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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Veedrac said:
No, it triggers if Orochimaru does lethal stuff to you. If you want to trigger it on if you die generally, then I am even more opposed. If you want to trigger it specifically against Orochimaru and the Hokage, then I suggest taking some time to model whether that plan actually makes sense.
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I should have made it clear that that was like, 90% a shitpost. My bad.
 
T_of_A said:
Fuck the Hokage. If he wants a prolific superweapon inventor, he can handle the consequences of having superweapons all over the place.
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I find myself in agreement with this sentiment --though, perhaps without as much exuberance on my part.

Naruto was the one who was raised up on Geopolitical Studies from his nappies, not us. Kei can (and has) raised valid concerns, but also, notably, hasn't been able to provide suggestions for alternatives.

Hazou has a history of making revolutionary weapons, from Skywalkers to ES50, and Naruto knew that Hazou would be deliberately working on superweapons strong enough to kill the Akatsuki. Given that skywalkers ended up being proliferated (partly by Jiraiya's deeds, partly be standard murder-looting osmosis), Naruto should be well aware of the risk that these Akatsuki-killing superweapons will end up being proliferated as well.

Sure, Naruto probably has the same blinders on as everyone else (the misconception that a single ninja cannot kill an entire village), but the general grounding stands. Hazou made skywalkers while trying to get his team back into Jiraiya's good graces, and he invented ES50 while trying to tackle the Dragonwar.

Even if you cannot fathom what Hazou will bring out when he's trying to make Essie-Killers, Naruto should still be well aware of the chance of proliferation.

Now, whether or now Naruto's working with his own sanity checkers (Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and ???) to come up with contingencies, or whether or not he's kicking that can down the road until after the Akatsuki are killed is another question.

But the overall sentiment stands: superweapon proliferation is something that Naruto should have (or should be) preparing for... if for no other reason than "just in case."

Hopefully this doesn't involve killing Hazou, and instead involves bringing us into Naruto's inner circle.
 
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Chapter 693: Zugzwang
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    • "I keep telling you," Hazō SacrificialLamb insisted as they walked through the forest, "I wasn't trying to seduce Tenten back at the pool–I just wanted her to join me in some oral experimentation with something I knew she'd never had a chance to try before. My main goal was to get some practice with my new technique so I could shove it in Shikamaru's face next time we met."

    "Uh-huh." Mari nodded. "You're right, put that way, it does sound completely innocent. You should totally go tell Kei that when you get back, in those exact words so there's no room for confusion."

    For once, Hazō could sense himself passing a Mari Lore check. Something was off about that perfectly deadpan tone.

    "Do you mean shadow clone me or Prime-when-he-gets-these-memories me?" he clarified.

    "Shadow clone, duh. What are you, suicidal?"

    "What do you–"

    Hazō cut off. The time for familial bickering and/or attempted assassination by Kei was past. A slim, black-haired figure sitting in a tree overlooking the meeting site looked up, stowed the scroll it had been reading, and jumped down in an acrobatic movement that had far too little slither in to be the man they'd come here to meet.

    Ambush? No, how could Orochimaru send anyone deadlier than himself? Hunter-nin? No, there ought to be a whole squad going after someone with Hazō's threat rating. Random fangirl? No, that only happened to Noburi, and not since Yuno and Satsuko last visited the hospital for an inspection.

    The black-haired figure walked up towards them, hands loose at their sides. Looking more closely, it was definitely a woman, which significantly increased the odds it wasn't Orochimaru (but not all the way, because biosealers).

    Probably-not-Orochimaru bowed.

    "Endō Sora. You must be Lord Gōketsu and… company?"

    "Gōketsu Mari," Mari said." I thought we were meeting Orochimaru here. I'm afraid our business is too classified for a messenger."

    "Don't worry," Endō said. "I'm more of a guide. Orochimaru-sensei has a policy of not giving out exact coordinates, which you can't really blame him for, all things considered. I've been sent to escort you to the lab, a few kilometres south of here. If you'll follow me?"

    Hazō and Mari exchanged glances.

    "We'd really prefer a meeting on neutral ground," Hazō hedged, mindful of shadow clone range limitations. "I expected him to meet us here in person."

    Endō gave him an odd look. "Neutral ground? With all respect, Lord Gōketsu, if Orochimaru-sensei was planning treachery, he could have trapped this entire meeting site long before you arrived, or filled the surrounding area with modified chakra chameleons. Besides, surely you of all people are aware of the saying about sealmasters and prepared ground?"

    "I think we could handle a few chakra raptors," Hazō said, "but I take your point. Still, I'm afraid the issue is non-negotiable."

    "He did say you might say that," Endō admitted. "Something about excessive and unwarranted precautions, which I'll admit is a combination of words I never thought I'd hear from a sealmaster's mouth. In that case, I'm afraid you'll need to wait. Orochimaru-sensei is in the middle of some very delicate experiments."

    She pulled out a seal and seemed to concentrate on it for a few seconds.

    "He should be aware of your presence. He is likely to be displeased with me for failing to bring you, but I think he's invested too much in me to harvest me for materials just over this one incident."

    "You seem weirdly sanguine about the possibility," Hazō observed.

    Endō gave a soft, slightly sad smile. "Isn't it only fair for the researcher to share some of the risks?

