and Maki just after lunch, she didn't expect much to come of it. "Sorry I'm late," Shizue said.

Maki was sitting down, reading through some books, and across the small table was Chuichi, sitting down and frowning at her.

So we have board meetings now. We really should have taken Emiko's economics class in the ship to Tea.

The Laurent said:
"Me," Takumi said. "I came here."

Shizue blinked, but didn't whirl around, instead turned as--Emiko's phrase really was apt--Jitsuko's pet psychopath strode forward. "Since you three are in charge while Jitsuko-chan acts the fool. The political fool, but the fool. Dance and dance the skeletons do, but bones they all are." Takumi smiled a little softly, as if he were fondly recalling all the bones. "Hurry and scurry towards their graves. Isn't it fascinating?"

"No, not particularly," Maki said, with withering contempt. "You are not so mad as you pretend. It'd be better if you were." She stood up, and there were those glowing eyes, and there was that studious arrogance, that was so Maki that in those moments she could have transformed into a dozen different appearances and still be recognizably herself. "It'd be better, but I believe you're a… what's the word. Company man? But one with a vice. Or, is that the right schema?"

"She does keep me in skeletons, that's for sure." Takumi nodded at that, thoughtfully, as if it were a great gift not to be discounted. "But you know that's not all. I know that's not all."

"I do know," Maki said, quietly, staring at him, even as the killing intent poured out, strong enough that Shizue's knees almost buckled. "I do know," she repeated, her voice not wavering more than a degree.

"We leave you in five days. Prepare yourselves." He turned and left.

So… I have no idea what that was about. An S-rank puppeteer comes in, he says he is bored, makes some nursery rhymes, and then gets insulted by a genin, threatened us then left. I think I'm missing a lot of stuff, but what I take from this conversation is that he first says he isn't Jitsuko's ally because they share political views. He seems to think that they are wasting their time and is angry because of that. Maki is mad at him because she does care about this stuff. She activates the shomeigan and calls a bluff. She calls him a company man, one that would do anything for the organization but has the hobby of murdering people or pretending to be crazy. Or that he is part of the group because they let him murder and make his creepy puppet skeletons. So he can't be totally mad with Jitsuko because somehow what they are doing here helps the organization. But then Maki corrects herself, so it seems that there's an extra reason, that we don't know, for him to help Jitsuko. Then he says they are about to leave.

The Laurent said:
"S-rank nin," Chuichi groaned. "This isn't what I signed up for. And now that I've asked her what's going on, I wish I hadn't. It's heavy stuff, kids.

Chuichi found out that being a criminal mastermind was Emiko's cover so people didn't realize she was a super hero trying to save the world.

I would complain too if I found out we were going to be meeting S rank ninjas on regular basis. In the Naruto world power directly correlates with weirdness, so it's only a matter of time before one asks him if they can take his skin and wear it for the Christmas ball. *looks at Takumi* Actually, nevermind. It has probably happened already.

The Laurent said:
I do have to ask, how'd you feel if I became your primary teacher?"

Ha. Haha. HAhahahahahhaha! No.

The Laurent said:
"Oh. So she's going to do something foolish," Maki said, quietly.

"It's… well. She's been working hard to help you behind the scenes, but she made me promise not to tell you. And told me that if you figured it out, Maki-chan, that you were ordered to please not reveal it."

"Very… well. So."

It is probably the thing in the next update about asking her lawyers to make us Watari nin and asking us to leave. Anyways, the joke is on him. He is asking us to be our teacher in case we want to leave Emiko but he doesn't want to leave either. He is just fishing for people wanting to leave to convince him of doing it. If he is waiting for that he will probably leave after we achieve world peace and everyone is given a medal.

The Laurent said:
"Five days," Shizue said. "We'll have to go on a supply run just after that, we've been squeaking by since they arrived." She could recite the list in her sleep, as well as the considerable difficulty Emiko and Chuichi went through to fill it in such a way that didn't reveal their position. It was time they really didn't have, but it was one thing they couldn't delegate

Damn S rank ninja, eating all our food Who would have thought that having a giant secret base in the middle of the dessert could be inconvenient.

The Laurent said:
"Yes. And we may be leaving within the month," Chuichi said.

So there are either one or two xp votes before leaving the base. That's a shame, I liked it here. Wonder if we are going to have a face off with Ken's group before that. Wait a second… Emiko doing something foolish… working behind the scenes for our security… we are leaving the dessert soon…

Oh.

The Laurent said:
"There have been clashes among some minor villages, and disagreements between Konoha and Kumo over important matters of security." He sighed. "All that work done to sabotage an agreement between the two, and now it means there's bad blood there. There's plenty for her to get involved in."

