Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
-
- 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
- Location
- Yes.
But I thought we were waiting in ambush, not hunting teams down?
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yes and it is smarter to get to our ambush field and spend time attacking people that come in than sitting around drawing seals
- Location
- Yes.
Right, just making sure.
I'm mostly in agreement with you since we don't know when enemy teams might show up, though I'd point out that it is possible, if still unwise, for Hazou to spend the first couple of minutes (while waiting for the 30-min window) to scribe seals.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
One tunneler's friend provides 300 METS, or minutes of oxygen at rest. We only need one.
- Location
- Yes.
That's the maximum, but that maximum needs some (unspecified) time to take in ambient oxygen. It doesn't start out with 300 METS.
Jello_Raptor
(Confirmed Jelly)
- Location
- Left of Center
I really want tenten to occasionally lob fuel air macerators as far as she can, so that they explode in the air above some unsuspecting team.
Suddenly turning the sky into fire over some poor souls seems fun. Between that and the oppressive pressure wave we can really start panicking and confusing them. Especially if they can't detect the projectile it was placed on. (Mind the projectile should detonate 3-4 stories above the enemies, so not close enough to trigger most reflexes)
It's also going to be a pretty cool show for the people watching. If Tenten can do something like throwing 5-10 so they detonate simultaneously in random locations the outcome should be particularly impressive.
Edit: between her and Neji they should be able to lob those to herd or scare away teams.
I'm sure Tenten has some long metal rod (like an atlatl but with the kunai looped around the end instead of in a hook) or something that she can use to get significantly more distance at the cost of some accuracy. (Given that we want accuracy of "5 ish stories up, and vaguely above the enemy" instead of her usual "specific blood vessels on enemies who are already dodging", I'm not too worried)
Edit 2: I feel like we're not using enough explosives, hence this suggestion.
Edit 3: I'm imagining a plan component to the effect of:
Give Tenten some fuel-air macerators with explicit instructions to never allow them to detonate below a height of 15 meters, or within 10 meters of the treeline.
Explain that they will create a huge impressive explosion in the air and a powerful boom followed by a rush of air inwards to where the explosion happened. (The inrush would only last a few seconds, but it would be quite strong)
Suggest using a rod or something to help launch the kunai, trading her usual accuracy for distance. Ask how stealthily she thinks she can throw them? Does she think people are likely to be able to backtrack from the projectile? (We don't really care either way, but I want this to be public knowledge for Neji in his tactical decision.)
Ask Neji to spot targets for Tenten, and try to use the fire bombs to draw in or scare away teams as he deems appropriate.
Use phrases similar to 'light the sky on fire', 'scare the daylights out of some poor sods', 'pants-shittingly terrifying kaboom', and 'feel like the very wind is pulling you into the flame' to add color as needed to the conversation.
Suddenly turning the sky into fire over some poor souls seems fun. Between that and the oppressive pressure wave we can really start panicking and confusing them. Especially if they can't detect the projectile it was placed on. (Mind the projectile should detonate 3-4 stories above the enemies, so not close enough to trigger most reflexes)
It's also going to be a pretty cool show for the people watching. If Tenten can do something like throwing 5-10 so they detonate simultaneously in random locations the outcome should be particularly impressive.
Edit: between her and Neji they should be able to lob those to herd or scare away teams.
I'm sure Tenten has some long metal rod (like an atlatl but with the kunai looped around the end instead of in a hook) or something that she can use to get significantly more distance at the cost of some accuracy. (Given that we want accuracy of "5 ish stories up, and vaguely above the enemy" instead of her usual "specific blood vessels on enemies who are already dodging", I'm not too worried)
Edit 2: I feel like we're not using enough explosives, hence this suggestion.
Edit 3: I'm imagining a plan component to the effect of:
Give Tenten some fuel-air macerators with explicit instructions to never allow them to detonate below a height of 15 meters, or within 10 meters of the treeline.
