Game of the Year: A Naruto Quest

RedV said:

inb4 he's Orochimaru

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I actually think Orochimaru is one of the likely candidates. Here's what we know:

1. This guy is good. Really good. He got us to learn taijutsu when we're a toddler by moving around a static target, and even somehow got us to NOT learn ingrained mistakes, like that thumb placement. I don't think your random run-of-the-mill jonin is going to be this competent. He also had to spy on us for six months every day without ever getting detected. That's some dedication. I think there are a few people in Konoha that could do it: the Hokage, obviously, Orochimaru, Jiraya, Tsunade, Gai, Kakashi, Itachi and Hiashi Hyuga .

Let's see who, out of these people, it can't be. The Hokage, clearly, has better shit to do, even if he was interested. If he wanted to train us, he would send someone else, like maybe Itachi. Tsunade, same as Jiraya, isn't even in Konoha. She also has no possible reason to care about us. Also, she's a girl, and in front of us is a big guy. I don't think this is a henge, because if this is another test, to see how smart we are, he wouldn't try to misdirect us with this weird appearance, it would be a clue.

Now, Gai, while it's possible he learned about a 5-yo trying to git gud at punching things who was hard enough to find a secret military training facility, he got inspired and decided to become his taijutsu master. He's a pretty big guy, and he likes suits, but it really doesn't strike me as him. I think he would act more openly. Unless our mom would for some reason turn him away, which I don't think she would. Clearly, it still could be him, but some of the others are more likely.

There's not much to tell about Kakashi. He wouldn't do it of his own initiative, but he's a guy, and if the Hokage wanted to train us, he could be under his orders.

Itachi, well, at this point in canon he's still doing ANBU things. He doesn't have a reason to do this, unless he was ordered by the Hokage or Danzo to do it. He's also like twelve at this point, so he's not really a big guy. I don't think it's him.

That leaves us with four options:
- The Hokage, ordering someone else to do it
- Orochimaru
- Jiraya
- Hyuga Hiashi

Let's see why any of them would do it. Remember our origins? We're playing on Hard/Insane. So that's probably a mess. From what we know so far, we are a bastard of a noble family from the land of Iron. I don't think our mother IS actually from the royal family, seeing as how their names were different. However, we got called

Vesvius said:

"Yes, the Iron Damiyo's… nephew. He caused quite a stir when he was born from what I hear. You can see a little bit of the man in his chin and eyes, but he looks more like his mother from what I can tell."

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Mom also said

Vesvius said:

"We may not have your father, and we may not have his palace or servants, and we may have to deal with that brute for only the gods know how long. But it was worth it."

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So, who's our father? It could be the Iron Damiyo himself, or his brother, which would explain a lot. It would be a bit of a mess and fit neatly into what we know but I'm not quite sure why we would be sent to Konoha. Now, the other option, the more EXCITING one, would be that our mother IS related to the Damiyo, as in, she's his sister. She got married to some other noble and took his name, but it was a political marriage with little love involved. So, a handsome ninja from the Leaf comes around on a mission to the land of Iron, our mom falls madly in love with him, and then does an oopsie. This would explain why we're in Konoha. It would also require him to be someone high up on the totem pole of Konoha to explain the "palace and servants" part.

In any case, it seems that our heritage gave us at least some kind of chackra sensing bloodline, so Orochimaru has every reason to go after us. He also likes sitting in bushes and looking at kids all day. So he's trying to get us to go full Sausage, if it's him.

If we're the kid of the Damiyo, then that is the most likely option. If we're related to someone in Konoha, it could be one of two people.

- Jiraya
- Hiashi Hyuga

Jiraya, well, knocking up a married princess sounds like something he would do. So, he does the nasty, and then the Fourth extracts us from the land of Iron to save his master some face. Now he's coming around to try and be a presence in our life.

And, finally, my favorite guess. Hiashi. First, with his byakugan, or any Hyuga's byakugan, he could spy on us while sitting on a bench, on the other side of Konoha. So that's how he got in. Also, our chackra detection abilities could be explained by us being related to the Hyuga clan. And it would make sense for our appearance. The guy in the carriage is the Damiyo and he was described in a way that could be Hiashi. So that's why "You can see a little bit of the man in his chin and eyes", because it's actually Hiashi's chin and eyes. He also has a "palace and servants". Now, I don't think it's him that's our father, at least not in the literal sense. I think it was his twin brother Hizashi that did it. I think he was still around in canon by the time this all would have happened, and it could even be this version of the Hyuga Affair. Also, it would give an extremely solid reason for us to be in Konoha - they don't want the byakugan to spread outside the village. They could have just assassinated us and our mom, but it would essentially be a political suicide for the Leaf, and the Hyuga both. So they move us to Konoha to keep an eye on us, and now Hiashi, after seeing our enthusiasm, is trying to make us good at punching things by sending his Hyuga minions at us. The guy in front of us might as well be Hizashi, if he's still kicking.