The agreement he is talking about is the job that Emiko did before landing in Reef, right? I don't remember exactly what it was but by context I think she interrupted a Konoha-Kumo alliance against mist. Not sure what Emiko expects to do about those disagreements. I don't remember conflict between minor villages being mentioned before in the story, but when we were choosing in which village we started in the description of hidden craftsman village it said that there were a lot of villages around to compete for the jobs. I don't know if that's what it is referring to but if we go that route then the book we bought about minor villages may turn more useful than we thought.

The Laurent said:
"She'll have to strike," Maki said quietly. "And we're going with her, whether she knows it now or not."

Shizue frowned, thinking on the matter, and then began to discuss the mundanities of base life, wondering where they'd go next.

Well, we are in the Land of Wind. If we go the minor villages route we have at the north Hidden Stones, Hidden Rain and hidden grass, with hidden craftman and probably hidden cliff close by. If we want to meddle between knoha and Kumo we will have to go to Land of fire northeast. Land of waves was supposed to be between Tea and Wind in this setting so it's also an option. Going to Land of Earth is unlikely since Emiko is wanted there, and what are left are the southern islands. So we can go to fire, to the historical buffer zone in the north or we can go to the sea.

veekie · Jul 5, 2018

Bakkasama said:
Well, to be fair, it's a jutsu that was made over a hundred years ago. The copyright license of the jutsu has already expired.

So… if the rasengan is practically common knowledge… Can we learn it? We are going to raise Chakra Molding because of puppetry and ninjutsu is our secondary mean of attack, so sooner or later we will have the skills to do it. We will probably never use it in combat even if we learn it, but still is a cool jutsu. Who needs a drill to work on their puppets when you can do ninja-Jesus' signature move instead?

The basic theory is pretty simple. The execution of arriving at a shaped chakra vortex takes quite a lot of chakra control and a lot of capacity to practice it in any kind of decent time though.

Sivantic · Jul 5, 2018

Also, considering it is a ball of pure chakra, that thing would have ridiculously high Chakra costs. Like maybe 400 Chakra a pop.

There is a reason that despite its simplicity, only Naruto has it in his standard kit.

The Laurent · Jul 7, 2018

Act 4, Scene 42: The Long Breath Before The...

Okiie didn't slurp his tea when he frowned at her. "Junko-chan? Really? Well, isn't that something?" Okiie can say things like that, and she knew what Saya would say about that, of course. Saya would find it droll. Saya didn't seem to much care for conversation if it wasn't witty. Okiie was normal, or… that wasn't the word for someone who could memorize dozens of jutsu formula and do impossible math and burrow through the earth, but…

But? "It is something," Shizue said, quietly, knowing that he meant a little more than it seemed, when he said those words. How much more, she couldn't always be sure, but sometimes he'd look at her and his gaze would be so thoughtful she'd wonder what he was thinking. It didn't dismay her, it didn't intrigue her anyways. Saya liked puzzles, and Shizue had no idea what Maki liked, thought that Junko liked heroes, people she could look up to, or perhaps that was just inexperience talking.

"I don't know if it's the best thing to do, but it's big of you to do it," Okiie said. "All of this is big, you know?"

She hadn't told him everything, or half of everything. "Missing-Nin and Kage-level dangers? Would you stay, if you had a choice?"

"Yes. Yes for… yes for you," Okiie said, quite simply. "I'd stay if you stayed, and I'd leave if you left."

Shizue gaped, her heart thudding double-time at how simply he stated it, how elemental it was. In a world of complexities, some things didn't have to be anything other than straightforward.

"Thank you," Shizue said. "I'm staying. I want to see the end of this. I... "

The past day had had Shizue thinking about Junko, about Rika, about Akachi and how his humor shifted lighter even as his actions became a little more… well. Like a missing-nin. Was it always thus, that Emiko acted as both a cure and a poison? That her voice was so ingrained in Shizue that she could have picked it up from the very limits of her hearing, that ultimately all of this could end badly for everyone, and Emiko knew it too.

One thought a lot more once the weight of the world was upon you. It was just inevitable. She'd made her choice, and now she was looking at Emiko in a different way than she'd seen her before. They talked all the time now, albeit about business. A full day and they'd had four different conversations, just her and Emiko, and sometimes one or two of the others who were trying to manage everything.

It was exhausting, but it was a closeness that couldn't allow the wrong kind of idealization. Emiko was flawed, and yet Shizue was still here. Saya was flawed, and yet Shizue drank tea with her, when she had time; Maki… Maki was a twisted bundle of nerves and feelings, of feints and dreams, of schemes and confidence and doubt and depression. No wonder Emiko-sensei felt so close to her, to this girl that might well spend a decade tearing herself apart just to build up something better.

