- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
Unbelievable. Can this please be marked as non-canon or an April Fool's joke? Now that it's no longer April 1st, nobodies looking out for this kind of stuff. I totally fell for it. Actually stunning.
Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
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- Tags
- naruto rationalist romance armageddon is looking better and better damn you kishimoto explosions everywhere explosives solve everyone if in doubt surrender to the mercy of zabuza it seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a really bad case of being a jōnin my god. where does the lore end? precommitting is the winning plan screaming in kagome screw the rules i have explosives something bad might still happen sometimes you gotta sociopath stabby zabby subsection c of paragraph 9 should include we can weaponize this so hard open voting
Unbelievable. Can this please be marked as non-canon or an April Fool's joke? Now that it's no longer April 1st, nobodies looking out for this kind of stuff. I totally fell for it. Actually stunning.
The thing about trying to kill a jonin is that you're trying to kill a jonin, and that means you're going to need at least a jonin to make the attempt and you're risking losing people in the attempt. IMO the easiest thing to do with her from Yagura's standpoint is just have her benched so she's in the village in case of an attack so she can help with the defense, and just have her monitored to ensure she doesn't have any iffy contacts. Mist probably monitors a lot of "individuals of interest" within the village anyways, so having people look for signs of her plotting treachery on a regular basis would not likely involve committing too many extra resources to that effort.
- Location
- Yes.
It's not at all difficult if you have intel over your opponent. And Mist would definitely have a file labeled "Kurosawa Hana" listing all of her strengths and weaknesses.
Send her on a 2-man mission to (e.g.,) deliver a dead drop, and have her "partner" explode the area, or poison her food, or any number of things.
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
I think, with the points both sides have brought up, there are too many unknown factors in this situation to have confidence in any one outcome.
Yagura might have decided Hana wasn't loyal, and disposed of her. Yagura might have decided Hana might not be loyal, and disposed of her to be safe. Yagura might have decided Hana might not be loyal, and brought her to the front lines of a big battle with high risks of death. Yagura might have decided Hana might not be loyal, and kept her benched in Mist under observation. We simply don't know enough details about how Yagura runs Mist, or what Hana's done since we last saw her, or any of the dozens of other things that could sway events one way or the other.
As an aside, I don't think questionable loyalty would spur Yagura to bring Hana to the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. Yagura set up his ambush thinking he'd only be fighting Naruto, his Genin teammates, and one Jounin. He brought an overwhelming show of force, but unless Yagura expected the counter-ambush he would be selecting from his most trustworthy and powerful Jounin instead of his most expendable Jounin. That isn't to say she wasn't there, let alone that she's alive and hasn't been quietly killed off, but if she was there it wouldn't be because she's not trusted.
Yeah, the thing here is that Hana is aware that she's on the outs and Mist's government is aware that she's aware. Given she knows she's under suspicion sending her out on a mission would be a terrible idea. It would almost certainly signal to her that she's supposed to be killed during the mission, and she might make a break for it even if she didn't suspect that since she'd want to go find her son. There's also the matter that as a jonin she's probably fairly aware of who they'd likely use to try to kill her. Not to mention she's probably got a few tricks that nobody is aware of, meaning there's no guarantee of success without casualties.
And you have to remember that Hana isn't suspected of having loyalties to another village or anything of that nature. Her son is a missing-nin, and the likelihood of another village taking him in is minuscule to the point of not being a serious consideration given the information Yagura actually had available to him. The most likely worst case in regards to Hana is that she would somehow escape the village and become a missing-nin herself to find her son, and that wouldn't really pose a serious risk to Mist all things considered. Benching and then monitoring her keeps her from escaping, and keeps a jonin around in case the village is attacked. The reward of disposing of her because her loyalty isn't 100% is shaky, so I can easily see Yagura going with the low risk solution. (not to mention she'll probably go back to drinking if Hazou ended up getting killed, which as a missing-nin was a very real and even likely possibility from a statistical standpoint)
There is no way that he didn't think Naruto was a trap.
And yet he walked right into it anyways, not knowing exactly what he was up against. That indicates to me that there was a good chance he didn't know, unless he was grossly overconfident.
- Location
- ...Nice try.
Trap doesn't fit Yagura's actions (or, at least, what Jiraiya claims were Yagura's actions.)
If Yagura thought it was a trap, he doesn't know whether it's a trap to lure a large portion of his jounin out of position so Leaf can take Mist in one decisive strike or whether it's an ambush designed to eliminate a bunch of his jounin. If it's the former, the correct move is to stay in Mist. If it's the latter, the correct thing is to bring forces sufficient to overwhelm the ambush. Yagura did neither: his forces were what Jiraiya expected him to bring if he was just going to take the jinchuuriki.
This is all assuming that Jiraiya's telling the truth.
The thing I'm still having trouble with: if I'm in Jiraiya's shoes, I look at Mist's force estimates: "Momochi Zabuza, nine to fifteen jōnin, and possibly the Mizukage". I say to myself "multiple combat is extremely advantageous" and send Naruto+Nakamura for Zabuza, 30 ANBU for the jounin, and Jiraiya+Hiruzen for the Mizukage. In the worst case, we double team each opponent which, because each pair is supporting the other, means that each engagement has better than 2:1 odds of coming out favorably. Even if something goes south and a pair loses, we transition to two one-on-one engagements and everyone else engaging two on one. In non-worst-case scenarios, things are even more favorable.
(ETA: I also probably bring some high chuunin long-range types for general support, safely outside of battle courtesy of skywalkers.)
Instead, Jiraiya deploys 12 ANBU, 1 jounin-sensei, 1 Jiraiya, and 1 Hiruzen. (Or I counted wrong.)
He set up a counter-ambush with approximately equal to his opponent's forces, which meant he chose to trade approximately evenly when he could have instead traded extremely favorably.
I'm trying to justify this by saying things about defending Leaf, and what if Mist feigns falling into the trap to draw Leaf out of position to strike at Leaf directly, but if you're unwilling to commit enough forces to take an advantageous fight, why are you setting up the fight in the first place? It's only to our advantage to trade evenly if we have the numbers advantage, but then we should be using that advantage to trade favorably. Does Leaf have so many S-rank ninja they can't afford to pay them all, so they're looking to bleed off a few? Because that's the most plausible explanation I can come up with.
Mist is to our east and Sand, who (IIRC) we are allied with, is to our west. Jiraiya wouldn't have been worth the title of spymaster he couldn't maneuver a squad of Sand jounin to be in the right place to respond to a SOS from Leaf in case Mist was using our bait to lure us out of position to hit Konoha. Maybe Sand's secretly betraying us to Mist, but if that's the case and we're trading evenly with Mist, we're already dead.
