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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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That was sad. Honestly, I'm not sure we're capable of handling someone with issues like that without fucking up catastrophically, so I'd pick one of the other two.
 
OK, so, now that the 'what should we do with drunken evil!Mari' topic released the top steps of priority I would like to ask hive minds opinion on Hazō himself. Somewhere around the BotG he started doing what we called 'growing a spine' and cheering up for him. But, as the time passed, it seemd to me more and more to be an anger management problem.

From the top of my head:
  • Snapping at Keiko (several times)
  • Threatening Naruto in basement
  • Threatening Naruto in forest during SIN incident
  • Snapping at Kagome during visits to civilians
  • Snapping at Mari after latest genjutsu incident
  • Generally being angry at various obstacles
Each and every of these cases are justified if isolated, but the more common they get the more unsure I become that we aren't killing our protagonist's emotional stability. Please note that most (if not all) of these occurances were not included in plans meaning this is his genuine reaction, not direct HM influence.

Sure, Hazō has mental consequences and they may be responsible, but I'm not thrilled that these outbursts could become part of his character and remain when consequences will run out.

Now may be a good moment story-wise to give Hazō a chapter to reflect on his own ways.

What say you, smart and wise, shall we? Like for 'yes', funny for 'no'
 
eaglejarl said:
Chapter 311.3: Adoption Interviews — Kayano Aya​

Something moved to her left.

Aya's left hand pressed against her leg, fingers automatically wrapping around the smooth metal of the chain whip holstered there...and then releasing. Just a softfoot fetching wood for his fire from one of the communal stacks distributed around the camp.

The piles were massive, ten to fifteen feet high and wide enough to be stable, with tarps draped casually over them to keep rain or snow off. Some of the components were huge tree limbs, or even ratty-ended cross sections of trunk. They hadn't been cut with an axe, or anything as clean as a wind jutsu, so she was at a bit of a loss as to how they'd been sectioned in the first place.

A massive explosion split the air, sending her leaping back twenty feet, her whips flying into her hands seemingly of their own volition and starting to spin in a protective pattern around herself. Whatever was coming, she wouldn't—

The whips slowed as she saw that everyone, even the softfeet, was staring at her in mild curiosity and not reacting to the explosions—plural, because there went another one—at all.

"Apologies, ma'am," said the young Academy student who had been escorting her. The little brat was grinning, obviously amused at the success of his trick. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She'd let him see how fast she could move, what her default protective reactions were. One more piece of information leaked, one more weakness.

"I should have checked the schedule," he continued. "I didn't realize they were cutting right now."

She frowned, allowing the whips to come to a halt, the chains and blades dropping smoothly into her hands. "Cutting?"

"Yeah, take a look." He turned and wandered off towards the nearest pile of firewood, waving for her to follow.

She dropped the whips into their holsters, making sure that the handles were correctly positioned for rapid retrieval, then wrapped Ichika around herself again and followed after him.

They circled the stack of firewood to find a bizarre sight: Another Academy student, this one perhaps seven, carefully positioning a twenty-foot wrist-thick tree branch and wrapping an explosive tag around it about three feet down from one end.

"Kimmi," her student said, exasperated. "You're not supposed to be using tags on your own."

The girl stuck her tongue out at him. "Kagome-sensei said it was okay."

"No he didn't! You total liar!"

"He did too!"

Aya cleared her throat. "What are you doing?" she asked, hunching her shoulders to seem weaker and angling her body slightly in order to minimize her profile in case of attack.

The girl, Kimmi apparently, seemed to notice Aya for the first time. She braced to attention and saluted. "Ma'am, I'm chopping wood for the fires, ma'am!"

Aya blinked. How would Ichika have handled this situation? She'd never actually seen her old friend deal with children, but...well, when in doubt, stay in character. She'd already leaked enough information to the boy.

"That's very impressive," she said with a gentle smile. "I've never seen anyone chop wood with explosives before." After a moment she remembered to return the salute so that the girl could relax.

Relax she did, and her face promptly split in a massive grin. "I know, right? It's way easier! Kagome-sensei is so smart."

