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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Just taking @Radvic's plan and making some edits to it for now. Biggest change is to the Keiko block, since the other version has Hazou asking things in a way that could be misconstrued due to Keiko's self-esteem issues and historical precedent. Also added some reasonable paranoia measures, just in case. Someone else may have a better plan in mind, but I'll be around most of tomorrow to update this one if nothing else comes up.

[X] Action Plan: Clear Communication, Reasonable Paranoia

Goals:
  • Survive
  • Continue preparation and discussion to deal with Leaf clan politics
Methods:
  1. Ask Jiraiya if he can secure the residence, or at least one room within, against spying (anti-Hyuuga seals, etc) if he hasn't already. You may need to talk about clan secrets in these discussions.
  2. Elaborate more on the most promising inovations and ideas
    1. Invisible Ink Seals: Hazou likely can draw seals out of invisible ink. This may let us keep the advantage of certain seals like skywalkers for a little longer past when enemies capture our seals. Speak of this only if you are in a room secured against spying.
    2. Propulsion Seals: We have some ideas on how to make seals that can be used to propel boats, carts, or airships and to turn cranks. This could be helpful for logistical purpose, civilian transportation, agriculture, and industry
      1. Potential methods for doing this are: Modified Macerators, Force seals, Explosive seals, loops with storage seals releasing and storing weights activated by tripwires
  3. Tell Jiraiya that the Iron Nerve is Uchiha derived. We don't know if that will be an issue. We've been told that People with activated sharingans will be able to tell by looking at our eyes.
  4. Talk to Keiko. First, reassure her that regardless of whether or not she accepts the Nara clan's proposal that she'll always be a member of the team and that the rest of you will support her. Second, ask if she'd like to have Hazou ask some questions and/or give opinions on things as a way to organize her thoughts and get an outside perspective. If yes:
    1. Which way is she currently leaning? If she's leaning towards joining the Nara clan, is she learning towards adoption or marriage?
      1. If Keiko is considering the marriage option seriously, make a note to ask Jiraiya who the likely candidates are.
      2. What are Keiko's thoughts on the implications of the offer? Do the Naras want a very strong alliance? Make a note to ask Jiraiya as well.
      3. Hazou thinks it may be worth asking Jiraiya if the Naras are willing to negotiate for something else, and if they are what they might accept. What does Keiko think about this?
    2. The objective benefits of accepting the proposal are fairly obvious, but how does the notion make her feel and how much is she weighing that in the decision? The team does care about her happiness, so this is not an unimportant consideration to you.
    3. The Nara want some kind of Mori clan secret. Hazou doesn't need to know the details if she does not want to share it with him, but how much does she think doing so with the Nara will actually affect the Mori clan?
      1. Would sharing the secret of the coins likely make the war end faster, and thus likely cause less Moris (and Wakahisas) to die in the war?
        1. Would it also likely make it harder for Mist to take aggressive action after the war, presuming they lose? If yes, that means less chance of Mist entering into a conflict, so less chance of members of her family dying.
      2. Does she think the Naras may try to keep her (and by extension the rest of the team) happy by refraining from using the attained information in ways that would explicitly target Moris (and Wakahisas), focusing on other Mist targets or on disrupting their intel gathering?
      3. Would it be likely that the Mori would believe their secret is compromised once the team's presence in Leaf is made public, and if so would it be difficult for them to change it so her own knowledge becomes out of date?
        1. How likely is it they already made changes given the team became missing-nin, thus making her information already at least somewhat out of date?
      4. If there's anything she wants to ask Hazou his opinion on, she should feel free.
  5. Work with the team to make speech outlines and prepared statements for use when Jiraiya shows us off to people, covering a variety of approaches to deal with different groups. Ensure that different approaches are consistent with one another.
    1. Loyalty and tradition.
      • Emphasize Leaf's ways as positive. Treated the team firmly but fairly, gave reasonable second chances when it made mistakes, treated the team as people and not just tools. Will of Fire shows Leaf is the most trustworthy and honorable village, makes it very attractive to the team.
      • Emphasize how the Mizukage's leadership makes Mist an undesirable place to live. People are tools or traitors with no inbetween, and even honest mistakes can get you disposed of regardless of how loyal you might be. Because of how the Mizukage rules through fear and oppression, the team couldn't go back to Mist even if they wanted to.
    2. Civilian prosperity.
      • Keep idealism to a pragmatic level. You don't want to come off as naive.
      • Use stories from our time as missing-nin meeting and helping civilians, and how ninja can do a lot of good.
      • Emphasize how civilian prosperity will lead to a stronger, more prosperous Fire nation. If Leaf is too strong for the other villages to risk attacking Fire's civilian populations then their only choice is to follow Leaf's example, resulting in a better world all around.
    3. Useful inventions and skills.
      • Continue use of examples of how skytowers and skywalkers give Leaf an edge other villages can't currently counter. (note - be sure those you're talking to are authorized to know about these before mentioning it)
      • Emphasize how having more researchers will continue to ensure that Leaf stays ahead of the curve, maintaining and securing its position as the strongest hidden village.
      • Emphasize how Noburi's bloodline has useful applications for medicine.
    4. Non-Lethal.
      • Be very sure who to target this type of argument towards in order to not be associated with Gai in people's minds.
      • Note how non-lethal methods are less likely to cause hatred - the child of an enemy you kill today will hate you and become an enemy tomorrow. Preventing the perpetuation of the cycle of hatred makes future conflict less likely.
    5. Counterarguments to any black marks we have.
      • Cold Stone Killers incident - Admit fault, but note the team has learned from their mistakes. Note coming to Jiraiya about a mission this time before going and potentially causing another international incident. (details specified only if they have clearance)
      • "Threat" Against Dr. Yakushi - Admit that Hazou's choice of words were poor, but no threat was intended. If anyone actually believed it was a real threat, Hazou and the team would be dead or imprisoned rather than having been made to leave.
  6. Read Books
  7. Reasonable Paranoia Measures - You should be safe in Leaf given your ANBU guard, but it never hurts to take some basic precautions. If a Mist spy is aware of your presence, it would be best for the team to be prepared.
    1. Every member of the team should keep a PMYF kunai on their person at all times, unless in a situation where they might be asked to disarm for legitimate reasons.
    2. Suggest keeping substitution targets in various spots in your current residence.
    3. Whenever you are moving from one location to another, be sure to maintain awareness of your surroundings.
    4. Quietly suggest to Jiraiya that it may be wise to allow Kagome to put up some reasonable defensive measures in your current residence, if only for Kagome's peace of mind. Jiraiya can define what is reasonable.
    5. Dispel at random times. Been a while since you've done that. Don't want to lose your edge!
    6. Wear skywalkers. Use if needed to dodge a sudden attack, but avoid public use if possible.
    7. Ask Mari and Jiraiya if it might be a good idea to give any of your guards substitution permissions. You don't suspect Kagome will go for it, though.