Her hand pressed into the table as she rose up and stepped closer to him, glancing around the room. Junko wasn't listening in, Shizue had checked. In fact, Junko was with Akachi going through the mines. Shizue had figured out a new configuration that was legitimately testing the young girl to her limits. But Emiko had frowned at her solution, and clammed up thoughtfully.

Emiko did a lot of things thoughtfully, as if she were… afraid. Which wasn't a good sign. "I owe it to myself. But I wonder. If I moved to some small village, where you could practice jutsu in a cave and I could teach music, what would it be like? I've been a shinobi for so long, before I even graduated an academy. Even if I lost all my skills right now, I still wouldn't quite be an ordinary musician."

"You wouldn't be an ordinary musician even without that," Okiie said with a laugh. "Shizue-chan, how many instruments do you know well?"

"Enough," Shizue said, feeling guilty for how little time she'd had for music. Almost none, in fact, just a song or two each night, barely enough to keep her from getting too rusty. Even that wasn't really…

"More than enough. Seriously, Shizue-chan, you kinda amaze me. But you'd be great at teaching music, I'm sure. I've been wondering if I could learn to play an instrument sometime. I doubt I'd be great at it, but I do have nimble fingers." He wiggled them a little, as if in demonstration. "And it could be good practice for going through handseals faster?" He frowned, and shrugged. "You don't have to, and definitely not now when you're so busy."

Shizue half-knelt down where he sat and hugged him tight, felt his warm body against hers. She'd had dreams of him kissing her neck, soft and slow, and then he began to work down and the dream ended and she woke up flustered and confused, her face red. This moment felt like that moment, holding him so tight it was more like desperate clinging. His hand reached up, and touched her cheek on the side that wasn't ruined, that wasn't ugly and terrible. He touched her with such tenderness, as if she were precious.

He treasured her, and he respected her.

She leaned down, pulling his fingers away as she pressed a kiss to his cheek, and said, "I'm going to be very busy, these next few days. It's a lot to go through, a lot to consider. Because we're leaving. Inevitably. I need…"

"I have time, time for whatever you do. It's amazing, you know that, Shizue-chan. You learn genjutsu, you make puppets, you make music, you help people… and you do it every day. And the mines, and--you're cool, and I understand what it can feel like, all of that pressure. I mean, comics talk about how hard Naruto had it, ordering around people who were his best friends, when the time came," Okiie said, with a goofy grin.

Shizue tilted her head slightly and kissed him on the lips at an angle, to avoid his nose. He let out a soft, low sigh. Then he pressed forward. He was a good kisser, if sometimes too careful, as if he were worried about being too forceful.

Shizue didn't need that right now. She needed to be grounded and she needed to be uplifted. Grounded from a universe of S-rankers and the coming war, lifted up from all the mundane mothering she was doing. So she pressed herself into him. "Harder," she whispered, just to see his eyes bug out.

This was a makeout session, after all.

This time, at least, nobody interrupted.

[Opening Credits]

She left a little bit out of sorts, of course. Her hair was a bit of a mess, her lips looked a little odd, what makeup she had had to be reapplied--especially the makeup to conceal the wounded side of her face--and yet she felt more able to tackle her problems than ever. And tonight they were going to read comic books together, and maybe she'd try to figure out what type of instrument would interest Okiie, if he wanted to learn.

So it was in a good mood that she went through the day, even after Saya hit Akachi too hard during practice and he almost threw up, or when Rika realized she'd run through bandages and needed her help tearing out some more as a makeshift feature, since Yuichi's hand had gotten cut, thanks to Seiichiro's clumsiness. The boy was getting better every day at all sorts of things, but he still hadn't found his niche, and that meant he tried things he wasn't always great at.

Junko, though, she was a challenge, but Shizue knew the girl well enough to know she wasn't great at keeping secrets, not like that. She'd tell Shizue, if she was pressed. Which was why Shizue went downstairs, taking the lift and relaxing after a lunch that hadn't gone all that badly.

Emiko was gone, off to retrieve Rika's mail, the supplies, and anything else needed, but her words still echoed:

"I think I have something that might help her, but all of the mixtures I'm making, they'd hurt her. She could throw up, see things, could sleep terribly, break out in sweats… the list of ways anything I make could hurt her is endless. I'm a poisoner working with a medical ninja to make all of this. We'll have to shop it around, and monitor her closely, and--we can't do it yet, not until we're established somewhere new."

Emiko had sounded so apologetic, so miserable at the idea that all of her powers and all of her skill couldn't just whip up some easy way to cure any illness of the mind, any infirmity or strange habit or whatever she thought it was that feeding someone poison had more benefits than drawbacks.

So Shizue tried to keep an open mind, as she opened the door. Junko was on the floor, examining examples of all of Shizue's traps, to try to better understand how to get around them, if not how to use them.

