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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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A few thing about this update:

First, it overlaps with the prior one. Chapter 123 covered August 31 and September 1 and awarded XP for them. This chapter covered 9/2-9/3 and the XP award is only for those days.

Second, we (the GMs) have been working towards this update for close to a month now. It's nice to finally have it done. We do, however, find ourselves amused at how you keep getting bounced in and out of Leaf; we did not have that as a goal when we started planning what has come to be known in GM chat as "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny." It pretty much fell out that way when we started tracing through the logic.

Third, back in the beginning of the quest there was a great deal of commentary to the effect of "We don't matter at all until we're jōnin; the genin part is pointless and boring." If you ever felt that way, please go back and re-read Jiraiya's speech and Shikaku Nara's, then reassess how much of an impact you've had. ;>
 
Will we be able to spend experience before we go to face our doom?

Edit: can we get access to Akane's character sheet as well?
 
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So basically the fecal matter has officially collided with the purifier seal. That took a little less time than I thought.
 
So, either Yaguara is dead or captured. Mei is dead. Zabuza is dead. Damn. that's a shitload of jonins.

Shit, I hope Hazō's mama isn't involved. That would suck badly.
 
Holy hell.
So, interpreting it through the lens of Kagome's story, the Sage changed bodies; now he is Jiraiya.
Alternatively, Akatsuki or the bijuu succeed in killing him. Admittedly, it doesn't seem to line up very well.

Hm. In that vein,
One by one the other clans spoke up, volunteering whatever resources they had. The earlier tension and anger transmuted, changing like magic to become enthusiasm and a hunger for revenge against their common enemy.
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I don't like it. It's too smooth. Like magic indeed.
And now he sends us out of Leaf? That's really suspicious.

Also, someone starts shouting under the team's windows looking like a battered/angry Jiraiya, and we immediately believe him and follow him? Not careful at all.
 
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Kiba said:
Needless to say, both sides are absolutely mauled, but the real threat is Akatsuki.
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That's exactly what he'd want you to think.

Real talk though, we need to know what's in that list, and where they point us to, so we can traveling salesman it. Accounting for dangers.
Also as much information of this mystery group as we can get, and any kind of hostile (Mist or otherwise) troop movements or known or suspected operations.
 
You know, theoretically, if this takes us near Mist... this could be our opportunity to get Hana out.
 
FUCK THIS SHIT.

@eaglejarl: Wonderful writing, between the content and the polish you brought to the writing this chapter had me running back and forth the gamut of emotions.

Anyway Immediate Priorities, in no particular order:
  • We have literally no time to get kitted out.
    • The basics are sorted since we're paranoid ninja with go bags. Do we need anything else?
    • We need to make sure we've got some sealing grade paper and ink, as well as some force walls. We will need to restock at some point for a long term mission like this one.
    • We need storage scrolls with food and other supplies.
  • Make sure we have some paper and ink for others. Our targets may need it and I'm not going to wait for them to grab a pen.
  • Also, make sure we have paper and ink for Kagome.
    • I would like to have him write a report with any speculation he might have based on his existing knowledge. Ask him to be very clear about where he got each piece of information. Is each statement speculation, based on direct evidence, etc.. Try to include descriptions of the actual evidence if possible.
    • When we get back we should toss it to the Nara with a note to the effect of "Kagome has seen a lot of things, is privy to lots of information that is probably classified. He is also, with good reason given his history, paranoid. We would ask that Shikaku/the Nara treat this as information that has a high chance of being important, likely has true statements mixed in with wildly inaccurate statements, and has a high chance of containing sensitive information."
  • As @Noumero points out we should probably check our assumptions about everything. If Jiraiya could summon a tadpole and make a rasengan that is ample evidence that it's actually him. I don't know whether we should ask him to do this.
    • Admittedly, the Nara and the Hyuuga gave him a pass. Between Shikaku being able to model people at a high fidelity and Hiashi being able to fingerprint the shape of people's chakra systems It's almost certainly him.
  • Between Keiko and an hour of a low level Nara's time we should be able to highly optimize the order in which we approach people.
  • If we are going to spend time in Mist Minami needs to be briefed on the Hazou's Mom thing. If we are lucky enough to be able to make a detour and pick her up we probably should. At least if the detour is worth having an extra Jounin on the team. I expect this to be unlikely, but she does need to be briefed on our options.
  • Do we have our sky-base kit? Since there's no way I'd vote for us sleeping below the cloud line.
@everyone: Brain dump into the thread now, get your ideas into text no matter how stupid you think it is. Hell, if you're pressed for time just write a bullet point. People will be going through everyone's ideas and picking out the best ones, but we really need to make sure we think of everything, and the best way to do that is to not censor ourselves needlessly.
 
[X] Action Plan : Lore Update

Backup, because we need to not fuck this up, and he thread might need time to digest the new information and plan.
 
Jello_Raptor said:
@everyone: Brain dump into the thread now, get your ideas into text no matter how stupid you think it is. Hell, if you're pressed for time just write a bullet point. People will be going through everyone's ideas and picking out the best ones, but we really need to make sure we think of everything, and the best way to do that is to not censor ourselves needlessly.
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Immediate thoughts: We have access to all the clans for the next 2 hours if we want to spend the time that way. My primary thought is that we need to have Jiraiya give us a set of personal defensive seals, and maybe ask the same of the Nara/other clans? Probably just the Nara tbh.

Basically, some shit to keep us safe.
 
Also we need to get mechanics nailed down for all of our seals. So if you have thoughts on how macerators or banshees should work let's here them.
 
Jello_Raptor said:
Admittedly, the Nara and the Hyuuga gave him a pass. Between Shikaku being able to model people at a high fidelity and Hiashi being able to fingerprint the shape of people's chakra systems It's almost certainly him.
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I wouldn't be so sure. Going by Kagome's story, the Sage expected to be able to replace the Fourth Hokage, after he became the Hokage; his method of impersonation must by necessity be able to pass the checks mentioned by you. The original henge and the masterful acting, as example.
The Yamanaka may be a better choice, but I don't see how we could get him covertly scanned, and he may have the methods of circumventing them as well anyway.
That probably means we are incapable of verifying his identity; I don't see a way, at least. Ask him a question only Jiraiya could answer? Nope, he had used our idea, i.e. the shadowy intimidation aura, just now.

Hm. Have Kagome grill him on sealing theory? That may be a good idea: it would weed out both most arbitrary impersonators and the Sage, and isn't as hostile as a Yamanaka-scan. It could be done covertly, by asking for advice or his opininon on implosion seals/improving skywalkers/that random seal idea Hazou just came up with.
 
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We should also think ahead here -- anything we do now should follow Miyamoto Musashi's ways:

The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him. More than anything, you must be thinking of carrying your movement through to cutting him. You must thoroughly research this.
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What is our purpose right at this moment? Preparation for a very important two week+ mission. We can get *most* things while on the move, or within 2 minutes of work in Leaf. No real need to worry ourselves over food/water; I'm pretty sure Kagome has us covered there.

I assume we have clearance to use Skywalkers; Minami and Akane need to get used to them.

We need to give Mari a hug before we leave.
 
Kiba said:
At this moment, the Sage isn't our enemy. This is not the time to be questioning him.
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Akatsuki is nowhere near here, as far as we know. Impersonator!Jiraiya is our potential immediate enemy; if we see a way to confirm or disprove him, it probably would be a good idea to do it, as long as it doesn't cost us much.
 
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