Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

Emstar · May 5, 2019

Immortal Lurker said:
That actually might be a good reason. Unless Lee has his weird cannon condition where basically can't use jutsu.

I'm just saying, we have pretty good reason to believe that Lee is at least as good as Hazou is when Hazou is going all out. Just hand him our buffs (PCJ + PH) and tell him to keep the change, and his powerlevel skyrockets over the course of a month.

This is a serious consideration.

In the not so distant future in which people listen to me on this:

ENEMY NINJA: I have an army, what do you have?

HAZOU: We have a Lee.

LEE: YOUTH no Jutsu! Pantakrator's Hammer!

ENEMY NINJA: Holy fuck he's got like +18 to Taijutsu and 4 boxes on his stress track the fuck is this shit

HAZOU: Good job Lee! You were instrumental in allowing us to live to Uplift another day!

LEE: *nice guy pose*

E: We can give him Macerators too once he's in the clan awwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeah.

Oneiros · May 5, 2019

Gavin Prince said:
If Naruto does agree to join the clan, but only on the proviso of being made Clan Head and making decisions his way, what's our response?

We give him whatever he wants

faflec · May 5, 2019

Changes made to reflect the fact that we're giving the position of clan head to Naruto if he wants it.

faflec said:
[X] Action Plan: Gathering Allies

Word Count: 282

Read Jiraiya's will and answers.

Focus on whatever instructions he has for us if he's dead, and apply them to our future actions.

Meet with people.

Optimize with the clan first (Mari included).

Tsunade:

Schedule a meeting in advance, try to emphasize we have something important to give her.

Offer our condolences for her losses, and give her Jiraiya's message to her. Let her vent.

Ask after Naruto, and state our intention to adopt him into our clan. Is this wise?

We're worried Hiashi might become Rokudaime and start WW4 (and accidentally us), how likely is this and what are our options on preventing this?

Ask her if she is going to make a bid for the hat. State that we are absolutely behind her if she is.

Naruto:

Schedule ahead. ONLY do this if he's functioning.

Introduce ourselves, and offer our condolences for his losses. Let him vent.

If Jiraiya left Naruto anything, give that to him.

Jiraiya wanted us to adopt you once you were recovered. It's still your choice; we'll support you no matter your decision.

If he wants to be clan head, let him be clan head.

Adoptees: Akane & Tenten

Meet with their families, since this concerns them as well.

Offer to adopt them into the Gouketsu. Explain what that entails and all that.

Investigate stuff:

Who are good adoption targets?

Ask about Kabuto.

How do we declare things to be clan secrets (read: Kagome's stuff)?

Who are the clan heads, and what are their political leanings?

Mari's spent time socializing with the clan matriarchs, what does she know?

How effective has !Hiashi's propoganda been on public opinion towards Rock/Cloud/Mist?

Grab a copy of the broadsheet.

Inferno Vulpix · May 5, 2019

[X] Action Plan: Gathering Allies

Dictator4Hire · May 5, 2019

faflec said:
My intentions on this bullet were more along the lines of going to bars and other social establishments and listening to what they were saying, or some similar method that doesn't require eavesdropping. Not sure if you think this is still risky, but I'll change it to be more clear if necessary.

Since it was in print we additionally might be able to approach Shikamaru since (IIRC) the Nara have a near monopoly on printing in Leaf. Rumors are a good starting point but they can be unreliable when used as one's only source of information. Doing both would probably be best if we can find the time for it (asking Shikamaru should be easy enough once we have a meeting with him). I believe being thorough here in the plan is worth sacrificing the potential for more XP just because the current situation is so delicate.

Inferno Vulpix said:
Easily done. Him as Clan Head is probably better than us for our goals anyways.

I would rather get the measure of him as a character in MfD first before we consent to having him as our leader indefinitely. If he's emotionally compromised we need to help him before he deals irrevocable damage to our clan's reputation. We have no idea what state he's in physically, emotionally, or mentally after months of captivity in Akatsuki's hideout.

MfD != Canon

Please.

Please let's learn the lesson from the start of the quest.

I beg all y'all.

Shadowwarp · May 5, 2019

Gavin Prince said:
If Naruto does agree to join the clan, but only on the proviso of being made Clan Head and making decisions his way, what's our response?

A lot of the talks about adopting him brought up that we would likely need to make him clan head, so it's not something the thread is against. Besides as a clan head you are the leader and representative of your clan, they expect you to do right by them. Of course we'll do what the clan heads orders, but being the leader is a balancing act, go too far against what the rest of the clan wants and that hurts your authority. If he's even half as competent as Jiraiya made him out to be, he won't go too far against what we would prefer, plus apparently he's big on peace too. Still well have to ceoss that bridge when we get there.

