Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

Shrooms · Jan 10, 2021

[X] Action Plan: Mari Had a Little Lamb
Word Count: 294

Mari
- Run errands with Mari (that Hazou doesn't interfere with) like a buddy cop movie
  - Indulge in her teasing, return banter. Quote funny Icha Icha lines
  - Should Hazou learn basic genjutsu? What are good starter techniques?
  - Can you handle our Mist Yakuza connection productively and non-treasonously?
  - Ask how she feels about returning to technique hacking. Reiterate that Hazou has no expectations. Hazou wants Mari to do what makes her happy.
    - If she reacts positively, ask what projects interest her: Uplift jutsu like MEW, Medical Jutsu, therapeutic genjutsu, combat jutsu?
    - Would she be willing to learn shadow clone (if Asuma approves) to help with this?
When Asuma gets back to us
- Hidan
  - Assuming Hidan survives, how should Hazou proceed?
    - Hazou can be used as bait, though he doubts he could fool Hidan in a letter.
    - Hidan will want more targets. Suggestions?
- Missing Wakahisa
  - Status? Is another expert coming? Can we help?
- Mari (if she approves telling Asuma)
  - Could Mari learn shadow clone for a non-combat role as a technique hacker? It would make her work safer/more efficient. Hazou wants to provide useful jutsu for ANBU use, like our seals.
    - Emphasis: non-combat.
    - Internal: We'd prefer her happiness over the technique.
- (If confirmed by Noburi)
  - Bring up negligent medics.
- Confirm Mizuki's capture
Misc
- Suggest: Haru, Mai, a reasonable medic, a MEW ninja, and estate genin visit each town in Fire fixing short-term problems, healing, building walls, killing chakra beasts, and identifying problematic actors. Use authority as Leaf ninja to adjudicate as necessary. Return to Leaf as necessary. Pay what Hazou deems reasonable.
- Ami-Style Training
  - Resolve
    - Ask Mari to do her best to fluster you 1 on 1, no iron nerve or genjutsu, promise one (reasonable) favor for every loss of composure

RandomOTP · Jan 10, 2021

[X] Action Plan: Mari Had a Little Lamb

Noumero · Jan 10, 2021

[X] Action Plan: Mari Had a Little Lamb

Shrooms said:
Ask how she feels about returning to technique hacking. Reiterate that Hazou has no expectations. Hazou wants Mari to do what makes her happy.

If she reacts positively, ask what projects interest her: Uplift jutsu like MEW, Medical Jutsu, therapeutic genjutsu, combat jutsu?

Would she be willing to learn shadow clone (if Asuma approves) to help with this?

Mari (if she approves telling Asuma)

Is Asuma willing to allow Mari to learn shadow clone for a non-combat role as a technique hacker? It would make her work safer and more efficient for Leaf. Hazou would like to provide useful jutsu for ANBU use, like our seals. Emphasis: non-combat. If Mari doesn't want to fight, we won't make her.

Any plan that does these gets my vote.

Halberdier · Jan 10, 2021

Good chapter! Very much, I found, showed the product of the growth that had led to more mature Leader!Hazou

eaglejarl said:
Everyone sagged in relief...except for Kagome.

"Drat. Guess I still can't get them to go missing."

Remember when it was Keiko who was the voice of the QMs, and not Kagome?

eaglejarl said:
readng

Error, should be reading I believe.

eaglejarl said:
"As you know, Ebisu-sensei and the Hokage have had something of a wager for several months now...something about a 'mini Chūnin Exam'? It should have been done some time ago, but there were delays for various reasons. The 'Exams' will be happening shortly, although a precise date has not been chosen yet.

I'm excited to see these. Everything that's happening won't provide the best experiential conditions, but I think that's fine. Also would make a good time to talk to Asuma about the milk run missions for late academy students, subsidizing glasses for early students that look like that's the restricting factor, and maybe the mentor bank for teams led by chunins instead of Jonins.

eaglejarl said:
Only the Iron Nerve allowed Hazō to keep the volcanic fury from showing on his face. It would only terrify those he spoke with.