'Kagome-sensei'. Presumably a senior ninja. No, wait, that was the one that Lord Jiraiya had adopted as his cousin. The one who had been tortured until his mind broke.

"In what way is Kagome-sensei so smart?" she asked. If these kids were anything like the Academy students she'd studied beside, they would leak information like a sieve.

"He says that explosives solve everything!" the girl chirped. "He's right, too."

"You're still not supposed to be using tags without a grownup," her guide said, folding his arms and tapping one toe in what he clearly thought was an intimidating fashion.

Apparently it was good enough when directed at younger children; the girl tried to match his stare but gave up after a couple of seconds. Aya mentally gave the girl a nod of approval; submissiveness was a good attitude to take. No one thought submissive girls were a threat, so they were much less likely to try to kill you.

Which didn't rule out other unpleasant options, but at least they wouldn't kill you.

"Fine," the girl grumbled. "I'll go ask Kagome-sensei."

"He's busy," the boy said, a completely expected amount of supercillious disdain in his voice. He had established dominance and was enjoying it. "Captain Atomu is on duty; ask him to assign someone."

The girl glared at him for a moment, completely destroying the value of the persona she had established, and then stomped off.

"Hey! Don't leave your tags sitting in the wet!" the boy shouted.

The girl spun around; her eyes widened and she zipped back to where she had been, scooping a belt pouch off the ground and tying it back to her belt.

"I, um, I didn't...don't tell Kagome-sensei?"

The boy grinned. "Tell him what?" Whatever the words said, the tone suggested that the girl would never hear the end of it.

The girl eyed him for a moment, then turned and jogged away.

"This way, ma'am," the boy said.

Aya followed after, docile and compliant.

"You use explosives to chop firewood?"

"Uh-huh. Way easier than an axe. Faster, too. Kagome-sensei has these nifty ones that you can hold in your hand; those are the best for chopping wood, but he won't let us use them because he's afraid we'll blow our fingers off. Still, the regular ones work just fine."

She nodded, making notes in her head.

"This seems like a very pleasant place," she said, automatically pitching her voice Ichika-quiet and not framing it as a question. "Even the softfeet look well-fed."

"You shouldn't use that word with M'Lord, ma'am. He doesn't like it."

"What word?"

"'Softfoot', ma'am. M'Lord says that everyone is a person and should be treated good and it don't matter how much chakra you have or even if you're a ninja or not."

She considered that. "I see."

He leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially. "I dunno about it, though. Ever since I started going to the Academy, Mum always makes me berry pies when I tell her to, so I think maybe it does matter."

Aya nodded thoughtfully but couldn't think of anything to say in response. Lord Gōketsu sounded very strange, and she couldn't help wondering why he had sent for her. Reflexively, she checked around herself to make sure that she still knew the best routes out of the camp if it became necessary.

The boy glanced up at the sun. "Oops, we should go, ma'am! We'll be late if we don't hurry." He shifted up into a fast jog, aiming for the big stone building on the far side of the camp. She followed along wordlessly, studying the thing as they approached; large, seamless and therefore presumably constructed with jutsu. Most of the windows were a little crooked, not perfect rectangles, and covered over with waxed paper that would have been translucent at best. There must have been a monumental amount of effort put into this, with multiple ninja using whatever the jutsu was over and over for several days. It was squat, square(ish), and loomed like a red-granite monolith to the ego of a teenage Clan Head.

Hm. It could be a monument to ego, or it could be a symbol of fear and defensiveness. Wasn't he a former missing-nin? It would make a difference; if he was egotistical then flattery was the way to go but if he was paranoid then flattery might be seen as an attempt to get close to him, and therefore make him angry.

Her ruminations carried her halfway to the building...which turned out to not be their destination.

"Here you go, ma'am," the boy said, stopping in front of a massive tent and gesturing her to a camp chair in front of its firepit. "Would you like something to eat or drink? Lady Akane left me with a whole stack of seals full of stuff." He reached into a pocket and produced a fistful of paper, then began leafing through it. "Lessee...I've got hot cider, hot lemon tea, hot berry tea, hot black tea, hot milk, bread and cheese, six different kinds of salami—"

"Nothing for me," Aya said quickly. "It's very kind of you, though." She had learned the lesson about accepting drinks from unknown men when she was nine. Granted, Mom's new boyfriend hadn't been exactly unknown, but the principle still applied. "Feel free to have something yourself."

