The reason we were talking about the academy was that we wanted to create an alternative for students who couldn't graduate and would normally drop out, but could still become medics or sealmasters if given the opportunity.

Perhaps what is needed is a completely different education path for chakra users, but that would be a revolutionary change. Adding more tracks to the academy (let's say they'd act as preparation for more specialized education in the future) is probably a lot easier for Jiraiya and the council to swallow.

Massed sealing education? You have my full approval.

Sealing and medicine can work better as non-compulsory subjects you can get into after graduating. For example, suppose a ninja broke their leg on a mission and is sitting in the village waiting for it to heal. He can't very much train with a broken leg, but he can read medical books, study sealing theory, use medjutsu (assuming his hands are fine) and draw and infuse blanks (assuming at least one hand of his is fine).
 
Omake: Sealing Theory 101
Sealing Theory 101

Akemi leafed through her books, waiting for class to begin. Outwardly, she appeared careless, reclining in her chair and reading an orange book deemed inappropriate for minors everywhere.

Her guise had been perfected through years of teaching and training; her reclining position would let her kick the desk towards assailants from the windows, her hands carefully placed around the spine so that prying ninja couldn't casually spy on the contents of the book, and her seated position at just the right angle that when her book began to glow orange from sunlight class would begin.

Really, reading "treasonous" literature like Leviathan was easy, so long as you weren't as dumb as the Daimyo that banned it.

But that was a distraction from the fact that the book was glowing softly, and that meant it was time for class to begin.

She scanned through the classroom, noting the troublemakers, missing seats, and well-behaved alike. Hotaru and Chikako were missing, Kenta was actively causing trouble, and everyone else was okay.

Akemi snapped her book shut, sound wave instantly silencing all conversation.

"Hotaru Tsukuda. Chikako Maki."

Akemi stopped speaking.

The students glanced at each other, wondering what was wrong with roll call. Akemi wheeled forward to face the class, hands folded on her desk.

"Those two students have instantly failed the course, and will be issued a demerit, along with a recommendation in the strongest terms to never let them pursue sealing. Sealing does not give you second chances, and neither will I."

"Kenta Itou. You are the single remaining classmate who has earned a D for your first assignment. Do you understand why?"

Kenta, suddenly in the spotlight, froze up for a moment, before trying to act cool.

"No, I don't, teach. How was I supposed to know what the rules were if you never tell us them?"

Akemi smiled, and the room temperature dropped several degrees.

"Like I said. Sealing does not give you second chances, nor does it give you a rule book ahead of time. The only way you survive Sealing is by being careful and lucky. Mostly lucky. Unfortunately, we cannot teach you to be lucky, so we will settle for making you cautious. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, teacher!"

"Good. Then I'll explain the grading system. There are only three grades in Sealing Theory: E,D, and A.

"E is for expelled.

"D is for dead.

"A is for adequate.

"Sealing classes have a different grading scale than your other classes because the ways you could screw up are much lighter in other fields. In Ninjutsu, if you're unlucky you'll be burned and forever crippled. If you're very unlucky, your teammate will be.

"In Sealing, if you're even slightly unlucky or careless you will die. If you're just unlucky, your whole team dies. If you're very unlucky, we add you to the La Li Le Lo Lu, the list of names we cannot speak of anymore because a Sealing failure obliterated them from reality entirely, including in the past.

"The only passing grade in this class is A. The difference between a D and and an E is that you fail on the spot if you get an E. You fail at the end if your grade is consistently a D. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, teacher!"

Akemi nodded.

"Then let's begin the second assignment. Before I let any of you know anything about seal theory, I want you to design a Sealing lab and what you think you could research in it. Assume that you are building it in a non-chakra beast infected forest. You have until the end of class. Begin."

Reclining back into her favorite position, Akemi went back to reading through Leviathan.



The glow had finally faded from her book, which meant that it was time to pick up the assignments produced by the students.

Akemi glanced at the first presented slate. Seal experimentation would happen in a clearing, with the wood used as blast shielding. Subject of research would be storage seal variants.

"D. Next."

Swaggering up, Kenta presented his slate.

"Itou, this is empty, except for a list of insanely dangerous seals."

"Yeah, because I'm going to be a super awesome ninja like Jiraiya, and then I won't need all these stupid defenses!"

