Keiko looked up through the smoke of Pandaa returning home as Hazou came in from watch duty and and plopped down on the floor of the cave.
"I need your advice, Keiko." He was chewing his lip in the exact same way he always did when he asked for help with one of his schemes - he claimed it was Kurosawa Lip Chew Number 12 and translated to 'I deeply respect your opinion on a topic I am grappling with and humbly ask your assistance'. She appreciated the implied compliment, even if she didn't think it was necessarily warranted.
"Another plan?" She began to clear her mind in preparation for reaching out to the Frozen Skein.
"Yes. I think I have the broad overview worked out, but some of the details are... fiddly." She nodded, beginning to stare into the middle distance, waiting while he collected his thoughts. "I'm trying to figure out how to help you and Akane get along better."
She stopped nodding, unsure if she had heard rightly, and focused back on Hazou as he leaned forward earnestly from his seat across the cave.
He continued, apparently oblivious to her confusion. "My thought was to ask you how you would expect Akane to react to us coming into conflict with ninja from Hidden Leaf. If you responded dismissively, I would bring up a conversation she and I had where she acted much more mature than her typical behavior would suggest and expressed an understanding of the necessities of life as a missing nin. If you responded positively, I would... okay, this might be easier if I draw it out."
Keiko sat there dumbfounded as Hazou pulled out a piece of paper and began inscribing a branching flowchart onto it. 'Kami preserve us,' she thought to herself, 'he's evolved from lists to charts. At this rate we're all doomed.'
"...so that's the general idea," concluded Hazou. "Do you see any places where this might collapse and burn?"
"Well for one, DISPEL!" She looked around. Nothing had changed. Her head fell into her hands. "You're asking me to contribute to a plan for convincing myself of something."
"That's true, but I figured it was worthwhile because one: you're the best planner in the group and two: we can just work together to figure out how to make the discussion so persuasive that you'll still be convinced even after taking the fact that you helped write it into account."
At this point she started on some of the more advanced breathing exercises from the academy, the ones meant for keeping calm under combat conditions. The whole situation was just so... so Hazou. There was no other word for it. Trying to forestall any further exposition on the insane logic behind the whole situation, she asked, "Why do you even want to do this? To stick your nose in my and Akane's friendship?"
Hazou's eyes lit up. "You consider her a friend?" He started to rise. "Oh boy is that a relief. I guess I don't have to-"
"No! That's not what I... I mean, of course I'd prefer... you didn't answer the question!" she barked, glaring.
Blink. Blink blink. "Well, it's important for teammates to be able to support each other." Hazou sat back down slowly.
"Obviously."
"You two... you're fire and ice. You can cover each other's mental blind spots. You can pull her back from making foolishly optimistic decisions - don't give me that look, she is naive sometimes, I'm not that much of a doting sensei."
Keiko schooled her face quickly. She had been expecting Hazou to side with Akane pretty much entirely on any points of disagreement between the girl and herself.
"I'd like to think she can pull you back from... foolishly pessimistic decisions," Hazou continued, looking troubled for a moment. "But that can't happen unless you communicate with each other and respect each other. I know she respects you, we all do, or I'd be asking you to help me with a plan for talking with her about this too. On top of that, it's unpleasant to see friction between two people who are as important to me as you two."
Reaching over to pick up his writing supplies, he added, "In any case, if you don't feel like there's anything to add to the plan I guess I'll go run it by Mari-sensei before I attempt it. See you in a bit!"
______________ *Several minutes later...*
She was still trying to puzzle out the exact meaning of what had just transpired when Hazou poked his head back into the cave. "Keiko," he began, "suppose an assignment we took had a high likelihood to run into opposition from Hidden Leaf ninja..."
The sound of her palm connecting with her forehead nearly made Kagome blow up the tree he was hiding in for sentry duty.
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Omake: True Final Ultimate Secret Mori Technique: Clear Communication no Jutsu!
STORIES FOR THE STORY GOD! Stuff is inside spoilers to prevent this from being suuuuper long but you should still read it
Omake: True Final Ultimate Secret Mori Technique: Clear Communication no Jutsu!
"Keiko?" She opened her eyes and suppressed a slight annoyance at the sound of Hazou calling her name. She rose from her meditative pose to walk around the corner. He stood politely, holding two cups of tea, just outside the threshold of her area of the fort, doors not being within his MEW-repertoire. ("Not yet! Growth mindset!" he would insist.)
She noticed to her surprise that he was not, in fact, displaying his trademark Kurosawa Lip Chew No. 12, but instead one she hadn't seen before. She nodded for him to continue.
"Keiko, I wanted to thank you, and to apologize for causing tension at the team meeting tonight. May I come in?"
Again she nodded, accepting one of the cups before turning around.
After they'd sat and sipped politely for a moment, Hazou started speaking again. "Your suggestion to plan modular conversations in three dimensions came in very handy when I was discussing experimental seal ideas with Kagome earlier, and I wanted to express my sincere appreciation for it."
Recognizing the cadence of the conversation now, Keiko responded in kind. "I am glad that my suggestion proved useful. However, I would ask that further discussion along this branch of the conversation be postponed, as it is not as emotionally salient to me as the other component of your stated intentions."
Hazou nodded gravely, setting his cup of down. Then he bowed, and Keiko had to restrain a moment of shock. "I recognize that my suggestion to place Pandaa in harm's way was distressing to you, and that it was done in a callous manner, for both of which I apologize. I should have recognized that you have spent a good deal of time developing a personal relationship with the pangolins, and with Pandaa in particular. And though Mari-sensei intervened with an explanation on my behalf, my model of you suggested it would be much more productive for our friendship were I to make an additional effort."
"Your model was… accurate. Despite Mari-sensei's explanation, and despite recognizing on reflection that your suggestion was made in an effort to keep team members safe, I felt some amount of resentment at the thought that my main contribution to the group would be eliminated for a period of time were things to go wrong, as they often do. I accept your apology, and hope that repeating such an apology will not be necessary in the future."
"Hmm. While I continue to object to the characterization of the pangolin clan contract as your primary contribution to the group, I do not expect any discussion there would be productive. Instead, there is a component of this conversation I am hesitant to broach but feel is too important not to. What would your feelings be towards trying to expand this mode of communication to other members of the team, at least for important discussions?"
Keiko considered for a moment, and was about to respond when a part of his phrasing caught her attention. "I will anser momentarily, but 'Component of the conversation'? You planned this out using my suggestions?"
He grinned. "This is variation AABDA, with each branch sorted by how likely I expect that response to be. Clearly there is some polishing to be done in my model of you, but it is working well so far."
Keiko felt a warmth spreading through her that had nothing to do with the tea.
--------------------------------------
(Later)
"So… you just… say whatever pops into your head? What if you think of something mean or un-youthful? Frankly, that doesn't seem like it would lend itself to team cohesion very well."
"No, no, it's not anything that you think of, it's the things that you think have some notable chance of causing a miscommunication, and you spell it out in more detail than in a normal conversation, rather than assuming the person you were talking to will be drawing conclusions and making assumptions that match your own. Do you read "The Tragedy of Ren and Jing" in Hidden Leaf academy, when they're teaching you about the importance of team communication?"
"Huuuuh… the one where the boy doesn't remember what the handsigns mean and thinks his crush killed herself?"
"Right. It's like that, but the opposite, and maximized."
"...Hazou-sensei, maybe it would help if you could just give me an example rather than try and explain it a fifth different way?"
"Oh, sure! Aheh-hmm." He cleared his expression and his throat. "Akane, I would like to convince you to adopt this style of communication in some limited situations, specifically when the team is emotionally stressed but has plenty of time for discussion. This is not because I think your typical style of communication is poor - I actively enjoy your company, in fact - but rather because I think that there are advantages to extremely deliberate communication in those circumstances."
"Hmm. Let me try. Hazou-sensei, I appreciate your eagerness to accommodate my request to try a different way to teach me this method, and I think it helped, but I am having difficulty envisioning when it would actually be more useful than simply talking."
Hazou beamed. "That was excellent, Akane! To address your last point, part of the utility comes from discarding social norms which would normally stand in the way of honest criticism or require dishonest praise. This means you get better feedback, but means it's only really a useful strategy among people who trust one another, which is of course fine among the team. For example, Keiko and I spoke in this manner before your birthday, and again earlier when I went to apologize for upsetting her with my suggestion to use Pandaa to scout for traps. In fact, the reason I'm bringing this whole thing up with you personally rather than with the whole team is that there's a couple projects I really want to have the two of you cooperate on."
--------------------------------------
(Even later)
Akane and Keiko watched each other over their teacups. Keiko glanced at Hazou and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You think we should work in close proximity for an extended period of time on potentially very frustrating projects? I worry that the differences in our personalities will exacerbate any difficulties that present themselves, under such circumstances."
He just nodded.
"The first of the two is one I expect we can get done quickly, and use to establish a routine for the second, more complicated one. Both revolve around the use of Elemental Mastery. Currently, Akane can bring a room from a normal temperature to freezing cold or really, really hot. I want to find out if we can use that to manufacture ice to supply Honami's inn, and we need both Keiko's logistics expertise and Akane's technique to figure out an optimal way to create and deliver it. The second one goes in the opposite direction, depending on heat generation. Here, Keiko."
He handed her a bit of paper with a series of diagrams on it, along with some cross-shaped pieces of wood. After puzzling over them for a second, Kei began assembling them. "Where does Elemental Mastery play into this plan for a floating base?"
"Well-" Hazou started.
"Hazou, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, I would appreciate more the chance for Akane to demonstrate how well your lesson in communication took hold."
Akane set her cup down. "Hazou-sensei mentioned a time when he won a long-jump bet by riding the warm air rising from a shop. The warm air generated by the Elemental Mastery technique might be used in a similar way, depending on the precise details, to raise up a basket or platform underneath a large canvass that could be steered using wind techniques. The base of the platform would be brought up either under such a basket or in expanded storage scrolls. There are also potential applications for transporting the team across borders too high to be spotted, certainly too high to be attacked."
She paused to take a measured breath. "If I can return to an earlier topic of conversation, I agree that there is potential for friction between our problem-solving approaches, but I contend that confronting that friction will help us to grow as people and to contribute more to our team and welcome the chance to do so." She grinned slightly. "I would welcome the chance to practice this communication method you and Hazou-sensei chose to chare with me, should any serious conflicts arise, as that seems to be a sizeable chunk of Hazou-sensei's third project, the continued improvement of our friendship."