    "But never mind me," she went on quickly. "Did you eat before you went out? Orochimaru-sensei has an… idiosyncratic sense of time when he's in mid-project, so I don't know how long we'll have to wait. If you'd like, I have some spare rations."

    As it happened, Prime had known better than to send a clone to meet Orochimaru on a full stomach. Now, Hazō SacrificialLamb weighed the pros and cons of eating food offered by one of Orochimaru's minions versus cutting his own throat with a kunai there and then.

    "I'm good, thanks."

    "If you're sure," Endō said sceptically. "If you change your mind, I have enough enriched rice for the three of us."

    An awkward silence descended as Hazō and Mari both politely ignored the repeated murder attempt.

    Endō beckoned Hazō and Mari to a nearby log, then sat down on the ground opposite after fastidiously brushing twigs out of the way until the spot was perfectly clear.

    "So…" Hazō eventually ventured as they waited, "you're a biosealer too?"

    Endō nodded.

    "Have you ever heard of the Supreme Sagacious Specialists in Serpentine Symbiosis?"

    Hazō and Mari shook their heads. Just how many of those things were there?

    "They were a group of biosealers I worked with after I… left my village. They claimed to have all the answers at a time when I only had questions, so I just sort of… fell in with them without thinking about it too much. It's a little embarrassing now I look back at it. Either way, before I could learn what their answers were, they happened to offend Orochimaru-sensei with their overbearing worship and he decided to use them as materials. I was spared because he ran out of storage room, and I also think I must have said something right when I was begging for mercy. But as I watched the way he disposed of them – not just murdering, but turning every death into a source of knowledge – I realised that maybe biosealing was the answer I'd been looking for after all.

    "It took a long time for me to earn permission to study the art myself, but one of the things I respect most about Orochimaru-sensei is how fair he is. If you put in the work, you get the reward. He doesn't tolerate insolence or people trying to pry into his secrets, but nobody working for him dies because he's arbitrarily decided they're too low-born to receive what they need to survive."

    She broke off with an expression of mild alarm.

    "Excuse me, I forgot. Of course, you're a clan ninja yourself, so you must have a very different outlook on these matters. I meant no offence."

    "Don't worry about it," Mari said. "I'm a first-generation commonborn. People used to tell me to mind my place all the time, even other clanless. Guess whose place turned out to be at the top while they died off one by one because they got complacent with their unearned hand-me-downs?"

    Endō gave a grimly satisfied smile. "It's nice to know that one of us made it. Thank you for sharing that with me. Though, then again, you're a missing-nin now, so I suppose it hasn't all been sunshine and roses."

    "Nothing wrong with being a missing-nin," Mari said. "You get to see the world, meet interesting people, only kill them if you decide they need killing…"

    Endō looked away.

    "Oh, right, biosealer. Never mind."

    Endō turned back sharply to meet her gaze, her expression less friendly now. "And I suppose genjutsu doesn't require victims? Medicine doesn't require volunteers–or 'volunteers' who need the money so they don't starve? There are no ninjutsu that can only be tested on people prepared to die?

    "It must be nice to be used to waving your obstacles away with money, or manpower, or clan secrets, Lady Gōketsu. The rest of us only have knowledge and hard work, and both require sacrifice. When you're an ordinary person with a sense of responsibility, you don't get to ask whether to sacrifice. All you get to do is choose what you're sacrificing, and then do your best to make those sacrifices worth it. Orochimaru-sensei has his goals and I have mine, and I'll thank you not to make assumptions because you don't like the best methods we've been able to find."

    Hazō noticed Mari tense to his side, and not at the rebuke. He glanced at her, then followed her gaze into the woods. Though the sun had nearly set, leaving only the highest of the treetops blazing with golden light, the thick darkness at their roots failed to obscure Orochimaru.

    Their tense exchange faded to stifled silence as the Snake Sannin approached at a stroll. He was rifling through a stack of seals as he walked.

    He suddenly looked directly at Endō. She shot straight to her feet.

    "I believe my orders were to guide the visitor to the laboratory, then keep him contained until I was available. I do not recall instructing you to waste your breath proselytising to those who proclaim lofty goals, yet refuse to pursue them efficiently lest they tarnish their precious self-image. You insult the dignity of the profession."

    Endō bowed deep. "I humbly apologise, Orochimaru-sensei!"

    "Set these up, then wait at Location 291 for me to retrieve you."

    Endō took the seals and started to arrange them silently on the ground around them. She didn't look at Hazō or Mari again.

    Orochimaru turned to Hazō. "You will permit me to examine your cognitive metastructure briefly so that I may verify that you haven't been subverted by Akatsuki."

    Could Hazō afford to refuse? If he did, Orochimaru would assume that Akatsuki had in fact corrupted him. While the Sannin probably wouldn't catch Hazō's Prime body, they would lose Orochimaru's cooperation in the upcoming fight for the O'uzu rift, which meant no Manda, no overpowered shadow clones, and most importantly, no runes to move the rift. Leaf couldn't station their forces on O'uzu indefinitely while Hazō researched his own rift runes, not when the city needed defending from the inevitable AMITY retaliation.

    Could Hazō afford to accept? Orochimaru wanted to mess with Hazō's mind. Setting aside the ways that could hurt Orochimaru, Hazō didn't want his many, many secrets spilled. More importantly, Orochimaru could kill this Hazō without any consequences. Cognitive effects, on the other hand, could propagate back to Prime. Even before fleeing Leaf, Orochimaru had had the ability to influence shadow clones' minds, if Naruto's experience in the Basement proved anything. Who knew what Orochimaru might have developed afterwards to stay ahead of Itachi?