  8. Provide Jiraiya a more complete list of our ideas, categorized by how long it will take us to research them.
    • Immediately Viable (Disclaimer: These are ideas which could be implemented immediately or near immediately, and likely make decent bargaining chips)
      1. Macerator Variations (Disclaimer : All of these are just other things we could put into the misterators to get a bevy of other effects.)
        • Smoke Bomb : Fill with ash or talc, mostly annoying.
        • Scent Bomb : Fill with scented oils or other similar materials.
          • Border patrols and other similar groups given these could tag a more powerful enemy and run, allowing more powerful teams with good noses to find them more easily.
        • Crowd Control: Fill with pepper or other skin or eye irritants.
          • Useful for disbanding/disabling groups of ninja.
          • Could provide a good way for temporary area denial with minimal property damage, or for crowd dispersal.
        • Poison Bomb: Fill with poison.
          • You've got mednin, researchers, and probably a good library of poisons. If there are any clans that make regular use of poisons, this may appeal to them.
        • Flashbang : Fill with small amount of soft, white-hot metal.
          • Probably a bit difficult to get right, but it should fill the air with a large pile of glowing dust that is very bright for a tiny moment before it cools off.
          • Non-lethal, though it might cause minor blisters.
        • Medicinal Use (Non-Combat) : Use to grind and mix medicinal ingredients.
          • Good for creating standardized repeatable doses of medicines, as well as generally making them easier to absorb. The team has done this to make some dragonfly powder before.
        • Cooking (Non-Combat): I'm sure the Akimichi will come up with something. Precision grinding of herbs and spices to just the right size?
        • Current timer is 0-5 seconds, which is less than an explosive tag's max timer. Would make it more versatile, usable like the PMYF.
      2. Poor Man's Yellow Flash applications
        • Stick a kawarimi target into the seal, and put the seal on a kunai. Get the target where you need it.
        • Put a huge rock in it, now you have a kunai that turns into a large rock moving very fast. Squish.
          • Same concept, but maybe use net instead to capture or entangle an enemy instead?
        • The Uchiha, with their famed kinesthetic sense, can probably do some very amusing and useful things with this.
        • The Nara might use these to deploy objects shaped to make large shadows, extending their shadow jutsu range in a dynamic fashion. Or they could just carry regular storage seals with objects like this, if they don't already.
        • Try throwing only these and then swap to an explosive kunai when your enemy figures out the pattern.
        • Deploy mannequins as dummy targets.
      3. Sheeting Yourself : If you're falling and need to slow yourself down, henge into a large thin sheet of cloth. Useful if you're in midair and something unexpected happens. (note - this may have been retconned, so if so please ignore)
        • Probably should be part of the Leaf standard doctrine for Skywalker and Skytower use. It should definitely be in the first draft of the doctrine.
      4. Invisible Ink Seals : We can probably make seals off of invisible ink
        1. This would help with opsec for new seals like skywalkers. (again, only list if in a location secured against spying)
    • Little Effort Needed (Disclaimer : Require tiny modifications or improvements to seals we already know. Between days and weeks of research.)
      • Pressure Triggered Seals : Seals that allow triggering of other seals with small carefully applied pressure.
        • Make ones that the Aburame could trigger with their bugs.
        • Make seals that civilians can use.
    • Some Effort Needed (Disclaimer : Chains of research products, projects probably take weeks to months.)
      • Poor Man's Sensor Seals : Provide anyone with shitty chakra sensor powers.
        • We expect that we could make chakra detecting seals that buzz quietly.
        • When worn on a tight belt should give some indication of chakra use and direction in the nearby environment. (Seals closer to the source would buzz more)
        • With 24/7 use, training, and practice, detecting chakra should become second nature.
        • Probably not as good as a normal sensor, and probably issues with sensing at range, but it's a lot better than nothing.
      • Civilian Usable Storage Seals : Lets civilians use them to transfer goods, and generally allows merchants to be more efficient.
        • Storage Seal with tripwire seals on the reverse that trigger storage and release.
        • Civvies get more logistics capability, more trade, cheaper luxuries, bigger goods stockpiles.
        • Might be worth just giving away the design after a war to help counteract the usual post-war economic slump in losing nations.
      • Civilian Usable Macerators : Same as civilian storage, but for macerators that only grind/mix, don't expel with velocity or aerate.
        • Same thing with tripwires, set so that they are only useful for extremely fine grinding and mixing.
        • Probably useful for a lot of things, if we make more powerful macerators first should allow civilians to powder metals and other interesting materials.
        • Likely more efficient extraction of ore from stone, easier and more repeatable experimentation with alloys. Another economic boost, and more metal is probably good all around.
      • Utility Seals, provided Jiraiya doesn't already have something like them.
        • Light generating seals.
          • Get more hours out of the day. Don't need to rely on candles.
          • Sunlight generating variant might work for farms or greenhouses, allowing for higher crop yields.
        • Cooling seals.
          • Make a location cool in the summer.
          • Keep perishable goods preserved without a storage seal.
          • Freeze water to make ice.
        • Heating seals.
          • Flameless cooking. Good when in the field and stealth is needed.
          • Heat water in the home. Could save a lot vs. burning wood.
          • Keep a location warm.
          • Likely useful for airships.
    • Significant Effort Needed (Disclaimers : Requires lots of preliminary research, or requires a more skill than we have right now.)
      • Airships: Either seal based aircraft, or lighter than air craft that only require sealing for construction and not for operation.
        • Likely useful to keep Leaf's superiority after everyone has skywalkers and skytowers.
        • Revolutionize transport of goods and people. No need to deal with chakra beasts on the ground - just need to have a way to deal with any sky squids that show up.
      • Sealing Pantograph: Want to explore methods to maximize the production of seals, start with making multiple duplicates at a time.
      • Propulsion Seals: We have some ideas on how to make seals that can be used to power boats, carts, or airships. Might be useful.
        • Modified Macerators
        • Force seals
        • Explosive seals
        • loops with automated storage seals using gravity for power
  9. Miscellaneous (can be done off screen)
    1. Related to the upcoming Capybara Scroll mission, Hazou notes to Jiraiya that he remembers a strange turn of phrase a Hinago ninja used - "the serpent is in the details". The HInago Medical Facility is where the deal is going down, and the Hydra Medical Foundation is another medical group that is in Tea (where the Capybara scroll presumably disappeared from) that uses a mythical snake in their name and has odd turns of phrase related to that. Two medical groups with some strange snake related themes? Maybe a coincidence, but they could also be code signal phrases, and it could indicate a connection. Ask if Jiraiya managed to investigate the Hydra Foundation, and if there's anything he's able to share about it if he did.
    2. Ask Jiraiya when his birthday is. He says we're a team, and the team takes birthdays seriously.
    3. Ask Jiraiya when we're going to meet his godson.
    4. Ask Jiraiya if anyone is likely to try to manipulate Akane or otherwise use her against us.
 
