Crusader Kages - A Naruto Village Councilor Quest
- Thread starter baskinglobster
- Start date
- Location
- Canada
[X] Plan Progression
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- They/Them
By the way, expect a rework of the Prowess training DCs. I'm letting the prior one stand because taking it away would be bullshit on my part, but it's a little too easy right now to grind up.
Should we try establishing relations with Takumi Village?
Small village specialized in (amazing) weapon creation sounds like a great ally for us.
We're already "importing" Kiri-nin, why not get some people from Tani too?
Small village specialized in (amazing) weapon creation sounds like a great ally for us.
We're already "importing" Kiri-nin, why not get some people from Tani too?
- Location
- The internet
They were declared non-canon for the sake of this quest a while back IIRC.
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yeah, it's just a little impractical to consider the idea of one single village where all the magic assassins buy their stabbing tools. It's more sensible for basically everyone to produce in-house, so to speak.
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I've drafted some of the Turn 4 results already. If I have the time and it stays this one-sided I might end the vote early and post accordingly. We'll see what happens.
[X] Plan Progression
Knight-Radiant
Recovering Rageaholic
You know...
In hindsight, it's really lucky that we found out about the whole Meteor/Ninjutsu/Bloodline thing before bringing over all those folks from Kiri huh? 😅
In hindsight, it's really lucky that we found out about the whole Meteor/Ninjutsu/Bloodline thing before bringing over all those folks from Kiri huh? 😅
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Coshiua
An Autistic Kyogre~!
- Location
- The Ocean
Here is another attempt at Jonin Commander Ryuichi Mori and my first attempt at Academy Head Kenta Kurai.
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- Location
- barking
welcome bloodline ninjas please stay away from that building if you don't want to die a slow very painful death
Knight-Radiant
Recovering Rageaholic
So...
Given the upcoming weapon design stuff, I was looking at the different styles of equipment the various villages had. This led to me ALSO noting the Various Villages/Country's other differences. Ya know, clothing style, building designs, cultural influences, etc... which I thought was a nice bit of worldbuilding.
Got me wondering... what kind of cultural influences would be present in this Quest's Bear Country and Star Village? As a filler village, it didn't get much attention in the anime, other than a general vibe of "Old Fashioned"
And after looking around a bit... I found something that I'd like to offer as a suggestion...
The Ainu! The indigenous people of Hokkaido.
For one, Hokkaido has the greatest Bear Population in all of Asia, barring some parts of Russia. Secondly, IRL Hokkaido was considered an unimportant backwater during the time periods Ninja would have been running around, kinda like how Bear Country and the Star Village are in quest. Thirdly, the Ainu's level of tech tended to lag behind that of mainland Japan, much like our tech in the Star Village has fallen behind the other Villages. Lastly and most fun... while I couldn't find any particular connection to Stars, I did learn that Bears were apparently very important in Ainu Culture/Mythology, they even have a regular BEAR Festival! 🤩
Mostly a bunch of funny coincidences I'll admit, but I hoped it could add some fun inspiration for future characters and such XD
-Edit-
Given the upcoming weapon design stuff, I was looking at the different styles of equipment the various villages had. This led to me ALSO noting the Various Villages/Country's other differences. Ya know, clothing style, building designs, cultural influences, etc... which I thought was a nice bit of worldbuilding.
Got me wondering... what kind of cultural influences would be present in this Quest's Bear Country and Star Village? As a filler village, it didn't get much attention in the anime, other than a general vibe of "Old Fashioned"
And after looking around a bit... I found something that I'd like to offer as a suggestion...
The Ainu! The indigenous people of Hokkaido.
For one, Hokkaido has the greatest Bear Population in all of Asia, barring some parts of Russia. Secondly, IRL Hokkaido was considered an unimportant backwater during the time periods Ninja would have been running around, kinda like how Bear Country and the Star Village are in quest. Thirdly, the Ainu's level of tech tended to lag behind that of mainland Japan, much like our tech in the Star Village has fallen behind the other Villages. Lastly and most fun... while I couldn't find any particular connection to Stars, I did learn that Bears were apparently very important in Ainu Culture/Mythology, they even have a regular BEAR Festival! 🤩
Mostly a bunch of funny coincidences I'll admit, but I hoped it could add some fun inspiration for future characters and such XD
-Edit-
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- Location
- barking
their is a real japanese festival called Tanabata (also known as the star festival) granted its based on two dieties meeting but it still we could have something for our village.