And we have skytowers. We haven't set up a signalling system, but ninja have (literally) flashy technique that let us watch the major attack routes and get a signal to the ambush party if Mist does swing directly at Konoha and, with the skywalkers rofling at unfavorable terrain, they could get back first.
Speaking of skywalkers, those have a comparative advantage over water, even though Mist is all watery, right? I'm looking at the map and there's an island that is crossed by the line between the hidden villages, which would increase the travel time for a Mist countercounterforce to attack directly while minimizing the amount the ambush force would have to retreat. And then you get to bring more ANBU and not needlessly throw away your strongest ninja.
Or, we say "okay, Mist, you want to send enough ninja to take out Leaf, now all your guys are out of position and Leaf's gone, guess what's happening to Mist?" Like, we get -∞ if this happens, but they do too so they won't. (Has MfD crystallized MAD?)
Based on past history, it's more likely than not I'm missing something. But right now Wikipedia is telling me "In military strategy and tactics, a recurring theme is that units are strengthened by proximity to supporting units" and Jiraiya—unlike Yagura (!)—decided to not go ham on supporting units and does not compute.
Here's a triumvirate proposal: we save Naruto from Akatsuki, get Yagura while we're at it, and then put Jiraiya in charge of spying, Yagura in charge of making sensible military deployments, and Shikaku in charge of everything else. But pretend Leaf and Mist are still hate each other so everyone else is okay with their forces being bled down so we can achieve world optimization.
The conspiracy theory gains probability mass!
If Yagura thought it was a trap, he doesn't know whether it's a trap to lure a large portion of his jounin out of position so Leaf can take Mist in one decisive strike or whether it's an ambush designed to eliminate a bunch of his jounin. If it's the former, the correct move is to stay in Mist. If it's the latter, the correct thing is to bring forces sufficient to overwhelm the ambush. Yagura did neither: his forces were what Jiraiya expected him to bring if he was just going to take the jinchuuriki.
This is all assuming that Jiraiya's telling the truth.
The thing I'm still having trouble with: if I'm in Jiraiya's shoes, I look at Mist's force estimates: "Momochi Zabuza, nine to fifteen jōnin, and possibly the Mizukage". I say to myself "multiple combat is extremely advantageous" and send Naruto+Nakamura for Zabuza, 30 ANBU for the jounin, and Jiraiya+Hiruzen for the Mizukage. In the worst case, we double team each opponent which, because each pair is supporting the other, means that each engagement has better than 2:1 odds of coming out favorably. Even if something goes south and a pair loses, we transition to two one-on-one engagements and everyone else engaging two on one. In non-worst-case scenarios, things are even more favorable.
(ETA: I also probably bring some high chuunin long-range types for general support, safely outside of battle courtesy of skywalkers.)
Instead, Jiraiya deploys 12 ANBU, 1 jounin-sensei, 1 Jiraiya, and 1 Hiruzen. (Or I counted wrong.)
He set up a counter-ambush with approximately equal to his opponent's forces, which meant he chose to trade approximately evenly when he could have instead traded extremely favorably.
I'm trying to justify this by saying things about defending Leaf, and what if Mist feigns falling into the trap to draw Leaf out of position to strike at Leaf directly, but if you're unwilling to commit enough forces to take an advantageous fight, why are you setting up the fight in the first place? It's only to our advantage to trade evenly if we have the numbers advantage, but then we should be using that advantage to trade favorably. Does Leaf have so many S-rank ninja they can't afford to pay them all, so they're looking to bleed off a few? Because that's the most plausible explanation I can come up with.
Mist is to our east and Sand, who (IIRC) we are allied with, is to our west. Jiraiya wouldn't have been worth the title of spymaster he couldn't maneuver a squad of Sand jounin to be in the right place to respond to a SOS from Leaf in case Mist was using our bait to lure us out of position to hit Konoha. Maybe Sand's secretly betraying us to Mist, but if that's the case and we're trading evenly with Mist, we're already dead.
And we have skytowers. We haven't set up a signalling system, but ninja have (literally) flashy technique that let us watch the major attack routes and get a signal to the ambush party if Mist does swing directly at Konoha and, with the skywalkers rofling at unfavorable terrain, they could get back first.
Speaking of skywalkers, those have a comparative advantage over water, even though Mist is all watery, right? I'm looking at the map and there's an island that is crossed by the line between the hidden villages, which would increase the travel time for a Mist countercounterforce to attack directly while minimizing the amount the ambush force would have to retreat. And then you get to bring more ANBU and not needlessly throw away your strongest ninja.
Or, we say "okay, Mist, you want to send enough ninja to take out Leaf, now all your guys are out of position and Leaf's gone, guess what's happening to Mist?" Like, we get -∞ if this happens, but they do too so they won't. (Has MfD crystallized MAD?)
Based on past history, it's more likely than not I'm missing something. But right now Wikipedia is telling me "In military strategy and tactics, a recurring theme is that units are strengthened by proximity to supporting units" and Jiraiya—unlike Yagura (!)—decided to not go ham on supporting units and does not compute.
Here's a triumvirate proposal: we save Naruto from Akatsuki, get Yagura while we're at it, and then put Jiraiya in charge of spying, Yagura in charge of making sensible military deployments, and Shikaku in charge of everything else. But pretend Leaf and Mist are still hate each other so everyone else is okay with their forces being bled down so we can achieve world optimization.
The conspiracy theory gains probability mass!
Last edited:
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I recently finished catching up with this thread and I'd just like to provide a couple thoughts:
- Why has Wakihasa suddenly become a biologist? This doesn't really jive with his personality at all and doesn't make much sense either. I get that he's training to become a medic nin but that doesn't mean he's all of a sudden also super interested in biology. The progression just doesn't make sense. He's constantly bragging about becoming a premier ninjutsu master; why would he suddenly decide to completely shift gears and focus on medical jutsu?
- Sealing seems like it's done very little for us compared to what other people are getting out of their skill sets. All of our inventions were actually just ideas that Kagome developed. I understand that sealing is supposed to be very difficult but there hasn't really been a pay off (for our investment) yet. Everything we've done could've been done instead by just giving our ideas to Kagome.
- We told Jiraiya how we invented the skywalkers. This means he can (along with all the other seal masters in Leaf) trivially reinvent the seal. Why on earth would he be so interested in getting us to stay in Leaf? We are people who have betrayed a village before. We've declared that we have loyalties to members of Mist. We've proven time and again that we have almost no ability to keep our mouths shut and are extremely impulsive. At best, we're a liability. At worst, we're a threat to Leaf.