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Rihaku said:
Regarding section 1, I think it would be best to put the wall of text in section 6 or 7 - at the end rather than the start of the plan, so the gm reading it isn't immediately overwhelmed. Instead repurpose section 1 to focus on the 2-3 innovations you think are most promising and why.

Some possibilities we could propose for section 4.2.1 -

1) Nara and J clans share Keiko; Shikaku and Mari both adopt her or something
2) Betrothal rather than immediate adoption / marriage

If the next update is supposed to be Shikaku summoning Hazou, probably want a contingency for that.

Hazou's General Disposition
*Hazou is earnest, but not energetically so. Does best to remain calm and professional.
*Willing to engage deeply on an intellectual level but understands that own ideas can be radical; will explain them in depth but does not become "preachy"
*Does genuinely believe in Leaf's ideals and is committed to ending the war quickly - and as bloodlessly as possible. Tie back into Yumehara's histories and other books if appropriate, but not in a tryhard or favor-seeking way: Shikaku will see through that in an instant.
*Do not accept any binding commitments, Hazou has to defer to Jiraiya / Mari on those

Likely Convo Topics
*How Nara & J clan can mutually benefit each other - Plenty of ways, Shikaku will likely have thought of more than Hazou. Just be open and honest here.
*Hazou's Ultimate Goals - From a zoomed-out perspective, Hazou's ideals should be relatively compatible or at least not strongly incompatible with those of most ninja. Hazou wants a world with less suffering & destruction and believes this can be achieved through better coordination, incentive alignment, and technological progress (increasing power of the species -> leveraging this power to reduce suffering). However, Hazou is not a hardline / calculating utilitarian nor does he believe blindly in the power of progress. A sealmaster as teacher has taught him caution for the power of technology.

I'm not really sure what Shikaku would want to talk about besides those things. He'll want to know how the Nara can profit from supporting J and whether Hazou is some kind of Mengele-esque supervillain, everything else should just be implementation details.

@OliWhail , Can we ask Jiraiya what Shikaku is likely to question Hazou on?

How much time do we have left to vote / revise plans?
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These seem like good additions. I've moved the list to the bottom and highlighted two high impact potentials. I added the two lines in the Keiko section, and copied the contingencies.

Cariyaga said:
... on that note. (doubleposting so it tags him) @Radvic Add to the plan to give kawarimi permissions to select ANBU guards that Jiraiya trusts?
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Eh? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask J about it. Added to contingencies.

Enjou said:
@Radvic - here's a condensed/revised version of my earlier alternative for the Keiko block. The current block needs more IMO, and the way it's phrased needs change to prevent miscommunication for reasons I've already explained:

4. Ask Kei if she'd like our help with directed questions from an external perspective to help investigate her options. Regardless of if she says yes or no, just stated that she's a member of the team no matter what she chooses, and that the rest of the team will support her either way. If yes:
  1. Which way is she currently leaning? If she's leaning towards joining the Nara clan, is she thinking adoption or marriage?
  2. The objective benefits of accepting the proposal are fairly obvious, but how does the notion make her feel and how much is she weighing that in the decision?
  3. The Nara want some kind of Mori clan secret. Hazou doesn't need to know the details if she does not want to share it with him, but how does she think doing so with the Nara will affect the Mori clan?
    1. Would sharing the secret of the coins likely make the war end faster, and thus likely cause less Moris to die?
      1. Would it also likely make it harder for Mist to take aggressive action after the war, presuming they lose?
    2. Does she think the Naras may try to keep her (and by extension the rest of the team) happy by using the information in ways that would make it less likely for Moris (and Wakahisas) to die?
    3. Would it be likely that the Mori would believe their secret is compromised once the team's presence in Leaf is made public, and if so would it be difficult for them to change it so her own knowledge becomes out of date?
      1. How likely is it they already made changes given the team became missing-nin, thus making her information already at least somewhat out of date?