They gleamed, many of them, though she did have lengths of traditional wire, and even a kunai launcher. But there was a lot more metal and a lot more explosives than in most trap-maker's kits, that was for sure. She knew how to do the seals, she had a basic grounding in fuinjutsu, but there was something interestingly unexpected about 'simple' explosives.

Most of all, it was that it wasn't jutsu in the traditional sense. Maki-chan would no doubt have some trouble with it… or at least, her chakra sense would, as it might not with fuinjutsu traps. Her actual eyes no doubt could make out explosives a little easier, at least until Shizue figured out a good formula to get it down to a very compact size without losing most of its potency.

It was… restful. Like working on her puppets.

"Hey, Junko-chan."

"Hey, Shizue," Junko said, quietly. "Is Emiko-sensei angry at me?" She looked so downtrodden, and Shizue decided that her crush must still be there, must still be playing out, despite all the months. She had no idea if knowing more would make Junko stop worshipping Emiko, but even her outbursts and moments of disagreement were filled with this… betrayal.

As if Emiko making a mistake or being wrong was something heart-breaking.

"I think she's worried about you. She's worried about everyone," Shizue said. "I am too. It's what it means to care so much."

Even as Shizue says it, she wasn't sure how true it was. Or, rather. Okiie didn't worry in the same way Shizue and Emiko did, was so confident in her that he hadn't had to worry. Shizue bit her lip, trying to draw her thoughts away from Okiie, and towards what she could do and say.

"I… guess I get that," Junko said, quietly.

Shizue thought about the Eri dance, and thought about the ways that they'd lived before. Junko was someone Shizue would die for. "But she is worried about the stealing."

"I… just," Junko frowned. "I don't know. It doesn't seem that wrong, like--"

"Does not seem wrong? What is right and wrong?" Shizue asked. She's killed before, and she will kill again. She's stolen, in fact. "There's a difference between on the mission and off it. Or there's supposed to be, Junko-chan."

"I know," Junko said. "I'm just, I just. Sometimes you see something and you just have to steal it? That's not that unusual, is it?"

"I've never felt that way," Shizue said quietly. "How long have you felt so?"

"Two years? Maybe? Just sometimes. Sometimes I take things because I want them and because it's fun. Like it was fun to sneak up on people and hide and listen to them. I just… well. I stole buttons, and pens, and maybe a small coin or two? It's not the. Shizue-chan, you have to understand, sometimes it's not the… the having. It's the getting. It's like with Emiko-sensei: she doesn't care about the blood, so much as what leads to it. She doesn't, I don't." Junko curled up into each other. "She talked to me, a little. Or at me. Just… telling me you'd be here to talk to you."

Shizue winced. "And here I am. Here I am, and I need to understand. Is it a voice in your head?"

"No, it's like an itching, and a pressure. And it gets stronger and stronger sometimes, until it's like you have a headache, or." Junko's breath was a little shuddering. "E-emiko read stories. Case files. Or, something? I don't know. To me. I, I needed it, but."

"But?"

"It made me feel so… so." Junko trailed off, then finally admitted. "Weak." She wouldn't be here, spilling her guts like this, if it wasn't for Emiko… but she wouldn't have said all of this to Emiko, not really. She couldn't have, without looking pathetic. "And so typical. All of this I thought was me was actually just some… some disease of the mind. All of what I, all." Junko sniffed, her eyes wet, and Shizue crouched down to hug her.

"There, there. We all go through trials and troubles. I've been in dark places before," Shizue said. She'd gotten out of them easier than she should have, and that was thanks to her mother in the past, and Emiko and her team after that. But she could imagine herself sinking into despair, or into some flawed way of thinking. "I think… you said that sometimes that's not it?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I steal because it's really, really fun," Junko said.

"You know what I think?" Shizue asked.

"Uh…"

"I think that it's that you got used to stealing, that it was hard to take a moral stand against taking what you wanted when you'd done so under the pressure of an intense desire. Did you ever fight the desire?"

"Yes. I always lost," Junko said. She bit her lip and looked away, her fingers splayed over a mine. "I mean, so I stopped."

"Ah. Is that why nobody ever noticed?"

"I mean, they did?"

Shizue shook her head. "The distress, that is. You don't seem stressed when you're stealing things, I asked them. It's because of you training yourself, I think. Maybe. We'd have to talk about it. I think the first step is not to steal them when you don't feel that… urge? But I have no idea why it comes and goes. Does it have to do with brain chemicals or chakra signals?" Shizue shook her head, and crouched down next to Junko, fingers running over her traps, over what she'd made. What she'd done.

Traps and puppets and fuinjutsu were all easier to help set right than people. Plus, how did one even decide right? It was like with music: there were so many genres, and what was definitely wrong in one was fine in another.

"I guess so," Junko said. "I mean, I mostly want to do things so I do them?"

