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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Inferno Vulpix said:
Anyways, I agree that our first and foremost priority is signalling to Orochimaru that we want to be on Project Immortality/Necromancy with him, and have the potential to help out. As also said, we're still in our first impression phase and the chapter-end means we get to have Hazou shake out of his shock and put a better foot forward.
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What we have to find out is, if Oro even cares about anything besides his own Immortality or how much he is willing to not go full sociopath, at least if given enough other resources/options.

Jiraiya literally told us that he stopped caring.

e: fine whatever got faflec'd
 
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Plan Cache is up, though again I doubt anything on here will be more important than making sure our first impression with Orochimaru is golden.
Inferno Vulpix said:
Plan Cache:
  • Contact Akatsuki and make it look like their idea.
  • Forbidden Lore.
  • Figure out the Adopting Naruto question.
  • Talk to Lee about adoption.
  • Teaching KEI members:
    • (Overarching goal: Look for overlooked (due to personality traits, the Academy's biases, etc.) promising students to adopt/apprentice.)
    • Coordinate with Kagome on teaching Sealing Theory. Don't teach practical sealing unless Kagome approves.
    • Suggest teaching Medicine to Noburi.
    • Is Naruto a technique hacker? Would he be willing to teach too?
    • Apply for guest lectures at the Academy.
  • Look into Orochimaru's, Bakushin's, and Goemon's notes.
  • Convene Goketsu Gaming Mondays. Invite Naruto and KEI specifically.
  • Scale up Salterns.
  • Clear the land we bought.
  • Find, rebuild, and re-key Jiraiya's contacts/network.
    • Use guerilla civil engineering as cover.
    • Make sure to look into the Yakuza.

Past Major Plans:
SSSSSSSSSsss by Noumero

Rules of the Plan Cache:
  1. Get Support. The Plan Cache is for ideas that already have support of a sizeable chunk of the playerbase, not for ideas that someone wants to advocate later. For a benchmark, your idea should have enough support to be in one of the major plans of a cycle if there was room in the plan.
  2. Short-term. The Plan Cache is for ideas that we intend to implement in the next few updates, or more loosely within the same rough story arc. If you have an idea beyond that temporal scope, I have another post storing those ideas so ask me to put it there instead of cluttering up our short-term storage.
Sometimes when we're making a plan we have a good idea that's just outside the temporal scope of the update, but we don't want to cut it from the plan because we might forget by the next cycle. This adds unnecessary words that could have been spent fleshing out the rest of the plan, and may outright cost XP in the worst cases.

This plan cache will hold these subsections so they don't fall into the void between planning cycles. Just ping me with the subsection and, unless it's wildly unreasonable, I'll edit it into the post. I'll keep them there for a while until they either make it into a winning plan, fall out of favour, or the context significantly changes. Depending on circumstances, they might end up in my Side Project Cache, or they might be dropped, and I'll make sure to be transparent about what I'm doing.

I'll do my best to quote this post after every update, so that planmakers can get an easy reminder about what we never quite got to last cycle.
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Chapter 294, Part 0: The Man Who Deserves No Introduction
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    • Chapter 294, Part 0: The Man Who Deserves No Introduction​

    February 15, 1069 AS. While Hazō is making Asuma and Kurenai miserable.

    "I didn't think you'd invite me," Yuno said in a soft voice, sitting with Noburi in a corner away from the action. "After the other night."

    "I wanted you here," Noburi said. "Even if… stuff…, you're still important to me. I didn't want to leave you out."

    "Thank you," Yuno said. "Noburi, can we talk tonight, after the gaming is over?"

    "Sure," Noburi said. "I mean, we could just go up to my room now." He looked pointedly at Hazō and his gleeful rolling of endless dice. "It's not like we'll be missing anything."

    Yuno considered. "No. I'm actually enjoying the gaming. There's an awful lot of strangers surrounding us, though, and it's making Satsuko antsy."

    That did not bode well for anyone or anything. They needed a (non-romantic) distraction.

    Then Noburi was struck by a brainwave of spectacular, nay, diabolical ingenuity.

    "You know, since we're pretty much out of this game anyway, there's someone I'd like to introduce you to. Come on." He rose from his seat, unthinkingly reaching out to lead Yuno through the crowd by the hand. She just as unthinkingly took it.

    After a second to realise, Noburi found himself caught on a knife-edge of indecision. Let go of her hand, or hold tighter? Which way was he supposed to go? Which way did she want him to go? Was he allowed to hold her hand right now?

    Yuno looked no more certain.

    After an eternity of hesitation, they let go. That seemed like an acceptable compromise.


    "There he is!" Noburi grinned. "Oi, Hyūga, get over here!"

    Hyūga gave him a contemptuous glance.

