The demon's maw opened wide, as if to consume every corpse on the battlefield in a single desecrating bite. But instead, streams of beautiful green light, like dancing kami who'd accidentally wandered into hell, poured out of its mouth and unerringly towards corpses (or pieces of corpses) wearing black cloaks with red clouds. Before her eyes, bones reattached themselves, were covered in flowing flesh, and finally tightly in skin. Fragments of human being drifted towards a single central point and reassembled. Some had to claw themselves out into the open world while the light briefly sustained them. One man stood up, gazing in bewilderment at his hands as if seeing them for the first time.
"It's over," Pain said loudly but clearly. "Thank you for staying by my side, and for devoting yourselves to a madman's dream. If I can make just one more selfish request of you, my friends… find your own ways to keep that dream alive. Even if there are no shortcuts to world peace, humanity can still do it the hard way."
With that, he fell to his knees, and was dead before he hit the ground.
The seven figures/members of Akatsuki were Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Konan, Kakuzu, and Hidan.
Not to mention Orochimaru swallowed Hidan and then got himself completely exploded, which (unless you're arguing Orochimaru took the time out of the battle to stash Hidan elsewhere) means he couldn't have done anything with him.
[QUOTE="Lailoken, post: 13493252, member: 1117"
Speaking of Akatsuki, has everybody already forgotten that Orochimaru still has Hidan chained up in his basement somewhere?
[/QUOTE]
I wonder how Hidan's unique brand of immortality works in MdD. I mean, depending on the way it works, Orochimaru might have an eternally undying test subject to test all of his poisons and techniques on. Especially if Hidan's immortality works in the deadpool-esque "undying and slowly regenerating" form of immortality. That might satiate Orochimaru's... inhumane tendencies.
I mean, it's not like Orochimaru's a monster for monstrosity's sake. He's intensely curious and inhumanly driven to discover immortality (at least, in canon). Furthermore, there's got to be something redeemable in him, otherwise Jiraiya wouldn't have offered him amnesty and Tsunade wouldn't have greeted him so casually (she's pro-human/civilian rights, remember?). Jiraiya used his Last Will and Testament to try and bring Orochimaru back to Leaf. Jiraiya isn't so nostalgic that he'd bring a threat to the Leaf in through the gates in the name of some misguided "brotherhood." He's expressed an intense loyalty and protectiveness of Konoha that would supersede that.
Thus, I'd say that MfD's iteration of Orochimaru is relatively more humane/moral than canon depicts him as --possibly even most depictions of him in fanon. So then, if he's a monster, then he's at least one that can be worked with. One that can be pointed away from Leaf. I mean, would Tsunade have worked with Orochimaru so casually, so effortlessly, if he stood against anything/everything she (or her grandfather) stands for? I'd argue that, from the way Tsunade's been depicted so far, she's not capable of that much restraint. She has her values, her goals, her (admittedly... unique) moral compass, and anything that furthers her cause is okay. Anything that gets in her way is simply rubble to be cleared. Thus: Orochimaru is a deeply complex character that Hazou is not in a position (is not powerful/important enough) to be able to get to know.
I hypothesize that Orochimaru sees the world in variants/degrees of "test subjects of varying interests," "peers/equals" and "philosophical zombies/NPCs." This is made by my own observations of Orochimaru, as is expressed in MfD. Perhaps he looks upon Leaf with a certain amount of intellectual loyalty --after all, it birthed him, cultivated his intelligence, and gave him equals in the form of his teammates and an individual that exceeds himself, the Hiruzen "the Professor" Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. Perhaps he views the Leaf as the place/environment where people like him are most likely to be created, along with a little amount of emotional attachment?
(I am very sleep deprived right now due to finals' week. I acknowledge that I may be very wrong in my idle character analysis.)
Edit: faflec points out that Hidan wasn't captured by Orochimaru... feel free to ignore the first paragraph. Also, minor alterations for clarity of thought and grammar.
The seven figures/members of Akatsuki were Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Konan, Kakuzu, and Hidan.
Not to mention Orochimaru swallowed Hidan and then got himself completely exploded, which (unless you're arguing Orochimaru took the time out of the battle to stash Hidan elsewhere) means he couldn't have done anything with him.