So, in summary, I think the most likely candidates for the guy in front of us are:
1. Orochimaru, the creepy snek
2. Hiashi Hyuga, our uncle, and technically biological dad (or any other Hyuga working on the orders of Hiashi)
3. Jiraya, our dad

So, i think what should be said here is something along the lines of
[] "Are you my daddy?"
It's either true, biologically true, or we've just followed Orochimaru into the bushes and it doesn't matter what we say. I could also be completely wrong and it's just some OC we've never seen before.

Also, hey hey everyone.

"In a carbon copy of our own stance", huh?

[X] Take the challenge. Treat him like Mr. Straw, analyzing and attacking to strike solid blows instead of flailing ineffectually. Remember to strike and block though, this Mr. Straw fights back. Finally, don't give up. This guy stole Mr. Straw, so he can be Mr. Straw!
-[X] He taught you. He knows you, so he's gonna expect everything you throw at him. Keep to the taijutsu you know, but look. Look. Where can you go off-script?

Edit: I'm unsure if the part I added could just be its own vote, a bit ambivalent on that though.

Ipslon said:

1. This guy is good. Really good. He got us to learn taijutsu when we're a toddler by moving around a static target, and even somehow got us to NOT learn ingrained mistakes, like that thumb placement. I don't think your random run-of-the-mill jonin is going to be this competent. He also had to spy on us for six months every day without ever getting detected. That's some dedication. I think there are a few people in Konoha that could do it: the Hokage, obviously, Orochimaru, Jiraya, Tsunade, Gai, Kakashi, Itachi and Hiashi Hyuga .

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This guy is good, but i think you're underestimating the average Jonin. He just taught us basic taijutsu, most jonin and some special jonin should be able to do so. Even some Chunin maybe

Ipslon said:

It's either true, biologically true, or we've just followed Orochimaru into the bushes and it doesn't matter what we say. I could also be completely wrong and it's just some OC we've never seen before.

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You make an interesting argument, but i think it's unlikely (though not impossible) that it is one of those characters.

For one, dedicating six months of their attention to us, even with (possibly) shadow clones, it's a big investement. Jiraiya in particular is supposed to rarely be in the village, so he probably wouldn't have the time. Orochimaru would have probably been more... I'd say direct, even if the word doesn't really suit him. But i don't think we're worth SIX months of his attention. Maybe if we had befriended Anko in that park.

While my gut instinct is that this is The Sarutobi Okimi's husband , which heard the story from the Sarutobi girl and found it interesting enough to check, there is little evidence for it either. Also this:

Sarutobi Okimi: Has Forgotten About You

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The two most likely theories in my opinion are

1) random OC recruiter from the academy that subtly scouts civilian children in the village with the potential to make good shinobi.Probably Chunin or Special Jounin

2)random ninja in search of an apprentice. Get them when they're young and all that.

Of course i could be completely wrong, it's just that i don't think we made enough to attract the attention of characters on the level of Orochimaru, Jiraiya or Danzo. We're also not worth months of their attention yet (not considering any secret about our past we don't know about yet)

..now that i think about it, third option

3) Okimi told the Hokage of our encounter. He sent a random Sarutobi (maybe Okimi's husband) to check on us, as having us as a ninja under his command could have political value to him. He also does have a weak spot for children, so he can justify it to himself as helping us getting what we want. It IS in his style.

Pittauro said:

This guy is good, but i think you're underestimating the average Jonin. He just taught us basic taijutsu, most jonin and some special jonin should be able to do so. Even some Chunin maybe

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I have no doubt in my mind that a Chunin could teach a 5-yo kid some taijutsu in six months, if he was actually drilling him. This guy just moved a doll around for six months. He also would have had to hide around our home while we were training to observe our progress and prepare for the next lesson. And our bodyguard didn't find him once. I think both of those feats put this guy in high-jonin tier, which is why I constructed the argument that way.

Pittauro said:

, it's just that i don't think we made enough to attract the attention of characters on the level of Orochimaru, Jiraiya or Danzo.

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I think in this case, what matters is not our actions, but rather our origins. It could be wrong, but that's my best hunch.

Pittauro said:

3) Okimi told the Hokage of our encounter. He sent a random Sarutobi (maybe Okimi's husband) to check on us, as having us as a ninja under his command could have political value to him. He also does have a weak spot for children, so he can justify it to himself as helping us getting what we want. It IS in his style.