This asks what she's leaning towards, asks how she feels about it, and talks about things she cares about (how this affects her clan, namely) - more might be added later, but I think this covers the thing the players need to know about her thought process, and checks on some things she may not have considered.
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I'm unsure on what the appropriate approach is here, so I'm going to leave my section unedited. Feel free to copy a plan and replace the Keiko section with something you prefer. I'll probably vote for it.

huhYeahGoodPoint said:
Eh. Be a slower end than diplomacy with "damn sure" snuck in there somewhere. A day is not a lot of time to process information and come with a tolerable plan. Have to review a plan for moment (also @Radvic begging you please name plans better plz) so will edit post later.
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I'm considering naming every plan I make "a plan" from here on out. Saves me the mental energy of coming up with an original name every time I don't want a lore update. Also, hopefully encourages people to copy and edit my plan so that I don't need to maintain it, or make their own plans.

a plan has been updated. Here's the current version. I won't be around tomorrow, so don't expect any updates. What you see is likely what you get.
Radvic said:
[X] a plan

Let's do our best to gain political support in Leaf's clans, and keep the ball rolling on the Pangolin mission. This plan is focused on us founding our clan.

  1. Elaborate more on the most promising inovations and ideas
    1. Invisible Ink Seals : Hazou likely can draw seals out of invisible ink. This may let us keep the advantage of certain seals like skywalkers for a little longer past when enemies capture our seals
    2. Propulsion Seals : We have some ideas on how to make seals that can be used to propel boats, carts, or airships and to turn cranks. This could be helpful for logistical purpose, civilian transportation, agriculture, and industry
      1. Potential methods for doing this are: Modified Macerators, Force seals, Explosive seals, loops with storage seals releasing and storing weights activated by tripwires
  2. Tell Jiraiya that the Iron Nerve is Uchiha derived. We don't know if that will be an issue. We've been told that People with activated sharingans will be able to tell by looking at our eyes.
  3. As a miscellaneous item related to the upcoming Capybara Scroll mission, Hazou notes to Jiraiya that he remembers a strange turn of phrase a Hinago ninja used - "the serpent is in the details". The HInago Medical Facility is where the deal is going down, and the Hydra Medical Foundation is another medical group that is in Tea (where the Capybara scroll presumably disappeared from) that uses a mythical snake in their name and has odd turns of phrase related to that. Two medical groups with some strange snake related themes? Maybe a coincidence, but they could also be code signal phrases, and it could indicate a connection. Ask if Jiraiya managed to investigate the Hydra Foundation, and if there's anything he's able to share about it if he did.
  4. Ask Kei if she'd like our help with directed questions from an external perspective to help investigate her options. If she would like it ask : with all else equal, would she prefer to be in the J-clan or the Nara clan?
    1. If Kei prefers to be a Nara:
      1. Would she prefer to be adopted or married?
      2. Ask J: is marriage to Shikamaru on the table?
      3. Ask J: is adoption by Shikaku on the table?
      4. Could the clans share Keiko? Maybe have Mari and Shikaku both adapt her?
      5. Perhaps a betrothal instead of immediate marriage or adaption?
    2. If Kei prefers to be in Jiraiya's clan:
      1. Ask J: Is "Nara Keiko" Shikaku's final offer, or do we have room to renegotiate here? If there's room to renegotiate, what might he accept instead?
  5. Prepare speech outlines for use when Jiraiya shows us off to people
    1. Loyalty speech
    2. Civilian prosperity speech
    3. Useful invention speech
    4. Non-lethality speech
  6. Read Books
  7. Provide Jiraiya a more complete list of our ideas, categorized by how long it will take us to research them.
    • Immediately Viable (Disclaimer: These are ideas which could be implemented immediately or near immediately, and likely make decent bargaining chips)
      1. Macerator Variations (Disclaimer : All of these are just other things we could put into the misterators to get a bevy of other effects.)
        • Smoke Bomb : Fill with ash or talc, mostly annoying.
        • Scent Bomb : Fill with scented oils or other similar materials.
          • Border patrols and other similar groups given these could tag a more powerful enemy and run, allowing more powerful teams with good noses to find them more easily.
        • Crowd Control : Fill with pepper or other skin irritants.
          • No idea how much you deal with civilians non-lethally, but this will be useful to keep any unruly post-war populations in line without killing them and causing further unrest.
        • Poison Bomb : Fill with poison.
          • You've got mednin, researchers, and the Yamanaka. They've got to have poisons that would work well when turned into a mist.
        • Flashbang : Fill with small amount of soft, white-hot metal.
          • Probably a bit difficult to get right, but it should fill the air with a large pile of glowing dust that is very bright for a tiny moment before it cools off.
          • Non-lethal, though it might cause minor blisters.
        • Medicinal Use (Non-Combat) : Use to grind and mix medicinal ingredients.
          • Probably good for creating standardized repeatable doses of medicines, as well as generally making them easier to absorb.
        • Cooking (Non-Combat) : I'm sure the Akimichi will come up with something.
      2. Poor Man's Yellow Flash applications
        • Storage seal attached to a timer, stick a kawarimi target into the seal, and put the seal on a Kunai. Get the target where you need it.
        • Can be used to move quickly because you can throw the kunai hard, and the target will be moving at speed. When you swap you're going however fast the target was.
        • Put a huge rock in it, now you have a kunai that turns into a large rock moving very fast. Squish.
        • The Uchiha, with their famed kinesthetic sense, can probably do some very amusing and useful things with this.
        • Try throwing only these and then swap to an explosive kunai when your enemy figures out the pattern.
      3. Sheeting Yourself : If you're falling and need to slow yourself down, henge into a large thin sheet of cloth. Useful if you're in midair and something unexpected happens.
        • Probably should be part of the Leaf standard doctrine for Skywalker and Skytower use. It should definitely be in the first draft of the doctrine.
      4. Invisible Ink Seals : We can probably make seals off of invisible ink
        1. This would help with opsec for new seals like skywalkers
    • Little Effort Needed (Disclaimer : Require tiny modifications or improvements to seals we already know. Between days and weeks of research.)
      • Pressure Triggered Seals : Seals that allow triggering of other seals with small carefully applied pressure.
        • Make ones that the Aburame could trigger with their bugs.
        • Make seals that civilians can use.
    • Some Effort Needed (Disclaimer : Chains of research products, projects probably take weeks to months.)
      • Poor Man's Sensor Seals : Provide anyone with shitty chakra sensor powers.
        • We expect that we could make chakra detecting seals that buzz quietly.
        • When worn on a tight belt should give some indication of chakra use and direction in the nearby environment. (Seals closer to the source would buzz more)
        • With 24/7 use, training, and practice, detecting chakra should become second nature.
        • Probably not as good as a normal sensor, and probably issues with sensing at range, but it's a lot better than nothing.
      • Civilian Usable Storage Seals : Lets civilians use them to transfer goods, and generally allows merchants to be more efficient.
        • Storage Seal with tripwire seals on the reverse that trigger storage and release.
        • Civvies get more logistics capability, more trade, cheaper luxuries, bigger goods stockpiles.
        • Might be worth just giving away the design after a war to help counteract the usual post-war economic slump in losing nations.
      • Civilian Usable Macerators : Same as civilian storage, but for macerators that only grind/mix, don't expel with velocity or aerate.
        • Same thing with tripwires, set so that they are only useful for extremely fine grinding and mixing.
        • Probably useful for a lot of things, if we make more powerful macerators first should allow civilians to powder metals and other interesting materials.
        • Likely more efficient extraction of ore from stone, easier and more repeatable experimentation with alloys. Another economic boost, and more metal is probably good all around.
    • Significant Effort Needed (Disclaimers : Requires lots of preliminary research, or requires a more skill than we have right now.)
      • Airships : Either seal based aircraft, or lighter than air craft that only require sealing for construction and not for operation.
        • Likely useful to keep Leaf's superiority after everyone has skywalkers and skytowers. (They will probably leak if we use them a lot, and we should think about how to keep that from being a problem before that happens.)
      • Sealing Pantograph : Want to explore methods to maximize the production of seals, start with making multiple duplicates at a time.
      • Propulsion Seals : We have some ideas on how to make seals that can be used to power boats, carts, or airships. Might be useful.
        • Modified Macerators
        • Force seals
        • Explosive seals
        • loops with automated storage seals using gravity for power
Contingencies:

