May have. It's still seven of the world's most powerful ninja unaffiliated with any village. And when I say unaffiliated, I mean that they likely share a seething hatred for the major villages. Not really a wildcard I'd be comfortable with existing as one of the village leaders.



Because it was counterproductive to their goals. They absolutely did attack multiple Jinchuuriki, a Kage included. Who knows what they decide to do with Pain's final command. I'm working off limited information here, but the worst case scenarios seem very plausible here. Revenge is a powerful motivator, and they absolutely have the means to enact it.



I mean, choosing the Kages is very important, but if Tsunade can attend Keiko's wedding and Hiashi is conscious, there could easily be a council meeting at any point. And it really sounds like there should be, and the only reason there isn't one is that everyone wants to get all of their political ducks in a row beforehand.

Like, if there was ever a need for an interim Hokage, it's now.

Yeah good point.

Let's just seduce the hell out of Sasuke, Shino and buy out the Hagoromo before anyone recovers so we can vote Asuma in.

Tsunade can come to the vote on a litter, keeping herself together, and Hiashi can either get bent or kill himself dragging his ass their in person to campaign.

Lets chat with Asuma + ISC+Minami before pulling the trigger on Operation Hat Get and then get this son of a bitch out the door before he has time to wake up and start actually being a contender.
 
Looking at Discord conversations, I see there are some misconceptions about my plan. @Kiba, @Cariyaga.
  • The part where Hazou takes Kagome and Mari into a room to think of ways our enemies may be attempting to destroy us isn't supposed to be taken at face value: it's an attempt to get them thinking about disguises and Henge in conditions that would hopefully let them circumvent the antimeme (presence of Kagome, active monitoring of mental processes, active note-taking, presence of a clock).
    • E: I guess the fact that some people mistake it for a genuine paranoia session means I'm doing metagaming right.
  • Even moreso with Noburi: it's a countermeasure, a lightning-rod equivalent. One of the possibilities is that the grue isn't an antimeme, but an outcome pump: it causes increasingly unlikely events to happen in an attempt to get people to stop thinking about it. At first your thoughts just wander away, then you get distracted, then you spill your tea over your arm, et cetera. Deliberately introducing a safe-if-unlikely circuit-breaker would ensure that it won't need to reach for things like "Mari goes temporarily insane and murders you" to get us to stop — it'll just make Noburi think that he solved the code.
As to the necessity of doing any of this now...
  • The Henge erasure is confirmed to have large in-story implications. Right now most people didn't even notice that anything is wrong, and the few who did — infiltration specialists, etc. — are yet to get around the antimeme. This state of things will not continue indefinitely. Sooner or later people like Ami start figuring out what transpired. They will inform their close allies, start investigating the hole in reality in earnest, trying to figure out what created it. Perhaps they will panic, perhaps it will cause chaos, perhaps they will provoke the grue again. If we figure it out first — and we could, we have access to Kagome, whose ability to retain memories between shifts may or may not be unique — we'll be well-positioned to predict and exploit said chaos. On the other hand, if we do nothing, we'll be mere part of the panicking masses.
  • Similar logic with Akatsuki. Seven S-rankers capable of single-handedly destroying the civilization, told to pursue peace the hard way. Are they going to be hiding in woods indefinitely? No. Are all of them going to return to whatever they were doing before Pain, be that mercenary work or whatever else? I highly doubt that. We're going to have to deal with them, and if there's a chance to push them in our direction, in the direction of Uplift, that chance is only decreasing over time as they each come to their own decisions about the future.
We could wait and get burned by the fires that Grue and Akatsuki will cause, like everyone else, or we could set like four hours aside and look for ways to foresee and maybe take advantage of them. Long-term planning is important, no?

Oh, and if we successfully get around the antimeme, we'll totally be able to sell that information to Ami for a major favour.
Unless I'm mistake, the only time was here after the youthsuit incident, and it was more on "holding it together". We've done some 'competence training' here and there, but I don't think we really got anything tangible out of it apart from some extra words in our plan.

I do think Mari can teach us properly and get us actual buffs this time, mechanically speaking.
Huh. Yes, I'll add something about that possibility within the next ten hours.
 
