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Omake: Envying an Artist


Envying an Artist​


Kazushi sat at his sealing desk, the predawn gloom beaten back by the light of a Daylight seal, looking at his sealing work. Every square inch of the low quality papers were filled with various charts, graphs, and equations –the fruitful results of his sealing research.

Force Walls.

Lord Hazō had asked for his help –his help! –researching the bog-standard Force Wall seal. Really, all Kazushi did was churn through the research grunt work like marking the astronomical influences, diagnosing which chthonic resonance worked with the dimensional shunts, and filtering out junk data from the various weather spirits who were feeling impish enough to mess with their initial readings.

It was honestly a little below his level of Sealing expertise, but the results were so very much worth it. To have a chance at working alongside his clan lord –Gōketsu Hazō, who invented skywalkers as a genin –Kazushi would gladly take up the mantle of junior researcher.

In truth, Lord Hazō hadn't needed Kazushi's help. The seal was too easy, and Lord Hazō was a far more accomplished sealmaster than Kazushi was. As far as bonding exercises go, it was pretty blatant; not that Kazushi minded, of course. Lord Hazō's moods might be… mercurial, but his sealing genius was such that not even the Hagoromo, blind bastards though they were, could deny it.

After all, Lord Hazō was a singularly unique sealmaster.

Rather than using more general-purpose sealing elements that worked "well enough" for a function, extant sealing elements that had been optimized and refined over the course of generations for safety and utility, Lord Hazō invented his own sealing elements, specialized to the situation at hand… and his clan lord did it on the fly.

Kazushi stared at his papers, eyes tracing over one of Lord Hazō's sealing elements, with a frown. It was an alternative to the Sogabe Slide, safely venting excess chakra that might occur during the seal's activation… but it was fragile, and hyper-specialized. Its foundation relied upon other elements in the Force Wall seal to support it, but the result was a much higher threshold of safety than what the Sogabe Slide could've offered.

During their time researching Force Walls, Lord Hazō had done that no less than three separate times! His eyes would lose focus for a few moments, his attention going to a place that only he could perceive, before picking up a brush and casually redefining Kazushi's preconceptions of sealing research!

Worse yet, Lord Hazō didn't even bother to name the sealing elements he created! Sure, they were hyper-specialized to the Force Wall seal, specifically, but the elements themselves were still unique creations that held mind-boggling implications about the underpinnings of sealing-as-a-discipline!

On Lady Mari's advice, Kazushi had taken to cataloging each unique sealing element, assigning them a placeholder name –"just until Hazō gets around to it," Lady Mari said –and submitting them to the Gōketsu Clan Vault.

Lord Hazō was a genius sealmaster, and suffice to say that helping him with Force Walls was a revolutionary experience. It showed Kazushi something that he didn't know was possible: Sealing Research, to Lord Hazō, was an art form.

Lord Hazō's eyes would go distant, and he would return with a revelatory work of sealing that the genius, somehow, couldn't explain. It was like speaking to one of Shinji's poet friends: they were never able to satisfactorily explain the "hows" and "whys" of their work's structure, only that it "was," and that the resultant poem was better for it.

Kazushi continued to stare at the pile of research papers. Working with Lord Hazō, even merely doing the grunt work, had left Kazushi nearly complete with his own research of the seal. Lord Hazō might have done most of the complex theory work, but Kazushi had aided in the research, discussed the more advanced sealing theory with him, and was armed with Lord Hazō's own specialized sealing elements.

Kazushi reached out, grabbing his calligraphy brush, and started more research prep. Kazushi was no artist, but with enough work, maybe he could reach those same heights.



A/N: Depression and chronic migraines work hard, but the MfD community works harder!
 
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His eyes would lose focus for a few moments, his attention going to a place that only he could perceive, before picking up a brush and casually redefining Kazushi's preconceptions of sealing research!
This is the exact exposition that I would expect to precede a character's deduction about Hazo's 'Out-touched-genius' trait. I was tense at first but then you ended on a sweet note instead :)
 
Okay here's my plan, started as a split of Stompy's. RRBS are the perfect first project for the mission - there will definitely be jōnin who will still want them, especially for ambushes on akatsuki.