Or, the seventh figure resurrected was Orichimaru. The swallowing clearly had to involve some sort of supernatural effect or transportation to even be physically possible.
Or, the seventh figure resurrected was Orichimaru. The swallowing clearly had to involve some sort of supernatural effect or transportation to even be physically possible.
If that were the case nobody would be shocked at Orochimaru's revival, since it was clearly done in full view of everyone at the Battle of the Gods and Orochimaru walking off after the battle would've been noticed by the guys in Leaf who made their reports.
If that were the case nobody would be shocked at Orochimaru's revival, since it was clearly done in full view of everyone at the Battle of the Gods and Orochimaru walking off after the battle would've been noticed by the guys in Leaf who made their reports.
All the members of Akatsuki have bingo book entries, and none were named. We don't know which form somebody that mutable and modded would even be reanimated in.
The technique that led to the death of Morita Makaira and injury of Noda Kaido.
This technique requires a (50-100 cost?) stunt to use safely, and if it was widely known would be considered kinjutsu of the highest caliber. When used, it instantiates a cloud of acid at the target location. If this cloud of acid touches anyone with chakra high enough to use the technique, it casts itself again, using their chakra, remaining centered on them as a target if they move.
The cloud increases in AoE from the target and melee with them to the whole zone on the following turn, and starts dealing stress damage equal to the Effect on the turn that one is afflicted. Every subsequent turn that it is active, it deals an additional stress of damage. The first turn, it deals Effect, then Effect+1, Effect+2, etc.
To first target someone, it rolls at ARS+ARS Aspect Bonus, as it has no indication that its effects are occuring before they do.
The only thing known that stops this technique while active is a dip in water, or underground via techniques. It's possible that other techniques could stop it, but seals would be imminently ineffective unless proofed against acid. Waterproofing would only allow their use for the next few seconds before it was eroded away.
"So how are your diabolical plots going?" [Hazou] asked with exaggerated cheer. "Anything interesting happening other than taking over a legendary clan in a foreign village?"
Mori's expression shifted instantly into what was best described as an evil grin. "You first. Are you done subverting the Merchant Council yet? Or are you doing the guilds first?"
Hazō blinked. "I was expecting something more along the lines of what my plans are for the civilians on the Shimura estate."
"I'm skipping that step because it's boring. Obviously, your humanitarian efforts are part of a long-term campaign to seize control of the civilian world and leverage its resources to catapult the Gōketsu to eternal prosperity. I'm more about connections than money, or I'd have thought about doing it myself. Seriously, though. Civilians run the banks. Civilians sell the things ninja buy. Civilians make the food ninja eat. The telescope was invented by civilians, and I don't think anyone's ever thought about what that means. So I figure you do bottom-up, I do top-down, and all sorts of interesting things will happen when we meet in the middle—as the seamstress said to the priest."
The image tied Hazō's mind in knots as he tried to figure it out, which was almost certainly the intended effect.
"I'm not touching that one with a barge pole," he finally said.
"I don't like it when things are too easy, so I'll let that one slide," Mori said. "Although that in turn—"
"Leaving that entire subject aside, what about you?"
"Hoo boy," Mori said. "Rock drops, everybody dies. [actually gives information about her plans]"
I'd like to note the deftness with which Hazou employed deflection and subtle verbal maneuvering to avoid answering Ami's questions while getting her to answer his.
First he baited her with a neutral statement about what he "expected" her to ask, knowing that, being a Mori and a self-proud Chessmaster, she'll be tempted to respond by giving a dismissive & overly confident interpretation in an attempt to demonstrate intellectual dominance — an interpretation which he, I must add, proceeded to neither confirm nor deny, and which instead revealed him what Ami thought his plans were. Then he drew attention to a tenuous innuendo in her closing statement, thereby distracting her, in a way that invited further innuendos. He finished by feigning embarrassment, using it as a natural & innocuous excuse to "flee" from that conversation topic (he even got away with explicitly saying that, the devil!).
