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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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I think trying to start a poly relationship with Ino and Akane is a bad idea at the moment, and I'm not sure why Hazo seem's to be so open about it. Clearly he remembers what his parent's relationship was like, he talked a bit about it in this chapter. Not sure why he wouldn't try to emulate that as opposed to what Inoue suggested before.

Anyways, Hazo, Ino, and Akane are all inexperienced romantically, it can only end horribly. I think Hazo should focus on his relationship with Akane, and if down the line, after they're more comfortable being together they decide to open it up, then they can do that.
 
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Velorien said:
"Good morning, Yakushi-sensei!"

"Noburi!" Yakushi-sensei beamed. "You're early! What prompted this burst of diligence?"

Noburi shuffled on the spot. "So, uh, it's occurred to me how my team might have to leave Leaf soon, and that means we might not have much time left together, so… do you think we could make an early start on that corpse dissection you mentioned yesterday?"

"Hmm…" Yakushi-sensei tapped his glasses. "Your enthusiasm does you credit, but to be honest… I was planning to spend the morning going over my tissue sample analyses. I would be disappointing the Hokage if I did not provide my report on time."

Noburi suspected he might have been pushing it. But fortunately, he'd come prepared with a secret weapon which might just tip the balance of Yakushi-sensei's preferences.

"Oh, there's something I meant to tell you. My team and I are hoping to study some new ninjutsu starting tomorrow. Would you be interested in coming along to observe?"

Yakushi-sensei's hand stopped tapping. "You and Mori and Kurosawa?"

"Yep."

Yakushi-sensei stood up from his desk. "I would be delighted. Noburi, you have made my day, no, my entire week."

He looked at Noburi with an uncharacteristic seriousness, less paternal and more like one adult to another. "Thank you for trusting me. I know this must have been a difficult decision for you, and I respect you for being willing to take a risk in the name of advancing the world's scientific knowledge."

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through Noburi's body.

"Now, I am going to trust you in return."

Yakushi-sensei reached into a desk drawer and pulled out some kind of form, then filled it in.

"Strictly speaking, this violates current hospital policy. The director would be chasing me through the halls with a naginata if she knew I was doing it without her approval. But you and I can make it our little secret, can't we, Noburi?"

"Of course!" Noburi struggled to suppress his excitement. "But what are you doing?"

"Give this to the duty nurse. It is a permission slip for all five members of your team to visit Ishihara. Individually and staggered over the course of the day, of course. Given how her mental state has been oscillating, I believe bending the rules in this case and allowing her to see friends other than Kurosawa would only be to her benefit."

"That's great, Yakushi-sensei! Thank you so much!"

Yakushi-sensei gave a warm smile. "Not at all, Noburi. Now go inform your team. Afterwards, I suggest taking the first turn to visit. That will give me time to examine those tissue samples, and see if I can't complete my work early and dissect that Hidden Grass spy today after all."
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So, I'd like to talk about this particular bit. I mean, obviously, he's still being as manipulative as ever, and I still don't trust him any farther than I could throw him (not at all :p), but I don't think that he could fake quite that level of surprise or enthusiasm. So, he has a genuine appreciation for learning as scientific endeavours. How can we use this? I feel that, while volatile, he is a resource that could be quite important in transferring our out-of-character knowledge in-character.
 
Cariyaga said:
So, I'd like to talk about this particular bit. I mean, obviously, he's still being as manipulative as ever, and I still don't trust him any farther than I could throw him (not at all :p), but I don't think that he could fake quite that level of surprise or enthusiasm. So, he has a genuine appreciation for learning as scientific endeavours. How can we use this? I feel that, while volatile, he is a resource that could be quite important in transferring our out-of-character knowledge in-character.
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The phrases: "playing with fire" and "making a deal with the devil" come to mind.

My main concern is what will it take to satiate Kabuto's academic appetite. If we get him too excited and he stops caring about pesky obstacles like 'laws' and 'ethics' we could be in real trouble. Doubly so if Kabuto has a secret employer who is just as passionate about !!!SCIENCE!!! as he is.

Remember how giddy Jiraiya was when we showed him an application of an existing seal? Now imagine what would happen if he had no moral qualms about sweat shops and we dropped 21st century knowledge on him or proved how to build Hidden Heaven with seals. We would be lucky if we ever got to see the light of day again.
 
Dictator4Hire said:
The phrases: "playing with fire" and "making a deal with the devil" come to mind.

My main concern is what will it take to satiate Kabuto's academic appetite. If we get him too excited and he stops caring about pesky obstacles like 'laws' and 'ethics' we could be in real trouble. Doubly so if Kabuto has a secret employer who is just as passionate about !!!SCIENCE!!! as he is.

Remember how giddy Jiraiya was when we showed him an application of an existing seal? Now imagine what would happen if he had no moral qualms about sweat shops and we dropped 21st century knowledge on him or proved how to build Hidden Heaven with seals. We would be lucky if we ever got to see the light of day again.
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Point. Maybe once we're collectively s-rank as a group we can consider it.
 
Anybody wanna, like start up with planning?

It sounds like we're going to be having the rewards discussion with Jiraiya, which can also include further discussion of uplift and asking him about the seals in the hospital. I like whoever's idea it was to ask about seals that aren't on the window and see if he corrects us.

However, this means we're going to need to apologize to Auntie and come back to the library afterwards.

So morning -> helping Auntie -> get summoned -> meet J -> discuss rewards and uplift -> close update for reward voting, probably.
 