"E. I'll only consider letting you come back when you're actually S-Rank. For now, leave my classroom and do not return."

The line got much quieter and nervous after that. Some tried shuffling backwards, trying to push Nobu and Sakurako to the front of the line.

Both of them glanced at each other, the crowd pushing them in front, and rolled their eyes, submitting their tablets at the same time.

Both called for proper fieldworks, a river nearby which could be easily diverted to clean up the mess, and most importantly limited the scope of their projects.

"Good work, Nobu, Sakurako. Both of you earn a D."

Shock played across their faces. Behind them the rest of the class seemed to be losing morale fast.

"What?!" "That's unfair!"

Akemi shrugged.

"Welcome to Sealing. Any first proposal of a lab is too optimistic, and usually results in a bodycount before proper measures are implemented. At least you're learning this the hard way now, instead of the hard way six years later when your buddy dies to a monster beyond the veil.

"For what it's worth, it was a good effort, but not good enough.

"As for the rest of you, all of you will earn Es if you don't step up and submit right now."

Half the class broke, leaving their slates behind for the next victim classmate, while the other half tentatively submitted theirs, expecting the worst.

"The answer is obviously D, but don't worry; how to plan a proper sealing lab is going to the subject of the next month of classes."

Once the fleeing students had left, Akemi put down her book and leaned forward, eyes boring straight through the souls of the remaining students.

"For the rest of you still here? Yes, Sealing is dangerous. Yes, the Sealmaster's path is terrifying and littered with corpses, moreso than practically any other profession. But Sealing is also the most powerful profession in the world; develop one great seal and the Kages themselves will bend for you.

"Do I make myself clear?"

The class nodded back nervously, unwilling to respond in any other way.

"Good. Class dismissed."

Hotaru Tsukuda
Kenta Itou
Sakurako Yamada
Hinata Kurosawa (woah is the random name generator predicting something?)
Nobu Yamashita
Chikako Maki
Akemi Kobayashi
 
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So, let's say Hazou dies, and we create a new character. Hazou is then resurrected by either said new character or some other party. What happens?
Odd numbered posts control Hazo, even numbered the new character.

Updates are split in the middle until we find a way to merge their consciousness. Or more likely one of them dies because he will be a guinea pig for trying out more risky strats.
 
I just caught up. In my opinion keeping secret tump card techniques secrets seems like a mentality only really useful for ninja without any real potential or imagination. None of the really great ones do it. What they do is just constantly improve and come up with more tricks.
 
Chapter 162.1: Hunt Like Raptors
Chapter 162.1: Hunt Like Raptors

"...thank you for showing such faith in me. I have a rough plan worked out, and I would be willing to take point, but not over the objections of other members of the group. For the most part you guys haven't known me for long, so I understand if there are reservations, and I don't have any interest in brushing those off. This is going to be a pretty high-trust operation, after all," Hazou concluded.

Everyone was silent a moment or two before Hyuuga spoke up. "Fine, I'll say it if none of you will. Nara should lead. Gōketsu Hazou is occasionally clever and occasionally an idiot. Nara is consistently a genius. I would be much more comfortable taking orders from him."

"Neji!" Lee exclaimed from right behind Hyuuga, making the other boy jump. "Your lack of faith is most unyouthful!"

"Yes!" Akane chimed in. "Besides, Hazou is only very rarely an idiot, and almost never if he gets to talk through things first!"

"I am forced to agree with Hyuuga," Yamamoto said softly. "We don't need a plan from nowhere so crazy that it just might actually work, we need something that's as close to a guarantee as possible, and we have the time to really think through things."

"I'm sticking to my guns here," Yamanaka said. "Sorry, Gōketsu. It's not that I don't trust you, but it's not every day I can get Shika to actually do... well, anything at all, really."

Haruno nodded in agreement before appearing to catch herself and then glaring at Yamanaka. Idly, Hazou wondered what that was about.

Nara had by now begun massaging his temples. "Troublesome..." he muttered. "Fine. Six hours," he stated emphatically, pointing at Hazou.

"Six-- ah. Deal." Hazou couldn't see any way that being hooked into the Nara's internal economy could go poorly. Nope, none at all.