- What was the purpose of the three crazy Kagome chapters? Is that going to be the actual back story for this or are you just fucking with us? If I'm becoming completely honest, I sincerely hope it's the latter. Adding that plotline doesn't add anything to the story and, if anything, just makes me less interested. It reads, at least for that section, like you were very liberally using story elements from Ra. I'm just not crazy interested and would prefer if the story stuck to a rational take on the Naruto universe; the back story doesn't do much outside of making it seem much less rational.
- That brings me to something bizarre that I've noticed. How have Jiraiya and Mari (as far as I can tell) not picked up on Kagome's sealing genius? He has to be one of the better seal masters in the world; either that, or all of the research he's been doing is actually fairly trivial. I suppose the second is certainly possible but it really doesn't seem that way.
- The tp system, as it stands, seems broken af. I think somebody already brought this up, but I'd just like to reiterate it. I can expand more on this if anyone is curious, but ya. It's really poorly balanced.
- I don't understand Jiraiya's purpose when he's sending us off on this courier mission. He separated us from our greatest combat asset, attached a random inexperienced Chunin as our leader, and then told us to essentially visit every country on the planet in order to deliver messages. This seems both extremely inefficient and also very dangerous. Without any strong combat assets, we're really just a large group of genin and a fortifications expert. It would be very easy for us to get in a fight with somebody stronger than us and get curbstomped. Why would Jiraiya send out his newest agents and members of his clan when there's a decently high chance that one of them dies? It seems odd to me.
- Location
- Yes.
@Sampatrick Some thoughts on your discussion:
- Noburi's always had some level of interest in biology since his (first) reward from Jiraiya was to gain medic training. He's also been apprenticed under Kabuto, a researcher in bloodline limits. Wouldn't surprise me if Kabuto pushed Noburi towards biological interests, if only to further his own understanding of our bloodlimits.
- This is mostly true, though I'd point out that our PMYF and Macerators were self-invented, and not something Kagome made for us.
- We made a deal with Jiraiya before revealing how exactly we made Skywalkers; Jiraiya reneging on a deal, even with missing-nin, would be used against him until the end of time. His entire spy network is dealing with people far below his station (not just missing-nin, but civilians as well); word getting out that Jiraiya doesn't keep his word means his effectiveness goes down. Hard.
- MfD is a quest where, if you ask a paranoid conspiracy theorist about his conspiracy theories, he will tell us. Whether or not these conspiracy theories are real are irrelevant. We (the players) voted Action Plans which instructed Hazou to ask Kagome about his conspiracy theories, and so the GMs obliged. And gave us those chapters.
- Don't think Kagome is that genius of a sealmaster; his seals are mainly standard defensive seals and variants of explosives which do greater damage and/or are unidirectional. If Kagome was a Jiraiya-level sealmaster he would never have been sent out on missions and instead been coddled and make seals until the end of his life.
- Don't know what the "tp" system is, elaborate?
- Jiraiya needs a strong team to do the mission quickly, yes; but he also needs a team he can trust. Right now, that's us. He also needs to keep us from Konoha to prevent us from fucking up his consolidation of power; so we have to vanish for a bit. Is it ideal? No. But given the options that he has this is the best option.
Chapter 126: Dawn of the Serpent
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Nikkō had had a lot to think about during their eight hours' running. Of course, for a brief, incredible time, she'd thought of nothing at all, just revelled in being able to fly. For that alone, for being able to see the forest scrolling underneath as if the earth had given up its claim on her, a lot could be forgiven.
It would need to be. That briefing was her last couple of months with Shika distilled. They interrupted or dismissed her suggestions without listening because they knew better. They showed off their superiority with no interest in explaining or slowing down so she could catch up. They casually insulted her intelligence and treated her as an obstacle to be worked around. They probably hadn't been trying to bully her, but the end result was indistinguishable.
And the worst part was that she would have to forgive it. Stewing over it would get her no closer to breaking into that self-contained dynamic of theirs, and demanding apologies never earned anybody any respect. Any kind of focus on her own feelings would be not only pointless but counterproductive.
Instead, she would need a strategy. The fact was, she'd allowed herself to be pushed off balance, and kept that way, throughout the meeting. She hadn't taken their description from Jira—the Hokage (which, incidentally, what the hell?) as the warning it was meant to be, and started out treating them as the newbies she'd expected, instead of experienced veterans with a unique and crazy but apparently effective way of doing things. By the time she'd realised her mistake, it had been too late, and then she'd only made things worse by trying to be helpful instead of switching tack completely. As always, so many options visible only in hindsight.
This was no good. The team didn't need her (each was individually more experienced than her, and their group bond seemed practically telepathic) and they certainly didn't want her, but if she let herself resent them, she'd have failed as a leader on the very first day. That wasn't something she could allow to happen. Not after Jira—the Hokage had finally put her in a leadership role, and personally entrusted her with something important.
As the team settled down on top of their skytower (an overnight camp in the sky! With built-in protection against chakra hawks!), Nikkō made her decision.
"Kurosawa," she called out. She didn't know the rest yet, but Kurosawa at least was a sweet kid, and that was what helped convince her that the team's behaviour had been thoughtless rather than malicious (not counting Kagome, the classic nerdy victim turned bully).
"Yes, Minami?"
Not "Captain Minami". Not yet. But she would earn that much respect from them. Minami Nikkō did not give up after a single failure.
"Come over here," she beckoned to Kurosawa.
She looked him in the eye. "I need a crash course in the team's abilities, history and dynamics. I realise there's a lot to learn, and that you'll have to skip a bunch of classified stuff, but if I'm going to lead this team, I need to know as much about all of you as possible. Even if it takes all night."
Kurosawa glanced back at one of the girls forlornly. Not good at hiding his feelings, this one.
"I know you probably had other plans for the evening, and I'm sorry for disrupting them, but this is for the mission," Nikkō said firmly. "Besides, you do still owe me for that afternoon I spent teaching you Nara hand signs."
Kurosawa nodded, and turned to face her fully. "Before that, may I introduce you to a special technique we use for communication?"
"Sure," Nikkō quickly said. This was exactly the kind of thing she was looking for.
"It's called the Clear Communication Technique. The idea is that you describe what you're thinking and feeling as clearly and neutrally as possible, so that the other person can understand where you're coming from. We all use it to manage conflict situations in particular.
"Here's an example. I regret the way I treated you during the briefing, and would like to apologise for it. I was uncomfortable with a new leader being appointed in place of Mari-sensei, who has led our team since its formation, and with whom we all have strong personal bonds, and I essentially decided to carry on as if it hadn't happened and your presence didn't matter. However, regardless of the circumstances, you are our team leader, and you deserve a certain amount of respect from us."
Which was a load of crap. Nobody deserved respect for being a team leader. Respect was something you earned with your actions and the way you presented yourself. Even Kurosawa knew it, or he wouldn't have qualified that statement so heavily.