The boy's face lit up. "Oh, thank you ma'am!" He popped a plate of orangish chicken stew out of one of the seals and plopped down before starting to stuff his face.

Aya palmed a chain whip into her left hand and then sat down carefully. The memory of Ichika reminded her to arrange the folds of her jacket just so. Fussing about your clothes made people dismiss you as stupid and vain.

Lord Gōketsu kept her waiting just long enough to establish dominance and then came jogging in from the direction of the city. Her heart sank when she saw him; younger than her but good-looking, with muscled arms and a chiseled jawline that reminded her too much of Fujimori. Worse, the way he moved and the callouses on his hands said that he was a hard-style taijutsu fighter. That usually meant aggressive and dominant.

She came to her feet and bowed deeply as he approached. "Lord Gōketsu."

"Kayano, thank you for coming," he said, smiling and gesturing towards the tent. "Please, won't you come inside?"

She nodded politely, forcing her shoulders not to tense as she followed him into the tent. The tent was large but still didn't have enough room to swing her whips at maximum extension when they tried to capture her. She'd need to choke up a lot, robbing her of range and force.

"Please, take a seat," he said, waving her to a camp chair in front of a beat-up wooden desk piled high with papers. He dropped into one on the other side and pulled a dossier towards himself. Carefully, she sank into the chair. It put her back to the door, which made her skin crawl. Her left hand tightened around the smooth metal of her chain whip's handle until her knuckles were white, but she forced herself to do as she'd been ordered.

"Thanks for coming," he said, flipping the dossier open. "I don't want to waste your time, so I'll get right to the point: The Gōketsu are interested in growing our numbers, so we're looking for ninja who might want to either move onto the property or be adopted into the clan."

He raised a finger in emphasis. "To be clear, we aren't at the stage of making an actual adoption offer to anyone yet. Clan Council rules mean that we can only adopt one ninja this year, although we're trying to get that limit increased or find away around it. That said, there are only three ninja in Leaf that we're even considering making an offer to, and you're one of them. I wanted to find out if you're open to the possibility. If you are then we can talk more, and if not then you're still welcome to live on the property."

The tension in her shoulders increased. She spread Ichika's most vapid smile across her face and sat up straight. "That's very kind of you, My Lord. If I may ask, where would I be staying?"

He gestured towards where the big granite building was not visible through the wall of the tent. "You can see that we've got quarters going up. They'll be pretty comfortable once they're fully built but you might end up in a tent for a week or so until there's space.

"We've got pretty decent amenities, especially considering how new we are. There's good food and drinks available whenever you want; we have communal kitchens open through the day and whatever's left after that gets put into storage scrolls. You're welcome to take as many as you like whenever you feel nibbly. Some of the civilian women run a maid service which you're welcome to sign up for.

"There's a medical clinic going up, as well as a school. We encourage people to share jutsu and training tips—"

Ah, there it was. They wanted her techniques.

"—although it's obviously not required. We supply explosive tags and storage seals in large numbers, no charge. Whether you decide you want to join the clan or not, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want, no rent."

He paused, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if you've had any reason to investigate the tax code...?"

What kind of idiot didn't know the rules about her money being taken away?

"No, My Lord," she said, eyes wide. "I've never really thought about it. Service is our duty to the Will of Fire and the Hokage and the taxes help make that possible."

For some reason that seemed to discomfit him. He eyed her carefully, saying nothing. Aya found herself getting nervous; could he see through her mask? Was Ichika's ghost not strong enough to keep him from Aya's secrets?

When he continued to say nothing she decided it was time to deploy Ichika's final technique: the attentive bounce. She sat up extra straight, took an excited (and somewhat unnecessarily deep) breath, and made her eyes extra wide and smile extra super duper vapid.

"Could you explain it to me, My Lord? Just...please go slow? It always seemed so complicated."