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I think we agree here, something like this might be the case.

Ipslon said:

I have no doubt in my mind that a Chunin could teach a 5-yo kid some taijutsu in six months, if he was actually drilling him. This guy just moved a doll around for six months. He also would have had to hide around our home while we were training to observe our progress and prepare for the next lesson. And our bodyguard didn't find him once. I think both of those feats put this guy in high-jonin tier, which is why I constructed the argument that way.

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A special jonin focused on taijutsu or teaching might be good enough.

We also don't really know Tokei's level. I think he's probably chunin level or so, special jonin max, with a focus on kenjutsu. A decent Samurai, but nothing exceptional. And he didn't really have a reason to check/surveil our dummies. I don't think we ever told anyone about Mr. Straw being tampered with, and even if he noticed he might not have cared. It's not exactly malicious behaviour.

I suppose my point is that high-tier jonin (and especially sannin/clan leaders) probably have more important things to do, and for all we know the "changing the dummy's stance" it's the normal way the academy operates. Even a chunin could do that if he had a scroll which described the stances to use (and in which order).

By the way if the hokage was involved checking our progress becomes as easy as looking in his crystal ball whenever he's bored.
And if it was a relatively unimportant ninja, the transformation jutsu is good enough to check on us with very low chances of being noticed. All this assuming binoculars are not a thing. There are probably a million and one other jutsu that could easily spy on us as well.

Ipslon said:

I think in this case, what matters is not our actions, but rather our origins. It could be wrong, but that's my best hunch.

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Possible, even probable. It will probably be a mix of both. i suppose we'll know more soon enough anyway.

Ipslon said:

I think we agree here, something like this might be the case.

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It makes the most sense, but there are so many possibilities that I'm not sure what are the real chances of any one scenario. We simply don't know enough.


TL;DR could be anything, we don't have enough info. If i had to choose I'd say it's a Sarutobi sent by the Hokage, a scout from the academy or a bored jonin/special jonin who thought we could be decent apprentice/genin team material in the future. Unlikely to be (at least in person) one of the big league like Sannin or clan leaders,they simply have too much to do (though it's not impossible that they sent someone to do the work for them). The most important he could personally be would be, in my opinion, Gai.

[X] Take the challenge. Treat him like Mr. Straw, analyzing and attacking to strike solid blows instead of flailing ineffectually. Remember to strike and block though, this Mr. Straw fights back. Finally, don't give up. This guy stole Mr. Straw, so he can be Mr. Straw!

First our trainer shall be Mr. Straw, then our fellow students, and then our enemies! Soon all the world shall be Mr. Straw!

I wonder if we believe someone is Mr. straw hard enough it'll trick the game system? Probably wouldn't be good for our sanity though...

I am actually hoping it is Orochimaru. He's one of my favourite characters, and pretty much up there with Sasuke in terms of most liked Naruto characters.

I think this is related to the mystery surrounding our birth, though. It's important enough that we get an achievement for finding out the full truth of our circumstances as the Iron Bastard, and it's basically the only important thing we have about us.

[X] Take the challenge. Treat him like Mr. Straw, analyzing and attacking to strike solid blows instead of flailing ineffectually. Remember to strike and block though, this Mr. Straw fights back. Finally, don't give up. This guy stole Mr. Straw, so he can be Mr. Straw!
-[X] He taught you. He knows you, so he's gonna expect everything you throw at him. Keep to the taijutsu you know, but look. Look. Where can you go off-script?

Didn't Orochinaru leave Leaf 10 years before the beginning of the series? That would be 3-4 years ago now. If that's the case I doubt that he'd sneak around to teach a kid via a straw man.

I think it's a random dude, based on the difficulty setting, "generated" by the game to make the achievement harder/insane. If the end goal is to train a kid, then just train the kid like a normal person.

Edkose said:

Didn't Orochinaru leave Leaf 10 years before the beginning of the series? That would be 3-4 years ago now. If that's the case I doubt that he'd sneak around to teach a kid via a straw man.

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He's left, but could have sneaked back to steal Hashirama cells / plant spies / whatever and decided subverting us was a good idea.

I'm not saying it's particularly likely, but being taught by Orochimaru is p cool.

Ipslon said:

think there are a few people in Konoha that could do it: the Hokage, obviously, Orochimaru, Jiraya, Tsunade, Gai, Kakashi, Itachi and Hiashi Hyuga .

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Actually, we can eliminate most of these.

Hokage: too busy, too important, is a wrinkly old man, both too short and too slender.

Orochimaru: wrong height, too slender (built like a snake), busy with experiments, would already have Anko.