Hazou's General Disposition
*Hazou is earnest, but not energetically so. Does best to remain calm and professional.
*Willing to engage deeply on an intellectual level but understands that own ideas can be radical; will explain them in depth but does not become "preachy"
*Does genuinely believe in Leaf's ideals and is committed to ending the war quickly - and as bloodlessly as possible. Tie back into Yumehara's histories and other books if appropriate, but not in a tryhard or favor-seeking way: Shikaku will see through that in an instant.
*Do not accept any binding commitments, Hazou has to defer to Jiraiya / Mari on those

Likely Convo Topics
*How Nara & J clan can mutually benefit each other - Plenty of ways, Shikaku will likely have thought of more than Hazou. Just be open and honest here.
*Hazou's Ultimate Goals - From a zoomed-out perspective, Hazou's ideals should be relatively compatible or at least not strongly incompatible with those of most ninja. Hazou wants a world with less suffering & destruction and believes this can be achieved through better coordination, incentive alignment, and technological progress (increasing power of the species -> leveraging this power to reduce suffering). However, Hazou is not a hardline / calculating utilitarian nor does he believe blindly in the power of progress. A sealmaster as teacher has taught him caution for the power of technology.
If Jiraiya thinks it a good idea, give substitution permissions to trusted ANBU

-------------
Feel free to copy and edit if you like the outline but dislike certain details.

Mostly I just don't want a lore update.
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Enjou said:
Just taking @Radvic's plan and making some edits to it for now. Biggest change is to the Keiko block, since the other version has Hazou asking things in a way that could be misconstrued due to Keiko's self-esteem issues and historical precedent. Also added some reasonable paranoia measures, just in case. Someone else may have a better plan in mind, but I'll be around most of tomorrow to update this one if nothing else comes up.