The power of a nascent Prophet of the Out is truly impressive. Using his new, wider bandwidth, Hazou is able to draw Shikaku.jpg closer and invoke it more liberally, skipping from the mega-scale directly to the micro-scale — not only could he ensure that Team Uplift's long-term "flailing" "magically" works in our favour, but he's even able to outmatch accomplished social specialists in face-to-face interactions now.
I am both awed and terrified by his astronomical growth. Uplift had never been closer, yet I fear our host is on the road to becoming the dominant partner in our arrangement.
Probably something along the lines of having a family and protecting it. His dialogue in Grief suggests he's majorly messed up about losing his father figure, and his threats in A Family Dies also suggests that putting his surrogate family in danger is a pretty big KILL button.
I'd like to note the deftness with which Hazou employed deflection and subtle verbal maneuvering to avoid answering Ami's questions while getting her to answer his.
First he baited her with a neutral statement about what he "expected" her to ask, knowing that, being a Mori and a self-proud Chessmaster, she'll be tempted to respond by giving a dismissive & overly confident interpretation in an attempt to demonstrate intellectual dominance — an interpretation which he, I must add, proceeded to neither confirm nor deny, and which instead revealed him what Ami thought his plans were. Then he drew attention to a tenuous innuendo in her closing statement, thereby distracting her, in a way that invited further innuendos. He finished by feigning embarrassment, using it as a natural & innocuous excuse to "flee" from that conversation topic (he even got away with explicitly saying that, the devil!).
The power of a nascent Prophet of the Out is truly impressive. Using his new, wider bandwidth, Hazou is able to draw Shikaku.jpg closer and invoke it more liberally, skipping from the mega-scale directly to the the micro-scale — not only could he ensure that Team Uplift's long-term "flailing" "magically" works in our favour, but he's even able to outmatch accomplished social specialists in face-to-face interactions now.
I am both impressed and terrified by his astronomical growth. Uplift has never been closer, yet I fear our host is on the road to becoming the dominant partner in our arrangement.
Apropos of nothing except another read through of MfD, I would like to propose a medium-term project:
The Kintsugi Project
Kintsugi, as my dashingly clever and well-read fellow questers know, is a Japanese art form that takes broken pieces of pottery and repairs them with a lacquer dusted or mixed with precious metals like gold and silver, where breaking is treated as one more part of the piece's history.
Some questers have also previously expressed a desire to develop a profession of therapy, of taking broken people and making them whole again. Our formerly perceived best asset, the Yamanaka, doubt that they could do such a thing; as Yamanaka Neira said, fixing someone is impossible.
That's why we're gonna take a crack at proving her wrong. We have three special advantages to do this with:
The first and probably most important advantage is that we give a fuck. We're not doing this to develop a better theory of mind to break people better with, or to bind them and their family to our wills forevermore - that's step two or four on a totally different plan, thank you very much - or because someone else told us to do it and we owe them. We genuinely* want to get some people back on their feet.
We have anywhere from 100-500 people who broke in big or small ways during the Collapse right there. Is it slightly unethical to experiment on grieving families without their informed consent? Probably, but there ain't no IRB to stop us from experimenting with trying to improve their condition.
Mari, as a top-tier infiltration and seduction spec, probably has one of the best theories-of-mind around, period.
We're going to leverage those advantages by ordering Mari to take point in trying to glue a broken person back together, without forgetting all the things that brought them to the present.
It is my hope that we have Mari bring nine hundred ninety nine people back together - some ninja, many civilian -
- and then we glue her broken self image into a better whole, as the one thousandth piece of psychological Kintsugi.
Yes. I am most definitely okay with this. We may not have the time for it, but I say that we need to make the time for it. The EN is a warmongering world build upon a culture of brutality. Hazou is radically different enough --even if it may come across as "naive" to the EN's more resigned/jaded denizens --to support this. And not just because of Mari. But because of Keiko and Kagome and the other members of Team Uplift who have grown so far beyond their mental illnesses. It would be in character for Hazou to look at their successes and want it for Mari --and, beyond her, the world. (Also, I wonder what the suicide rates are for ninja? Probably high, since no one gives a shit about ninja beyond utility. I wonder if they've even made suicide productive. Do they join Anbu and give away their lives through that? Or perhaps they sign up for suicide missions?)