Vote closed
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- They/Them
ReaperofInterest
Herald of Disaster
Well, it'll be interesting to see the results of this update. Hopefully the civilians are only having issues with minor things that can be handled by other people. I'll be honest and admit that I mainly voted for that option purely so that if there aren't any problems we specifically need to fix, we can start looking into ways of developing the land better.with a clean conscience.
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- Location
- A beautiful new land, at once alien and familiar.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I love it @Knight-Radiant ! Always thought the Ainu were an interesting detail of Japan's history. I think the synchronicities make it a very fitting cultural reference. I'm now imagining outfits that are a blend of those Ainu clothes, some slightly more modern garments, ninja gear and perhaps some survival gear such as gas masks (for the hazards of our ands) etc when outside of town.
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- They/Them
One more scene to write and then a quick once-over to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. Expect posts in a minute.
This is actually a really fascinating line of thought. I'll admit I've had a distant sort of interest in Ainu culture, so incorporating elements of it into Bear/Hoshi could actually be kind of neat.
This is actually a really fascinating line of thought. I'll admit I've had a distant sort of interest in Ainu culture, so incorporating elements of it into Bear/Hoshi could actually be kind of neat.
Damn you, @Knight-Radiant, and your great idea!
You made my curiosity force me into Google-searching "ainu ninja", and now I curse you all into seeing what I saw!
I had forgotten Nakoruru was Ainu! She even has a falcon, a perfect fit for an Asano!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8lqlmR
The Ainu People and the Hidden Wonders of Hokkaido | Blog | Travel Japan (Japan National Tourism Organization)
You made my curiosity force me into Google-searching "ainu ninja", and now I curse you all into seeing what I saw!
I had forgotten Nakoruru was Ainu! She even has a falcon, a perfect fit for an Asano!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8lqlmR
The Ainu People and the Hidden Wonders of Hokkaido | Blog | Travel Japan (Japan National Tourism Organization)It should be noted that their is a history of Japanese discrimination, forced assimilation and general colonial treatment by the Japanese government(including attempts to wipe them out as a distinct culture), considering that the Naruto setting basically is incredibly Japan centric one should be mindful of how one represents the culture you might base our hidden village on(not to say fantasy Ainu hidden village isn't interesting but be mindful).
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- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Oh one hundred percent, the thing that I left unsaid was that as a white person who's never left North America I'm exceptionally wary of fucking up on representing a culture that isn't my own, especially one with as fraught a history as the Ainu. Whatever I end up doing or not with this element is going to hinge, number one, on whether or not I can do it in an appropriate and sensitive manner.
Turn 4 Results
- Location
- California
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Plan Progression
-[X] As The Lord Third Commands: Work on the Hoshikage's priority research (equipment upgrades)
--[X] Develop a scalable means of increasing weapon production. (Costs BP)
--[X] Work with your engineers on designs, tests, and prototypes. (Costs BP)
-[X] As The Director Wills: Work on your own priority research (medical standardization and Meteor Sickness)
--[X] Work with Contract Master Honjo to get a proper medical supply intake for the village.
--[x] Investigate the link between ninjutsu usage and Meteor Sickness.
-[X] Standard Operation: Conduct other business with the research center.
--[X] Reach out to the civilian government about any lingering supply issues from the war.
--[X] Get a subordinate cleared for Meteor access.
---[X] Haru Nagase, Chakra Studies department head.
-[X] Leave Biology as-is.
-[X] Leave Chakra Studies as-is.
-[X] Leave Engineering as-is.
-[X] Hone yourself. You are a shinobi of Hoshigakure, you cannot slack in your abilities.
--[X] Brush up on taijutsu.
-[X] Try to develop an existing skill. There's always room for improvement.
--[X] Chakra Studies (Progress 1/3)
-[X] Talk more to a department head, learn who you're working with.
--[X] Haru Nagase, Chakra Studies.
-[X] Visit Sensei's grave. It's been three years now.
-[X] As The Lord Third Commands: Work on the Hoshikage's priority research (equipment upgrades)
--[X] Develop a scalable means of increasing weapon production. (Costs BP)
--[X] Work with your engineers on designs, tests, and prototypes. (Costs BP)
-[X] As The Director Wills: Work on your own priority research (medical standardization and Meteor Sickness)
--[X] Work with Contract Master Honjo to get a proper medical supply intake for the village.
