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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Sometimes I just can't help but imagine QM chat to go something like this:

Velorien: You know, the thread hasn't talked about Jiraiya killing Minami in a while. Do you think they have finally moved on?
eaglejarl: Not sure, but I don't like this.
Velorien: Hold my pen, I got this.

Velorien said:
We increase our value to Jiraiya, both as individuals and as the supporting pillars of his clan, which cannot be removed without endangering the entire structure. Already, he cannot eliminate us through legal means without a crippling blow to the clan's reputation, which in his mind would be a crippling blow to Leaf. He can have us assassinated while we are away on a mission, to be sure, or simply send us on one beyond our power to survive, but he cannot afford the personal loss of manpower. And by the time the clan has grown enough that we are replaceable, we will also have grown in value, such that our loss would remain a significant blow.
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It's time we asked Jiraiya for all the intelligence we can get on potential non-Leaf matchups, I think?
 
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TaliesinSkye said:
Admittedly neither MfD nor Sunshine really give us a complete idea of what seals do, because they're handwavey magic and it's hard to fit a rational system to them. I do feel like Sunshine added a number of damn useful clarifying concepts, though.

Some examples:
Sealing symbolic language is individual to the creator of the seal because seals are fundamentally an expression of will to direct chakra outside the body in a pattern that will achieve a precise desired result. Everyone thinks in their own unique individual way, so the symbols that best clarify how their want a seal to work, that make the most intuitive sense to them, are equally individual.

Once you infuse a seal it isn't really ink any more, it's a durable chakra flow that's (generally) fed with ambient nature chakra using a spiral-shaped collector mechanism. The ink itself a focus, much like hand signs are for jutsu, that makes the process of willing the chakra into the precise shape needed much easier, but someone sufficiently familiar with a particular seal design (someone able to hold the whole thing in their head all at once with clarity of every detail, meaning it's probably on the simple side) doesn't actually need it and can form seals by molding the chakra directly and just touching the thing/surface/area they want to lay the seal on.

Seals can in theory do almost anything, but they're limited by available power (local nature chakra plus whatever chakra the ninja puts in) and more importantly by the ninja's extremely precise knowledge of exactly what they want to do. This means a deep understanding of math plus the physics of whatever you want to mess around with. An example that pops up in the story is using seals to re-arrange a flat landscape into a maze of towering pillars, a feat only possibly by carefully mapping out the soil and rock layers of that specific area ahead of time. Seals that muck about with people (cursed seals, ANBU tattoos) call for a deep understanding of human biology and chakra coils. Seals that mess around with forces call for a thorough mathematical understanding of physics, because the seal requires exact prediction of what forces applied where will achieve what result and that calls for accurate equations.

I like that concept for a few reasons. From a QM's perspective it's a practical day to day limiter on what seals can do based on the availability of knowledge and the user's practical grasp on it. It also provides a backup limiter that prevents seals from doing huge OP things outside of special situations thanks to being subject to conservation of energy and ambient power availability. At the same time it enables seals to do all sorts of really cool things subject only to player imagination, especially when a sealmaster has time to think and prepare for a particular scenario, which is when sealing should be at its strongest.

I'd be strongly in favor of shamelessly stealing some or all of these concepts for MfD.

There are also a variety of practical seal applications that are neat and could be borrowed. Storage seals on the body are really damn useful for everything from dropping a kunai or sword into your hand out of thin air to giving you food and water conveniently delivered inside your mouth whenever you want it. (You could probably use storage seals to absorb waste, too, if you really wanted to avoid being interrupted at inopportune times for calls of nature.)

A non-seal concept that is clever and could be borrowed is the idea of 'tricks'. These are little chakra techniques that aren't quite on the level of jutsu and are fairly quick to learn, and generally have some non-combat utility function. Breathing underwater by using chakra to separate out the oxygen and to keep water from flooding into your lungs, for example, or using your chakra to press sweat and other molecules to your body for a time so you're not leaking scent everywhere for people to track you with, or swirling your chakra around to stir the air and dissipate gasses. That sort of thing.
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Bear in mind that MfD is technologically set in the Middle Ages. Ninja wouldn't have the scientific knowledge to do any of the things you list. In fact "sealmasters don't really understand why seals do what they do" is a recurring theme, as are the sealing failures that result.
 
Velorien said:
"Well. I must admit that I am hesitant to overuse my techniques lest it weaken my power to torment you, but on the other hand in light of recent events it does behove me to heighten and refine my powers anyway."
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...Umm, Velorien, you know this isn't a SI, right?
Velorien said:
"What's the hold-up?" Jiraiya called out. "We need to hurry up and be the Gone-ketsu!"
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Oh no, the dad jokes are starting up. It's only going to get worse.
Velorien said:
Would Akane still be part of Keiko's life after today? Or Noburi's? Or Mari-sensei's?
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No she ded.
 
Velorien said:
Bear in mind that MfD is technologically set in the Middle Ages. Ninja wouldn't have the scientific knowledge to do any of the things you list. In fact "sealmasters don't really understand why seals do what they do" is a recurring theme, as are the sealing failures that result.
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Is it possible for us to lay the foundation to greater understanding?
 
Velorien said:
"So," Hazō said awkwardly, "in the name of compensating for me being terrible at managing interpersonal conflict… is there anything that's bothering you? Because if you're ever unhappy with anything, I want to be there for you. Your feelings matter—not just to me, but all of us."

