Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

schlega · Nov 18, 2016

For Hazou:
[x] Hiding Like a Mole

For Mari/Noburi
[X] Hiding in the Mist

Also, I want to see Hazou bring back Righteous Face Punching Style and challenge everyone in Konoha to spar just so we can tell Akane about it when she wakes up.

Kylinger · Nov 18, 2016

schlega said:
For Hazou:
Also, I want to see Hazou bring back Righteous Face Punching Style and challenge everyone in Konoha to spar just so we can tell Akane about it when she wakes up.

Hmm, now I'm thinking it needs it's own terrible, terrible fighting style.

Righteous Face Punching Style said:
Resolve *3, Stamina*2, Composure*3

"Through the fires of youth, Hazou finds the willpower to abandon all sense and repeatedly target the opponents face, regardless of the dangers it entails."

When Hazou uses this style, he magnifies the level of victory or loss by one step, targeting their most vulnerable body parts while simultaneously leaving himself wide open.

Each time an opponent makes an opposed roll to Hazou while Hazou is using the Righteous Face Punching Style,the opponent gains a single die to be added to future Taijutsu rolls opposing Hazou. This die is cumulative, and is not to surpass MIN(Opponents WITS, (Opponents Taijutsu/3)). This bonus ends when Hazou abandons this style.

Any time during the fight, Hazou may abandon this style. If he does so, and he succeeds on deception roll against Enemy(Deception), he may gain dice to his next Taijutsu roll against this opponent equal to the bonus the opponent had, not to surpass MIN(Hazou's WITS, (Hazous's Taijutsu/3), Hazous Level in RFPS).

Subject to QM approval and the readers suspension of disbelief, this can be stacked with other Taijutsu styles.

Sleeps Furiously · Nov 18, 2016

And, caught back up on the thread.

First off, congrats everyone on our 1-Kage summit. Next step is a 2-Kage summit and then ramp up from there.

On seals, my understanding of the rules is that activating a seal requires your hands (absent bloodline shenanigans), but that an active seal can be designed to trigger off of things like impact or chakra. So we should be able to create a KRS that we have to fiddle with our shoes to turn on, but that we can then have it lock/unlock position based on tree-climbing-like chakra use. (If we want to protect against accidentally locking in the presence of some other chakra, though, we would want the trigger to detect both the amount and the location of the chakra, and I'm not sure if that's possible.) An ARS would still allow us to activate/deactivate the seal without needing to bend over to reach it with our hands.

eaglejarl · Nov 18, 2016

Velorien said:
A general question: I've been getting feedback saying this is one of the best chapters I've written, and I don't entirely understand why. I do think this chapter came out well, but half of it is Inoue recapping things the reader already knows in a fairly dry manner, and the other half is a speech also recapping things the reader already knows (as OOC knowledge about the players' choice of motivations for Hazō). What is it people like so much about it?

Multiple reasons:

The characterizations were spot on. You didn't spend a lot of time going on about Hiruzen or Jiraiya, but you conveyed their essence completely.

The characters felt real. Mari trying to leave out details because they were embarrassing, Hiruzen chiding Mari for leaving out details, Kagome stumbling through "deception" with his usual lack of grace, Hazou interrupting to ask about Akane...those are all things that real people do in the real world, not just things that kung fu battle wizards do in a death world.

A few sentences (Jiraiya's understanding of the watchtower) clearly foreshadow major changes in the setting. Better yet, those changes will be caused by the players being creative. The hivemind has just seen a clear example of their own power, and clear proof that you don't need to be an S-rank ninja to be important on the grand scale. (Which is an attitude that has annoyed me since day one.)

Hazou's speech was a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

OliWhail · Nov 18, 2016

eaglejarl said:
The hivemind has just seen a clear example of their own power

This! This this this. It felt like an acknowledgement of our months of munchkiny planning, which is amazing when coupled with the knowledge that Jiraiya ain't seen nothin' yet.

(Seriously, he's gonna lose it over TKRS.)

Radvic · Nov 18, 2016

Dictator4Hire said:
"It could also negatively affect your health, so... yeah... fair warning 'n all that."