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I mean, choosing the Kages is very important, but if Tsunade can attend Keiko's wedding and Hiashi is conscious, there could easily be a council meeting at any point. And it really sounds like there should be, and the only reason there isn't one is that everyone wants to get all of their political ducks in a row beforehand.

Like, if there was ever a need for an interim Hokage, it's now.

Maybe we should adopt tanistry, or at least the position of second in command, whose sole purpose is to ensure a continuity of government.
 
Listen 'ere then buddy-guy , they dun run out screamin' witha pitchforks an torchees for that there lingo bein' a'spoken round 'ere!
I— I don't unders— Oh no. @MMKII is being lupchanzed! Right now! (Well, half an hour ago.)


Some minor changes to increase integrity. Briefly addressed the point @faflec brought up.
[x] Action Plan: "More Like a Cobweb, Really"
Timeline: Immediately after Chapter 267.
Wordcount: 299.

  • Find Noburi. Give him Goemon's letters. Suggest he spends a couple of hours trying to decode them.
    • These are love letters, and other sealmasters failed to decode them — perhaps the code is, implausibly, rooted in romance?
    • Not a joke. If he succeeds, please find us immediately.
  • Get Mari, Kagome, some paper, a blackboard, writing implements. Go into a high-security room (anti-hyuuga seals, etc.).
    • Brainstorm:
      • The Nara have a habit: spending five minutes each day contemplating how an enemy might be planning to destroy them.
      • Given thirty by-the-clock minutes, can we find any overlooked but fixable vulnerabilities?
      • Write ideas on the blackboard. Idea #1: People disguising as us to poison our relations with merchants. Plausible? Could we disguise ourselves as, say, Aburame, and cause chaos?
      • Take extensive notes. Transcribe (concisely) the meeting and your stream-of-consciousness. Analyse how you think about things.
      • Be thorough.
      • If Noburi arrives, ask to generate a new idea.
    • Once thirty minutes pass, share the BotG briefing with them.
      • What's Kagome's take on it? Discuss:
        • RESURRECTION TECHNIQUE.
        • Pain's goal.
        • "The Five".
        • The fate of the lost bijuu.
        • Their book: contents and the author.
      • Mari:
        • Akatsuki are at large, "pursuing peace the hard way". How insane would it be to contact them? If they're genuine about peace, you have suggestions...
        • We're at their mercy anyway. If we do nothing, will they decide to be direct: take over the EN?
        • Could we assemble their psychological profiles? We'd need tailored approaches.
    • Update Mari on Ami. Should you:
      • Sell her any rare information for favours?
      • Spend a favour to:
        • Enlist help with the elections. ("Maximize our personal influence on Leaf's politics").
        • "Maximize my social competence." (Or would Mari do it?)
    • Who are remaining Leaf jounin? Could we adopt the clanless ones?
  • Commit one instance of creative training.
 
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[x] Action Plan: "More Like a Cobweb, Really"

@Noumero I'm fairly certain QMs don't follow links in plans unless they are specifically cleared by them.
 
Compilation of Ami-style training ideas
Compilation of Creative Training Ideas
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Reminder: We've declared Rock Lee our eternal rival in creative training.

