Game of the Year: A Naruto Quest
- Thread starter Vesvius
- Start date
- Location
- Boston
[X] These Feet are Made for Walking
Bakkasama
There is always a greater fool
- Location
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Pronouns
- He/his
You are right, we presumably have several lives so we don't have to go for the obvious choice. Let's trivialize every situation by lying our way out of them!
[X] Silence is Golden by Talking is Priceless
Changing vote!
- Location
- Germany
[X] Silence is Golden by Talking is Priceless
[X] These Feet are Made for Walking
Easier to do a lot of other things when you can walk and the character's prior life gives them a lot of practical information anyway. We won't learn much from 'one fish two fish', and trying for more advanced subjects would attract attention we don't need.
I am also skeptical of the ninja science route in a world where information is rabidly censored. As a clan heir we might have finagled a way to get early access to actual chakra techniques, as an outsider our access to any information that's useful will be very limited.
Easier to do a lot of other things when you can walk and the character's prior life gives them a lot of practical information anyway. We won't learn much from 'one fish two fish', and trying for more advanced subjects would attract attention we don't need.
I am also skeptical of the ninja science route in a world where information is rabidly censored. As a clan heir we might have finagled a way to get early access to actual chakra techniques, as an outsider our access to any information that's useful will be very limited.
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RedV
Refuelling
- Location
- Right here
I find this a bit ironic because the best ninja scientists didn't have any clan background at all.
Seriously. Orochimaru was 100% civilian despite what some people may believe. Minato was 100% civilian too, and he invented the Rasengan and became Leaf's best sealmaster, among other things.
If anything, it's the people who have clans, who already have the best techniques that don't bother researching. People who don't have clans seem to need to do their own research if they want to get truly exceptional techniques.
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Dark Abstraction
Infrequent Participant
- Location
- United States
[X] These Feet are Made for Walking
It's a more natural progression, improves the opinion of the person that seems to like us least, and greater mobility will likely open up a number of other options.
It's a more natural progression, improves the opinion of the person that seems to like us least, and greater mobility will likely open up a number of other options.
- Location
- Behind You
The mental ability to communicate develops well before the physical ability to speak; this is why many people recommend teaching baby sign language as young as six months (while first words and first steps usually are at nineish months or later). It's actually easier to learn sign language!
While in a normal environment we wouldn't necessarily expect significant exposure to sign language, this is a world of friggin' ninjas - ninjas who will want to avoid making unneccesary noise around a fussy baby.
Therefore, let's take the obvious secret fourth option
[x]Sign of the Times
While in a normal environment we wouldn't necessarily expect significant exposure to sign language, this is a world of friggin' ninjas - ninjas who will want to avoid making unneccesary noise around a fussy baby.
Therefore, let's take the obvious secret fourth option
[x]Sign of the Times
This is why we can't have nice things. I don't believe write in are allowed
DracoDracul
Transbian Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
Yeah, if Ves is allowing write ins, he'll tell you. Also it's a tutorial, the options should be limited.
- Location
- In my Lair, on my Hoard
[X] These Feet are Made for Walking
DracoDracul
Transbian Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
I admit that I don't really know the format, I'm just here because I loved Ves's other quest, Ten Pounds of Gold, and wanted to get on the ground floor of one of his quests. Well that and Naruto is fundamentally ubiquitous to anime fans of my generation, even if I've only actually watched it through the Chunin exam arc.
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Naw, its not about that.
The established clans spend their foundation years mastering their clan techniques, leading them to develop new techniques which either leverage their inborn clan advantages, or extend these advantages.
Why would a Hyuuga spend time developing other techniques inefficiently when they have an entire suite of specialized skills which key off the Byakugan and they have an entire clan of trainers for? A Hyuuga genius inventing new techniques would first complete mastery of the Hyuuga techniques, then innovate on top(see Hinata and Neji).
By contrast, civilian-born HAVE to innovate, they get shit all to work with, so they have a lot of free time once they get the academy basics done. Mostly, said civilian-born achieve nothing, their experiments are doomed because they don't have the talent, or are going down a dead end. The rare geniuses on the other hand, develop something new AND competitive, so they excel.
And I'd note the Rasengan for instance, is basically the sort of thing that'd normally be a clan's founding technique if it was invented before the Hidden Village system. After all, thats what the Nara did.