This particular phrasing seems combatative and challenging. While true and would be fun to read, I suspect it would have negative effects. Here's a suggestion:
"We have a variety of mental conditions from bloodlines to paranoia which we believe may cause discomfort or harm to mind reading attempts."
Alternatively, just repeat the same thing we told Jiraiya when he was going to have us mind scanned. Basically, we don't want this statement to come off as a challenge for them to mindscan us, or as an attempt to get out of mindscanning, which means not stating it in a way which implies they're inferior, or that we'd fight them in a mind scan, but as a statement of fact, which means telling them why.

Jello_Raptor said:
Nobby should get the items needed to build another barrel, hiding them in larger purchases of other good we need.

He should fix his barrel ASAP, possibly staying behind with Kagome in the room to do so.

See if he can't find a backpack or similar disguise for it. Nothing to change it's functionality, just some way to cover it up and hide what it is.

Note: they have people who can see chakra. They'll obviously be able to tell what's going on. Additionally, attempting to hide something like this is likely to result in mind scans or bad things if they find out. I figure if we want Noburi to have a barrel we can either have Jiraiya (or one of his agents) retrieve the barrel he left with his medical teacher, or we build a barrel with the understanding that Noburi is betraying his family's hidden teachings. We also don't actually have money (I assume they confiscated that?).

Jello_Raptor said:
Treat them to some food and have a chat about their lives.

Note that I don't think we can treat anyone to anything, because I kind of doubt they let us keep our money.

Jello_Raptor said:
Use them for social practice.

This sounds... concerning to me. While I'm a proponent of the following items, I'd prefer a different wording. Perhaps "Talk with them"?

Jello_Raptor said:
Only discuss rewards in an environment with a reasonable expectation of privacy from everyone other than the minders Jiraiya directly chooses.

If Akane asks and we have no expectation of privacy, tell her that and delay for later.

I don't know what this means. Personally, I'd prefer to include Akane in reward discussion and have others spy on it than not include Akane in reward discussion know nobody spied on us.

Jello_Raptor said:
"It could also negatively affect your health, so... yeah... fair warning 'n all that."

Same as above comment, seems unnecessarily combative, could reword (reword above).

Twofold said:
We are feeling rather bummed now. What are you going to give us to incentivize further creativity?

Sounds needy, would reword. Perhaps:
"What would you be willing to offer us for future sealing inventions?"
Basically, we want Jiraiya to think of us as a golden goose which lays many really valuable invention/warfare eggs, and use that to improve our relationship with him, potentially using that to get us into a situation more to our desiring (in the future). Not as a complaint.

Twofold said:
Use PMYF to move fast and run the fuck away.

Note that we don't have PMYF. Unless they gave us back all our gear? Which seems really silly.

eaglejarl · Nov 18, 2016

Radvic said:
Note that I don't think we can treat anyone to anything, because I kind of doubt they let us keep our money.

Once you have been vetted they will give you back your money and non-combat and non-survival gear. No kunai, ninja wire, explosives, tents, storage scrolls, cooking gear, but all your money, clothes, backpacks, etc. Basically, if it's something that a tourist would reasonably use while visiting Konoha you can have it.

Note that Kagome is about a Planck distance from a complete meltdown due to not having his explosives.

Radvic said:
I don't know what this means. Personally, I'd prefer to include Akane in reward discussion and have others spy on it than not include Akane in reward discussion know nobody spied on us.

Akane is not going to be receiving visitors for several days.

Radvic said:
Note that we don't have PMYF. Unless they gave us back all our gear? Which seems really silly.

All of your special seals (PMYF, misterator, macerator, directional explosives) were stashed with the pangolins.

OliWhail · Nov 18, 2016

eaglejarl said:
Akane is not going to be receiving visitors for several days.

[only half-joking] Armageddon Initiative

Radvic · Nov 18, 2016

Velorien said:
A general question: I've been getting feedback saying this is one of the best chapters I've written, and I don't entirely understand why. I do think this chapter came out well, but half of it is Inoue recapping things the reader already knows in a fairly dry manner, and the other half is a speech also recapping things the reader already knows (as OOC knowledge about the players' choice of motivations for Hazō). What is it people like so much about it?