"Superb." Nara stood up. "My first order of business as your new commanding officer is to begin calling that time in. Tell everyone the plan, if you would. I'm going to go make tea."

Yamanaka made a choking sound before practically yelling, "You lazy bastard!"

-o-​

"Hazou, Panashe reported back. We're go for evac," Noburi called into the sealing mouse-hole. Hazou stood up, rolled his shoulders for a moment, and grabbed the last of the Party Trick seals to distribute.

It may have been his imagination, but Hazou thought the dripping earth of the tunnel walls was starting to sag inward even as he brought up the rear. Their group raced forward, the tunnel filled with squelching footfalls, heavy breathing, and the warm light of one of the nightlights they'd been traded, its shimmering patterns slowing down as it neared the end of its life.

Eventually the ground firmed up, and the party began trudging up the incline Panashe had previously dug before stopping at a signal from the pangolin. "A moment, Summoner," she said. "If your party could keep still, that would be immensely helpful. Pantokrator's Ears Technique!"

Taking his cue, Neji formed his bloodline's single handseal. "Byakugan!" Then, after a moment, he reported, "We're clear."

"Clear confirmed," Panashe said. "Breaching in 3, 2, 1...." She ran at the end of the tunnel and dug her claws into the soil, practically shoving it open like two sides of some earthen gate.

The group emerged into a wide meadow. The sun had peeked over the horizon, illuminating the cliffs on which the team was meant to be rallying soon.

"Right then. Gōketsu Keiko, please look over enemies' likely trajectories. Gōketsu Hazou and Noburi, distribute camouflage supplies. Everyone else, grab a suit and familiarize yourself with spots for cover and Silence Mine placement," Nara ordered. "Specialist Panashe, if you could possibly assist your Summoner and identify a good spot to secure defeated enemy combatants?"

"Certainly," the pangolin answered, scampering off after Keiko.

...​

Hazou wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or pleased that the first team to approach the meadow was fleeing. On the one hand, it meant the enemy figured they would lose, which meant the Leaf nin would probably win. On the other hand, it meant their cover probably wasn't good enough.

Hazou and Yamamoto were already almost on the trio, Yamamoto's face set grimly as he accelerated in a jagged, predatory sprint toward the slowest enemy.

"Yue, duck!" one of the other fleeing nin yelled, leaping over a bush and spinning in midair to fling a pair of shuriken at Yamamoto. She completed her spin and continued sprinting as Yamamoto casually dodged the attack and leapt at the aforementioned Yue, driving an elbow strike into the back of her head to attempt a quick knock-out. She managed to duck just enough that it merely clipped her, then tried to turn that momentum into a spinning kick, which Yamamoto grabbed and used to lever her into a vicious throw, slamming her into the ground on her back.

Hazou wasn't going to pass up a chance like that, and aimed a kick at Yue's head as he passed by, doing his best to keep up with the enemies. He recognized the sign on Yue's forehead protector as her head snapped to the side - Hot Springs. He felt an icy lance of guilt run through his gut, but he forced it down before he could be dragged into visions of collapsing inns and forests of fire.

The third enemy, a boy, glanced over his shoulder to see Hazou and Yamamoto advancing over Yue's limp form and spun on his heel. "You bastards!" he shouted, cutting handseals. "Flame Spears Technique!" Sparks flew from his fingers, engulfing his hands and forearms before flowing forward as he performed something like a a two-fisted punch toward the Leaf nin.

Hazou dove to one side, and Yamamoto to the other, but the other boy wasn't quite quick enough to avoid getting singed - Hazou could see (and smell) that parts of his camo suit had been burned away. Suddenly there was a flash of light and heat - Hazou pulled his eyes away from his comrade to see the enemy grinning at him wickedly, a bright orb of fiery light speeding upward. "Fuck your ambush!" the Hot Spring nin spat.

"Kyo! Stand down!" shouted the girl who'd thrown the shuriken earlier. By now Akane, Lee, and Hyuuga had caught up to the group, with Tenten and Noburi providing ranged cover. "We surrender! We'll hand you our glowing seals, let us take our teammate for medical assistance."

"We'll need all your other seals and word-halves as well," Yamamoto stated flatly. "And our Wakahisa comrade will be taking your chakra."