Big differences from stompy's plan:
1. Checking if substitution seals were worth learning!
2. A few additional prep days, using Hazō's intuition for getting things finished
3. Explicitly prioritizing research over xp
4. Getting Minato's seal on the docket



[X] Weapons Live in 3... 2... 1...
Word Count: 497
  • Sealing Research - primarily on the Seventh Path, return for infusions only
  • Prioritize research over FOOM xp.
    • 1st SSA track - RRBs, max prep, double invoke until finished, then continue Force Walls
    • 2nd SSA track - Minato's Army of One seal.
    • 3rd track - Fast Forward Runes, Hazou's intuition
    • Do prep days on the following seals/runes
      • Hot Pocket Rune
      • Force Claws (only after completing Force Walls)
      • Animus of the Guardian Asura
      • Chakra Filtering Rune
      • Anti sealing failure rune which reduces all paper sealing failures to the level of normal research failures
      • Anti-EM nuke rune which 'locks in' the air temperature at infusion in a large radius for a short amount of time.
      • Anti-Skywalker rune which affects solid air chakra effects as soap affects water's surface tension, in a large radius
  • Meet with Cannai
    • Inform him about the changing circumstances of our mission, Naruto has ordered us to leave Leaf for a time to build Akatsuki-killing weapons.
    • The Toad Sages have agreed to teach us Technique Hacking. So we'll primarily be based out of Toad for the next couple months.
    • Ask him about his philosophy on chakra. What does Cannai think chakra is ontologically?
    • Has he ever heard of a human being able to filter 'nature' chakra - the chakra that Seventh path denizen use and not immediately die?
      • Jiraiya warned us of it back at the chunin exams, and the Toad Sages have let slip that the process usually involves turning into rock of some sort?
      • Yet according to Orochimaru, the Toad Sages can teach a human how to filter nature chakra, and use it internally, at the same time as human chakra for a major power boost.
      • Do the Dogs have any knowledge of this?
    • Has he ever heard of anything able to affect how much 'potential energy' chakra has? - A rock waiting to drop depends on the height, and weight of rock. What about chakra?
      • It seems like Hazou might be able to set up a field where other humans are helpless but his Summons could fight unimpeded.
    • Following up on a separate conversation - summon a shadow and earth clone for Cannai. Ask him if either jutsu are particularly 'bark', and which one is more, if it's possible to compare.
  • Kagome
    • If the first two substitution seal projects aren't necessary, ask him to start learning substitution seals.
    • Otherwise, work on a general 'homing' effect, using Jiraiya's earth bullet seals as inspiration
  • Ask Kei to run the following tests on substitution seals
    • Verify the 'daisy chain' mechanic is replicable Test: can substitution seals mimic this behavior? If not, prep day on sub seal that can
    • Test: Are substitution seals paired at infusion, or activation? If former spend a prep day on the latter
    • Test: can a substitution seal 'substitute over a cliff'? Down stairs? Over a small gap?
  • Misc.
    • Begin studying TH with the Toad Sages
    • Tell Kei about the weird smell, ask for something that smells like Yosamu and have Canvass smell it.
 
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Paranoid not dying to our second ever rune.
[X] Slow Cooking.
Word Count: Less than 250 rn.
  • Sealing Research - primarily on the Seventh Path, return for infusions only, prime works on RRBs. [For Calligraphy? Or should prime work on runes?]
    • 1st SSA track - RRBs, max prep, double invoke, ask Kagome for help
    • 2nd SSA track - Fast Forward Runes, full prep
      • While waiting for this track to synchronize with the first, do a prep day on Fast Forward seals. If the difficulty is Jiraiya, swap from Fast Forward Runes to safer projects.
        • Suggestions. Full cycles of two day prep, no SSA.
          • HOWS Runes.
          • Runic Drag Runes.
            • When choosing infusion location, assume the rune will never move from where it was infused.
    • 3rd track finish Substitution seals, max prep, invoke if Hazou thinks it's necessary to finish this cycle, infuse on day 7.
      • +SSA if FFRs are abandoned.
    • Do prep a prep day on Monkey Patch Runes if we have an empty day.
  • Begin studying TH with the TS.
  • [Your vote, your idea here. Willing to cut anything below.]
  • Cannai.
    • Update him on Naruto's orders. We did not go missing.
    • The Toad Sages have agreed to teach us Technique Hacking. We will be primarily based in Toad for two months.
    • Ask him about nature chakra.
      • Jiraiya warned Wakahisa not to drain Toads or they would become statues?
      • Is what Orochimaru told us about chakra filtering, biphasic chakra and environmental chakra broadly accurate?
      • Do the Dogs have Sages?
  • Kei.
    • How can our gold help the economy?
      • Remint old coins with more gold?
 