I agree with @eaglejarl on the points he brought up. I'll additionally note that much of my enjoyment of MfD comes from the character interactions (which this chapter beautifully portrayed), sense of unspoken danger, power, and traps (which this chapter was full of), and clever ideas we come up with (which this chapter verified how important and revolutionary they can be). So no, there was not a ton of new information, but it was full of moments of awesome (Hazu realizing how powerful the Hokage is, Jiraiya frantically determining the importance of our discovery, Hazou giving his reason for fighting), and provided many new challenges for the players to overcome (what do we do now that everything is so topsy turvy? Are we safe in Konoha? How do we want our relationship with Jiraiya to progress? Do we think there will be an assassination attempt on us? etc.) both of which are primary reasons I enjoy this quest.

Velorien said:
A new vote is opening.

You have until my update deadline (12 noon London time on Wednesday 23rd of November) to discuss and vote upon an outline for the technique you want. Jiraiya will then consider the matter and either give you a technique of his choosing that fits the requirements to a greater or lesser extent, or find you a teacher to do so. Note that this is a "what to ask Jiraiya" vote, not a "let's invent a ninjutsu" vote.

So, the thing which most helps us is some form of mist creation jutsu, since Noburi could drain through it. The question is if we want to reveal that ability to Jiraiya (I don't trust our team's ability to deceive him into giving it to us without mentioning why we want it). Basically: we'd like a technique which allows us to non-lethally disable people from range.

eaglejarl said:
Once you have been vetted they will give you back your money and non-combat and non-survival gear. No kunai, ninja wire, explosives, tents, storage scrolls, cooking gear, but all your money, clothes, backpacks, etc. Basically, if it's something that a tourist would reasonably use while visiting Konoha you can have it.

eaglejarl said:
All of your special seals (PMYF, misterator, macerator, directional explosives) were stashed with the pangolins.

So, do they have the summoning scroll? Or did we somehow stash the summoning scroll with the Pangolins?

OliWhail · Nov 18, 2016

Radvic said:
So, do they have the summoning scroll? Or did we somehow stash the summoning scroll with the Pangolins?

Pangolins cannot have it (it doesn't teleport into the Summon Realm), so Leaf does have it. This is cause for concern.

Radvic · Nov 18, 2016

OliWhail said:
Pangolins cannot have it (it doesn't teleport into the Summon Realm), so Leaf does have it. This is cause for concern.

Sigh. I guess we need to work with/for Leaf now? For all the reasons.

Twofold · Nov 18, 2016

eaglejarl said:
The hivemind has just seen a clear example of their own power, and clear proof that you don't need to be an S-rank ninja to be important on the grand scale. (Which is an attitude that has annoyed me since day one.)

To be fair, we are instigating change but we have pretty much no control over it. Leaf can perpetrate all kinds of horrors with the stuff we gave them and press us for more of the same kind and we can't do anything about it.

When we talked about changing things early on, the general idea was that we have to wait until we are strong (S-class sounds nice) enough so we don't just get murdered as a side effect of releasing world changing tech.

Guess what we are worried about now?

Traiden said:
@Twofold Add asking for references for people around the world who would be on board with a general uplift and I would say that is a good plan.

I doubt J has a convenient list like that, or if we could trust it even if he did.

Our future plans are way too vague currently, and we can't really discuss them with the team currently.

Radvic said:
This sounds... concerning to me. While I'm a proponent of the following items, I'd prefer a different wording. Perhaps "Talk with them"?

Eh, the people minding us are ninjas. Confrontational things like these are all in the game.

Radvic said:
Sounds needy, would reword. Perhaps:
"What would you be willing to offer us for future sealing inventions?"
Basically, we want Jiraiya to think of us as a golden goose which lays many really valuable invention/warfare eggs, and use that to improve our relationship with him, potentially using that to get us into a situation more to our desiring (in the future). Not as a complaint.

But it is a complaint. He just stole something valuable from us and now we are terrified that we are getting killed because of it.

Why would Hazou go through the trouble of revealing anything good to Jiraya in the future if he snubs him this time? Especially since J easily has the resources to make amends to us by, for example, shoving sealcraft in our general direction.

Radvic said:
Note that we don't have PMYF. Unless they gave us back all our gear? Which seems really silly.

That was an artifact left from Jello's plan, I thought I got them all.