Still, despite being pretty feeble as apologies went, it was one apology more than she'd expected to get, and there were times when wanting to make amends was more important than how you did it.
"It's fine," Nikkō lied.
"Jira—the Hokage and your old leader both trusted me with this job, and there's no way I'm going to disappoint them. So let's do this, Kurosawa. Help me to get to know our team."
On Minami and Sōdai's Prism:
What do you do?
Voting ends on Saturday 13th of May, 9 am New York Time.
It would need to be. That briefing was her last couple of months with Shika distilled. They interrupted or dismissed her suggestions without listening because they knew better. They showed off their superiority with no interest in explaining or slowing down so she could catch up. They casually insulted her intelligence and treated her as an obstacle to be worked around. They probably hadn't been trying to bully her, but the end result was indistinguishable.
And the worst part was that she would have to forgive it. Stewing over it would get her no closer to breaking into that self-contained dynamic of theirs, and demanding apologies never earned anybody any respect. Any kind of focus on her own feelings would be not only pointless but counterproductive.
Instead, she would need a strategy. The fact was, she'd allowed herself to be pushed off balance, and kept that way, throughout the meeting. She hadn't taken their description from Jira—the Hokage (which, incidentally, what the hell?) as the warning it was meant to be, and started out treating them as the newbies she'd expected, instead of experienced veterans with a unique and crazy but apparently effective way of doing things. By the time she'd realised her mistake, it had been too late, and then she'd only made things worse by trying to be helpful instead of switching tack completely. As always, so many options visible only in hindsight.
This was no good. The team didn't need her (each was individually more experienced than her, and their group bond seemed practically telepathic) and they certainly didn't want her, but if she let herself resent them, she'd have failed as a leader on the very first day. That wasn't something she could allow to happen. Not after Jira—the Hokage had finally put her in a leadership role, and personally entrusted her with something important.
As the team settled down on top of their skytower (an overnight camp in the sky! With built-in protection against chakra hawks!), Nikkō made her decision.
"Kurosawa," she called out. She didn't know the rest yet, but Kurosawa at least was a sweet kid, and that was what helped convince her that the team's behaviour had been thoughtless rather than malicious (not counting Kagome, the classic nerdy victim turned bully).
"Yes, Minami?"
Not "Captain Minami". Not yet. But she would earn that much respect from them. Minami Nikkō did not give up after a single failure.
"Come over here," she beckoned to Kurosawa.
She looked him in the eye. "I need a crash course in the team's abilities, history and dynamics. I realise there's a lot to learn, and that you'll have to skip a bunch of classified stuff, but if I'm going to lead this team, I need to know as much about all of you as possible. Even if it takes all night."
Kurosawa glanced back at one of the girls forlornly. Not good at hiding his feelings, this one.
"I know you probably had other plans for the evening, and I'm sorry for disrupting them, but this is for the mission," Nikkō said firmly. "Besides, you do still owe me for that afternoon I spent teaching you Nara hand signs."
Kurosawa nodded, and turned to face her fully. "Before that, may I introduce you to a special technique we use for communication?"
"Sure," Nikkō quickly said. This was exactly the kind of thing she was looking for.
"It's called the Clear Communication Technique. The idea is that you describe what you're thinking and feeling as clearly and neutrally as possible, so that the other person can understand where you're coming from. We all use it to manage conflict situations in particular.
"Here's an example. I regret the way I treated you during the briefing, and would like to apologise for it. I was uncomfortable with a new leader being appointed in place of Mari-sensei, who has led our team since its formation, and with whom we all have strong personal bonds, and I essentially decided to carry on as if it hadn't happened and your presence didn't matter. However, regardless of the circumstances, you are our team leader, and you deserve a certain amount of respect from us."
Which was a load of crap. Nobody deserved respect for being a team leader. Respect was something you earned with your actions and the way you presented yourself. Even Kurosawa knew it, or he wouldn't have qualified that statement so heavily.
Still, despite being pretty feeble as apologies went, it was one apology more than she'd expected to get, and there were times when wanting to make amends was more important than how you did it.
"It's fine," Nikkō lied.
"Jira—the Hokage and your old leader both trusted me with this job, and there's no way I'm going to disappoint them. So let's do this, Kurosawa. Help me to get to know our team."
-o-
It was nearly dawn. Despite a few meaningful looks from Akane, Hazō had been unable to extricate himself from Minami's questioning. She'd been a voracious listener, soaking in everything he'd had to tell her about the group's tactics and abilities (and giving him an OPSEC headache in the process), but actually showing more interest in the team's history and relationships, which took him by surprise. Her questions had been incisive and often difficult to answer—for example, how was he supposed to explain Keiko's circumstances without touching on clan secrets or the very personal elements of her relationship with Mari-sensei (which Hazō himself still didn't fully understand)? To her credit, Minami did make an effort not to probe too far into private matters, though the effort was complicated by Hazō's own uncertainty as to where the boundaries lay.
When Minami finally let him go, it was with a promise that they'd make camp earlier tomorrow, to let him get extra sleep if he needed it. Hazō had refrained from mentioning that going forty-eight hours without sleep was part of Mist's standard Academy endurance training.
She'd also pointed out, with a smile that was much more like the Minami he remembered, that dawn was a very romantic time of day—though for once his brain had somehow come up with the same insight on its own.
"Akane," he said softly over his girlfriend's ear, positioned carefully to avoid reflexive retaliation from a ninja unexpectedly woken up.
"Hazō," she yawned. "Is it time to move out already?"
"Not exactly. Come to the edge of the tower. There's something you should see."
She turned to follow him, and gasped.
It had been the same when Hazō first saw it. Dawn covered the entire horizon. Its radiance transformed the totality of the landscape before them into something strange and enchanted, as if they'd accidentally stepped into a parallel dimension where colour itself obeyed different laws. Part of Hazō's mind wondered what scale of explosive he would need to reproduce this degree of illumination.
"This is the most youthful thing I've seen in my entire life," Akane whispered.
Hazō couldn't help grinning. "Welcome back, Akane."
They turned back to watch the rising sun and, as naturally as a cloud being guided by the wind, Akane's hand found its way into his.
When Minami finally let him go, it was with a promise that they'd make camp earlier tomorrow, to let him get extra sleep if he needed it. Hazō had refrained from mentioning that going forty-eight hours without sleep was part of Mist's standard Academy endurance training.
She'd also pointed out, with a smile that was much more like the Minami he remembered, that dawn was a very romantic time of day—though for once his brain had somehow come up with the same insight on its own.
"Akane," he said softly over his girlfriend's ear, positioned carefully to avoid reflexive retaliation from a ninja unexpectedly woken up.
"Hazō," she yawned. "Is it time to move out already?"
