Remove ads

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

Reader mode
Looking back, going forward with this Ami thing was such a good decision. Just look at how many plans are available right now, and how much activity the thread has experienced since the update! It's great.
 
MadScientist said:
[] Action Plan: A measured and calm reaction to a situation that is entirely under our control
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I feel that now is the best time to mention that the name of my action plan, "Everything Is Still Going According To Our Plans Leaving Us In Complete Control Of The Situation With No Reasons To Worry", is intended to be part of a series. I'm not sure if I'm going to write plans for the next updates, however, so I'll leak them now.

Enjoy (if this is the kind of thing you enjoy):
  1. [х] Action Plan: Everything Is Still Going According To Our Plans Leaving Us In Complete Control Of The Situation With No Reasons To Worry
  2. [х] Action Plan: Events Are Proceeding According To Our Scenario Even If We Must Frantically Revise Said Scenario In Real-Time To Keep Up With Them
  3. [х] Action Plan: A Possibility That We Are Not In Control Briefly Occurs To Us But Is Quickly Dismissed
  4. [х] Action Plan: We Have Expected Most Of These Disasters Which By Definition Means We Intended Them To Happen
  5. [х] Action Plan: Though We No Longer Have Any Idea Why We Are Following Our Plan Since It Only Brings Us Death And Sorrow We Are Still In Control
  6. [х] Action Plan: Albeit Our Plan Does Not Say We Can Solve Resurrection In Two Hours We Will Choose To Believe We Can
  7. [х] Action Plan: please help us jashin-sama
 
Last edited:
eaglejarl said:
You're smart—not as smart as Keiko, but you know that and you take her advice. You're more ambitious than is good for either of us. You're ruthless enough to kill people when you have to, or to send people to their deaths.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Incidentally, how do we feel about this characterization of Hazou? The ambition Jiraiya has right, and the ruthlessness to a certain extent. But sending people to their deaths? Where'd he get that from? Because I really don't think we'd send anyone we actually like to their deaths.

eaglejarl said:
As long as you didn't fuck things up too badly you'd have a lot of influence in Leaf without needing to shoulder most of the burdens. You could steer him towards doing all those things you described in your speech and then you could go...I dunno, find a lighthouse to sit in and do research. Convince the Merchant Council to retire so you can start random businesses using ninja magic. Whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Hah, it's like he hadn't taken his own observation about our ambitions seriously, if he thinks the status quo isn't going to change, Naruto will be Hokage while we go on wacky adventures in our own free time. I guess it's better this way, though.
 
@Noumero: Not going to add any contingency for Keiko lying? She could claim she hasn't read it if she did and vice versa.

At the very least we should assure her that we can talk about this after her match and that she should focus on that. I don't know how likely it is, but Keiko losing her match just 'cause she was distracted would suck.
 
Roomba said:
Incidentally, how do we feel about this characterization of Hazou? The ambition Jiraiya has right, and the ruthlessness to a certain extent. But sending people to their deaths? Where'd he get that from? Because I really don't think we'd send anyone we actually like to their deaths.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hm? We've sunk a ship full of civilians. Is that not "sending people to their deaths"?

We didn't have a personal connection to any of them, granted. The closest personal analogue, off the top of my head, is Hazou fully reporting on Hana's actions with regards to Mari, despite loving her and knowing how badly it may go for her — and subsequently quickly accepting that Jiraiya sent her packing. Not "to the death", but it's conceptually similar.

As to the hivemind: really? I'm pretty sure we'll murder anyone if there's a sufficiently sound argument in favour of that. Wasn't the "execute Kagome" plan non-insignificantly popular, back during the First Death of Minami?
Tua said:
Not going to add any contingency for Keiko lying? She could claim she hasn't read it if she did and vice versa.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's very little difference between what we do if she says "yes" or "no" in the current plan. I'm considering nixing the fork altogether and just firing the "do you really think this letter accurately reflects reality?" line at her at the start of the plan. If she didn't read it, it'll be a bit confusing, but it's fine.
 
Last edited:
Velorien said:
Do new character votes count as plans?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Depends on framing, I think.


Updated plan.
  • Nixed the fork with asking Keiko whether she read the letter: now we're just having Hazou judge whether she looks in need of an immediate response and, if she does, distracting her with an insightful question. (@Tua?)
  • Changed demeanour from "calm with hints of confusion" to "a touch alarmed, but collected". Because I think immediately signalling that something is wrong is warranted, but there isn't really anything confusing about what's happening — it's obviously an Enemy Action. (The confusing part is why, but it can wait.)
  • Moved one section down to keep it chronological.
Noumero said:
[x] Action Plan: Everything Is Still Going According To Our Plans Leaving Us In Complete Control Of The Situation With No Reasons To Worry
Wordcount: 365
  • Demeanour: a touch alarmed, but collected.
  • Immediate response:
    • If Keiko seems to need an immediate response:
      • "What do you think is more likely: that this letter accurately reflects reality, or that it's some kind of political ploy or misinformation campaign?".
    • Examine the letter for traps and signs of forgery.
      • If it's a seal: inform ANBU, defer to them.
    • Store it via Earth Clone. Leave sealed until Jiraiya comes.
    • Did Keiko recognize the messenger? Was it really a Mori? Any additional information?
    • Ask an ANBU or a trusted jounin to deliver a high-priority message to Jiraiya:
      • "Important: Unexpected political development. Meet at inn as soon as convenient."
  • Debrief Noburi and Keiko (CCnJ + OPSEC: Air Dome, Earth Dome):
    • Yesterday we met with Ami in an effort to sound her out politically.
    • It was our idea, approved by Jiraiya. We discussed abstract topics mostly related to Uplift.
      • We debriefed Jiraiya afterwards, and he wasn't alarmed.
    • We didn't discuss Keiko, or the subjects mentioned in the letter.
      • If Keiko didn't read it: it's about Ami "accepting" Hazou's nonexistent "marriage proposal".
    • We planned to ask Keiko if she wanted us to bring her up during potential future meetings, but judged it emotionally manipulative before the match.
    • Apologize for not telling sooner.
  • Hazou: Don't leave the inn, don't watch matches. Wait for Jiraiya.
    • You wouldn't be able to decline if Ami "accepts" in public.
    • Consider making a meal for Jiraiya. And willowbark tea.
  • Once Jiraiya arrives (OPSEC: underground + privacy seals):
    • Explain what happened, give him the letter.
    • Offer speculations:
      • It's fake:
        • Ami continues to demonstrate how she could've sabotaged us.
        • It's a coded message.
        • Third party (the Mori?) knew about the meeting and forged the letter for some purpose.
      • It's real. Ami wants to:
        • Make herself too valuable to Mist to be disposed of.
          • Expects WW4 and wants off front lines?
        • Strengthen Mist/Leaf alliance.
        • Get more power/influence, sees opportunity in this.
        • Reconcile with Keiko, and can't do it in Mist.
      • If real:
        • How the meeting proceeded (tests, lessons, post-seduction tangent on developing an optimized persona) makes more sense.
        • Ami has likely already ensured that not playing along would look like reneging i. e. political disaster.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Last edited:
Can we add give "Jiraiya a hug if situation even marginally allows it" to the plan?

