Can you elaborate a bit more on why you think forts are impractical? It seems to me that they create cover for ranged fighters, and even with things like chakra-adhesion in play they still create choke points. Also a few meters of height can give you much better sight-lines. Add in the whole "fighting a sealmaster on prepared ground" thing, and I am confused as to why there's not bonuses for basic fortifications.
I'd presume that forts are mostly not that useful because ninja will use guile to get around them, tunnel underneath, disguise themselves, etc. You never know that you're going to get attacked.
What I'm seeing is that a well positioned fort doesn't give us more more than a few milliseconds of warning before people sneak up on us, which seems a bit silly. The thing about a swamp is that it's mostly flat, what with the water-level being level. A place without much foliage should provide pretty clear sight-lines above water, sneaking up on us under-water should be mitigated by noburu, and tunneling is difficult because your tunnels will quickly fill with water unless you take precautions like air-domes or walls.
If they have a land-speed of 80mph that's 35.7632m/s. If we have 200m sight-lines (I think we can do better), then we've got 5 seconds to respond.
How did they get to the fort in a way that gave us less then 1 second to respond? Can you describe that process?
The thing is the fort as @eaglejarl enviosened it provided no defense. So our enemies snuck close to our location probably underground then used mist drain to locate us. Then they dropped lightning on us. So need to come up with a design to prevent that. Which given our constraints should be very easy to do
The thing is the fort as @eaglejarl enviosened it provided no defense. So our enemies snuck close to our location probably underground then used mist drain to locate us. Then they dropped lightning on us. So need to come up with a design to prevent that. Which given our constraints should be very easy to do
Wouldn't it be easiest to have a skeleton crew in the "fort" for interaction and have our real base be somewhere else, allowing us to flank any enemies?
...also, I would avoid designing a fort to specifically block the exact thing that happened; most likely, other than opening with Mist Drain (because it's subtle, potent, and puts the defenders on a short timer before they've lost too much Chakra to fight) I'd bet things will turn out differently. It's not like the PCs and Leaf-nin know exactly what's coming.
I believe the reason the ambush went as well as it did is that ninja sight doesn't, baseline, handle darkness much better than civilian, and a bit of mist at night would be practically invisible until it's right on us. Most swamps have a fair bit of greenery providing cover, as well - while I'm sure we picked a spot with as long sight lines as possible, there was probably only so much we could do.
So, fort design - a solid dry floor and some walls for line-of-sight advantage and cover are useful, but I don't think we'll be at full enclosed fortress, for the reasons described previously. On top of that, we can't actually finalize any plans until the new system is done, because until then we don't know what our exact capabilities with the jutsu are (while I'm sure they're aiming to keep things similar, there's got to be some kind of change or another).
Wouldn't it be easiest to have a skeleton crew in the "fort" for interaction and have our real base be somewhere else, allowing us to flank any enemies?
Chapter 160.X locks out that possibility, not that I think we'd allow it anyway (designing the fort isn't a significant retcon; moving people out of it is, to say nothing of making a second base).
Wouldn't it be easiest to have a skeleton crew in the "fort" for interaction and have our real base be somewhere else, allowing us to flank any enemies?
No, that would be very hard, because first of all you have to talk a bunch of people not particularly inclined to listen to Hazou into doing it, and then you'd have to manage it carefully so that your forces don't get divided up and defeated in detail.
So, fort design - a solid dry floor and some walls for line-of-sight advantage and cover are useful, but I don't think we'll be at full enclosed fortress, for the reasons described previously. On top of that, we can't actually finalize any plans until the new system is done, because until then we don't know what our exact capabilities with the jutsu are (while I'm sure they're aiming to keep things similar, there's got to be some kind of change or another)
Trust me I have much more ambitious plans than this. I want to make sure we wait until the new system is ironed out before I reveal it. Trying to make sure @Velorien and @eaglejarl have time to be afraid
Can you elaborate a bit more on why you think forts are impractical? It seems to me that they create cover for ranged fighters, and even with things like chakra-adhesion in play they still create choke points. Also a few meters of height can give you much better sight-lines. Add in the whole "fighting a sealmaster on prepared ground" thing, and I am confused as to why there's not bonuses for basic fortifications.
In the real world, the primary value of a fort is that it prevents enemies from getting to you; they have to break through the gate, break through the wall, or climb over the wall. Walls are useless against ninja because they can jump over them or run up them.
In the MfD-verse, a fort that lacks a roof does the following:
Provides interruption of LOS so that the enemy cannot see your numbers / identities / equipment / activities
Provides defense against direct fire weapons
Essentially all ninja will have at least one indirect fire weapon: an explosive tag on a kunai. If they manage to sneak into throwing range they prime the tag, toss it over the wall, and everyone inside is salsa. An average real-world soldier can throw a grenade 120 feet (40 yards); kunai are more aerodynamic and ninja are stronger than the average human, so indirect fire from beyond 40 yards is entirely believable.
Of course, that's assuming that they don't have any long-range AOE jutsu.
