Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

faflec · Apr 23, 2019

@MMKII some of this stuff may apply to your plan.

Oneiros said:
Make seal blanks for the next 6 hours, hand them off to the strike team before either of you leave Mist.

Maybe we should give them to Jiraiya instead of the strike team. We could also give them through the Pangolins, that way we can scribe while on the road and deliver them easily.

Also, maybe specify the seals? We promised Goo Bombs but other seals may be on the table, depending.

Oneiros said:
(Jokingly) Please don't mess with Zabuza, take it from us its a bad idea.

I'm not sure why, but I don't really like this. Maybe it feels condescending to tell Momma to mess with Mist's last top-tier ninja, maybe because it would alert Hana to the fact that Zabuza caused Hazou's injuries... I dunno. I don't think a joking tone would be a good idea, regardless.

Oneiros said:
Ask if she has any advice about politics

Also if she has any tips for leveraging the Iron nerve in social situations

Let's be a bit more subtle than bluntly asking for political advice or clan secrets: the former makes us look weak to the eavesdropping guards and the latter sounds a lot like stealing clan secrets. Talk about politics and learning how to be a diplomat, and ask her how she learned this stuff, stories of what she did...it gives her the chance to give us information while avoiding obvious pitfalls.

Oneiros said:
Send Ren a post interaction survey

We've barely interacted, why are we doing this?

Oneiros said:
Talk to Asuma about politics if he's around

He dealt with being the son of the Hokage. How did he deal with it

So, uh, I'm not sure if Asuma's going to be with us, since we're being escorted by the Chunin and he's a Jonin...but regardless. We need to be a bit more tactful about mentioning his dead dad, we don't know how he's been coping and don't wanna piss him off inadvertently. Also, maybe specify Leaf politics to make it sound like we're trying to understand Leaf's politics instead of politics in general. Even if the intent is for the latter, we don't want to seem too uninformed.

Oneiros said:
Invite Sasuke to dinner

Only do this if Mari is ok with it

Please make sure Mari is of sound mind, and possibly explain why?

Emstar · Apr 23, 2019

Things we might want to do in the next week(ish):

(Insert Typical Hazou speech about Team Unity)
Merchant Council: The Who, the How, the Why.
- Exploit Keiko's Fan Club connections and her increased fame from the victory to make inroads?
Clan Politics: The Everything
- Consult for information/differing viewpoints:
  - ISC (I had wanted to get this out of the way on the way back)
  - Tsunade
  - ???
- Acquire rundown on legal bullshit
  - Library?
  - Sarutobi's secretary seemed pretty on the ball, maybe he can help?
Make up with Team Hiashi-for-Hokage
- Lunch with Hinata/Neji/Youngest Hyuuga
  - Neji, long time no see!
  - Hello, youngest Hyuuga! You are so adorable!
- Have Keiko apologize to Shino Aburame for grievous bodily harm.
  - Keiko.
- Kiba
  - Being an insufferably incompetent loudmouth must be hard.
  - Maybe he can use another friend? Inuzuka seem pretty cool in general.
The Academy
- We should probably meet the Head Instructor. Dinner?
  - Begin greasing the wheels.
  - We'd like to stop by for a few hours to help out your Taijutsu classes some time next week, actually...
Clanless ninja
- Send Noburi out to do some charity work through neighborhoods that they happen to live in. Even if they personally don't need it, their families might...
  - "They"= choose a couple dozen clanless Leaf ninja we're familiar with from the 4th Event. Include: Haruno, Yamamato, Team Nakano, etc.
  - Make sure to mention that there will be a plethora of those Till-n-fill missions.
  - Perhaps an opportunity to beta test some of Noburi's mednin training plans that he mentioned earlier to Tsunade?
Till-n-fills
- Slam dunk 100,000 ryo into supplementing the costs of these.
  - Hopefully increasing the volume and lowering the burden for civvies.
Connect with our new peer group: the ranking officers of Leaf's military.
- Promotion party at (Insert name of tavern that Chunin-guy-who-hates-Lightning-nin invited us to)?
Finances
- Get Keiko (and maybe Mari) on that shit. We should have way more disposable income now.
Honoka
- HAZOU: Keiko pls summon Pandaa to play with her you promised you would at Kagome's party
Seals
- There is a market for seals and a place the Tower holds blueprints,research notes, and sample blanks.
- Buy a few of every seal we can come across on the open market, with research notes. Stare at them.
  - Perhaps purchase through a proxy.
- Go to the Tower seal repository (wherever the hell they keep the research notes for sealmaster stuff) and stare at everything.

