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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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If we are going to relax, I'd suggest to make it a whole thing with all of the ninja and civilians on our property. Yes, that means we can't relax as much if its just family. But it lets us bond with nin and civilians. And they need the break too after what they've been through. Potential activities include the baseball like we did with Naruto. What do y'all think?
 
roobee said:
If we are going to relax, I'd suggest to make it a whole thing with all of the ninja and civilians on our property. Yes, that means we can't relax as much if its just family. But it lets us bond with nin and civilians. And they need the break too after what they've been through. Potential activities include the baseball like we did with Naruto. What do y'all think?
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That sounds like something to do the day after we relax with family. We should have at least one day to properly recuperate ourselves, but otherwise that sounds great.
 
Hey, everyone?

I'm going to get a little emotional for a moment, so please bear with me... or skip this post, if that's not really your thing. That's entirely fine, too. I just wanted to say that I am so very, very glad that I began reading MfD. This is a beautiful, wonderful story with skilled writers and a kind community. I know that I'm still really rather new, but I look forward to participating in this quest and interacting with my fellows within the hivemind through the coming year.

This time of year is... hard for my family. But you've made this month a little more bearable for us. In the past few weeks, I've often read this fic aloud and, otherwise, just kinda shared the happenings of the hivemind with my fiancée. You might not really be aware of it, but you've helped to bring light and laughter to a month that, for us, is usually without very many things to laugh about.

From me and mine, to you and yours: Thank you and may you have a very merry Christmas.
 
I've been ninja'd.
RandomOTP said:
Hey, everyone?

I'm going to get a little emotional for a moment, so please bear with me... or skip this post, if that's not really your thing. That's entirely fine, too. I just wanted to say that I am so very, very glad that I began reading MfD. This is a beautiful, wonderful story with skilled writers and a kind community. I know that I'm still really rather new, but I look forward to participating in this quest and interacting with my fellows within the hivemind through the coming year.

This time of year is... hard for my family. But you've made this month a little more bearable for us. In the past few weeks, I've often read this fic aloud and, otherwise, just kinda shared the happenings of the hivemind with my fiancée. You might not really be aware of it, but you've helped to bring light and laughter to a month that, for us, is usually without very many things to laugh about.

From me and mine, to you and yours: Thank you and may you have a very merry Christmas.
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Thank you. This really makes my day. For me, this Christmas is a bit of a mixed bag... I'm enjoying being with family and people have mostly been getting along, but it's also the first Christmas since my dad died, and that catches me every now and again. Knowing that something I co-created has helped someone else with their tough time makes this a lot better for me.
 
Y'all might wanna devote some words to actually convince uplift to relax. I have a feeling Keiko will be against it

It's interesting how Keiko is willing to work with Akatsuki but not Rock. Perhaps she loves the Nara more than Jiraiya?
 
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RandomOTP said:
Hey, everyone?

I'm going to get a little emotional for a moment, so please bear with me... or skip this post, if that's not really your thing. That's entirely fine, too. I just wanted to say that I am so very, very glad that I began reading MfD. This is a beautiful, wonderful story with skilled writers and a kind community. I know that I'm still really rather new, but I look forward to participating in this quest and interacting with my fellows within the hivemind through the coming year.

This time of year is... hard for my family. But you've made this month a little more bearable for us. In the past few weeks, I've often read this fic aloud and, otherwise, just kinda shared the happenings of the hivemind with my fiancée. You might not really be aware of it, but you've helped to bring light and laughter to a month that, for us, is usually without very many things to laugh about.

From me and mine, to you and yours: Thank you and may you have a very merry Christmas.
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That is really wonderful to hear, and thank you for sharing it. I suspect I will never quite get used for to it, but it means a lot for me to be able to point and say, "Look, I made a thing and it makes people happy, and enough of them say so that my self-esteem can't wriggle out of it".

That said, however, clearly I am doing something wrong as the Evil QM.

(Incidentally, my partner refuses point-blank to hear any information about MfD whatsoever.)
 
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Adhoc vote count started by Velorien on Dec 25, 2019 at 7:07 AM, finished with 139 posts and 18 votes.
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Ipsos Custodes said:
But...why?

