- Location
- Potato land
I've been thinking a bit about the plausibility of the summon scroll Naruto rescue plan, and I think it's not looking too bad. At least, I think its viability wouldn't undermine any of the worldbuilding the playerbase is privy to, at least, so it would come down to hidden summon mechanics or just QM fiat. Not too bad for such a wild idea.
Insofar as the mechanics of the trick go, it's kind of a wash. We don't know what the process of signing a scroll with one's blood actually does, or what the hidden requirements are. Keiko did remark once that the creation of summon scrolls requires blood, so it's a safe guess that it's required for signing as well. But, is it sufficient? We have no clue. It might also require a living and conscious signee with an intent to enter an agreement with the summon clan. We don't know, and have no way to find out. However, it is very unlikely that someone actually ever tested this, and while the summon clans themselves might know, they might not be inclined to share that kind of information with humans.
A more important question is whether the trick being possible has any serious implications for the world that would conflict with what we know. Looking at it in isolation, it seems insanely gamebreaking, providing the ability to abduct any ninja given their blood sample, at arbitrary range, without any way of defending against it. Moreover, the method leaves no evidence behind, and no way to trace the user. Would the Akatsuki not be assassinating Kage left and right using this method, were it available? Well, not exactly.
For one, the material requirements are very significant. The most prohibitive one is a summon clan whom the user can trust enough that they will choose to obey him over someone who's technically their new summoner. Furthermore, it is very likely that the clans attach great significance to the summoner relationship, and would be very reluctant to use it for this kind of purpose. This also explains why Itachi isn't using his dominion over the crows this way, as they'd just ditch him in favor of the target. Obtaining a strong ninja's blood is also not trivial, as I doubt anyone keeps it in cold storage for medical reasons at this tech level, and otherwise the only means of obtaining it would be through combat or by incapacitating them in the first place.
Secondly, it's unlikely that the idea would occur to anyone in EN history, and if it did, that they'd actually try it. Summon scrolls are incredibly rare, literally priceless, and represent a large chunk of a holder's power. Even putting aside the trust necessary between a summoner and his contracted clan, effectively giving up a scroll for the method to work would be seen as a prohibitive cost by any ninja. This would also make them less likely to even consider such a thing. I fully expect Jiraiya's initial reaction to be "Give up the toads? No way!".
To summarize, if the method doesn't conflict with some established but unknown information about summon scrolls, it's ultimately up to QM fiat whether it works. Narratively, in my opinion at least, if it comes with a cost of Jiraiya permanently ceding the Toad contract to Naruto, and needing to secure the Akatsuki base in order to actually retrieve the latter on the Human Path, then it won't be that much of a cheat, either.
Insofar as the mechanics of the trick go, it's kind of a wash. We don't know what the process of signing a scroll with one's blood actually does, or what the hidden requirements are. Keiko did remark once that the creation of summon scrolls requires blood, so it's a safe guess that it's required for signing as well. But, is it sufficient? We have no clue. It might also require a living and conscious signee with an intent to enter an agreement with the summon clan. We don't know, and have no way to find out. However, it is very unlikely that someone actually ever tested this, and while the summon clans themselves might know, they might not be inclined to share that kind of information with humans.
A more important question is whether the trick being possible has any serious implications for the world that would conflict with what we know. Looking at it in isolation, it seems insanely gamebreaking, providing the ability to abduct any ninja given their blood sample, at arbitrary range, without any way of defending against it. Moreover, the method leaves no evidence behind, and no way to trace the user. Would the Akatsuki not be assassinating Kage left and right using this method, were it available? Well, not exactly.
For one, the material requirements are very significant. The most prohibitive one is a summon clan whom the user can trust enough that they will choose to obey him over someone who's technically their new summoner. Furthermore, it is very likely that the clans attach great significance to the summoner relationship, and would be very reluctant to use it for this kind of purpose. This also explains why Itachi isn't using his dominion over the crows this way, as they'd just ditch him in favor of the target. Obtaining a strong ninja's blood is also not trivial, as I doubt anyone keeps it in cold storage for medical reasons at this tech level, and otherwise the only means of obtaining it would be through combat or by incapacitating them in the first place.
Secondly, it's unlikely that the idea would occur to anyone in EN history, and if it did, that they'd actually try it. Summon scrolls are incredibly rare, literally priceless, and represent a large chunk of a holder's power. Even putting aside the trust necessary between a summoner and his contracted clan, effectively giving up a scroll for the method to work would be seen as a prohibitive cost by any ninja. This would also make them less likely to even consider such a thing. I fully expect Jiraiya's initial reaction to be "Give up the toads? No way!".
To summarize, if the method doesn't conflict with some established but unknown information about summon scrolls, it's ultimately up to QM fiat whether it works. Narratively, in my opinion at least, if it comes with a cost of Jiraiya permanently ceding the Toad contract to Naruto, and needing to secure the Akatsuki base in order to actually retrieve the latter on the Human Path, then it won't be that much of a cheat, either.
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