~~Wait, do they currently have all our seals? Didn't we get rid of them before coming to Leaf?~~ nvm

Radvic said:
So, the thing which most helps us is some form of mist creation jutsu, since Noburi could drain through it. The question is if we want to reveal that ability to Jiraiya (I don't trust our team's ability to deceive him into giving it to us without mentioning why we want it). Basically: we'd like a technique which allows us to non-lethally disable people from range.

I would say that the mist jutsu is worth more than keeping misting VD secret from Jiraya. I have no confidence that we can keep it secret for more than one combat engagement from anyone.

There's actually a bit of a problem with the mist jutsu. VD can't drain through chakra construct water, so same is probably true for mist too. This means we need a very specific kind of mist jutsu that creates actual mist from water and not just fake chakra construct mist.

OliWhail said:
Pangolins cannot have it (it doesn't teleport into the Summon Realm), so Leaf does have it. This is cause for concern.

Welcome to the life of having zero bargaining power for our own future.

Velorien said:
A new vote is opening.

You have until my update deadline (12 noon London time on Wednesday 23rd of November) to discuss and vote upon an outline for the technique you want. Jiraiya will then consider the matter and either give you a technique of his choosing that fits the requirements to a greater or lesser extent, or find you a teacher to do so. Note that this is a "what to ask Jiraiya" vote, not a "let's invent a ninjutsu" vote.

So just to be sure, we should wait for @eaglejarl's update to hear how much J is willing to give us and then vote accordingly? Or is Jiraya only giving one jutsu to the team? (Miserly old bastard...)

What about seals, should we include voting for those inside our plans?

Traiden · Nov 18, 2016

What is the harm in asking?

Drasky · Nov 18, 2016

Isn't there any kind of secret techniques that can presumably summon the scroll back to the contractor. Seems kinda important.

Also, is there a reason for needing the physical scroll.

Radvic · Nov 18, 2016

Twofold said:
To be fair, we are instigating change but we have pretty much no control over it. Leaf can perpetrate all kinds of horrors with the stuff we gave them and press us for more of the same kind and we can't do anything about it.

When we talked about changing things early on, the general idea was that we have to wait until we are strong (S-class sounds nice) enough so we don't just get murdered as a side effect of releasing world changing tech.

Guess what we are worried about now?

This is why I want to push for a beneficial relationship with Jiraiya.

Twofold said:
But it is a complaint. He just stole something valuable from us and now we are terrified that we are getting killed because of it.

Why would Hazou go through the trouble of revealing anything good to Jiraya in the future if he snubs him this time? Especially since J easily has the resources to make amends to us by, for example, shoving sealcraft in our general direction.

Because we hold none of the power in the relationship and the reason we might continue to be alive is that Jiraiya wants us alive?

Twofold said:
I would say that the mist jutsu is worth more than keeping misting VD secret from Jiraya. I have no confidence that we can keep it secret for more than one combat engagement from anyone.

There's actually a bit of a problem with the mist jutsu. VD can't drain through chakra construct water, so same is probably true for mist too. This means we need a very specific kind of mist jutsu that creates actual mist from water and not just fake chakra construct mist.

Both good points. On mist creation, I'd assume there's a jutsu somewhere which makes mist out of more mist, similar to how MEW creates rock out of more rock. That's the jutsu we'd want.

Twofold said:
Welcome to the life of having zero bargaining power for our own future.

Yeah. It's kinda sad. But hey, we haven't gotten confirmation yet. Maybe we buried it somewhere in the woods?

drasky said:
Isn't there any kind of secret techniques that can presumably summon the scroll back to the contractor. Seems kinda important.

If there is, I don't remember anything being said about it (but also my knowledge of the story is lacking)

drasky said:
Also, is there a reason for needing the physical scroll.

The problem is that before, we had a monopoly on Pangolin summoning. Now, Leaf could make their own summoner. No, they can't stop Keiko from summoning, but when Keiko has to compete with another summoner, life gets much harder for us, and it mitigates one of the reasons Jiraiya might want us alive (Pangolins are less likely to care about Keiko being alive if they have a second summoner).

Twofold · Nov 18, 2016

Radvic said:
This is why I want to push for a beneficial relationship with Jiraiya.