Explain that they will create a huge impressive explosion in the air and a powerful boom followed by a rush of air inwards to where the explosion happened. (The inrush would only last a few seconds, but it would be quite strong)
Suggest using a rod or something to help launch the kunai, trading her usual accuracy for distance. Ask how stealthily she thinks she can throw them? Does she think people are likely to be able to backtrack from the projectile? (We don't really care either way, but I want this to be public knowledge for Neji in his tactical decision.)
Ask Neji to spot targets for Tenten, and try to use the fire bombs to draw in or scare away teams as he deems appropriate.
Use phrases similar to 'light the sky on fire', 'scare the daylights out of some poor sods', 'pants-shittingly terrifying kaboom', and 'feel like the very wind is pulling you into the flame' to add color as needed to the conversation.
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Raxner
The most dangerous man in an empty room
- Location
- Israel
Probably, yeah, but we could always go missing-nin again. Dodging the missing-nin hunters of both Mist and Leaf (the latter possessing skywalkers and detailed knowledge of our capabilities at this moment) has got to be easier than passing the Chuunin Exam.
And I'm sure Mari-sensei will totally forgive us for either dragging her back into missing-nin status, or else getting her thrown into a killbox.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
If you ever feel like we're using enough explosives, please, talk to our local therapist, Kagome-sensei.
- Location
- how about no
Since we don't have the first mover advantage for these ambush sites and presumably there are some competent opportunistic enemy teams in the exams, shouldn't we flesh out our plans for capturing one of these points rather than simply expecting to win with our supposed numbers advantage? We should try to be a bit more pessimistic with our assault plans and assume we will be emerging into enemy prepared ground. They may not be quite prepared for 12 contestants to burst from the ground to fight them, but even if we do manage a flawless victory the terrain will be affected to a noticeable degree. Preparing an ambush next to recent battlefield may not be feasible simply because we will be hiding the bodies of our previous knocked out opponents. Hell, it's also going to take a fair amount of time just to hide the bodies themselves when we don't have much time to get all of the tags we need. I don't recall how long it's going to take us to tunnel over to the meadow in the first place either, especially if we try to do so stealthily (e.g. no giant pangolins boring through the earth like heavy mining equipment).
I personally favor a more direct approach: as soon as we are beneath an enemy fortification, we should place explosive tags underneath them so that when the explosives go off the terrain becomes difficult for our enemies to traverse. While they are disoriented we can pounce on them, subdue them, and then leave them to blitz after the next enemy team. For subsequent combatants we should have a formation, as approved by all of our teammates, that has Keiko and Tenten in positions that they can lob explosives on other fortified positions to soften up the target before we engage it. Akane and Lee should be our frontline with Neji acting as both sensor and their back-up (we need his eyes to check for traps but it would certainly help to improve relations with him if we find a way to get him the combat he desires). Ino and Sakura can be on each of our flanks to act as our CC specialists with Shikamaru acting as their backup if we really need to lock one combatant down. Noburi as the medic will be in the center back to support anyone who goes down as well as providing clones to whoever needs additional man (clone?) power and/or cannon fodder. Finally Choji and Haru should be our backline to cover our rear; Choji (as far as I remember) is a slow living meat shield and Haru seems to be average enough in addition to having some ranged jutsu that he can use to poke at anyone trying to flank us. Hazou and Shikamaru go side by side in the center for tactical command, as well as to protect Hazou if he finds time to start infusing seals.