The fundamental issue is that a fort forces you to be static. Ninja are glass cannons and ninja combat is rocket tag; being static is very bad and going second is extremely bad. A swamp isn't completely flat, it has plenty of weeds and bushes and such to provide cover even before we start talking about special ninja jutsu. Right now it's nighttime, so sneaking up on you isn't that hard unless you have someone on guard with special senses. That means Neji, Shino, Hinata, or [Noburi if there's mist around]. For at least three of those, presence or absence of walls doesn't change their sensory capabilities at all. (I'm not sure about Shino -- I don't really understand his bloodline and whether the information he gets from the bugs is telepathic, visual, or what. We'll need to hammer that out.)
As to the 'sealmaster on prepared ground' thing, those bonuses are going to come from traps that are outside the fort, not from the fort itself. The only thing the fort will supply is places to put seals, and you could get that benefit just by making some low pillars here and there.
The smallest, simplest possible design for the fort is what I had them build, since there were no specifications given. That design required completely draining Hazō's chakra and, IIRC, something like 1/3 or 1/2 of Noburi's. I'm not saying it was a bad investment -- it made complete sense to build it as a defense against the wildlife, but it would not contribute significantly to defense against ninja.
I would assume a setup much like Stonehenge where it is two series of offset slabs of stone set in concentric circle blocking line of sight and giving plenty of ambush points for people who know where the traps would be placed. Smaller blocks which have actual roofs augmented with the Domes to increase durability used for sleeping.
(I'm not sure about Shino -- I don't really understand his bloodline and whether the information he gets from the bugs is telepathic, visual, or what. We'll need to hammer that out.)
To make a MfD version of it after reading the wiki and my general knowledge of social insects, I would suggest information be transferred in two ways:
1. Pheromones infused with chakra. Those with the Aburame bloodline can both produce and sense a very wide variety of pheromones that insects can sense and react to, and infuse said pheremones with chakra for other uses. This allows the Aburame to give a wide variety of commands, mark allies and enemies, track their own insects via smell, receive information back from their insects, etc.
2. Much like bees dance to communicate with eachother, the Aburame insects have dances with which to convey information that is too complex to convey with pheremones alone. A certain pheremone might convey "people with lots of over in this direction" with greater amounts of pheromones conveying either larger numbers or someone with more chakra, while a dance they would show upon returning to the Aburame would say "eight people with chakra reserves fifty four meters in that direction". The Aburame's own movements along with the right pheremones might also allow for
The Aburame of course would have been breeding their bugs for generations using artificial selection to increase the variety of pheremones and communication dances they have, and with each generation are likely increasing the amount of information they can potentially get out of their bugs as well as ever more complex sets of commands.
Tripwire seals hooked up to defensive formations for easy access in case of attack (e.g. air dome + Banshee Seals)
Small channels through the base allowing Noburi to connect to the swamp for detection abilities
Jail compartment (dug by pangolin?) for ninja we defeat and/or captured chakra beasts for extra recharges.
Battlements for watches on the walls --> high cover for Keiko and TenTen and good vantage points to attack with weapons or ranged attacks from, ideally have a couple triggers ready to pop up Earth Dome or something for cover if necessary
Plan for what to do if Mist Comes Creeping In, ideally, a prepared implosion seal which will just release air, dispersing the mist, rather than sucking it in and spreading it.
Evacuation/Battle Plan practiced with fort participants so we have a coordinated response to whatever happens
In the real world, the primary value of a fort is that it prevents enemies from getting to you; they have to break through the gate, break through the wall, or climb over the wall. Walls are useless against ninja because they can jump over them or run up them.
In the MfD-verse, a fort that lacks a roof does the following:
Provides interruption of LOS so that the enemy cannot see your numbers / identities / equipment / activities
Provides defense against direct fire weapons
Essentially all ninja will have at least one indirect fire weapon: an explosive tag on a kunai. If they manage to sneak into throwing range they prime the tag, toss it over the wall, and everyone inside is salsa. An average real-world soldier can throw a grenade 120 feet (40 yards); kunai are more aerodynamic and ninja are stronger than the average human, so indirect fire from beyond 40 yards is entirely believable.
Of course, that's assuming that they don't have any long-range AOE jutsu.
The smallest, simplest possible design for the fort is what I had them build, since there were no specifications given. That design required completely draining Hazō's chakra and, IIRC, something like 1/3 or 1/2 of Noburi's. I'm not saying it was a bad investment -- it made complete sense to build it as a defense against the wildlife, but it would not contribute significantly to defense against ninja.
I am going to go ahead and assume he built a simple structure such as this, Raising four walls, with space to walk along the walls. surrounded by swamp (disregard front door/windows because: ninja)
So looking at combat, melee is melee, except i think any ninja on the wall would receive a small bonus on attacking someone trying to traverse the swamp or walk up the wall or jump the wall. because it would be a small distraction.
The elevation should provide a large bonus to scouting for obvious reasons.
The elevation should provide a small bonus to making ranged attacks, it is easier to target and the height increases range.
The walls should provide a defensive bonus as the skirting provides cover from direct attacks, additionally the walls would provide cover against most AOE effects as they would explode against the wall.
The direct from above Lighting attack would be an exception from this, but targeting would be impossible with no LOS other then a long range overhead AOE attack.