But, that is exactly what we are going for here?

Radvic said:
Because we hold none of the power in the relationship and the reason we might continue to be alive is that Jiraiya wants us alive?

Is that the sort of thinking that will foster creativity in anyone? Jiraya is not going to buy for a second that we are happy feeding him stuff and getting nothing but our lives in return. Besides, he seems to appreciate frank talk.

If Jiraya's is not killing us to keep the platform tech safe, he is not going to kill us because we demand payment for stuff we come up with.

Radvic said:
Yeah. It's kinda sad. But hey, we haven't gotten confirmation yet. Maybe we buried it somewhere in the woods?

And then it was stolen by Orochimaru. (Or more likely the leaf ninjas, after they finish interrogating Arikada)

Radvic said:
The problem is that before, we had a monopoly on Pangolin summoning. Now, Leaf could make their own summoner. No, they can't stop Keiko from summoning, but when Keiko has to compete with another summoner, life gets much harder for us, and it mitigates one of the reasons Jiraiya might want us alive (Pangolins are less likely to care about Keiko being alive if they have a second summoner).

Actually, they have to kill Keiko first to get a new summoner. Only one human summoner per Animal Clan in MfD.

Cariyaga · Nov 18, 2016

Radvic said:
Because we hold none of the power in the relationship and the reason we might continue to be alive is that Jiraiya wants us alive?

This is gradually going to change as he realizes our use both as independent agents who hold very similar ideas to him, and as creative sealmasters (which really cannot be understated in use).

OliWhail · Nov 18, 2016

Thread PSA: Have posted in the Quest Recommendation Thread, let me know if I skipped any important points that aren't spoilers?

Twofold · Nov 18, 2016

OliWhail said:
Thread PSA: Have posted in the Quest Recommendation Thread, let me know if I skipped any important points that aren't spoilers?

Ah yes, the ship is on fire, better get more crew aboard.

@Traiden On further thought, I guess nothing. I added it as a question in the discussion but I'm not willing to burn favor it.

Updated plan, click the red stuff to find the edits and additions.

Twofold said:
[X] Action Plan: In the Shadow of Leaf

Goals

Do as we are told and keep Jiraya Happy

Check up on Akane

Agree on rewards

Start training

Don't cause an incident

Methods

Continue the discussion with Jiraya

About the high order thing we gave to him out of the goodness of our heart

How likely is it that we are going to get killed to make sure that we don't spread it around?

How are you going to ensure that doesn't happen?

Is the Hokage likely to do that? If not, are his aides/confidants/minions/rivals going to act independently?

What about the people you are going to give it to?

Is this going to happen every time we come up with a new stuff? What are you going to give us to incentivize further creativity?

Why did J want us in Leaf and how long do we actually have to rest before are getting stabbed again?

Does he know other people who are up to changing the world

Preferably the sort of people J has a hard time interacting with because of who he is or who they are?

Haggle for rewards

Most of these rewards are centered around making us stronger and better assets, so it's against Jiraya's interests to be stingy here

Hazou's suggested list of rewards, ordered by priority (naturally, everyone gets to veto the parts that affect them)

Medical training for Nobby

Konoha has the best mednin around, this should be an easy thing to do

It is very important since it keeps us alive and opens new angles of attack

Information on our families in Mist

Is mom still in active duty? Prisoner? Alive?

Whatever the others want to know

Free Pass to cross Fire borders

This should come packaged with Akane's reinstatement

Akane is not much of a carrot if we can't come to see her

MechApt specialization for Akane

She is a Konoha-nin now, why are we using favors gettin her trained?

Shouldn't you be paying us for training her up to high chuunin?

She needs something to pass the time

Get a tutor and reading materials

New Sealcraft for Kagome and Hazou

We showed you ours, now show us yours!

There's a very good chance we will make improvements, we can kick those back at you

Priority on what Kagome deems necessary

Hazou specific sealcraft requests:

Wide approach (Hazou's preferred option)

Multiple low-to-med utility stuff for ninja operatives

Examples in order of priority

Communication devices

Advanced alarm seals

SCBA

Night vision

Eye/ear protection

Sound muffling seals

Deep approach

One heavy specialization

Everything Jiraya has on storage scrolls

Mist generation jutsu for Nobby and Mari

You do have water ninjutsu specialists in Fire, right?