181 unspent XP.
Sorry to rehash. Is this XP reserved for combat + TH? If we are on track to clear 250 for the TH stunt by the end of the apprenticeship, more returns from raising PS now.
It's unclear how long the TH apprenticeship will take. I am happy to spend the XP following some conservative assumptions about growth, after we get a good estimate of how much longer we're going to be learning TH.

2ish months minimum. As many as 3 if we have to start from scratch.

Assuming 2 months minimum, and we maintain 2 full time SCs on Sealing and one on TH, that leaves us a 0.8x modifier for FOOM.

We usually get 3 XP/day, sometimes more but usually about that.

So we can assume a rate of 5.4 XP/day over the next 2 months.

Again, assuming that we have 60 days to finish our TH apprenticeship. That means we can expect to generate 324 XP in that timeframe.

We need 360 to complete our TH apprenticeship as fast as possible. So I would be fine spending ~100 XP on PS right now. Leaving a decent buffer. We can spend more if it looks like we'll have extra at the end of our apprenticeship.

108 XP will get us to PS 15

[X] Training Plan Hazou: Secrets of the Earth

Primordial Sealing 11 -> 15

Spend 108 XP, save 73
 
It's unclear how long the TH apprenticeship will take. I am happy to spend the XP following some conservative assumptions about growth, after we get a good estimate of how much longer we're going to be learning TH.
I agree with this- why are we spending the XP immediately anyway? There's little chance the Sages can teach us significantly faster but I'd rather not get screwed over by things going better than we expected the first time we make it possible to get screwed over by that.
 
[] Hazou Training Plan: None

Not comfy spending xp until we know how long it'll take to earn the stunt from the Toad Sages.


Concerns now defunct
 
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Honestly I think we still need to hear back from Paper about how the last research cycle on Light Shift seals went. There was a miscommunication and they thought Hazou was researching something entirely different, so the matter needs to be reviewed again before we know how the last cycle turned out.
Right. The Light Shift seal should have been 'Jiraiya' difficulty, sorry for misinterpreting the specification the first time around. As Hazou wouldn't have worked on the Light Shift seal in the associated research section (as it would be no-SSA/no-prep), he instead worked on Substitution seals.


These rolls are retroactively applied to the Substitution seals:
Light Shift:
Easy peasy, no prep required.


Hazō (Calligraphy): 47 + 3 (Dampener) - 6 = 44
Hazō (Sealing): 51 - 6 = 45


Ouch, just barely missed completing it. Ah well, no point burning a reroll here.


Hazō (Calligraphy): 47 + 3 (Dampener) - 6 = 44
Hazō (Sealing): 51 + 3 = 54


Done! Unfortunately, this seal doesn't achieve the intended benefit of making it easier to see camouflaged enemies, as it only outputs a single color of light in the same way as the other Lantern-derived seals.
Which has Hazou just barely finish the Substitution seals. Mechanics forthcoming.
 
I agree with this- why are we spending the XP immediately anyway? There's little chance the Sages can teach us significantly faster but I'd rather not get screwed over by things going better than we expected the first time we make it possible to get screwed over by that.

[X] Hazou Training Plan: None

Not comfy spending xp until we know how long it'll take to earn the stunt from the Toad Sages.
There's basically no chance it'll be faster than two months and this leaves us a buffer even for that. Approx 2 weeks of XP.

There is value in spending that XP on PS this cycle since we're planning to research a rune. I think it's worth it.
 
[X] Training Plan Hazou: Secrets of the Earth

Primordial Sealing 11 -> 15

Spend 108 XP, save 73

Hm. Assuming the worst, and that we only have 60 days of training left, and that we only generate an average of 3xp per day in that time frame, that leaves us with 180xp generated in that time frame.

This plan has us saving 73xp, so even under the worst case conditions (180+73 = 253), we'll generate just enough xp to buy the THing Stunt...

[X] Training Plan Hazou: Secrets of the Earth
 
Hm. Assuming the worst, and that we only have 60 days of training left, and that we only generate an average of 3xp per day in that time frame, that leaves us with 180xp generated in that time frame

2ish months minimum. As many as 3 if we have to start from scratch.