Keiko blinked. Twice. Before producing a deep sigh. "Alright. Let's see this mess of an experimental protocol I know you've got hidden in your sleeve, Hazou."
---------------------------
Mari briefly glanced up from her sunbathing as a faint voice drifted over the resort wall from far out into the nearby wooded hills - "Oh, not ANOTHER flowchart!!"
Joutarou's sword swiped through Mari's neck and time froze.
Hazou watched every pathway shatter and reform and shatter again, his mind filtering through his library, looking for a way, any way, to make this not be real.
Distantly, he was aware of Keiko screaming.
Lightning surged in his chakra vessels.
Pathways opened up.
None helped.
He squeezed the lightning harder.
Pathways opened up.
Keiko was transforming into ice. Snow swirled around her, a blizzard pouring out of her now empty eye-sockets.
None helped.
He burned the lightning. Compressed it until it grew heavy and dense, and his whole body ached with dull pain perforated by sudden spikes of sharp pain.
Pathways opened up.
None helped.
There had to be a way.
There had to.
His lips moved without his conscious direction, merely an expression of a desperate search function running through his library.
An omake where Kouta splatters Akane's brains all over Hazou? I mean, I'd prefer that the QMs save their time and energy for the updates. That said, this sounds like it could be interesting, and I didn't have plans tonight. I'm not a writer (or at least, I've never written fiction before), but I'll give it a go.
*2.5 hours later*
Edit: Oh God, I just read it, and probably should have done that before posting it. Should be readable now (hopefully).
I rewrote the scene from Kouta's perspective (stealing a bunch of @eaglejarl's dialog and descriptions because I can't actually write ), then treated it as a "What if Inoue didn't notice?" scenario. I also tried out the new combat rules, using the best estimates I have for what the enemies would have. I suggest we develop a better emergency combat method than the one I used, because this isn't great for us.
Omake: Blood and Smoke
Kouta was angry.
Who did they think they were? They didn't even attempt to treat our village with respect. Treating our patrol as if it didn't matter, shamelessly forcing their presence on the village, trying to impress us all. No. They were dirty rotten missing-nin.
"Why are you just watching?" she asked, smiling. "Come! Join us in fanning the flames of our youth!"
Pah! They're also crazy. How far have we sunk that these insane missing-nin can lord themselves over us like this?
"C'mon, we don't bite, I promise. Well, unless we're doing the Dirty Fighting and Underhanded Tacticcs class, but we'll leave that one out for now." her sensei added.
And they taunt us. Someone needs to teach them a lesson. Why is nobody stepping forward? It's about time someone showed these ninja their place. Are we going to submit yet again and let them claim superiority? No. I will not allow it. This is for my village and our honor. I'll show that boy who the Taijutsu master is. He must be at least 3 years younger than me. I can take him.
Kouta steps forward, past Akane, looking direcctly at Hazou and readying himself for battle.
"We don't need your classes," Kouta signals ready, "Come on, brat. Show me what you've got."
"I'm tired," Hazou said, "Why don't you spar with Kimiko here?"
What's he trying to do? Wear me out so I have a harder time beating him? Save face for when I ultimately beat whatever he throws at me? No. That's unacceptable.
"A kunoichi? Please. Are you afraid?" Kouta taunted.
"Nah, just tired," Hazou said, sitting down. "Kimiko, go for it."
"Yosh!" said the crazy girl, "I am Sasaki Kimiko, and I challenge you! Face me if you dare, or admit the superiority of the Rightenous Face-Punching Style!"
And now they taunt us with more absurdities. Whatever. I'll enjoy shutting her up anyways.
"Fine," Kouta replied, "I'll deal with you first and then perhaps your sensei will have gotten his nerve back."
Once I've beaten them both, maybe the villagers will finally remember that we're ninja, not civilians. They can't control us. We command our own destiny.
Kouta leaped forward with a powerful front-kick to center mass that Akane used to dump him on his head.
"Would you like to try that again?" Akane taunted, "Perhaps a little slower this time?"
Arrogant kunoichi, I'll show you, stop humiliating us.
"Lucky!" Kouta growled and launched himself at her again.
He was careful, not leaving openings and not over-committing. Unfortunately, Akane was just slightly better. To make matters worse, at every opportunity, she'd punch him in the face and laugh.
She's… she's taunting me. I CANNOT allow this. We will not be humiliated!
Kouta's face turned red with fury, when next she knocked him back, he activated his chakra boost. His uppercut came out of nowhere, too fast to see much less block. It lifted Akane off her feet and threw her back, but he was there before she hit the ground. His axe kick smashed her into the dirt; the air went out of her and she curled to the side. She managed to tap one hand on the ground to acknowledge her defeat.
Oh, you're not getting out of this yet. I'll make you pay for this humiliation.
Kouta kicked her in the head. Her head snapped over. He followed up with another kick, but overestimated his strength. His kick went through her head, sending chucks of skull and brain matter over her sensei. He froze.
There was a brief moment of shock. The village ninja froze, not expecting death from a spar. Hazou had no such hesitation.
"Akane!" Hazou shouted as his world turned red. He activated his chakra boost, closing the 10 feet gap between him and Kouta and took advantage of Kouta's momentary confusion to put his fist through Kouta's skull.
16 Tapirs-, Taijutsu (9) + 4(Max MCB) + 2 boost => 15d100 = 725, 662, 873, 748, 746, 944, 835, 764, 879, 657, 837, 737, 781, 837, 830, 923 Tapirs all die with little fuss
Noburi summoned two clones and waterwhip, Keiko and Kagome prepare to attack from distance. VHitM ninja attempt to engage, Keiko and Kagome repel with explosives
Instantly the Tapirs responded to the downed Kouta. They rushed at Team Inoue responding to the threat.
"Del-Ep-See" Shouted Inoue, as the team settled into a defensive formation. Inoue, Kagome and Hazou made a basic triangle about 2 meters in length around Keiko and Noburi. Noburi knelt down to summon clones and his water-whip as Keiko covered Inoue, Kagome and Hazou with thrown kunai. Tapir after tapir tried to enter their range, but were cut down by Kagome's dual knives, Inoue's deft movements, and Hazou's erratic twitchy movements, and Keiko's kunai.
By the time the village ninja fully processed the attack on their own it was too late. Their Tapirs were down and the missing-nin were out for blood. The crowd began to scream and run.
"Attack!" shouted the ninja leader, charging with a dozen ninja at his back while the remaining six drew their bows.
Noburi stood up from his kneeling, with 2 water clones, a drawn whip, and rage in his eyes.
"Kagome, switch!" Noburi yelled, as he used the substitution technique on Kagome who instantly switched to hurling explosives at the approaching ninja with Keiko. The ground shook with explosion after explosion as the pair whittled down the approaching forces.
Within seconds, seven of the attacking ninja were dead, explosives having torn apart their limbs, scattering the field with ash, blood, and bone. The five who had escaped the explosives turned on the team with death in their eyes and bow-support through the smoke.
Noburi grabbed one at once with a water-whip and began draining their chakra while using them to catch the arrows their teammates sent at them. Inoue had to break formation with the clones Noburi had assigned to her, as the enemy ninja decidedly avoided her to focus on the healer. She sliced off one's arm, and punched through another's chest.
Hazou turned to help Noburi who was being overwhelmed by the sheer number of ninja attacking him. Hazou saw Noburi take a brutal blow to the head and stagger, beginning to fall
No. Not again. No more!
Hazou substituted with Noburi instantly engaging the three ninja Noburi had been fighting using the full extent of his abilities, boost and Roki to exact his judgement on them. By the time the red had subsided, they were all down, with Hazou unscratched on him.
While Hazou was busy taking out their close quarters ninja, the bow-nin wasted no time pumping the areas their ninja weren't fighting full of arrows. Noburi, startled by the blow to the head and disorientated by the substitution just managed to dodge the arrow from the ninja ahead of him, but took an arrow in the back from behind, and fell. Inoue took an arrow to the shoulder, but bluff-charged the bow-nin, scattering them, as the smoke cleared and Inoue came out of the smoke with fire in her eyes and their comrade's blood and brains on her hands.
"Fall back! Regroup at point 5!" Shouted the remaining senior ninja. The remaining bow-nin took off into the village. Hazou surveyed his team with sorrow in his eyes.
XP Awarded: 90 XP
Vote time! What to do now? Your current status:
Akane is dead
Noburi is unconsious, with a major back-wound
Inoue has an arrow in her shoulder
Keiko is out of explosives
Hazou is bruised and out of chakra
13 VHitM ninja and 16 Tapirs are dead
The village alarm has been raised
The Bow-nin are no longer in sight
All surviving teammates have earned 1 Thousand-Yard Stare point.
"You were standing right next to the Betrothal Stone, you looked her in the eyes, and then you asked if she was single," the eldest Kannagi said. The old man stood, spine as straight as a spear, hands folded in his voluminous sleeves, and an Expression of Doom on his face. "What did you think you were doing? Were you simply trifling with my granddaughter's heart?"
"Uhhhh...," said Noburi.
"No, no, it's fine," Inoue said, stifling a giggle. "Really. We're delighted to become part of your family, Kannagi-sama. Thank you so much for accepting us."
"Hmph," the elder snorted. "Very well. I will expect your student to be at my dwelling every morning, an hour before dawn. He will need to hurry if he is to take his place as clan leader in time for the election."
"Say what now?" Noburi asked.
The Expression of Doom because the Expression of Contemputously Doomiest Doom. "Did you think you could marry the Princess of the Kannagi, wielder of our clan's greatest weapon, mistress of our secret style, and not fulfill your duties as clan leader?"
"Uhhhh...," said Noburi.
"I will be certain he acts appropriately, elder," Inoue-sensei said. "You have my word. If I may ask, though...what's this about an election?"
The Eyebrow Arch of Affronted Bemusement joined the Expression, which had now softened very slightly into the Glare of Firey Threat of Doom. "Because of Gasai Kouta's shameful behavior on not one but two occasions, she is being removed from the Council of Elders," Kinnagi said. "An election will be held in one month's time to replace her on the counter. Your student, our new clan head, Will. Be. Elected."
Inoue bowed; when Noburi was too slow to follow she reached up and pulled him into a bow as well. "Of course, elder," she said. "I will bend my every effort to the cause."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"No!" the instructor said, cracking her switch across Noburi's knuckles hard enough to draw blood. "Touch your napkin with your right hand again and I will cut it off!"
