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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Immortal Lurker said:
My goal is a story about uplift, munchkining, suriving by the skin of our teeth, and the family that is team uplift. This might be a good time for all the regulars and newcomers to state what they want out of this.
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Exchange the "skin of our teeth" thing for ... well that but a slow transition from that into a meteoric rise to godhood and we've got a deal.
 
TaliesinSkye said:
OK, I'm going to take a crack at resolving the henge issues by proposing a Unified Theory of Henge in the hopes that we can find a way to preserve henge's important role in the setting without causing all manner of problematic implications.

Please spot any issues and ways those issues might be fixed. This is of course all fantasy nonsense, but it should be as internally consistent as possible while producing the desired results for what henge can do.

The theory:

When someone henges into the shape of another person, they're using chakra to temporarily stretch and compress their bodies into the desired shape by moving their chakra pathways around and holding them there, and putting a chakra construct on top of the reshaped body of whoever they want to create the illusion of the right skin and clothes. This extends to giving a person different apparent mass because the laws of physics are being told what the properties of a thing should be by the way chakra flows through it. Change the chakra around and you can change how everything else interacts with it by extension.

However, a person's body is still there, just warped and molded like taffy. They still need to breathe, eat, excrete, and so on. Getting stabbed or poisoned is still a problem because henge can't glue damaged tissue back together, only temporarily warp what you've got into a different shape and slap a construct over it. The constructs are only imitations of real things, so something like creating construct air in your lungs won't help because it's not actually oxygen, just stuff that temporarily takes up space.

Henge construct clothes can be manipulated, taken off, and so on, and they disappear when the henge is released.
When someone henges into an object, the manipulation is much the same as a human but more dramatic. They warp their chakra into the desired shape, slap a construct on top of it, and freeze the pathway flows to imitate the physics of an inanimate object.

Human henges are possible because humans are familiar with how human chakra pathways are supposed to flow. Object henges are possible because the pathways in objects don't flow at all. Animal henges aren't possible because living, flowing chakra pathways are really really complicated and doing a non-human one is just too complex and unfamiliar.

The old henge technique that didn't collapse when subjected to significant physical stress incorporated an additional technique to 'tie off' the chakra pathway alterations in order to make them self-sustaining and not prone to springing back into their natural shape. (Which is what's going on when a henge is popped. Holding a henge is like holding a spring out of shape with your hands. Let go or have your hand jostled enough that your grip slips and it violently jerks back into the shape it wants to have instead of the shape you stretched it into.)