    "You. I had intended to let you off as a courtesy to my host, but if you insist on deliberately seeking me out, then clearly you are begging for the evisceration you have long been denied."

    Yuno turned look at him attentively. "Details, please."

    Noburi rolled his eyes (out of her line of sight; one did not insult one's potential bride's hobbies). "He means verbal evisceration, which would be a great threat if he didn't have to carry it out with his blunt spoon of a mind.

    "Yuno, Hyūga Neji. He's a minor branch family member of the Hyūga Clan with delusions of grandeur.

    "Hyūga, Gasai Yuno. A woman who has everything you lack, from brains, to beauty, to the respect of another human being—in this instance, me."

    "Glad to see you're drowning in your own wit, Gōketsu. I would offer you a towel, but it seems you're already completely dry."

    Well, now. Hyūga must have been training hard since they last met.

    Hyūga raised his eyebrows. "Another of your many mudfoots?"

    Yuno looked down at Noburi questioningly.

    "Kannagi Clan, actually," Noburi said. "The best of them, at that."

    Yuno smiled shyly.

    "I do not bother memorising the names of all the minor clans," Hyūga said dismissively. "Just be sure not to let him drag you down into the mud with him."

    "You don't need to worry about that," Noburi said. "I've already reserved your place."

    "I regret to tell you that I have no need to avail myself of your employee discount."

    Hyūga really was growing. Noburi wondered if he'd picked up some kind of creative hobby.

    "And here I thought you were poor," Noburi replied. "Oh, no, sorry, that was 'morally bankrupt'."

    "A fine thing to hear from a foreigner incapable of morality to begin with. I'd sooner be judged by an Inuzuka dog than you."

    Too easy. Far, far too easy.

    "Are you two best friends?" Yuno asked unironically before Noburi could craft a response worthy of the opening.

    "Like hell we are!/How dare you!"

    "You bounce off each other," Yuno said affectionately. "You've got this great rhythm going—it's so adorable. If you were a boy and a girl, I'd be dragging you off to the Betrothal Stone myself."

    Noburi and Hyūga looked aghast at each other.

    "Thanks for introducing us, Noburi," Yuno said. "And it's nice to meet you, Hyūga. I hope the three of us will get to spend much more time together."

    …

    …

    …

    "Hey," Noburi said. "Is it me, or has the main room gone really quiet?"

    Hyūga made to go investigate, briefly noted all the people he'd have to push past, then smirked.

    "Byakugan!"

    Huh? Oh, right, Kagome had yet to replace the (usually unnecessary) privacy seals on the inner walls.

    "Well?" Noburi asked.

    "By the Tsuchikage's enormous rocks, what is that thing?!"
     
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    • Wow, are you guys trying to drown us in sheer excitement by throwing excellent chapter after excellent chapter? Is it Christmas already? Were I stuffed in some other dimension? Will Lovecraftian horrors patiently wait forme to open the door of my apartment or they will barge right in uninvited?

    Eh, whatever, more MfD is always appreciated.


    Also, @Velorien I'm glad you're back to productive streak: first LUD rewrite and now this surprise! Awesome!

    E: oh, the year is 2019. Sorry then, still good chapter though
     
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    [x] Proto-Plan: Welcome Home, Snuncle!
    • Double take. The rent is the least important thing that just happened.
      • "OH THANK THE SAGE! I WAS DRIVING MYSELF INSANETRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW I WAS GOING TO SPEAHEAD RESURRECTION ON MY OWN!"
        • "I mean, sure, I had basically all but gotten Kabuto, so he was going to be a big help -- thanks for ruining that manipulation by being alive by the way, and I cannot believe something could make me sincerely grateful to have my master plan so completely wrecked -- but I was sure I wasn't going to be able to get Jiraiya back on his feet before I was middle-aged!"
    • Remember your manners.
      • Greet Orochimaru warmly. He's family (by virtue that Jiraiya was sort of your dad, and he considered him a brother), and no longer a criminal. A hug might not go amiss, and certainly introduce him to everyone, family and friends.
    • Make it clear that we're willing to adopt him. Obviously. He's not just family, or an S-ranker, he's also a fellow immortality-enthusiast and those are depressingly rare. Sure he's apparently a terrifying psychopath (skinfarm, anyone?) but honestly, this is ...not that much more derranged than your typical jounin. You can deal if it means you have someone who can work with you on Resurrection.
    • Does Oro want to join the games?
     
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    @MadScientist I'll vote for your plan if you agree to replace all instances of "Necromancy" with "Resurrection". One has more negative connotations than the other, and if we're going to be doing this publicly we should be playing to the audience.

    Actually, scratch that. It's still Orochimaru the bogeyman and inhumane science boy. Let me think on this.
     
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