    This was an unacceptable risk to Prime. Hazō needed Orochimaru's cooperation, and he also needed Orochimaru's trust without submitting to the unknown mental examination. He thought fast.

    "We haven't encountered Akatsuki," Hazō said. "Our team has four summoners – we can summon a member from each of their summon clans that will swear to you that they haven't seen combat against humans, and that they have heard of nothing through their clan that would imply any such conflict."

    Orochimaru stared at Hazō for three long seconds. "Three summons of each clan, who will all be from different nests or equivalent internal subdivision and can attest to that, so that I may verify that you are not selecting particularly isolated summons. You will additionally send a clone of each of your team's members, as an additional verification that you haven't fought."

    "We don't have infinite chakra for all these ninjutsu, and getting all the summons to cooperate may not be quick," Hazō said.

    "I do not expect you to be quick. I expect you to be thorough. Someone will meet you here when you are prepared. Of course, you may permit me to perform the metastructure scan instead."

    Hazō grimaced internally, but kept his face blank. "Very well, Lord Orochimaru. I will fetch the summons. And hello to you too."

    He nodded at Mari, and they both turned back to the woods.

    o-o-o​

    Orochimaru had barely given a glance to the team's clones before ordering the collected summons of the Dog, Arachnid, Toad, and Pangolin clans to follow him. As he walked, he raised his hand in a signal, and a trio of snakes emerged from the woods and slithered towards Hazō at a worryingly swift pace. They thankfully stopped short of arm's reach.

    "We have been sent here so that we may answer your questions about the summoner," one of them hissed.

    "You have my oath that in this conversation, I speak nothing but the truth as I understand it," spoke another. The others took similar oaths in turn.

    Of course. Hazō needed to verify that Orochimaru hadn't been subverted by Akatsuki as well.

    "Has Orochimaru encountered Akatsuki in the recent past?"

    "Yes. They attempted to kill him at the Village Hidden in the Leaves half a year ago. He had forewarning of their attack and survived."

    So Akatsuki had done the same thing to Orochimaru as Hazō had feared they would try to do to him. Except Orochimaru, being Orochimaru, hadn't died.

    "Has Orochimaru been acting unusually recently? Have you heard any news within your clan, especially from Manda, that indicates unusual patterns in Orochimaru's behavior?"

    "I have heard nothing from Manda, who sees the summoner regularly, regarding oddities in the summoner's behavior, though I speak to Manda less than once every Human Path moon. In recent times, I have served the same purpose for the summoner as always. I infrequently come to the Human Path to help him hunt and capture other humans. He has used me for nothing other than this purpose."

    "What kinds of humans have you been hunting?"

    "Regular humans. Slightly more male than female. Around your maturity, at my guess, but my understanding of human growth stages is minimal."

    After a couple more questions that didn't yield much information, Hazō signalled to the rest of the team to dispel their clones. If this had been a plan for betrayal, Orochimaru had improved his position substantially. The team had been displaced from their skytower, Ninja-Radar rune, and defensive seals in order to the summons, and they were now nearly out of chakra. Kagome-sensei had even needed to take an overcharge from Noburi to make sure that summoning a shadow clone didn't kill him, which meant the team had injuries too.

    Yet, when Orochimaru's opalescent dome fell and the team's summons returned to the Seventh Path, the Sannin did not attack.

    "It appears the risk of Akatsuki subversion of you or your team is minimal," Orochimaru said as he calmly walked back to Hazō and Mari. "I am willing to speak with you. If you have additional means of verifying my authenticity, you may request such."

    Hazō glanced at Mari.

    To her credit, she barely flinched as she looked up at Orochimaru. "May I put you under a genjutsu to check that you are not currently under anyone else's genjutsu, Lord Orochimaru?"

    Orochimaru met her gaze.

    "You may."

    Mari stared into Orochimaru's eyes for several seconds. She looked down, then at Hazō. She nodded.

    "That's all," Hazō said. "Can we talk about how we're going to kill Akatsuki now?"

    "Uncertainty about shared goals precludes cooperation," Orochimaru said. "An hour to verify our mutual interest is inexpensive. We must be careful not to while away for days or weeks, but, though it may surprise you, I expect the value of your cooperation to exceed the value of an hour. In truth, the Toad messenger arrived at a convenient time. After numerous delays due to some Seventh Path war, your clan completely rebuffed my messengers. I was preparing to act without you."

    "To prevent Akatsuki from reaching me with messages, so they would have no reason to capture and threaten death to anyone I left behind in Leaf if I didn't return for their judgment," Hazō said.

    "Entirely logical," Orochimaru said with a nod. "Except for threatening death. If I were Akatsuki, I would not give you further incentive to take the rift from them. I suspect they would instead keep any such targets alive but hidden away, while torturing or threatening to torture them until their minds were broken."

    Hazō tried very hard not to think of Ino, and failed.

    "Regardless, we must discuss our plans against Akatsuki," Orochimaru quickly said, perhaps noticing Hazō's stricken expression. "Instruct the girl to dispel herself."

    "Mari has my complete trust in this matter," Hazō said, shaking himself out of it.

    "I intend to discuss important developments regarding our shared research interests, and certain knowledge there should not be carelessly spread beyond the two of us," Orochimaru said. "You may dismiss her."