Inferno Vulpix · May 5, 2019

Dictator4Hire said:
Since it was in print we additionally might be able to approach Shikamaru since (IIRC) the Nara have a near monopoly on printing in Leaf. Rumors are a good starting point but they can be unreliable when used as one's only source of information. Doing both would probably be best if we can find the time for it (asking Shikamaru should be easy enough once we have a meeting with him). I believe being thorough here in the plan is worth sacrificing the potential for more XP just because the current situation is so delicate.

I would rather get the measure of him as a character in MfD first before we consent to having him as our leader indefinitely. If he's emotionally compromised we need to help him before he deals irrevocable damage to our clan's reputation. We have no idea what state he's in physically, emotionally, or mentally after months of captivity in Akatsuki's hideout.

MfD != Canon

Please.

Please let's learn the lesson from the start of the quest.

I beg all y'all.

You make a very fair point, and I was a bit hasty with the assumption that Naruto would be like what I expected.

But what I'm basing my opinion of Naruto on is from what I know of him from Jiraiya. Jiraiya paints a picture of Naruto that I believe would make his ideology closely aligned with ours and that Naruto and Hazou would get along very well. This may be befuddled by the actions of Akatsuki, but if Naruto is the same Naruto that Jiraiya remembers I expect to be comfortable with handing him the reigns of the Goketsu.

Oneiros · May 5, 2019

Added running everything by the clan. Letting Kagome know we will need to teach new members sealing so we can protect the family

Oneiros said:
[X] Action plan: who gets the hat

Run all this by the entire clan

Make sure Kagome is ok with adoption

Let him know that we will need to teach our new clan members sealing so we can protect each other

Schedule a meeting with Naruto and Tsunade

Be polite but firm

Lord Gōketsu wishes to meet at your earliest convenience

While at the hospital see Kabuto

Let him know that he will always have a friend with the Gōketsu

Grab a copy of Hiashi's propoganda

Send an invitation to the following ninja

Lee

TenTen

Akane

Team Nakano

Lord Gōketsu wishes to discuss your future

We are vetting for adoption

Send a message to the clan heads of ISC.

Give sincere condolences

Our father died together for an ideal

We need to make sure we continue there dream

Debrief with Naruto and Tsunade

Take the time to talk to Naruto and get to know him

Introduce ourselves as Jiraiya's adopted son. A lot happened since you went on that mission.

Explain the quick story of our team, and tell him of our dream of Uplift.

express Jiraiya's wishes for Naruto to join the Goketsu.

He gave us a family when we thought we'd never have one again

Review Jiraya's will

Have the toad contract signed ASAP

Record all seals in Iron nerve

Decide if we want Tsunade or Naruto to make a play for the hat

Most important thing is keeping it out of Hiashi's hands

No matter what

Find out if Naruto wants to become clan head of the Goketsu

See if Orochimaru left anything about his resources or his organizations

Shadowwarp · May 5, 2019

Dictator4Hire said:
Since it was in print we additionally might be able to approach Shikamaru since (IIRC) the Nara have a near monopoly on printing in Leaf. Rumors are a good starting point but they can be unreliable when used as one's only source of information. Doing both would probably be best if we can find the time for it (asking Shikamaru should be easy enough once we have a meeting with him). I believe being thorough here in the plan is worth sacrificing the potential for more XP just because the current situation is so delicate.

I would rather get the measure of him as a character in MfD first before we consent to having him as our leader indefinitely. If he's emotionally compromised we need to help him before he deals irrevocable damage to our clan's reputation. We have no idea what state he's in physically, emotionally, or mentally after months of captivity in Akatsuki's hideout.

MfD != Canon

Please.

Please let's learn the lesson from the start of the quest.

I beg all y'all.

Oh no don't get me wrong I completely agree, fuck canon and fuck meta. We shouldn't let the manga influence our settings, I am trying to go off of the little we've learned of Naruto in quest as best as I can.

Shadowwarp · May 5, 2019

[X] Action Plan: Gathering Allies

Kiba · May 5, 2019

[X] Action Plan: Gathering Allies

faflec · May 5, 2019

Dictator4Hire said:
Since it was in print we additionally might be able to approach Shikamaru since (IIRC) the Nara have a near monopoly on printing in Leaf. Rumors are a good starting point but they can be unreliable when used as one's only source of information. Doing both would probably be best if we can find the time for it (asking Shikamaru should be easy enough once we have a meeting with him). I believe being thorough here in the plan is worth sacrificing the potential for more XP just because the current situation is so delicate.

Was it in print? *checks definition of broadsheet* Huh, guess it was. Added.