I'd argue that she's in a unique position to help. After all, there are several studies that consistently show that depressed people are more compassionate than those who are not, that depressed people are funny --a la Robin Williams. Maybe she's not the best to lead it, exactly (maybe that role would be better suited for Ami or Noburi?) but between Mari's skills and history, she's at least make a damn good advisor in this endeavor.
Apropos of nothing except another read through of MfD, I would like to propose a medium-term project:
The Kintsugi Project
Kintsugi, as my dashingly clever and well-read fellow questers know, is a Japanese art form that takes broken pieces of pottery and repairs them with a lacquer dusted or mixed with precious metals like gold and silver, where breaking is treated as one more part of the piece's history.
Some questers have also previously expressed a desire to develop a profession of therapy, of taking broken people and making them whole again. Our formerly perceived best asset, the Yamanaka, doubt that they could do such a thing; as Yamanaka Neira said, fixing someone is impossible.
That's why we're gonna take a crack at proving her wrong. We have three special advantages to do this with:
The first and probably most important advantage is that we give a fuck. We're not doing this to develop a better theory of mind to break people better with, or to bind them and their family to our wills forevermore - that's step two or four on a totally different plan, thank you very much - or because someone else told us to do it and we owe them. We genuinely* want to get some people back on their feet.
We have anywhere from 100-500 people who broke in big or small ways during the Collapse right there. Is it slightly unethical to experiment on grieving families without their informed consent? Probably, but there ain't no IRB to stop us from experimenting with trying to improve their condition.
Mari, as a top-tier infiltration and seduction spec, probably has one of the best theories-of-mind around, period.
We're going to leverage those advantages by ordering Mari to take point in trying to glue a broken person back together, without forgetting all the things that brought them to the present.
It is my hope that we have Mari bring nine hundred ninety nine people back together - some ninja, many civilian -
- and then we glue her broken self image into a better whole, as the one thousandth piece of psychological Kintsugi.
I mean, I agree that Mari shouldn't take point, but for other reasons. The fact that she doesn't have the same genuine desire to help/fix people makes it a problem. The fact that she'd be more likely to re-break/mold them to be useful to us also doesn't work with the goal. Also, what sensible human would trust a social spec Jonin with the nickname "Heartbreaker" with their secrets and fears?
That said, I love the idea, and have previously said I'd love for us to be the therapy clan. The pottery therapy while we have sessions seems like a wonderful idea.
What we need is a not social spec, not Jonin, who cares about people. Preferably from leaf, for now. Preferably sane.
...
So, who's up for making Akane the Therapist to be? And also, helping me figure out safety nets so she doesn't burn herself out emotionally?
Edit: I still think Mari can help. But more with diagnosis/getting a read on people initially. Triage, not treatment.
We need to ask Mari if she even wants to do this, she might not find the idea of being a therapist/advisor interesting in the first place.
Or if she feels capable to do so, she isn't exactly trying to fix Kagome, Keiko or Hazou and the worst case scenario would be that she might take "experimentation" a bit too far so that she could help us. Remember that she went: "Well all those dead people are sad, but objectively speaking we are better off!"
If we keep the general scope small and check on her + patients, nothing should backfire to bad, but just expecting that she can fix a lot of people and then we can fix her is a bit much.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Ruthless!Mari doesn't mind the personality flaws all of the Goketsu have in one way or another. Makes them easier to control and manipulate than if they were independent and mentally healthy.
All for their own good and the glory of the clan, of course.
We need to ask Mari if she even wants to do this, she might not find the idea of being a therapist/advisor interesting in the first place.
Or if she feels capable to do so, she isn't exactly trying to fix Kagome, Keiko or Hazou and the worst case scenario would be that she might take "experimentation" a bit too far so that she could help us. Remember that she went: "Well all those dead people are sad, but objectively speaking we are better off!"
If we keep the general scope small and check on her + patients, nothing should backfire to bad, but just expecting that she can fix a lot of people and then we can fix her is a bit much.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Ruthless!Mari doesn't mind the personality flaws all of the Goketsu have in one way or another. Makes them easier to control and manipulate than if they were independent and mentally healthy.