Information: Infractions issued
6. Overwhelming Presence
Vesvius
The Wicked God
It only takes you a few moments to make up your mind. Talking is wonderful and you're going to have to get on that soon, but it can wait. You're only… seven months old, according to your journal. Same with reading. Reading without talking would be a little strange honestly. But walking? There's a whole bunch of stuff you can do once you remaster the art of walking. You can get to things on higher shelves. You can move without scraping through your comfortable footie pajamas. You can finally climb the stairs!
Yeah, walking can't wait. You decide to put all your time and focus behind relearning how to walk. It is… not as easy as you expected.
For one thing, there's standing upright. Your tiny body isn't used to the routine move, and at first every attempt you make to force yourself up on your legs winds with you falling over on your ass- hilariously, if Mom's stifled giggles and Tokei's twitching mouth are anything to go by. But that doesn't stop you. You force yourself to your feet over and over, using walls to keep you upright when you can. Within days of receiving your quests, you're able to stand proudly on your own two feet.
But even after you're able to stand your trials aren't over quite yet. Standing up on its own is useless; you actually have to figure out how to take a step. Again, it's harder than it should be. You know how to do it in theory- you even have increasingly vague memories of doing it before- but putting that knowledge into practice is a bumpy process. You fall over time and time again as you struggle to put one foot in front of the other.
Compounding the difficulty is your own tiny baby stamina. You can't be awake for more than a couple of hours without feeling drowsy and needing a nap, or getting cranky and needing something to eat. Multiple time you're stopped from taking that next big leap in walking by the urge to curl up in Mom's lap and let yourself drowse.
As the days pass though, the urge gets weaker and weaker. And on the three week anniversary of getting the quest, you're able to take your first tentative steps in your new body.
Just because you can take a few steps doesn't mean you've mastered it though. You need to be able to do more than a few before falling over, and rely more on your own muscles than momentum. You start setting yourself little goalpoints that you have to walk to. From the stairs to the family room. From the comfortable couch to the little go board set up near the front awning. From the kitchen to wherever Mom happens to be.
And then finally, you go an entire day on your feet without falling down once. The bugles sound in your ears.
The suddenness of the prompt almost knocks you over. Only a nearby Tokei putting a steadying hand on your shoulder keeps you upright. You glance up at him, confused. The man's barely interacted with you at all since you met him. The closest he's come to it before right now is not-laughing at your failures. Catching you is a touch out of character for him.
Wait. Didn't the quest reward for 'These Feet Are Made For Walking' promise a relationship boost with Tokei?
You hurriedly pull up your journal and consult your relationship web. Sure enough, the line leading from Tokei to you has changed from 'watchful disdain' to 'amused disdain/bare tolerance'.
...huh. That's not a huge change. But you'll take it.
The other interesting part is the quest reward: a boost to your physical attributes and the ability to upgrade them further- once you figure out how to do that, of course. A glance at your journal shows that indeed, your physical attributes have climbed to the enormous level of… two. Your others remain at one.
You wonder if that's good. What's the ceiling on these attributes? Do they go up to ten? Twenty? Higher? And-
You want to puzzle over your attributes more. You want to figure out more about your character sheet in general. You want to learn why your skills are empty, what feats are, glance over the seemingly gargantuan achievement list, and do the dozens of other things that you're sure are going to get tutorialized soon.
But you can't.
Because at that instant, a presence presses down on you.
It is drives the air from your lungs simply by existing, sending you crumbling to the floor. It makes tears stream from your eyes, snot run from your nose, and your heart beat loudly in your ears. Your fingers claw at the hardwood below you as you scratch for something, anything to make it stop. It is overwhelming. It is horrifying. It is terror incarnate and it makes you want to swallow your own tongue.
You're barely able to turn your head towards the house's front. In the beautiful floor to ceiling windows, you see people panicking on the streets, running for their homes. Men and women dash every which way, trying to get away. A few, scarred and clad in green, run the other direction, towards what you can only assume is the source of the terror.
Off in the distance, you hear a bestial roar, and the sound of explosions. And in a part of your mind that is too terrified to be scared, you realize what is happening:
Kyuubi.
You don't know how long you lay on the floor, trembling, but it feels like an eternity. After who knows how long, Tokei finds you and scoops you up in arms that feel like they're made of iron. He carries you up the stairs in three large steps, depositing you on Mom's lap. Mom clutches you close, hugging you in a tight grip that's as much for her as it is for you.