Aha! I just remembered what I had wanted to do! We should arrange most of the above in advance. Kagome can use his Calligraphy skillz to whip up some fancy invitations for us to send to arrange it all.

Fresh C · Apr 23, 2019

I think it might be a good idea to ask Mari if Tsunade left any specific plans for her treatment that she'd be willing to share with us. (Jiraiya's wording during the last chapter made it sound like it's very likely Tsunade's going on the mission).

Assuming everything is stable back home, I did have something we could add to spice up the plan a bit concerning Keiko.

Have we thought of trying exposure therapy for her touch phobia? (Note: we would not call it exposure therapy since Hazo probably wouldn't have the words for that, nor should we call it touch phobia since she got upset last time we called it that).

Basically I propose that we have either Hazo or Nobori be tied to a chair or bedpost or something, in a position where they could not possibly touch Keiko themselves. And then have Keiko spend time touching the two of them as much as she can bear to do so, making efforts to gradually increase the exposure over time. At first she can just touch them over their clothes. Maybe even just touching a shoe. Then gradually work up to her being bolder over time, like touching a shoulder or a hand.

Then assuming this works, we eventually move on to having her touch them without them being tied up. And then them touching her when they have her explicit permission.

I think this has a real chance of working long term to at least lessen her issues with touch even if she's never completely comfortable with it. The idea being that we want to get her in a state where an enemy could not abuse her discomfort. Edit: and accidentally friendly contact doesn't cause her to meltdown.

Also I like supporting Hazo's rope fetish.

edit: format that can be more easily added to a plan

Suggest Touch Therapy to Keiko
- Have her gradually become more familiar with touching people through controlled experiences
- Touch Hazo/Noburi over clothing while they are tied up and unable to touch her back
- Eventually move to skin to skin contact (hands, maybe face), then to touching without being restrained, then to being touched by others with permission if first step is successful
- Stress that each step may take multiple attempts and will likely be uncomfortable.

18scsc · Apr 23, 2019

We need to try and clear it through Tsunade first, but honestly, we need to kick Mari in the ass. She's in a bad place, she really really is, and she deserves all the time she needs to get better. Yet, quite frankly, we're going to fucking NEED her while Jiayra is gone. As long as she can put up a good face or can even just give advice it's more than enough.

Also, any chance we could take Kagome with us and talk to Big O? I want that sweet sexy biosealing tech.

Oneiros · Apr 23, 2019

faflec said:
Maybe we should give them to Jiraiya instead of the strike team. We could also give them through the Pangolins, that way we can scribe while on the road and deliver them easily.

Also, maybe specify the seals? We promised Goo Bombs but other seals may be on the table, depending.

Done.

faflec said:
I'm not sure why, but I don't really like this. Maybe it feels condescending to tell Momma to mess with Mist's last top-tier ninja, maybe because it would alert Hana to the fact that Zabuza caused Hazou's injuries... I dunno. I don't think a joking tone would be a good idea, regardless.

Went ahead and removed that

faflec said:
We've barely interacted, why are we doing this?

Was mostly a bit of a silly joke about how we crushed the exams but will remove it if you still have problems with it

faflec said:
Let's be a bit more subtle than bluntly asking for political advice or clan secrets: the former makes us look weak to the eavesdropping guards and the latter sounds a lot like stealing clan secrets. Talk about politics and learning how to be a diplomat, and ask her how she learned this stuff, stories of what she did...it gives her the chance to give us information while avoiding obvious pitfalls.

I disagree here. I think being direct is fine

faflec said:
So, uh, I'm not sure if Asuma's going to be with us, since we're being escorted by the Chunin and he's a Jonin...but regardless. We need to be a bit more tactful about mentioning his dead dad, we don't know how he's been coping and don't wanna piss him off inadvertently. Also, maybe specify Leaf politics to make it sound like we're trying to understand Leaf's politics instead of politics in general. Even if the intent is for the latter, we don't want to seem too uninformed.