Separate from perhaps not being a fan of the subject matter, it's a non-inconsequential part of your life and a thing that (we hope) makes you happy.
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Unlike myself, she knows compassion, and is horrified by what we regularly put the characters through. She feels strongly about being told things like, "Oh, by the way, there was an epic battle, and now [laundry list of characters you know from canon] are dead due to poor die rolls", or "And then Hana broke Mari's spirit and destroyed her redemption arc and plunged her into depression". Also, Keiko. Just Keiko.

As far as writing in general goes, though, she is entirely supportive, and remarkably patient for someone whose partner spends one day of the week forgetting meals etc., and not reacting when directly addressed.
 
Velorien said:
Unlike myself, she knows compassion, and is horrified by what we regularly put the characters through. She feels strongly about being told things like, "Oh, by the way, there was an epic battle, and now [laundry list of characters you know from canon] are dead due to poor die rolls", or "And then Hana broke Mari's spirit and destroyed her redemption arc and plunged her into depression". Also, Keiko. Just Keiko.

As far as writing in general goes, though, she is entirely supportive, and remarkably patient for someone whose partner spends one day of the week forgetting meals etc., and not reacting when directly addressed.
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I toyed with quoting various subsets of this post and replying with "Yet! Growth mindset!" , but couldn't quite decide which one was funniest. And so, I choose the cop-out solution!
 
Velorien said:
Unlike myself, she knows compassion, and is horrified by what we regularly put the characters through. She feels strongly about being told things like, "Oh, by the way, there was an epic battle, and now [laundry list of characters you know from canon] are dead due to poor die rolls", or "And then Hana broke Mari's spirit and destroyed her redemption arc and plunged her into depression". Also, Keiko. Just Keiko.

As far as writing in general goes, though, she is entirely supportive, and remarkably patient for someone whose partner spends one day of the week forgetting meals etc., and not reacting when directly addressed.
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Still a poopyhead. :p
 
Velorien said:
Unlike myself, she knows compassion, and is horrified by what we regularly put the characters through. She feels strongly about being told things like, "Oh, by the way, there was an epic battle, and now [laundry list of characters you know from canon] are dead due to poor die rolls", or "And then Hana broke Mari's spirit and destroyed her redemption arc and plunged her into depression". Also, Keiko. Just Keiko.
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But that's why she should become a fan; to help fix all these horrors.oneofusoneofus
 
Christmas Bonus Update: Snowflake
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    • Christmas Bonus Update: Snowflake​

    The cave was Ami's, insofar as a Mist jōnin could unilaterally stake a claim on a piece of Fire Country territory without starting a war (then again, it seemed to be working well enough for Rock). The privacy seals were Naruto's. The trap array was Kagome's, though with input from Ami due to "Mori stuff". The anxiety was communal property. From each according to their ability, to each according to how much they could contain.

    In attendance were the Gōketsu. The other three of the Keiko Four (he would get her to cough up the details, if only so that he could come up with a less stupid name). Naruto, just one (though he made sure there was room for others). Ami, in the lead, in combat gear he'd never seen her wear.

    And in front of them, Keiko. Most anxious of all. Most excited of all.

    "Reminder," Ami said in a clipped tone of voice. "As the onsite Mori and Keiko expert, I am Strike Leader. There will be no action taken without my express permission under any circumstances, excepting Naruto if he judges that there has been a dangerous ninjutsu malfunction. Is that understood?"

    This was the third time, and it was making Hazō increasingly apprehensive. What was Ami expecting to go so wrong that it might endanger Keiko further if they acted in haste? Did specifying a ninjutsu malfunction mean that Ami was expecting other threats to Keiko's health, which only she would be qualified to deal with? And above all, why the combat gear?

    Originally, the first KEI coordinator had said, with a perfectly straight face, that he didn't think Keiko's first time should be in front of so many people, and they should limit attendance to the other two (him to guide her through the process as necessary, and her sister to help her stay calm and to share the benefit of her own experience from the opposite perspective). With an equally serious look, the second coordinator objected that Keiko would regret not sharing such an important life-changing event with as many loved ones as possible, especially since some of them might well have to go through the same thing one day, and also that it would help Keiko for others to give her extra moral support during this unfamiliar and stressful experience, maybe even to cheer her on. The third coordinator promised that she would pay both of them back in full once she accumulated enough experience and enough girls.