[X] Action Plan: Clear Communication, Reasonable Paranoia

Goals:
  • Survive
  • Continue preparation and discussion to deal with Leaf clan politics
Methods:
  1. Provide Jiraiya a more complete list of our ideas, categorized by how long it will take us to research them.
    • Immediately Viable (Disclaimer: These are ideas which could be implemented immediately or near immediately, and likely make decent bargaining chips)
      1. Macerator Variations (Disclaimer : All of these are just other things we could put into the misterators to get a bevy of other effects.)
        • Smoke Bomb : Fill with ash or talc, mostly annoying.
        • Scent Bomb : Fill with scented oils or other similar materials.
          • Border patrols and other similar groups given these could tag a more powerful enemy and run, allowing more powerful teams with good noses to find them more easily.
        • Crowd Control : Fill with pepper or other skin irritants.
          • No idea how much you deal with civilians non-lethally, but this will be useful to keep any unruly post-war populations in line without killing them and causing further unrest.
        • Poison Bomb : Fill with poison.
          • You've got mednin, researchers, and the Yamanaka. They've got to have poisons that would work well when turned into a mist.
        • Flashbang : Fill with small amount of soft, white-hot metal.
          • Probably a bit difficult to get right, but it should fill the air with a large pile of glowing dust that is very bright for a tiny moment before it cools off.
          • Non-lethal, though it might cause minor blisters.
        • Medicinal Use (Non-Combat) : Use to grind and mix medicinal ingredients.
          • Probably good for creating standardized repeatable doses of medicines, as well as generally making them easier to absorb.
        • Cooking (Non-Combat) : I'm sure the Akimichi will come up with something.
      2. Poor Man's Yellow Flash applications
        • Storage seal attached to a timer, stick a kawarimi target into the seal, and put the seal on a Kunai. Get the target where you need it.
        • Put a huge rock in it, now you have a kunai that turns into a large rock moving very fast. Squish.
        • The Uchiha, with their famed kinesthetic sense, can probably do some very amusing and useful things with this.
        • Try throwing only these and then swap to an explosive kunai when your enemy figures out the pattern.
      3. Sheeting Yourself : If you're falling and need to slow yourself down, henge into a large thin sheet of cloth. Useful if you're in midair and something unexpected happens.
        • Probably should be part of the Leaf standard doctrine for Skywalker and Skytower use. It should definitely be in the first draft of the doctrine.
        • Other shapes might be viable.
      4. Invisible Ink Seals : We can probably make seals off of invisible ink
        1. This would help with opsec for new seals like skywalkers
    • Little Effort Needed (Disclaimer : Require tiny modifications or improvements to seals we already know. Between days and weeks of research.)
      • Pressure Triggered Seals : Seals that allow triggering of other seals with small carefully applied pressure.
        • Make ones that the Aburame could trigger with their bugs.
        • Make seals that civilians can use.
    • Some Effort Needed (Disclaimer : Chains of research products, projects probably take weeks to months.)
      • Poor Man's Sensor Seals : Provide anyone with shitty chakra sensor powers.
        • We expect that we could make chakra detecting seals that buzz quietly.
        • When worn on a tight belt should give some indication of chakra use and direction in the nearby environment. (Seals closer to the source would buzz more)
        • With 24/7 use, training, and practice, detecting chakra should become second nature.
        • Probably not as good as a normal sensor, and probably issues with sensing at range, but it's a lot better than nothing.
      • Civilian Usable Storage Seals : Lets civilians use them to transfer goods, and generally allows merchants to be more efficient.
        • Storage Seal with tripwire seals on the reverse that trigger storage and release.
        • Civvies get more logistics capability, more trade, cheaper luxuries, bigger goods stockpiles.
        • Might be worth just giving away the design after a war to help counteract the usual post-war economic slump in losing nations.
      • Civilian Usable Macerators : Same as civilian storage, but for macerators that only grind/mix, don't expel with velocity or aerate.
        • Same thing with tripwires, set so that they are only useful for extremely fine grinding and mixing.
        • Probably useful for a lot of things, if we make more powerful macerators first should allow civilians to powder metals and other interesting materials.
        • Likely more efficient extraction of ore from stone, easier and more repeatable experimentation with alloys. Another economic boost, and more metal is probably good all around.
    • Significant Effort Needed (Disclaimers : Requires lots of preliminary research, or requires a more skill than we have right now.)
      • Airships : Either seal based aircraft, or lighter than air craft that only require sealing for construction and not for operation.
        • Likely useful to keep Leaf's superiority after everyone has skywalkers and skytowers. (They will probably leak if we use them a lot, and we should think about how to keep that from being a problem before that happens.)
      • Sealing Pantograph : Want to explore methods to maximize the production of seals, start with making multiple duplicates at a time.
      • Propulsion Seals : We have some ideas on how to make seals that can be used to power boats, carts, or airships. Might be useful.
        • Modified Macerators
        • Force seals
        • Explosive seals
        • loops with automated storage seals using gravity for power
  2. Tell Jiraiya that the Iron Nerve is Uchiha derived. We don't know if that will be an issue. We've been told that People with activated sharingans will be able to tell by looking at our eyes.
  3. As a miscellaneous item related to the upcoming Capybara Scroll mission, Hazou notes to Jiraiya that he remembers a strange turn of phrase a Hinago ninja used - "the serpent is in the details". The HInago Medical Facility is where the deal is going down, and the Hydra Medical Foundation is another medical group that is in Tea (where the Capybara scroll presumably disappeared from) that uses a mythical snake in their name and has odd turns of phrase related to that. Two medical groups with some strange snake related themes? Maybe a coincidence, but they could also be code signal phrases, and it could indicate a connection. Ask if Jiraiya managed to investigate the Hydra Foundation, and if there's anything he's able to share about it if he did.
  4. Ask Kei if she'd like our help with directed questions from an external perspective to help investigate her options. Regardless of if she says yes or no, just stated that she's a member of the team no matter what she chooses, and that the rest of the team will support her either way. If yes:
    1. Which way is she currently leaning? If she's leaning towards joining the Nara clan, is she learning towards adoption or marriage?
      1. If Keiko is considering the marriage option seriously, make a note to ask Jiraiya who the likely candidates are.
    2. The objective benefits of accepting the proposal are fairly obvious, but how does the notion make her feel and how much is she weighing that in the decision?
    3. The Nara want some kind of Mori clan secret. Hazou doesn't need to know the details if she does not want to share it with him, but how much does she think doing so with the Nara will actually affect the Mori clan?
      1. Would sharing the secret of the coins likely make the war end faster, and thus likely cause less Moris (and Wakahisas) to die in the war?
        1. Would it also likely make it harder for Mist to take aggressive action after the war, presuming they lose? If yes, that means less chance of Mist entering into a conflict, so less chance of members of her family dying.
      2. Does she think the Naras may try to keep her (and by extension the rest of the team) happy by refraining from using the attained information in ways that would explicitly target Moris (and Wakahisas), focusing on other Mist targets or on disrupting their intel gathering?
      3. Would it be likely that the Mori would believe their secret is compromised once the team's presence in Leaf is made public, and if so would it be difficult for them to change it so her own knowledge becomes out of date?
        1. How likely is it they already made changes given the team became missing-nin, thus making her information already at least somewhat out of date?
  5. Prepare speech outlines for use when Jiraiya shows us off to people. NEED SOME POINTS TO DETAIL THESE
    1. Loyalty speech.
    2. Civilian prosperity speech.
    3. Useful invention speech.
  6. Read Books
  7. Reasonable Paranoia Measures - You should be safe in Leaf given your ANBU guard, but it never hurts to take some basic precautions. If a Mist spy is aware of your presence, it would be best for the team to be prepared.
    1. Every member of the team should keep a PMYF kunai on their person at all times, unless in a situation where they might be asked to disarm for legitimate reasons.
    2. Suggest keeping substitution targets in various spots in your current residence.
    3. Whenever you are moving from one location to another, be sure to maintain awareness of your surroundings.
    4. Quietly suggest to Jiraiya that it may be wise to allow Kagome to put up some reasonable defensive measures in your current residence, if only for Kagome's peace of mind. Jiraiya can define what is reasonable.
    5. Dispel at random times. Been a while since you've done that. Don't want to lose your edge!
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Suggestions:
1) Do the reordering I did to put sealing innovations at the end of the update and highlight a couple useful ones.
2) Add a non-lethality speech. The fact that our party is trying to spec ourselves out for non-lethal takedowns is likely to make at least somebody like us. It's useful to have a speech regarding that prepared even if we don't wind up using it often.
 