Jiraiya: probably not, thanks to his extreme depression.

Tsunade: out of the village, boobs. Seriously, boooooooooooooobs.

Kakashi: too short, suicidal, part of Root Anbu, built like a scarecrow not a brick house.

Itachi: chibi, antisocial, wrong build.

Hiashi: wrong build, too short, why?

So guess which character loves tests, is known for being flamboyant, is built, is looking for a student, has the right age, is exactly six foot tall, is a taijutsu master, and has a style built heavily on striking?

Yup, Gai!

Another possibility would be Asuma, but I think he's still in the Twelve Guardian Ninja.

Hangwind said:

Actually, we can eliminate most of these.

Hokage: too busy, too important, is a wrinkly old man, both too short and too slender.

Orochimaru: wrong height, too slender (built like a snake), busy with experiments, would already have Anko.

Jiraiya: probably not, thanks to his extreme depression.

Tsunade: out of the village, boobs. Seriously, boooooooooooooobs.

Kakashi: too short, suicidal, part of Root Anbu, built like a scarecrow not a brick house.

Itachi: chibi, antisocial, wrong build.

Hiashi: wrong build, too short, why?

So guess which character loves tests, is known for being flamboyant, is built, is looking for a student, has the right age, is exactly six foot tall, is a taijutsu master, and has a style built heavily on striking?

Yup, Gai!

Another possibility would be Asuma, but I think he's still in the Twelve Guardian Ninja.

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To be fair a simple henge/transformation takes care of any "looks different" problem.

If we're thinking of canon characters Gai is the obvious candidate.
It should be at least a year or two before he finds Lee in canon i think (he should be more or less our age), and we're about the right age to enter the academy i think. maybe a year or two younger than that at most.

Lol does this sound like Gai? is there a possible universe...?

Skenvoy said:

Lol does this sound like Gai? is there a possible universe...?

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bet with Kakashi that he can keep a mysterious wise mentor identity?

Jokes aside Gai has been flanderized a bit in the fans' view. He is a jonin, and he even became a jonin team leader! He MUST be capable of being subtle when he really wants or need to.

It's just that he usually doesn't want to.

Hangwind said:

So guess which character loves tests, is known for being flamboyant, is built, is looking for a student, has the right age, is exactly six foot tall, is a taijutsu master, and has a style built heavily on striking?

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Gai seems likely, though pretty much any ninja can deceive a kid using the Academy-level Transformation Technique to hide any distinguishing physical features like height.

Pittauro said:

bet with Kakashi that he can keep a mysterious wise mentor identity?

Jokes aside Gai has been flanderized a bit in the fans' view. He is a jonin, and he even became a jonin team leader! He MUST be capable of being subtle when he really wants or need to.

It's just that he usually doesn't want to.

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Yeahhh... I mean I see what you say, but no chance you're kinda going in the opposite direction? like why do you really think it's Guy?

Is it because it's actually like him, or cos he's a fan fave?

(that's not meant to sound as confrontational as it does)

Skenvoy said:

Yeahhh... I mean I see what you say, but no chance you're kinda going in the opposite direction? like why do you really think it's Guy?

Is it because it's actually like him, or cos he's a fan fave?

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He is a fan fave of mine, I won't deny it, but I don't actually think it's him. Just that it's possible (if a bit unlikely).

It's not really his style, though i believe he WOULD be capable of it.

My point about him is that most people think of him as the "crazy YOUTH! ninja" and forget that he is an ELITE jonin nearly on par with Kakashi, probably in the top 10 of the best ninja in the village WITHOUT the death gate. Fanfiction tends to flanderize him.

From most to least likely for me it would be

1) A Sarutobi, sent by the hokage to evaluate us as a possible addition to Konoha's ninja (mostly for political reason, in part because he got curious after Okimi's story)

2)Academy scout or random bored chunin-to-jonin level nin. We caught his attention by chance, now he's considering sponsoring us to the academy to get us as apprentice or on his genin team in the future. Gai is one of the possibilities here, though not the most likely by far. He might even not be a jonin yet, i don't it was ever clear in canon when did he reach the rank.

3)Everything else

Gai is just the CANON character i first think of in this situation, but considering all the other hundreds of possibilities...

Personally I think Gai is the most likely to be motivated by seeing our determination to get good at Fist alone, without complicating factors...but he wouldn't be this subtle unless theres politics complicating an otherwise simple interest in tutoring a kid for him.

RedV said:

Gai seems likely, though pretty much any ninja can deceive a kid using the Academy-level Transformation Technique to hide any distinguishing physical features like height.