    Hazō hesitated. Did he want Orochimaru to know that he'd shared everything about runecrafting with his team? Mari needed to stay alive to execute the Elemental Mastery nuke deadman's switch, which could keep Hazō alive if Orochimaru defected against him. Hazō needed to keep her below Orochimaru's attention if possible, instead of elevating her to the position of 'obvious advisor to kill or interrogate after Hazō's dealt with'.

    "Ah, you're right," Hazō said. "There is one matter important to my team though, and I should send her back with an answer. Our strongest offensive options – massed summons and shadow clones – require dozens or hundreds of ninja-worth of chakra. We expected Leaf to supply it. You circumvented my messaging system to prevent me from returning to Leaf. Why?"

    "Of course," Orochimaru said. "You have not even heard news of Leaf in your isolation. Briefly: six months ago, Akatsuki attempted to kill me in Leaf. They fabricated an official justification, but their true purpose was to prevent me from opening the O'uzu rift. They likely know I am alive as a missing-nin. Akatsuki knows there are two things that could cause them to lose control over the O'uzu rift. First, my return to Leaf. Second, the return of your Wakahisa brother, who multiplies the power of Leaf's summoners several times over.

    "Consequently, here is my model of the world at present. Akatsuki will have used their position as lords of the current international regime to establish control over chakra redistribution bloodlines, preventing Leaf from executing an attack by recruiting a hapless Wakahisa and pressing them into service. Additionally, Akatsuki will be monitoring Leaf as close as possible without grossly violating Leaf's sovereignty, so that if any sign of either of our returns is noticed, Akatsuki will immediately prepare for an attack or for retaliation.

    "Therefore, when either of us contacts Leaf, Leaf must act immediately. At that juncture, there will be no waiting even an hour, because every hour lets Akatsuki reposition, consolidate their forces, escape our assault, or find new allies among the abundant geopolitical players who would gladly humble Leaf for sheltering international criminal missing-nin. If your team or I returned alone, the other would have been locked out of participation. I could not let you return to Leaf without me.

    "I obviously prefer to have Leaf's participation. Tsunade, the Fox, and Leaf's summoners will be indispensable in any attack plan, and Leaf's miscellaneous jōnin could be useful even if not used as chakra batteries. I simply did not wish you to return in a foolish, hasty manner."

    Hazō supposed that expecting Orochimaru to offer an apology to the toad he'd mangled would have been wishful thinking. Regardless, knowing that they'd have access to Leaf and her chakra was a weight off of Hazō's shoulders.

    "Understood, thank you," Hazō said. He nodded at Mari, who looked hesitantly back. He tried to express himself through his eyes alone.

    I'll manage him. You know I have before.

    Mari turned and dashed into the woods. She'd change direction a couple times before dispelling herself, to not leave a trail in case Orochimaru tried to track the team down later.

    Orochimaru watched her departure for half a second before busying himself rearranging the privacy seals to make that opalescent dome snap into existence around the runemasters.

    "There is another reason for requiring you to see me first," Orochimaru said. "We must discuss how we intend to prevent the secret of runecrafting from disseminating beyond the two of us. I understand you have told both Tsunade and the Fox – and I presume that you have no intention to obey the Fox's orders if you are instructed to teach it to another Leaf sealmaster – but we cannot afford to be using runes in ways that are highly visible to ordinary Leaf ninja."

    "You're right," Hazō said. "On the other hand, runes are powerful. I've developed runes that can hopefully be infused and used far from prying eyes, but everyone will sense their effects. If anyone asks, I'll call it a sealing array. My reputation should make that believable enough."

    Orochimaru frowned. "I would not rely on others making the inferences you expect them to, nor to believe your words."

    "I'll let you think about whether these runes are worth using," Hazō said, offering a stack of paper, each of which contained the specs of one of the runes he'd invented in the last several months.

    Orochimaru accepted the briefings and briefly scanned them. "You prepared well. In turn, I planned to request that you take an Iron Nerve imprint of the rift runes I have researched, except that you have come here as a shadow clone."

    "An 'Iron Nerve imprint'?" Hazō said, reflexively filling his voice with incredulity. "Lord Orochimaru, I'm afraid-"

    "Feigning stupidity offends me, boy. Your previous lies were plausible but I have since come to understand your bloodline more fully. I did not want to waste time preparing duplicate research notes when your bloodline permits you to perfectly memorize and duplicate seals and runes."

    Orochimaru must have noticed Hazō's confusion, because he continued. "This is not mere charity. Setting aside that these rune designs you offer me have value and should be rewarded, it is entirely possible that I am incapacitated for weeks or longer as a result of this upcoming battle, as I will be fighting personally. In that eventuality, you must be able to move the rift in my stead. With my designs in hand, I expect you would replicate them quickly – assuming you have yet not completed the chain I outlined, given the amount of alternate research you are presenting. Have you?"

    "I have not completed the rift runes," Hazō admitted. "I only started recently, and I'm a little over halfway done now."

    "Good," Orochimaru said. "You will progress swiftly with my designs, if you will deign to accept them, nephew. Still, it is wise that you did not wholly duplicate my work when you had other runes to research. I will now process these designs. Earth Element: Elder's Council. Shadow Clone Technique."

    Suddenly, a round stone table inscribed with ornate markings and illegible symbols rose out of the ground, and six Orochimarus divided around it to study Hazō's briefings.