The part that I didn't explain last night when I typed this on my phone:
The project is actually therapy targeted at Mari. Remember what Akane said about Mari? About how she needed to interact with people, how she needs people to interact with her?
This project is trying to set up interactions between Mari and other people where she can unambiguously say "I used my abilities to do good here". It might not make a difference for the first ten, or twenty, or maybe even fifty, and there's probably going to need to be times that we clarify our goal is not to bind them to our will, but to bring people back. When we start hitting numbers like two or three hundred, though, at least a few of the people Mari's helped will come back and try to be friends with her, and interact with her positively. By the time we reach five hundred, Mari hopefully starts developing a real sense of loyalty and belonging to the group, without really losing the edge against our enemies.
Then, when we help the nine hundred ninety-ninth person, we'll have already done most of the hard work in rehabilitating her; the last step would be to remove our standing orders, and let her do as she wants.
Then, when we help the nine hundred ninety-ninth person, we'll have already done most of the hard work in rehabilitating her; the last step would be to remove our standing orders, and let her do as she wants.
I am questioning if having her do social work would convince her that she is/has become a good person. Especially if they weren't her own intentions, she might even fall into another/deeper depression.
MARI: "I can only be good when ordered to! On my own I manipualte people and propose biological warfare!" *cries*
Yeah... that might have worked if we did it before we forced her to work through this nonsense. It is a good first step, though, but we need to figure out some way to overcome her self-effacingness.
I mean, the easy way to do it would be to get Jiraiya back, but some people aren't willing to do what's necessary for that.
Hazō Physique: 19 + 3 = 22 vs TN ??
Hazō survives.
Noburi Physique: 24 - 6 = 18 vs TN ??
Noburi dies.
Keiko Physique: 24 + 3 = 27 vs TN ??
Keiko survives.
Akane Physique: 30 - 6 = 24 vs TN ??
Akane survives.
Kagome Physique ?? - 0 = ?? vs TN ??
Kagome survives.
Mari Rapport: ?? + 6 = ??
Tsunade Resolve: ?? + 6 = ??
Mari is Taken Out.
Tsunade kills Mari.
The invocation had been successful. The basic design, sacrificing the souls of hundreds in exchange for the power of the plague spirits, was structurally sound, though greater efficiency could have been achieved with research. However, Leaf had neglected a fundamental initial step in the ritual. There was no diagram, no border to direct and limit the plague spirits' insatiable hunger. After the spirits followed the new Rock ninja reinforcements to Leaf, they discovered a feast far beyond the meagre offerings of the original ritual. Now, Leaf was a feeding ground. Even Tsunade, this plane's greatest banishment expert, was unable to work fast enough.
Hazō's physical body had endured unharmed, though his consciousness remained periodically irrational. Mori, showing keen insight, had left Leaf with Keiko and Tenten before the spirits consumed them. Kagome had, according to reports, survived by virtue of being in an isolated location at the time of the invasion. There he remained. Akane had been protected by the overwhelming power of a greater spirit, the Mythological Beast that is Really Strong and Tough. The original Hazō had been foolish to underestimate it.
However, the Gōketsu Clan had suffered losses. Noburi had been one of the first sacrifices, having headed immediately to Leaf General Hospital in the face of elementary instincts of self-preservation. Mari had chosen to attempt to placate Tsunade, redirecting her hostility towards the clan as a whole to herself, claiming that she had been the only summoner, both in composition of the ritual, and in execution. Tsunade had not been placated.
On his desk there was also a list with a number of names crossed out. The on-site survivors had been assigned to process the dead, with Akane's supervision. After confirming her parents' deaths, she had become unable to perform complex tasks.
Hazō surveyed the streets of Leaf from various angles. The arrangement of the funeral pyres was inefficient. He would need to start more, and was already considering locations. In several places, civilians had set fire to the homes of those afflicted, first ensuring that they were locked inside. That was very inefficient. Purification of a district demanded a complete corralling of the spirit-possessed, not family-by-family work that would allow particularly powerful plague spirits to escape in between. Should he rally the civilians and instruct them on how to proceed more effectively, or focus on more direct solutions?