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Pittauro said:

To be fair a simple henge/transformation takes care of any "looks different" problem.

If we're thinking of canon characters Gai is the obvious candidate.
It should be at least a year or two before he finds Lee in canon i think (he should be more or less our age), and we're about the right age to enter the academy i think. maybe a year or two younger than that at most.

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While Henge is possible, that would leave us with almost anyone as a suspect. I am going to ignore that as a possibility since it makes all speculation worthless. Maruboshi would be a possibility then! Just assume that I'm ignoring Henge in my analysis for this.

Skenvoy said:

Lol does this sound like Gai? is there a possible universe...?

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Oh, absolutely. Remember, the happy go lucky persona Gai cultivates is NOT his original personality. It's his dad's. He originally resented the spandex, the challenges, the always cheerful attitude, and the mockery. It was only after his dad sacrificed himself to save him that he changed his outlook. Gai and Kakashi are much more alike than they are different-both obsessed with the dead. Gai is just much more constructive.

Skenvoy said:

Yeahhh... I mean I see what you say, but no chance you're kinda going in the opposite direction? like why do you really think it's Guy?

Is it because it's actually like him, or cos he's a fan fave?

(that's not meant to sound as confrontational as it does)

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Pittauro said:

He is a fan fave of mine, I won't deny it, but I don't actually think it's him. Just that it's possible (if a bit unlikely).

It's not really his style, though i believe he WOULD be capable of it.

My point about him is that most people think of him as the "crazy YOUTH! ninja" and forget that he is an ELITE jonin nearly on par with Kakashi, probably in the top 10 of the best ninja in the village WITHOUT the death gate. Fanfiction tends to flanderize him.

From most to least likely for me it would be

1) A Sarutobi, sent by the hokage to evaluate us as a possible addition to Konoha's ninja (mostly for political reason, in part because he got curious after Okimi's story)

2)Academy scout or random bored chunin-to-jonin level nin. We caught his attention by chance, now he's considering sponsoring us to the academy to get us as apprentice or on his genin team in the future. Gai is one of the possibilities here, though not the most likely by far. He might even not be a jonin yet, i don't it was ever clear in canon when did he reach the rank.

3)Everything else

Gai is just the CANON character i first think of in this situation, but considering all the other hundreds of possibilities...

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Remember, this is a game world and we're the protagonist. Something like a powerful ninja showing up to mentor us is much more likely than not with that in mind.

veekie said:

Personally I think Gai is the most likely to be motivated by seeing our determination to get good at Fist alone, without complicating factors...but he wouldn't be this subtle unless theres politics complicating an otherwise simple interest in tutoring a kid for him.

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We're a immigrant from the Land of Iron that still receives visits from extremely high-ranking officials and is guarded by a samurai. There's definitely politics. Plus, Gai is the sort to just do anything flamboyantly. Why wouldn't he go all out in being a mysterious mentor? It would be actively weird if he didn't do it to the max!

So Gai? I mean, i agree that Gai is the most likely.

And from what I remember, we are still pretty early on the timeline, so there is a chance that Gai's YOUTH still isnt polished yet.

Heck he night not even have the teeth sparkle signature move yet!

TimEd said:

And from what I remember, we are still pretty early on the timeline, so there is a chance that Gai's YOUTH still isnt polished yet.

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I am fairly sure Duy died in the Third Shinobi War, which has been finished. That was the catalyst for Guy's youth - it seems that either the timeline has changed, or Guy has become a less filial son (?).

Of course, I could be wrong with my guess on the date - but Guy's dad killed multiple Mist jonin, which I don't think was gonna happen in any scenario but an all-out war.

Current Tally:

The current "never say die" spirit of the vote coincidentally happens to line up with the (anime) test Guy gives his team to some extent - if ambiguous masked person is indeed Guy, it may have some effect.

Though, I'm worried he may be Kakashi. He doesn't talk like Kakashi, certainly - but Kakashi is ANBU and so might be watching over us if we're a sensitive diplomatic thing or otherwise important. Also, he tends to wear dark colours and hide his face. In fact, this may be the reason he isn't using his mask now - it's too recognizably associated with his public persona.

Kakashi wasn't six feet, though a decent shinobi can alter their height in a pinch with disguise or illusions.

E : some checking reveals that he was, in fact, nearly exactly six feet. The right height too! The plot thickens...

[X] Take the challenge. Treat him like Mr. Straw, analyzing and attacking to strike solid blows instead of flailing ineffectually. Remember to strike and block though, this Mr. Straw fights back. Finally, don't give up. This guy stole Mr. Straw, so he can be Mr. Straw!

I really hope this is Gai, ninja by day and night, Batman by day and night!