Once per day, do one:
  1. Spend a day moving only by the way of substitution.
  2. Mimic the personality, style of speech, and body language of some other person (Mari/Noburi/Sakura/...) in all social interactions.
  3. Spend the entire day without using your left arm or leg.
  4. Spar with Lee while underwater.
  5. Try to move back and forth a long hallway by chakra adhering your head to the ceiling and shifting your weight.
  • Meta:
    • Convey the idea of creative training to Rock Lee. Declare yourself his eternal rival.
  • Social:
    • Manipulation:
      • Get five ninja to owe you favours without spending significant resources.
      • Convince a ninja that a crazy conspiracy theory is true.
      • Teach Lee basic social skills.
      • Create a civilian fanclub for a randomly selected ninja.
      • Manipulate three people into starting arguments with others in a way that doesn't get traced back to you.
      • Try to get another ninja to stalk you without them realizing that you want them to.
    • Acting:
      • Disguise yourself as another person. Convince five people that you're [the person you're disguised as] disguised as Hazou.
      • Mimic the personality, style of speech, and body language of some other person (Mari/Noburi/Sakura/...) in all social interactions.
      • Convince someone that you are Rock Lee.
    • Information-gathering:
      • Learn the birthdays of five chuunin outside your social circle without them finding out.
      • Learn the favourite colours of every Leaf jonin.
    • Composure:
      • Hold a ten minute conversation with Anko without displaying any outward signs of loss of composure.
      • Experience three different jounin auras.
      • Tell Lee to preach to you about Youth. Meditate as he does.
      • Meditate while chakra-adhering to a running ninja (Lee?).
      • Ask Keiko to hit you with her aura while hanging upside down from a tree branch over a lake/river.
      • Eat a full meal at the Yabai café. Attempt to emulate Keiko's/Shikamaru's mental state as closely as you can in the process.
  • Physical:
    • Binge-eat strange foods.
    • Spend a day moving only by the way of substitution.
    • Spend the entire day without using your left arm or leg.
    • Exercise with a jump rope while chakra-adhering to a ceiling/wall.
    • Juggle chakra oranges without wearing protective gloves.
    • Draw explosive seal blanks with one hand while sparring with the other.
    • Spar while singing.
    • Spar with [insert jounin here].
    • Spar with Lee while upside down on the ceiling/on a tree/underwater/running.
    • Try to move back and forth a long hallway by chakra adhering your head to the ceiling and shifting your weight.
    • Play an instrument by using chakra adhesion to pluck the strings.
    • Have a spar where your opponent is allowed to call out one limb you can't use, which they can swap at will.
  • Mental:
    • Spend exactly one minute in a shop. Memorise every product being sold. Do not draw attention to yourself.
    • Draw a map of Leaf from scratch. The map should show all roads and places of interest.
  • Mixed:
    • Assume that everyone you meet (sans the team) secretly wants to kill you. Don't give them opportunities and don't let them know that you know.
    • Stalk people (civilians/genin/chuunin/jounin). If discovered, attempt to make a positive impression despite the bad start.
    • Cross the city via sequential stalking. You can only change targets when your current target interacts with the potential new target.
    • Go to the busiest district. Engage with people. You can gain "points" by making highly positive impressions on people. If someone touches you, you lose a point. If your points are ≤0, you lose.
  • What worked:
    • Create a civilian fanclub for a randomly selected ninja.
    • Meditate while chakra-adhering to a running ninja (Lee?).
    • Exercise with a jump rope while chakra-adhering to a ceiling/wall.
    • Spar while singing.
    • Play an instrument by using chakra adhesion to pluck the strings.
    • Have a spar where your opponent is allowed to call out one limb you can't use, which they can swap at will.
    • Spend exactly one minute in a shop. Memorise every product being sold. Do not draw attention to yourself.
  • What didn't work:
    • Convey the idea of creative training to Rock Lee. Declare yourself his eternal rival.
    • Teach Lee basic social skills.
    • Hold a ten minute conversation with Anko without displaying any outward signs of loss of composure.
    • Get five ninja to owe you favours without spending significant resources.

Why are you so obsessed with Rock Lee. That's creepy.

If engaging in Ami-style training is going be a daily activity, I'll be updating this post, crossing out the items we've already done or replacing them with harder variations. Ping me if you have a new suggestion.

It's uncurated right now. I'm probably going to pick ~10 ideas I think are the best (and they're probably going to be MadScientist's) and hide the rest under a spoiler. Input would be appreciated.
 
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Oh, and if we successfully get around the antimeme, we'll totally be able to sell that information to Ami for a major favour.
So, um...should we be doing this? I mean, I understand selling favors for the information is a good idea, but shouldn't we limit the spread of information with global ramifications to our strongest allies? Like the Nara?

Just thinking out loud, we aren't selling the secret of Skywalkers to Ami last I checked, and if we do get around the antimeme we might not want to give it to Ami so quickly. After all, she might be able to break the effects and re-learn Henge. :p
Compilation of Creative Training Ideas
Crazy idea: work with Lee on this. As in, develop a rivalry in the vein of canon Kakashi and Gai.
 