Here is an alternative sequence of events using the fort to their advantage.
the 2 people on watch using their scouting bonus sees the unnatural buildup of mist rising against the walls, raising alarm the other members inside jump to the wall, with no enemies in range of their thrown tags and scouting multiple groups, the members that follow direction of the person who built the fort and gathered them, drop to ground level inside while a force dome is added as a roof to keep the mist out.
At this stage the dome rings like a gong from the above strike. and The incoming underground attack is noticed - > cue fighting.
Really? Based entirely on MtG card art, I'm given to understand that swamps typically have trees. But that just makes something like Orthanc, which would allow us to see over the trees, even more potent. We could have normally-sensed individuals guard when it's light and then Noburi and any Hyuuga when it's dark.
I would suggest a sort of pyramid-like structure with a small crow's nest at the top, with tripwire-rigged air domes that can cover the entrances (top, main) in case of emergency and shaped charges + weakened wall sections set inside so that emergency exits can be created in any of the walls.
Can't recall how long air domes last. Might make sense to have the sentry position permanently covered by one.
EDIT: Shaping the MEW walls might be tricky, I suppose.
Another design would be a cluster of domes connected via tunnels (could be tricky, what with the swampy terrain)
I have a short outline of a seal research project, to be considered by the hivemind. Personally, I believe it is on the same order of potential usefulness as chakra-sensing casino seals. You can find it here (Link to a google document).
To make a MfD version of it after reading the wiki and my general knowledge of social insects, I would suggest information be transferred in two ways:
1. Pheromones infused with chakra. Those with the Aburame bloodline can both produce and sense a very wide variety of pheromones that insects can sense and react to, and infuse said pheremones with chakra for other uses. This allows the Aburame to give a wide variety of commands, mark allies and enemies, track their own insects via smell, receive information back from their insects, etc.
2. Much like bees dance to communicate with eachother, the Aburame insects have dances with which to convey information that is too complex to convey with pheremones alone. A certain pheremone might convey "people with lots of over in this direction" with greater amounts of pheromones conveying either larger numbers or someone with more chakra, while a dance they would show upon returning to the Aburame would say "eight people with chakra reserves fifty four meters in that direction". The Aburame's own movements along with the right pheremones might also allow for
The Aburame of course would have been breeding their bugs for generations using artificial selection to increase the variety of pheremones and communication dances they have, and with each generation are likely increasing the amount of information they can potentially get out of their bugs as well as ever more complex sets of commands.
Ooh, I like this. Thanks. I note that you have one sentence cut off: "The Aburame's own movements along with the right pheremones might also allow for"...?
Also, IIRC the bugs actually live *inside* the Aburame, so there could be some higher-bandwidth information exchange when the bugs are hosted.
In other news, here are some pictures of swamps to show what sort of thing I'm thinking of when I write. Note that there's plenty of cover in most or all of those.
I have a short outline of a seal research project, to be considered by the hivemind. Personally, I believe it is on the same order of potential usefulness as chakra-sensing casino seals. You can find it here (Link to a google document).
More complex commands. Like, say "release aggression pheremone B in quantity N" and "rotate shoulders backwards three and a quarter times" could get "send a swarm of roughly a thousand to attack the target that's approximately thirty two point five meters behind me, disable not kill".
I mean, I also recall there not really being any high ground. So I presumed it was more like the everglades, where there's not really any high ground. A lot of the example in that image search have hills, and are part of a forest. I don't think you really get big swamps with that kind of geography? And if you do, there's hills and high-ground and all that.
I think "swamp forests" mostly occur at the edges of large bodies of water, and aren't really independent things? Shrub swamps seem to be bigger. I don't think there are swamps that are flooded all the time (not near rivers) with large trees, and no hills for those trees to grow on.
But I never actually researched that. Take a look at the wiki page for wetlands though: Wetland - Wikipedia
I really don't have a good mental model of this swamp. The swamp of death I presumed was hilly, lot's of opportunity for high ground, there were hills we could set up on, etc. Probably on a seasonal flood plane.
Aspect 1 (Where Did You Come From?): I Never Laugh
Momochi Zabuza was born in a small, simple civilian family in the Village Hidden in the Mist. Despite his humble origins, it was obvious from the start that he would grow up to become an elite ninja, and he constantly amazed his Academy instructors with his prodigious talent and manly prowess. It was clear that once he developed his political acumen as well, he would surely be the next Mizukage.
His idyllic life came to a brutal end, however, when his parents died before his eyes, caught in the crossfire as the Mizukage's secret police tried to stop a dastardly missing-nin from escaping the village with vital secrets. Ever since that day, Zabuza has dedicated himself to a single purpose. Friendship, love, happiness—he has chosen to sacrifice them all in the name of making sure nobody else ever has to have their lives destroyed by a villain's treachery.
Aspect 2 (Rising Conflict): Nothing Stands Between Me and My Prey
Not long after Zabuza's graduation as the highest-scoring finalist in the history of the Academy, his team was sent to investigate loss of contact with one of the largest and most valuable villages within Hidden Mist's sphere of influence. Upon their arrival, they discovered that Akunin Ichi, a Mist missing-nin, had not only murdered the ninja guards and desecrated their corpses, but committed a crime that cast him down from the ranks of humanity: he had stolen the village's food supply.