Removed

faflec said:
Please make sure Mari is of sound mind, and possibly explain why?

Added

Langevin · Apr 23, 2019

@Oneiros @MMKII @ashinator thoughts on calling in the Ami favor? I think ashinator mentioned this earlier but I'm not sure if consensus was reached on not doing it. Now's a chaotic as hell time, and possibly the last time to call in the favor before we're hugely weakened and she's even busier. At minimum we can send a messenger and find out if she's going, let kei say bye, etc

Shadowwarp · Apr 23, 2019

[X] Action plan: playing politics

Emstar · Apr 23, 2019

Langevin said:
@Oneiros @MMKII @ashinator thoughts on calling in the Ami favor? I think ashinator mentioned this earlier but I'm not sure if consensus was reached on not doing it. Now's a chaotic as hell time, and possibly the last time to call in the favor before we're hugely weakened and she's even busier. At minimum we can send a messenger and find out if she's going, let kei say bye, etc

What would we call it in for?

Fresh C · Apr 23, 2019

MMKII said:
Things we might want to do in the next week(ish):

Merchant Council: The Who, the How, the Why.

Exploit Keiko's Fan Club connections and her increased fame from the victory to make inroads?

Clan Politics: The Everything

Consult for information/differing viewpoints:

Tsunade

???

Acquire rundown on legal bullshit

Library?

Sarutobi's secretary seemed pretty on the ball, maybe he can help?

Make up with Team Hiashi-for-Hokage

Lunch with Hinata/Neji/Youngest Hyuuga

Neji, long time no see!

Hello, youngest Hyuuga! You are so adorable!

Have Keiko apologize to Shino Aburame for grievous bodily harm.

Keiko.

Kiba

Being an insufferably incompetent loudmouth must be hard.

Maybe he can use another friend? Inuzuka seem pretty cool in general.

The Academy

We should probably meet the Head Instructor. Dinner?

Begin greasing the wheels.

We'd like to stop by for a few hours to help out your Taijutsu classes some time next week, actually...

Till-n-fills

Slam dunk 100,000 ryo into funding more of these.

Connect with our new peer group: the ranking officers of Leaf's military.

Promotion party at (Insert name of tavern that Chunin-guy-who-hates-Lightning-nin invited us to)?

Finances

Get Keiko (and maybe Mari) on that shit. We should have way more disposable income now.

Honoka

HAZOU: Keiko pls summon Pandaa to play with her you promised you would at Kagome's party

Aha! I just remembered what I had wanted to do! We should arrange most of the above in advance. Kagome can use his Calligraphy skillz to whip up some fancy invitations for us to send to arrange it all.

I like a lot of these ideas. I deleted the ones I didn't like and bolded one that I like, but have some reservations about.

I still think we should hold off on talking serious politics with anyone until we've talked to someone we can trust absolutely, like Mari or Tsunade. I think even if Mari's still depressed we could convince her to give us a basic rundown of Leaf politics. We could have her just write down the information instead of having a conversation, if she felt like that would allow her to do so without negatively influencing us. If we then want to also ask Ino-Shika Cho, that's fine, but I think they should be our last resort, not our first. Also, Jiraiya's wording in the last chapter made it sound like Tsunade probably wont' be there when we get back.

I don't really like the Noburi plan, as it has the potential to come off as insensitive. "Your families are so poor they need our charity" could be the message that the more hostile non-clan ninjas take away from this. I think this is the type of plan we should run by someone like Akane or Mari to get perspective before attempting.

As far as lunch with the Hyuga's goes, I don't think it's a bad idea. But I think we should make sure it's a 100% casual thing. We don't want another situation where we invite the heirs and end up with their parents, though I imagine that's less likely to happen considering they all share the same name so we'll have to use their full names when we invite them.

Otherwise a lot of good low risk potentially interesting stuff here.

Shadowwarp · Apr 23, 2019

MMKII said:
What would we call it in for?

HDK

ashinator · Apr 23, 2019

[x] Action Plan: Because Why Not?
Before you Leave:
- Leverage Nobby to open a chakra lemonade stand.
* Devolve into regular lemonade business when you leave. Leverage as a front to contact Yaks at a later point.
- Confess Hazo's undying love in no uncertain terms to atleast three unrelated Chunin Exam candidates. Later explain how your courier was compromised. (as explained before, they won't forget you ^_^ )
- Visit Momma Kurosawa. Play her the flute, and ask her to share her 'cookie recipe'(wink and nudge, see how she interprets it).
- See about establishing a green spandex sales depot in mist.