"Thanks, Hazō," Akane smiled, that melancholy touch back in her voice. "If I'm honest…"

She stopped.

"No. It's not important."

"Akane," Hazō said reproachfully. "If we're going to communicate, we need to communicate."

"It's really not important, and it probably won't matter for long anyway. For now, you need all your focus to be on the tournament. Can you do that for me?"
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Velorien said:
"No matter what we are, Hazō, remember that I love you!"
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Akane.
I know you are perceptive and genre-savvy, but can you please put the death flags down?!
Velorien said:
"What's the hold-up?" Jiraiya called out. "We need to hurry up and be the Gone-ketsu!"

Several people turned to stare at him in disbelief.

"So maybe I'm not at the top of my game in the early morning," Jiraiya muttered.
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No. No. NO.
That was the absolute top of your game.
And I doubt you'll top it any time soon.
 
PurposefulZephyr said:
Akane.
I know you are perceptive and genre-savvy, but can you please put the death flags down?!

No. No. NO.
That was the absolute top of your game.
And I doubt you'll top it any time soon.
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Clearly the clan memorial stone is going to be 'The Wall of Gone-ketsu'.

I'm sure puns are how Jiraiya would want to be remembered.
 
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I also have no idea what you meant by practising bribing the yakuza.
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This seems to be a QM response that happens every second or third plan. We really out to institute a "fresh eyes" protocol where someone who hasn't been participating in planning at all gets tagged in at the last 12 hours to look over a plan with fresh eyes and ask any, "What does this even mean?" questions.
 
Briefvoice said:
This seems to be a QM response that happens every second or third plan. We really out to institute a "fresh eyes" protocol where someone who hasn't been participating in planning at all gets tagged in at the last 12 hours to look over a plan with fresh eyes and ask any, "What does this even mean?" questions.
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It would have been entertaining to go find some Leaf Yakuza and politely ask them flat out for pointers on how to bribe Yakuza elsewhere.
 
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Velorien said:
Keiko put away the rope, then sat down on the bed. "I do not condemn him for this. You were never truly part of the Kurosawa Clan, Hazō, so you cannot understand that a core part of what we are is the kinslayer taboo, that which caused clans to come into existence in the first place. Our internal strife, though inescapable by virtue of our humanity, will never cross a certain line. Jiraiya is a common-born, an orphan even. Collectively, Leaf may be his precious family, but individually we are all pieces on the board. Again, I do not condemn him. He plays the game as it is intended to be played, and before I met you, I would have classified his objective as the best one could aspire to.
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Oh gosh, we've been idiots. What does Keiko actually want from being a Goketsu? What can we do to change what the clan does so that it resonates with Keiko as being important? There are lots of things about that she likes, such as personal safety, respect for her boundaries, and heaps of wealth and power. There are also lots of things about that she doesn't like, such as her hand in marriage getting sold and that she has to keep up the deal with the Pangolins.

Keiko deserves the clan putting effort into Keiko's goals and dreams.

On that note, so do Noburi, Kagome, and Mari. Kagome seems pretty on board with the "Civilians are people too" aspect, and I don't think Mari is ready to talk about her goals. But we should check with Noburi.

On the Mari side of things, we could try to get letters from all of her friends in Mist congratulating her on getting married.

Also, while we should stop the hideous worst scenario in Mist that I won't even type is something that we were going to fight anyway, a public gesture against it, possibly even publicly dedicated to Mari, might make her feel better.
Velorien said:
"Kick their asses or I'll kick yours," Tsunade added. "And take the herbal tea every day, because if you try to bring even one foreign disease back to Leaf, you'd better be ready to turn missing-nin all over again."
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If Tsunade starts being publicly associated with Goketsu, Gokestu is going to be nigh unstoppable.

Velorien said:
Keiko, the most amazing expression of confoundment on her face, turned helplessly to Mari-sensei.

Mari-sensei laughed for the first time in weeks.
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I'm so glad Mari can laugh again.

Velorien said:
"No," Hazō said. "I can quite honestly say I didn't see that one coming."
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You little stinker.

Velorien said:
"Wedding within a week of your return," Tsunade snapped. "Or I invite Orochimaru and leave you to figure out how to get him in."
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So, like @firestorm440 said, all we have to do is delay the wedding by eight days and Snake Uncle gets to come?

Velorien said:
"No matter what we are, Hazō, remember that I love you!"
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I'm pretty sure this is Akane, but not completely sure.
Velorien said:
Hazō swore to do all of them proud.
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Hell yes we will.
 
Briefvoice said:
This seems to be a QM response that happens every second or third plan. We really out to institute a "fresh eyes" protocol where someone who hasn't been participating in planning at all gets tagged in at the last 12 hours to look over a plan with fresh eyes and ask any, "What does this even mean?" questions.
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I told people that it would better to focus on how to get Yakuza help in all of this, because bribery is a given. My feedback wasn't implemented.
 
Actually... let me make this a formal proposal.

FRESH EYES PROTOCOL

In the ~12 hours after a new planning period begins, we post a "call for fresh eyes". These are people who, looking at their schedule, won't have time to participate in the thread much over the next voting period but do thing they have time for a single plan review right before voting should end. People respond to the post volunteering to be "fresh eyes". In the final 12 hours, anyone with an active plan (that is, they are still updating and have gotten a decent number of votes) can PM these volunteers and ask them to drop back into the thread and comment on any areas of the plan whose meaning seems unclear.
 
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