Here's a visual representation for clarity, with L1 being the frontline and L5 as the backline:
L1________________Akane__________Lee________________
L2______Sakura____________Neji______________Ino_______
L3________________Hazou_______Shikamaru______________
L4______Keiko____________Noburi______________Tenten___
L5________________Haru___________Choji________________
Once we take command we should insist that Shikamaru be our second-in-command, so that in the event of an enemy AoE jutsu that must be dodged or if we get separated for whatever reason there will still be a logical chain of command to follow to reorganize and regroup. Hazou will lead Team Uplift in addition to Haru and Sakura (designated Team A) whereas Shikamaru will have command over his own team (they defer to him anyway) and the older genin (callsign: Team B). If we need to split up (or if we want to pincer the enemy), Team A goes left and Team B will go right:
L1________________Akane____<-----|----->_____Lee_________________
L2______Sakura_____<-----|----->________Neji______________Ino______
L3________________Hazou____<-----|----->___Shikamaru______________
L4______Keiko____________Noburi______<-----|----->________Tenten___
L5________________Haru_____<-----|----->______Choji________________
L2______Sakura_____<-----|----->________Neji______________Ino______
L3________________Hazou____<-----|----->___Shikamaru______________
L4______Keiko____________Noburi______<-----|----->________Tenten___
L5________________Haru_____<-----|----->______Choji________________
In the event that further team splitting is necessary, have teams A and B subdivide into their original teams (i.e. the three man squads from the start of the exam) with their own usual leaders. Again, this should be critiqued by our peers to make sure it is actually sound and to iron out any minor flaws.
More miscellaneous thoughts:
We know that the exam ends in ~3 hours, but if we can get enough seals early on, is there anything stopping us from exiting the exam early (e.g. like the sand siblings completing the forest of death in canon before everyone else)?
How large of an area do we expect the circle of death to be around the proctors? With so many contestants will we have time to make a full circuit around the proctors? Are there out of bounds areas if the proctors are on the edge of the exam grounds?
Ahhhh, it's good to be back.
@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail
So Elemental Clone costs 15CP and gives (Aspect Bonus) clones. Is that 15CP per clone, or 15CP for all of them?
Also, can we have specs on Basic Clone please?
So Elemental Clone costs 15CP and gives (Aspect Bonus) clones. Is that 15CP per clone, or 15CP for all of them?
Also, can we have specs on Basic Clone please?
Winged_One
Head Engineer of ATHENA
- Location
- Low Earth Orbit
With a tunnel to stuff 'em in, sure
e: Also, ghillie henge costs chakra, and if we're gonna do that after EVERY fight as would be necessary for any taijutsu specialists (except maybe Neji?) it'll get expensive.
We don't have the suits in one of our storage seals? Improper preparation, that.
So I'm thinking that if Basic Clone is cheap, we could spam it, shouting something threatening first like "Destroyer Clone Technique!" or "Vampire Clone Technique!" to disguise the jutsu name as something that actually needs to be attacked. Then we direct the clones to spread out/rush in, and start making handseals.
Winged_One
Head Engineer of ATHENA
- Location
- Low Earth Orbit
That doesn't seem efficient. You are trading your action and chakra for a chance to make the next action of your enemy be "attack the clone" and thus be wasted. Smashing their face in is much more efficient.
If you summon multiple clones with one action (and the enemy believes all of them to be dangerous) then you're trading one action for multiple actions, as the enemy tries to deal with all of them.
E: Also, Hazou has enough Deceit to sell this.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
A quick clarification because I think there's some confusion:
- You are currently in the swamp, about a mile from the nearest shore
- You cannot leave the swamp until sunset, in about 3 hours. If you do, you are disqualified from the event.
- 30 minutes after sunset you need to be at the rally point
- The rally point is two miles from your current location
- All three of the suggested ambush sites are outside the swamp
That's 15CP for all of them.
I'll add Basic Clone to the QM todo list.
You could burn a Fate Point to make a Declaration. "We have <a sensible number of> <thing that it is reasonable for you to have acquired> in our storage scrolls" is a perfectly reasonable thing to Declare.
Right. Noburi has Water Clone 12, which means he gets 2 clones for each 15CP. That's still not great, actually. I thought it was higher than that, but oh well.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Mm. Hunt like Raptors is good, it's just not quite good enough for me.
[] Action Plan: Flash On The Plains
General:
Reasoning:
Post-battle:
* I want to give Neji reasons to like us; snubbing him is a bad idea when simply giving him an (almost meaningless) title costs us nothing.