Based on the number of visible survivors, he would have to start considering full-scale evacuation as an option. Tsunade could test the ninja for infestation, and those she allowed to live (obviously, the Rock ninja would be systematically filtered out at this stage) would travel to a secondary site, there to isolate themselves until the plague spirits finally starved. It would require complete abandonment of the civilian population, but there were always more civilians. If nothing else, Uplift had revealed the sheer number of unoptimised peasants within the Fire Country.
They could make use of that empty Church of Youth in the South—
Wait. How could Hazō, standing in the Shimura estate's command tent and pondering his options, have a scrolling panoramic view of Leaf?
"Dispel!"
The disorientation was brutal. His sight restored itself to normal, forcing the tent around him into a cramped first-person perspective. His pattern of thought, so sensible at the time, slowly twisted into a knife of self-aware horror, held blade-first, and his heart felt frozen solid.
Mari grinned from ear to ear. "That was fun. And you're telling me I get to do this every day from now on?"
Hazō reached out for the fabric of the tent. Coarse, dense, grounded, familiar. It had taken them—seasoned survivalists—altogether too long to set up this beast of a shelter, which somehow combined crippling weight and an oppressive atmosphere with the lightness of something ready to fly away at a faint breeze. The memory of wrestling with recalcitrant canvas was vivid, real, proof that he was still the Hazō he knew, with the memories he remembered. If such proof could exist.
"How long did I take?" he finally asked.
Mari raised the hourglass like a wine glass ready to clink in toast. "Twelve minutes. Was it good for you too?"
Hazō shuddered. "They don't call you the Heartbreaker for nothing, Mari. I think you may have traumatised me for life."
"Well, sure. I'm a professional. That said, a brilliant artist of the human mind I may be," Mari said, "but don't forget that all the best stuff is generated by your own imagination. I just give it a gleeful push in the right direction."
He couldn't deny that what Mari had given him was a push—from the perspective of someone standing on the edge of the abyss. How much of that had Mari built herself, and how much had been obligingly provided by whatever dwelled on the far side of the gash in his mind?
"Tomorrow," Hazō said, "we should make an earlier start. I'd like to have more time to recover before the business of the day."
"For you, anytime."
Hazō shuddered again.
-o-
"I don't believe you made an appointment," Shikamaru's voice said from somewhere behind the paperwork. "I apologise, Hazō, but I am a little occupied at the moment. Could you come back in a couple of months?"
It was a surreal sight in its own way. Shikamaru behind an enormous desk covered with written material on a scale only the Nara could generate? Yes. An understated elegance to the furnishings that reminded Hazō of an office gone forever? Yes. But where the previous clan head, who had presumably shaped it, had been comfortable in his aloneness, Shikamaru was flanked by two attractive girls in a way that certainly did not make Hazō jealous (Akane qualified forever, but Mari belonged to a different domain, and he wouldn't touch Yuno's candidacy with a polearm).
To Shikamaru's assumed left, Keiko contemplated the depths of a thick ledger, periodically making shorthand notes on a piece of paper. To his right, Tenten sat next to a towering stack of paper, lifting sheets off the top one at a time, studying them briefly, then looking down at the battalion of smaller stacks at her feet, and sending the sheet to join a specific one. Occasionally, she and Keiko would steal a glance at each other. The faint shuffling of paper was the only sound emitted by this three-person beehive of activity. Hazō was tempted to look at the titles of the papers in front of him, but decided that it might count as stealing clan secrets, and this was no time for a civil war.
"Don't let me disturb you," Hazō said, bearing in mind Shikamaru's unambiguous past injunction that he did not have time or emotional energy for condolences. "I just wanted to talk to Keiko."
Without looking, Tenten produced a leather strap from a pocket and threw it sideways. Keiko, also without looking, caught it and slid it into the ledger as a bookmark.
Shuriken users in love were scary.
-o-
The room spoke to him without words about the current state of the Nara main family household. Above one of only two beds hung a star chart with those nostalgic constellations. The blanket had a pattern of blue snowflakes on a white background, and two pillows were lined up in a perfect vertical stack. In the corner, a certain chest was giving him a predatory gaze.