"You'll cut off my napkin?" Noburi said guilelessly, sucking his knuckles as he did. "That seems odd. Wouldn't that stop me from following Rule Ninety-Four-B, 'Correct re-folding of napkin prior to completion of soup course'? It seems like it would."
"SILENCE!" the Matron bellowed. "Your hand! I would cut off your hand!"
"Ohhhhhh," Noburi said, nodding. "I see. That makes more sense." He frowned. "Wouldn't it prevent me from fulfilling Rule Two-Hundred-and-Eighty-Four-J, 'Correct replacement of tea cup after third sip in honor of guest'?"
The matron snapped her switch over his head.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Sea Cucumber Summoning Contract, I choose you!" Keiko said, slamming her bloody hand into the contract.
A giant green thing fell out of thin air with a wet 'plap'. It had no eyes, but she was sure it was looking at her.
"Ain't dat just my luck," the sea cucumber groused. "Ya just gettin' in da tub fer a lil well-desoived relaxin' and dere's a call at da contract. A'right, kid, yeah, good enuf. Youse have signed da contract wid da mighty sea cucumbah clan, yadda yadda, youse may call on us at need, blah blah. See yas later." There was another bamf and the sea cucumber was gone.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"You know, this ain't so bad," Inoue said, lounging on the padded Multiple Earth Wall chaise lounge while three of the village genin fanned her. "Since we introduced this place to modern ninja techniques they've really come to appreciate us properly."
"I know, right?" Kagome said, lounging on his own couch, eyes closed as two village maidens rubbed his feet. "And I'm so glad you recommended I get therapy. I feel ever so much more relaxed."
Inoue laughed. "I'm pretty sure I said 'laid', not 'therapy'," she said.
He shrugged, not bothering to open his eyes. "I find that spending special sexy times with my dainty flowers to be extremely therapeutic," he said. He opened one eye and smiled down at the maidens on footrub duty. "Am I right, little ones?"
The maidens (who were strikingly beautiful and most definitely of legal age for super special sexy times) smiled and giggled. "Yes, Kagome-sama!" they chorused. "We are delighted that you accepted us as joint First Wives of Clan Kagome, the Eighth Great Clan of the Village Hidden in the Mountain! The explosive-seal-powered internal combustion engines that you have introduced will make us more powerful than the Five Great Villages combined!"
Kagome preened. "Nice to be appreciated," he said.
The girls young women of legal age smiled and made bedroom eyes at him. "Oooh, Kagome-sama," they said. "We are so very appreciative."
Kagome's thin face split into a wide grin. He sat up, swinging his feet off the couch and into his geta. (Which are traditional Japanese sandals, in case you didn't know that.) "you Know," Kagome said, sitting up. "I'm feeling in need of a little therapy right now. Come on, ladies, we should get back to fulfilling our duties as Clan Progenitors!"
"Excellent, Kagome-sama!" they said, springing to their feet. "Shall we invite wives Second through Nineteenth?"
The genin tried very hard not to gag as Kagome and the First Wives of his harem went off to generate the next generation of paranoid seal masters.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"So, do you surrender?" Hazou asked, leaning out the commander's hatch of his hovertank. His grandson had argued with him about going on this mission, saying that he was too old to take the field and his position as Clan Head made him an inappropriate choice for frontline duty and that, since he was the first member of the clan to have awakened all three tomoe (which are comma-shaped things) of his SHaringan (which are totally hax eyeballs that Hazou scored when Mountain overran Sound and convinced Orochimaru to stop being a jerk and use his bio-tinker powers for good) he had a dutty to stay at home and father more kids.
Sarutobi Hiruze raised an eyebrow. "Surrender?" he asked dangerously. His giant mecha's right hand drifted to the Hellbolt Blaster that rested on its hip.
"Partner!" Hazou said quickly. "I meant partner! Do you agree to partner with us?"
Of course," the Hokage said. "Now, lt's go kick some other-village ass. This world-peace thing ain't gonna happen on its own." He bit down on his totally badass cigar and turned his mecha north. It was time to conquer.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
For starting the Industrial Chakra Revolution, conquering death, handing out Sharingan, Rinnegan, and Byakugan to everyone on earth (which took some doing because the human brain isn't really intended to handle three eyes), and fathering a clan of loyal, happy, well-adjusted children, you have earned 7 XP.
Keiko was apprehensive as she approached the podium. Everything she had done for the past 3 months has been leading her towards this, to her attempt at the summoning ceremony. Each of the last 15 attempts to gain a summoning contract had failed, and that fact sat heavily in her mind.
As Keiko approached the dias with the scroll she steeled herself against the inevitable disappointment of both her sensei. Carefully, Keiko pulled out a kunai and cut a precise pattern into her own thumb. Silence reigned in the room as everyone watched with bated breath. Her teacher, her love, and her teammates all wanted her---expected her---to succeed. Keiko knew she wouldn't. She knew that nothing she did could change that.
However, she also knew that she must perform the ritual correctly. Any mistakes simply meant that she would have to try again, and that would make the inevitable disappointment of her friends deeper and harsher. So, to spare them that pain, Keiko focused.
Keiko channeled chakra into the wound she just made, the actions made rote through practice even as blood obscured her movements. As the seal took hold it changed the blood flowing out of her thumb into something more. The flow became a trickle and the blood glowed blue as it became both signal and conduit.
A wave passed through her audience, a wave of held breaths being released and subtle gasps of amazement. Keiko suppressed her sigh and signed the slot allotted her on the scroll.
As she pulled her finger away, a powerful boom rocked the room. The dias was caught in a maelstrom that pushed Keiko back despite the chakra she was using to hold herself down. It looked like a hurricane compressed into a sphere complete with arcs of lightning and momentary glimpses into a calm center.
All stood silent as the storm dissipated to reveal a small animal. It stood on its hind legs, with its hands held as if it was begging for something. Scales ran along its back like natural armor and its tail gleamed, looking as if it could cut steel.
It took a moment to glance at its surroundings before standing up a little straighter and saying "Right, what's all this then?"
"I, uhh, summoned you." stammered out a shocked Keiko, her mind still caught between incredulity and surprise.
"Yeah little miss perceptive, that much was bloody obvious. Why did you summon me?" said the animal while staring directly at Keiko.
"I wanted to sign the summoning contract for, umm, your species." said Keiko, feeling like the little creature was dissecting her with its beady eyes.
"Pangolin. We're Pangolin. Good lord, has everyone forgotten about us since our non-sophont cousins went extinct? Anyway, I'm Walter. I'm the primary intake coordinator for the summoning branch of our government.", he said, preening for a moment before seeming to decide that he should act more professionally.
As Walter looked around the room, he said, "There's a standard interview process and a goodly bit of paperwork, but since you already have the blood signature thing sorted that should be much easier. Before we get going, do you have any questions? Any of you?",
While Keiko was stuck attempting to process all of this, Takahashi took the opportunity to ask "Why now? Why have you finally responded to the summoning ceremony?"
"Huh, that was you? We usually take a bit of a sniff before popping over to this dimension. Our sense of smell is better than our vision, after all. The last 15 times the machine went 'bing' everything smelled like lye mixed with tapir fat. We assumed it was the damnable lions messing with the dimensional transport system and decided that discretion was the better part of valour."
@eaglejarl, @Velorien, @Jackercracks: I figure you've probably already decided on the canonical type of the summon animal, but I just want to give you a nudge toward pangolin. They're mammals, super adorable, covered in armor, and curl up into little balls as a defense. With some jutsu they could be an awesome fighting force, especially for guerrilla operations and sneaking around.
You know, a modern-ish world where "Killing the owner of a contract makes you the new owner of that contract" was written into physics would be a very fun setting for another rational quest.
I had, though, forgotten one more thing I want to learn. @Jello_Raptor, I'd be interested in a line in Poor Communication Kills about Mari asking Keiko if she's been using her bloodline during the training and, if she has, ask her to spend some time with Mari going through whatever exercises her clan has to check that they are not overusing it.
I'd like to have some sort of a line in the sand where if Takahashi has been pressuring her to use her bloodline, then I'd vote either to leave or to take a break on the apprenticeship for a while, but honestly he's good enough at what he does that he wouldn't do anything oppressive like that. He'd lead her into wanting to use her bloodline instead. But at the least it would inform the next vote.
I added a note to Conversation 2, but that's just discussing things. I figure we can use the next update to act if there's an actual issue. This includes asking Inoue to do something.
This entire plan should take no more than a few hours immediately after the meeting. Once the conversations are done, the update should end, and allow us to vote on further action.
Conversation 1: Inoue's Information
Before the debrief: Everyone makes sure the only people around are Inoue, Keiko, Noburi, Kagome, Akane, and Us. Minimize chance of external eavesdropping as best each of us can.
Let Inoue debrief us off screen unless she has something new to add.
We want to see how everyone reacts.
We react to the news of Kannagi's betrayal by dispelling, then we react as the thread approximately has.
Mention possible options of "Burn it all", "Run away quickly", and "Roll with it until we have the scroll, then one of the first two".
Ask everyone what they think about those options, both how amenable they are to them, and concerns with them.
Conversation 2: Keiko Concerns
Talk to Inoue privately about Keiko's mental state.
Mention what she said to us, and our concerns about:
Takahashi worsening her depression.
Takahashi suborning her loyalty.
That we fear her crush on Inoue might now be her strongest tie to the team.
Ask Inoue what we could do about this. Mention following options and ask for her opinion on them:
<Looking for contributions on specific remedies for Keiko's mental state>
We could run, steal the scroll, and get Jiraya to teach Keiko the neccesary information.
Spend more time with the party. A N-days-on N-days-off schedule with Takahasi.
Find some way to give her active leadership again, some task which forces her to worry about our well-being.
Bad Option: genjitsu mind-fuckery
Bad Option: play into the crush to tie her deeper to our group
Does Inoue know whether Keiko has been using her bloodline during Takahashi's training?
We're worried it might be harming her and changing her mindset for the worse.
Conversation 3: Kagome's Catastrophes
Talk to Inoue and Kagome, again privately.
Ask both of them about their estimate of our tactical and strategic combat position.
How capable are we of destroying this place? How much time would it take for Kagome to deploy explosive seals all over town, enough to obliterate everything/kill most people?