Shizue smiled, because in her experience it was pretty normal for twelve year olds, civilians or otherwise. "I understand that." She reached a hand out to touch Junko's shoulder, and then began running a thumb in a circle there, gently, noticing the way that Junko's tension seemed to slip away as she did it. "I understand that all too well. Things'll be fine, you're an excellent shinobi and you're clever too."

"I… I guess so. But I don't know people like you do," Junko said, biting her lip. "It's easier just to sort of… watch them?"

"Oh, now I definitely understand that," Shizue said with a big, wide smile. "That's all I did for years at a time. Watch people. Probably for different things than you're watching me for, but it can be very hard. Let's just sit here and relax."

"Relax?" Junko giggled. "Okay, then. If it's relaxation." She closed her eyes.

Shizue rubbed her back, less a massage and more an act of comfort, and first hummed and then began to sing in a low, gentle voice. They were lullabies, mostly, songs that felt as if they had no place in this world of toil and turmoil, light things.

She wondered whether she could write one. She wondered if she wanted to: it had been a month since she'd put brush to paper and made music. She tried now, as a few minutes stretched on to almost a dozen, experimenting with simple tunes that sounded at least a little different. She thought about one that recalled the sorts of gentle nothings she knew, and yet taken through Earth and Wind conventions, to make something that could be voiced and voiced well even by a father, by a father rumbling over a child, his voice gravel but his heart full of love. Lullabies that anyone could sing, she thought.

That had a place, because some of her mother's lullabies, they were lullabies for a musical child, one who enjoyed slight twists and turns, who had a mother who could hit every single note so perfectly every lullabye felt like it should be a concert.

Shizue had been spoiled, spoiled for love and spoiled by music.

So when Junko started speaking, it was a surprise. "She frowns, sometimes. Just… just this little frown when she's sure that there's almost nobody watching. And she tries to make it seem speculative, but it's not, because the rest of her face is too much of a mask. And when I see it, I want to do anything to get rid of it. I want to sneak past a Uchiha and outsmart a Nara, I. But then all I can do is… this. Make her worried. Mess up, just like Seiichiro-kun."

"She likes you," Shizue said, softly. "She'd be less happy without you."

"I still hate it so much," Junko said. "She told me, once, right after G… Maki-chan tried to kill herself. That she almost had done it herself as well. She was almost sixteen, and she considered poison, but remembered how that jerk teammate of hers, Kazuto, said that poison was a woman's weapon. So she got rope for her traps, and decided against a suicide note because she said it gave the game away and she didn't have anything worth having back then anyways, so no need for a will. And she was going to do it before she was called away on a mission, and hurt, and… and the moment just passed. She actually used the rope for a trap and nobody knew. Nobody would know." Junko said that firmly. "If she was falling apart… who besides me, and you and…"

"A lot of people care for her," Shizue said.

"Y-you know, don't you?" Junko asked, sounding a little afraid. "I can't remember if I told you. Right now my memory feels sorta wonky. Told you about my crush…"

Her face was so red.

"I do. She does too," Shizue blurted out.

"I knew that," Junko said. "I knew that so much. And so I don't even know. I don't know what I'm going to do, and I need to take some sort of… something for this? And do things?"

"Start with trying not to steal unless you feel compelled to," Shizue said, quietly. "Now, Junko-chan, do you want to dance? We haven't done an Eri dance in a long time."

Junko giggled. "Oh, of course, I--"

Shizue turned around, and after a moment Junko tensed. She'd heard it too. Footsteps, albeit quiet ones. There was a knock on the door. "It's open, ya know!" Junko called out.

Maki stepped through, wearing a charcoal grey skirt that went down to her knees, very slimming as far as it went, and a… mauve---Shizue tried to remember Saya's lessons--blouse, which even had this rather tidy little bow at the collar. She even had on stockings, which meant… costume, albeit a nice looking one. "Secretarial training," Maki explained. "For when I have to fake being one."

"Ah," Shizue said, quietly. Of course, Maki didn't look like a secretary, because there was something in her eyes, besides the glow, that made her look as if she were the sort of person who would own the business, not just work for it. Maki saw the look in her eye, and instantly looked down, her whole body shifting in subservience and fear, her arms tucked in to take up less room.

"Suzuhisa-sama, you are wanted for a meeting," Maki said, in a voice that had the perfect bland tone of someone used to showing not even a hint of her real feelings, professional and crisp, and so deferential that Shizue was staring.

"Wow," Junko said, quietly. "But are we? Or her, I mean?"

"Everyone," Maki said. "Emiko-sensei has returned, and she's in a terrible mood. As am I, I do not know how civilians survive wearing lightning-style heels." Maki was indeed wearing surprisingly tall black heels. When she turned and started walking, though, she moved like she was born in them.

Shizue shook her head, amused, and followed.