"Not exactly. Come to the edge of the tower. There's something you should see."
She turned to follow him, and gasped.
It had been the same when Hazō first saw it. Dawn covered the entire horizon. Its radiance transformed the totality of the landscape before them into something strange and enchanted, as if they'd accidentally stepped into a parallel dimension where colour itself obeyed different laws. Part of Hazō's mind wondered what scale of explosive he would need to reproduce this degree of illumination.
"This is the most youthful thing I've seen in my entire life," Akane whispered.
Hazō couldn't help grinning. "Welcome back, Akane."
They turned back to watch the rising sun and, as naturally as a cloud being guided by the wind, Akane's hand found its way into his.
-o-
After a while, Hazō had to shake himself free from the trance. They might not get very much privacy over the next few days—skytower camps had many virtues, but size wasn't one of them—and there were things to talk about before the rest of the team woke up.
"Akane, I wanted to apologise. It's my fault we were all kicked out of Leaf, and I'm really sorry I left you behind the way I did."
Akane smiled. "You already apologized before you left, remember? I forgave you then. I'm not going to change my mind."
"So you did," Hazō said. "But it bears saying again. Also, there's one other thing."
"What's that?"
"I've actually been in Leaf for a little while now, and…"
Akane tensed. Hazō had no idea why.
"When I came to see you, your father was there instead. He told me I couldn't see you because I was a missing-nin."
Akane relaxed.
"I told him I could fix that, and he didn't believe me, but I got him to agree that if I did, you and I could be together."
"That sounds like him," Akane laughed. "He's very protective, but secretly he believes in miracles as well.
"And it seems like you've brought us our miracle."
Hazō beamed. "That's right. You wouldn't believe how long we spent debating before we came up with the plan, but in the end we gave Leaf the skywalkers, and Jiraiya is marrying Mari-sensei and adopting the rest of us as clan kids."
"Even Kagome?" Akane suddenly asked.
Hazō hesitated. That was actually a very good question. He didn't know how old Jiraiya was, or what the age limits on clan adoption were, but in Jiraiya's place he would probably balk at adopting a thirtysomething (fortysomething?) missing-nin as his child. And that was before factoring in the fact that Kagome-sensei was Kagome-sensei.
On the other hand, adopting Kagome-sensei as a brother didn't seem like much of an improvement.
"I don't know," Hazō admitted. "Maybe a cousin one-hundred-and-eight-times removed?"
Akane nodded. "And how's Noburi taking the fact that Keiko is now his sister?"
Hazō blinked. "I… I don't know."
Akane didn't look surprised. "You two should really talk more. You'll regret not taking those opportunities when life suddenly takes your friends away from you."
Hazō felt a flash of guilt. "Akane, I never wanted to leave you behind. I always meant to come back to Leaf when I could."
"It's OK," Akane shook her head, "I knew you would. And things weren't too bad here. Ino visited me in hospital. At first, I think she was feeling sorry for me, but we actually get on quite well now. She's very youthful in her own way."
Hazō didn't know what to make of that. Akane and Yamanaka getting closer seemed like it should have implications, but he didn't know what implications, or whether it having implications was a good thing or a bad thing.
He screwed up his courage.
"Did you and Yamanaka…"
"Not now, Hazō-sensei," Akane said. "I know all that is important and needs talking about, but right now," she gestured towards the rising sun, "let's catch up, just the two of us."
Hazō paused to digest this, but failed to come to any conclusions. He decided to change the subject.
"That reminds me. There are a few things that I don't think your father was completely wrong about. Akane, we're supposed to be equals, and I feel like having a master-apprentice relationship risks getting in the way of that, especially now we're dating. Those are power dynamics that can go badly wrong, even without us noticing. Look at all the stories of people dating their superiors and ending up exploited or abused. I'm not saying I'd ever deliberately do anything like that, but I bet many of those people didn't intend for things to get messed up either.
"Besides, we've got a lot to teach each other, and always will. And my judgement can get pretty questionable at times. Not at all what you want in a master, and definitely something I need you to call me out on when you notice."
Akane was silent for a long time.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking," she said. "About the Spirit of Youth, and what it really means to me. Once I was out of hospital, I spent months training with Gai-sensei and Lee and it helped me realise something.
"There are as many ways to be youthful as there are people. Your youthfulness isn't the same as Gai-sensei's or Lee's, and maybe it's not the same as mine. I do still think I can learn a lot from you, because when you tap into the Spirit of Youth you're the most youthful person I know, but I think if I rely too much on you—or Gai-sensei or Lee—then I won't find my own way of being youthful. And that's something I have to do if I'm going to become more than the person I used to be."
Hazō didn't entirely understand, but he nodded anyway.
Akane looked slightly wistful. "I'm going to miss calling you 'Hazō-sensei', though. Being master and apprentice felt like something special, you know? Something just for the two of us."
Hazō looked down at their held hands, feeling the unfamiliar warmth in his palm. This would be most definitely a good moment for that barely-existent romantic part of his brain to unleash its powers and find an elegant way of putting what he was feeling into words.
It was probably the power of the high-altitude dawn, but for once his prayers were answered.
"I don't think our new relationship is any less unique," he said, "or any less special."
"You've earned another romance point," Akane said mischievously. "Have you been practicing on someone while you were away?"
"What?" Hazō choked out. "No, I haven't been practicing on anyone, well, unless you count training with Mari-sensei, I, uh, mean, you definitely shouldn't count that because it wasn't romantic in any way, and it now occurs to me that she and I changed to first-name basis while we were away, but that in no way means—"
Akane held up a finger.
"Sorry," Hazō said. "I thought I was over that."
"That's OK. Now, I think the others are starting to wake up, so why don't we talk about something less personal? Tell me about the adventures you've had since you left Leaf."
"Well," Hazō began, "so you know how it's possible for a sealing failure to tear open a rift in time and space into a dimension full of terrifying monsters?"
Akane smiled fondly for some reason. "You never disappoint… Hazō. Tell me more."
"Akane, I wanted to apologise. It's my fault we were all kicked out of Leaf, and I'm really sorry I left you behind the way I did."
Akane smiled. "You already apologized before you left, remember? I forgave you then. I'm not going to change my mind."
"So you did," Hazō said. "But it bears saying again. Also, there's one other thing."
"What's that?"
"I've actually been in Leaf for a little while now, and…"
Akane tensed. Hazō had no idea why.
"When I came to see you, your father was there instead. He told me I couldn't see you because I was a missing-nin."
Akane relaxed.
"I told him I could fix that, and he didn't believe me, but I got him to agree that if I did, you and I could be together."
"That sounds like him," Akane laughed. "He's very protective, but secretly he believes in miracles as well.
"And it seems like you've brought us our miracle."