Any chance you could read that part of my plan over again, I want to make sure I implemented your suggestions right.

faflec said:
[X] Action Plan: Gathering Allies

Word Count: 298

Read Jiraiya's will and answers.

Focus on whatever instructions he has for us if he's dead, and apply them to our future actions.

Meet with people.

Optimize with the clan first (Mari included).

Tsunade:

Schedule a meeting in advance, try to emphasize we have something important to give her.

Offer our condolences for her losses, and give her Jiraiya's message to her. Let her vent.

Ask after Naruto, and state our intention to adopt him into our clan. Is this wise?

We're worried Hiashi might become Rokudaime and start WW4 (and accidentally us), how likely is this and what are our options on preventing this?

Ask her if she is going to make a bid for the hat. State that we are absolutely behind her if she is.

Naruto:

Schedule ahead. ONLY do this if he's functioning.

Introduce ourselves, and offer our condolences for his losses. Let him vent.

If Jiraiya left Naruto anything, give that to him.

Jiraiya wanted us to adopt you once you were recovered. It's still your choice; we'll support you no matter your decision.

If he wants to be clan head, let him be clan head.

Adoptees: Akane & Tenten

Meet with their families, since this concerns them as well.

Offer to adopt them into the Gouketsu. Explain what that entails and all that.

Investigate stuff:

Who are good adoption targets?

Ask about Kabuto.

How do we declare things to be clan secrets (read: Kagome's stuff)?

Who are the clan heads, and what are their political leanings?

Mari's spent time socializing with the clan matriarchs, what does she know?

Investigate the broadsheet.

It's been printed, ask the Nara who has access to their printing presses.

Go to <areas of social congregation> and gauge how they view Rock/Cloud/Mist based on their conversations/discussion.

18scsc · May 5, 2019

@faflec, we'll probably have to wait at least a bit before seeing Tsunade, we might as well schedule meetings with ISC as well. Getting ISC's read on things will be critical, and getting their support in our endeavors twice as much. We need to meet with them ASAP.

EDIT: I can help trim word count if you want, but honestly forgoing that extra XP is worth it at this juncture.

Dictator4Hire · May 5, 2019

Inferno Vulpix said:
You make a very fair point, and I was a bit hasty with the assumption that Naruto would be like what I expected.

But what I'm basing my opinion of Naruto on is from what I know of him from Jiraiya. Jiraiya paints a picture of Naruto that I believe would make his ideology closely aligned with ours and that Naruto and Hazou would get along very well. This may be befuddled by the actions of Akatsuki, but if Naruto is the same Naruto that Jiraiya remembers I expect to be comfortable with handing him the reigns of the Goketsu.

Shadowwarp said:
Oh no don't get me wrong I completely agree, fuck canon and fuck meta. We shouldn't let the manga influence our settings, I am trying to go off of the little we've learned of Naruto in quest as best as I can.

We would lose all of the agency we just gained but if it means safeguarding our position by harnessing the common man's good will towards Naruto I might be persuaded to let him takeover. I just see no reason why we can't assess his current character first before we commit to making such a monumental decision. My biggest concerns with Naruto have nothing to do with his reported character but with his recent traumatic experiences (such as the imprisonment and learning that Jiraiya died to bring him back (he might have a very debilitating case of survivor's guilt once he's coherent)) and, more troubling, the possibility that his seal has been damaged in some non-trivial way. Kagome might be able to fix it but the chance that we might have an unstable demon container walking around our house giving us orders makes me nervous, especially since we don't know what demon possession (if that's even a thing in MfD) looks like and what the demon can do with its host once it is partially or completely free (again, if these are even issues in MfD).

We really need a 'Your Jinchuuriki and You' instruction manual if we want to interact with Naruto in a close manner in the foreseeable future. He's probably like a walking nuclear reactor with all of the chakra he has and that's great buuuuuuuut I wouldn't want to walk anywhere near a leaking nuclear reactor if he or his seal is damaged in some way.

Oneiros · May 5, 2019

18scsc said:
@faflec, we'll probably have to wait at least a bit before seeing Tsunade, we might as well schedule meetings with ISC as well. Getting ISC's read on things will be critical, and getting their support in our endeavors twice as much. We need to meet with them ASAP.

EDIT: I can help trim word count if you want, but honestly forgoing that extra XP is worth it at this juncture.

Have us getting a meeting with ISC in mine

Kiba · May 5, 2019

18scsc said:
@faflec, we'll probably have to wait at least a bit before seeing Tsunade, we might as well schedule meetings with ISC as well. Getting ISC's read on things will be critical, and getting their support in our endeavors twice as much. We need to meet with them ASAP.

EDIT: I can help trim word count if you want, but honestly forgoing that extra XP is worth it at this juncture.