Or just Mari if Nobby is busy

Earth Jutsu for Hazou

Didn't you agree to this last time?

Hazou has room for two 10 dice jutsu

Some ideas, use training plan vote to decide

Tunneling jutsu

Personal combat tunneling

Tunnel building for out of combat

Sensory jutsu (Tremor Sense, See Through Stone, etc.)

Nintaijutsu (Doomu, Earth Fist etc.)

Ranged attack with a roll tied to another skill or attribute

An up-to-date bingo book or comparable intel

I can't believe we didn't ask for this last time

New ninja gear and essentials, our old ones are rather contaminated

Talk to Nobby and Keiko about changing our main Diplomancer

Talk to Nobby first

Our reasoning

High level Diplomacy is really hard, and Nobby is already pursuing two other hard subjects (Medicine, Water Jutsu)

Keiko will have to learn to maneuver social situations with the pangolins anyway

Vampiric Dew and keeping out of sight go so well together

"I am not blinded by the fog of war, Hazou. I am the fog of war. A team mysteriously vanishes in the forest, and you think that of me? No, I am the one who makes them vanish!"

It would be nice if our only medic wouldn't be the most obvious target to attack in the party

Our emotions

Nobby is an incredible ninja and has nothing to prove to anyone

He is obviously the most socially adept out of the genin, but that goes for his chakra control and potential as a ninjutsu specialist too

It is his call, job designation won't work in the long run if people are not 100% behind them

If Nobby agreed, talk to Keiko

Figure out with Nobby how to sell the idea to Keiko

It sucks for the moment, but it'll synergize really well with her pangolins.

Some of her best friends are giant insectivore armored tanks. Even when she's not talking to the pangolins directly better social skills will allow her to capitalize on the fear and respect that inspires.

Her bloodline is pretty kickass, but social skills are its big failure mode. If she can get good at diplomacy she can start using them together to be even better at analysis.

She might be able to go full psychohistory in the future.

We've got her back and know she can do this if she wants to

Meet our minders

Try to get along with them

Use them for social practice

Keiko

Try to build bridges and make nice with them (Diplomacy)

Hazou

Create an extra youthful personality, and see how long it takes them to see through it (Deception)

When they do, swap to a muted personality that is really depressed and negative

When they call us out on that, apologize and tell them that we needed the practice

Ask to spar with them a bit to ~~assess their skills~~ to cultivate our bonds of YOUTH!

Keep Nobby water ninjutsu a secret, only have Hazou and Keiko do sparring

Maybe do team spars if that seems fairer, or more interesting?

Only use standard skills and academy jutsu

No chakra boosting or combat styles

Give our minders advice on how to interact with Kagome

Don't interact with Kagome

If you do, do it from far away

No sudden movements

Don't seem suspicious

Don't ask any questions

Check on Akane

Bring flowers

Tell her about Jiraya's unilateral decision to reinstate her

Don't push for a decision about sticking with us

It is a big question, and her recuperation will take time, she has time

Discuss rewards with her (see rewards section)

Build a barrel

Nobby should get the items needed to build another barrel, hiding them in larger purchases of other good we need.

He should fix his barrel ASAP, possibly staying behind with Kagome in the room to do so.

See if he can't find a backpack or similar disguise for it. Nothing to change it's functionality, just some way to cover it up and hide what it is.

Communicate Hazou's feelings to Keiko

Use clear communication no jutsu.

"Keiko, I'm trying to be helpful and yes that means stating the obvious sometimes. It's not meant to imply that you haven't thought of these things, just that I think it's important."

"I would appreciate if you stop being snippy just because I mention some step that you think is blindingly obvious."

"Mind you, correcting my mistakes, and overruling me when you think I'm wrong is important and neccesary. I just feel hurt by the personal jabs you make when I am trying to use a mode of communication that requires trust and mutual goodwill."

Go out and explore Konoha

Akane

Get better

If able, read MechApt specialization books and get tutored

Noburi

Med-nin Intern Quest

Mari

Socialize with the older Leaf ninjas

Ply her trade

Plow some jounin

You know, Mari stuff

Kagome

Learn new Sealing stuff!