Thanks to Zabuza's tracking skills, his team relentlessly pursued Akunin ever deeper into uncharted territory, vanquishing innumerable chakra beasts as they went. But when they finally caught up with him at the heart of the Bloody Forest, their careless leader led them right into his trap. The missing-nin unleashed a pack of banshee wrens, their mind-affecting wails promptly knocking the pursuing ninja unconscious—all except Zabuza, of course, because he knew no fear. Zabuza battled Akunin alone, all while fending off the vampire grass, the vampire shrubs, the vampire trees, and of course the vampire vampires.
Zabuza, still a genin, finally struck down the chūnin missing-nin down with his superior swordsmanship and warrior spirit. He was right about to deal the deathblow and send Akunin to the depths of hell where he belonged—when a hunter-nin appeared out of nowhere and held him back. Proffering a scroll with the Mizukage's own seal on it, he told Zabuza that for political reasons the missing-nin was to be repatriated to Mist, his crimes erased and his betrayal written off as a deep cover mission. In other words, he would get away scot free. In that moment, all of Zabuza's illusions about the moral superiority of the Mizukage's regime fell apart.
As Akunin laughed uproariously, mocking all that was good and right in the world, the noise startled the surviving chakra wrens. Their wailing struck the hunter-nin full-on, instantly knocking him unconscious. The man was unlucky enough to land face-down in a pool of blood.
Zabuza stood between the two—between the laughing enemy and the drowning ally, between his justice and his orders. With time running out, whichever he went for, he would lose the other.
The missing-nin's laughter was cut off as Zabuza's blade pierced his throat. The villain paid for his crimes, never to threaten another living soul. The hunter-nin drowned before Zabuza could get to him. Later, Zabuza would report that the death took place before the hunter-nin could give him the orders.
That day, more than any, set Zabuza's path in stone. He would bring righteous punishment to the wicked… no matter the cost.
Aspect 3 (What Was Your First Adventure?): Greatest of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen
Over the years to come, Zabuza would slay missing-nin by the dozen, but of course none ever offered a real challenge to a man of his abilities. Not until Biwa Jūzō.
One day, the Mizukage received an urgent communication stating that Biwa Jūzō, one of the legendary Seven Shinobi Swordsmen, the single strongest and most diabolical missing-nin in Mist's history, was plotting Mist's downfall, and only days remained before his evil plot would be set in motion. Naturally, the Mizukage dispatched his best hunter-nin, Momochi Zabuza, to hunt him down.
Zabuza tracked down Jūzō's hideout just in the nick of time: a hidden base carved into the depths of a dormant volcano where no sane man would think to venture. He confronted Jūzō in his inner sanctum, but Jūzō laughed, saying no common swordsman stood a chance against the wielder of the ultimate severing blade, the Throat Cleaver. With a single strike, he shattered Zabuza's sword, the toughest broadsword ever made by Mist's blacksmiths, leaving the hunter-nin unarmed. Zabuza tried to close the distance enough to use his mighty fists in taijutsu, but Jūzō drove him back, pushing him to a network of rickety rope bridges hanging over a vast lava pit.
Zabuza was forced to keep evading, looking for opportunities to counterattack against an opponent with superior experience and a huge reach. But even with his stamina that would put a chakra ox to shame, he found himself getting exhausted by the oppressive heat while Jūzō had long since conditioned himself to endure it. But Zabuza's incisive mind had been working overtime even as his body was being pushed to its limits, and as he neared the end of his strength, he had an idea. With the last of his chakra, he poured a torrent of water onto the lava below, producing great clouds of steam that completely obscured the two ninja's vision. Before Jūzō could regain his bearings, Zabuza charged. With one perfect blow from the remaining fragment of his sword, he cut off Jūzō's hands. He grabbed the Throat Cleaver before it could fall into the lava, then used it to swiftly decapitate his foe. Jūzō's body plummeted into a fiery grave as Zabuza staggered out of the volcano—in accordance with immortal tradition now one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen.
Aspect 4 (Whose Path Have You Crossed?): Brothers on Paper
Zabuza may have had no friends in Hidden Mist, but he did have one enemy. Ever since his Academy days, he had regularly butted heads with Shikigami, the ninjutsu master famous for creating his own unique paper-based combat style. Shikigami was a kind, gentle man who spoke out against the excesses of the Mizukage's regime as much as he could get away with. To him, Zabuza was little short of a traitor himself, a man with vast power who refused to use it to change the village and instead spent his time hiding from the truth outside it.
One day, not long after Zabuza was made jōnin, their conflict finally reached its peak. Shikigami challenged Zabuza to a duel, determined to prove that Zabuza's will to protect the village as an abstract ideal was inferior to Shikigami's will to protect its flawed reality. They fought for three days and three nights, as neither would yield an inch to the other. By the end, they had pushed themselves to dangerous levels of chakra exhaustion, their bodies were battered almost beyond recognition, and Zabuza had torn every last scrap of Shikigami's paper into invisibly tiny shreds, while Shikigami had broken the Throat Cleaver so badly it would take a month to fully regenerate. (When the Mizukage heard about all this later, he would invent whole new disciplinary punishments for the pair.)