Gōketsu studied her for a moment longer, then sighed. "The tax system isn't kind to clanless ninja. Clan Heads get paid a stipend each month for each ninja in their clan, which they can choose to pass on to the individual ninja. Also, mission taxes on clan ninja get refunded. Now, if you aren't a member of the Gōketsu then I obviously don't get paid the stipend or get the tax refund for you, so I couldn't help you on that front. Nope. No way could I do anything about this problem."

He paused, just long enough to make for a plausible topic shift. "Out of curiosity, do you play dice? Because every month I play dice with the clanless ninja who live on the estate. Turns out I have terrible luck; I always lose. Each of them walks out with the equivalent of a full month's stipend, sometimes more!" He shook his head. "I really should stop gambling, but I just can't help myself."

So, that was his game. Get the KEI ninja in, pay them regularly so they were dependent. Of course, His Lordship wouldn't offer anything permanent, nothing that could be contested. He could dangle it over them as much as he wanted, get them to do anything. And once the word got around that you were now his retainer the other clans would be reluctant to work with or associate with you, fearing that anything they said in your presence would go straight to the Gōketsu.

"Gosh, it's awful that you have such bad luck, My Lord! I hope it changes." This was it. This was where he would grab her. She kept her eyes on him (it wouldn't do for him to notice that she'd sussed him out) but mentally started reviewing the layout of the area. Her best option was probably to cut through the wall of the tent on her left, then duck behind the next tent to break line of sight. Set a proximity-fused Wind Bomb to cover her escape, then Storm Leap away.

"Uh...right." He considered her for a moment, frowning, then shook it off. "Anyway, I just wanted to lay all that out for you. Why don't you take a day or two to think about it and then get back to me, okay? If you're interested in joining the clan then we can talk about it some more."

Wait, he was letting her go?

"Gosh, thank you, My Lord! That's so nice of you!"

She surged to her feet and jumped in the air, kicking her feet up and clapping her hands.

"Gōketsu is the best! Gōketsu is the best! Thank you, My Lord! Thank you!"

She bowed repeatedly as she backed out of the tent. As soon as the flap was closed she started for the gate of the Gōketsu estate at the fastest speed that would fit into Ichika's skin.
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What a weirdo....oh wait....
 
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Huh. Vaguely level appropriate social encounters are nice for a change.

I believe my priority order on the adoptees is still Kaiyo, Haru, Aya. With the last being a fair bit behind the other two at the moment.
 
And here I was thinking she was like that other Swamp Jounin I don't remember who got an interlude once, talented but merely not assertive. Turns out she's deeply traumatized and sees everything in terms of hostile power dynamics. Without more information I don't know if that's just for strangers or if it's how she interacts with everyone, and the two states have very different implications. If she's still capable of trusting friends then sufficient earnest forthrightness might eventually persuade her to start to trust us, but if she never opens up to anyone then we'd have to help her work through her problems while she wants to be anywhere but here before she could trust us.

So yeah, I don't think Aya will be a good choice right now. Even assuming she'd be willing to agree of her own volition (which seems rather unlikely as it stands) we'd have our work cut out for us trying to get her to be anything more than a Kagome pointed at us.
 
Alright...stupid idea, but I'm going to put it out there: How would Mari-Aya interactions go, in terms of affecting Mari's development and/or improvement in Mari's mental state? Like, would interacting with someone with similar life experiences/traumas help Mari?
 
faflec said:
Alright...stupid idea, but I'm going to put it out there: How would Mari-Aya interactions go, in terms of affecting Mari's development and/or improvement in Mari's mental state? Like, would interacting with someone with similar life experiences/traumas help Mari?
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Mari and Aya seem to have handled their trauma in completely different ways (Mari leaned into it and became a seduction-spec and kind of evil, Aya ran from it and adopted an adversarial worldview to keep it from happening again), so even if we miraculously could get them to open up to each other I'm not sure they'd find anything to learn from each other.
 