Preferably somewhere close to the team and no other people around

I'm sure they have a library an old grumpy man we can poke with a stick somewhere

I doubt Kagome is the first insane sealmaster they have entertained

Hazou + Keiko (The New Team Talky)

"Keiko! We are going to go out and make friends!"

Talk to civilians and low level ninjas

Learn about Konoha, its people, and the relationship between ninjas and civilians

Start with our minders

Some tour options

Hazou is craving ramen. (The hivemind wills it)

Those hole in the places/tiny pop-up stands are the best.

Take a tour of the historical sights, see what stories Konona like to tell about itself to itself.

War Memorial

If we have a tour guide/minder, ask them about it.

Hokage Monument

If we have a tour guide/minder, ask them about why the monument was created? what should we know about each Hokage.

There are hot springs, I'm sure we could all use a relaxing soak.

Everyone should probably take an extra towel to whip any peeping toms.

Inoue is free to use genjutsu if she wants.

Take a look a weapons shops.

Keiko could use something exotic as a gift to Panchipaama?

Our standard kit could probably use a sharpen and polish.

Hit the library

If there's no public library, see if we can get our minders to get us access to books we're interested in

Get a general idea of what sort of text there are available (or not available)

Focus on different topics so you can teach them to other party members after leaving Leaf

Hazou's focus

Natural laws with an emphasis on mathematics, physics and chakra laws

Political philosophy and its history

Keiko's focus

Law, Konoha specific and international

International trade and agreements

"We don't want another DMZ incident."

Contingencies

Don't piss off Leaf

Be polite to everyone we meet

Listen to our handlers and follow their instructions to the letter

Don't give the Yamanaka a reason to scan us.

Politely ask, if we are allowed, under what conditions the Yamanaka will scan us so that we might not necessitate that happening. Explain that we have clan reasons for not wanting our brains perused by a new ally.

"We have a variety of mental conditions from bloodlines to paranoia which we believe may cause discomfort or harm to mind reading attempts."

Safety and Security Rules

Politely but firmly insist that we want to wear veils or something similar to obscure our faces from prying eyes. We know it won't be enough to deter someone like a Hyuuga, but it might help in case there are any Mist spies in Leaf passively looking for their missing-nin

Never be in a group of less than two (Except for Mari)

Keep a watch in our rooms even at night

Make sure we all have whatever the local equivalent of white flags are

Try to stay in public areas with a reasonable number of civilians and other ninja

Combat contingencies

White tactics only

Use any panic buttons Jiraiya has given us

Try to leave the city or converge on Jiraiya's office to turn ourselves in. If trying to turn ourselves in, make sure we're waving our white flags.

Assume we are being spied on at all times by multiple hostile parties

Ask for a way to contact J or his trusted agent fast if we get in trouble

A panic button: Colored fireworks, sealing based solution, or something quick like that

A slower but more covert way: a deadrop, a trusted messenger, preferably something outside Konoha's standard military structure

Cariyaga · Nov 18, 2016

OliWhail said:
Thread PSA: Have posted in the Quest Recommendation Thread, let me know if I skipped any important points that aren't spoilers?

The player culture is probably worth mentioning.

OliWhail · Nov 18, 2016

Cariyaga said:
The player culture is probably worth mentioning.

! This is an excellent point.

Just so y'all know who liked the post in the QR thread, I believe the OP only counts endorsements given as "{U} QUEST_NAME" (so {U} Marked for Death for us)

E: Added a thing about how cool you all are

Twofold · Nov 18, 2016

OliWhail said:
Thread PSA: Have posted in the Quest Recommendation Thread, let me know if I skipped any important points that aren't spoilers?

As an observation, that recommendation thread seems to be mostly for checking what kind of people like the quest in question, instead of a general "more votes means better quest" type of thing. Meaning it is probably not useful to upvote unless you actually interact with the forums beyond this thread.

I guess we need to do something about this thing:

Radvic said:
Note: they have people who can see chakra. They'll obviously be able to tell what's going on. Additionally, attempting to hide something like this is likely to result in mind scans or bad things if they find out. I figure if we want Noburi to have a barrel we can either have Jiraiya (or one of his agents) retrieve the barrel he left with his medical teacher, or we build a barrel with the understanding that Noburi is betraying his family's hidden teachings. We also don't actually have money (I assume they confiscated that?).