[Commercial Break]

They stopped outside her door. Her… room? That's where the meeting was?

When Maki opened the door, there everyone was, crowded around her couch. Emiko had a letter, opened and then folded up, lying on her lap, and when she saw Maki she nodded, almost imperiously.

Like she was the executive. "Good that we're all here, other than Chuichi-kun. He'll be back within a day or two, and just in time. I almost left it until too late. We've been made, gentlepeople," Emiko said, sounding as if she was faking her playfulness. Everyone else other than Maki stared at her until she sighed and said, "Found out."

"Then why didn't you say that in the first place?" Akachi asked, smirking.

Emiko sighed and went on, ignoring him, "I was going to retrieve Rika-chan's letter, but there was a watch on the box. I had to use those explosives I borrowed from Shizue-chan to make a big enough distraction halfway across town to retrieve it. Even so, I was almost injured. It's almost certainly the Grey Man. I had hoped it would be another few weeks."

People were muttering and staring, horror on all faces… but most of all Rika. "M-my father, is he?"

"He's fine. But they did write a note, that among other things threatened him. But I know for a fact that they don't have him in their sights, not yet. They know his vague location, down to a few cities, but the threat itself is a bluff. I swear to you, Rika-chan, I have people on it now, and they're going to relocate him just in case."

"You have… people?" Rika asked, her lip quivering a little.

"Yes. The letter demanded that we meet in a week to… discuss. The Grey Man has very limited boundaries. The Tsuchikage no doubt has forbidden killing me, and doing that while capturing me is, as others learned back in Tea, very difficult." Emiko smiled, viciously. "So, we have several options. They've found the town, but not here. We could hole up here, strengthen our defenses, and wait for them to find us. That could take months, and we'd have to be prepared to kill and defeat all of them. Or I could go off on my own, lure them away. But I'd likely be captured, considering that he is a very expert Hunter-Nin from Iwa, and works with a skilled team, often hand-picked for their target."

"Ah," Ichiman said, biting his lip. "T-the other options?"

"We all make a break for it. I give us fifty-fifty chances. Eleven chunin, or even eight, is quite a bit of ninja power, when combined with myself. But they must have prepared at least a little bit for us. Our final option is simple: they want a meeting, we set up a meeting near or at the Baron's Ranch. We're both going to be betraying each other and trying to trap each other… and so if I can bring in enough outside actors, both Ken and… others that I could contact, it could shift things. I think I can convince them to stop trying, or beat them if not."

Emiko spread her hands out. "I have the paperwork done, you're officially not missing-nin anymore, which means that legally, what the Grey Man can do to you is… slightly more limited. He might try to hold hostages, but I feel it relatively unlikely in the span of time you're going to be vulnerable." Emiko nodded to herself. "Though I will, of course, take the lead. And I have a definite plan. We'd have a week, and we'd need to see how we could get you into teams in case there is an attempt at hostage-taking."

Shizue had been waiting until Emiko was done. Now she nodded, thoughtfully.

"However, this is not necessary for everyone. I need some people with me to keep them at bay, or at least guessing, but if some if you wished to depart, I do have contacts that could temporarily take you in while you figured out your next move. And they'd probably be too busy with me, one way or another, to do anything."

"They threatened my father," Rika said. "I'm not sure what I can do, in a fight, but… I'm in."

"Field medic," Emiko said.

"I really wanted to go exploring, and you're the one who runs around everywhere. So there we go, I guess," Akachi said, a little bitterly.

"I... can work with that," Emiko said, and Shizue realized that Akachi might actually be the closest one of them to leaving, the one that Emiko might have doubted.

"I'm in," Junko said.

"You'll be staying back. Seiichiro-kun?"

"Of course I'm staying with you," Seiichiro said. "This is kinda cool. And what about it, Yuu-kun?" He glanced over at Yuichi.

Yuichi nodded. "I will too."

"I'm going with Shizue-chan, and Shizue-chan made it clear she was sticking with you," Okiie said, stepping closer with Shizue.

"Yes, I did."

"I can observe from a distance," Maki said, quietly. "And do whatever else is needed."

"I'll be on the front lines, won't I Emiko-sensei?" Saya asked. "I have a new poison you showed me that I'd like to show them."

"I'd prefer they survive, but I understand that you, even more than me, won't be able to hold back. And you, Ichiman-kun?"

"I owe you. I can help you, I'll be there," Ichiman said, biting his cheek.

That was all of them. They were all going...or not going, as it were, for the youngest of them.

"We have one week," Emiko said quietly. "To pack, to prepare."

Shizue frowned.

This could end very horribly, but she did want to see Emiko's plan in action.