OliWhail said:
@Velorien / @thread: why does Noburi think we're studying ninjutsu tomorrow? Who offered to teach us? I thought the hope was for Kabuto to show us things and watch as we learned..?
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"Noburi should offer Kabuto the chance to observe us learning techniques in the next couple days." I assumed that meant the techniques you were going to ask Jiraiya for. If you meant "Noburi should offer Kabuto the chance to teach us techniques and observe how we learn them", the phrasing is strange. Plus having Kabuto teach you techniques would be a huge deal (given how hard new techniques have been to come by for you), and odd to present in such a low-key, offscreen fashion.

OliWhail said:
Hmmm. If only there were some technique that was specifically designed to aid in communicating what people want in a clear and understandable way. Shame we haven't got anything like that in our arsenal.
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CCnJ only works if you

a) Know what it is you wish to say
b) Wish to say it
c) Need a way of saying it so the other person understands

Cariyaga said:
This is not an argument that would work on most people.
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It might actually work better in the shinobi world (assuming awareness of poly to begin with). To a ninja, the possibility of oneself or one's partner not coming back from the next mission will never be far from one's thoughts. "This will reduce the pain to my partner when I die, and provide them with a support network" can be a big deal under those circumstances.

Spector29 said:
Based on various reaction posts, I'm going to do a blind reading of this bit.
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eaglejarl said:
Shiny, thanks. I enjoyed it; blind readings and unfiltered reactions are always really interesting to me, so please keep doing it.
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This. Much as Hazō is catnip to teenage girls, detailed reaction posts, especially blind and/or unfiltered ones, are catnip to writers. They are endlessly enjoyable and validating and good for feedback.

Kiba said:
From the discussion, the history of the elemental nation sounds like a totally biased source.
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I actually consulted a bona fide medieval literature expert for authenticity prior to working on it with @eaglejarl.
 
Velorien said:
"Noburi should offer Kabuto the chance to observe us learning techniques in the next couple days." I assumed that meant the techniques you were going to ask Jiraiya for. If you meant "Noburi should offer Kabuto the chance to teach us techniques and observe how we learn them", the phrasing is strange. Plus having Kabuto teach you techniques would be a huge deal (given how hard new techniques have been to come by for you), and odd to present in such a low-key, offscreen fashion.
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While I see where you're coming from, I believe the wording is made much less ambiguous given that this exchange happened:

eaglejarl said:
"On the subject of getting value for it," Hazou said, "I was thinking that perhaps we should tell him that he can watch us practice any jutsu he teaches us. It would show cooperation and give us increased options."

Everyone considered that for a moment and then Inoue looked around the table, taking a vote by eye. "Okay, sounds like we're in agreement. Trickle out the information as slowly as possible and in as small doses as possible. Hazou, I like the idea of jutsu training, but they need to be useful ones, and none of that happens without me there. If he complains, tell him that I'm your jounin sensei and I'm very controlling. It's not unknown for jounin to bar their students from studying under other teachers, so it shouldn't raise too much of an alarm."
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Regarding Hazou's relationship prospects, I don't believe there is anything wrong in principle with aiming for a poly relationship. In fact, I'm even broadly supportive - I like Ino, I think it would be interesting to read about, and it's been a while since we've had a character upgraded to a member of the main cast, which this would presumable accomplish.

However, it seems pretty evident that now is not the time to be aiming for a poly relationship, for a number of reasons. Relationships are hard enough (especially for Hazou) without adding a third person to the mix, Akane has self-esteem issues and an inferiority complex that are highly likely to be exacerbated by a poly relationship, and it seems plausible that Akane is just telling us what we want to hear and wouldn't actually be OK with it (at least for the moment).

Fortunately, I don't think these two positions are incompatible. We are going to be leaving Leaf soon anyway - it seems unlikely we would even have the time to set up a relationship with Ino, to say nothing of the myriad other problems. Instead, we can set the groundwork to pursue a relationship with Ino when we return, if the above problems with a poly relationship have been solved, and Ino is still open to a relationship with Hazou.

To do this, we talk to Ino just before we leave, playing the part of the Mysterious Stranger leaving to perform a vital secret mission. Then we pursue a normal relationship with Akane, and re-evaluate the poly situation when and if we return to Leaf.
 
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MadScientist said:
While I see where you're coming from, I believe the wording is made much less ambiguous given that this exchange happened:
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I don't know. I still find it confusing since at no point in the conversation does Hazō actually bring up the idea of Kabuto teaching ninjutsu to anyone, apart from the medical ninjutsu he was considering teaching Noburi anyway. Nor do I recall Kabuto offering to do so.
 
SoothingCoffee said:
I would rather us not turn this into a Poly thing. Really. No.

That's just asking for trouble.

Kanesawa/Hakane only.
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I'm beginning to think that we should hold a (non-binding) vote, just so we QMs can get a feel for the balance of preferences among the player base. This has been an exceptionally divisive issue, with strong arguments being made on all sides.
 
Velorien said:
I don't know. I still find it confusing since at no point in the conversation does Hazō actually bring up the idea of Kabuto teaching ninjutsu to anyone, apart from the medical ninjutsu he was considering teaching Noburi anyway. Nor do I recall Kabuto offering to do so.
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Huh? What about

eaglejarl said:
"On the subject of getting value for it," Hazou said, "I was thinking that perhaps we should tell him that he can watch us practice any jutsu he teaches us. It would show cooperation and give us increased options."
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?

If that isn't bringing up the idea of Kabuto teaching them ninjutsu, then I'm not sure what would qualify. :???:
 
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