Ooh! Pro to marrying Ami! She's probably the only person in universe who we could optimize the perfect hug with!
 
Last edited:
Noumero said:
Nixed the fork with asking Keiko whether she read the letter: now we're just having Hazou judge whether she looks in need of an immediate response and, if she does, distracting her with an insightful question. (@Tua?)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I kinda liked the fork because now when Keiko hasn't read the scroll we still treat her as if she had which will just raise more questions for her.

How about this?

Says she hasn't read it --> Tell her getting a message from her former clan has to be confusing and that we promise to tell her as soon as Jiraiya has given the go-ahead and that she should stay focused on her match. This was something we wanted to share with her and Noburi at some point anyway.

Admits to having read it --> No change from previous version.

Intent: If Keiko has read it but lies about it, that might be her testing whether we would have told her truth only if we knew that she knew. Or whether we intended to tell her from the beginning. The latter scenario reflects a lot better on us.
(It is also closer to the truth since we did intend to tell her but Ami's message has accelerated those plans.)

PS: I do like the question and we should ask Keiko that when we debrief her regardless. Just not at the very start when she has denied reading the letter.

Twinnstars said:
Can we add give "Jiraiya a hug if situation even marginally allows it" to the plan?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You'd need to add an IC justification for that because the impetus to hug Jiraiya is from OOC knowledge only and randomly hugging him would probably freak the guy out.
 
Last edited:
[x][POLL] Make Omake: Better Left Unsaid, Part 1 canon
[x][POLL] Make Omake: Better Left Unsaid, Part 2 canon
[x][POLL] Make Omake: Better Left Unsaid, Part 3 canon

:>
 
Twinnstars said:
Can we add give "Jiraiya a hug if situation even marginally allows it" to the plan?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I support the sentiment, but I'm not sure it's the optimal way to go about showing our sympathy/understanding.
Tua said:
Tell her getting a message from her former clan has to be confusing and that we promise to tell her as soon as Jiraiya has given the go-ahead and that she should stay focused on her match
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
But it's not what my plan is doing. It answers all her questions in a few minutes anyway:
Noumero said:
  • Debrief Noburi and Keiko (CCnJ + OPSEC: Air Dome, Earth Dome):
    • Yesterday we met with Ami in an effort to sound her out politically.
    • It was our idea, approved by Jiraiya. We discussed abstract topics mostly related to Uplift.
      • We debriefed Jiraiya afterwards, and he wasn't alarmed.
    • We didn't discuss Keiko, or the subjects mentioned in the letter.
      • If Keiko didn't read it: it's about Ami "accepting" Hazou's nonexistent "marriage proposal".
    • We planned to ask Keiko if she wanted us to bring her up during potential future meetings, but judged it emotionally manipulative before the match.
    • Apologize for not telling sooner.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The immediate response is intended for a Keiko who is about to retreat into the Skein, or go into a depression spiral, or start killing people, or whatever else we fear her doing. It's intended to distract her for a few minutes and preempt her knee-jerk reaction while we sort out the rest of the issues, send the message to Jiraiya, and set up OPSEC measures. We then immediately debrief her and Noburi.
 
Last edited:
Roomba said:
But, why? My dream of getting Hazou married to Ami is coming true before my very eyes! If anything, I need to dream bigger and more exciting.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Indeed. And I'm about to ask the literal yakuza for a copy of the Akatsuki book. Whatever shall I choose as my new goal, once these two are accomplished? I wonder, I wonder... I feel as if everything is possible right now, for some reason.

Ah. I believe I've decided. I'll get Hazou x Ami to adopt Anna, then we'll use the chief!Hazou — theoretician!Keiko — executor!Ami — fodder!Anna team to study, manipulate, and eventually enslave the Mori Voice.

Time to immanentize the eschaton.
 
Last edited:
Roomba said:
Incidentally, how do we feel about this characterization of Hazou? The ambition Jiraiya has right, and the ruthlessness to a certain extent. But sending people to their deaths? Where'd he get that from? Because I really don't think we'd send anyone we actually like to their deaths.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There was that one time where we sacrificed OPSEC on Akane's secret techniques for the greater good, maybe?
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top