How capable are we of an assasination? against Takahashi? other leaders? could we make it look like an accident?
How effectively can we run away? Kill pursuers?
How much do we know about the scroll's security measures? Do they think we could steal it? destroy it?
Ask Kagome "Pretend you're the one designing the scroll security measures but with the tools you think village sealmasters have.
Would you, with your actual skillset, be able to get through that?"
Conversation 4: Needling Noburi
Make sure this is private, with only Nobby and Us listening.
Ask him how he's feeling about the Yuno betrothal stuff.
Ask him how he would feel about the following options:
Run away immediately, leaving Yuno behind.
Run away but take Yuno with us.
Letting the marriage go through and staying.
Finding some way to disrupt the marriage while still staying. (Politically incredibly bad).
If he seems amenable to advice:
Point out that arranged marriages do happen and if both parties are reasonable, willing to compromise, and care about each other's well-being then love will often come in the long term.
If those things aren't there then it's really difficult to create happiness and stability.
Do you know why Yuno is considered cursed? If not, what is your guess? Also, could you ask her next time you get the chance?
Does he think Yuno's reliable? Does he actually want to be in a relationship with her?
Conversation 5: Akane Assessment
Talks to Akane, again privately.
Mention that she shouldn't have brought Yuno into the base. What if she sneaks in at night to steal/stab Noburi?
Try to be a little less trusting of people she doesn't know well or who don't have the trust of the entire team.
Tell her to ask herself "what would Hazou do?" when dealing with non-group members. This won't always be the right option, but it should always be an option she considers carefully.
Be kind and understanding as we talk with Akane.
Give her a hug if she wants. Tell her that we understand how hard this is for her.
The update needs to end no later than 8 in-game hours after Inoue gets back, allowing us to vote again. We should also schedule this update so we have some time to talk to Keiko/others immediately afterwards (Immediately afterwards in game time, two updates from now in external time). Feel free to not go through all the conversations as long as they go in order and the update ends as early as possible in-game.
I want to make sure that if we run, we take the entire team with us. That means knowing how they feel about things and gathering more information on their mental state.
We have very little to lose by doing this and the information we gain can allow us to keep the team together no matter what option we choose next.
Edit 1: Changed "Proto-Plan" to "Plan". Added an explicit call for people's opinions in Conversation 1. Added note to leave some time to talk to Keiko/others. Added some explanation/justifications to the rear end of the plan.
Edit 2: Voted for own plan ...
Edit 3: Added some options for helping Keiko to Conversation 3
Edit 4: Added note to ask Nobby about Yuno's cursed status. Added Conversation 5.
Edit 5: Grammar and spelling. Added Akane Hug.
Edit 6: Changed "Scene" to "Conversation" so that the plan is a little less prescriptive to the QMs. Added "Run and get jiraya to tech keiko" to possible options to discuss with INoue. Added questions about stealing the scroll.
Edit 7: Added note that QMs don't have to write all the conversations as long as they short circuit correspondingly early. Re-ordered the conversations in the order I want to have them.
Edit 8: Added note asking Inoue about whether Keiko has been overusing her bloodline during training.
It never ceases to amuse me that military battle wizards can earn the XP points needed for their offensive magic simply by interacting with a bunch of semi-hostile religious technologically-stunted isolationists. Talking with stubborn, conniving people who want you dead helps make you stronger.
Random evil-doer: "Impossible! How did all y'all become S-rank without alerting any of the Hidden Village spy networks?!? I had informants in all of them!"
Us: "We pitted our wits against a village no one knew existed."
Random evil-doer: *gasps* "You found Uzushiogakure?!?"
Us: "Pssh, I wish. No, we found some religious fanatics guarding a summoning scroll."
Random evil-doer: "So you learned secret techniques from the summoning animals?"
Us: "Nope."
Random evil-doer: "The villagers taught you secret techniques?"
Us: "Not really, we had to convince the villagers to accept us as "worthy" before they would even willingly let us stick around."
Random evil-doer: "What does that have to do with anything?"
Us: "You ever try to convince a bunch of crazy people to give up their most prized possession and accept you as their leader without violent conquest?"
Random evil-doer: "Of course not; that's a fool's errand."
Us: "Well we did and we succeeded."
Random evil-doer: *splutters incoherently* "S-so? How did that make you this strong?"
Us: "It turns out that the most optimal path to enlightenment involves persistence, willfully ignoring strangers' discomfort at your presence, engaging in and completing near-Sisyphean tasks, research, and training. Loads of training."
"Keiko, you're back!" said everyone as their missing teammate walked into the cave, Kagome trailing behind her.
"Yes," Keiko said.
"Nobody missed me, I see," Kagome grumbled.
"We love you, Kagome!" Akane said, tacklehugging him. The paranoid sealmaster seemed surprised but not displeased.
"So, Keiko, you got the summons! Congratulations!" Hazou said.
"Thank you," Keiko said.
"Will you introduce us to your summon?" Noburi asked.
"Sure," Keiko said. She bit her thumb until it bled and slammed it on the ground. "Pandaa! I choose you!"
Poof! "Hi everyone!" Pandaa said. "I'm so excited to meet so many humans!"
"Hi, Pandaa," everyone said. "So nice to meet you too! Would you like to join us for dinner and tell us all about the Summon Realm?"
"Sure!" Pandaa said. "Do you have ants? Or maybe termites?"
"Um...no," Noburi said. "Sorry. I made miso soup."
"Oh," Pandaa said, looking disappointed. "That's fine too, I guess."
Noburi handed him a bowl. The pangolin experimented to find the best way to consume it and discovered that scooping it up on the back of his tongue worked, more or less. "So," Noburi said. "Tell us about the Summon Realm."
"No," Pandaa said. "I can't do that, I'm afraid. My inner voice is telling me that doing so would be way too much effort. Something about 'worldbuilding is tiring' or somesuch. I have no choice but to obey that voice."
"Rats!" said everyone.
"Can you help us leave the village?" Hazou asked.
"I already ordered you to in front of literally the entire village," Pandaa said. "What's the problem?"
"Oh," said everyone. "I guess there's not a problem. Okay, we'll leave right after breakfast."
Breakfast was delicious. Then everyone henged into a healthy form and went outside to find a large fraction of the village lingering around, Yuno among them.
"Yuno, may I speak to you?" Noburi said. "Privately?"
"Absolutely!" Yuno said, going aside with him.
"Yuno, I'm sorry to say this, but our marriage was never intended to be real," Noburi said. "It was a political ploy on the part of your father."
Yuno's face crumpled. "Oh," she said in a tiny voice.
"I really do like you," Noburi hurred to say. "I don't feel ready for marriage but...would you like to come with us? We're leaving in a few minutes. You could come too. Leave this village that hates you behind and see the world outside."
Yuno blinked. "Oh my," she said. "Ummm...."
Twenty minutes later, the group all henged back into healthy forms and ran the several hours back to their original fort on the coast, where they unhenged and Inoue-sensei went to lie down so that she could heal.
Three weeks went by. The weather was beautiful. Nothing bad happened. Everyone was fully healed. Kagome and Hazou had been busy little bees with the seal-making and the party was now up to a nice reasonable total of five thousand implosion or explosive seals, and a few dozen seals of Force Wall and Five Seal Barrier. They were out of paper or they would have made more. The fort was reinforced enough that Kagome was able to sleep at night and the rest of the party was really sick of having to walk through a thousand traps every time they needed to pee.
At the end of those three weeks it was a lovely day. Everyone was very happy, completely healed, and itching to do something interesting.
You have earned 0 XP.
What now? Voting ends Wednesday June 29 at 12pm London time.
Your vote must include not only what you do next, but also the answer to the question 'Did Yuno come with us?' Note that your answer may be overridden after the GMs confer on whether we are willing to add yet another character to the group.
It was a beautiful overcast morning. Kagome woke up, and made sure none of his intruder-detecting-and-obliterating seals had gone off, which of course they hadn't, because everyone wanted him alive and healthy and there weren't any conspiracies trying to eliminate him because he knew too much.
Satisfied, he got out of bed. The automatic de-lupchanzer seal on the floor, the invention which only last year had ended all war forever, flared with the familiar blue light of perfect safety. It had been a pain, turning down all five Kage hats, but Kagome's true love was sealing, and he wasn't the kind of man who made compromises.
He barely had time to walk out of his bedroom before Inoue sidled up to him, dressed in that figure-hugging red outfit he really liked. "Husband, you are looking more virile than ever this morning. Would you like to do erotic things with me again?"
On his other side, Hazō offered him another of his lists. "Kagome-sensei, I have a new proposal for sealcrafting research that does not violate the very laws that protect us from the unspeakable horrors lurking on the threshold between dream and reality. Also, it has no failure modes and I have drawn up detailed safety protocols for what to do when it goes wrong anyway."
Kagome took a second to look around his home, which was like the Gōketsu residence, only twice as big and ten times as fortified, and with a three-mile perimeter with clear lines of sight and 3,089 different traps which Kagome had time to reset and rearrange every morning. Oh, and it was called the Kagome residence, not the Gōketsu residence. Obviously.
"No time," he told both of them. "My nemesis is up to his old tricks again, and nobody else can stop him. Tell Jiraiya-stinker to ready my special combat uniform, with all the brilliant personal defence seals I invented that don't interfere with each other or fail catastrophically when hit with chakra attacks, and make sure he puts the pieces together right this time."
"It's all right, Clan Leader. Jiraiya may be a bit slow, but he really looks up to you as a sealmaster and a superior human being, so I'm sure he will work hard."
Kagome nodded, and went boldly forth.
"Wait!" Keiko called out to him on his way out. "My calculations state that you have only a 0.000001% chance of victory, and I don't want to lose you because you are such an excellent father figure, much better than your own father ever was!"
"Don't worry, Keiko," Kagome ruffled her hair, completely at ease with expressing affection through physical contact. "With enough explosives, every battle has a 100% chance of victory!"
-o-
"Ahhahahaha!" the Sage of Six Paths laughed maniacally. "You, the only man who can stop me, have finally fallen into my cunning trap. Now, while you are chained down with no hope of escape, I will use my sealing failure cascading device to rip open a rift to the far side of space and time and consume you forever!"
"Not so fast," Kagome said, and then delivered a really clever one-liner with his usual skill at improvising in social contexts. Then, the micro-exploding tags he'd invented went off, snapping the chains without risking any harm to Kagome himself.