"I'm sure they were," he said, smiling a perfect smile that he could create only because the Iron Nerve remembered everything, including smiles from times when he didn't want to rip the lungs out of lazy ninja who blew off a mission assigned by their Hokage because they were too arrogant to believe in the value of civilian life. "Nevertheless, I will ask my brother Noburi to come and check you all over. He's worked with civilians before, he's good at it, and he enjoys it."

See, I very much like this. The writing I mean. The civilians consistently pessimistic and unfortunately accurate perspective on dying and ninja abusing power infuriates me, and makes me think of too many real-life examples for me to not curse my lack of Ninja magic in real life. But it's well written, shows believable civilian characters willing to change their mind but rightfully cautious, and it shows Hazou with the righteous fury and consistency that makes me actually like him as a character.

On a related note, I feel like Hazou and Haru could easily have a nice bonding session breaking the legs of the types of Ninja that make these civilians as afraid as they tend to be, we just just need to find them proper targets.

The price for my vote this round: include something about Hazou following up with those medics. Included Noburi's findings as evidence that the medics didn't do anything. Point out to Asuma that this is why we wanted to go with, if you're feeling particularly brave.

faflec · Jan 10, 2021

I will observe that if we choose to seek punishment for the medic-nin assigned to Bakuchioka, we should also set up something to ensure that said medic-nin, or their allies, do not go and accidentally the town at some point in the future.

Kiba · Jan 10, 2021

faflec said:
I will observe that if we choose to seek punishment for the medic-nin assigned to Bakuchioka, we should also set up something to ensure that said medic-nin, or their allies, do not go and accidentally the town at some point in the future.

Let Noburi do his job first. If there were any overlooked condition, we can use that as evidence when talking to Tsunade.

Shrooms · Jan 10, 2021

Also, most ninja (possibly including Asuma) may not even think they did something wrong, as IV pointed out they did technically do what they were sent to and help bury the dead.

ContextBot · Jan 10, 2021

Shrooms said:
Also, most ninja (possibly including Asuma) may not even think they did something wrong, as IV pointed out they did technically do what they were sent to and help bury the dead.

They weren't supposed to dig graves:

Velorien said:
"You know," Asuma said after a second, "nobody's going to be digging graves for civilians, much less in the dark, but Tsunade will only thank me if I get one or two of her trainee medic-nin up at the crack of dawn to get some field experience."

But we should leave it to Tsunade.

edit: I mean the actual punishiment

Kiba · Jan 10, 2021

Shrooms said:
Asuma

Hidan

Is there any project to beat Hidan that needs our expertise?

Hazou can be used as bait, though he doubts he could fool Hidan in a letter.

Speaking of, should Hazou continue contacting Hidan? Who would Asuma prefer Hidan target next?

Please do not volunteer Hazo to stick his neck out.

faflec · Jan 10, 2021

@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail Just to be clear, did we actually debrief with Asuma as he told us to?

Shrooms · Jan 10, 2021

Kiba said:
Please do not volunteer Hazo to stick his neck out.

It is both in character and his fault Hidan is even an issue right now, imo. Plus Asuma likely has already thought of as much anyways and will tell him to do so if he thinks it would work. It's just more proof of loyalty

Still, I'm not averse to removing it if it bothers others

RandomOTP · Jan 10, 2021

Shrooms said:
Still, I'm not averse to removing it if it bothers others

If Hazou hasn't debriefed Asuma already, I'm okay with leaving it in (maybe some additional clarification for intent to avoid a foot-mouth-killbox moment) but if Hazou already did it then I'd rather it be taken out, if that's alright with you.

Kiba · Jan 10, 2021

So, in summary, we should let Noburi handle this. If there are conditions that went unnoticed, then it get reported to Tsunade. Otherwise, we don't do anything.