** Squads like chunin squads of six; that seems to be an easy way to get the point across.
Changes not on a fundamental level to Hunt Like Raptors that I'd like to see that I added:
-Eliminated redundancy in draining; now it's only mentioned in Post-Battle.
-Added hiding bodies in tunnel underneath squad.
-Added preparations for tunnelling enemies.
-Added planning for dealing with established ambush.
-Added details about approaching the ambush site.
-Added chain of command to give Neji some reason to like us.
But hey, I'd be okay with
[X] Action Plan: No no, I insist (aka Refuse)
[] Action Plan: Flash On The Plains
General:
- Keep in mind OPSEC. Follow the rules established just now.
- Discuss plan with teams, especially Keiko and Nara (and team leaders). Make changes as necessary.
- Accept the leadership position.
- Thank Nara for believing that we'd be a good leader for the teams.
- E.g., "It's a generous offer and I would like to say thank you for having such faith in my skills".
- Ask the other teams if they are okay with this arrangement and if they have any concerns or objections, and if they're willing to accept you as leader.
- If they're OK with it then accept the position.
- Make sure to establish a chain of command, going from us to Shikamaru to Neji. *
- If they're not suggest that Nara lead and we just take up an advisory position (at which point everything below becomes a suggestion).
- Thank Nara for believing that we'd be a good leader for the teams.
- Use the approved evac plan.
- Have Neji do a scan on arrival to look for ambushers who have already concealed themselves.
- If we find them from beyond visual range:
- Split into two squads, one moving fast and the other one moving slower. **
- Speed Squad goes around the ambush, circling around it.
- Slow Squad goes straight towards the ambush.
- If possible, both squads attack.
- If we notice them inside engagement range:
- Ranged attackers should be focusing on cutting off their retreat.
- Melee attackers go straight through them.
- If there are fieldworks on the position:
- Dust Bomb the fieldworks, defeat the team, and move to a different position.
- Noburi should be draining chakra life as possible, to keep up with chakra demands.
- Communication Questions:
- Ask if anyone has any jutsus or abilities that they are prepared to reveal that can facilitate communication. Special nod at Haruno and Ino. Ambushes would be easier to set up with easy communication.
- If Keiko wants to bring up a communication-focused Pangolin summon, she can here. If she doesn't assume she has decided to keep it secret.
Reasoning:
- Twelve people are not going to be able to reliably make stealth checks. We can't rely on pulling off a successful surprise.
- However everyone has to come through here sooner or later.
- The important thing is to see enemy teams coming and make sure they can't sneak by us.
- We can potentially use the chakra-plants in our plans and Noburi can drain them for easy recharge.
- Don't hide footsteps until we're close to the ambush site; we lose too much time trying to conceal our tracks from the beginning.
- If we don't encounter any enemies on our way to the ambush site, mockfight a distance away from the actual ambush site; we want to make opponents think that the teams making tracks were ambushed and defeated.
- Everyone:
- Familiarizes themselves with the area, to gain an Aspect related to knowing the lay of the land.
- (With enough trust) Everyone gives Kawarimi permissions until the end of this Exam Stage.
- Break into two squads.
- Hunting Squad
- Hunting Squad will break up into a further two teams.
- These two teams can use Stealth, or not. They should be positioned at a distance away, far enough away that a team could presumably run between the Hunting teams and the Cleanup Squad with a Long Combat distance between either, but not so far away that the Cleanup Squad can't reinforce the Hunting Team if the Hunting Team isn't doing well.
- The goal is for opposing teams to either go past them and be crushed between the Hunting Squad and Cleanup Squad or run away from the obviously powerful Hunting Squad and right into the Cleanup Squad.
- To this end, the Hunting Teams should be aggressive about closing the distance; we want the other teams to run away from the Hunting Teams, preferably backwards into the Cleanup Squad.
- If the Cleanup Squad engages anyone, the Hunting Teams should move in to encircle the enemies.
- Cleanup Squad
- Selects and chooses a spot to hide in. Be ready to attack corraled enemies or attacking enemies.