Finally, too weak to so much raise a hand against each other, Zabuza and Shikigami acknowledged the depth of each other's resolve. They made an oath of eternal brotherhood, and swore that Shikigami would be the voice of hope that reformed the village from within, while Zabuza would teach every Mist-nin the consequences of turning their backs on the village instead of staying and trying to fix it.
Aspect 5 (Who Else's Path Have You Crossed?): Forever Alone
Haku was Zabuza's teammate. He died. Now Zabuza works alone.
When Zabuza received the orders, he was unable to believe them. For a second, he thought that the Mizukage had made a joke for the first time in his life. It would be more likely than for Shikigami, the most loyal ninja in Mist after Zabuza himself, to turn missing-nin. The man Zabuza knew would never undermine the war effort against Mist's worst enemy at a critical juncture, nor choose to lead dozens of innocent souls to their inevitable doom. Zabuza simply did not understand.
But it wasn't his task to understand. His task was simple: hunt down and capture or kill every last one of the missing-nin, Shikigami included. And Zabuza, the implacable hand of the Mizukage's justice, knew neither mercy nor forgiveness.
Zabuza moved slowly, patiently, touching water without leaving ripples. His silent step, honed over decades of hunting traitors, made cats sound like chakra mammoths. One by one, he had wiped out the ring of sentries protecting the central base identified by their Hyūga guide. If he could cut down this last one without letting him raise the alarm…
Zabuza, Stealth: 65 + 0 = 65
Sentry, Alertness: 40 + 3 = 43
Zabuza wins. Zabuza places the Aspect "Marked for Death" on the sentry.
Zabuza tags "Marked for Death" for free. The Aspect is removed.
Zabuza, Melee: 65 + 9 + 12 = 86
Sentry, Taijutsu: 45 + 3 = 48
Zabuza gets 12 success shifts. He adds 3 to Damage from the Throat Cleaver.
The sentry takes 15 Physical Stress and is extraordinarily dead.
Naturally, the boy didn't notice Zabuza until he was within perfect decapitation range. To his credit, he tried to duck, even as his mouth opened to call out an alert—but that didn't work so well when there was a barrier of steel between his lungs and his vocal chords. Zabuza caught both parts of the sentry and soundlessly lowered them into the water. In the back of his mind, there was a flicker of curiosity as to what kind of predator would come for them first.
He made the call he had been taught by his Leaf guides, that of the lesser excoriating woodpecker. Guards down; safe to proceed.
Does Zabuza do the sensible thing and decide to wait for the rest of the team? The QM invokes Forever Alone. Zabuza receives 1 FP.
There was no need to wait for the others to catch up, he decided. They would only get in his way. Instead, Zabuza would spearhead the attack, striking terror into the hearts of his enemies until they fled screaming—straight into the waiting arms of his allies. The lower ranks would be lucky to stay standing after receiving the full force of his bloodlust; he only needed to concern himself with Shikigami.
Zabuza stalked onwards. Finally, the main base came into sight, with half a dozen ninja, mostly kids dragged into betrayal by Shikigami's impossible iniquity, milling about as if nothing was wrong. Shikigami was in the middle, digging through a pack of gear. Until that moment, part of Zabuza had still hoped the reports were wrong.
That had been a close one. Shikigami's mastery of traps was second to none. Had a blade of grass not been randomly stirred in just the right direction by the wind, even Zabuza would never have spotted the ninja wire.
Zabuza looked closely. He was fairly sure there'd be several other such traps between him and the target. Should he go around? No, that would leave the traps for the rest of the team, and he was in no position to warn them given that they'd breach the perimeter any second now. But given how Shikigami usually spaced his traps…
Zabuza spends 2 FP to tag "Nothing Stands Between Me and My Prey" to get past the traps to Shikigami, and "Brothers on Paper" to predict Shikigami's trap layout. He also moves one zone as a supplemental action (and takes a -1 penalty).
Zabuza spends 1 Chakra Point on Chakra Boost.
Zabuza, Athletics: 55 - 6 + 24 + 3 - 1 = 75
Zabuza spends 1 FP to reroll.
Zabuza, Athletics: 55 + 3 + 24 + 3 - 1 = 84
Trap Array, Craftsmanship: 70
Chakra Alligator, Alertness: 40 + 0 = 40
Combat triggers as Zabuza enters enemy sight.
Zabuza, Initiative: 65
Shikigami, Initiative 65
Genin, Initiative 12 Zabuza's turn.
Zabuza, Taijutsu (with unarmed bonus): 50 - 6 + 3 = 47
Genin spends 1 FP to tag "I Can't Die Before I Tell Her My Feelings!"
Genin, Taijutsu: 15 + 3 + 4 = 22
Zabuza gets 7 success shifts.
Genin takes a Mild, a Moderate and a Severe Consequence to reduce incoming stress by 6. He takes 1 Physical Stress. He is now "Bruised" with a "Concussion" and a "Fractured Sternum". He has a -3.5 x Aspect penalty on all rolls and any further Physical Stress will kill him. However, the strength of his love has saved him from certain death.