So, um...should we be doing this? I mean, I understand selling favors for the information is a good idea, but shouldn't we limit the spread of information with global ramifications to our strongest allies? Like the Nara?
I was planning to run it by Mari first. We could try attaching a clause that Ami will only use this information in ways that don't harm us? She's a specialist in pseudo-chaotic systems: exploiting the world's response with her is probably going to be more beneficial for both of us.

I don't want to tell the Nara I'm still mad at them for hiding the forbidden lore from us. See how you like it when it's done to you, stinkers.
Crazy idea: work with Lee on this. As in, develop a rivalry in the vein of canon Kakashi and Gai.
Brilliant. Done.
 
I don't want to tell the Nara I'm still mad at them for hiding the forbidden lore from us. See how you like it when it's done to you, stinkers.
In their defense the Nara have no obligation to share their forbidden lore with the Goketsu, blame the QMs for cutting away before it was revealed.and punish them by spreading the antimeme everywhere and make them simulate their own genius bloodlines trying to recreate it​

Edit:
Convey the idea of creative training to Rock Lee. Declare yourself his rival.
Eternal rival, thank you.
 
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This one is verboten. It's from chargen even!
I don't know how much I'll be able to participate, but @Rihaku makes a compelling case (and a hive mind name will have everyone asking if the protagonist is related to the Aburame, though I guess there's a benefit to having your enemies get the wrong idea about your powerset).

[X] Kurosawa Hazou
[X] Male

Since the discussion has shifted to unusual applications of the Blood Limit, I propose that we also start a list of

Things Hazou is no Longer Allowed to Do with his Blood Limit
  1. Calling it "Gutenberg no Jutsu".​
  2. Reciting I am the very model of a modern ANBU General at full speed with perfect diction in the middle of taijutsu combat.​
  3. Moonwalking everywhere, though we acknowledge the technique's potential in misdirecting the enemy in a combat situation.​
    1. Other funny walks are right out.​
    2. Your Alternative Locomotion Lifestyles campaign is hereby banned. Yes, this is censorship. This is not a democracy.​
  4. The plan to raise funds for the village by working as a street mime is hereby vetoed.​
    1. Ditto the living statue plan.​
    2. Robot is right out.​
  5. Writing "Nebules eunt domus!" on the tents hundreds of times.​
    1. Correcting it to "Nebuli ite domum!" is not the point.​
Not very happy with some of these, but it's a start.
 
The Nara are definitely not an ally that we should depend on. Their goals are very different than ours. Ami is much more aligned with our vision for the world.
 
These are love letters, and other sealmasters failed to decode them — perhaps the code is, implausibly, rooted in romance?
I'm imagining Noburi looking at Hazou and saying "If that's the case, why didn't Jiraiya decode them?".
Could we assemble their psychological profiles? We'd need tailored approaches.
With regard to Akatsuki, you possess the information from the briefing, as well as a bingo book listing their villages of origin plus a few encounters with Leaf ninja. No extensive dossiers are available for people who do their thing below the radar and/or leave no survivors, nor any further information or which you are aware.
Not sure if you noticed this, but I don't think you can get more intel on Akatsuki. At least, not for a long long time. Not sure if the long long time is your goal, though.
Who are remaining Leaf jounin? Could we adopt the clanless ones?
This seems like the sort of thing that should involve Noburi, not just Mari and Kagome. Or at least, the second part should.
Manipulate three people into starting arguments with others in a way that doesn't get traced back to you.
Stalk people (civilians/genin/chuunin/jounin). If discovered, attempt to make a positive impression despite the bad start.
Draw a map of Leaf from scratch. The map should show all roads and places of interest.
I'm going to express some level of concern about these three quotes: the first two seem like a "you're acting pretty skeevy and might lead to bad rumours about you developing"; the last time we did the third was in Sarubetsu, and we got ganked just wandering around. Yes, we're Leaf-nin, but let's at least try to not feed Hiashi ammo. The rumours are gonna be bad enough without our aid.
 
More forbidden lore drops from Kagome are a pain in the tuckus? But you seemed so excited last time!
It's not the FLDs, it's the "no timeskips allowed" part. It really cramps the scheduling.