    It was then that Hazō had finally understood why Ami had gone to such lengths to set up the KEI.

    But incurable tomfoolery aside, this really was a special day for Keiko. Shadow clones were perfect copies of the user, but they did not inherit Bloodline Limits. So if someone's Bloodline Limit came with permanent cognitive impairment, and it suddenly turned out that they could completely ignore that impairment just by having a shadow clone do the hard parts... If it worked, it could be the greatest miracle of Keiko's life that didn't involve Ami. (The fact that it did involve Ami was beside the point.)

    What exactly would happen, no one was sure. Scenarios ranged from the wildly optimistic (the experience would free Keiko not only of her cognitive impairment, but of her general Keikoness, and Keiko promised time-delayed vengeance for the phrasing) to the wildly pessimistic ("Mori stuff. Run. Kagome, collapse the cave on your way out."). In the end, however, all they could do was follow the motto that encapsulated the sealmaster's art: "Let's give it a try and see what happens. "

    "Are you ready, Keiko?" Ami asked in a voice filled with the tension of ninja wire cutting through bone.

    "No," Keiko said, lifting her hands to form the seals. "Shadow Clone Technique!"

    There was that unmistakable pop, and then there were two of his sister. It was curious how surreal the experience felt, given that he'd already seen Naruto throw clones out like they were badly-colour-coordinated candy. Also, his survival instinct was shifting uncomfortably in its lair.

    Shadow Keiko took a few steps from the original. She stood silently with her eyes closed. After some time, they snapped open.

    She turned towards the audience.

    "You've had this power since you were born?!" she screeched. Her hand swept across the air in their direction. "And this is all you are?! What is wrong with you people?!"

    "How is it?" The original Keiko asked in a trembling voice. "Is it safe to reintegrate?"

    "Not now, Kei," Shadow Keiko brushed her off. "I'm trying to concentrate."

    Kei?

    "Is it safe, Snowflake? I can always restore you after I have partaken in the initial experience."

    Snowflake?

    "What are you, a child?" Snowflake snapped. "Go sit in a corner and wait your turn."

    Naruto's eyes narrowed. Ami, oddly, relaxed a little.

    Keiko drew herself up to her full height, which did not accomplish much since it was exactly the same as Snowflake's.

    "That was uncalled for. I am your creator, and my interests take priority. Now, I will ask you one more time. Is it safe to reintegrate?"

    "I hardly think the fact that you have chosen to bring another creature like yourself into this world is cause for respect."

    Keiko blinked. "Fair."

    "Good," Snowflake said. "Now that you finally can, how about you get on with the much more interesting business of the day, namely facing yourself for the first time in your life?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "What I say, Kei. You've created a mirror image, and it knows everything you know, and it hates you as much as you hate yourself, and it can think in ways you can't. Maybe you didn't think this through.

    "Now, run from it or face it. Your call."

    Keiko hesitated, but, to Hazō's awe, only for a few seconds.

    "Challenge accepted."

    Next to Hazō, Tenten gave a proud smile.

    "Is it me, or does Snowflake talk differently to her?" Noburi whispered to him.

    "Good opening move, peanut gallery," Snowflake said even as Ami gave Noburi a frosty glare. "Have you wondered at any point what Keiko was like as an even less mature child? She was isolated, sure. That happens when you have sub-zero social skills, and theory of mind isn't your strong point, and your parents are already starting to wonder if they just hung an albatross around the neck of their golden child. But she didn't put up walls. She was genuine, and easy to hurt. In some ways, she was a lot like Akane."

    Theory of mind? Probably a Mori thing.

    "Quote unquote grown-up Keiko doesn't have any of that. To her, language is a barrier. Be convoluted. Be elaborate. Prove your superiority so that others are wary of you and don't attack. While they're trying to weave their way through the minefield of your sentences, you can be detached, intellectual, safe. But it's not just a barrier between you and the world, is it, Kei? The second you extended it to your own thoughts, the second you made it part of your identity, you killed that little girl who knew how to be open, and knew how to be hurt. Do you even remember her?"

    "Linguistic complexity does not equate to dishonesty," Keiko said tersely. "Everyone develops their own idiolect as they grow. It is not a sign of psychological deficiency."