Hazō beamed. "That's right. You wouldn't believe how long we spent debating before we came up with the plan, but in the end we gave Leaf the skywalkers, and Jiraiya is marrying Mari-sensei and adopting the rest of us as clan kids."
"Even Kagome?" Akane suddenly asked.
Hazō hesitated. That was actually a very good question. He didn't know how old Jiraiya was, or what the age limits on clan adoption were, but in Jiraiya's place he would probably balk at adopting a thirtysomething (fortysomething?) missing-nin as his child. And that was before factoring in the fact that Kagome-sensei was Kagome-sensei.
On the other hand, adopting Kagome-sensei as a brother didn't seem like much of an improvement.
"I don't know," Hazō admitted. "Maybe a cousin one-hundred-and-eight-times removed?"
Akane nodded. "And how's Noburi taking the fact that Keiko is now his sister?"
Hazō blinked. "I… I don't know."
Akane didn't look surprised. "You two should really talk more. You'll regret not taking those opportunities when life suddenly takes your friends away from you."
Hazō felt a flash of guilt. "Akane, I never wanted to leave you behind. I always meant to come back to Leaf when I could."
"It's OK," Akane shook her head, "I knew you would. And things weren't too bad here. Ino visited me in hospital. At first, I think she was feeling sorry for me, but we actually get on quite well now. She's very youthful in her own way."
Hazō didn't know what to make of that. Akane and Yamanaka getting closer seemed like it should have implications, but he didn't know what implications, or whether it having implications was a good thing or a bad thing.
He screwed up his courage.
"Did you and Yamanaka…"
"Not now, Hazō-sensei," Akane said. "I know all that is important and needs talking about, but right now," she gestured towards the rising sun, "let's catch up, just the two of us."
Hazō paused to digest this, but failed to come to any conclusions. He decided to change the subject.
"That reminds me. There are a few things that I don't think your father was completely wrong about. Akane, we're supposed to be equals, and I feel like having a master-apprentice relationship risks getting in the way of that, especially now we're dating. Those are power dynamics that can go badly wrong, even without us noticing. Look at all the stories of people dating their superiors and ending up exploited or abused. I'm not saying I'd ever deliberately do anything like that, but I bet many of those people didn't intend for things to get messed up either.
"Besides, we've got a lot to teach each other, and always will. And my judgement can get pretty questionable at times. Not at all what you want in a master, and definitely something I need you to call me out on when you notice."
Akane was silent for a long time.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking," she said. "About the Spirit of Youth, and what it really means to me. Once I was out of hospital, I spent months training with Gai-sensei and Lee and it helped me realise something.
"There are as many ways to be youthful as there are people. Your youthfulness isn't the same as Gai-sensei's or Lee's, and maybe it's not the same as mine. I do still think I can learn a lot from you, because when you tap into the Spirit of Youth you're the most youthful person I know, but I think if I rely too much on you—or Gai-sensei or Lee—then I won't find my own way of being youthful. And that's something I have to do if I'm going to become more than the person I used to be."
Hazō didn't entirely understand, but he nodded anyway.
Akane looked slightly wistful. "I'm going to miss calling you 'Hazō-sensei', though. Being master and apprentice felt like something special, you know? Something just for the two of us."
Hazō looked down at their held hands, feeling the unfamiliar warmth in his palm. This would be most definitely a good moment for that barely-existent romantic part of his brain to unleash its powers and find an elegant way of putting what he was feeling into words.
It was probably the power of the high-altitude dawn, but for once his prayers were answered.
"I don't think our new relationship is any less unique," he said, "or any less special."
"You've earned another romance point," Akane said mischievously. "Have you been practicing on someone while you were away?"
"What?" Hazō choked out. "No, I haven't been practicing on anyone, well, unless you count training with Mari-sensei, I, uh, mean, you definitely shouldn't count that because it wasn't romantic in any way, and it now occurs to me that she and I changed to first-name basis while we were away, but that in no way means—"
Akane held up a finger.
"Sorry," Hazō said. "I thought I was over that."
"That's OK. Now, I think the others are starting to wake up, so why don't we talk about something less personal? Tell me about the adventures you've had since you left Leaf."
"Well," Hazō began, "so you know how it's possible for a sealing failure to tear open a rift in time and space into a dimension full of terrifying monsters?"
Akane smiled fondly for some reason. "You never disappoint… Hazō. Tell me more."
-o-
Hazō couldn't sense Minami's prism, but he'd watched her make the seals as she casually leaned down to adjust her sandal before moving on. Around the corner, Noburi was being a cooper's apprentice endlessly berated by a drunken master. Minami's Keiko-optimised plan allowed Noburi to stand by with his barrel within arm's reach, while Akane used her passing acquaintance with Drunken Fist Style to sway in an unsteady but intimidating manner that encouraged people to leave the area in a hurry.
Kagome, naturally, was in charge of preparing the three escape routes, two of which would be heavily mined. The third would be even more heavily mined, but with sensors close to the ground so you could use a skywalker to walk over them without tipping your hand to any pursuers. Escaping into the sky would be a last resort, at least until they'd covered enough distance from the village.
Hazō met Keiko's eyes, gave a very subtle nod, and went in.
The jeweller's shop was finely decorated, with a sprawling carpet on the floor, an elaborately-carved dark wood desk with an enormous serpent swaying behind it, and various fine metal items, predominantly silver, lining shelves and hanging from wall hooks.
Wait.
The serpent, somewhat taller than Hazō, and coloured in very telling red and yellow, hissed provocatively, displaying razor-sharp fangs. Hazō's hand went to his kunai pouch.
"Bitey!" A low-pitched voice snapped from the depths of the shop. "Don't be greedy. It hasn't been two weeks since you ate those burglars."
The serpent shrank back a little.
The owner of the voice, a stooped old man with a finely-combed long grey beard and proportional lack of hair, ponderously made his way to the front desk, leaning on a cane.
"Would you believe I thought I was buying a bird egg?" he asked Keiko wryly.
Keiko shook her head mutely.
"Well, I don't regret it for one second! Bitey here is like family to me, and as long as the local gangs don't learn from their mistakes, I don't even have to worry about feeding him!"
Bitey eyed Hazō meaningfully, as if to say, "Give me an excuse, morsel".
Hazō decided that not having a staring context with an oversized chakra predator was the better part of valour.
"That's an impressive piece," he observed instead, pointing at a particularly hideous ivory statuette (which unambiguously depicted a fertility god, and from which Keiko was averting her eyes). "My master has one just like it."
"I carved it myself," the jeweller said with a calculating look. "What do you think of its distinctive feature?"
"That is what I was referring to," Hazō gave Jiraiya's countersign, willing himself to keep a straight face.
