Remove ads

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

Reader mode
MadScientist said:
[X] Action Plan: A Contest of Eternal Rivals

Any compels in this chapter should be avoided by spending FP.
  • Hazou remembers that he used to be somewhat good at dealing with people -- at least near the start of his missing nin career, but this seems to have degraded horribly and that scares him. He spends some time considering this.
    • Making a resolution to improve, Hazou realises he can kill two chakra beasts with one kunai, and hatches a plan to improve himself and make Lee more tolerable all at once.
    • Subtlety will go over Lee's head. Hazou takes him aside, and tells him outright that his speech patterns are making people uncomfortable, as they interpret many of his phrases as homoerotic innuendo. This is a social failing on Lee's part, a display of incompetence.
    • Hazou admits that has been experiencing an alarming number of social failings in recent times,displaying incompetence.
    • But incompetence can be overcome. Hazou challenges Lee to a contest of eternal rivals of who can improve their empathy and social grace the best.
    • Hazou also suggests a spar to christen their Most Youthful Rivalry
      • "Where can I get one of those suits?"
  • Continue the previous plan in addition to this scene.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

My edits are in bold.
 
MadScientist said:
[X] Action Plan: A Contest of Eternal Rivals

Any compels in this chapter should be avoided by spending FP.
  • Hazou remembers that he used to be somewhat good at dealing with people -- at least near the start of his missing nin career, but this seems to have degraded horribly and that scares him. He spends some time considering this.
    • Making a resolution to improve, Hazou realises he can kill two chakra beasts with one kunai, and hatches a plan to improve himself and make Lee more tolerable all at once.
    • Hazou spars with Lee. After the spar, Hazou takes him aside for a private conversation.
    • Hazou shares his fears about his alarming number of social failings in recent times, displaying incompetence.
    • Subtlety will go over Lee's head. Hazou tells him outright that his speech patterns are making people uncomfortable, as they interpret many of his phrases as homoerotic innuendo. This is a social failing on Lee's part, also a display of incompetence.
    • But incompetence can be overcome. Hazou challenges Lee to a contest of eternal rivals of who can improve their empathy and social grace the best.
  • Continue the previous plan in addition to this scene.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Updated vers--

MMKII said:
My edits are in bold.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Pls no.
 
Are you sure that Hazō used to be somewhat good at dealing with people?

What about the damn teachers who kept sending Hazō to detention?
 
[X] Action Plan: A Contest of Eternal Rivals

This is going to be a beautiful trainwreck.

Cariyaga said:
If we really wanted a new trouble, I do have one to suggest that would be approximately as impactful, and true to Hazou's character: Savior Syndrome.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So actually, the more I think about this the more I like it. It'd be much less uncomfortable to deal with Hazou wanting to save everyone than deepthroating his own foot every time he opens his mouth, and, well... I can kind of sympathize with this quite a lot.
Inferno Vulpix said:
I support this, though not 'Imma make a seal that'll fix everything' Savior Syndrome, but 'I'm going to fix everything and everything that's ever wrong is a personal failure'. Plenty of emotional moments, and good room for Compels as Hazou tries to save everyone every time, with room for some Invokes for Hazou getting people to believe that he's honest about uplift.

It's still a Trouble, but I like it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
But I do mean it in this way, not "seals for everything!" kind of way.
 
Kiba said:
Are you sure that Hazō used to be somewhat good at dealing with people?

What about the damn teachers who kept sending Hazō to detention?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That was written in a recent chapter when the QMs had gotten a firm mental image of Hazou as socially inept. But if you actually read the earlier chapters, he's pretty good, the earlier commenter was right.
 
[X] Action plan: Make out paradise

  • Hazō decides to have lunch with Ino
  • He ask her for advice about Akane
  • Continue the plan
 
Last edited:
Restinan said:
You know, Hazou's misunderstanding of Akane's breakup is perfectly in character now, but it would have been massively out of character earlier in the story. There really is an absolutely massive difference between Hazou's characterization in, say, chapter 30, and Hazou as he is now. I mean, consider how deftly Hazou handled Noburi, or how he used to basically do Inoue's job for her, both in the sense that he was the actual decision-maker of the party, and in that he was the person who went around handling everyone else's emotions. He didn't do a perfect job of either of those, but he was a lot better at it than he is now. It's sort of annoying to watch every other character grow and improve as Hazou slowly becomes less and less capable. Eh, maybe it's just that all the other characters grew, and Hazou didn't, so he looks worse by comparison. But still, the difference grates.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's a trope for this very thing: Flanderization - TV Tropes. But idunno, this seems a fairly recent thing. Like post-Leaf or so.
Kiba said:
Are you sure that Hazō used to be somewhat good at dealing with people?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Chapter 102? Chapter 114? Yeah, he's pretty competent. Not consistently, but a lot of the time.
 
Fine, count me in as an active voting member as well from now on if that has Hazou realize what's what.

Because there is Foot in Mouth, and there is Foot So Far Down In Mouth That It Comes Back Out From The Ass.
 
MadScientist said:
That was written in a recent chapter when the QMs had gotten a firm mental image of Hazou as socially inept. But if you actually read the earlier chapters, he's pretty good, the earlier commenter was right.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hazō's characterisation as a troublemaker in his backstory was there from day one, though. That was why he got assigned to the suicide mission, according to Shikigami.

In terms of his overall social skills, the portrayal tends to vary depending on context. For example, when Hazō is talking about something where he has existing, clearly formulated thoughts (notably Uplift), or has carefully planned his rhetoric out beforehand (notably tactical badass boasts), he is very competent. His foot-in-mouth traits tend to trigger when he's improvising, under stress, unfamiliar with the social context he's working in, or being thrown a curve ball. I think we can all empathise with that.
 
...Goddammit, the "Spend ten minutes thinking about how she feels" segment of the plan got removed at some point.
 
One thing to the QMs, if you're concerned: I didn't vote for MadScientist's plan in adversarial reaction to the troubles Hazou faced this update. I voted for it both because I believe it would be a fun scene to write, and because I've long-term wanted to work on fixing Hazou's OPSEC problems and this seems like an opportune time to start working on that.

Have you put much thought towards how Aspects might change? If Hazou is meant to overcome his OPSEC Trouble and adopt another one, would he be narratively modeled as having a half-narrative-strength version of both for a little while before formally making the shift, or something?
 
Velorien said:
Hazō's characterisation as a troublemaker in his backstory was there from day one, though. That was why he got assigned to the suicide mission, according to Shikigami.

In terms of his overall social skills, the portrayal tends to vary depending on context. For example, when Hazō is talking about something where he has existing, clearly formulated thoughts (notably Uplift), or has carefully planned his rhetoric out beforehand (notably tactical badass boasts), he is very competent. His foot-in-mouth traits tend to trigger when he's improvising, under stress, unfamiliar with the social context he's working in, or being thrown a curve ball. I think we can all empathise with that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think the difference I'm seeing is the change from "Hazou sees the signs of, and heads off Noburi's resentment of team-leadership" to "Hyuuga leaves the room hastily when Kei enters, Hazou, naturally, hadn't noticed".

The "Hazou, naturally, hadn't noticed" part is a direct quote, by the way.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top