Reaction post + comments, because I don't have the time to multipost.
"At your age," Orochimaru observed, "my idea of an intellectual challenge was tracing the connection between elemental affinity and the balance of the bodily humours. Some of the analytical procedures I developed continue to serve me to this day."
That's actually kind of a cool tidbit to throw in. That might qualify as Oro trying to make educational small-talk. Neat.
"What if you thought of it as an experiment?" he tried.
Orochimaru paused. "Nephew, are you aware of the fate of the last shinobi to attempt to manipulate me?"
Hazō froze. As Orochimaru slowly turned around, head twisting just a little further past his shoulder than was natural, he could feel himself break into a sweat.
If he used the Multiple Earth Wall Technique to block the corridor, would he have a few moments' grace to get out of the building? Maybe Orochimaru wouldn't consider it worth the effort of hunting him down, and that would buy him time to come up with a plan before their next encounter.
I'm glad Hazou and the hivemind are on the same page here, but the mishap is still unfortunate.
No. If Orochimaru didn't go after him, he'd go back to Plan A: Possibly Kidnap Hazō's Family.
Unlike last time, Orochimaru hadn't unleashed his aura. That meant there might be room to salvage the situation.
Hazō gave the deep, stiff Bow 13, a Chūnin Exam special designed to appease visiting Kage before they could further ponder your insult and realise it was bad enough to demand restitution.
"My humblest apologies. I did not mean to give offence in any way." Praise be to Mum, Mari, and the Iron Nerve for the ability to deliver that line sincerely and without his teeth chattering.
Orochimaru seemed to consider for a second, glancing down at his pale grey sleeves as if they were relevant to the situation.
Then he turned away again, as if losing interest.
Woot. Honestly, that's pretty much a win, considering. Now Hazou just needs to not...
He uttered a silent prayer to the ancestors, the Will of Fire, and the spirit of Jiraiya, who could have talked his way out of anything given enough motivation.
"You know," Hazō said, "I don't think I've had a chance to tell you about the Great Seal."
Finally, to his satisfaction and his regret, Orochimaru turned to face him head-on.
"I have seen the misshapen lump you describe as a replica of the most sophisticated seal known to man," Orochimaru said coldly. "I am given to understand it posed a puzzle which Leaf's sealmasters were able to solve overnight by mass-producing a beginners' training seal. I was aware that standards had declined in my absence, but that does not mean I appreciate a mockery being made of my discipline."
The corridor narrowed around Hazō like the jaws of a hungry beast, light turning to shadow to darkness until all that was left was Orochimaru's gaze in the middle of a lifeless void. There was nothing to cling to, nothing to keep him whole. Orochimaru's eyes cut straight into the flesh of his mind, severing arteries and carving out nerves as Hazō was reshaped into a thing more to Orochimaru's convenience—
"Wait!" Hazō screeched. "You haven't heard everything!"
The fangs paused briefly, and in that gap, Hazō rushed to get as many words out as he could.
"There's more to the seal and we haven't solved the puzzle and I have a lot more information to offer and—"
Orochimaru blinked. Everything was exactly the way it had been before. Hazō stumbled, caught himself on the wall, and before he knew it, he was clinging to it as if to make sure it wouldn't disappear.
"Proceed," Orochimaru allowed
... Not just push it. This feels like it's going to go rather poorly. Though at least we know exactly where Oro stands on the great seal front, that's useful knowledge.
Hazō kept one hand on the wall as he took slow, hesitant steps back in the direction they'd come from. "Let's… Let's find a room."
New objective: keep Orochimaru in one place for the rest of the evening without boring him, offending him, giving away secrets, or becoming interesting enough to keep.
Honestly "New objective: keep Orochimaru in one place for the rest of the evening without boring him, offending him, giving away secrets, AND becoming interesting enough to keep." Feels like a more reasonable goal right now. Not doing any of those, not a chance. Not even at our best.