--[x] Investigate the link between ninjutsu usage and Meteor Sickness.
-[X] Standard Operation: Conduct other business with the research center.
--[X] Reach out to the civilian government about any lingering supply issues from the war.
--[X] Get a subordinate cleared for Meteor access.
---[X] Haru Nagase, Chakra Studies department head.
-[X] Leave Biology as-is.
-[X] Leave Chakra Studies as-is.
-[X] Leave Engineering as-is.
-[X] Hone yourself. You are a shinobi of Hoshigakure, you cannot slack in your abilities.
--[X] Brush up on taijutsu.
-[X] Try to develop an existing skill. There's always room for improvement.
--[X] Chakra Studies (Progress 1/3)
-[X] Talk more to a department head, learn who you're working with.
--[X] Haru Nagase, Chakra Studies.
-[X] Visit Sensei's grave. It's been three years now.
[X] Talk more to a department head, learn who you're working with. (Haru Nagase)
It turns out that Haru's idea of time off is largely to spend it reading and sparring. You end up engaging him in both, and learning a lot in the process.
Most of the books in his library are on chakra, sealing, theory, and mythology, perhaps unsurprisingly; apparently his current passion is a lengthy piece analyzing the different ancient philosophies that likely influenced early ninjutsu and the so-called Sage of Six Paths, which according to this text may have been an entire school of mystics who were mythologized over the years into a single near-godlike being. When you recognize the scroll on his work desk the next day about tracing the allegedly divine parentage of the Sage, you ask him about it.
"Written text from the era where the Sage would have lived has largely not survived the multiple millennia between then and now," he says in reply. "All we have on hand to understand the entire foundation of how we understand and utilize chakra is guesswork, deduction, legends, and the occasional spiritual revelation as recalled by a cult leader or hermit. Any given interpretation might end up being the correct one, or none of them are, or maybe multiple contradictory versions of events are somehow true at the same time."
You've heard this angle before; you're hearing this angle as you continue your own studies. But you also don't put stock in any of the speculation on the Sage, since none of it has any practical use. "Sure," you reply, "but that doesn't really explain why you sink so much time and thought into two entirely contradictory ideas, neither of which seem especially relevant to more than big-picture cosmic theories. What is the significance to you whether the Sage was a demigod or a collective identity or whatever?"
Haru leans back in his chair as he mulls over the question. "There are very few people in our line of work who can truly be said to have changed the game. Konoha pumps them out without issue, of course, between all three Hokages and the Sannin they challenge our understandings of jutsu and chakra practically every time they come up in an Intelligence report. We can't really replicate their work because that's mostly espionage and also I think there's just something in the Konoha water that makes them freaks.
"The first of the Meteor-Trained could have marked a paradigm shift if Hoshigakure ever managed to be on the level of the Great Five, but..." Haru sighs. "we really haven't gotten there. Might never get there, much as it pains me to say it; we're playing catch-up on a scale of decades in some areas, not least of which are army size and reputation. The jinchuuriki would probably be the biggest development any elder could point to, but we don't have tailed beasts gathering dust and waiting to be used. So where does that leave us in trying to figure out who to emulate?"
You hum. "The possibly-fake founder of ninjutsu."
Haru spreads his hands wide in acknowledgment. "The Sage of Six Paths might be entirely phony," he admits, "but ninjutsu is comparatively younger than genjutsu or taijutsu, we know that much. Something had to change, and one or multiple people had to make that change, to give us an entirely different means of utilizing chakra. The majority of shinobi out there in the world favor ninjutsu over the other schools, yourself included, and we have that even as a possibility because someone, somewhere, got an incredible idea. How that idea came to them, and how they made it blossom... that's the interest to me."
"That's wildly ambitious of you."
Haru laughs at your observation. "I'm content to do small things for most of my time," he says, "but I dream big, always. I want whatever summoning contract I can get my hands on because I want the kind of incredible power and knowledge that the Sannin have at their fingertips, because that's the path that can cinch me a jounin rank, because there hasn't been a summoner in this village for over a decade and that's far too long a drought."