[End Credits]

How does Shizue prepare? (Choose 2)

[] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.
[] Genjutsu seems to play a part in the plan, if what Maki's muttering about has any truth to it. So she could ask about that, try to coordinate… less for her talent at Genjutsu, since that's very much Maki and Emiko's show, both of them a little more experience than her, than for her mindset and attention to detail.
[] Specifically working with Okiie might be a little bit selfish, but Okiie needs to be ready, since as someone throwing around powerful ninjutsu (by Chunin standards, at least), he's an obvious target just like she is. She couldn't stand it if he were hurt, even a little.
[] Work on cleaning the place up and preparing it to be sealed off again for another day. And despite all that's happened… despite it just being some desert base, it's felt awfully like home. Seeing it one last time, and clearing up more time for others to do their own preparation, might be nice.
[] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.
[] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

*******

A/N: So, a lot of stuff built up, but look at the trail you left. In the city, outside the city with the pirate thing, going up north, the missions, multiple of them, which didn't reveal Emiko but did reveal the relative proximity of a high-level shinobi.

This has been coming for a while. Not revealing one's hand might have given a few more weeks, more time to prepare… but ultimately the Grey Man is very methodical. Which might make one wonder what his plan is.

But yeah, this is almost it. A showdown at the Baron's Corral.

And not late this time, either.

Kelirapc · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Genjutsu seems to play a part in the plan, if what Maki's muttering about has any truth to it. So she could ask about that, try to coordinate… less for her talent at Genjutsu, since that's very much Maki and Emiko's show, both of them a little more experience than her, than for her mindset and attention to detail.
[X] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

Sivantic · Jul 7, 2018

The Laurent said:
That was all of them. They were all going...or not going, as it were, for the youngest of them.

;_;

Is it not sad Akachi-kun? Laurent forgot you.

[] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

Argh, I really wanted to do teamwork too, but we just upped her Puppet XP and we are going to need them.
[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.
[X] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

veekie · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.

Teamwork is absolutely needed. Its hard because we have a large team. It's POWERFUL, because teamwork is how you punch up effectively against stronger ninjas and we have a monstrously large team to compound the effects, generate hard to anticipate synergies between any pair or trio combination.

And for all that we've been a group so long, our teamwork sucks. We have functional sub teams, but we just plain lack any kind of organized effort beyond doing our best thing in the generally right direction.

Also huh, Junko is a pathological kleptomaniac?

Bakkasama · Jul 7, 2018

I am going to be honest: I am leaning towards explosives. Like, hard. They are in our blood!

Karnax626 · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

[X] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

Explosives because we just buffed the hell out of it (and like Bakka said they're part of our blood), teamwork because if anyone's good at figuring out how people work together in this group it's Shizue (excepting Emiko, because that's unfair).

Nervos Belli · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.
[X] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

Focus on our strengths, and let everyone else focus on theirs.

buli-buli · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Work on cleaning the place up and preparing it to be sealed off again for another day. And despite all that's happened… despite it just being some desert base, it's felt awfully like home. Seeing it one last time, and clearing up more time for others to do their own preparation, might be nice.
[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.

I would also really like Explosives to be honest.

wingstrike96 · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

[] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

TotallyNotEvil · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.

They have a lot of unused points.

[X] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

Not voting Explosives is heresy.

No7sHere · Jul 7, 2018

Honestly our little group would seriously benefit from the presence of the MC from Jedi Initiate quest.

Derpmind · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

[X] Specifically working with Okiie might be a little bit selfish, but Okiie needs to be ready, since as someone throwing around powerful ninjutsu (by Chunin standards, at least), he's an obvious target just like she is. She couldn't stand it if he were hurt, even a little.

I think people underestimate how good tag-teaming with Okiie is. Teamwork is important, but Okiie is Shizue's best partner in a fight. Plus, some extra focus on just the two of them is good both for their fighting ability and their relationship going into what's going to be another extremely dangerous fight.

Bakkasama · Jul 7, 2018

I am torn between these three:

[] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.

If Emiko is right or wrong, I don't know but we have around 44 and 55 points to improve Stinger and Ryuko. If we use them to raise their stats (I am thinking structure, mainly) we would improve their chances of survival (they have 30HP which is not much against jounin level opponents) and their attack, making them more likely to hit.

[] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

This one would give us a new way to attack, as said they are very effective for traps and they are our best damage dealer. Plus, they are So! Damn! Cool!

[] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

Finally, this one. We have seen at the begining of the quest (our first IQ mission) that having plans pre prepared is useful and the enemies will be used to working together, which is not exactly common among those we fought against now that I think about it. Besides:

The Laurent said:
[] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

The Laurent said:
Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

The Laurent said:
throw at people.

The Laurent said:
Shurikenjutsu Attack 22

The Laurent said:
17-32: D Rank (Typical genin)

A very important reason to train teamwork: We must ingrain on our teammates hindbrains that, when the explosives expert shouts "Take cover!" you RUN LIKE A MOTHER FUCKER IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!