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
I forgot to do this in all the interesting excitement surrounding the latest update, but I'm going to update it now. Here's the list of currently running tasks as I remember.
  • Hazou
    • Generally reviewing and approving proposals
      • the paperwork, it never fucking ends....
    • Local Merchant Empire:
      • Sawmills:
        • Proposals, awaiting metaphorical groundbreaking. Low amount of revenue, cannot change prices for one year.
    • Adoption:
      • Interviewing Candidates:
        • Haru: We got a "I'm considering it," response.
        • Noda: We got a "sure" response; not totally sure on what that means for us.
        • Aya: Currently unknown-ish.
      • Pushing for higher ceiling:
        • in-progress?
    • Civilian Leadership
      • Census project:
        • In-progress
      • Managing food and other logistics:
        • permanently in-progess.
      • Ultimate Judge on land
        • never ends
          • unless...?
    • Civilian Housing
      • House construction:
        • 5 days ago:
          • 4 residential units, housing 2 comfortably and 4 less so.
          • Tent housing for everybody else.
        • Present: unknown, but progress has happened TM.
    • Educational Programs
      • Goketsu University
        • In progress, probably low on the priority list tbh
      • Ebisu's SixFive
        • In progress, very little information OOC.
    • Noburi's Chakra Sources
      • Always a minor source of work.
    • Goketsu Clinic
      • Being organized.
    • Kagome's Explosive Reaction to Sweatshops
      • DONE
    • Merchant Council
      • Mari's got em, processing what to do with them.
    • Countering Out-based influences
      • HALTED due to adverse reaction
    • Helping Goketsu nee Inoue Mari
      • No more stalling.
  • Noburi:
    • Summoning Training:
      • In-progress
    • Goketsu Clinic:
      • Unclear
    • Secretary search and vetting:
      • Just assigned
    • Isan - Preparation Phase
      • "in-progress" eyebrow waggle
  • Akane:
    • Adjudicating for Hazou and almost certainly being an unpaid secretary:
      • in-progress.
  • Mari:
    • Acting in the Goketsu Clan's best interests:
      • in-progress???
    • Looking through Jiraiya's notes on the local underworld
    • Applying horrifying genjutsu in a safe environment:
      • HALTED
  • Kagome:
    • Mass-producing strategically relevant seals from home.
    • May be interested in education.
  • Keiko*: May be available for some projects, but Nara are a demanding clan.
    • Consider her unavailable.
  • Akane's Parents:
    • Construction business possibly mentioned, unsure of where that went.
  • Unresolved:
    • Isan - Expedition Phase
      • Pre-requisites:
        • Marriage/working it out between Noburi and Yuno
        • Keiko's cooperation
    • Floating Jutsu Exchange
      • Could be executed, could be saved for later. Unknown as of this moment.
    • "Shimura" "Estate"
      • Tabled in most plans.
    • Salt Empire
      • Tabled due to lack of free time. May need to prepare for salt crunch soonish.
    • Akatsuki Suggestion
      • Unsure if this ever went anywhere.
    • International Merchant Empire
      • Should've arrived almost a month ago. Whatever did happen to those guys?
    • The Wild, Goketsu-owned, West
      • Tabled until situation stabilizes, I believe.
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Alright, let's do this one more time, so that we can figure out our plan!
  • Hazou
    • Generally reviewing and approving proposals
      • the paperwork, it never fucking ends....
    • Local Merchant Empire:
      • Sawmills:
        • Proposals, awaiting metaphorical groundbreaking. Low amount of revenue, cannot change prices for one year.
    • Adoption:
      • Interviewing Candidates:
        • Haru: We got a "I'm considering it," response.
        • Noda: We got a "sure" response; not totally sure on what that means for us.
        • Aya: She's outwardly grateful, but internally every interaction is hostile. Further interactions are likely to push her traumas badly, in a way that we can't necessarily predict.
      • Pushing for higher ceiling:
        • Initial Pitch to Asuma: Complete, but results are ???
    • Civilian Leadership
      • Census project:
        • In-progress
      • Managing food and other logistics:
        • permanently in-progess.
      • Ultimate Judge on land
        • never ends
          • unless...?
    • Civilian Housing
      • House construction:
        • 5 days ago:
          • 4 residential units, housing 2 comfortably and 4 less so.
          • Tent housing for everybody else.
        • Present: unknown, but progress has happened TM.
    • Educational Programs
      • Goketsu University
        • In progress, probably low on the priority list tbh
      • Ebisu's SixFive
        • In progress, very little information IC or OOC.
    • Noburi's Chakra Sources
      • Always a minor source of work.
    • Goketsu Clinic
      • Being organized.
    • Merchant Council
      • Mari's got em, processing what to do with them.
    • Countering Out-based influences
      • HALTED due to adverse reaction
  • Noburi:
    • Summoning Training:
      • In-progress
    • Goketsu Clinic:
      • Unclear
    • Secretary search and vetting:
      • Assigned 2 days ago. Progress unclear.
    • Isan - Preparation Phase
      • "in-progress" eyebrow waggle
  • Akane:
    • Adjudicating for Hazou and almost certainly being an unpaid secretary:
      • in-progress.
  • Mari:
    • Acting in the Goketsu Clan's best interests:
      • in-progress???
    • Applying horrifying genjutsu in a safe environment:
      • HALTED
  • Kagome:
    • Mass-producing strategically relevant seals from home.
    • Decrypting Jiraiya's notes
    • May be interested in education.
  • Keiko*: May be available for some projects, but Nara are a demanding clan.
    • Consider her unavailable.
  • Akane's Parents:
    • Construction business possibly mentioned, unsure of where that went.
  • Atomu & Reo
    • Doing [UNSPECIFIED] for us. Probably something similar to what Akane's doing.
  • Unresolved:
    • Isan - Expedition Phase
      • Pre-requisites:
        • Marriage/working it out between Noburi and Yuno
        • Keiko's cooperation
    • Floating Jutsu Exchange
      • Could be executed, could be saved for later. Unknown as of this moment.
    • "Shimura" "Estate"
      • Tabled. Perceived low priority problem.
    • Salt Empire
      • Tabled due to lack of free time. May need to prepare for salt crunch soonish.
    • Akatsuki Suggestion
      • Keiko sent a messenger about 2 weeks ago (February 13th).
    • International Merchant Empire
      • Should've arrived almost a month ago. Whatever did happen to those guys?
    • Tavern
    • The Wild, Goketsu-owned, West
      • Tabled until situation stabilizes, I believe.
 