Above the other bed, a set of nunchaku hung off a hook that pierced the wall in clear violation of the Nara design aesthetic. Aside from another chest, this one bigger and polished to perfection, the left side of the room was bare of any personal ornamentation. Looking more closely…
"Hazō." Keiko had noticed him unsubtly scanning the bedroom, and her eyes were cold.
"Sorry."
Keiko gave him a disparaging look. "Not that I have any particular objection to your presence, but what has prompted you to visit me in my natural environment on this not-yet-disastrous day?"
"I just wanted to say thanks." Hazō smiled. "I don't think I tell you enough how much I appreciate you, and earlier, your advice really helped me out."
Keiko seemed taken aback. "Your praise is unwarranted but appreciated."
Hazō rolled his eyes. "Of course it's warranted. Maybe one of these days you should follow the advice your sister gave me, and start keeping a journal. If you actually stopped to list the number of times you've been helpful to people…"
"I once experimented with keeping a journal," Keiko said. "Then I read my own entries, and decided that such a creature as myself had no business leaving traces of its existence for posterity, to say nothing of the sheer horror of encountering my past self. In retrospect, I may have been a touch dramatic in my response."
"So that's a no, then."
"I shall leave making lists as a solution to all life's woes to the experts," Keiko said snidely. "But deservedness aside, I appreciate the appreciation.
"What exactly am I being appreciated for?" she asked after a second.
Hazō stepped back, and was about to sit down on the far bed when a flash in Keiko's eyes reminded him of his own mortality. He turned around and sat down on the snowflake-patterned one instead. She joined him.
"Apart from all the general help and support," Hazō said in a quieter voice, "your advice on not being thrown into a caldera was very helpful. And you sending me to talk to your sister really worked out. She had all sorts of things to say."
Keiko nodded. "She spoke to me on the subject. Aside from reassuring me that I was not doomed to some unspeakable punishment, she interrogated me in great detail on the subject of one Gōketsu Hazō, a peculiar individual by all accounts, but not one presently in her disfavour."
Hazō didn't know how to take that. An image floated to the top of his mind, of Ami filling out a Mist secret police dossier, totalling up his sins and placing them on a scale, watching wordlessly to see if they sank below the borderline of treason.
No one from Mist ever stopped feeling the shadow of the secret police, a faceless, discarnate Captain Zabuza that did not discriminate. A Captain Zabuza with a sword that reaped without mercy. A Captain Zabuza with a maw full of fangs beneath that mask, ready to tear out his throat and drink his spurting blood. A Captain Zabuza made only stronger by death, and reaching out—"
"Hazō? Hazō? Please say something! Please!"
Hazō snapped back to reality to see Keiko's storage chest open, and a kunai in her hand.
"Sorry, got distracted. While I was learning to play Tears of Red for Akane, you kept complaining about how the volume always spiked for the final crescendo while you were trying to read."
"It was awful," Keiko said, putting away the kunai. "Were I ever to make the violently brief acquaintance of one inclined to torture cats, I imagine it would be their sound of choice."
"Forgetting the physical kind of torture and getting back to Ami," Hazō said, "what did you tell her?"
"Everything."
The calm tone, with no particular emphasis, somehow made the word so much more terrifying.
"Everything??!"
Keiko nodded. "About you, certainly. In general terms, I may have omitted certain details such as clan secrets, matters confided in deepest trust, and incidents associated with particularly excruciating humiliation, although I reserve the right to deploy those later as necessary.
"As you yourself explained," she added, "if I am to truly trust my sister, I must learn not to fear her punishment or condemnation. In other words, I must place myself beyond the traditional sibling bond of mutually-assured destruction, trusting that I will survive any revelation about me that you can offer her. I must say the feeling is most liberating."
The full awareness of what Hazō had done washed over him. He had brought the ultimate source of chaos and destruction closer to the innocent she had the most power to corrupt. If Keiko had been dangerous before, with her aura of intimidation and ambiguous killing intent, then what would she become with Ami's tutelage once she no longer feared the consequences of disappointing her mentor?