Though one would expect that to be genetically encoded in Reef ninja by this point.

ChronOblivion · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Work on cleaning the place up and preparing it to be sealed off again for another day. And despite all that's happened… despite it just being some desert base, it's felt awfully like home. Seeing it one last time, and clearing up more time for others to do their own preparation, might be nice.
[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.

The Big Sister option, and the specialty that Emiko flatout says will be really useful.

Floom · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.

Teamwork makes the dream work. And what are puppets if not a type of teammate?

Briefvoice · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Work on cleaning the place up and preparing it to be sealed off again for another day. And despite all that's happened… despite it just being some desert base, it's felt awfully like home. Seeing it one last time, and clearing up more time for others to do their own preparation, might be nice.

[X] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

I know people will see that first option as a waste, but sometimes you do things because you need to do them for peace of mind and closure.

The Laurent · Jul 7, 2018

Also, this is a bad time to say it, but my main computer is having trouble, and so I might not be able to update next week. I'm on someone else's, which is uncomfortable and I'm not used to it, so I'm not going to be writing nearly as much, which is why I'd been thinking that perhaps--I'll see if I can work tomorrow--I might have to basically just declare next week a skip week for basically everything.

I'd still try to do writing, I'd just... probably not be able to keep up with the 30k a week kinds of requirements for my fic and Quest schedule. So, just a head's up. (And no, don't know what's wrong with the computer yet, I think something is dying, though.)

Sivantic · Jul 7, 2018

I am sorry for your bad luck @The Laurent

If we do not pick Explosives, will we be completely unable to use them in the fight?

Zeitgeist Blue · Jul 7, 2018

[X] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.
[X] Specifically working with Okiie might be a little bit selfish, but Okiie needs to be ready, since as someone throwing around powerful ninjutsu (by Chunin standards, at least), he's an obvious target just like she is. She couldn't stand it if he were hurt, even a little.

veekie · Jul 8, 2018

The Laurent said:
Also, this is a bad time to say it, but my main computer is having trouble, and so I might not be able to update next week. I'm on someone else's, which is uncomfortable and I'm not used to it, so I'm not going to be writing nearly as much, which is why I'd been thinking that perhaps--I'll see if I can work tomorrow--I might have to basically just declare next week a skip week for basically everything.

I'd still try to do writing, I'd just... probably not be able to keep up with the 30k a week kinds of requirements for my fic and Quest schedule. So, just a head's up. (And no, don't know what's wrong with the computer yet, I think something is dying, though.)

Data backup. The sort of 'having trouble' which doesn't outright give you a bricked computer immediately points to one of the following:
-Power supply failure
-Hard drive failure
-Heat dissipation failure

Back up, everything.

karmaoa · Jul 8, 2018

[X] Work on cleaning the place up and preparing it to be sealed off again for another day. And despite all that's happened… despite it just being some desert base, it's felt awfully like home. Seeing it one last time, and clearing up more time for others to do their own preparation, might be nice.
[X] Explosives. They can't be detected by the normal chakra-sensing means--and a Hunter-Nin team, Emiko had said, would have a chakra-sensor--and since this is a game of traps… well. More bang for one's ryo. Plus, Shizue's been itching to try out some explosives she can just throw at people.

me.me.here · Jul 9, 2018

[X] Teamwork is always important. She could practice with Okiie, Ichiman, and some of the others that might be able to at least temporarily hold their own against an enemy ninja and figure out how to work together.

[X] Her puppets are in fine condition, but she could give them one last look-over. Emiko had looked at her with expectation when she'd mentioned that her puppets could be on the front line. Had said, "They might surprise even a Jonin." Surprise even a Jonin… that could be useful.

We definitely want one of the actions for coordinating in a fight (teamwork or Okiie) as well as whatever we can squeeze out in terms of skill/equipment (puppets/explosives). I don't really have skin in the game as to which options get picked though. Also, we've devoted a smattering of actions to working decently with most of the others, but I'm not so sure if any of the others have devoted actions to working well with many other genin apart from the brat pack working together. We should probably figure out how we all stand on that point, and see what we can do to improve.

The Laurent said:
Also, this is a bad time to say it, but my main computer is having trouble snip (And no, don't know what's wrong with the computer yet, I think something is dying, though.)

What veekie said, only depending on your computing setup you may be able to fix it easily without going to quite so much effort. I have an old laptop that has had a similar problem (intermittently slowing and/or shutting down in the middle of otherwise normal activity), and when I took it in to the repair shop they just ended up cleaning out all the dust. It's happened a couple times since in a similar way, and you can do it yourself if you buy a container of compressed air. That's also usually cheap enough to be able to DIY without disrupting anything else.

End of an Era (Naruto AU)

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