    Several minutes of quiet copying and note-taking later, the shadow clones started to pass notes to their creator. Prime took the notes and gave the clones seals instead, which they used to form a second opalescent dome around their stone table, cutting Hazō and Orochimaru Prime out.

    "The clones will follow a process for integrating disparate information without missing implications of their combinations," Orochimaru said. "They believe these runes are promising. Ninja-Radar is by far the most powerful, as one of our primary obstacles to killing Akatsuki members is locating them, and this does so over a far wider area than any battlefield. They found the Air Leadening and Icarus runes useful as well, as interfering with Akatsuki's movement again makes it easier to pin them in a killing net – and I assume you researched a variant of skywalkers that isn't reliant on Air Domes, using any spatially-locked seal effect such as Five Seal Barrier? The Force Domes and Iron Earth runes are similarly useful at trapping them. As I understand it, one failure mode of the Fox's plans for O'uzu is that a single Jashinist can escape and tell the rest of Akatsuki – and thus the world – of our attack. This would prevent that. The Remote Explosives are targeted at Sasori, I presume. He is an excellent defensive sealmaster, but that makes him static in a way that the Remote Explosives will counter. He excels at creating specific counters for particular capabilities, but broad-spectrum cancellation of chakra-effects is difficult for seals. Without foreknowledge of runecrafting, this may simply bypass his defenses and kill him."

    "My suggested attack plan was roughly this," Hazō said. "Deploy a Force Dome and Iron Earth rune to trap them in an enclosed area, then open with a barrage of Remote Explosives on the center of their base. Deploy an Air Leadener or Icarus rune to slow them down and keep them on the ground, then fire on the survivors with additional Remote Explosives from a skytower, locating them via telescope and Ninja Radar. Finally, once the explosives are expended, mop them up with our shadow clones and Boss summons.

    "Of course, that's just with my team's capabilities. With Leaf, we'd be able to deploy more Bosses and stronger shadow clones, but I don't think I should even think that far ahead. What runes have you developed that should be used in a battle plan?"

    Orochimaru frowned. "I have had neither time nor chakra to investigate runecrafting as deeply as I would like, as I have spent the better part of the last year focusing fully on the rift runes. Prior to that, I made attempts shortly after you finished teaching me, but those were amateurish at best. They are too niche and limited to be useful in combat."

    Hazō decided not to prod. Making Orochimaru feel insecure about his inferiority as a runemaster would make Hazō feel happier, but bullying wouldn't get the mission done. Having Orochimaru treat Hazō like a peer (instead of like a fascinating future vivisection) was enjoyable enough.

    "Okay," Hazō said. "Then, I should note that we don't actually have a skywalker-equivalent that would let us operate inside the Icarus Runes. I intended to turn it off once we'd finished the explosive barrage."

    "Inconvenient," Orochimaru said. "The Five Seal Barrier is an unusual design, so I suppose adapting it into skywalkers could pose problems. In which case, the advantage generated by the Icarus Rune is far lower. That battle plan sounds reasonable on the whole, but I have several processes for brainstorming and reflecting, and it will take hours until they are completed. Needless to say, the final battle plan will be constructed en-route with Tsunade and the Fox present, given that they are already aware of runes' existence.

    "Your briefing indicated that you require additional chakra-conductive stone. I have prepared several thousand kilograms worth at my laboratory for your use, as I considered the odds that you would fail to train the techniques I gave you regrettably high. Given that you apparently do not want to risk your Prime body, I presume such methods as 'your clone takes storage seals to Prime' would be ruled out, given that it would expose Prime's location to me. I can instead store the stone on the Seventh Path and dispense it once we are on-site to your shadow clones shaping the runes.

    "Additionally, you have noted that your Remote Explosives are too large to transport via the Seventh Path. I do not have larger storage seals for you to use. However, we will have considerable manpower available to us, including Tsunade's absurdly strong shadow clones, which will of course be summoned well in advance. We do not need to shape runes within a mile if we could instead shape the runes five miles away, then move them into position for infusion. The main difficulty will be acquiring an aerial position without Akatsuki's fliers noticing when they would expect any attack to be presaged by aerial observation. As I consider it, the more I believe that the runic assault will need to be executed from the ground, as the Icarus rune may disproportionately advantage Akatsuki's natural flight. That is something to consider."

    "Well, for the sake of optimizing the battle plan, when do we strike?" Hazō asked. "For that matter, which Akatsuki members are on-site? We can tailor our attack plan depending on their composition."

    "We are presently one day away from Leaf," Orochimaru said. "With effort, Leaf is three days from O'uzu. Ideally, we attack in four days. As to which members are on-site, I sent Endō to observe with a telescope from a vast distance two weeks ago. Not only was she unable to identify any individuals, any recovered information could have changed by now. We must prepare for every option. In the best case, it is a weaker pair of their members, perhaps Hidan and Deidara. In the worst case, they have already opened the rift and are defending it with their full force.

    "If I were them…" Orochimaru trailed off. "Assuming the rift isn't open, but Sasori has reported that completion is near, I would assign either Konan or Itachi to watch over Leaf – using either paper ninjutsu or genjutsu to infiltrate deep into otherwise secret areas. As for their pair… Sasori is occupied, Hidan is useless, and Deidara's flight does not enhance either Konan or Itachi, so they will take Kisame. They could assign four at the rift, as the next international meeting is a year away, and Konan has no doubt built an adequate diplomatic cadre in Rain to free her time for more important matters.