The barrel's secret is probably out, unless there's some specific thing in the process that can't be reverse engineered by looking at the finished barrel. But yes, it will definitely be out if Nobby fixes his old or builds a new one while inside Konoha.

The problem with a Nobby without a barrel is:

A huge vulnerability, a civilian could kill him
No studying water ninjutsu or Medjutsu

He could still study Medicine though, so it's not like he would be wasting his time.

So, should we craft a barrel for Nobby or not? Opinions welcome.

Radvic · Nov 18, 2016

Twofold said:
But, that is exactly what we are going for here?

I guess I mean, beneficial for Jiraiya? But I'll admit people have raised valid points and I'm mostly just conflicted and nervous.

Twofold said:
Is that the sort of thinking that will foster creativity in anyone? Jiraya is not going to buy for a second that we are happy feeding him stuff and getting nothing but our lives in return. Besides, he seems to appreciate frank talk.

Good point.

Twofold said:
If Jiraya's is not killing us to keep the platform tech safe, he is not going to kill us because we demand payment for stuff we come up with.

True, I just kinda figure that it's often better to be polite about things like this, but I suppose at this point that would be a departure from our modus operandi.

Twofold said:
And then it was stolen by Orochimaru. (Or more likely the leaf ninjas, after they finish interrogating Arikada)

Maybe we hid it in Iron immediately after Jiraiya told us our mission since we knew we wouldn't need it on hand, and success in this mission means being detained by Konoha? Maybe we gave it to Jiraiya then since we're already entrusting our lives to him?

Twofold said:
Actually, they have to kill Keiko first to get a new summoner. Only one human summoner per Animal Clan in MfD.

Well, that makes me feel a little better. At least, if Jiraiya has the scroll. If Danzo has the scroll, I fully expect to never wake up after sleeping tonight.

Cariyaga said:
This is gradually going to change as he realizes our use both as independent agents who hold very similar ideas to him, and as creative sealmasters (which really cannot be understated in use).

Yeah, "What would you be willing to offer us for future sealing inventions?" seems like a good way to get him to think that. "We are feeling rather bummed now. What are you going to give us to incentivize further creativity?" seems like we're full of ourselves and self-worth and demanding.

Twofold said:
Ah yes, the ship is on fire, better get more crew aboard.

Maybe we'll get a firefighter?

Twofold said:
Is this going to happen every time we come up with a new stuff? What are you going to give us to incentivize further creativity?

This satisfies my complaint.

Twofold said:
So, should we craft a barrel for Nobby or not? Opinions welcome.

I'd suggest asking Jiraiya to send someone to retrieve a barrel from Iron (I believe we have one stashed in the woods somewhere, and our medical instructor has one). Probably get the one from our medical instructor, keep the woods one safe for now.

ChronOblivion · Nov 18, 2016

Twofold said:
So, should we craft a barrel for Nobby or not? Opinions welcome.

We should absolutely not work on his barrel here, and I imagine that Noburi would agree. The construction part is probably one of the biggest clan secrets and we already know that everything we do is going to be closely monitored.

Cariyaga · Nov 18, 2016

Twofold said:
As an observation, that recommendation thread seems to be mostly for checking what kind of people like the quest in question, instead of a general "more votes means better quest" type of thing. Meaning it is probably not useful to upvote unless you actually interact with the forums beyond this thread.

I guess we need to do something about this thing:

The barrel's secret is probably out, unless there's some specific thing in the process that can't be reverse engineered by looking at the finished barrel. But yes, it will definitely be out if Nobby fixes his old or builds a new one while inside Konoha.

The problem with a Nobby without a barrel is:

A huge vulnerability, a civilian could kill him

No studying water ninjutsu or Medjutsu

He could still study Medicine though, so it's not like he would be wasting his time.

So, should we craft a barrel for Nobby or not? Opinions welcome.

I think we should. I'm sure SOMEONE in leaf has captured a Wakahisa barrel in tact at some point, so we aren't losing out too much here. We can ask Jiraiya to give Nobby that amount of privacy in its construction, at least, if he's not willing to have his barrel brought back over.

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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