Tokei doesn't move for a long moment. Finally, he nods deeply. "I must go assist," he gravels out. "As per Lord Imagawa's contract with Konoha."
Mom stiffens beneath you. "No," she commands. "You cannot. I know your orders, and you are directed to protect us first and foremost-"
"-and to aid the village against any threat that may also endanger the two of you. This certainly counts. I will lock the door behind me."
And that is the end of the discussion. Tokei turns and leaves, strapping a sword to his belt and slamming the door behind him in one fluid motion.
Mom doesn't let you go the entire night- and you're grateful for it. Your stomach, your sleep, your plans, they're all forgotten as Kyuubi's overwhelming aura pounds into the village like a cloud of noxious rage.
But hours and a year later, the aura cuts off, as if it was darkness that's been banished with the flick of a light switch. Mom finally lets you go, her arms turning boneless with the release of stress. It's over. Finally, blessedly over.
Tokei returns with the light of dawn. His armor is scarred, his face is soot-stained, and his eyebrows singed, but he is whole. And for some reason, though he's a hardass who doesn't like you or your mother for reasons you can only guess at, you're relieved.
With the Kyuubi attack over you had thought that everything would just proceed as normal; like a video game interrupted by a cut scene. Sure, after the scene is over you're pressed to deal with it immediately, but everyone knows you should look around the room first, eat some food, and break every pot in the area just in case. That's kind of what you expected. But no. The weirdness has only just begun.
The weirdness takes the form of a carriage that pulls up in front of your house days later. It is no simple traveler's vehicle like the wagon you and Mom rode in on; it's a thing of art. Every aspect of it, from the carpentry on the beams to the fabric of the canopy, is immaculate. Even the horses that pull it look practically royal, like creatures out of a fable.
Tokei takes one look at the carriage and drops to a knee. He doesn't rise until the door opens itself, revealing four armored samurai with faces of stone. They survey the entrance room as if it's going to attack them at any moment. When the blank walls and shoe racks do nothing outwardly hostile, one gives a nod and glances over his shoulder.
Two more people walk back into your home. One is a smaller woman, rounded around the stomach, with tiny glasses perched on her nose. Behind her fat and gray hair, her face is covered in smile lines, and she looks like she would be the greatest grandmother in the world. The other is a man, tall, handsome, with long hair held back via ornate combs. His face is angular, his features sharp, and his aura that of a man used to being obeyed.
It's not an impression that's broken by Tokei. Your… guardian?... doesn't move, but somehow manages to convey his kneeling directly at the man. The newcomer nods, and continues his surveillance. His eyes land on you and widen slightly.
"Is this," he asks, voice a rumbling baritone, "the child?"
Tokei nods instantly. "Yes, my lord. This is Manami's issue."
The newcomer's eyes fix on you. You get the sense that you are being studied and dissected, weighed and measured. "Does he speak yet?"
"No, my lord. He walks, but there is not speech yet."
A nod from the newcomer is the response. "Very well. Where is Manami?"
"She is taking her afternoon respite in one of the bedrooms on the upper story. I would be happy to guide you if you so-"
"Unnecessary," the man says. "Take the child from the house. We should not be more than a couple hours. Afterwards, you will return, and give me a full briefing."
"Yes sir," Tokei replies without a shred of hesitation. He reaches down and scoops you up again. "We will be on our way."
The old woman looks at the two of you. "Oh, I should come too!" she coos. "Babies are so cute!"
The man considers this for a second. "Very well. Take Umo with you. Give her a tour of what you can. I will send a runner to you when we are ready for you."
As the words leave his mouth, a scrawl begins to sound in your ears.
"In 'Elemental', there are some paths that are exclusive. It is impossible to see everything at once- taking some actions render others impossible to attain. These can lead to entire quest lines, relationships, or abilities being locked off. Please keep that in mind when making branching choices."
...the game wouldn't have said that right now, unless this was one of those choices.
What choice do you make?
[] Allow yourself to be taken by Tokei. You'll see parts of Konoha besides your house for the first time! Who knows what you'll run into!
[] Wriggle until you're free. You don't know who this guy is, but you'll be damned if you just leave him alone with Mom because he says so!
[] Write-In (Must be approved in thread by GM)
Yeah, walking can't wait. You decide to put all your time and focus behind relearning how to walk. It is… not as easy as you expected.