Zabuza took a slow, deep breath to centre himself. Then he charged.
Running with the speed of the wind, he deliberately tripped wire after wire in a perfectly calculated pattern. A series of earth-shaking explosions rang out behind him, each just too slow to catch the agile hunter-nin. The final one, twice as powerful as the rest, launched him high into the air.
But as he came down, something moved beneath the surface of the water. A chakra alligator, alerted by the noise, opened its mouth to welcome the unexpected snack.
Zabuza landed neatly on its head, his feet between its eyes, then sprang off again before the monster could react. He performed an elegant front flip through the air—
—and straight onto the nearest genin, feet striking his rib cage and crushing him against the ground as he cushioned Zabuza's landing.
The assembled missing-nin gazed in mute horror at Zabuza, silhouetted against a curtain of intense flames, with a stunned chakra alligator slowly sinking back into the swamp behind him and a barely-alive ninja writhing at his feet.
Shikigami recovered first. "Go!" he shouted to the others. "Destroy the rest of his team with our traps and superior cunning!"
He looked Zabuza in the eye, his killing intent sharp as a blade. "I'll take care of this one myself."
"Why, Shikigami?" Zabuza demanded. "How could you betray our dreams? Why did you cast aside the future we were going to craft together? Our vision of a reformed Mist?"
Shikigami's killing intent wavered.
"I… I didn't want…"
Then the light went out of his eyes.
"Enough talk, Zabuza. You must die for the glory of Hidden Swamp!"
Talking is a free action, so it is now Shikigami's turn.
Shikigami spends 1 FP and tags "For the Village!" to defend Hidden Swamp. Shikigami spends 3 Chakra (-1 discount for an abundant paper source, an advantage of secret paper arts).
Shikigami, Death Wish: 60 + 0 + 12 = 72
Shikigami spends 1 FP to add + 6 to his Fudge roll.
Shikigami, Death Wish: 60 + 6 + 12 = 78
Shikigami creates the scene Aspect "Wall of Fluttery Doom".
Zabuza spends 2 FP to tag "Nothing Stands Between Me and My Prey" to overcome the obstacle between him and Shikigami, and "Brothers on Paper" to exploit his knowledge of Shikigami's ninjutsu.
Zabuza, Athletics: 55 + 9 + 20 = 84
Zabuza successfully evades. Zabuza's turn.
Zabuza spends 2 Chakra (-1 for an abundant water source).
Zabuza, Byakuren's Uppercut: 60 + 6 = 66
Zabuza's ninjutsu destroys the Death Wish.
Zabuza removes the scene Aspect "Wall of Fluttery Doom". Shikigami's turn.
Shikigami spends 3 Chakra (-1 for an abundant paper source).
Shikigami: Papier Machete Zabuza's turn.
Zabuza spends 1 Chakra (-1 for an abundant water source).
Zabuza: Hiding in Mist
Zabuza creates the scene Aspect "Death Stalks Unseen". Shikigami's turn.
Shikigami, Alertness: 65 - 3 = 62
Shikigami spends 1 FP to reroll.
Shikigami, Alertness: 65 - 6 = 59
Zabuza tags "Death Stalks Unseen" for free.
Zabuza, Stealth: 65 + 0 + 12 = 77
Shikigami can't see Zabuza. Shikigami uses full defence. Zabuza's turn.
Zabuza spends 2 FP and tags "Death Stalks Unseen" to sneak and "Greatest of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen" to cut Shikigami down in a duel. He also spends 1 Chakra on Chakra Boost.
Zabuza, Melee: 65 - 6 + 24 + 3 = 84.
Zabuza spends 1 FP to reroll.
Zabuza, Melee: 65 + 9 + 24 + 3 = 111.
Shikigami spends 2 FP and tags "For the Village!" to defend Hidden Swamp and "Paper Beats Scissors" to overcome Zabuza's legendary sword with his own.
Shikigami, Papier Machete: 75 + 3 + 24 + 12 = 114.
Shikigami gets 2 success shifts, but cannot deal damage because he is using full defence. Shikigami's turn.
Shikigami, Alertness: 65 + 3 = 68
Zabuza, Stealth: 65 - 12 = 53
Zabuza spends 1 FP to reroll.
Zabuza, Stealth: 65 + 6 = 71
Shikigami can't see Zabuza.
Shikigami terminates the Papier Machete as a supplemental action.
Shikigami spends 1 Chakra.
Shikigami: Ōgi
Shikigami removes the scene Aspect "Death Stalks Unseen". Zabuza's turn.
Zabuza, Melee: 65 - 6 = 59
Zabuza spends 1 FP to reroll.
Zabuza, Melee: 65 - 3 = 62
Shikigami spends 1 Chakra on Chakra Boost.
Shikigami, Taijutsu (with unarmed bonus): 60 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 69
Shikigami gets 3 success shifts.
Zabuza takes 3 Physical Stress. Shikigami's turn.
Shikigami spends 1 Chakra and takes 2 Mild and 1 Moderate Consequence (-1 for an abundant paper supply). He is now "Shivering", "Unbalanced" and "Enervated" and has a -2x Aspect penalty to all rolls.