"And you want to have a hand in whatever impossible discovery happens next in the world's understanding of chakra," you deduce.
"Guilty as charged," Haru smiles.
(Spent time with Haru Nagase and his books, gained insight into his life and goals. Haru Nagase trait discovered: Ambitious.)
[X] Hone yourself. You are a shinobi of Hoshigakure, you cannot slack in your abilities. (Taijutsu)
Rolling: 19 + 10 (Haru Inspiration) = 29 vs DC 68. Failure.
The time you spend sparring with Haru, conversely, is a lot more frustrating, because it involves a great deal of sweating and exertion for no gain except for eating dirt.
It turns out that your sealing specialist also prefers to use taijutsu, and when you offhandedly mentioned your desire to improve in your training he offered to help with some sparring. This proved to be illuminating, if only because it turns out he's slightly better than you at hand-to-hand.
You both agree to not go full-contact, mostly to avoid the trouble that comes with activating Black Thorns, but it turns out that Haru doesn't need to inflict a great deal of harm in order to knock you face-first into the ground. Repeatedly. Sometimes with the exact same attack or counterattack as before.
Months pass and the weather turns colder and while you can occasionally beat Haru in a match, more often than not it's luck or something you immediately fail to internalize and use moving forward. By the end of it, you're not any better than where you started, and Haru being a good sport about it is only a mild balm against the sting to your pride.
(No improvement to Taijutsu Prowess.)
[AP] Analyze armor plastic: complete.
"Nylon?" You tilt your head at the report in your hands, eyebrows quirked in question. "Like, the hosiery kind of nylon?"
"Not... quite," Tae replies, the half of her face hidden behind a respirator additionally hidden behind a clipboard. "What I mean is, there's a similarity, but it's a lot more durable, which makes sense if it's used for armor. Konoha and Kiri use the same material, it seems like, which means it definitely works, the only problem is..."
Tae pauses, then winces. "It's pretty much entirely synthetic."
Ah. Shit.
"Ah," you say out loud, without the extra word. "So no luck reproducing it on our own, then."
Tae's fingers tap along the wood of the clipboard. "Well, I mean, maybe?" She glances at you briefly before averting her eyes yet again. "It's possible that we can investigate a plant-based version of it, but plant-based plastics are still pretty cutting-edge, and that's not getting into what it might take to figure out the process we need to get it near this level of strength and flexibility."
That means even more work, and likely money. If this stuff didn't literally save lives you would be half-tempted to shelf the whole thing, but unfortunately for you it remains a priority.
You rub your face. "Thank you, Tae. I'll let you know what the plan is when I've figured it out."
Tae hurriedly bows and makes her way out of your office.
(Identified ballistic nylon. Determined path towards developing own supply.)
[X] Work with your engineers on designs, tests, and prototypes.
Rolling: 72 + 11 (Learning) + 3 (Engineering Assist) = 86 vs DC 30/50/70. Major success.
It turns out that your engineers have been waiting for the chance to really sink into developing all-new shinobi gear, and your work with them only fans that flame higher.
It starts small, literally and figuratively; the first matter you address is kunai. Steel isn't lacking in Bear Country, exactly, although the production bottleneck and the old supply of subpar materials has presented its own issues, but the prospect of getting more use out of kunai is an enticing one. Improved strength and durability is already its own boon, as developed with the new steel, and the new and improved kunai already stay useful longer and under more duress before they get dull, let alone break, but the prospect of improving the base design occurred to multiple members of Engineering.
The first option, dubbed "saw kunai," is possibly the simplest: one edge given serrated sawteeth to provide utility as a survival tool. It's an interesting prospect, but further tests on your orders prove that there's a catch; pulling them back out of test armor and pig carcasses after throwing them proves that they want to stay in, taking more effort and causing more damage to remove. While the extra tissue damage isn't necessarily a downside, the split-second difference in retrieving it could prove dangerous in the heat of battle.
The second design, ominously nicknamed "bleeders," does the same thing as the first deliberately; a mechanical device inside the kunai causes additional blades to swing out via a spring mechanism to further cut and wound the target. This carries its own caveats: the mechanism has a chance of failure, deploying early or late or not at all; penetration is reduced from having to deploy the extra blades; and they're more likely to prove difficult in removal. That all being said, for the straightforward purpose of putting a blade in the enemy and making them bleed... it's hard to argue with the results.
