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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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If the war is in a month I'm really surprised that Nara decided to distance himself. Hiashi can't really afford to deal with us when war is looming. So I don't see what risks Nara found in associating with us. Anyway, we should consider convincing Nara to stop the distance because we can't care about those concerns when war is threatening.

We should also get a second opinion on estimates of when the war happens.

We should also consider asking for an info dump on historical war/diplomacy stuff. Yes, it's a drain on QM spoons. But it could be important.

Diplomacy idea. Set up something like the Articles of Confederation.
 
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Yuno appears to have some weirdly disparate knowledge. She knows who Keiko is and where she is from from the Chuunin Exams, okay. She knows that Noburi, Noburi specifically, not "a Gouketsu", is a summoner candidate — how? And how she doesn't, at the same time, know that Keiko is now a Nara — a much more public fact?

Someone deliberately pointed her in our direction, and I don't see why an ISC member would have done that, let alone Hiashi. What other allies do we have? Tsunade, Naruto, KEI ninja? Don't fit either.

I'm pretty sure Ami talked to her. I hope the octocat plushie is ready.
Inferno Vulpix said:
I agree, but at the same time I don't want to tip off the Nara that something of strategic importance is going on, like an urgent summons would.
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Fair point.
 
I just realized. We've been talking about adding hiring people into plans but we've already done it. So we might (?) have people to do tasks if any of y'all require that for your plans.
eaglejarl said:
"First, we should see about adopting more civilians. People with political and financial skills who can take some load off Mari. Maybe teenagers who could be trained up. We should also acquire operatives—civilians whom we pay with money, favors, or training, but don't actually adopt. Being separate from us lets them do things that we couldn't do directly, being connected to us gives them funds and opportunities they wouldn't have had otherwise. Mari, can you handle that?"

"Of course. I'll need a budget."
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eaglejarl said:
Could you please figure out how many days it's been since then? In fact...
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MadScientist said:
Mari was given the assignment on Jan 5th
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Also, we should consider cooperating with ANBU/Hiashi on exploring the basement. With the threat of war, we can't care about maximizing our own share of the loot/knowledge anymore.
 
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[x] Action Plan: Stick Your Appendages Everywhere
Wordcount: 298
Intended duration: 1 day.
  • Message Keiko to arrive as soon as convenient, to discuss "a Pangolins-related matter".
  • Continue dinner while waiting:
    • Ask Mari to summarize global and local politics to Yuno. "Especially the Hokage's external-politics views."
    • Offer Yuno a guest room.
    • Incidentally, did she speak to Mori Ami?
    • Covertly offer Noburi and Yuno an opportunity to speak privately.
  • Once Keiko arrives, discuss privately (Team Uplift only):
    • What's Mari's take on Isan/Yuno? Does Keiko want to involve herself? Is Noburi interested in the marriage?
      • Ethically, Isan is heading in a bad direction, and we could help. Pragmatically, it's a good power-grabbing opportunity. You're inclined to go along.
      • Takahashi mentioned "concessions" from Azai — could they be co-conspirators?
    • Ask Kagome about Cloud's religion.
    • Ask Keiko to send messages via Pangolins:
      • To Crows and Sharks: Invitation for Akatsuki to open dialogue.
      • To the Mara Summoner: Invitation to discuss philosophy.
      • Might require political capital with Pangolins. Would she be willing to sell non-combat seals, or wood/food?
  • If you decide to help, discuss attack vectors with Yuno:
    • Challenge Sousuke's religious significance. Summon Pangolins, have them publicly condemn Azai's sacred tapirs as enemies, reveal Sousuke's "visions" as lies.
    • Challenge Sousuke's competence. The SSSSS seems Orochimaru's. Tell Isan's public about who he was; bring some body-horror samples.
    • Contact the SSSSS and turn them against Sousuke by promising funding or Basement samples.
  • Background:
    • Ask Mari to forcefully remind you to discuss outside-context problems with Team Uplift within two days.
    • Ask Tsunade to check Noburi's suitability for Summoning and SC; no time to deal with Kabuto.
    • Buy a tavern/inn damaged by the failure.
    • Schedule a Games Night on February 15/16. Invite Team Gai + Keiko (both important), KEI ninja, other peers.
 