- Make stealth attempt, but don't count on everyone making a successful Stealth check. The enemy will likely see somebody; the question is how many of us they realize are there.
- Ponder usage of Silence Mines for additional Stealth; if reasonable (and doesn't fuck OPSEC) suggest for squad.
- Keep on alert.
- If enemy tries to sneak by, closest person becomes point of wedge to take them on.
- We don't have a means of mass communication (unless someone else came up with one), so if a sneaking enemy is spotted any members of our group spotting them are authorized to start the ambush and everyone else moves in to support.
- If the enemy spots some of us and charges in, swarm them.
- If the enemy spots some of us, and tries to reverse course to flee, goo bomb them to pin them down as we swarm them.
- If enemy isn't using stealth and somehow hasn't seen us, hit them when they get to the center of the envelopment.
- If enemy tries to sneak by, closest person becomes point of wedge to take them on.
- Selects and chooses a spot to hide in. Be ready to attack corraled enemies or attacking enemies.
- Individuals:
- Noburi: Refills everyone who uses chakra, and get chakra from ambient life.
- Keiko: Summons Panashe, who hides herself in preparation for contingency.
- Keiko reminds Panashe about the no-killing, no-permanent-damage rules (seriously, she was bloodthirsty in her showing).
- General rules:
- Nonlethal only, as if it has to be said. Be fast, be efficient, (if possible) be quiet about it.
- Advise everyone, especiallly the two Hunting teams, to ration out use of chakra.
- Ideally Noburi would recharge us from our enemies after each battle, but with a 30 minute window the fights may come too fast for him to do this.
- Edging on worst case scenario we'll have a fight every minute.
- Tactics:
- Hunting Teams should Block any attempt to go in other directions than straight into the Cleanup Squad.
- Meanwhile everyone concentrates on putting them down as quickly and silently as possible.
- Silently means avoid usage of explosives or banshee seals unless enemy proves unexpectedly difficult and we aren't winning quickly.
- Haruno and Shikamaru may use their genjutsu/shadow jutsu to stop and/or paralyze opponents.
- Seal usage:
- Pass out Kagome goo bomb seals to the rest of the group and use them as needed to pin down opponents.
- Use fire log macerators only as a last resort if enemies seem overwhelming and have already resorted to lethal force and we need to scatter/block them to preserve team lives.
- Lookout Contingency:
- Panashe stays out of regular combat and some distance in front of us, stealthed.
- Her job is to keep on the look-out for another team attempting to ambush us while we're in the middle of a fight or alternately trying to sneak past us.
- If she sees enemies inbound, and we're fighting, she lets us know by tossing some training explosive seals at them (if she's having trouble with/can't activate seals, she can just yell or something).
- If there are teams approaching from underground, Dust Bomb the path in front of them to try and expose them. Failing that, dig a tunnel and have Panashe start digging a tunnel across the path of travel of the opposing team.
Post-battle:
- Loot enemies. Don't just take Night Light/Party Trick seals, grab combat seals, weapons, and VERY IMPORTANTLY their word-half from the First Stage of the Exams.
- Chakra drain + tie enemies up, get them out of sight using whatever cover is available.
- Noburi tops us whoever used the most chakra with enemy team chakra.
- Hide enemies in a tunnel under the Cleanup Squad. Remember to use Living Roots every now and then to check that there aren't any underground threats too.
- But hustle to get back into position... the teams will be coming fast and furious in our very limited time window.
- Goal is to reestablish stealth no more than two minutes after last enemy hits the floor.
- Consider terrain. If meadow has become so torn up it no longer provides any cover, may need to advance to forest ambush site.
- Once we've got about three hundred more seals, go to the proctors.
- Or if Hazou judges that we're simply too beat up to chance any more fights.
* I want to give Neji reasons to like us; snubbing him is a bad idea when simply giving him an (almost meaningless) title costs us nothing.
** Squads like chunin squads of six; that seems to be an easy way to get the point across.
Changes not on a fundamental level to Hunt Like Raptors that I'd like to see that I added:
-Eliminated redundancy in draining; now it's only mentioned in Post-Battle.