The third kunai design really isn't a kunai at all; there are four blades at right angles from each other, set into a circular hilt of sorts with a grip in the middle. It's almost like the bastard child of a shuriken and brass knuckles, and when the shinobi who came up with the design proudly names it the "starblade" everybody makes disappointed noises. Preliminary testing gives it a largely shining endorsement, useful in hand-to-hand and still throwable with precision and damage. The main downside is that it's, put simply, strange; you and the other shinobi who practice with the starblade very nearly cut your fingers trying to get used to handling it, and there's more mass and a strange balance to it compared to the usual thrown weapons. You can see it being useful, but it would take everyone who used it time to learn how without fumbling it in a fight to the death, the ultimate metric for the usefulness of a shinobi tool.
Another big prototyping effort was apparently crossbows; you've barely touched one since you made chuunin, far more comfortable with your ninjutsu and not really bothering with the bulkier tool. These prove even more eclectic and experimental than the kunai, in no small part because one of the bolts developed borrowed from the "bleeder" design. There are miniaturized, one-handed crossbows that can be hidden more easily at the cost of having less penetrating power; there are "harpoon-bows" where single bolts, built like the "bleeders" in order to catch and hook into the target, are connected via steel chains or cables to a reeling mechanism that can retract and draw in their quarry; there are repeating crossbows that are weaker and less accurate in exchange for firing ten bolts in twenty seconds; and that's not getting into the alternative ammunition like the "lightning rods" used to better target Lightning Release or the explosive bolts that make you nervous to think about carrying across hostile territory.
You can handle a crossbow as well as any shinobi of Hoshi, and all of the prototypes work, although some of them have some mechanical errors the engineers are quick to fix and quicker to explain as not an inherent flaw of the design. The thing that it comes down to, as you think about it, is cost; crossbows have more complicated mechanisms in them than most other weapons used by shinobi, and making them more complicated not only means more things that can go wrong but also, importantly, means more expenses. These are all functional, and some of them are downright fascinating, but the question is whether they're worth the village's investment. You don't want to bog down your forces with over-engineered tools that get in the way of doing their jobs, and you don't want to have to justify the price tag to your council members if the results can justify themselves instead.
Finally, a pair of engineers, including the shinobi who wasn't busy with the starblade, was focused on a less straightforward project than simple weapons. They have a vision of rapid trap deployment, capable of being done even in the midst of battle; to that end, they have built collapsible devices capable of being set up using the kinetic energy of an impact, embedding themselves in dirt or tree trunks or other surfaces and using a mechanism not unlike the "bleeder" kunai to deploy itself. This, along with "throwing pitons" and ninja wire, can be used to set up kunai, crossbow bolts, and even explosives in traps with comparatively little prep time. They speculate that it could be incorporated with sealing techniques to expand the possibilities further but also admit that they're not sure what that would look like with the current sealing capabilities of the village, excepting the use of explosive tags. You toy with it yourself out in the woods with your people watching and taking notes, and it proves interesting; you can throw the trap components out while running, keep the ninja wire connected and running out through spools hidden up your sleeves, and then either set a tripwire or activate it with a flick of the wrists. It's complicated in the sense of how many choices it can offer and how they can be used in conjunction with each other, and it depends on a fair bit of accuracy, but you can see the very real use in this.
Theoretically speaking, all of these can be useful in some aspect or another, and their benefits might truly outweigh their costs and risks; if you're confident enough you can push one or more of these for further development as soon as possible, get them integrated into the shinobi arsenal and start showing your impact as Research Director visibly and tangibly. Some of these are also not as useful for full deployment but could theoretically serve more specialist uses, given to shinobi who serve in those same more specific areas and giving them an edge that their fellows don't need as badly. Or... you can get them developed a bit more. Have some other people consult on the viability, whether something is useful or salvageable or totally impractical.
(Prototypes unlocked: "saw" kunai, "bleeder" kunai, starblade, "bleeder," "lightning rod," and explosive crossbow bolts, hand crossbows, repeater crossbows, harpoon crossbows and bolts, rapid-use trap components.)
[x] Investigate the link between ninjutsu usage and Meteor Sickness.
Rolling: 40 + 11 (Learning) + 5 (Medicine) = 56 vs DC 50. Success.