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Noumero said:
In combat, erect a 1.5-meters Air Dome around yourself
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I don't think we have enough actions in a round to do this: Air Domes need to be precisely aligned, meaning I'd expect them to need to be placed with an Action instead of just dropped.
Noumero said:
To the Crows and the Sharks: A greeting inviting Akatsuki to open dialogue with us.
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Real talk: This could very well end up with Keiko being tested between her Gouetsu loyalties and her Nara loyalties. Since, well, treason. I'm still waffling on how likely she is to screw us.
Noumero said:
To the Mara's Summoner, Grandmaster F: We want to discuss philosophy, entirely apolitically.
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The Mara say that F "inherited the Mara Summoning Scroll through tradition, and has rarely used it for summoning in recent years", so I'm not sure how long it would take to be read by her.
Noumero said:
Tell Noburi you're intending to have a clan discussion on "outside-context problems" within two days; if you won't, he's free to prank you thrice with no fear of retaliation.[1]
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...really? Really??

You should also have Tsunade check Noburi instead of playing chicken with Kabuto.

Meanwhile, we-the-hivemind need to start getting Keiko back into Seventh Path shit, getting Neji out of favor for the Turtles, and look towards the next war.
 
faflec said:
I don't think we have enough actions in a round to do this: Air Domes need to be precisely aligned, meaning I'd expect them to need to be placed with an Action instead of just dropped.
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Have a second person with you, of course. I'll make that clearer.
Real talk: This could very well end up with Keiko being tested between her Gouetsu loyalties and her Nara loyalties. Since, well, treason. I'm still waffling on how likely she is to screw us.
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Is this technically treason? I imagine contacting foreign villages is treason, but sending letter to some private missing-nin?
The Mara say that F "inherited the Mara Summoning Scroll through tradition, and has rarely used it for summoning in recent years", so I'm not sure how long it would take to be read by her.
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Hmm, true. Well, let's hope she's still checking up on them regularly, even if she doesn't actively summon.
...really? Really??
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Do you... disapprove?
You should also have Tsunade check Noburi instead of playing chicken with Kabuto.

Meanwhile, we-the-hivemind need to start getting Keiko back into Seventh Path shit, getting Neji out of favor for the Turtles, and look towards the next war.
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Done and done after a fashion, the latter being "schedule a games night where we'll arrange for Neji to be broken by Keiko again so that we could start on turning him".


Noumero said:
[x] Action Plan: Stick Your Appendages Everywhere
Wordcount: 300+/To Be Optimized
Intended duration: 1 day.
  • Send for Keiko: Her presence is required as soon as convenient, to discuss "a Pangolins-related matter".
  • To Yuno: Keiko is fairly busy, may take a few hours to arrive. She could stay here in the meantime; offer her a guest room.
    • Ask Mari to summarize the global and local politics to her. "Especially regarding the Hokage's external-politics views."
    • Incidentally, did Yuno speak to one Mori Ami?
    • Covertly offer Noburi and Yuno an opportunity to speak in private.
  • Once Keiko's arrived and been updated, have a private Team Uplift discussion:
    • What's Mari's take on the Isan situation? Does Keiko want to go take over? Is Noburi interested in the (political/) marriage?
      • Pragmatically, it's a good opportunity for us, and you're inclined to go along.
    • Kagome:
      • Seal proposal: Modifying Implosion Seals to leave air within 2 meters of the seal untouched.
        • In combat, your teammates erect a 1.9-meters Air Dome around the team; you activate the seal. Your team's unhurt, the seal's intact; everyone else within 20 meters dies instantly.
        • Could that be done in a month? Is that as powerful as it sounds, i. e. "personal superweapon" and "death of CQC"?
      • What can he tell us about Cloud's "weird religion thing"?
    • Keiko:
      • Ask to send messages via Pangolins:
        • To the Crows and the Sharks: A greeting inviting Akatsuki to open dialogue with us.
        • To the Mara's Summoner, Grandmaster F: We want to discuss philosophy, entirely apolitically.
      • This might require some political capital. Would she be willing to sell them non-combat seals?
  • Update Yuno on our discussion.
  • Background:
    • Tell Noburi you're intending to have a clan discussion on "outside-context problems" within two days; if you won't, he's free to prank you thrice with no fear of retaliation.
    • Ask Tsunade to check Noburi's suitability for summoning; no time to play games with Kabuto.
    • Buy a multi-floor tavern/inn still damaged from the sealing failure.
    • Schedule a Games Night on January 15/16. Invite Keiko, Team Gai, KEI ninja, and a bunch of other peers.
    • Check if the octocat's ready.
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Noumero said:
Is this technically treason? I imagine contacting foreign villages is treason, but sending letter to some private missing-nin?
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One would imagine that the fact that missing-nin are supposed to be universally reviled and hunted down as dogs would be sufficient evidence that establishing dialogue with them without going aboveboard with your head dictator would be treason. But if that's not enough, I'd also point out that the specific missing-nin we are attempting to contact are Akatsuki members, who killed the previous Hokage and a bunch of other elite Leaf-nin, among them Uchiha Itachi, who slaughtered his entire clan's ninja population and kidnapped/tortured the current Uzumaki Clan Head, and etc. etc..