"Impossible! Even I, the Sage of Six Paths, couldn't safely make seals that small! You shall die for being the greatest sealmaster ever!"
The Sage slammed his thumb down on the trigger for his doomsday device but nothing happened.
"Ha!" Kagome sneered. "You thought you had me trapped, but actually I arrived in this room before you did, laid down some seals which completely countered everything you were planning to do, and then let you think you'd captured me!"
The Sage gritted his teeth. "You have foiled me for the last time, Kagome! Now I shall kill you with all the taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu I have accumulated over a thousand years of training!"
Then he exploded into a million tiny pieces.
"I told you," Kagome said, "I prepared this room myself. Not even your Absolute Defence Total Immortality no Jutsu can withstand my skill at blowing things up."
He strolled out into the courtyard of the Sage's evil base.
But waiting for him there were ten thousand clones of the Sage's brother. Because this was taking place in Rain. Obviously.
"You will pay for revealing my terrible secret to the world with your encyclopaedic knowledge of hidden truths, Kagome!"
Dummy waved his arms as he gave his forces a complicated series of sophisticated orders. "First division, advance! Vanguard, execute pattern alpha! Flotilla, engage him in a pincer movement! Overpowered ninjutsu squad, prepare the overpowered ninjutsu on my mark!
"Now you are doomed, Kagome. Battle tactics can never defeat strategy!"
Kagome threw out a hundred thousand implosion seals, destroying Dummy's entire army in one go.
"They can if the battle tactics have enough explosives!"
"Noooo…" Dummy crumpled to his knees. "How could I forget this universal truth which is now taught in every ninja school in the world?"
Kagome jumped down and put Dummy out of his misery using the incredible manly strength that he had always had but just chose never to use, because he preferred to win battles using his brain unlike those kids who had always bullied him at the Academy. (Though, obviously, those kids had long since seen the error of their ways. They'd begged Kagome for forgiveness, and he had generously given them a second chance by assigning them to permanent meatbag duty together with the sealing instructor who'd told Kagome he'd never amount to anything.)
The Kagome Clan was waiting for him at the exit.
"Wow, Kagome," Akane said. "You really are incredibly youthful."
Kagome, who totally knew what she meant when she kept using that word, accepted the compliment with his usual social grace.
"It's true," Noburi agreed. "Nobody else could have seen through the Sage's plan like that. I'm sure glad nobody calls you crazy or paranoid when you make these sensible danger assessments that always turn out to be right."
And finally, standing behind them all was Ayako, just like he remembered her.
"Kagome," she said, "I've made a terrible, terrible mistake and I'm sorry for everything. After all these years, I finally realise what an amazing man you are. Won't you please be my boyfriend?"
"No," Kagome said, but gently, because he was good at understanding other people's feelings and not accidentally offending them or making things worse.
"I have my family now, the one I always wanted, and they're all I'll ever need."
-o-
I don't have much time today, but since this one was pretty short, I'll see if I can come up with anything else to go with it.
This chapter is being written using modified Dresden Files rules.
Important note: All the mechanics in this chapter were made up on the spot without consulting the other QMs, so this probably isn't exactly how we would do it if we actually moved to Dresden Files. Also, the scenario and characters were not vetted with the other QMs either, so the events of this may or may not have actually played out in canon MfD.
The basic rules will be shown in the story below. Here are the modifications:
High Lethality:
When assigning stress, also fill all boxes below the point.
You may not take Moderate or Serious consequences in order to reduce stress.
Any time someone attacks you, if you survive without taking consequences then you are allowed an immediate counterattack on their initiative. You still get your own actions on your initiative.
After physical combat, everyone on the winning team (conscious or not) gains 1 Fate Point (FP) per person on the losing team, regardless of which or how many opponents they were personally involved in defeating.
After social combat, everyone involved gains 1 FP for each opponent they personally defeated.
Uchiha Sasuke
Dresden Files rules. Power level 'Chest Deep': 8 refresh, 30 skill points, skill max Superb Assumed: 1 Significant advancement, giving 1 skill point and assorted other unused bennies
Aspects
Aspects are elements of your character that can help or hurt you. Sasuke's aspects are:
Last Scion of the Uchiha
Ninja of the Leaf
Balanced on the Edge of Darkness
Always Second Best...For Now!
Your Betrayal Only Strengthens Me
Never Tell Me The Odds
Brothers in Trouble
Calm in a Crisis
Bonus Aspect: Corrupted Will of Fire
Total Refresh: 1 [relates to how many Fate Points you get / how many powers you can buy] Fate Points: 7 [changes from session to session depending on player actions. At character creation it's equal to your Refresh, but we're assuming Sasuke's been around for a while so this number is chosen arbitrarily.]
Template: Ninja of the Leaf (total cost: -4 Refresh)
NotL is the Ninja Academy Graduate template with the 'Will of Fire' Aspect appended. Sasuke's history has twisted his view of the Will of Fire, changing the Aspect to 'Corrupted Will of Fire'. The normal Will of Fire is about sacrifice and service, while the Corrupted Will of Fire is more like noblesse oblige—the nobility are superior to others and therefore have a duty to control the poor ignorant peasants for the peasants' own good. Also, all Uchiha are superior to all non-Uchiha.
See below for full details of NotL.
Skills
NB: You cannot have more skills at a given level than at the level below. Therefore, if you want three skills at Fair (2) then you need at least three skills at Average (1). MfD characters start at the 'Chest Deep' power level, meaning 30 skill points at character creation. Sasuke has had enough adventures to have earned 1 additional skill point.
Survival: Average (1)
Weapons: Average (1)
Stealth: Average (1)
Endurance: Fair (2)
Rapport: Fair (2)
Alertness: Good (3)
Presence: Good (3)
Discipline: Great (4)
Athletics: Superb (5) (It's actually just Great, but Ninja Body bumps it up +1. Listed here as Superb for easier reference.)
Conviction: Superb (5)
Fists: Superb (5)
Powers and Stunts
Stunt, -1 Refresh: Hands of Death (Either Fists OR Weapons skill gets +2 and ignores normal armor. You may take it twice in order to get the benefit with both Fists and Weapons. NB: This stunt is strictly better than the similar Lethal Weapon stunt, which costs -1 Refresh. HoD should therefore really cost at least -2 Refresh. It's underpriced specifically to ensure that every ninja has it without crippling their builds, because that pushes MfD more towards the high-lethality setting we're looking for.
Power: Sharingan, First Stage. -3 Refresh
+2 Fists. +2 Alertness (including initiative), +2 Athletics (including dodge), +2 Investigation. To activate it you must spend a Fate Point and then pass a Discipline check with a TN of Good (3). If you fail the check then the Sharingan does not activate and you don't get your FP back.
Stress tracks
These are similar to hit points, although slightly more complicated. Attacks fill a given spot on the track and, if that spot is full, roll up to the next. (e.g., if you are hit for 2 stress then you fill in the second box and only the second box, but if that box is already filled in then you fill in the next available box to the right.) If you fill up the whole track or roll off the end then you are 'taken out' (dead or unconscious). You can prevent stress from being applied by taking Consequences, such as 'black eye' or 'broken arm'. There are limits on these that we won't go into here. Under MfD house rules, if you fill in a given box then you also fill in all the ones to the left of it.
Physical: _ _ _ (2 by default, +1 for having Fair (2) Endurance)
Mental: _ _ _ _ (2 by default, +2 box and +1 Mild consequence for having Superb (5) Conviction)
Social: _ _ _ _ (2 by default, +2 for having Good (3) Presence )
Sasuke's Superb Conviction means he may take 2 Mild mental consequences instead of the standard 1. A Mild consequence prevents 2 stress and gives a temporary Aspect that the attacker or his proxy can tag on the following round.
Character Background
High Concept: Last Scion of the Uchiha
Trouble: Balanced on the Edge of Darkness
Character Creation Phases:
Phase 1: Where Did You Come From?
(Aspect: Always Second Best...For Now!)
The second son of the Lord of the Uchiha, in line for the most noble house of the mightiest ninja village in the world, Sasuke was forever overshadowed by his older brother, Itachi. His family rubbed his nose in this in a thousand ways, large and small. Disappointed looks, lack of time from parents and elders, the constant refrain "Itachi did it better / faster / sooner." The only one who did not, the only one who stuck up for him, was Itachi himself. Sasuke idolized his brother and worked himself into the ground to be worthy of Itachi's praise.
Phase 2: Rising Conflict
(Aspect: Your Betrayal Only Strengthens Me)
One night, for no reason anyone ever understood, Itachi went berserk and killed every ninja in the clan except for Sasuke. Afterwards, Sasuke was the favored prince of the surviving (civilian) clan members. They treated him like a messenger from the Pure Land, devoting every effort to keeping him from going insane and growing his power so that he could rebuild the clan. They poured out treasure like water to buy him the best ninja trainers, the finest education, to weave connections with other clans and figures of power such as the jinchūriki, Naruto.
Sasuke's love for his brother has turned to hatred; he has sworn to avenge his family, yet that rage and hatred are tempered by the wisdom of his sempai. He knows he is not yet stronger than Itachi and may never be. He accepts that his vengeance will not be a solo task and trains to exhaustion with his team. His sharp tongue and uncompromising nature make it difficult to be his ally, much less his friend, but those who push past the harsh words and ready criticism will find a burning Will of Fire that manifests as unquestioned loyalty to those who fight beside him.
The elders of the Clan Uchiha are astounded by the strides he has made as a ninja and as a scholar, yet they fear the core of pain and hate that lurks behind Sasuke's eyes. When he comes into the fullness of his power he will be either the greatest Lord the clan has had in a hundred years...or a monster too horrible for words.
Phase 3: What Was Your First Adventure?
(Aspect: Never Tell Me The Odds)
The week before Sasuke entered the Academy, Itachi was leaving on a mission. Sasuke begged to be allowed to come along, claiming that he would be safe enough with his big brother and that it would be an excellent training opportunity. At first Itachi refused, but eventually Sasuke wore him down. The mission was a milk run -- find and kill some chakra beasts that were bothering the local farmers -- and so he agreed.