"I can," Hazō said, willing the Iron Nerve's veneer of calm not to fail him. "You might not believe me, but it's a fact that Leaf's sealmasters have already extracted usable information from the basic replicas we have now—not just proof that we're dealing with a seal, but enough information to make inferences about its mechanisms of function. It's the reason we already have a way to slow down the Great Seal's deterioration. I'm sure with your abilities, you'd be able to get much more out of it than we have already. In fact, if I could just give you a few examples of the pathways we've already identified—"
"Nephew," Orochimaru interrupted, "Kabuto explained your wild claims during his attempts to direct my attention to your project. If you stand by your insistence that you were able to accurately memorise a vast 3D seal, in its entirety, in a matter of seconds, and recall it still despite the Dragon's psychic assault that cast you back to the Human Path and nearly shattered your mind, that means you have a powerful combination of cognitive enhancement and 3D scanning ability. This is something I require."
Oh, no.
Oh no. Him calling us nephew means very little here. The fact it was the "psychic Dragon attack" lie that was believed honestly probably was helpful to sell the dragons as a threat. But yeah, this was exactly what I was worried about. Iron Nerve vivisection is an attractive target.
Could we point him at the ambassador? Naw, not uplift of us.
But at least we know Orochimaru takes sealing seriously and cares meaningfully about it. Also useful knowledge. We're learning lots on our deathbed.
Orochimaru: Intimidation ?? + ? = ??
Hazō: Resolve 26 - 12 - 3 = 11
Hazō is Taken Out legendarily.
RIP. I mean, there's little doubt that intimidation is his first or second highest social, and I feel the drop-off after those two is steep. To say nothing about how many TYS points he's acquired along the way. That's a lot of minus value. Not that I think it would have helped even without it.
Mari spends 3 FP to invoke "(Formerly) Marked for Death" to improvise like Hazō's life depends on it, "Team Uplift" to put herself on the line for his sake, and "Deceitful Imp" to lie her head off.
Mari: Deceit ?? + ? + ? + ? + ? = ??
Mari spends 1 FP to reroll.
Mari: Deceit ?? + ? + ? + ? + ? = ??
Mari spends 1 FP to reroll.
Mari: Deceit ?? + ? + ? + ? + ? = ??
Mari spends 1 FP to reroll.
Mari: Deceit ?? + ? + ? + ? + ? = ??
Orochimaru: Deceit ?? + ? = ??
Mari wins. Mari inflicts ?? mental stress.
Theory that intimate (and resolve?) Are his two highest, slightly validated. Though using that many rerolls is a sign how not confident she was.
Also, Mari has a knack for stumbling upon us right when an S-ranker wants to make our life miserable. That's truly a skill. It would be a MUCH more useful skill if she was able to stand against them, but hey, she won this combat. That's huge! Thank goodness for specialization.
Actually," she said to Orochimaru, "I've been thinking about a research topic you might find interesting. Tell me, what are your thoughts on cognitively-independent shadow clones?"
Oh, no. Mari, no.
Oh no. There's no way this doesn't come up again, even if we're not toast right this second. And by we, I mean Kei.
There is one," Mari said. "I could introduce her to you—or to her original, at least. I believe she's currently in one of the far outbuildings, lecturing her summon on proper behaviour."
"The very notion is preposterous," Orochimaru said. "I'll believe it when I see it." He rose from his seat to follow her, carelessly knocking one of the ritual sacrifice cards to the floor
The symbolism here is great, well done!
Hopefully Oro finds it interesting but not strictly helpful. If nothing else, if Keiko is viable for this, so should any Nara be, and they're more plentiful/less problematic to make disappear. Not that I want Oro ANYWHERE near having multiple variations or discovering the secrets of the 5.
Understatement of the century
I approve. I doubt FP are going to save any of Hazou's rolls tbh
Oh, 100% not. But hey, they saved Mari's. Also, situations like this right here are why we need to FOOM. So that scary Ninja stop being able to just mentally crush us to get their way. We at least need to make them physically do it.
Why don't we just evacuate to the 7th path? Oro can't murder us or Kei there
[Citation needed]. Orochimaru can't murder Hazou or Kei there right away. He's also a summoner. If he really, truly wanted to track us down on the 7th path, the odds aren't 100% or 0%. Cannai would Probably protect us, at least. Pantsa... That's a different question. And it's Kei he's after.