Also, Asuma considered skyslider to be important militarily that he declared that skysliders are not allowed to be launched from the Hokage monument!

Supersuslik · Jan 10, 2021

[X] Action Plan: Mari Had a Little Lamb

Typo:

eaglejarl said:
longer if we donât need them to breed

firestorm440 · Jan 10, 2021

I don't think asking for commander's intent if Hidan shows up again is objectionable.

Sentient Tree · Jan 10, 2021

eaglejarl said:
"The koi are doing fine. The junior piscitist turned out to be capable of managing things. If the fish are used for chakra then it will be at least six months before they can breed. They typically breed some time between May and July, meaning that Lord Noburi may draw on them for the next six weeks or so but should refrain after that point. After they have spawned it is safe to tap the adults for another six months, or longer if we donât need them to breed. The spawn take approximately a year to reach sexual maturity, at which point we can either breed them or tap them for chakra. One of the fish sickened and died at the change in environment, so we only have eleven. No more are forthcoming, as we are expected to breed our stock up to forty on our own.

I am now extremely concerned about the senior piscitist who got lost. If they just didn't send the person I would have expected them to make sure that the fish would die for some reason, but they're doing okay so I doubt it was Wakahisa sabotage.

That leaves the possibility that Orochimaru or some other village kidnapped them, since I doubt they would die to a chakra beast.

ContextBot · Jan 10, 2021

Shrooms said:
Ask how she feels about returning to technique hacking. Reiterate that Hazou has no expectations. Hazou wants Mari to do what makes her happy.

If she reacts positively, ask what projects interest her: Uplift jutsu like MEW, Medical Jutsu, therapeutic genjutsu, combat jutsu?

Would she be willing to learn shadow clone (if Asuma approves) to help with this?

She is likely going to refuse the SC thing without any form of convincing argument. Because she already rejected the idea here:

Velorien said:
Mari already has some Technique Hacking skill from when she was inventing her own genjutsu, but she decided to stop for reasons she can't quite remember now. In retrospect, she thinks it was probably the dangers involved. TH is a lot like sealing, except you can't run away from a disaster happening inside your own body. Shadow clones would mitigate this, but on the other hand, as somebody with her own issues, she is seriously spooked by what happened to Keiko, and is hesitant to risk going through the same thing.

I think the whole "Convince Asuma and make promises"-Part is a waste of word space, if Mari wants the jutsu she is going to get it.

And I would take Atomu and Reo out of the mission thing, both of them are our main guard captains and MEW without a chakra-transfer trick is just really expensive, in the jutsu doc is an analysis by IV and without Nobby it takes forever to help people.

Just send Haru and Mei to kill stuff and talk to poor villagers. Maybe send them took gather how helpful previous till'nfill missions were? It's been 10 months or so since Jiraiya made them.

Halberdier · Jan 10, 2021

Shrooms said:
Also, most ninja (possibly including Asuma) may not even think they did something wrong, as IV pointed out they did technically do what they were sent to and help bury the dead.

Kiba said:
So, in summary, we should let Noburi handle this. If there are conditions that went unnoticed, then it get reported to Tsunade. Otherwise, we don't do anything.

I want to give Asuma more credit about caring if what he wanted was actually done. Even if he's in the civilians are lesser camp (which most people are), he believes in the Will of Fire deeply enough that not taking care of civilians when you're supposed to should bother him.

I'm perfectly fine bringing it up to Tsunade instead of Asuma,. But if we do want to advance uplift, using situations of ninjas not helping and terrifying villagers when they're supposed to be goodwill healers to help shift the position of the reasonable, positively inclined leader we serve seems like a pretty good step. If Asuma doesn't see an issue with it, then we need to show him, just like with Naruto. I also think doing it in close proximity to the mock exams will have more impact on the "civilians have more worth than you thought" front.