As so often happens, the mission proved more complicated than expected. The 'chakra beasts' were actually a group of foreign ninja who were making trouble with the intention of luring out and ambushing Leaf ninja one by one. When Itachi found what was actually going on he tried to take Sasuke home, but the boy flatly refused. The farmers were real, they were really in danger, and the Will of Fire did not allow Leaf ninja to turn aside. Itachi was having none of that, but he was eventually convinced when Sasuke pointed out that the ninja would most likely escape if Itachi spent the time to take him home and return. Reluctantly, Itachi agreed. He left Sasuke with the farmers, barricaded into a basement panic room, while he went out to hunt the enemy. Sasuke, of course, immediately snuck out and took up a sentry position atop the barn roof. It was good that he did, because two hours after he left, one of the enemy returned. Itachi had torn through his squad like a hurricane through tissue paper, but the lone survivor had managed to escape temporarily. He knew that Itachi would find his trail eventually and that he couldn't outrun the elder Uchiha, so he thought he might take the farmers hostage and talk his way out. No sooner had he arrived than he was attacked by a clumsy civilian child wielding a pitchfork. The enemy ninja thought to slap the boy aside, only to be surprised when the 'boy' suddenly moved at ninja speed, lunging past him and slicing his Achilles tendon in passing. The child was completely overmatched, but the adult ninja had a useless and bleeding leg that prevented him from moving quickly. Whenever he tried to escape, Sasuke was in front of him. If he attacked, the boy would fade back or dive behind cover, staying out of reach and circling, forcing his enemy to keep moving on the bad leg. The ninja couldn't stop to bandage his wound without a stone being flung at him from behind with ninja-strength force.
By the time Itachi showed up, the enemy was bled white and barely conscious. Itachi dispatched him with ease, then spent the next ten minutes lecturing his little brother on how crazy that had been. The impact of the lecture was a bit diluted by the fact that he then demanded every detail, listened with rapt attention, and carried Sasuke home on his shoulders in victory.
Phase 4: Guest Starring
(Aspect: Brothers in Trouble)
Sasuke's greatest rival and greatest friend throughout his growing up with Namikaze Naruto, son of the Fourth Hokage and jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Naruto was the prankster of the pair, always managing to drag Sasuke into his adventures with an innocent look and a gormless "but Sasuke, sneaking into Uncle Jiraiya's sealcrafting library to steal his notes will be good training...." The number of times the two of them stood before the Hokage's desk for a tongue lashing was equalled only by the number of times that they ignored a tongue lashing.
Phase 5: Guest Starring Redux
(Aspect: Cool in a Crisis)
Today, Jiraiya likes to brag about how his sealcrafting never goes wrong. The emphasis in that is on the 'brag'. Naruto and Sasuke were hiding atop the reservoir retaining wall on the day that Jiraiya made his fifteenth wildly unsuccessful attempt to reproduce the Hiraishin. Fortunately, while Naruto's clones kept the semi-sentient balefire away from the unconscious Jiraiya, Sasuke was able to break open the retaining wall and flood the sealing lab. It was seven months before Jiraiya's hair grew back enough to use the Needle Jizo.
Template: Ninja of the Leaf
This is simply the Ninja Academy Graduate template (see below) with the added 'Will of Fire' Aspect. Refresh cost for this template is simply the -4 Refresh from the Ninja Academy Graduate base template.
Will of Fire (-0 Refresh)
The Will of Fire is a philosophy of duty and service taught to every ninja from Leaf. It is the source of the strength that makes Leaf ninja superior to foreign ninja. It includes a cluster of beliefs such as:
Ninja are the thin black line defending Leaf from a hostile world; they have a duty to protect the city and its people
Civilians are not inherently inferior to ninja
There is a duty of loyalty to comrades
The Hokage is the embodiment of the Will of Fire. His words are inherently true and his morality and honor are unquestionable. Yes, there are times when he needs to sacrifice a ninja in service to a higher good, but he will never do that if there is any other choice
Dying in the service of Leaf is a good death that will send you straight to the Pure Land. That said, it's much better to send the other guy to the Pure Land while you go home to report mission success and have some dango
Template: Ninja Academy Graduate (-4 Refresh)
Ninja Constitution (-0 Refresh)
You heal at normal human rates, but you heal fully (no scars, weakened bones, etc) from anything that doesn't kill you. You retain physical strength/speed/vitality much longer than civilians and have a slightly extended natural lifespan assuming you aren't killed.
Ninja Body (-2 refresh; downgraded version of Inhuman Speed + Strength)
Speed of the Wind: Move one extra zone with no penalty
Agility of the Monkey King: Athletics rolls +1, including for dodging.
Mighty: Roll Might at +1 when lifting, opening, or breaking
Ninja Magic (-2 Refresh; weakened form of Evocation)
Ordinarily Evocation lets you do essentially anything, within a certain framework. Ninja Magic (created just for MfD) works mostly like Evocation but has a lot more restrictions that cause it to work Naruto-style.
Skills of the Shadow Warrior (net of -0 Refresh [+1 Refresh because of significant required skill costs, -1 for the required Hands of Death stunt])
Characters with the Ninja Academy Graduate template must buy the following Skills and Stunts up to at least the indicated levels:
Alertness: Average (1)
Athletics: Average (1) (enhanced to Fair (2) by Ninja Body)
Conviction: Average (1)
Endurance: Average (1)
Discipline: Average (1)
Conviction: Average (1)
Fists: Fair (2)
Stealth: Average (1)
Survival: Average (1)
Weapons: Average (1)
Stunt, -1 Refresh: Hands of Death (Either Fists OR Weapons skill gets +2 and ignores normal armor. You may take it twice in order to get the benefit with both Fists and Weapons. NB: This stunt is strictly better than the similar Lethal Weapon stunt, which costs -1 Refresh. HoD should therefore really cost at least -2 Refresh. It's underpriced specifically to ensure that every ninja has it without crippling their builds, because that pushes MfD more towards the high-lethality setting we're looking for..
Sakura was going to blame him for this, he was sure of it. The girl had a horrid grip on reality.
Of course, the entire thing was ridiculous. Ninja didn't get captured, they got killed. The idea that two-thirds of a team—more importantly, of a Leaf team—could get taken alive and imprisoned, leaving the third member free to attempt a rescue, was insane. For that matter, why would the third member attempt a rescue? Why wouldn't he go back to Leaf to complete the mission and gather reinforcements? Going up against a foe that had already captured two of your peers (well, teammates) would be foolish. Also, what in every world ever imagined by human mind could possibly take Naruto captive, much less hold him? If the stupid proctors were going to do this, they could at least have made the decision as to who the 'prisoners' and the 'rescuer' were based on the abilities of those involved instead of making them literally draw straws.
It was especially galling that he had been the one to draw the short straw as the rescuer because, much as he hated to admit it, either of the others would have been a better choice. Sasuke's role on the team was diplomat and free safety, but this scenario didn't play to his strengths. He could apply ridiculous amounts of force in close- or mid-range, but not sustain it over an extended battle the way Naruto could. He could sneak and scout, but not as well as Sakura could. Naruto, with his utterly ridiculous chakra pool with which to power Rasengans and his total lack of thinking, would have simply carved a straight path to his team, cutting through walls and guards alike, all without slowing down. Sakura, with her ridiculous stealth skills and sensory jutsu, could have practically strolled in behind one of the guards, lifted the keys off his belt, and unlocked the cells. Sure, if she'd been spotted she would have been cooked, but the odds of anyone spotting her were pretty low.
So, yeah. He was the one responsible for the rescue, and Sakura was undoubtedly going to be pissy with him about not showing up sooner. Sage's mercy upon him if her 'captors' had mussed her hair in the process of locking her up.
Bah.
NB: Skill rolls are (your skill + 4dF (4 Fudge dice)). Fudge dice have six sides: two show -1, two show 0, and two show +1. You can burn a Fate Point (FP) to either reroll all the dice or to get a straight +2. You can also modify your rolls using aspects. (See below)
Sasuke, hide from the guard:
Stealth, Average (1). Sasuke really doesn't want to be seen, so he spends an FP to invoke the 'DARK AND PERILOUS NIGHT' aspect of the scene in order to get +2 on his Stealth check. Remaining: 6 FP.
4dF (4 Fudge dice): -1, 0, 0, -1
Crap! That roll was awful! Sasuke spends an FP to invoke his 'Ninja of the Leaf' aspect in order to get a reroll. (5 FP remain)
4dF: 0, 0, -1, -1
This is really not his night. Okay, -2 is more than he can afford but another reroll is too uncertain. He burns yet another FP to invoke his 'Calm in a Crisis' aspect in order to add a straight +2 on the roll, thereby canceling out the roll itself and leaving him with three successes (1 from his Stealth, +2 from tagging the scene) and 4 FP. This was an expensive roll!
Red Team genin, currently on patrol:
Awareness, Fair (2) + 4dF: -1, 0, -1, -1. Total: Poor (-1)
Sasuke's not the only one with bad luck tonight! The guard wanders by, completely oblivious.
Sasuke pressed himself a little tighter against the ground as the guard passed by. As soon as the enemy was out of sight around the building, Sasuke was moving, ghosting forward in the shadow of a passing cloud and straight up the side of the wooden tower. The logical place to put prisoners was in the basement, but this structure had been constructed specifically for the Exams. It was possible but unlikely that the proctors had taken the trouble to build a basement.
Of course 'unlikely' was for posers. Real ninja were certain that there was no basement, because they took advantage of the fact that one of their teammates was the adopted son of the Hokage in order to steal the blueprints before the Exams even started. (He carefully suppressed the surge of irritation at how pleased Sakura had been to think of that before Sasuke did.)
Pushing aside the distracting thoughts of soft pink hair and clever— Pushing aside the distracting thoughts, Sasuke climbed the last few inches and peeked up over the edge of the roof.
And cursed.
Okay, seriously? Why in the everloving fuck were there two guards up here? It was too dark and the woods too close for them to be terribly useful as sentries, so—
Oh, Sage's balls. The Old Man must have realized that they'd stolen the blueprints and dropped a hint to the enemy as an equalizer. Die in a fire, you obnoxious old bastard.
Sasuke has the option to go down and try a different approach or to cut his way through the guards. It would be smarter to go down, but the GM decides to put a Compel on his 'Never Tell Me the Odds' aspect. Sasuke has a choice: act on the Compel and gain a Fate Point, or spend a Fate Point to ignore the Compel. Guess which he does?
FP: +1 (5 remaining)
Screw this. The Red Team wasn't obliged to keep the prisoners 'alive' beyond a certain point, and he wasn't sure how long they would wait. Time to show these losers what it meant to face an Uchiha.