And even if it weren't treason per se, it would still force Keiko to consider the risks to the Nara Clan's reputation. Which will be non-trivial if it gets out, and Keiko has to weigh those chances.
Noumero said:
Do you... disapprove?
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Yes. Yes, I do disapprove. It's...really frustrating, to have that in the plan.
Noumero said:
Schedule a Games Night on January 15/16. Invite Keiko, Team Gai, KEI ninja, and a bunch of other peers.
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It's February. Also, if the goal of this is to get Neji aboveboard, we have to account for the likely possibility that Neji won't come due to being "too busy" (which he likely will be).

If the goal is to poke at Neji, get Noburi signed up with Asuma and have them take lessons together. Or work together to promote YOUTH.
 
I think recent events have shown that we really need to get the snake scroll, but also that Hiashi will go to great lengths, including pissing off the council, to control the distribution of summoning scrolls. If we want to get the Snake scroll out from under his nose, we'll need to get creative, and I don't think that the Snakes will refuse to accept anyone other than a Goketsu summoner without us giving them huge amounts of weapons.

[x] Action Plan: Decrease the Resistance
Wordcount: 232
  • Get Keiko, once secure tell her about Isan situation, tell her that since she would end up doing most of the work she should take point on this project
    • Should help Keiko with her feeling a lack of agency
    • Ask Keiko what, broadly, she wants for Isan. Then we try and achieve that goal.
  • GET SCROLL
  • Ask Akane (and/or Mari) to talk to Tsunade about supporting our bid to get the Snake scroll
    • Possible Leverage
      • Light guilt trip over swapping votes without talking to us about it
      • Medical funding
      • Medic based sealing research?
      • Including med-nin training in our clanless training programs
      • Orochimaru's basement projects?
  • Call clan council or wait for next conveniently scheduled one (discuss with Mari about whether discussion should be led by Naruto or us)
    • Bring up that with the coming war the leaf's valuable military asset, the snake scroll, needs to be distributed
    • Make sure everyone is on the same page regarding Orochimaru's pardon
    • Say that the decision of where the snake scroll goes should be up Orochimaru's greatest living friend. The person who knew him best and the inheritor of his will. Tsunade
    • Get clan vote/hokage's decision before Tsunade says who she would give the scroll to
  • Tsunade may only agree to give the scroll to Akane. Agree to this, otherwise scroll goes to Hazou
  • Whoever gets the scroll starts training immediently.
 
faflec said:
Yes. Yes, I do disapprove. It's...really frustrating, to have that in the plan.
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Why?
It's February. Also, if the goal of this is to get Neji aboveboard, we have to account for the likely possibility that Neji won't come due to being "too busy" (which he likely will be).
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And even if it weren't treason per se, it would still force Keiko to consider the risks to the Nara Clan's reputation. Which will be non-trivial if it gets out, and Keiko has to weigh those chances.
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Fair enough, I'll think about it. Regarding the former, Keiko's presence is necessary, so joint summoner training wouldn't work.
 
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