    "For that matter, Itachi and Kisame would be on different teams, so the only viable model here is Konan and Kisame observing Leaf in secret, while Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, and Hidan guard the rift. Reflecting on this, this actually seems rather likely. Of course, I reiterate that we may be better served assuming all six are guarding the rift."

    "If Konan is watching Leaf that closely, how do we get in contact without Akatsuki realizing we're about to attack?" Hazō asked.

    "I have pre-arranged a line of communication with Tsunade, obviously," Orochimaru said. "When I said Akatsuki were watching Leaf, did you think they stationed Jashinists on watchtowers in the rice paddies? No, we will get into contact, exfiltrate Tsunade, the Fox, and any jōnin that can be reasonably extracted without arousing too much suspicion, then race to O'uzu. If we are lucky, they will not notice our disappearance, and if not, we will at least launch our attack on a subset of their forces."

    Hazō hated that he was saying it, but he had to raise the possibility. "At that rate, could it be better to attack the rift just ourselves? It doesn't take a lot to notice that Naruto is out of the village, given that he's perpetually running a dozen shadow clones across the village. If they're using Seventh Path communications, going to Leaf first would basically destroy any advantage of surprise."

    "The Fox does so?" Orochimaru asked. "How inefficient. Regardless, that is an option… but it would require dealing with Itachi on our own. Frankly, without Tsunade, I do not expect we will kill him. Still, we could force him to retreat and claim the rift in the interim.

    "You might be underestimating our capabilities," Hazō said. "We have all the runes, of course. We have Mari, who is probably a better genjutsu mistress than Kurenai and can lock enemies down with her shadow clones. You are by far the strongest combatant, and Noburi can multiply your strength with his bloodline to refill your shadow clones."

    "My strength is multiplied lossily," Orochimaru said. "My shadow clones cannot be biosealed."

    "You still have incredible ninjutsu to fight with, like the ones you gave me."

    "I will grant that my shadow clones are competent elite jōnin," Orochimaru said. "Likely superior to any of the Jashinists or Rain ninja stationed on-site. My clones will not threaten Itachi, especially as shadow clones in general cannot be effectively deployed against a genjutsu user of his level."

    "We also have summons. You can summon Manda, of course. The Toad Sages and Gamabunta have agreed to fight Akatsuki in Jiraiya's memory, and Cannai has also agreed to be summoned at the battle."

    Orochimaru didn't respond immediately. "The Wakahisa – I will accept that his expanded reserves let the boy summon Gamabunta. You, however… how do you possess the reserves to summon a clan boss?"

    "I… don't," Hazō said. His last summoning attempt with Noburi's help, three days ago, had been another failure. "But I was hoping that you could help me with that. I don't mean to be rude, but I suspect that you know a bioseal that expands chakra reserves. Would you be willing to apply it to me, so that I can summon Cannai?"

    "Iron Nerve bloodline holders are challenging to operate on, given that the bloodline permeates the entire nervous system," Orochimaru said immediately.

    "Again, Cannai has already agreed to be summoned. Another Boss summon on the battlefield could be a gamechanger," Hazō said.

    "I did not refuse," Orochimaru said, turning to face the shifting, shimmering blobs on the privacy dome's wall. "I suppose you would not be willing to lose the use of the Iron Nerve in one of your limbs…"

    "I would not."

    "Very well," Orochimaru said after several seconds of thought, facing Hazō again. "This is not a trivial bioseal you request. Few in the world could do it."

    "I'm not asking them."

    "Needless to say, you would need to present your Prime body to me. When you do so, you should also memorize my rift runes and store the chakra-conductive stone yourself."

    "That makes sense."

    "The transplanted coils will not regenerate chakra. I will teach you a meditation that will let you fill the transplanted coils from your own reserves. Without adaptation to your chakra system, there will be inefficiencies in chakra storage. I do not know how long the surgery will take, given the Iron Nerve's complexities, and you may need recovery time, so this should happen as quickly as possible. The transplanted coils should last a while without maintenance, but will eventually necrotize. If the Iron Nerve proves simple to work around, the transplant will be relatively isolated and an ordinary surgeon will be able to remove it. If you wish to keep the transplanted coils, I will perform the maintenance required, which will likely take half an hour every month, no less frequently than every two months. I will consider myself fully compensated for this service, as I will collect data on the Iron Nerve's operation in the process."

    "How much will it expand my chakra reserves?" Hazō asked.

    "A static amount depending on the donor's coils," Orochimaru replied. "I have the materials to create the bioseal, but donors are limited. I could use Endō..."

    Hazō shuddered. "I don't need a lot. I think I'm quite close to summoning Cannai on my own."

    "You will need a lot of additional chakra," Orochimaru said. "You are a chuunin. You will not be able to summon a Clan Boss without a substantial transplant, and I do not believe you are resilient enough to accept two transplants in short succession, not without increasing the complexity of the operation manyfold."

    Hazō didn't want to explain Noburi's ability to overflow his chakra coils if he could help it. "Really, I've been training my chakra reserves extensively. I don't need much."

    "Very well," Orochimaru said. "Incidentally, you previously mentioned that Hidan has your blood trace. Am I correct?"

    "Yes."