After getting back:
- Ask the Pangolins for permission to interview a Condor:
* Question Condor about their way of life, beliefs, inclinations, etc.
- Use the ryos(400k?) to sponsor a Leaf technique hackers' convention/meetup. Offer a reward for a MEW variation optimized to help civilians (curved? lower cost? smells-bad-to-chakra-beasts?)
- Visit Leaf's academy to see if there are any basics taught here which aren't in Leaf. Fix any glaring weaknesses that might exist in your fundamentals.

Cons:
- Implies zero situational awareness. There is a small but still significant chance of foul-smelling stuff impacting a wind-propeller.

Pros:
- Why not?.

Oneiros · Apr 23, 2019

If anyone had something adventurous they'd like to do just let me know and I'll probably add em!

Halberdier · Apr 23, 2019

MMKII said:
Things we might want to do in the next week(ish):

(Insert Typical Hazou speech about Team Unity)

Merchant Council: The Who, the How, the Why.

Exploit Keiko's Fan Club connections and her increased fame from the victory to make inroads?

Clan Politics: The Everything

Consult for information/differing viewpoints:

ISC (I had wanted to get this out of the way on the way back)

Tsunade

???

Acquire rundown on legal bullshit

Library?

Sarutobi's secretary seemed pretty on the ball, maybe he can help?

Make up with Team Hiashi-for-Hokage

Lunch with Hinata/Neji/Youngest Hyuuga

Neji, long time no see!

Hello, youngest Hyuuga! You are so adorable!

Have Keiko apologize to Shino Aburame for grievous bodily harm.

Keiko.

Kiba

Being an insufferably incompetent loudmouth must be hard.

Maybe he can use another friend? Inuzuka seem pretty cool in general.

The Academy

We should probably meet the Head Instructor. Dinner?

Begin greasing the wheels.

We'd like to stop by for a few hours to help out your Taijutsu classes some time next week, actually...

Clanless ninja

Send Noburi out to do some charity work through neighborhoods that they happen to live in. Even if they personally don't need it, their families might...

"They"= choose a couple dozen clanless Leaf ninja we're familiar with from the 4th Event. Include: Haruno, Yamamato, Team Nakano, etc.

Make sure to mention that there will be a plethora of those Till-n-fill missions.

Perhaps an opportunity to beta test some of Noburi's mednin training plans that he mentioned earlier to Tsunade?

Till-n-fills

Slam dunk 100,000 ryo into funding more of these.

Connect with our new peer group: the ranking officers of Leaf's military.

Promotion party at (Insert name of tavern that Chunin-guy-who-hates-Lightning-nin invited us to)?

Finances

Get Keiko (and maybe Mari) on that shit. We should have way more disposable income now.

Honoka

HAZOU: Keiko pls summon Pandaa to play with her you promised you would at Kagome's party

Aha! I just remembered what I had wanted to do! We should arrange most of the above in advance. Kagome can use his Calligraphy skillz to whip up some fancy invitations for us to send to arrange it all.

Those things all look worthwhile. 100,000 on till&fills might be better served making a small till&fill tour mission (I realize the chance we'll personally get to do this now is almost zero.

The one thing I'd like your plan to have @MMKII before I vote for it is something about preparing for an ambush on the way home, since we'll be pretty open targets if someone decides to go rogue/akatsuki pulls something. Either refilling a couple of our own seals, or at least talk about expecting it.

Emstar · Apr 23, 2019

Halberdier said:
Those things all look worthwhile. 100,000 on till&fills might be better served making a small till&fill tour mission (I realize the chance we'll personally get to do this now is almost zero.

I feel like a larger quantity of them would spread the mission payments out to more folks and/or help out more civvies for the time being.

The one thing I'd like your plan to have @MMKII before I vote for it is something about preparing for an ambush on the way home, since we'll be pretty open targets if someone decides to go rogue/akatsuki pulls something. Either refilling a couple of our own seals, or at least talk about expecting it.