You can admit, in the privacy of your mind, that the idea of mixed ninjutsu being somehow a cause of worsening Meteor Sickness is one of the most horrifying elements. That Meteor chakra has a harmful effect on the body is still its own particular horror, but the possibility that one's own ability and use of that ability can worsen the sickness even after exposure is cut off… that presents its own questions.
You want answers. You get answers.
You pore through the data provided from the survey; every little detail of the compiled recollections of more than one hundred shinobi falls under your careful gaze, narrowing down every fringe case and impossibility; it's with the combined resources of Chakra Studies and Biology that you get results.
You go through months of experimenting on tissue samples, pulling from both healthy individuals and Meteor Guard, with four broad categories and a myriad of smaller ones: the control, the single-exposure tests for Mystical Peacock chakra, the single-exposure tests for standard ninjutsu chakra, and the double-exposure tests. At the end of it all, you have statistically significant differences between the double-exposed tissues compared even to the single-exposure, and they point in one direction: the more of both kinds of chakra they're exposed to, the worse the Meteor Sickness gets.
You stare at the results for a long time, wondering what the hell you're supposed to do with this, where you can move forward in this avenue of investigation. You're not sure you can, really; the restriction has already come down for the Meteor Guard, and most others with the disease are already retired and not using much chakra at all. You have more pieces of this puzzle, or more accurately know the shape of some of the pieces you already have, but... you still don't know what you're looking at.
You know that you don't like it very much.
(Confirmed dual-exposure effect of Meteor Sickness.)
[X] Reach out to the civilian government about any lingering supply issues from the war.
Rolling: 80 + 6 (Diplomacy) = 86 vs DC 30/70. Total success.
Director Sakakibara,
I was quite surprised to see a letter bearing the seal of Hoshigakure in my office, as my department doesn't usually see much attention from shinobi except for the occasional escort mission when the bandits are particularly dire. However, upon reading it, my surprise quickly turned to elation. At long last, someone else with the same concerns and passions that have brought me to this position!
To answer your questions in order: while there was a loss of production and supply as a result of the shinobi war, things have stabilized in the years since. Supplies go where they're supposed to go, trade is humming along, taxes are collected on time, and all the pieces work together as best as any country's inner workings can be expected.
That being said, you are correct in your assessment: there is a particular vulnerability to attack that has not yet proven disastrous but does prove worrisome, and my peer in the Department of Agriculture is of the same mind. If you have an idea for how to better protect the assets of Bear Country at a moment's notice, we would both be highly interested in hearing it, and if the idea has merit we would make all haste to convince the Daimyo as much. This is not a dismissal of the fine work already done by Hoshigakure, simply an acknowledgment that your people cannot be expected to guard every warehouse and rice farm in the country, and that even a single one of those lunatic Konoha nin with their fireballs can destroy an entire sawmill or granary without intending to. We don't expect you to instantaneously know where they are and immediately meet and stop them, because we know enough about the world to realize nothing is ever done that quickly or cleanly, but whatever makes sure people get their meals and pay on time will be greatly appreciated.
Yours,
Aoba Bando
Minister of Commerce
(Made contact with Commerce Minister Aoba Bando, discovered both the recovery and fragility of Bear Country's supply lines.)
[AP] Investigate ways to improve sealing knowledge and capabilities: complete.
Haru doesn't strictly have anything better to report when it's his turn to surprise you with results.
"Unless someone, somewhere, in the history of this village, made an incredible seal or sealing technique and then never used it or told anybody about it, we have the total knowledge of all sealing available to us in Hoshigakure," he announces.
"And that's a fraction of even the least seal-capable Great Village?" you ask drily.
"Correct."
"Okay." You pinch the bridge of your nose. "So if we can't handle this in-house, what are our options?"
"There's basically three, all of them with their own troubles." Haru starts counting off of one hand. "Option one, we steal fuuinjutsu knowledge from other villages. All the other risks of espionage against hidden villages, with the added bonus of really pissing them off if it's something as important as the seal used for jinchuuriki or whatever else."
"Second option is to get hold of and utilize a summoning contract," Haru continues. "They're among the greatest sources of sealing knowledge in the known world."
"How long have you been looking for a contract to your own ends?" you ask.
"Six years."
You grimace. "So it's not exactly a milk run."
"Not at all," Haru confirms.