Sentient Tree said:
I am now extremely concerned about the senior piscitist who got lost. If they just didn't send the person I would have expected them to make sure that the fish would die for some reason, but they're doing okay so I doubt it was Wakahisa sabotage.

That leaves the possibility that Orochimaru or some other village kidnapped them, since I doubt they would die to a chakra beast.

I mean, Ninja DO die to Chakra beasts sometimes. And my understanding is that the fish people (not to be confused with the fish-people clan) are support specials within the support clan. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they were picked off. Heck, there's a non-zero chance leaf did it is they thought they could get away with it. But at least it's a plot thread that doesn't need our active pulling for now.

Twinnstars · Jan 10, 2021

We need to inform Tsunade that her mednin aren't healing and Asuma that his ninja disobeyed him.

Shrooms · Jan 10, 2021

ContextBot said:
She is likely going to refuse the SC thing without any form of convincing argument. Because she already rejected the idea here:
I think the whole "Convince Asuma and make promises"-Part is a waste of word space, if Mari wants the jutsu she is going to get it.

She doesn't need a "convincing argument", if she doesn't want to that answer is good enough. However, things have changed since this was said (for one, an S Ranker showed up at her house and nearly killed her sorta-son sorta-little brother and she couldn't do anything) and I would like to verify her feelings on the matter. Once she demonstrates them we don't need to pry.

I'd also disagree it's a waste of time asking because "if she were going to she'd do it". It is amazing how much someone asking you about something can change your course of action. Like waiting to email your school for a week and your parents asking about it pushes you to actually do it. Just the act of another person asking how you feel about something can change your entire outlook on it. Hell, maybe she was considering it and when we ask she'll decide "nah fuck that". I still don't think it's a waste of time though.

ContextBot said:
And I would take Atomu and Reo out of the mission thing, both of them are our main guard captains and MEW without a chakra-transfer trick is just really expensive, in the jutsu doc is an analysis by IV and without Nobby it takes forever to help people.

Just send Haru and Mei to kill stuff and talk to poor villagers. Maybe send them took gather how helpful previous till'nfill missions were? It's been 10 months or so since Jiraiya made them.

Sure, I took Atomu and Reo out so they can continue their duties. I'm leaving the medic in though, as well as the MEW ninja (if for nothing else than helping with housing). I'd also like whichever genin are willing to attend to go to get some practical field experience in (relative) safety, and to spend more time with their soon-to-be clanmates.

Twinnstars said:
We need to inform Tsunade that her mednin aren't healing and Asuma that his ninja disobeyed him.

Halberdier said:
I want to give Asuma more credit about caring if what he wanted was actually done. Even if he's in the civilians are lesser camp (which most people are), he believes in the Will of Fire deeply enough that not taking care of civilians when you're supposed to should bother him.

I'm perfectly fine bringing it up to Tsunade instead of Asuma,. But if we do want to advance uplift, using situations of ninjas not helping and terrifying villagers when they're supposed to be goodwill healers to help shift the position of the reasonable, positively inclined leader we serve seems like a pretty good step. If Asuma doesn't see an issue with it, then we need to show him, just like with Naruto. I also think doing it in close proximity to the mock exams will have more impact on the "civilians have more worth than you thought" front.

I have been persuaded. I added the line "bring up shitty medics" to the Asuma section. I think Hazoupilot can handle the vitriolic language for me, right? I may change adjectives for them if badmouthing other ninja is frowned upon, but then again, they literally did not do their jobs so...

Sentient Tree · Jan 10, 2021

It occurs to me that for Till n Fills to make walls, we should probably specify that the ninja need to leave space for a gate/door. Ninja might not think of it since they can just treewalk over the walls, and I doubt that the civilians would correct them.

ContextBot · Jan 10, 2021

Shrooms said:
She doesn't need a "convincing argument", if she doesn't want to that answer is good enough. However, things have changed since this was said (for one, an S Ranker showed up at her house and nearly killed her sorta-son sorta-little brother and she couldn't do anything) and I would like to verify her feelings on the matter. Once she demonstrates them we don't need to pry.