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A proper child soldier. Fitting, and very very sad. I'm not sure if we can help her right *now*, especially since the adoption is to increase the local maxima of gouketsu power as much as possible. I think it would be a good 'retirement' project to have Mari convince her we have her best interests at heart. Manipulative? Yeah. A net good for everyone involved? Also yeah
 
Velorien said:
Mari to say anything, but since he could be here a while, maybe he should press on and say what he wanted to say before the wrong one of those Maris asserted herself and deflected his only chance to catch them all off-guard.
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A tad late. But. I do want to say.

Rather than jarring or unnatural as I feared it would be prophet of the out feels... comfortable?

Like the million disparate strands of Hazos mind are smoothly being woven together into a cohesive whole.

It's like. Yeah. Hazo feels whole to me in a way I didnt notice he wasnt before.
 
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Nobs put Aya on the shortlist because he thought she wasn't trouble. Well, she's trouble, so off the shortlist she goes. No fault of Nobs, but if he knew how messed up she was she wouldn't be on the shortlist.
 
eaglejarl said:
He snagged the package without effort and opened it.

"What am I looking at?"

"Dossiers for my top three adoption candidates."
...
He flipped the package open and started skimming, then quickly realized that there was just too much material. He looked up at his brother.

"This is really thorough."
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eaglejarl said:
She's an orphan, so there's no family to act as either a pro or a con. Grew up in an orphanage but hasn't been back since she joined the Academy, so no ties there. No close relationships that I could find, so no one to hold her back from joining.
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eaglejarl said:
She had learned the lesson about accepting drinks from unknown men when she was nine. Granted, Mom's new boyfriend hadn't been exactly unknown, but the principle still applied.
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This combination of quotes confuses me. This dossier was supposed to be super in depth, Noburi spent a longtime trying to get information about her and had access to her official files - but no information of her mother's death while she was in the academy, or that a civilian drugged and raped a 9 year old academy student, and her official file had no notations about an unknown traumatic event which would have changed the behavior of a nine year old when her instructors are hyper vigilant ninjas? Plus nothing about whatever happened to Ichika - impliedly another attractive female ninja who was raped and died (whether on a mission, or from suicide, or from an aggressive clan ninja) whom she was close friends with?
 