Hazou cursed inwardly. He'd suggested that part of the plan, sure, but that had been under the assumption that they enemy wouldn't surrender! Why couldn't they just let this end peacefully?

He watched as, inevitably, the Hot Springs ninja shifted back into combat stances. A kunai flew over his shoulder from behind, trailing a tag that erupted into a mass of atrociously sticky glue. Both enemies reacted faster than he was expecting, but it wasn't nearly enough. They were covered instantly.

Almost as quickly as the kunai, Hyuuga moved forward to hook around behind the enemy, water-walking along the sticky pool that now surrounded the pair and delivering a series of pinpoint strikes to the girl who seemed to be in charge, catching her head as she fell to the ground and turning it so that her mouth and nose didn't fall into the goop. Yamamoto and Hazou charged Kyo, who utterly failed to defend against either the crushing knee strike to his gut or the fist that met his temple.

How long does it take the enemy to show up? <number>
Where are they from? <more numbers>
How strong are they? <one more number>

Weak HS team, minute 2/30

(Enemy, Alertness) vs (Team Leaf, Stealth + Tag: "Grassland Camo" + Silence Mines): Enemy by 3 Shifts
(Enemy, Athletics) vs (Team Leaf, Athletics): Leaf by 3 Shifts

Round 1:
Enemy 1
  • Supplemental: Move
  • Standard: Ranged Weapons vs Yamamoto, Athletics: Yamamoto, 5 shifts
Yamamoto
  • Standard: Taijutsu vs Enemy 2, Athletics + FP to reroll: Yamamoto, 2 shifts
    • Yue takes 2 stress (2/3)
Enemy 2 - 'Yue'
  • Standard: Taijutsu vs Yamamoto, Taijutsu + Invoke <?>: Yamamoto, 1 shift
    • Yue takes 1 stress (3/3)
Hazou
  • Standard: Taijutsu + Roki vs Yue, Taijutsu: Hazou by 15 shifts
    • Yue is thoroughly taken out
  • Self-Control roll: Resolve + Thousand Yard Stare (24) vs TN: 20 ("Fair"): Pass w/ 3 shifts
Enemy 3 - 'Kyo'
  • Standard:
    • Flame Spears + Chakra Boost + Invoke "Big Brother is Watching" vs Hazou, Athletics: Hazou, 2 shifts
    • Flame Spears + Chakra Boost + Invoke "Big Brother is Watching" vs Yamamoto, Athletics + FP to reroll (same result, yikes): Kyo, 4 shifts
      • Yamamoto has 4 stress incoming, converting 2 to the mild consequence "Lightly Toasted"
  • Supplemental: Katon Cantrip
Round 2:
(Other teammates catch up, talking ensues briefly)

Round 3:
Neji
  • Hold turn until after Tenten
Tenten
  • Supplemental: Prime Goo Bomb
  • Standard:
    • Ranged Weapons vs Enemy 1, Athletics: Tenten, 7 shifts
    • Ranged Weapons vs Kyo, Athletics: Tenten, 8 shifts
    • Both Enemy 1 and Kyo are hit with the Aspect "Stuck In Place", and lose 18 points from any Athletics rolls
Neji
  • Tenten passes tag as a free action
  • Standard: Taijutsu + Gentle Fist + Tag: "Stuck in Place" vs Enemy 1, Taijutsu: Neji, 12 shifts
    • Enemy 1 taken out
Enemy 1
  • Unconscious
Yamamoto:
  • Tenten passes tag as a free action
  • Standard: Taijutsu + Tag: "Stuck in Place" vs Kyo, Taijutsu: Yamamoto, 5 shifts
    • Kyo translates 2 into the Mild Consequence "Bruised Up" and 3 to the Moderate Consequence "That Crunching Sound Was Totally Normal"
Hazou
  • Standard: Taijutsu + Roki vs Kyo, Taijutsu - CM: Mild Consequence - CM: Moderate Consequence: Hazou, holy shit all the shifts ever
    • Kyo taken out

"Noburi!" Hazou called out as Kyo finally collapsed.

"Way ahead of you bro!" Noburi said, already kneeling next to the unconscious Yue, running a hand of medical chakra over her even as he stuck her finger in a canteen to begin draining her. Beside him, Tenten began rapidly relieving the patient of her possessions.