Here are the answers this theory of Henge produces:
  • If it's a chakra construct, is your physical body inside it or shunted off to another dimension or what?
    • Inside.
  • How dense are you when you're henged? More or less than normal?
    • Any apparent density appropriate to the person or thing being imitated.
  • If less dense than normal, does that mean you get a stealth bonus because your footprints aren't as deep / you don't exert as many newtons on things that might creak / etc?
    • Imitating living chakra flows is hard so you're limited to human bodies that are physically viable. You could make a skinny version of yourself, but you can't henge a version of yourself that weighs less than a living human could possibly weigh.
  • Can you eat or drink?
    • Yes.
  • Can you be poisoned?
    • Yes.
  • Can you excrete?
    • Yes.
  • Can you suffocate?
    • Yes.
  • Can you catch a disease? Will the disease still be there when the henge pops?
    • Yes and yes.
  • If an eyelash naturally falls off, does that break your henge?
    • No, it's a chakra construct and sticks around until the henge ends.
  • If a hair naturally falls off, does that break your henge?
    • No.
  • If someone pulls one hair out of your scalp, does that break your henge?
    • No. The construct is pretty delicate, but it takes a bit more force than that to disrupt it.
  • If someone pulls a thread out of your shirt, does that break your henge?
    • No.
  • How about if it's just one fiber?
    • No.
  • If one fiber doesn't matter, what happens if you pull the entire suit of clothes apart, one fiber at a time?
    • The pieces stick around until the henge ends.
  • If you clip your nails, does that break your henge? Does it matter how much of your nail you clip off?
    • No and no.
  • Can you integrate material back into a henge -- e.g., sewing a patch on a henged shirt without popping it?
    • Yes. When the henge ends you'll just have the patch.
  • Can you take off your henged shirt? Does it matter if you're still touching it?
    • Yes. No.
  • Can you henge into a person who is 50' tall but not very dense so the mass stays the same? How about 1" tall but super dense?
    • No, you're confined to human bodies that are biologically and physically possible for someone to have because it's not possible to warp moving chakra pathways beyond those limits.
  • You're carrying a bunch of gear and you henge into a form that is naked. Can you still get to the gear?
    • No, it's stuck under the the chakra construct. Also, the amount you can hide is going to be limited because you can't change the gear's mass or volume, only your own. Clothes but not a lot else. If you have a lot of gear you'll probably need to take it off first.
  • Where do the things that you're wearing/carrying go when you henge?
    • A small amount of stuff can be hidden under the chakra construct layer. It's sort of like wearing layered clothing.
  • Can you henge away seals?
    • No.
  • Can you henge seals into existence?
    • You could transform into something that looked like a seal, but it wouldn't be functional.
  • Could you henge away Zabuza's sword?
    • No, you can't alter real objects because henge operates by changing your own chakra pathways.
  • How about Asuma's chakra-metal knives?
    • No.
  • How about a summoning contract?
    • You could transform into a fake one, but it wouldn't actually work.
  • In order to be affected by a genjutsu the user must (normally) be able to see your eyes. Do henged eyes count?
    • Eyes you're using to look out of count.
  • If you're bleeding and you henge into a non-bleeding form, are you still bleeding inside the henge?
    • Yes.
  • If you're drowning, can you henge into yourself except with oxygen in your lungs instead of water?
    • No.
  • If you're in a poisonous atmosphere or a vacuum can you keep henging into "myself-with-oxygen-in-lungs" in order to not be affected?
    • No.
  • Can you henge into yourself but with six arms? Or a tail? Or a forked tongue? Or eagle eyes so that your eyes work like a telescope? Or yourself but with eyes in the back of your head as well as the front?
    • No.
  • Can you henge into a smarter version of yourself?
    • No.
  • Can you henge into yourself with a Wakahisa chakra system?
    • No. Crippling it that badly takes actual surgery. It won't bend that drastically on its own.
  • If Keiko henges into a copy of Hazō, does she get to use the Iron Nerve?
    • No, bloodline limits are too complicated to imitate.
  • Can you always exactly reproduce a henge you've used before, or do you have to worry about maybe not getting the details right?
    • Screwing it up is possible, yes. Practice and a mirror helps.
  • Are henges strong enough to last through sex? How vigorous can the sex be? (Assume all parties are adults.) Does it make any difference if...how to put this?...if there's no "tab A into slot B" action?
    • Yes. As long as you aren't injured. No.
  • If henge can survive sex, can you get pregnant if you have sex while henged?
    • Only if you're actually female.
  • If you're drunk, can you henge into 'yourself without alcohol in your blood'?
    • No.
  • If you're hungry, can you henge into 'yourself, but with food in your belly'?
    • No.
  • If you're tired, can you henge into 'yourself, but not tired'?
    • No.
  • What happens to your physical body while you're henged? Does it continue to age? If not, how does it form memories?
    • Yes.
  • If I can henge into people and objects, why can't I henge into animals?
    • Non-human living chakra pathways are too unfamiliar and complicated. Doing different human forms is hard enough. Maybe someone might conceivably figure one animal form out with lots of work, but it'd be really really difficult.
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What happens if: You henge into someone thinner than yourself, I put a metal band around your waist that is smaller than your unhenged waist size, and then I punch you hard enough to break the henge?
 
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Tua said:
Like someone asked before: Does it have to be Hazou or would Noburi be sufficient? Pretty much the same advantages but leaves Hazou free to be with bestgirl Akane. And for the pragmatically aligned, we could probably spin this as being friendly to civilian born ninjas.
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Couple problems with that in my opinion. First there is the fact that Hazou right now is the Heir apparent to Jiraiya. He's the leader of the team and the political visionary. When we are swinging for the fences to get Ami trying to offer our sloppy seconds won't work that well. Secondly I expect that Ami would manipulate rings around Noburi. He would be a complete puppet to her within a week. So we wouldn't be able to influence Ami through him. Then there is the fact that I'm pretty sure that they would be miserable with each other. It's like the Haou and Akane relationship on steroids.
 
Immortal Lurker said:
This might be a good time for all the regulars and newcomers to state what they want out of this.
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I want to poke at interesting things, and be involved in high-stakes intrigue and conspiracies. Getting Kagome to share his conspiracy theories remains my crowning achievement; I would like nothing more than to seriously follow up on them.

And it's not about shipping, @MadScientist. Ami is very interesting, and her social acumen combined with her ambitions naturally generate dense intrigues around her. I would have been happy with a dinner — seeing her reactions to the hivemind's actions would've been interesting on its own — but to get her to follow us to Leaf, to ensure that we have frequent daily interactions, to possibly turn her a close ally? Oh my, yes.
 
Alright, so things we need to work on for the next plan:
  • Finding the next event site
  • Depthful conversation with Akane
    • Suggest bringing up that Hazou has difficulty separating allies into trust groups
  • Talking to Jiraiya.
    • Suggest bringing up the possibility of holding MIst's bias over their head re: Callout at last event
 
Oneiros said:
Couple problems with that in my opinion. First there is the fact that Hazou right now is the Heir apparent to Jiraiya. He's the leader of the team and the political visionary. When we are swinging for the fences to get Ami trying to offer our sloppy seconds won't work that well. Secondly I expect that Ami would manipulate rings around Noburi. He would be a complete puppet to her within a week. So we wouldn't be able to influence Ami through him. Then there is the fact that I'm pretty sure that they would be miserable with each other. It's like the Haou and Akane relationship on steroids.
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Also, Noburi has a yandere waiting on him.
 