Done:

MMKII said:
On the way back to Leaf:

Socialize with your fellow Leaf ninja.

Be wary! You are perfect targets for an ambush.

faflec · Apr 23, 2019

[X] Action plan: playing politics

@Oneiros @MMKII Any chance you could add "Discuss plans with Keiko and Noburi, as applicable" or something along those lines to your plan?

MMKII said:
*gallows humor* So, any advice on being a clan heir?

How is this supposed to work, exactly? I'm not really sure how this can be construed as gallows humor...?

Halberdier · Apr 23, 2019

[x] Action Plan: Yeet the dab

firestorm440 · Apr 23, 2019

MMKII said:
Till-n-fills

Slam dunk 100,000 ryo into funding more of these.

Can we specify we're using 100k to subsidize them? As in, the farmers scrape together some amount reasonable for farmers to be able to pay, then we fill up whatever still needs to be paid to make a D-rank. We'll get more missions done that way than 100% funding them ourselves.

ChairAgainstWall · Apr 23, 2019

Reading it belatedly, and found this:

eaglejarl said:
egoboo

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Also, Cat is Best Minion. The whole chapter is great, honestly.

Oneiros · Apr 23, 2019

Halberdier said:
The one thing I'd like your plan to have @MMKII before I vote for it is something about preparing for an ambush on the way home, since we'll be pretty open targets if someone decides to go rogue/akatsuki pulls something. Either refilling a couple of our own seals, or at least talk about expecting it.

Going to add this as well

Halberdier · Apr 23, 2019

Huh. If J doesn't come back, it'll be hard for us to get much experience leading missions in the near future, since clan head sealmaster new chunin would be such an attractive target. Which works just fine for teaching, lighthousing, and politicking goals.

Emstar · Apr 23, 2019

faflec said:
Any chance you could add "Discuss plans with Keiko and Noburi, as applicable" or something along those lines to your plan?

Yeah sure.

firestorm440 said:
Can we specify we're using 100k to subsidize them? As in, the farmers scrape together some amount reasonable for farmers to be able to pay, then we fill up whatever still needs to be paid to make a D-rank. We'll get more missions done that way than 100% funding them ourselves.

:thumbsup:

Does anyone else have any preference for things from this post? What to get the ball rolling on, anything else, etc...?

MMKII said:
Yeet count: 157
[x] Action Plan: Yeet the dab

Check plans with Keiko/Noburi as appropriate.

Loose Ends

Make seals(Banshee Slayers and Earbusters) for the next 6 hours, hand them off to Jiraiya before either of you leave Mist.

Pack some storage seals filled with food as well.

Say bye to Mom, thanks for the advice about killing intent.

*gallows humor* So, any advice on being a clan heir?

The next few months are probably going to be tough. Hazou will find a way to keep in touch, though. Everything is going to be ok.

On the way back to Leaf:

Socialize with your fellow Leaf ninja.

Be wary! You are perfect targets for an ambush.

Homecoming

Update Mari and Kagome on everything.

What's happened while we were away?

Steel yourself for the inevitable reveal that everything has gone to heck since you left, and that you (of course) now need to fix everything.

In case of super traumatic news, make sure no one leaves the compound to do anything stupid.

This goes double for yourself.

Delegation

faflec · Apr 23, 2019

MMKII said:
The next few months are probably going to be tough. Hazou will find a way to keep in touch, though. Everything is going to be ok.

What is this supposed to be for, out of curiosity? I think it's meant to suggest that Hazou/Hana separating will suck for Hazou, but a weird part of me also thinks it's Hazou implying that all the Kages are getting ready to throw down, and I'm not 100% on Hana knowing what's going on.

faflec · Apr 23, 2019

Yeah, so I combined @Oneiros' and @MMKII's plan because I'm not 100% satisfied with either. Feel free to copy this.

[X] Political Yeeting

Word count: I'll figure it out

Make seal blanks for whatever seals Jiraiya wants (Goo Bombs?).
- If there's anything he wants us to try that we haven't done yet we will
- Give them to him before either of us leaves Mist, offer to send him more via Pangolins.
Say bye to Mom, thank her for the KI advice.
- Ask her about her time as a diplomat & how (why) she became one. Subtly try to get some knowledge on how to politic and on IN socials.