    "So that will need to be corrected as well. Two unrelated bioseals will stress your body, so some reinforcement may be required…"

    "Let's keep it minimal," Hazō said. "Like you said, we don't want this to take too much time. We need to focus on Akatsuki. Is this plan worth considering further?"

    "Attacking the O'uzu rift site ourselves?" Orochimaru asked. "You propose fighting with shadow clones and summons, but without Leaf, how will the chakra be sourced?"

    "I was hoping you'd have an answer for that," Hazō said.

    Orochimaru gazed upwards for a second. "I have a number of subjects at this laboratory that are suitable for draining, yes. I would use one for your transplant. The subjects are not prepared for transport, and moving them across the continent seems logistically challenging, even though they number only a dozen. I have never before needed to transport so many subjects swiftly over vast distances including an ocean… but with a Wakahisa, it would be doable. At a guess, it would take two weeks – uncomfortably long – and of course, this would still be a small fraction of the chakra available with Leaf."

    "So if we did that, we'd have three Bosses, the Toad Sages, and maybe a few shadow clones, but not much more?"

    "Correct," Orochimaru said. "Though, again, shadow clones are far less valuable in a conflict with Itachi present, where they swiftly turn from asset to vulnerability.

    "My instinctive reaction is that I would rather fight a prepared and assembled Akatsuki with Tsunade at my side than fight alone against a subset, but that may be irrational. More importantly, attacking alone isn't resilient to the possibility that they may have all six at the rift site, whereas if we work with Leaf, we would at least retain surprise in that situation. On margin I would prefer to involve Leaf. However, my information is incomplete regarding your team's capabilities and the practical performance of these runes, which I assume you've tested extensively. What would you have us do, and why would you have us do it?"


    Mari has agreed to spread knowledge of the EM nuke – that a ninjutsu specialized for cooling air can become a powerful weapon if pushed far enough – around the Elemental Nations if Hazō dies and she judges that Orochimaru was responsible.

    Hazōpilot rejected the idea of asking Cannai to perform an EM-nuke deadman's switch. Reasons:
    • Cannai probably wouldn't send a message without any clue of what's in it. Even though Cannai could understand a dead man's switch, Hazō expects Cannai would take this particular deadman's switch poorly.
      • "This information will end life on the Human Path if it is spread. Spread it if I die, because the person I am talking to does not want life on the Human Path to end, and therefore won't kill me."
      • This is not a promise that Cannai will likely make, because if he did make the promise, he would absolutely follow through. Cannai is probably wise enough to realize that he would not want to follow through.
    • Additionally, any means of spreading it to Leaf summoners means putting multiple copies of the information in the hands of regular summons.
      • If Hazō wants to avoid Cannai-rejection above, he has to go through regular dogs.
      • If Cannai agrees to carry a written message without knowing what it is, Cannai would probably let the message be carried by regular dogs, rather than leaving his territory and gallivanting across the Path.
      • The message would be received by regular summons as well, which potentially includes misaligned clans such as the Pangolins
      • Finally, the message could be intercepted in travel.
    Overall, we felt like this plan component was not fully thought-through, and are having Hazōpilot act as a safety trigger. If you really want to do this, you should vote it in again, and consider adding more detail on how exactly this deadman's switch will be implemented.

    The Medium Consequence did not heal en-route, so Hazō did not attempt to summon Cannai. I had Hazō ask about the bioseal despite the null result since Hazō doesn't need to make the final decision now – like the sleep bioseal, he could come back later and tell Orochimaru that he doesn't want it.

    This update covered three days – two days of travel to Rice, and one day of set-up (finding the location, scouting it from above, setting up skytowers, skyslicers, Ninja-Radar, etc) before meeting Orochimaru in the late evening.

    XP Award: 12 + 0 (brevity) XP
    GM-fun XP: 2 XP

    Vote time! What to do now?

    Voting ends on .
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Alright. Oro has convinced me he's being straightforward with us, I'm now completely in favor of being his experimental test subject, teaching him all our runes including the temporal ones, and following his plans completely in regards to how to handle Akatsuki.

    No, Mari, I haven't been subverted by him why do you ask? Also please disregard that dead man's switch we discussed previously, that won't be necessary. I trust Orochimaru.
     
    Reserving my vote for plans that have us accepting the chakra bioseal, with a minor (but not contingent) preference for asking Mari what her take on Endo Sora was. Seems like a sympathetic asset/contact we may want to cultivate. We do want to learn biosealing, eventually, and we've mused that it'd be hard to get Orochimaru to teach us, himself.
     
    Man, the tension is so incredibly thick here. Nothing has gone wrong, but we're simultaneously balancing the weight of judging Orochimaru's ever-dubious cooperation and the weight of assembling everything we have into a full strategy that we'll have to bet everything on.

    That said, this is an extremely good outcome so far. Orochimaru had a good reason to direct us away from Leaf, and it's one that doesn't foreclose drawing on their firepower. He's cooperating with us, doesn't see any critical flaws in our battle plan, and the necessary biosealing changes we'd need don't seem to be beyond his reach. It's looking like with a little elbow grease we can actually pull everything together properly.