-Added hiding bodies in tunnel underneath squad.
-Added preparations for tunnelling enemies.
-Added planning for dealing with established ambush.
-Added details about approaching the ambush site.
-Added chain of command to give Neji some reason to like us.
But hey, I'd be okay with
[X] Action Plan: No no, I insist (aka Refuse)
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What is a "Dust Bomb"?
???? I don't see the sense in the mock fight and I think it wastes time and energy. Remember that the ambush site is on the way to the rally point. Finding tracks heading that direction is only natural. A fight indicating that someone is conducting ambushes will only put them more on the alert for no reason.
So I don't really get how this is going to work. Where is each team located?
Forest ---> Grassy Meadow ---> Hill ---> Rally Site
Enemies taking the direct path to the rally site will come out of the forest, through the meadow, over the hill, and to the rally site. Where are Hunting Squad and Cleanup squad going to be respectively located?
Also, don't you think it would be rather important for you to identify who is in each squad? Or at least assign some of them and communicate what qualities should decide who goes on the other?
A reminder on how Blocks work. You can Block a bunch of people from doing one thing, or you can block one person from doing anything. If Hunting Team are each spending their action to Block the enemy from moving then the enemy will have to overcome each of those blocks to flee... but Hunting team will have used all of their actions on that and cannot otherwise help in the fight.
My plan assigned three ninja to block one-on-one, meaning they each pick an opponent and block them from doing *anything* (including making an attack). Trading their actions for their opponent's actions and preventing the opponents from moving to flee.
Again, what is a "Dust Bomb"? Also, frankly I'm thinking that if an enemy is tunneling maybe we should just let them go through to the rally point and not try to fight them.
Living roots costs too much chakra and lasts for too short a time to be doing that. Again, I'm thinking if someone wants to go underground then maybe just let them go.
300 seals is actually not enough. There are 12 of us, so that's only 25 more each. We actually need more like 50 to 60 each to be really safe.
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- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
Dust Bombs are the fire-log macerators, because they grind the log into dust and then the dust explodes.
It's the name I'm most fond of, though I am continually unsure what name(s) they are referred to in-story.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Dust Bombs are firelog macerators.
Hm. Upon that clarification on Blocks, this plan's probably unworkable. In that case, I'll just not vote for it.
About the seal count, two things:
1. Your plan actually specifies less seals before evac, so you probably want to change that.
2. Those three hundred seals have to come from someone, who we've established are either the weakest teams or the strongest. Taking from the strongest teams will change our relative positions, which is what we need, not necessarily absolute change in positions.
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Perhaps you're misreading it? My plan specifies a total of 100 seals for each person, or a total of 1200 seals for the entire team. Hmm, let me run through the math more closely.
Currently each team member has 34 seals, so getting to 100 each will require ~66 seals each, or stealing 792 seals.
A weak team will likely have only the seals they got from the proctor and perhaps one defeat, so maybe 10 seals each (30 for the whole team). We'd have to defeat... yeesh, 26 such teams. Yeah, that's not going to happen.
A stronger team would have let's say 80 seals each. We'd have to defeat... 3.3 such teams! .... Okay, 100 seals per person is too ambitious. Let's say we reduce this to 90 per person, the upper range of the estimate.
Now each of our 12 team members needs 56 seals each, or 672. That's 2.8 strong teams, or maybe two strong teams and sixish weak teams. So yes, between four and eight fights probably, with 2 or 3 of those fights being dangerous ones.
However your 300 seals is definitely not enough. That only gets us to 59 seals each... well below the end of the "strong team" range where they'll likely cut off advancement.
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New directions on how much we need and when to quit. Hope this is clearer.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
In then quoted segment Shikamaru just said that the top three to five teams are likely to have seventy to ninety seals; my whole point is that there aren't enough incoming enemies to loot.
On the other hand, your current approach seems to suggest placing every Leaf team in places 1-4, so maybe.