[X] Action Plan: Clear Communication, Reasonable Paranoia

I expect us to be terribly embarrassed when Jiraiya dismisses "the snake is in the details" as an utterly mundane colloquialism, but otherwise probably fine. Maybe something prompting speculation and planning around the two possibilities of "worth the coins" with you and Keiko, if she's open to the general topic? (Namely, giving up the secret of them, or the favor-trading idea. Latter suggests its not a betrayal at all, and a possible connection to her clan. Might reassure or encourage her)
 
@Enjou Change 2 to be within secure facilities to Kagome-level specifications.

...I was also serious in my suggestion of getting chamomile or whatever other type of headache-relieving tea is available for him.
 
Briefvoice said:
QMs, has Kagome given any indication of letting that go when he's talking about, "They never did things that way in XXXX,"?
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Well, if Kagome is secretly from Fourecks, that actually explains quite a lot.
---​
Kylinger said:
The coins are a messaging system I bet, and the Nara really want to know the code. I bet they have a bunch of compiled messages they've previously intercepted but failed to decode, too.

E. She's probably really upset about it because it would entail betraying her clan, who she still cares a whole lot about.
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As far as we are aware, it might actually be a messaging system between the Mori and the Nara. They're both superintelligent, and know enough about the world to notice the need for coordination. Then again, this has been my pet theory ever since I read that Interlude. So I may be biased.
---​
MadScientist said:
Doesn't matter. Short of things the Ino-Shika-Cho can't get away with in a military dictatorship run by our Patriarch's besty, there isn't anything they can do that's worth giving Kei up.
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Enjou said:
Why do you think it obviously isn't? It solidifies a political alliance with a clan of geniuses, and ensures they get two other clans friendly towards us. This give us more influence with which to push our post-war agenda. Objectively speaking, it's better. Keiko will even likely come to that conclusion. And yes, those aren't our only concerns since Keiko's happiness and mental health are important to us, but there are a lot of things that have to be weighed here.
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Other thing to consider:
Velorien said:
"It wouldn't," Nara said sharply. "I don't exactly know you that well yet, and besides, given who you are, my father could never allow it. To be frank, from your position you'd have to marry into the clan to be allowed into our library."

Keiko gave him a contemplative look.

"No. No no no. Don't even think about it. There is nothing in this world more troublesome than women."
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Assuming we stay close allies, Keiko may be quite happy to officially become a Nara.
---​
Also, as I was searching for that quote, I came across something.
Velorien said:
Hana's parents and the clan leaders first cautioned her against becoming involved with that man, then warned her more directly that her behaviour would have consequences, and finally stated flat-out that they were not going to accept him into the clan as her husband, with all that that implied.

Hana married him anyway, and was disinherited before the ceremony was over.

Later, after his father was declared MIA, the Kurosawa patriarch let Hazō know that he would be welcomed back into the clan with open arms whenever Hazō so chose - as long as he turned his back on his sinful mother in the process. Needless to say, Hazō did not so choose.
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I think Dad was assassinated by Mom's clan. This makes me angry. The Kurosawa will not like me when I'm angry.
 
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@eaglejarl, in my random perusal of the early thread, I found an unmarked Omake. Mark it when you get the chance?
MadScientist said:
"So..."

"So?"

"Who's teaching you sealing?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You can make seals."

"I can."

"And you're getting better at it."

"I hadn't noticed."

"And you haven't been eaten by a shoggoth yet."

"I'm pretty lucky, I guess."

"Look kid, I can tell when someone's self-taught. They tend to have an odd number of limbs."

"Err..."

"Five, more often than you'd think."

"Uh... Huh..."

"So...?"

"Okay, fine! Yes, I have a teacher!"

"And they are...?"

"More comfortable in anonymity."

"Ah."

"..."

(drops henge, reveals self to be Kagome)

"Really?"

"You can never be too careful. Anyone might sell you out. Anyone! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
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Radvic said:
2) Add a non-lethality speech. The fact that our party is trying to spec ourselves out for non-lethal takedowns is likely to make at least somebody like us. It's useful to have a speech regarding that prepared even if we don't wind up using it often.
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Note this probably will make people associate us with Gai, which Jiraiya did warn us off of.
 
Radvic said:
I'm unsure on what the appropriate approach is here, so I'm going to leave my section unedited. Feel free to copy a plan and replace the Keiko section with something you prefer. I'll probably vote for it.
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At the very least I strongly suggest changing the language yours is using - instead of asking which she prefers, ask which way she's leaning towards. The language here matters a lot. We've failed to consider that in the past and it's bitten us in the butt more than once.