You sigh. "What's the third option?"
"Uzushio."
You blink.
"What?"
Haru waggles the three fingers he's holding up. "Uzushiogakure. I know you know what that is, everybody knows what that is."
"Obviously I know what Uzushio is," you reply shortly. "What I want to know is why the hell you think that's an option. They didn't share much outside of Konoha even before they were wiped off the map."
"Well, that's the thing." Haru leans in conspiratorially. "They didn't get entirely wiped off the map."
"I'm not chasing after a diaspora if that's what you're —" It clicks for you. "Oh. You don't want to talk to Uzushio sealers."
"I mean, I don't want to do the thing I'm bringing up either," Haru says defensively. "But the ruins of Uzushio are still standing off the shore of Hot Springs, and they lived totally surrounded by saltwater so there's no way they didn't have a decent way to preserve their knowledge in a way we could take advantage of."
"Nagase, you're talking about going into a ruin that was almost certainly wiped clean by the combined might of Kiri and Kumo, what do you think is going to be left behind?"
"Kiri and Kumo sent their hitters to Uzushio," Haru replies. "They almost certainly raided and stole what they could, but they didn't send appraisers. People still pick over the ruins but most of them don't actually know that much about sealing, and the ones who do are generally more respectful of the dead than that."
You raise an eyebrow. "Are we that disrespectful towards the dead?" you ask.
Haru sighs. "I don't know. But there's a possibility that there's still something to be found there; it's less actively malicious than what a hidden village could do in retaliation for stealing their seals, and it's a lot easier to find than any contract, although I wouldn't be shocked if there were trap seals left behind as a final 'fuck you' to whoever steps foot there. There's no neat and tidy answer to the problem of getting a hold of more fuuinjutsu; if there was some opportunity to stake a claim, then it passed by before either of us were ever born. We play the hand we're dealt, and in this case we have the chance to steal some mahjong tiles to make our hand less shit."
You pinch the bridge of your nose again. "They're not great options, but they're more than we had before. Thank you for bringing this to me."
Haru nods and takes his leave.
(Determined several means of improving Hoshigakure's sealing knowledge and capabilities.)
[X] Develop a scalable means of increasing weapon production.
Rolling: 28 + 11 (Learning) +3 (Engineering Assist) = 41 vs DC 40. Success.
You and Kei go back and forth on a few options for how to beat the old ways of making more arms and armor while still making sure the product holds to a certain standard. Casting is an obvious method early on, but you both do some research on your own time and come back together to decide on die casting as the optimal choice. Experimenting with materials for the die takes some time and singes some hairs, but over the course of several months you develop a means to build casts that can be used to both make good materials and be usable more than once.
Once that's done, the two of you draft up the entire process of what it will look like to produce the steel and subsequently the tools and components, with enough room to be reasonably safe and with enough sense that it could be repeated as many times as a space allows, and for good measure you use the construction of the Research Center to explain and design a rough draft of what the space should look like.
By the time winter starts to thaw into spring, you have thoroughly developed this to the point where you can start making it somebody else's problem.
(Scaling production method established.)
Get a subordinate cleared for Meteor access. (Haru Nagase)
Rolling: 12 + 6 (Diplomacy) + 2 (Haru Diplomacy Assist) + 10 (Hoshikage Opinion) = 30 vs DC 20. Success.
It's fairly painless getting Nagase approved for the Meteor. The Third Hoshikage takes very little convincing once you make it clear that his only foreseeable interaction with it is to figure out how best to prevent it from doing any further harm, and Haru does well to make his case.
Endo... you aren't sure what to expect from the Warden, exactly, seeing how your time has gone working together, but when you finally manage to have time for a meeting at the same time as her, she nods the second she hears Haru's name.
"We've talked," she says in explanation. "Not a lot of people bother with the theory and workings of Mystical Peacock, and he wasn't good enough to make it as a Guard but he was still maybe the only real scholarly type who bothered asking questions about it. Chakra studies are a pretty small world."
You concede the last point as being true enough, and that's that.
(Haru Nagase cleared for Meteor access.)
Try to develop an existing skill. There's always room for improvement. (Chakra Studies)
You briefly forgot that there were entire books written by sages that were just five hundred pages of arguments that someone else's theory of handsigns and their development is entirely wrong, with the thinly veiled implication that this theory is the result of a traumatic head injury. This text was authored by a contemporary of Hashirama Senju, and instead of founding a Hidden Village he got into a pointless conflict over extreme minutiae.