The jeweller nodded and beckoned them to the back, leaving Bitey in charge of the store.
"What can I do for you possibly young folk?" he asked.
"We have a message straight from the top," Hazō said, handing over the letter.
The old man studied the seal for a few seconds, then opened the letter with a letter-opener that looked like it had seen service as a cavalry weapon. Assuming Yumehara was right about cavalry existing in the ancient past.
"Hmm… hmm… I see… how can a man in his position have such awful writing…"
The old man looked up. "Well? Why are you still here? I have work to do. Lots of work, thanks to that slave-driver."
"Actually, sir," Hazō said, "we were wondering if you needed any assistance before we moved on. We can't stay long, but if you have any messages of your own to send, or problems that could be solved with the application of short-term muscle…"
The old man brightened up. "Well, why didn't you say so before? I've never known my colleagues to include such fine possibly young folk as yourselves. It so happens that there is one thing…"
"We are unable to commit to any course of action in advance," Keiko said, "but we will review your request and provide you with a swift response."
"Good, good," the old man chuckled. "Finally… See, I've been having a lot of trouble with a pest called Shirakawa. He wants to rise up in this here local criminal hierarchy, and he thinks the best way to do that is to rob this poor innocent elder's shop. Only he's too smart to get his own hands dirty, so he recruits poor sods that are down on their luck and gets them to break in instead.
"Now, normally I wouldn't mind, since I have Bitey here, but word is Shirakawa's saving up to hire a ninja. Figures this place has more than enough in it to cover the expense, and he's not wrong. I can't be having with ninja in my shop. Troublemakers, the lot of them. But since you possibly upstanding young people seem to be an exception, maybe you'll do an old man a good turn and deal with Shirakawa for me? I'd like him brought here alive if you can swing it, or freshly dead if you can't."
"I trust you will be able to provide adequate remuneration in exchange for services rendered outside the ordinary course of duty?"
The jeweller sighed. "You're a sharp one. Well, if you put it that way… I do happen to have some snake venom that's of no use to me, but just right to trade with possibly murderous types like you. No prizes for guessing where I get it from. Good deal for you. Had a scholar tell me it's probably full of chakra, though what that means I neither know nor care."
"What information can you provide about this Shirakawa?"
"Tall bloke, black hair down to here, got a scar under his nose almost like a moustache. Talks big but has no balls—that's figuratively, as far as I know, so don't use it to identify him. His gang hangs out in the riverside warehouses."
Hazō memorised the description. "We'll be back tomorrow. If we don't return, please assume we've been forced to deny your request due to the urgency of our mission."
"They all leave," the old man said, "and never come back. Women especially. But that's all right, as long as I have Bitey.
"While you're here, fancy buying your lady friend a sign of affection? Or maybe buy that awful statuette so the big man has to come up with a different code? I can offer you a fellow professional discount. Double if it's the statuette."
Kagome, naturally, was in charge of preparing the three escape routes, two of which would be heavily mined. The third would be even more heavily mined, but with sensors close to the ground so you could use a skywalker to walk over them without tipping your hand to any pursuers. Escaping into the sky would be a last resort, at least until they'd covered enough distance from the village.
Hazō met Keiko's eyes, gave a very subtle nod, and went in.
The jeweller's shop was finely decorated, with a sprawling carpet on the floor, an elaborately-carved dark wood desk with an enormous serpent swaying behind it, and various fine metal items, predominantly silver, lining shelves and hanging from wall hooks.
Wait.
The serpent, somewhat taller than Hazō, and coloured in very telling red and yellow, hissed provocatively, displaying razor-sharp fangs. Hazō's hand went to his kunai pouch.
"Bitey!" A low-pitched voice snapped from the depths of the shop. "Don't be greedy. It hasn't been two weeks since you ate those burglars."
The serpent shrank back a little.
The owner of the voice, a stooped old man with a finely-combed long grey beard and proportional lack of hair, ponderously made his way to the front desk, leaning on a cane.
"Would you believe I thought I was buying a bird egg?" he asked Keiko wryly.
Keiko shook her head mutely.
"Well, I don't regret it for one second! Bitey here is like family to me, and as long as the local gangs don't learn from their mistakes, I don't even have to worry about feeding him!"
Bitey eyed Hazō meaningfully, as if to say, "Give me an excuse, morsel".
Hazō decided that not having a staring context with an oversized chakra predator was the better part of valour.
"That's an impressive piece," he observed instead, pointing at a particularly hideous ivory statuette (which unambiguously depicted a fertility god, and from which Keiko was averting her eyes). "My master has one just like it."
"I carved it myself," the jeweller said with a calculating look. "What do you think of its distinctive feature?"
"That is what I was referring to," Hazō gave Jiraiya's countersign, willing himself to keep a straight face.
The jeweller nodded and beckoned them to the back, leaving Bitey in charge of the store.
"What can I do for you possibly young folk?" he asked.
"We have a message straight from the top," Hazō said, handing over the letter.
The old man studied the seal for a few seconds, then opened the letter with a letter-opener that looked like it had seen service as a cavalry weapon. Assuming Yumehara was right about cavalry existing in the ancient past.
"Hmm… hmm… I see… how can a man in his position have such awful writing…"
The old man looked up. "Well? Why are you still here? I have work to do. Lots of work, thanks to that slave-driver."
"Actually, sir," Hazō said, "we were wondering if you needed any assistance before we moved on. We can't stay long, but if you have any messages of your own to send, or problems that could be solved with the application of short-term muscle…"
The old man brightened up. "Well, why didn't you say so before? I've never known my colleagues to include such fine possibly young folk as yourselves. It so happens that there is one thing…"
"We are unable to commit to any course of action in advance," Keiko said, "but we will review your request and provide you with a swift response."
"Good, good," the old man chuckled. "Finally… See, I've been having a lot of trouble with a pest called Shirakawa. He wants to rise up in this here local criminal hierarchy, and he thinks the best way to do that is to rob this poor innocent elder's shop. Only he's too smart to get his own hands dirty, so he recruits poor sods that are down on their luck and gets them to break in instead.
"Now, normally I wouldn't mind, since I have Bitey here, but word is Shirakawa's saving up to hire a ninja. Figures this place has more than enough in it to cover the expense, and he's not wrong. I can't be having with ninja in my shop. Troublemakers, the lot of them. But since you possibly upstanding young people seem to be an exception, maybe you'll do an old man a good turn and deal with Shirakawa for me? I'd like him brought here alive if you can swing it, or freshly dead if you can't."
"I trust you will be able to provide adequate remuneration in exchange for services rendered outside the ordinary course of duty?"