"Fifty-two seals between these two," Neji reported after a few moments.

"Seventy-eight total, then?" Hazou surmised. "Damn. We might have a lot more of this ahead of us today."

AN: The first results of your ambush plan. More to be written tomorrow. Enjoy the early half-update! :)
 
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?

The joke's flying over my head right now, not enough mental facilities to process it.
I think he means your joke about the Kurosawa in the generated names.

Nara had by now begun massaging his temples. "Troublesome..." he muttered. "Fine. Six hours," he stated emphatically, pointing at Hazou.

"Six-- ah. Deal." Hazou couldn't see any way that being hooked into the Nara's internal economy could go poorly. Nope, none at all.

"Superb." Nara stood up. "My first order of business as your new commanding officer is to begin calling that time in. Tell everyone the plan, if you would. I'm going to go make tea."

Yamanaka made a choking sound before practically yelling, "You lazy bastard!"
If we have to plan anyway, do we still owe him more Nara hours? I can't imagine that's actually legal in their system, or it could only be used for less time than the task itself would take.
 
I mean, it's not great that one of ours sucked up a mild consequence from a weak team.
Not great, no, but we can pull him back to the midline.

e: Also, it's implied he rolled poorly by the fate point, which probably means -6-9ish, meaning he wouldn't have gotten a consequence if not for rolling so poorly even accounting for that.
 
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"I'm sticking to my guns here," Yamanaka said. "Sorry, Gōketsu. It's not that I don't trust you, but it's not every day I can get Shika to actually do... well, anything at all, really."

"Superb." Nara stood up. "My first order of business as your new commanding officer is to begin calling that time in. Tell everyone the plan, if you would. I'm going to go make tea."

Yamanaka made a choking sound before practically yelling, "You lazy bastard!"

What is she complaining about? He's doing something. He's making tea.
 
Tie the sealing fuckups up and sit them in proximity of experimental seal usage. This way they could be used as bait for the inevitable sealing failures, and hopefully the (more) competent sealmasters could survive.
Put the idiot on meat bag duty, you mean?

Not a good idea. All kids, to a close approximation, do stupid stuff sometimes. If, in a school for children, the penalty for acting like a child is death, then you're not going to have any graduates, or very few. Expulsion has something of the same problem, but in that case there's at least a possibility of letting the expellee back in eventually.
 
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(Enemy, Alertness) vs (Team Leaf, Stealth + Tag: "Grassland Camo" + Silence Mines): Enemy by 3 Shifts

As we feared, stealth just isn't going to happen. Could we have gotten around it with some sort of genjutsu illusion or tunnel building cleverness or something? Eh, who knows. It's hard to hide twelve people.

"Seventy-eight total, then?" Hazou surmised. "Damn. We might have a lot more of this ahead of us today."

Yeah, that wasn't a great haul. We're looking for an additional 46 to 56 seals per person for each of the 12 of us.

Also, I'm going to say it.

"Superb." Nara stood up. "My first order of business as your new commanding officer is to begin calling that time in. Tell everyone the plan, if you would. I'm going to go make tea."

Yamanaka made a choking sound before practically yelling, "You lazy bastard!"
'

Nara's friends can cover by calling it "laziness" all they want. I call it choking. He couldn't handle the pressure of being responsible, so he passed it off.

The third enemy, a boy, glanced over his shoulder to see Hazou and Yamamoto advancing over Yue's limp form and spun on his heel. "You bastards!" he shouted, cutting handseals. "Flame Spears Technique!" Sparks flew from his fingers, engulfing his hands and forearms before flowing forward as he performed something like a a two-fisted punch toward the Leaf nin.

Best way to stop a fleeing team... take at least one of them down.
 
I'm getting lost on the who's who with all the similar names and flipping between first and last names. Do we have a character sheet with all the people we know? Or at least the Leaf teams we are working with?
 
I'm getting lost on the who's who with all the similar names and flipping between first and last names. Do we have a character sheet with all the people we know? Or at least the Leaf teams we are working with?
You can find all the canon characters' names on the wiki (except that it uses Western name order and we use Japanese). Look for "Konoha 11" for the teams. The quest doesn't have its own list.
 
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