Sage, you don't know if you love or despise academia, but it's probably for the best you spend far more time in the field or laboratory.
(Chakra Studies skill at 2/3 training.)
[X] Work with Contract Master Honjo to get a proper medical supply intake for the village.
Rolling: 70 + 14 (Kasei Stewardship) + 2 (Kasei Logistics) + 4 (Chiyome assistance) = 90 vs DC 30. Success.
Contract Master Honjo is extremely good at his job.
You give him the list of supplies you devised from your kit assemblies, you give him an approximation of the rate of use that should be expected and the shelf life of more perishable goods, and he comes back to you a month later with word that he's gotten three separate caravans on board to get the village most of what it needs to this end, and he's haggling with a holdout via aggressively polite letters.
You intercept one of the letters for yourself just to see, and it really is aggressively polite, but more than that it's an exceptionally deft wielding of prices and distances and times in order to bring down the costs while still keeping the merchant in the black, and you briefly consider that this man briefly wanted to ruin your career before letting the message continue on its way.
A month later, that merchant caves, and you have your supplies.
You start to wonder how much of you catching on to his scheme may have been sheer luck, and that a man who could prove an extremely close ally would have had a knife to your back without you ever knowing had you not hit upon a particular train of thought.
The more you learn about Kasei Honjo the more you realize his apt placement on the council, and the more you wonder how exactly to settle the matter between you and him.
(Medical supply intake secured. Saw Contract Master Honjo in his element.)
[X] Visit Sensei's grave. It's been three years now.
You put this off for a really long time. The war stopped being an excuse after a year and change, and the initial postwar chaos hasn't been so hectic that you couldn't get here. You didn't want to face this, and honestly still don't, even after you attended the service. It still hurts the same in every way except for the distance you now have three years out from it, the wound healed but scarred.
You stand in front of a gravestone, plain and stark, the symbol of Hoshi atop it the only adornment. There are flowers there, you're pretty sure from Kenta. It reads:
Mai Shimizu
9 HVE – 53 HVE
With Distinction.
9 HVE – 53 HVE
With Distinction.
Fuck. Fuck. There's no justice in the life of shinobi, and forty-four is hardly the worst age you've seen one die, but there was no reason Mai-sensei had to die. It wasn't any more lethal or more critical than any other mission your team had been on, especially with you and Kenta being fresh jounin promoted in the field. You fought well, you fought hard, you fought better than anyone in those woods.
There was only one difference in your formation. Only one mistake that was made. Only one cause for the pointless fucking death of your sensei.
Your rat-fucking chickenshit deserter of a "teammate" fled in the middle of battle and left your sensei's back wide open, and a Kiri nin took the opening.
Severed spine. Shattered vertebrae. A brutal slash through organs and muscles and nerves, absolutely lethal but not fast enough to be any kind of mercy. Kenta fended the Kiri nin off while you buried yourself to your elbows in your sensei's guts trying to bring her back from an edge you knew you couldn't save her from. You made a judgment call, overdosed her on morphine to make passing easier, and then turned around and exacted your fucking toll. The one who put the blade to your sensei died forty minutes after she did, slowly and painfully in the specific ways an expert of anatomy can devise, but the one who got her killed, who let that blade fall where it did instead of deflecting or countering or doing anything except run... that one is still alive.
If you ever manage to find Makoto Asai, you will make sure he never runs again. Given everything, you suspect he's buried himself too deep to be found easily, but it's not something you're going to let go of.
Today isn't about Makoto Asai, you have to remind yourself. Today is about Sensei. There will be time for vengeance, but right now the time is for paying respect.
You stand there for another two hours, thinking of all the things unsaid, all the promises unkept, wondering if there's an afterlife and where she is in it and whether she's proud of you, proud of any of you, or if she can't stand to look at her own students for the shame and failure of it all. Part of you hopes that whatever comes after death, she can't still judge you. It's selfish, but you allow it.
You leave roses at her grave. There's blood smeared on the thorns from how tight you had gripped them.
(Finally visited Sensei's grave. Reflected on what war and treachery has cost you. Made a promise between yourself and a dead woman to never make the same mistake again.)