"That was a humorous joke," Keiko said in complete deadpan. "While I provided a veritable cornucopia of information, as might be expected from someone offering a detailed description of one of the central people in their lives, that is not to imply that I provided the totality of possible information. I feel it is entirely in the spirit of your relationship with Ami to leave you guessing at what I chose to withhold."
"Keiko, I know I just said I appreciate you…"
"I apologise," Keiko said. "It is simply too entertaining to toy with you, and I am in severe need of stress relief after the constant performance of my marital duties."
"I-I beg your pardon?!" Hazō choked.
"Managing the household budget, Hazō," Keiko said pointedly. "What did you think I meant?"
"…Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"The point stands, however. But for Tenten's presence, every location presently occupied by a Rock shinobi would instead be occupied by a rather larger pangolin-shaped crater. As it is," the emotion vanished from her voice, "I am willing to be more patient in my preparations for their remorseless destruction. Hazō, I trust you understand that, play at being good hosts though we must, there can be no peace with the people who nearly buried our loved ones, and tore out the beating heart of the clan in my care."
"Keiko…"
"I trust you understand."
Hazō swallowed.
"I understand."
-o-
It is morning. Hazō is profoundly traumatised, but otherwise ready to get on with the day. Nothing else has happened so far. @eaglejarl will hand out XP once it has.
Note that NPC stats were imaginary, and may not reflect their actual character sheets.
-o-
What do you do?
Voting closes Saturday 14th of December, 9 a.m. New York Time.
2 Hazou is already disconnecting from "Reality" in some ways and connecting to it in others so I can see why adding another layer of paint would seem bad.
Hazō Physique: 19 + 3 = 22 vs TN ??
Hazō survives.
Noburi Physique: 24 - 6 = 18 vs TN ??
Noburi dies.
Keiko Physique: 24 + 3 = 27 vs TN ??
Keiko survives.
Akane Physique: 30 - 6 = 24 vs TN ??
Akane survives.
Kagome Physique ?? - 0 = ?? vs TN ??
Kagome survives.
Mari Rapport: ?? + 6 = ??
Tsunade Resolve: ?? + 6 = ??
Mari is Taken Out.
Tsunade kills Mari.
The invocation had been successful. The basic design, sacrificing the souls of hundreds in exchange for the power of the plague spirits, was structurally sound, though greater efficiency could have been achieved with research. However, Leaf had neglected a fundamental initial step in the ritual. There was no diagram, no border to direct and limit the plague spirits' insatiable hunger. After the spirits followed the new Rock ninja reinforcements to Leaf, they discovered a feast far beyond the meagre offerings of the original ritual. Now, Leaf was a feeding ground. Even Tsunade, this plane's greatest banishment expert, was unable to work fast enough.
Hazō's physical body had endured unharmed, though his consciousness remained periodically irrational. Mori, showing keen insight, had left Leaf with Keiko and Tenten before the spirits consumed them. Kagome had, according to reports, survived by virtue of being in an isolated location at the time of the invasion. There he remained. Akane had been protected by the overwhelming power of a greater spirit, the Mythological Beast that is Really Strong and Tough. The original Hazō had been foolish to underestimate it.
However, the Gōketsu Clan had suffered losses. Noburi had been one of the first sacrifices, having headed immediately to Leaf General Hospital in the face of elementary instincts of self-preservation. Mari had chosen to attempt to placate Tsunade, redirecting her hostility towards the clan as a whole to herself, claiming that she had been the only summoner, both in composition of the ritual, and in execution. Tsunade had not bee not placated.
On his desk there was also a list with a number of names crossed out. The on-site survivors had been assigned to process the dead, with Akane's supervision. After confirming her parents' deaths, she had become unable to perform complex tasks.
2 Hazou is already disconnecting from "Reality" in some ways and connecting to it in others so I can see why adding another layer of paint would seem bad.
We need better terminology. The multiple possible uses if the word "reality" are becoming increasingly confusing to me. Illusory reality? "Spiderweb IC reality"? The truth beneath his seal-touched madness let's him see? Or the OOC vote-mind reality?