Shikigami: Shiki-Ōji Zabuza's turn.
Zabuza spends 3 FP to tag "Brothers on Paper" to face Shikigami for the last time, "Greatest of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen" to win a blade wielders' duel and "Enervated" to take advantage of any flaws in Shikigami's movement. He also spends 3 Chakra on Chakra Boost.
Zabuza Melee: 65 + 3 + 36 + 9 = 113
Shikigami spends 2 FP to tag "Brothers in Blades" to defeat his greatest rival once and for all and "For the Village!" to defend Hidden Swamp even with his life.
Shiki-Ōji: 85 - 3 + 32 - 32 = 82
Zabuza gets 10 success shifts. He gets + 3 damage for the Throat Cleaver.
It is exactly enough.
Shikigami raised his arms in a motion that filled even a man like Zabuza with momentary dread.
"Secret Paper Art: Death Wish!"
A thousand origami cranes streamed forth from Shikigami's sleeves, each with razor-sharp, poison-tipped wings. To suffer even the slightest cut would be to die in screaming agony as one's arteries combusted from within. It was a risky move that consumed a lot of paper, but that didn't matter since Zabuza had never heard of anyone surviving it.
The cranes formed into a tornado that advanced on Zabuza, walling him off from Shikigami while leaving him with no way to evade. An ordinary ninja would have died right there. But Zabuza, with his insight that was even sharper than the crane wings, recognised the pattern of the cranes' movements. It was similar enough to that of the less lethal techniques Shikigami had used during their countless duels, and he would not let it get in the way of his mission.
He spun around the assaulting cranes, making hand seals as he went.
"Byakuren's Uppercut!"
A massive torrent of water rose from the surface of the swamp and slammed into the paper tornado, its breadth such that it was able to catch every last crane and reduce them to a soggy, chakra-inert mass.
But Shikigami, ever a gifted warrior, had used his attack as cover to prepare an even more powerful move.
"Secret Paper Art: Papier Machete!"
The Death Wish had certainly been threatening, but this was the technique Zabuza had hoped never to have to face. The blade in Shikigami's hand had an edge sharp enough to cut through anything, perhaps even the Throat Cleaver. Shikigami could alter the layers of paper within it to extend it into whatever length or shape he needed, even as it remained light enough for effortless manipulation. His swordsmanship had never been on the same level of Zabuza's, but with an advantage like this, it might no longer matter.
Then again, Zabuza was far too wily to meet every challenge head-on.
"Water Element: Hiding in Mist Technique!"
Within seconds, the world around them was plunged into a dark abyss. Where ordinary mist wrapped one's surroundings in walls of grey, Zabuza's signature technique was dense enough to banish light altogether. Unseen, unheard, Zabuza stalked his prey using the arts of Silent Killing passed down by master hunter-nin through the generations.
He listened to Shikigami's anxious movements, taking the time to determine the man's stance and where he was facing. When he was finally certain of the opening he was hearing—
Shikigami's blade nearly took him apart.
Zabuza beat a hasty retreat into the darkness.
It had been close for a second, very close. Zabuza had forgotten just how damn malleable that paper sword was—better than the finest steel, Shikigami had boasted—and Shikigami had briefly turned it into a huge scythe, big enough to sweep the entire area around him whether he could see it or not. There was a heavy thud as a horizontally bisected tree fell to the ground.
But that trick wouldn't work again, and Shikigami knew it. He withdrew his chakra from the machete, and recycled the paper for a different technique.
"Secret Paper Art: Ōgi!"
Zabuza had cause to curse Shikigami's flexibility one more time as a few blasts of wind from the oversized paper fan cleared away the mist, revealing Zabuza's position.
Enough tricks. Without his special machete, Shikigami was no match for Zabuza's peerless swordsmanship. Zabuza zoomed into striking range, aiming to cut the betrayer in half.
Shikigami ducked under the blow, then sidestepped the next. Moving with the desperation of a man possessed, he avoided attack after attack, until he finally stepped in close—nearly losing an arm in the process—and delivered a devastating gut punch that had Zabuza staggering back in shock.
But Shikigami didn't follow through. A brief flicker of clarity passed through his eyes.
Then he groaned as if every word was being forced out of him. "I must… kill… the hunter-nin… at any cost…"
He flicked his hands through a series of hand seals, trembling as if some part of him was willing himself to stop.
"Forbidden Paper Art: Shiki-Ōji!"
Zabuza shielded his eyes as a vast cloud of paper, surely more than one person could possibly carry, whipped itself into a frenzied storm around Shikigami. What emerged from the storm was no man, but a towering demon formed of unnatural white flesh. Its serrated claws promised to maim and rend asunder with a single slash. Its sharp angles and cruel curves seemed perfectly formed to deflect blows and transfix any enemy who came too close. And the eyes… they were Shikigami's eyes, or they must have been once, but now they burned with a fierce alien hatred for Zabuza and for all that lived. It was as if Shikigami had spent all his chakra to create this monstrosity, and in doing so sacrificed his ability to bend its will to submission. Instead, it had consumed him.