Cariyaga said:
Alright, so things we need to work on for the next plan:
  • Finding the next event site
  • Depthful conversation with Akane
    • Suggest bringing up that Hazou has difficulty separating allies into trust groups
  • Talking to Jiraiya.
    • Suggest bringing up the possibility of holding MIst's bias over their head re: Callout at last event
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We should talk with the blacksmith's who made the lockboxes, tell them there is some malfunction and we don't know which box comes from who, get all the design's and use our pangolin to figure which one can easily be opened.
 
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Tua said:
Like someone asked before: Does it have to be Hazou or would Noburi be sufficient? Pretty much the same advantages but leaves Hazou free to be with bestgirl Akane. And for the pragmatically aligned, we could probably spin this as being friendly to civilian born ninjas.

(Though I can just imagine Haru being all "YOU ARE JUST MARRYING AKANE TO GET CLOSER TO ME, DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!". And yes, apparently my Haru has become a full blown tsundere, please send help.)
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The promise doesnt extend to him, but I could totally be convinced.
 
@eaglejarl: How problematic would it be if the genjutsu part of henges didn't work on reflections?

I'm just imagining a world where people in henge look like grotesque warped versions of their normal selves in mirrors.
 
ContextBot said:
We should talk with the blacksmith's who made the lockboxes, tell them there is some malfunction and we don't kniw which box comes from who, get all the design's and use our pangolin to figure which one can easily be opened.
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I'm 100% for using our meaningfully high deceit in such a way but we may want to figure out the story a bit more.
 
ContextBot said:
"Hey don't worry, the mistake is actually good for the exams (to trick all the foreign teams hue hue hue) but we need to know your actual design" - Noburi using his silver tounge.
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It would be helpful if we consulted with someone who has blacksmith knowledge a priori. I forgot if Tentens family are blacksmiths in MfD but something like that would be ideal. Someone like that could suggest (Reasonable Problem with Boxes) that we need to fix or circumvent so we need the plans for all of them so it doesn't take forever
 
MMKII said:
It would be helpful if we consulted with someone who has blacksmith knowledge a priori. I forgot if Tentens family are blacksmiths in MfD but something like that would be ideal. Someone like that could suggest (Reasonable Problem with Boxes) that we need to fix or circumvent so we need the plans for all of them so it doesn't take forever
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@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail Could we use a fate point to make Tenten's parents blacksmiths? :p
 
What would also be really good is if we can get a copy of one or two and then get Neji to inspect it to see what the deal is.
 
Oneiros said:
Couple problems with that in my opinion. First there is the fact that Hazou right now is the Heir apparent to Jiraiya. He's the leader of the team and the political visionary. When we are swinging for the fences to get Ami trying to offer our sloppy seconds won't work that well. Secondly I expect that Ami would manipulate rings around Noburi. He would be a complete puppet to her within a week. So we wouldn't be able to influence Ami through him. Then there is the fact that I'm pretty sure that they would be miserable with each other. It's like the Haou and Akane relationship on steroids.
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I was thinking more along the lines of "The QMs get to eat way more popcorn by throwing an Ami-shaped wrench into Hazou's already-chaotic love life than they do by pairing her with Noburi." but that works too.
 
MMKII said:
It would be helpful if we consulted with someone who has blacksmith knowledge a priori. I forgot if Tentens family are blacksmiths in MfD but something like that would be ideal. Someone like that could suggest (Reasonable Problem with Boxes) that we need to fix or circumvent so we need the plans for all of them so it doesn't take forever
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The main question would be if blacksmith make the locks or get the designs from other people (like the proctors) in the first place. It's possible that most blacksmith's look into 'How to make Ninja safe lockbox's Edition 1' before making them. But we want to keep it understandable for the GM's and low on word count.

Also what's the point of a Pangolin with engineering knowledge then?
 
Jello_Raptor said:
What happens if: You henge into someone thinner than yourself, I put a metal band around your waist that is smaller than your unhenged waist size, and then I punch you hard enough to break the henge?
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That sounds like it would really hurt. I don't see it as being a major problem from an abusability perspective because of how hard this is to arrange, though. If you can put a steel band around someone who's henged you can probably just kill or badly injure them in any of a million other ways.
 
ContextBot said:
The main question would be if blacksmith make the locks or get the designs from other people (like the proctors) in the first place. It's possible that most blacksmith's look into 'How to make Ninja safe lockbox's Edition 1' before making them. But we want to keep it understandable for the GM's and low on word count.

Also what's the point of a Pangolin with engineering knowledge then?
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The Pangolin would suffice I suppose. Engineers are not necessarily blacksmiths but in a medieval age tech setting they are close enough I guess.

Truly we would probably need to case the place out and seriously examine the blacksmiths shop to ascertain whether they were provided a design or not, and other minutia.
 
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