For one thing, there's standing upright. Your tiny body isn't used to the routine move, and at first every attempt you make to force yourself up on your legs winds with you falling over on your ass- hilariously, if Mom's stifled giggles and Tokei's twitching mouth are anything to go by. But that doesn't stop you. You force yourself to your feet over and over, using walls to keep you upright when you can. Within days of receiving your quests, you're able to stand proudly on your own two feet.
But even after you're able to stand your trials aren't over quite yet. Standing up on its own is useless; you actually have to figure out how to take a step. Again, it's harder than it should be. You know how to do it in theory- you even have increasingly vague memories of doing it before- but putting that knowledge into practice is a bumpy process. You fall over time and time again as you struggle to put one foot in front of the other.
Compounding the difficulty is your own tiny baby stamina. You can't be awake for more than a couple of hours without feeling drowsy and needing a nap, or getting cranky and needing something to eat. Multiple time you're stopped from taking that next big leap in walking by the urge to curl up in Mom's lap and let yourself drowse.
As the days pass though, the urge gets weaker and weaker. And on the three week anniversary of getting the quest, you're able to take your first tentative steps in your new body.
Just because you can take a few steps doesn't mean you've mastered it though. You need to be able to do more than a few before falling over, and rely more on your own muscles than momentum. You start setting yourself little goalpoints that you have to walk to. From the stairs to the family room. From the comfortable couch to the little go board set up near the front awning. From the kitchen to wherever Mom happens to be.
And then finally, you go an entire day on your feet without falling down once. The bugles sound in your ears.
YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST THESE FEET ARE MADE FOR WALKING! WALKING SKILL MASTERED! YOU MAY NOW UPGRADE YOUR PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES BY CONSULTING YOUR JOURNAL!
The suddenness of the prompt almost knocks you over. Only a nearby Tokei putting a steadying hand on your shoulder keeps you upright. You glance up at him, confused. The man's barely interacted with you at all since you met him. The closest he's come to it before right now is not-laughing at your failures. Catching you is a touch out of character for him.
Wait. Didn't the quest reward for 'These Feet Are Made For Walking' promise a relationship boost with Tokei?
You hurriedly pull up your journal and consult your relationship web. Sure enough, the line leading from Tokei to you has changed from 'watchful disdain' to 'amused disdain/bare tolerance'.
...huh. That's not a huge change. But you'll take it.
The other interesting part is the quest reward: a boost to your physical attributes and the ability to upgrade them further- once you figure out how to do that, of course. A glance at your journal shows that indeed, your physical attributes have climbed to the enormous level of… two. Your others remain at one.
You wonder if that's good. What's the ceiling on these attributes? Do they go up to ten? Twenty? Higher? And-
You want to puzzle over your attributes more. You want to figure out more about your character sheet in general. You want to learn why your skills are empty, what feats are, glance over the seemingly gargantuan achievement list, and do the dozens of other things that you're sure are going to get tutorialized soon.
But you can't.
Because at that instant, a presence presses down on you.
It is drives the air from your lungs simply by existing, sending you crumbling to the floor. It makes tears stream from your eyes, snot run from your nose, and your heart beat loudly in your ears. Your fingers claw at the hardwood below you as you scratch for something, anything to make it stop. It is overwhelming. It is horrifying. It is terror incarnate and it makes you want to swallow your own tongue.
You're barely able to turn your head towards the house's front. In the beautiful floor to ceiling windows, you see people panicking on the streets, running for their homes. Men and women dash every which way, trying to get away. A few, scarred and clad in green, run the other direction, towards what you can only assume is the source of the terror.
Off in the distance, you hear a bestial roar, and the sound of explosions. And in a part of your mind that is too terrified to be scared, you realize what is happening:
Kyuubi.
You don't know how long you lay on the floor, trembling, but it feels like an eternity. After who knows how long, Tokei finds you and scoops you up in arms that feel like they're made of iron. He carries you up the stairs in three large steps, depositing you on Mom's lap. Mom clutches you close, hugging you in a tight grip that's as much for her as it is for you.
Tokei doesn't move for a long moment. Finally, he nods deeply. "I must go assist," he gravels out. "As per Lord Imagawa's contract with Konoha."
Mom stiffens beneath you. "No," she commands. "You cannot. I know your orders, and you are directed to protect us first and foremost-"
"-and to aid the village against any threat that may also endanger the two of you. This certainly counts. I will lock the door behind me."