There was only one choice for Momochi Zabuza, as a hunter-nin, as a warrior, and as a friend. He hefted the Throat Cleaver, and prepared to grant Shikigami the only redemption he could.
"ZABUZAAAAA!"
"SHIKIGAMIIIII!"
The two warriors charged at each other, one a flawless streak of grey, the other a roiling onslaught of white. The exchange of blows as they moved past each other was too fast to see, too deep to feel.
Zabuza fell to his knees as blood poured from dozens of gashes all over his body. The Throat Cleaver fell apart in his hands.
"So… even as a missing-nin, your resolve was stronger than mine."
But behind him, there came an eerie whispering sound as thousands of strips of paper unravelled with no more chakra to bind them together. Zabuza turned to see them slowly being dyed red with Shikigami's blood.
Wounded, drained, he slowly crawled over to Shikigami's body. "Why, Shikigami? Tell me, why?"
Shikigami looked up at him. "Zabuza? It is you, isn't it? I'm so sorry…"
"Shikigami?"
Shikigami's eyes were clear again. "I never meant to, Zabuza. It was all her. She took control of me with her genjutsu. Made me do terrible things…"
"Who?" Zabuza asked, his mind already racing ahead to the answer.
"The Red Witch." Shikigami coughed, and more blood spread over the remains of his paper armour. "Who else? She manipulated us. Lied to us. Used her powers to force us to obey. Then, when she realised her plan had failed, she took her apprentices and fled.
"Zabuza, please… I know I have no right to ask this of you, but… find her. Hunt her down. It's the only way to clear my name."
Zabuza nodded grimly. "I will, Shikigami. I swear it. I will find her and make her pay."
"Thank you," Shikigami whispered with the last of his strength. "Zabuza… my brother…"
They were his final words. Zabuza, cradling Shikigami's body in his arms, looked up at the uncaring heavens.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The battle must have been over by then, as it took only a matter of seconds for another Mist-nin to react to the scream.
"Captain Zabuza, sir? Do you need urgent medical attention?"
"Got hit by a pepper bomb," Zabuza said quietly. "Damn eyes won't stop watering. Somebody fetch me a dry cloth."
-o-
"Yukino. Explain."
The sailors' rapturous applause cut off instantly.
Yukino looked up at the wrathful form of the world's deadliest hunter-nin looming over her without apparent concern.
"Just training for my future role as team biographer, Zabuza. Somebody needs to record our adventures for posterity, and you're not exactly the writing type."
"Huh," Zabuza grunted with annoyance. "That is not remotely how it happened. 'Shikigami' wasn't even his real name."
"Good to know," Yukino grinned. "I'll be sure to fix the story for next time. So what was it?"
"There will be no next time," Zabuza said flatly. "I do not have adventures, I do not need a biographer, and if you make up one more story about me, I will not hesitate to feed you to the next kraken that comes along."
"Oh, so they are real, then? Awesome!"
Zabuza cracked his knuckles suggestively.
"Hey, maybe we should switch up the genre next time!" Yukino exclaimed. "How about murder mystery? No, wait, that won't work—you're always the killer. Maybe fairy tale. The noble hunter-nin rescues the beautiful maiden from the clutches of the evil queen of the yaks. Ooh, I bet I can liven it up with imaginative hand gestures. No, wait, even better: romantic comedy! Will you help me practice kissing so my descriptions are more realistic?"
In what was by now a practiced movement, Zabuza casually shoved Yukino overboard.
"Pfuegh!" Yukino spat salty sea water out of her mouth as she used chakra repulsion to clamber to the surface. "What do they even put in this stuff?"
Zabuza glanced down at her. "Oh, and Yukino? We don't need a team biographer—because we're not a team."
The above is based on the current version of the beta rules. I had to rewrite it countless times, mainly because I kept getting various rules wrong, but also not least because certain persons who shall not be named were making fundamental changes to how combat works even as I wrote. The accuracy of Zabuza's character sheet (and absolutely everything else) is proportional to how much you trust Yukino's reliability as a narrator.
Genin spends 1 FP to tag "I Can't Die Before I Tell Her My Feelings!"
Genin takes a Mild, a Moderate and a Severe Consequence to reduce incoming stress by 6. He takes 1 Physical Stress. He is now "Bruised" with a "Concussion" and a "Fractured Sternum". He has a -3.5 x Aspect penalty on all rolls and any further Physical Stress will kill him. However, the strength of his love has saved him from certain death.
Harem route for Hazo confirmed to be the most optimal way to stay alive.
E: I am just going to go ahead and suggest Shikigami framing Mari is part of the Unreliable Narrator part of Yukino's story though - obviously - we can never know for sure. Yet, betraying his comrades goes against his previous characterization.
(And no, the Power of Love is totally unaffected by the Unreliable Narrator. Because reasons.)
Fun fact: Shikigami was never meant to be Shikigami. That particular nickname and power package had originally been intended to go to Kanna, the third jōnin, who was to be an asocial genius. When QM miscommunication ended up with the Shikigami title being given to Gorō Dan, Kanna ended up with just the "asocial" part and didn't even get any screen time before her assumed death at Zabuza's hands.