Base Initiative is equal to your Alertness, which can be modified by powers or stunts. Sasuke's 'Sharingan, Stage 1' power would give him a significant boost, but he hardly needs it for these two scrubs.
Sasuke, Initiative: 3
Red Team Ninja #1: 3
Red Team Ninja #2: 2
Huh, a tie. Maybe these guys aren't such scrubs after all. Okay, fall back to Athletics to break the tie.
Sasuke, Athletics: Superb (5) + 4dF: 0, 0, 0, -1. Total: Great (4)
RTN#1, Athletics: Good (3) + 4dF: +1, +1, +1, 0. Total Fantastic (6).
Damn, this guy's fast! Initiative order for the rest of the fight is RTN#1, Sasuke, RTN#2.
(Note that everyone has the Hands of Death (HoD) stunt, giving the +2 on their Fists roll against unarmored targets, and no one is wearing armor.)
Reminder: MfD uses high-lethality house rules, one of which is that you get to counterattack when someone attacks you, so long as you did not take a consequence. RTN#1 just took a swing at Sasuke, so now Sasuke is going to counterpunch the guy's head off attempt to disable his opponent.
Sasuke, counterattack: Fists, Superb (6) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: +1, -1, -1, -1. Total: Superb (6). It's a bad roll and Sasuke wants to take this guy out fast, so he burns an FP for a reroll.
REROLL: Sasuke, counterattack: Fists, Superb (6) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: +1, 0, -1, +1. Total: Beyond Legendary (9). That's better!
RTN#1, dodge!: Athletics, Good (3) + 4dF: +1, -1, +1, +1. Total: Superb (5).
RTN#1 takes 4 stress. He only has 3 boxes on his Physical Stress track, so he needs to shed at least 2 stress in order to avoid being taken out. He opts to take a Mild consequence (reducing the stress by 2) and gain the aspect 'Battered and Off Balance'. He's taking 2 stress; ordinarily only the #2 box on his stress track would be filled, but under MfD rules both the #1 and #2 boxes are filled. If, later in the fight, he takes a 1- or 2-stress hit it will roll up into his #3 box, thereby filling his stress track and taking him out. Unless you have extremely high Endurance or an appropriate power, you're only allowed to take one Mild consequence, so RTN#1 will not be able to shed stress again in this fight. Since he needed to take a consequence he is not allowed to counterattack. Time for the second enemy to get his licks in.
RTN#2 attack: Fists (3) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: 0, 0, 0, +1. Total: Fantastic (6)
Sasuke, dodge: Athletics 5 + 4dF: -1, 0, 0, -1. Total: Good (3). Oops, not Good enough! Sasuke burns an FP (2 FP remaining) for +2, boosting his dodge up to Superb (5), then takes 1 stress. He chooses not to take a consequence.
Sasuke, counterattack: Fists (5) + 2 (HoD) + 4dF: 0, 0, +1, +1. Total: Beyond Legendary (9).
RTN#2, dodge: Athletics Good (3) + 4dF: +1, -1, 0, -1. Total = 2. He's a total scrub with no FP to spend; he goes down hard.
Next round! Now that the pattern is established, I'll just show the final totals instead of spelling it all out.
RTN#1, attack: Fantastic (6)
Sasuke, dodge: Great (4). Yikes! Never fear, all is not lost. Last round, Sasuke placed the 'Battered and Off Balance' aspect on RTN#1. You're allowed to tag an aspect once for free immediately after you create it. (Ideally on the same round, definitely not more than 1 round later.) Sasuke gladly tags the aspect (special effect: push the enemy slightly off balance so as to weaken the attack). This gives Sasuke a +2 on his dodge roll, boosting it to Fantastic (6) and reducing the damage to 0.
Sasuke, counterattack: Legendary (8)
RTN#1, dodge: Great (4). He has no FP left, so he takes 2 stress. He's already used his only Mild physical consequence and the first and second boxes on his stress track are full, so the attack rolls up into the third box. That fills his stress track, so he goes down.
Sasuke wins! House rules kick in: After every combat, everyone on the winning team get +1 FP per person on the losing team. Sasuke gains +2 FP. FP remaining: 3.
The guards were slow and stupid; they didn't hear him coming until he was on top of them. He started a straight kick to the first enemy's back, intending to fling the boy right off the roof so there would be only one opponent to deal with, at which point—
Sasuke stifled an unworthy-of-an-Uchiha yelp and aborted his attack when his target, a tall redhead from Rock, launched a vicious no-look mule kick while simultaneously shouting "Intruders on the roof!" Sasuke barely managed to twist away from the kick, catching a painful but not disabling impact on the outside of his thigh. The redheaded pleb didn't seem to understand that he was dealing with the Prince of the Uchiha; Sasuke conveyed this information in the politest way that a hammerfist to the back of the head could manage. It knocked the taller boy to the ground, but he turned the fall into a (somewhat shaky) leg sweep intended less to cause damage and more to keep Sasuke occupied for a moment while the Rock ninja shook off the blow and got his feet under him. Sasuke contemptuously jumped over the sweep and started an axe kick that would snap the idiot's knee in half and—
"Kyaa!"
Oh, for fuck's sake. He'd momentarily lost sight of the second Rock ninja and now he had to pay the price as a punch materialized out of nowhere and crashed into his side, accompanied by an actual attack cry. An attack cry?! Really?! Well, apparently it was true what they said: 'Rock' didn't refer to their homeland, it referred to the contents of their heads. Yelling as you attacked was an insane thing for a shinobi to do, and would have had every taijutsu instructor at the Leaf Academy crying in their drinks if one of their students had done it.
He rode the blow, accepting a bruised rib in exchange for the chance to slam a side kick into the little idiot's chin. The impact lifted the Rock ninja off the ground and threw him a couple yards; he hit the ground hard, an unmoving lump with a shattered jaw that would need serious attention from the medics if he was ever going to eat solid food again.
The Red Menace was back on his feet and moving forward, still a little wobbly but with his hands up. He started a fast left hook but Sasuke leaned back away from the punch and popped a toe kick into his attacker's hip before the punch could get fully underway. The kick was rushed and there was no power in it, but it sufficed to make the bastard stumble a little, thereby defusing the attack. More importantly, it opened the enemy's guard so that Sasuke could move in for a vicious knee-and-elbow combination that bruised the liver and shattered the collarbone. The Rock ninja hit the ground with a gratifying thump and didn't move.
Sasuke sighed. The shouts and the multiple impacts on the 'ground'—really the roof of the building—must have attracted attention. On the bright side, there were two opponents down out of...nine? Twelve? Fifteen? Rock had a major presence at the Chūnin Exams this year, and Sasuke didn't know how many of them would have been assigned to the Red Team for this exercise. Especially if the Old Man was feeling peevish at Naruto for stealing his blueprints and was deciding to take a little not-all-that-subtle-really revenge.
Nothing of interest going on here. Nope, nope, nope.
Well, whatever, he couldn't hear anyone charging up to kill him so he probably had a couple minutes. He looked around to see what he had to work with. The roof was wide and flat except for the small 'hut' in the center where the stairs debouched. There were a few pebbles and sticks, probably dropped here by birds...speaking of which, that wasn't all the birds had dropped, and he'd just fought his way across a generous pile. Eew.
He scraped the soles of his sandals repeatedly across the roof, accomplishing very little. Fortunately, the pants of Mook #2 (as he had mentally tagged the chubby one) proved more absorbent.
No longer distracted by the awareness that he was walking around with gooey, sticking bird poop on his feet, Sasuke turned his attention back to the question of getting into the building. Going down the stairs was definitely not the way to go, so—
The door to the stairwell burst open and a Rock ninja came racing out, naked sword in hand and head swiveling as she looked for her target. Another followed on her heels, and pounding footsteps on the stairs behind that one muttered glumly about reinforcements seconds away.
Of course, the Lord of the Clan Uchiha would never panic. That was beneath him. Still, Sasuke did feel that perhaps this would be a good time to move quickly. And hit hard. Or run away. Yes, running away might be good. No, wait. The Lord of the Clan Uchiha did not run away, he relocated the engagement to more advantageous terrain. Yes. Still, before trying to relocate, he should probably do something about the goons on the roof with him.
1 FP spent. Remaining: 2
With the FP spent, Sasuke still needs to pass a Discipline check to activate the Sharingan:
Sasuke, Discipline: Great (4) + 4dF: Great. TN: Good. Pass!
Reaching deep into his soul, Sasuke called out to the power of his blood, invoking the strength that had made his ancestors the most feared clan in the Elemental Nations. It roared forth, racing eagerly to his call like a hunting cat straining at the lead. A burning pressure swept through his eyes and the world slowed around him as the Sharingan activated.
The first Rock ninja was barely three steps out of the stairwell and currently looking seventy-three degrees away from Sasuke, her head tracking oh-so-slowly to the right to find her target. The second ninja wasn't even fully outside—the open door was blocking Sasuke's line of sight, but the bottom edge of the door was a few inches above the roof, and the ninja-sandal-clad foot that was visible below the door revealed its owner's position: back foot still inside the stairwell, front foot about to touch on the roof outside, in the process of shifting his weight onto the front leg.
The Sharingan (or, at least, the level of it that Sasuke had thus far unlocked) did not actually enhance the user's speed. Instead, it accelerated his mental faculties, giving him plenty of time to measure angles, study the opposition, plan his attacks, and place them exactly where they would do the most good. It also suppressed emotions, allowing for clear and logical evaluations unimpeded by the stress of battle. In point of fact, it made the whole process of moving around tedious, since your mind seemed to be moving at normal speed while your body was swimming through treacle. It was even more tedious when you needed to cross twenty feet of roof while lugging a hundred and eighteen pounds of tubby mook with birdshit on his pants.
Movement in Dresden Files is handled with zones. Zones are an abstract region of space in which characters are close enough to interact. Zones are always defined by the GM. Characters in the same zone can talk to each other, or punch each other in the face. Characters one zone apart can throw things at each other (provided there's nothing in the way). Characters two or more zones apart can shoot at each other with (modern setting) guns or (MfD setting) bows / crossbows (again, provided there's nothing in the way).
You can move freely within your own zone.
In order to move between zones the GM chooses a target number (usually Mediocre (0) unless there are obstacles that make movement difficult) and you make an Athletics roll. You can move one zone if you equal the target number, plus an additional zone for each shift above the target. The 'Speed of the Wind' trait under the 'Ninja Academy Graduate' template means that anyone who graduated from ninja school can move an additional zone on top of whatever they roll.