Assuming 2 months minimum, and we maintain 2 full time SCs on Sealing and one on TH, that leaves us a 0.8x modifier for FOOM.

We usually get 3 XP/day, sometimes more but usually about that.

So we can assume a rate of 5.4 XP/day over the next 2 months.

Again, assuming that we have 60 days to finish our TH apprenticeship. That means we can expect to generate 324 XP in that timeframe
Why assume no FOOM? Also note this assumes no Brevity or QM Fun. We usually get some of that too
 
Made changes as per DanZapMan's suggestions and the new substitute information! Keeping an eye on it, for if we need to remove the further sub seal tests. Also, we're under 500 words now!
[] Weapons Live in 3... 2... 1...
Word Count: 498
  • Sealing Research - primarily on the Seventh Path, return for infusions only
  • Prioritize research over FOOM xp.
    • 1st SSA track - RRBs, max prep, double invoke until finished, then continue Force Walls
    • 2nd SSA track - Fast Forward Runes, full prep
      • Ask Kei to run the following tests on substitution seals
        • Verify the 'daisy chain' mechanic is replicable Test: can substitution seals mimic this behavior? If not, prep day on sub seal that can
        • Test: Are substitution seals paired at infusion, or activation? If former spend a prep day on the latter
        • Test: can a substitution seal 'substitute over a cliff'? Down stairs? Over a small gap?
    • 3rd track begins Minato's Army of One seal.
    • Do prep days on the following seals/runes
      • Hot Pocket Rune
      • Force Claws (only after completing Force Walls)
      • Animus of the Guardian Asura
      • Chakra Filtering Rune
      • Anti sealing failure rune which reduces all paper sealing failures to the level of normal research failures
      • Anti-EM nuke rune which 'locks in' the air temperature at infusion in a large radius for a short amount of time.
      • Anti-Skywalker rune which affects solid air chakra effects as soap affects water's surface tension, in a large radius
  • Meet with Cannai
    • Inform him about the changing circumstances of our mission, Naruto has ordered us to leave Leaf for a time to build Akatsuki-killing weapons.
    • The Toad Sages have agreed to teach us Technique Hacking. So we'll primarily be based out of Toad for the next couple months.
    • Ask him about his philosophy on chakra. What does Cannai think chakra is ontologically?
    • Has he ever heard of a human being able to filter 'nature' chakra - the chakra that Seventh path denizen use and not immediately die?
      • Jiraiya warned us of it back at the chunin exams, and the Toad Sages have let slip that the process usually involves turning into rock of some sort?
      • Yet according to Orochimaru, the Toad Sages can teach a human how to filter nature chakra, and use it internally, at the same time as human chakra for a major power boost.
      • Do the Dogs have any knowledge of this?
    • Has he ever heard of anything able to affect how much 'potential energy' chakra has? - A rock waiting to drop depends on the height, and weight of rock. What about chakra?
      • It seems like Hazou might be able to set up a field where other humans are helpless but his Summons could fight unimpeded.
    • Following up on a separate conversation - summon a shadow and earth clone for Cannai. Ask him if either jutsu are particularly 'bark', and which one is more, if it's possible to compare.
  • Kagome
    • If the first two substitution seal projects aren't necessary, ask him to start learning substitution seals.
    • Otherwise, work on a general 'homing' effect, using Jiraiya's earth bullet seals as inspiration
  • Misc.
    • Begin studying TH with the Toad Sages
    • Tell Kei about the weird smell, ask for something that smells like Yosamu and have Canvass smell it.
 
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Why assume no FOOM? Also note this assumes no Brevity or QM Fun. We usually get some of that too
Eh, like I said: worst case scenario, averaged out over the 60 days. Wanted to see how fine a line there was under the math, but unless we randomly need to buy a mountain of FP, or Bones of Creation 30* before THing, we should fine.

I suppose that I could probably go super-pessimist and assume Brevity XP penalty actually causes the average to go under Hazou's normal average XP accrual, but that strikes me as unrealistic.

*speaking of, @eaglejarl, @Velorien, @Paperclipped, how many units of Runic Substrate does Hazou have after his most recent interaction with Orochimaru? IIRC, we had ~500 units of runic substrate prior to that update.
 
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