Her own concern is that the technique harms her mental state, so she would need some argument why it wouldn't mess her up. Do you think Akane telling her it's fine is enough? Or Hazou? That was my point, she doesn't trust SC.

Shrooms said:
I'd also disagree it's a waste of time asking because "if she were going to she'd do it". It is amazing how much someone asking you about something can change your course of action. Like waiting to email your school for a week and your parents asking about it pushes you to actually do it. Just the act of another person asking how you feel about something can change your entire outlook on it. Hell, maybe she was considering it and when we ask she'll decide "nah fuck that". I still don't think it's a waste of time though.

I mean this part:

Shrooms said:
Mari (if she approves telling Asuma)

Is Asuma willing to allow Mari to learn shadow clone for a non-combat role as a technique hacker? It would make her work safer and more efficient for Leaf. Hazou would like to provide useful jutsu for ANBU use, like our seals. Emphasis: non-combat. If Mari doesn't want to fight, we won't make her.

Your plan is asking Asuma to allow Mari to learn SC? We don't have to make promises to Asuma. If Mari thinks she wants to make ninjutsu again than she can get it herself without a major arguments on our part.

She is a Jonin
Hazou and Akane already know it (So people in the clan know)
"Hi I want to make new ninjutsu"
"Remember that I was Jiraiya's wife"

Akane needed a reason because she was genin/chunnin.
Keiko got it thanks to her connections and Hazou was given it by Asuma because he thought it will be useful (also because our OUT stunts became unavailable)

Sentient Tree · Jan 10, 2021

[X] Action Plan: Mari Had a Little Lamb

Shrooms · Jan 10, 2021

ContextBot said:
Her own concern is that the technique harms her mental state, so she would need some argument why it wouldn't mess her up. Do you think Akane telling her it's fine is enough? Or Hazou? That was my point, she doesn't trust SC.

My bad, I thought you were saying she needed to give a convincing argument for it lol
If it still spooks her that much then I would rather she didn't learn it. Still, her admitting why it does spook her would also probably be good for her

ContextBot said:
Your plan is asking Asuma to allowe Mari to learn SC? We don't have to make promises to Asuma. If Mari thinks she wants to make ninjutsu again than she can get it herself without a major arguments on our part.

I'm mostly just concerned he'll want her to become a combatant again if she has no other reason to learn Shadow Clone.
Also, I know we don't need to offer new jutsu, I just want to, especially if it's jutsu that could help people/save lives. But if Mari says no anyways, this conversation wouldn't come up at all.

Side note, but if she & Asuma did agree to it, the image of Hazou teaching Mari something is kind of hilarious

faflec · Jan 10, 2021

[X] Action Plan: Birthday (Stories)
Word Count: XYZ

Taleswap with the Dogs:
- Tell some stories of your adventures as Team Uplift.
- Embellish and fudge the details a little without changing the meaning, in the spirit of Dog Clan storytelling.
- Possible stories:
  - Hunt for the Pangolin Scroll, culiminating with the Tapir attack and Keiko's Trial.
  - Hazou's meeting with Itachi and trip to the Pure Land.
  - The story of the SiN test and the jumping sealing failure.
- Listen to the other stories told. Keep an ear out for pertinent forbidden lore, but otherwise just enjoy yourself and relax.
  - After the Taleswap, mingle with the Wide River pack. Ask around, do any of them need anything? Are any of them interested in seeing the Human Path, or working with the Summoner?
    - Be gentle about this, don't make it seem like we're only there to recruit.
Mari's birthday: Make seals that help create a hot tub bubble bath.
- Spend a few days determining if we can create the seals before her birthday first.
Misc:
- Bakuchioka: Let Noburi heal the village, and tell Asuma/Tsunade what the the assigned medics did(n't) do.

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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