I disagree. We need to stop doing too many things at once in an action plan. Trust the QMs to stop at appropriate place.

Oneiros · May 5, 2019

@Dictator4Hire removed asking Naruto about if he wanted to be clan head

Emstar · May 5, 2019

Kiba said:
I disagree. We need to stop doing too many things at once in an action plan. Trust the QMs to stop at appropriate place.

We can do a large number of things at once, we just need to make sure its not going to take like 3 big scenes and 9 hours of spoons on the QM side.

Noumero · May 5, 2019

eaglejarl said:
Hazō spun around in his chair to find Mari standing on the stairs. Her hair was washed and brushed. Her makeup was perfect, all trace of redness gone from her eyes, and her clothing and jewelry were elegant and understated.

"Your responsibility," she said, nodding to Hazō. And then she walked out of the room and out of the house without another word.

Fascinating.

Consider: The Mari we knew for most of the quest's runtime was trying to redeem herself. She regretted her past viciousness and sadism, wanted to be a better person. She indulged in kindness where she thought it was possible, likely suppressed some of her less-pleasant aspects... and with that, ignored some cold-but-practical avenues of manipulation. Especially after coming to Leaf — it's almost certain she wasn't as ruthless in her politicking as she could, that she was trying to be a good person as well as a competent political actor.

Now it's all gone. Now she thinks she is absolutely, irredeemably evil, so evil she mustn't be allowed to interact with the world lest her all-corrupting touch twists souls of those unfortunate to talk to her into sad mockeries of themselves... and she was just bludgeoned into proactivity and pointed at the Gouketsu's enemies. She's going to lean into the excuse Hazou provided her and try her best to mercilessly obliterate them.

I'm sure she feels horrible right now, and I'm sure it'll be damaging long-term, but all moral considerations aside, we likely just acquired a horrifically vicious asset. I'm looking forward to the next council meeting.

(Maybe too vicious, though. We do need to make sure she didn't just go off to murder-suicide Hiashi or something.)

18scsc · May 5, 2019

@Oneiros
Alright, so my main quibbles with your plan are as follows:
With Naruto, we should make sure that we read Jiayra's will out to him as well and maybe see if there's anything in the notes Jiayra left for us regarding Naruto and bring those as well. We don't need to talk about "Jiayra dying for an ideal" with ISC, it sounds manipulative and rings hollow. The ideal he died for isn't all that clear aside from "get Naruto back" "stop Akatsuki", moreover Jiayra's ideology was sympathetic towards uplift, but not to the same extent ours is. We should make sure Naruto doesn't want the toad contract.

AncientMillenial · May 5, 2019

MMKII said:
I'm just saying, we have pretty good reason to believe that Lee is at least as good as Hazou is when Hazou is going all out. Just hand him our buffs (PCJ + PH) and tell him to keep the change, and his powerlevel skyrockets over the course of a month.

This is a serious consideration.

In the not so distant future in which people listen to me on this:

ENEMY NINJA: I have an army, what do you have?

HAZOU: We have a Lee.

LEE: YOUTH no Jutsu! Pantakrator's Hammer!

ENEMY NINJA: Holy fuck he's got like +18 to Taijutsu and 4 boxes on his stress track the fuck is this shit

HAZOU: Good job Lee! You were instrumental in allowing us to live to Uplift another day!

LEE: *nice guy pose*

E: We can give him Macerators too once he's in the clan awwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeah.

Lee is basically a cheaper railgun.

Oneiros · May 5, 2019

18scsc said:
@Oneiros
Alright, so my main quibbles with your plan are as follows:
With Naruto, we should make sure that we read Jiayra's will out to him as well and maybe see if there's anything in the notes Jiayra left for us regarding Naruto and bring those as well. We don't need to talk about "Jiayra dying for an ideal" with ISC, it sounds manipulative and rings hollow. The ideal he died for isn't all that clear aside from "get Naruto back" "stop Akatsuki", moreover Jiayra's ideology was sympathetic towards uplift, but not to the same extent ours is. We should make sure Naruto doesn't want the toad contract.

Will make some edits to do this.

Inferno Vulpix · May 5, 2019

...you know, it might have been that Inuzuka jounin who wrote the propaganda message. They didn't get banged up much IIRC, they're pro-Hiashi, and they probably can't spell very well to boot.

Cariyaga · May 5, 2019

Guys.

Hiashi's in the hospital.

We could hold the vote for kage now. We just need to get Tsunade or Naruto to be up for it.

18scsc · May 5, 2019

@eaglejarl, I find it gratifying that the emotional process Hazou went through upon learning of Jiayra's death lined up so precisely to the thread's. Even the minute to minute timing wasn't that far off.

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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