And that is the end of the discussion. Tokei turns and leaves, strapping a sword to his belt and slamming the door behind him in one fluid motion.
Mom doesn't let you go the entire night- and you're grateful for it. Your stomach, your sleep, your plans, they're all forgotten as Kyuubi's overwhelming aura pounds into the village like a cloud of noxious rage.
But hours and a year later, the aura cuts off, as if it was darkness that's been banished with the flick of a light switch. Mom finally lets you go, her arms turning boneless with the release of stress. It's over. Finally, blessedly over.
Tokei returns with the light of dawn. His armor is scarred, his face is soot-stained, and his eyebrows singed, but he is whole. And for some reason, though he's a hardass who doesn't like you or your mother for reasons you can only guess at, you're relieved.
With the Kyuubi attack over you had thought that everything would just proceed as normal; like a video game interrupted by a cut scene. Sure, after the scene is over you're pressed to deal with it immediately, but everyone knows you should look around the room first, eat some food, and break every pot in the area just in case. That's kind of what you expected. But no. The weirdness has only just begun.
The weirdness takes the form of a carriage that pulls up in front of your house days later. It is no simple traveler's vehicle like the wagon you and Mom rode in on; it's a thing of art. Every aspect of it, from the carpentry on the beams to the fabric of the canopy, is immaculate. Even the horses that pull it look practically royal, like creatures out of a fable.
Tokei takes one look at the carriage and drops to a knee. He doesn't rise until the door opens itself, revealing four armored samurai with faces of stone. They survey the entrance room as if it's going to attack them at any moment. When the blank walls and shoe racks do nothing outwardly hostile, one gives a nod and glances over his shoulder.
Two more people walk back into your home. One is a smaller woman, rounded around the stomach, with tiny glasses perched on her nose. Behind her fat and gray hair, her face is covered in smile lines, and she looks like she would be the greatest grandmother in the world. The other is a man, tall, handsome, with long hair held back via ornate combs. His face is angular, his features sharp, and his aura that of a man used to being obeyed.
It's not an impression that's broken by Tokei. Your… guardian?... doesn't move, but somehow manages to convey his kneeling directly at the man. The newcomer nods, and continues his surveillance. His eyes land on you and widen slightly.
"Is this," he asks, voice a rumbling baritone, "the child?"
Tokei nods instantly. "Yes, my lord. This is Manami's issue."
The newcomer's eyes fix on you. You get the sense that you are being studied and dissected, weighed and measured. "Does he speak yet?"
"No, my lord. He walks, but there is not speech yet."
A nod from the newcomer is the response. "Very well. Where is Manami?"
"She is taking her afternoon respite in one of the bedrooms on the upper story. I would be happy to guide you if you so-"
"Unnecessary," the man says. "Take the child from the house. We should not be more than a couple hours. Afterwards, you will return, and give me a full briefing."
"Yes sir," Tokei replies without a shred of hesitation. He reaches down and scoops you up again. "We will be on our way."
The old woman looks at the two of you. "Oh, I should come too!" she coos. "Babies are so cute!"
The man considers this for a second. "Very well. Take Umo with you. Give her a tour of what you can. I will send a runner to you when we are ready for you."
As the words leave his mouth, a scrawl begins to sound in your ears.
"In 'Elemental', there are some paths that are exclusive. It is impossible to see everything at once- taking some actions render others impossible to attain. These can lead to entire quest lines, relationships, or abilities being locked off. Please keep that in mind when making branching choices."
...the game wouldn't have said that right now, unless this was one of those choices.
What choice do you make?
[] Allow yourself to be taken by Tokei. You'll see parts of Konoha besides your house for the first time! Who knows what you'll run into!
[] Wriggle until you're free. You don't know who this guy is, but you'll be damned if you just leave him alone with Mom because he says so!
[] Write-In (Must be approved in thread by GM)
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Allow yourself to be taken by Tokei. You'll see parts of Konoha besides your house for the first time! Who knows what you'll run into!
I guess the obvious thing is for wriggle free to prevent this guy from harming our mother, but I think it's also possible it will just get us labeled as a disobedient and unruly child. Plus, if these options are serendipitous, then we could play with a clan heir or something at a park.
I guess the obvious thing is for wriggle free to prevent this guy from harming our mother, but I think it's also possible it will just get us labeled as a disobedient and unruly child. Plus, if these options are serendipitous, then we could play with a clan heir or something at a park.