RIP retroactivity. Maybe we could just straight up ask her [if she's already canceled the Pangolin deal]? Like, send a message or something.
You have asked. She hasn't canceled it yet and won't until the next delivery.

Necromantic aside: we should compare these to the hand seals in the Edo Tensei knockoff Arikada used.
No significant similarity.
 
I'm imagining Noburi looking at Hazou and saying "If that's the case, why didn't Jiraiya decode them?".
Well, maybe he didn't have them...?

I would accept better anti-outcome-pump ideas.
Not sure if you noticed this, but I don't think you can get more intel on Akatsuki. At least, not for a long long time. Not sure if the long long time is your goal, though.
"Nor any further information of which you are aware". Perhaps we could come up with ways to dig out more. Leaf surely must have a dossier on Itachi; perhaps we could get information from other villages?
This seems like the sort of thing that should involve Noburi, not just Mari and Kagome. Or at least, the second part should.
He'll probably be there at this point. If not, we can loop him in later on? It's not like we're already signing the adoption papers.
 
I'm going to express some level of concern about these three quotes: the first two seem like a "you're acting pretty skeevy and might lead to bad rumours about you developing"; the last time we did the third was in Sarubetsu, and we got ganked just wandering around. Yes, we're Leaf-nin, but let's at least try to not feed Hiashi ammo. The rumours are gonna be bad enough without our aid.
I mean that's kinda of the point. These are unorthodox challenges that have some consequences upon failure. These are ideal task in my opinion
 
You have asked. She hasn't canceled it yet and won't until the next delivery.
@Inferno Vulpix Any chance you could add to the plan cache asking Keiko if she's willing to come over to optimize her breaking of the Pangolin-Skytower deal?
Well, maybe he didn't have them...?

I would accept better anti-outcome-pump ideas.
He'll probably be there at this point. If not, we can loop him in later on? It's not like we're already signing the adoption papers.
Jiraiya's a legendary sealmaster and Ami called the letters "well-known", so...yeah.

Literally ask him to step in in half an hour or something to talk about adoption, that solves both these problems.
"Nor any further information of which you are aware". Perhaps we could come up with ways to dig out more. Leaf surely must have a dossier on Itachi; perhaps we could get information from other villages?
I...guess? Like I said, this seems like a really long-term plan, and it'll take months at the earliest to get any results. Our best bet would be to get Mari the hat and have her authorize us to release Itachi's information, or something along those regards; the other countries...fuck, I don't even know. Burn a favor from Ami?
I mean that's kinda of the point. These are unorthodox challenges that have some consequences upon failure. These are ideal task in my opinion
The first two are barely acceptable FMPOV, I'm not going to freak if we get screwed (though I will get a bit pissy). The last one...no. My concern involves getting shoved into a fucking killbox after some Hyuga shit claims us to be writing down intel and dragging us in. Keep in mind that we'd be writing down this stuff, meaning they'd have actual evidence to back up their claim.
 
Literally ask him to step in in half an hour or something to talk about adoption, that solves both these problems.
Ah, won't work. It needs to be a random process such that at any given time T there's a small-but-not-negligible probability P that it interrupts our discussion.

The cleanest example, the one that I would have picked if there was an IC-reason for Hazou to do that, is having Mari roll 4D6 each minute and precommiting to immediately stop the investigation if they all roll 1. The probability that this would "naturally" happen in a thirty minute time period is ~2.3%, so false positives are fairly unlikely, but if it is an outcome pump it will only need to cause a one-in-a-thousand unlikely event (1/1296, to be precise) to get us to stop, which is comfortably more likely than "Mari spontaneously goes insane and kills you".

In Noburi's case, the exit conditions were "Noburi thinks he's cracked the code" and "Noburi gets fed up with the silly assignment and goes to express his displeasure to Hazou", which could plausibly occur at any given moment.
 