Cariyaga said:
@Enjou Change 2 to be within secure facilities to Kagome-level specifications.
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Set it to securing the room against spying. "Kagome-level specifications" means surrounded by a metric fuckton of traps in addition to that.

...I was also serious in my suggestion of getting chamomile or whatever other type of headache-relieving tea is available for him.
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We should not be going out and about to buy stuff.
 
Radvic said:
Suggestions:
1) Do the reordering I did to put sealing innovations at the end of the update and highlight a couple useful ones.
2) Add a non-lethality speech. The fact that our party is trying to spec ourselves out for non-lethal takedowns is likely to make at least somebody like us. It's useful to have a speech regarding that prepared even if we don't wind up using it often.
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1. Done.
2. We were explicitly told by Jiraiya that a focus on non-lethality might get us associated with Gai in people's minds. Hence I dropped it.
 
MadScientist said:
"So..."

"So?"

"Who's teaching you sealing?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You can make seals."

"I can."

"And you're getting better at it."

"I hadn't noticed."

"And you haven't been eaten by a shoggoth yet."

"I'm pretty lucky, I guess."

"Look kid, I can tell when someone's self-taught. They tend to have an odd number of limbs."

"Err..."

"Five, more often than you'd think."

"Uh... Huh..."

"So...?"

"Okay, fine! Yes, I have a teacher!"

"And they are...?"

"More comfortable in anonymity."

"Ah."

"..."

(drops henge, reveals self to be Kagome)

"Really?"

"You can never be too careful. Anyone might sell you out. Anyone! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
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Body Enhancement seals, people. Not even once.
 
@Enjou, maybe you can add something about telling Jiraiya his Sharingan secret in a secure setting? He probably understands that Hazou doesn't want any of the ANBU to hear his Clan secrets.

[X] Action Plan: Clear Communication, Reasonable Paranoia
 
ContextBot said:
@Enjou, maybe you can add something about telling Jiraiya his Sharingan secret in a secure setting? He probably understands that Hazou doesn't want any of the ANBU to hear his Clan secrets.
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Already in there. Bullet 1 asks for the room to be secured due to talking about clan secrets, and there are a couple points where I put caveats in regarding that.

Enjou said:
If you can get him to secure your room against spying, tell Jiraiya that the Iron Nerve is Uchiha derived. We don't know if that will be an issue. We've been told that People with activated sharingans will be able to tell by looking at our eyes. If you can't get your room secured, wait on this.
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Enjou said:
If you can get him to secure your room against spying, tell Jiraiya that the Iron Nerve is Uchiha derived. We don't know if that will be an issue. We've been told that People with activated sharingans will be able to tell by looking at our eyes. If you can't get your room secured, wait on this.
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I would drop the "If you can get him to secure your room against spying" bit here. Given that any person whith an activated sharingan who has fought a kurowasa should know this, it seems like secrecy is not such a concern on this topic that we shouldn't discuss it if Jiraiya doesn't have time or want to expend the effort to shield a room off for conversation.

Enjou said:
2. We were explicitly told by Jiraiya that a focus on non-lethality might get us associated with Gai in people's minds. Hence I dropped it.
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While this may be a problem, I suspect that it will likely be helpful to include preparations for such a speech because of the following interpretations of the text from last chapter.

Velorien said:
"I—I also have a design for knockout gas bombs you could drop from a height. Totally harmless and non-lethal. No threat to civilization at all."

"Better," Jiraiya agreed. "Much better. The Hokage will be happy to hear about those, at least if you can convince him that you're not going to accidentally poison anyone. Some poisons have serious long-term effects that you might not notice at the time, and you don't want to inflict those on anybody you want kept alive."
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This seems to suggest at the very least that the Hokage is interested in non lethal attack methods, and us talking to him about non lethal focuses is likely to make the Hokage more on our side.

Velorien said:
"Keiko… the non-lethal thing could be a pro or a con, because the last thing you want is to be associated with Gai in people's minds when it comes to politics. Or at all. We'll come back to you later."
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This says the non lethal thing can be a pro or a con. So, we need to be careful how we phrase it, and make it less associated with Gai, but it can still be a pro.

Velorien said:
A few clans might go for your idealism, so have some good speeches ready when they finally invite you for an audience. The traditionalists would freak out, so you'll need to focus on your loyalty to Leaf—stressing the Will of Fire and how much this place is better than Mist—and how useful your inventions will be, as opposed to how much they'll change the world.
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This suggests that some clans are going to be convinced by our idealism. A piece of evidence for our idealism is our focus on non lethal methods of subduing people. Hence why bringing it up may be a good idea.

In conclusion, from what I can tell of the chapter, talking about our focus on non lethal methods can be good or bad, depending on who we're talking to and how we phrase it. Associating ourselves with Gai is a trap we need to avoid in such a speech, but not necessarily a reason not to prepare such a speech.

Regardless, I'm happy enough with this to give it a vote.

[X] Action Plan: Clear Communication, Reasonable Paranoia
 
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Radvic said:
I would drop the "If you can get him to secure your room against spying" bit here. Given that any person whith an activated sharingan who has fought a kurowasa should know this, it seems like secrecy is not such a concern on this topic that we shouldn't doscuss it if Jiraiya doesn't have time or want to expend the effort to shield a room off for conversation.
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Yeah, this is a good point. I suspect that the Uchiha will likely make a fuss about it anyways, since it wouldn't be secret to them.

Radvic said:
While this may be a problem, I suspect that it will likely be helpful to include preparations for such a speech because of the following interpretations of the text from last chapter.
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This raises good pionts. Maybe phrase it as non-lethal solutions, when it's practical to use them, are preferable because they are less likely to continue the cycle of hatred. A person not killed today is one of their children not growing up hating us and being our enemy tomorrow.
 
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