This fight includes the following zones:
The roof, where we find Sasuke and four enemies (two of whom are already beaten to an unconscious pulp) as well as the walls of the building. Aspect(s): WIDE OPEN and MOONLIT
The ground at the base of the building, consisting of a couple dozen yards of overgrown grass and then steadily-thickening forests. Aspect(s): DARK AND SHADOWY, OVERGROWN, and UNTAMED
The staircase leading into the inside of the tower, access to which is available only through one narrow door and up which are charging an unknown number of enemy ninja. The staircase is accessible only from the roof. Aspect(s): CRAMPED, POORLY-LIT, and CROWDED.
TNs for moving from:
roof <=> ground: Mediocre (0)
roof => staircase: Superb (5). Once all the enemy ninja flee or are defeated it becomes Mediocre (0).
staircase => roof: Average (1). There's a door, and it's tricky to get through when you're fighting. Once all the enemy ninja flee or are defeated it becomes Mediocre (0).
Sasuke has his Sharingan running so he's suddenly a bit of a combat monster. Let's do initiative (i.e. Alertness).
Sasuke: 5
Female Rock ninja: 4
Male Rock ninja: 3
Sasuke, establish a block against people coming onto the roof from the stairs. Fluff: Throw the fat kid's unconscious body against the door.
Athletics Epic (7) + 4dF: -1, 0, 0, -1 => Superb (5).
Sasuke, counterattack: Fists (9) [base of Superb (5) + 2 (Sharingan) + 2 (Hands of Death)] + 4dF: Legendary (8)
FRN, dodge: Athletics, Superb (5) + 4dF => Good (3). Spend 1 FP to invoke her 'Fast as Lightning' aspect for a reroll. REROLL: FRN, dodge: Athletics, Superb (5) + 4dF => Great (4). Spend 1 FP to invoke her 'Sword Saint' aspect for +2. That leaves 2 stress. Take a Mild consequence, 'Mashed-up Face', to reduce that to 0.
Male Rock ninja, attempt to move through door (Might check): Mediocre (0). Fail! Can't come onto the roof yet.
Round 2!
Sasuke, punch out FRN: Beyond Legendary (9). It would be nice to tag the 'Mashed-up Face' for something, but it doesn't really lend itself to a combat bonus.
FRN, dodge: Good (3). She burns an FP to invoke her 'Fast as Lightning' aspect for a +2, then burns another to invoke her 'Sword Saint' aspect for another +2. Dodge is now 7. Take 2 stress. She's out of consequences, FP, and half of her 4-box physical stress track is full.
Round 3! Sasuke burns an FP to keep his Sharingan going. Remaining FP: 1
Sasuke, attack: Beyond Legendary (10)
FRN, dodge: Superb (5). She takes five stress and is out like a light.
Sasuke gets 1 FP for the opponent he defeated. Remaining FP: 2. He allows his Sharingan to close so as to conserve FP.
The Sharingan did not grant strength, but it gave you the time to use what you had most effectively. Sasuke looked down to verify his feet were placed exactly right, checked the position of his body, breathed in...and hurled the unconscious Rock ninja at the open door to the stairwell. It slammed back on its frame like a flail smashing into the threshing stone; the ninja who had been coming through it was knocked back inside with a startled yelp. Just as calculated, the body of the fat Rock idiot (a bit of redundancy there) slumped against the door, keeping it closed.
That left only one opponent on the roof with him, and she was suddenly up in his face, lunging for him so fast that she seemed to be half-speed sparring instead of crawling through space like an arthritic snail. Her sword whistled down in a perfect diagonal cut that would have bisected him from left collarbone to right hip if she'd done it with full force. Her timing and distance were perfect; he wasn't going to be able to swim through the treacle fast enough to evade the cut.
So he didn't.
Only the edge of a sword is dangerous; Sasuke reached out and placed his hand on the flat of her blade as it came down, pressing it gently aside. His snail-slow body barely managed it, and only the unnatural calm imposed by the Sharingan kept him from panicking at how close it came.
Still, it did miss and the Sharingan did keep him calm. Calm enough that he was able to step forward and smash both fists into her eyes as she completed her strike. That put him close enough that when the door bumped outwards with the force of the ninja inside attempting to force it open, he was in position to kick it shut again. It wasn't necessary; Fatty was doing a much better job as a doorstop than he had as a ninja.
He continued the momentum of his initial attack, stepping past her and smashing her in the back of the head on the way. The blow was hurried and not placed correctly because the infuriating woman saw what he was doing and was actually fast enough to start spinning her sword around behind herself such that if he'd placed the hit properly he would have cut his hand in half. Still, it rocked her offbalance and in perfect position for— No, damnit, she just dove forward into a roll and came up back at her perfect range. Sage's nose hairs, why couldn't this woman have been born in Leaf? She was taller than he was, with defined muscles, callouses on her hands, and hair cut in a pragmatically short style that was utterly unlike all the civilian girls (and even some of the kunoichi!) who liked to throw themselves at him. If she could think half as well as she could fight it might even be interesting to talk with her...maybe after he punched her lights out he should see about finding her later?
Eh, whatever. Focus on punching her lights out first. The power of the Sharingan was burning in his eyes, his nerves, his blood, making him feel as though his body was on fire even as it buoyed him up on an unstoppable wave of power. He calmed it, twined his chakra into cords with which he bridled his bloodline and reined it back, forcing it to spend its force as he directed instead of as it willed. And then he gathered that power, blurred forward past the enemy's feeble attempts at a block, and smashed a palm strike into the girl's solar plexus so hard that for a moment he honestly thought she was going to fly off the roof. Fortunately, her unconscious body bounced to a stop a good six feet short of the edge.
There were repeated impacts on the door now. He couldn't make out the words, but there seemed to be at least three different voices and footfall patterns just inside the stairwell. Tubby wasn't going to keep that closed more than a few seconds, and even with the Sharingan Sasuke wasn't sanguine about his chances of fighting his way down a narrow staircase packed with enemies.
Time to get creative. He allowed the Sharingan to slip away from him; his bloodline was about precision and efficiency, which was the exact opposite of how the next few minutes were going to go.
He snatched a pad of storage seals out of one pocket and a pad of explosives out of the other and slapped one explosive on the roof a few yards from the staircase. It took only a moment to prime it, another second to unseal a big slab of iron on top of it, and then he backed away. The explosion sent the massive chunk of metal leaping into the sky like a scalded cat, but its weight sufficed to direct most of the force down, blowing a hole straight through the heavy timbers of the roof. He jumped into the hole, already pulling out another explosive/storage seal pair.
o-o-o-o
"Sakura?" he called softly.
There was a moment of near-palpable surprise and then Sakura's voice hissed from the third door on the left. "Sasuke? In here!"
He hurried to her door and slid the hatch back. The familiar (and, as expected, angry) face of his pink-haired teammate was waiting on the other side.
"What took you so long? I can't believe you left me stuck in here with him!"
"Yo, Sasuke!" came the (as expected) chipper voice of his other teammate. "Life treating you okay, Sourpuss?"
"Eh," Sasuke said, crouching down to inspect the lock. He hadn't found keys, which was a problem. The door was thick and heavily constructed with good steel for the lock and the fittings. He had some small explosives that would theoretically blow the lock out without killing everyone inside, but a lot of prison cells had doors that were....
He sighed and stood up. "Door's trapped. There's explosives in the lock that will kill everyone nearby, and there's likely more of the same in the door itself. Probably dummied up for the Exams, but it will still count as a kill if they go off."
"Keys?" Sakura asked, her tone making it a chastisement instead of a question.
"I was a little busy on the way in," Sasuke said defensively. "Seriously, I put down four of them, then blasted my way through three floors to find you guys. I blocked some of the holes behind me with junk I had in storage, but they'll be here any second. Can't you guys get out on your own?"
"We could," Sakura said, glaring at her blond teammate. "If someone weren't feeling lazy."
"Hey, I had to give Sourpuss a chance to show off, right?"
The hatch in the door was small and Sakura was blocking his line of sight to Naruto, but the sound of the other boy's voice told Sasuke everything he needed to know about Naruto's expression: that same insufferable, irritatingly engaging grin that always eventually led to a trip to the Hokage's Office.
"Seriously, Naruto?" Sakura said, hands on her hips and fire glaring from her eyes. "This is the Exams! Stop clowning around!"
"Hey, I was unconscious! They drugged me!"
"Damnit, Naruto," Sasuke said. "It pains me to say this, but Pinky is right. As freakishly fast as you heal, I'm sure whatever they gave you wore off five minutes after they put you in there."
"Did not! I only just woke up!"
"Liar!" Sakura said. "You've been awake for half an hour!"
"No I—"
"Enough, children!" Sasuke snapped, as the first squad of enemies came around the corner fifteen feet away. "Argue later, fight now!"
I'm not bothering to roll for the rest of this because it's pretty much a foregone conclusion.
Sakura was jostled aside as Naruto's face suddenly appeared at the hatch. The blond was obviously having to stand on tiptoe and crane his neck to be able to set eyes on the corridor.
"Mass Shadow Clone no Jutsu!" His teammate's voice had thankfully lost its bantering tone, because Sasuke wasn't sure how much more of 'playful Naruto' he could stand under the circumstances. Although, granted, those circumstances were made much less stressful by the appearance of a trio of short, stocky blond ninja in the hall between himself and the enemy.
Each of the three Narutos cut a handseal and shouted, "Mass Shadow Clone no Jutsu!" A dozen more appeared, packing the corridor all the way to the corner and leaving the trio of Red Team ninja helplessly pinned under a mass of clone pseudo-flesh. From the corner three copies of Naruto's voice said, "Mass Shadow Clone no Jutsu!" Startled yelps and thumps suggested that enemy reinforcements were no longer a concern.
"So, about those keys," Sakura said calmly. "Any chance you could go find them? This scenario is scheduled to run another two hours, so if at some point someone could think about letting me out of this cell so that I can interrogate these losers then we could find where their flag is and wrap up two events at once. Although, if you boys would like to sit and compliment each other on how amazing you are instead, that's fine too."
Sasuke sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute." Grumbling, he started moving down the hall systematically, searching each prisoner as he went. After all, someone had to do all the actual work.
XP AWARD: 0
Vote time! What scene would you like to see next? Voting ends on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, at 12pm London time.