    The biggest snag, it seems, will be getting Naruto out of the village without immediately alerting the Akatsuki. Here's some scattershot ideas:
    • Naruto feigns going on a different mission somewhere else, trying to send out costly enough signals to convince Konan that it's legit. Then tank the costs and loop back around to O'Uzu.
    • Leave Naruto behind to convince Konan that we aren't making this play, but have Tsunade instead come with a bunch of Leaf ninja in secret.
    • The jutsu that must not be named doesn't exist, but could we hack together a sufficiently-convincing visual replica of Naruto through biosealing and/or weird jutsu? If we could pull Naruto out of Leaf while "proving" to Konan that he's still there, that would be ideal.
     
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    Paperclipped said:
    I assume you researched a variant of skywalkers that isn't reliant on Air Domes,
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    They're called skysliders, and not only don't depend on any seals at all, they're actually faster and less fatiguing for long-distance overland travel. Tradeoffs in maneuverability mean they aren't really suitable for combat use yet, though. Could cruising along at 30+mph - with minimal chakra expenditure - let us contact Leaf and then turn around to reach the rift faster than Akatsuki would expect to be possible, thereby retaining part of the element of surprise?
     
    Paperclipped said:
    Endō gave him an odd look. "Neutral ground? With all respect, Lord Gōketsu, if Orochimaru-sensei was planning treachery, he could have trapped this entire meeting site long before you arrived, or filled the surrounding area with modified chakra chameleons. Besides, surely you of all people are aware of the saying about sealmasters and prepared ground?"

    "I think we could handle a few chakra raptors,"
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    Apparently chakra chameleons have memetic defences that make people trying to talk about them discuss a different animal instead.
     
    Oh, this reminds me. One more critical question we have to ask ourselves, now that we've seen what resources we have at our disposal:

    Do we need to mention Superchillers?
     
    [] Protoplan: Battle of the Rift
    Words: idk, scattershot thoughts

    • Leaving Leaf without any meaningful combatants leaves it vulnerable for a counterstrike, if not all of the Akatsuki are present at the Rift. Hidan, after all, has an annoying habit of being where he's least wanted.
    • Gather up Tsunade, the Summoners, and enough jonin to fuel the battle plans. Naruto should stay behind with the rest of the jonin to set up counter-defenses in Leaf, or to better disguise the missing manpower.
      • Naruto can run drills or something to disguise the missing ninja coming to our aid, and also convince any possible watchers that Leaf isn't going to be involved in this.
      • Tsunade can pretend to wander out, seeming to go on one of her healing missions, dragging along some MARI/Till'n'Fill ninja to show them how "real work" is done? MARI is an expensive jutsu to cast, and a chunnin can cast Mud Hut a couple times a day. That would give us a certain guarantee of chakra at our disposal, in addition to whomever Naruto can smuggle towards us.
        • Or maybe she's busy in surgery? It must be common not to see Tsunade for days at a time. She's a busy woman, with a full workload.
    • Dispel, return to team.
      • (Quickly)
        • Mari, what's your take on Endo Sora? You got into it with her, but she seems sympathetic enough that she may be a contact worth cultivating.
        • Debrief team on plans
    • Return to Orochimaru...
      • ...apologize for the wait, get right to work.
      • ...absorb the runes he wants us to absorb.
      • ...accept the chakra bioseal
      • ...ask if he has any assets willing to teach us biosealing, at some point in the future.
    • Tactics
      • Offer RRBs and Force Blades to allies so the lack of skywalkers aren't to their complete detriment. Equip Summons with Force Blade vests.
        • If necessary, use SC to prepare, ahead of time.
        • Keep a tally and collect remnants/expended seals afterwards.
     
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    Iris-Iven-Ibis said:
    Have we talked to Kagem about the bioseas?
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    Yeah, Kagome thinks we're insane for it, but has been collecting "safe" examples of bioseals to help learn from for when we inevitably decide we want to learn it. He started doing it way back when we were missing nin, the first time.

    Kagome is really great, you know?

    EDIT: Oh, wait, you mean getting bioseals, not learning biosealing? Rip
     
    That Orochimaru is willing to do the Bioseal for no extra cost because it would let him study our bloodline should not be overlooked. He values that EXTREMELY highly, and we should likely be wary of that. Note that he committed to a half hour of his once a month at no extra cost. Consider how much we have spent in the past to get non-recurring similar portions of his time.

    For my part, I dont particularly want to see Orochimaru empowered more than we can avoid, and that means if he wants something this badly, it would likely power him up a lot. If that argument does not particularly sway you though, it also likely means we could probably get more from him at this cost.
     
    All of leaf is probably the better option, especially if it is 10 days sooner. We could also try to just get Tsunade out, since that could work, but I don't know that that risk/reward becomes worth it.

    Also. Our PS crushes Snuncles. Go hyperbolic hyperfocus lighthouse!
     
    Paperclipped said:
    "I… don't," Hazō said. His last summoning attempt with Noburi's help, three days ago, had been another failure. "But I was hoping that you could help me with that. I don't mean to be rude, but I suspect that you know a bioseal that expands chakra reserves. Would you be willing to apply it to me, so that I can summon Cannai?"
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    @eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped

    Was this referring to the CR 38 attempt or have we since made an additional CR 39 attempt that this is referring to?

    EDIT:
    Paperclipped said:
    The Medium Consequence did not heal en-route, so Hazō did not attempt to summon Cannai. I had Hazō ask about the bioseal despite the null result since Hazō doesn't need to make the final decision now – like the sleep bioseal, he could come back later and tell Orochimaru that he doesn't want it.
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    Ah, right.
     
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