On the way back to Leaf:
- Socialize with your fellow Leaf ninja.
- Be wary of an ambush.

Get back to Leaf.
- Update Mari and Kagome on what happened. Ask what's happened since we've left.
  - Steel yourself for the inevitable reveal that everything has gone to heck since you left, and that you (of course) now need to fix everything.
  - In case of super traumatic news, make sure no one leaves the compound to do anything stupid.
    - This goes double for yourself.

Be politic.
- Invite Sasuke to dinner
  - Only do this if Mari OKs it and if she's mentally uncompromised.
- Get a crash course in politics, clan affairs, and laws/customs of Konoha.
  - Start with trusted sources (Mari, the library/bookstores) and move forward from there (ask ISC?).
- Do some research on the Merchant Council: Their financial situation, political affiliations, rumours...

Immortal Lurker · Apr 23, 2019

202 words.

[] Action Plan: Nin at Breaking Strain

We are just about at our limit, and we need one final push.
Every time team uplift is mentioned, it includes Akane
In Mist:
- Make seal blanks that Jiraiya can infuse throughout the night, and give them to the strike force.
- Say goodbye to Hana.
In Leaf:
- Catch up with team uplift.
  - Apologize to Kagome for breaking OPSEC on the seals we just gave out.
  - Fill everyone in, but leave out Orochimaru
- Rest for a day, then back to work.
- Run everything below through team uplift first
  - Merchant Council:
    - Ask if we could have a liaison to bounce ideas off without having to assemble the whole council every time we want to discuss something.
    - Ideas:
      - Could we sell them discount seals which they pay ninja drop outs to operate?
      - Do privately funded ninja created large projects violate the rules, as long as we don't make money?
      - Where would be the best place for a trial run of storage seals as refrigerators, as per Kagome?
  - Rent office space and hire staff for:
    - Managing our merchants
    - Research into
      - MEW + 5SB architecture
        
        See if there are architects already cleared for skytowers.
      - Public health, especially areas to subsidize till n fills.
    - Anything else team uplift wants.

Emstar · Apr 23, 2019

faflec said:
What is this supposed to be for, out of curiosity? I think it's meant to suggest that Hazou/Hana separating will suck for Hazou, but a weird part of me also thinks it's Hazou implying that all the Kages are getting ready to throw down, and I'm not 100% on Hana knowing what's going on.

Consoling Hana since we probably aren't going to see her for a few months, diffusing any lingering tension with affirmation of positivity, whatever.

Roomba says the insightful fuzzy things, and I generally just throw them in. Thems the brakes.

faflec said:
How is this supposed to work, exactly? I'm not really sure how this can be construed as gallows humor...?

HAZOU: Hey, so... any advice on how to be a clan heir?

HANA: Don't have an older sister.

HAZOU: lol fuck

HANA: Language.

faflec said:
Yeah, so I combined @Oneiros' and @MMKII's plan because I'm not 100% satisfied with either. Feel free to copy this.

[X] Political Yeeting

Word count: I'll figure it out

Make seal blanks for whatever seals Jiraiya wants (Goo Bombs?).

If there's anything he wants us to try that we haven't done yet we will

Give them to him before either of us leaves Mist, offer to send him more via Pangolins.

Say bye to Mom, thank her for the KI advice.

Ask her about her time as a diplomat & how (why) she became one. Subtly try to get some knowledge on how to politic and on IN socials.

On the way back to Leaf:

Socialize with your fellow Leaf ninja.

Be wary of an ambush.

Get back to Leaf.

Update Mari and Kagome on what happened. Ask what's happened since we've left.

Steel yourself for the inevitable reveal that everything has gone to heck since you left, and that you (of course) now need to fix everything.

In case of super traumatic news, make sure no one leaves the compound to do anything stupid.

This goes double for yourself.

Be politic.

Invite Sasuke to dinner

Only do this if Mari OKs it and if she's mentally uncompromised.

Get a crash course in politics, clan affairs, and laws/customs of Konoha.

Start with trusted sources (Mari, the library/bookstores) and move forward from there (ask ISC?).

Do some research on the Merchant Council: Their financial situation, political affiliations, rumours...

I think you're being a bit overly paranoid with the Hana stuff.

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

The Shining One

The Shining One

The Shining One

The Shining One

The Shining One