Yeah not sure how to reconcile those either honestly, wasn't the academy kid in the chapter 7?

If the chain of events was ... bad things > kill mums boyfriend > orphanage > academy it'd make sense, but the ages involved make that not work
 
Twinnstars said:
If the chain of events was ... bad things > kill mums boyfriend > orphanage > academy it'd make sense, but the ages involved make that not work
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It could be started academy --> was drugged and raped --> her mother dies (an unknown period of time later) --> she enters the orphanage --> graduates as a ninja and leaves the orphanage 1-2 years later.

That doesn't explain the absence of information from her file or Noburi's investigation though.
 
eaglejarl said:
"So, first thing today, you've got back-to-back meetings with our three adoption candidates," Mari began, her voice so bright and chipper that a morning-grumbly Hazō just wanted to smack her. "After that you'll be making a pitch to Asuma about increasing the adoption limits. That's at four; he might unilaterally refuse you, in which case it's better if it's in private, or he might decide to schedule a Council meeting and put the idea to a vote. He's very unlikely to simply say 'yes', although I suppose it's not impossible.
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So this happened 7 hours ago in-universe; do we know what happened, @eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail?
 
eaglejarl said:
Aya blinked. How would Ichika have handled this situation? She'd never actually seen her old friend deal with children, but...well, when in doubt, stay in character. She'd already leaked enough information to the boy.
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Welp, she's completely messed up too. Pretending to be her probably dead friend in order to act like what she believes to be the perfect ninja? Yep, she's definitely had her fair share of trauma.


eaglejarl said:
"Uh-huh. Way easier than an axe. Faster, too. Kagome-sensei has these nifty ones that you can hold in your hand; those are the best for chopping wood, but he won't let us use them because he's afraid we'll blow our fingers off. Still, the regular ones work just fine."
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Kagome has gotten a LOT more trusting if he's okay with Leaf ninja knowing about his directed explosion seals.


eaglejarl said:
"Nothing for me," Aya said quickly. "It's very kind of you, though." She had learned the lesson about accepting drinks from unknown men when she was nine. Granted, Mom's new boyfriend hadn't been exactly unknown, but the principle still applied. "Feel free to have something yourself."
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🤢
Welp, that's certainly more than her fair share of trauma.


eaglejarl said:
Lord Gōketsu kept her waiting just long enough to establish dominance and then came jogging in from the direction of the city. Her heart sank when she saw him; younger than her but good-looking, with muscled arms and a chiseled jawline that reminded her too much of Fujimori. Worse, the way he moved and the callouses on his hands said that he was a hard-style taijutsu fighter. That usually meant aggressive and dominant.
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T. R. A. U. M. A.

eaglejarl said:
She nodded politely, forcing her shoulders not to tense as she followed him into the tent. The tent was large but still didn't have enough room to swing her whips at maximum extension when they tried to capture her. She'd need to choke up a lot, robbing her of range and force.

"Please, take a seat," he said, waving her to a camp chair in front of a beat-up wooden desk piled high with papers. He dropped into one on the other side and pulled a dossier towards himself. Carefully, she sank into the chair. It put her back to the door, which made her skin crawl. Her left hand tightened around the smooth metal of her chain whip's handle until her knuckles were white, but she forced herself to do as she'd been ordered.
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Well, this could just be from being a ninja.


eaglejarl said:
Wait, he was letting her go?

"Gosh, thank you, My Lord! That's so nice of you!"

She surged to her feet and jumped in the air, kicking her feet up and clapping her hands.

"Gōketsu is the best! Gōketsu is the best! Thank you, My Lord! Thank you!"

She bowed repeatedly as she backed out of the tent. As soon as the flap was closed she started for the gate of the Gōketsu estate at the fastest speed that would fit into Ichika's skin.
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Yeahhhhh, I don't think she's joining. Maybe if we have Akane talk to her we can convince her that we're only trying to exploit her in the normal way that clans do. :facepalm:
I don't think that Hazō or Noburi will have much success though.
 
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