The jeweller sighed. "You're a sharp one. Well, if you put it that way… I do happen to have some snake venom that's of no use to me, but just right to trade with possibly murderous types like you. No prizes for guessing where I get it from. Good deal for you. Had a scholar tell me it's probably full of chakra, though what that means I neither know nor care."
"What information can you provide about this Shirakawa?"
"Tall bloke, black hair down to here, got a scar under his nose almost like a moustache. Talks big but has no balls—that's figuratively, as far as I know, so don't use it to identify him. His gang hangs out in the riverside warehouses."
Hazō memorised the description. "We'll be back tomorrow. If we don't return, please assume we've been forced to deny your request due to the urgency of our mission."
"They all leave," the old man said, "and never come back. Women especially. But that's all right, as long as I have Bitey.
"While you're here, fancy buying your lady friend a sign of affection? Or maybe buy that awful statuette so the big man has to come up with a different code? I can offer you a fellow professional discount. Double if it's the statuette."
-o-
You have earned 4 XP.
-o-
You may assume that your desired preparations have been accomplished. However, there was no time for campfire stories. Also, "Explain to Minami how the team's decision-making process works, both in non-emergent and emergent situations" was not carried out because I have no idea what it means.
On Minami and Sōdai's Prism:
- Minami can share awareness with the prism within 12 metres, or substitute its vision for her own within 120.
- It is blocked by LoS.
- The prism is never visible, but anything that detects chakra will spot it. Powerful ninjutsu can disrupt it.
- It's inexpensive to deploy, but has a maintenance cost.
- It can be used while fighting, and bestows an advantage if nearby, but you probably don't want to give up your vision by using it at long range while in combat.
- It has certain other combat benefits, but Minami has been cagey about them as per bloodline secrets.
-o-
What do you do?
Voting ends on Saturday 13th of May, 9 am New York Time.
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OK, we don't want a ninja shanking or robbing our senior agent.
Solutions to the thug problem:
1) Blow his warehouse up with him inside it.
2) Shank him when he's alone.
3) Shank him in front of his gang. (more likely)
We also need social intel. Merely observing him from the sky, while safe, isn't going to be as effective for us.
Solutions to the thug problem:
1) Blow his warehouse up with him inside it.
2) Shank him when he's alone.
3) Shank him in front of his gang. (more likely)
We also need social intel. Merely observing him from the sky, while safe, isn't going to be as effective for us.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
Scout him out with Minami to make sure he's not actually a ninja, capture him (hello, Noburi's specialty), interrogate him as to the location of his money, and steal it. Quick and easy. Having said that, we're doomed, though.
e:
e:
Oh god Radvic is leaking
Never change, Hazou
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Hmn.
We might be able to engineer a situation where Minami gets to display good leadership skills, so that we have an excuse to treat her with more respect without it coming across as insincere, even if it isn't so. Of course, doing so would be difficult and risky.
Also, we urgently need to fix the "that apology was fake" idea she's got into her head, because CCnJ doesn't work at all if there's any doubt of the speaker's honesty, and if we don't fix this then it's going to poison her ability to use and respond to CCnJ at all going forwards.
Gah.
I mean, it's not that we didn't mean it, right? I did. "Just being team leader" does, in fact, make her worthy of respect in my eyes, because that means she's given Jiraiya evidence that she's a good leader, and I can use "J can be trusted on these matters" as a heuristic to borrow the respect that J has for Minami without needing to see that evidence myself.
We might be able to engineer a situation where Minami gets to display good leadership skills, so that we have an excuse to treat her with more respect without it coming across as insincere, even if it isn't so. Of course, doing so would be difficult and risky.
Also, we urgently need to fix the "that apology was fake" idea she's got into her head, because CCnJ doesn't work at all if there's any doubt of the speaker's honesty, and if we don't fix this then it's going to poison her ability to use and respond to CCnJ at all going forwards.
Gah.
I mean, it's not that we didn't mean it, right? I did. "Just being team leader" does, in fact, make her worthy of respect in my eyes, because that means she's given Jiraiya evidence that she's a good leader, and I can use "J can be trusted on these matters" as a heuristic to borrow the respect that J has for Minami without needing to see that evidence myself.
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Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
No need to. 120 meters of sight range is plenty enough to scout around him.
I certainly meant it, too.
Would senpai be an appropriate honorific? Or, no, that'd come off as insincere, too... Goddammit. Maybe we should just let Akane smooth things over?
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
And my paranoia about this conversation was unfounded. The great thing about unfounded paranoia is that even though you were completely wrong the dominant feeling you get is relief. And hey, Hazou's learning how to romance! Give it a few more years of hard work and he might not even be entirely socially awkward!
And things look good on the relations between Akane and Ino, which is relieving as well. The last thing we want is drama resulting from Akane and Ino hating each other and pressuring Hazou to break up with the other. Even on the less romantic side of things, it solidifies the friendly connection between us and the Yamanaka clan heir.
Given that I do not expect this story to fit a level curve, I have no reason to think Shirakawa's got three Jounin guarding his base. All things considered, he's probably not even ready to hire a genin for a simple thievery task. That said, we should go in there as if there's a three Jounin bodyguard, both to minimize chance of problems and for the chance to be doing a serious combat-style mission with Minami to further familiarize her with our fighting style and help form memorable experiences to smooth over the rough start we had with her.
We should totally do it, though, since it costs us basically nothing to do, there's basically no real risk if our intel is correct, it's a good chance to help fix things with Minami, and we get some cool chakra venom.
- Location
- Yes.
are you insane we don't go in if there's 3 Jonin in the place we throw stupid boxes everywhere and fuck the body
or better yet don't do the mission at all we can just leave who cares about fucking snake poison
^ Our interactions with Minami for the foreseeable future in a nutshell.
Jiraiya's operative getting robbed by a thug is a bad thing. We just need to figure out how much.
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
The statement was 'go in as if', meaning we should treat the mission seriously, instead of just showing up and pounding a few civilians unconscious. So instead of walking in recklessly, do recon and whatever else we can to stack the deck in our favour to make sure there's no actual danger.
We probably could just barge in, beat Shirakawa up, and be done with it, since I doubt our intel's wrong and our intel suggests Shirakawa can't even afford a genin. But in the unlikely situation where the intel's wrong, that might be dumb. Taking it seriously minimizes the chance of us getting taken by surprise if something goes wrong and also helps familiarize Minami with these sorts of things to aid future missions where we actually need to be serious.
- Location
- Yes.
Not a lot, since Jiraiya argues that getting the messages to his contacts is more important than keeping the contacts' cover. Which means this guy getting robbed, and his value as a contact diminished, is less important than getting messages to Jiraiya's contacts.
I'm voting NO for doing the assassination mission, mainly since our actual mission is more important than this side-quest.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
We could do this mission within an hour's time tbh (and should).