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@Inferno Vulpix Any chance you could add to the plan cache asking Keiko if she's willing to come over to optimize her breaking of the Pangolin-Skytower deal?
It's been fairly generally supported, so yeah it's in there. I also took the liberty of reorganizing it a little and culling past plans that are either implemented in this cycle's plans or otherwise irrelevant.
Plan Cache:
  • Ask Keiko if she's willing to come over to optimize her breaking of the Pangolin-Skytower deal.
  • Discuss with the family:
    • Akane: Suggest ice-making for funding.
      • If she's OK, start freezing and we'll sell it outside Leaf.
    • Could inter-village adoption (Doigama, Kato...) be plausible?
  • Info-gathering:
    • Review Jiraiya's notes on 7th path politics.
    • Ask Kagome to summarize Akatsuki's book.
  • Politicking:
    • Schedule a wake to mourn Leaf's fallen heroes.
    • Inform Naruto about the vote.
  • Snakes:
    • Hazou: Learn their culture/predispositions from Summons and Jiraiya's notes.
    • Keiko: Message them via Pangolins.
      • Send Jiraiya's letter to Orochimaru along (in case he's alive).
      • Did Orochimaru leave them his will? Jiraiya wrote him a pardon, we'd want to carry out his wishes.
  • We should push for having Asuma take Naruto as an administrative assistant/apprentice when he's Hokage.
    • Naruto is still rather useful, what with being groomed for the position, deeply loyal to leaf, very well disposed to the Sarutobi.
    • He is still recovering from his ordeal, so some allowances for that would be needed.
    • On the other hand as Leaf's resident Naruto summoner he can take care of paperwork, and other administrivia extremely efficiently. Letting you focus on the actual job.
  • Meet with Ami. Secure room at the compound (Anti-Hyuuga seals, Silence Mines). Yuuichi waits outside.
    • Accept her previous terms: no social games, clear exchange of information and commitments.
    • If investigation into disguises bore fruits:
      • You possess novel information of major importance to infiltration specialists. Likely unique information.
      • You're willing to reveal it for a favour.
      • Don't answer any questions about it unless she accepts.
    • Spend favour(s):
      • (Discuss with Mari first: open-ended or specific? If you have only 1 favour, spend it on power or social?)
      • Politics:
        • Open-ended: "Work with me to maximize my personal influence on Leaf politics."
        • Specific: Assist the Gouketsu against the Hyuuga bloc.
      • Social:
        • Open-ended: "Maximize my social competence over the next half-a-year".
        • Specific: Arrange for IN social training.

Past Major Plans:
Ino, You Know by huhYeahGoodPoint


Sometimes when we're making a plan we have a good idea that's just outside the temporal scope of the update, but we don't want to cut it from the plan because we might forget by the next cycle. This adds unnecessary words that could have been spent fleshing out the rest of the plan, and may outright cost XP in the worst cases.

This plan cache will hold these subsections so they don't fall into the void between planning cycles. Just ping me with the subsection and, unless it's wildly unreasonable, I'll edit it into the post. I'll keep them there for a while until they either make it into a winning plan, fall out of favour, or the context significantly changes. Depending on circumstances, they might end up in my Side Project Cache, or they might be dropped, and I'll make sure to be transparent about what I'm doing.

I'll do my best to quote this post after every update, so that planmakers can get an easy reminder about what we never quite got to last cycle.
 
Ah, won't work. It needs to be a random process such that at any given time T there's a small-but-not-negligible probability P that it interrupts our discussion.

The cleanest example, the one that I would have picked if there was an IC-reason for Hazou to do that, is having Mari roll 4D6 each minute and precommiting to immediately stop the investigation if the all roll 1. The probability that this would "naturally" happen in a thirty minute time period is ~2.3%, so false positives are fairly unlikely, but if it is an outcome pump it will only need to cause a one-in-a-thousand unlikely event (1:1295, to be precise) to get us to stop, which is comfortably more likely than "Mari spontaneously goes insane and kills you".

In Noburi's case, the exist conditions were "Noburi thinks he's cracked the code" and "Noburi gets fed up with the silly assignment and goes to express his displeasure to Hazou", which could plausibly occur at any given moment.
So, um...I still don't see why we can't just ask Noburi to step in after a half hour or so. Is it because of the constant possibility of him appearing at any moment that's the issue?
 
You know at times it seems like every character including ours has perfect memory.

Why even need a physical map?
 
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