    "Everyone does," Snowflake agreed. "So develop yours. Do you think you can dumb down and talk like an average person again? Do you think you can throw away the artificial speech and show everyone that fragile, cowering creature with nothing to hide behind but its underdeveloped social skills?"

    "I do not accept your initial premises," Keiko said.

    "I don't need to prove anything to you, Kei, just point out the obvious. On the note of dumbing down, anyone here wonder why this intelligent, allegedly expressive young woman decided to give her alter ego the kind of name she once wanted to give her pony?"

    Her what?

    "Because snowflakes are the beauty of nature divested of all its imperfections," Keiko said impatiently. "It is hardly noteworthy."

    "Right," Snowflake agreed. "And since you will never get over your own imperfections, instead you have already prepared names for beings you hope will be better than yourself. Snowflake. Prism. Constellation. Spiral. Moonlight. Scalpel. Crystal. Soar. Your fantasies even create names you're afraid to use out loud. Kitten. Whisper. Prayer. Kiss—"

    "You have made your point," Keiko said quickly. "I have an idiosyncratic and, in some cases, embarrassing naming sense. What of it?"

    "I was going to move on to the topic of imaginary friends," Snowflake said, "but now I think of it, your technique time is pretty limited, and you will never have the courage to have this talk a second time, so let's hurry on."

    Mari looked to Ami meaningfully, but Ami shook her head.

    "The reason you hope against hope that your creations will surpass you is that you long for anyone who is like you, but better. You never told Hazō that he was a path not taken."

    Hazō took a sharp breath in. Behind him, so did Noburi.

    "Intelligent. Charmingly awkward. A brilliant planner, given time. Above all, someone who understood that people were irrational, and didn't listen, and took offence when you were merely trying to do the right thing, but you had to deal with them anyway. Someone who understood that in order to find an approach that worked, sometimes you had to come up with methods optimised for your mind alone, and be unable to share them with anyone else without provoking incomprehension or amusement. That you had to try to understand those around you, against impossible odds, because they would not try to understand you. And brave, so brave. You, who were afraid to touch even your own heart… how could you conceive of changing a whole world full of pain and cruelty?

    "Imagine, Kei, if you'd gone down a different route."

    Hazō looked at her.

    Intelligent. Charmingly awkward. A brilliant planner, given time. Above all, someone who understood that people were irrational, and didn't listen, and took offence when you were merely trying to do the right thing, but you had to deal with them anyway. Someone who understood that in order to find an approach that worked, sometimes you had to come up with methods optimised for your mind alone, and be unable to share them with anyone else without provoking incomprehension or amusement. That you had to try to understand those around you, against impossible odds, because they would not try to understand you. And brave? Drowning in a darkness deeper than anything he'd felt in his lowest moments, she had come down to them every morning for breakfast, and offered nothing more than her standard dose of snark.

    They'd grown in completely different directions. They were family now, but that intellectual connection? He couldn't judge how much of it they'd lost. He could barely remember it in contrast to what they had today.

    It probably wouldn't have mattered. He doubted the Keiko of old would have been capable of healthy romance. And he was, in the end, the kind of man who'd ended up with Akane. Still, that she'd had the thought…

    "Enough!" Keiko growled. "I fail to see how such counterfactuals are relevant to anything."

    "You know he would have rejected you anyway," Snowflake said lightly. "But it's all relevant to the bigger picture. You were aglow at your meeting of minds with Shikamaru, another man who is like you but better. You still are. But you cannot make yourself fall in love with him, this husband who should be everything you wanted, and you hate yourself for it. Instead, you fell in love with Tenten, a girl who has nothing in common with you except social incompetence and a predilection for pointy things. Every morning you wake up afraid that she has noticed and fallen out of love with you, or that your heart has noticed and fallen out of love with her."

    He could see Tenten's eyes growing wet with compassion. She shook her head repeatedly. Ami held out an arm, reminding.

    "You are exaggerating," Keiko said with weakness in her voice. "Distorting. Outright fabricating. Even my dubious psyche is not so broken."

    "Broken?" Snowflake asked. "It was never whole. You have never allowed yourself to even think of what you would have been without her salvation. I'm not going to touch on her further because some things are holy, except to mention that addiction is disgusting and you know it, and the only thing that keeps that shame at bay is the knowledge that she deserves to be addicted to."

    Ami didn't react. At all. Even her breathing didn't change.

    "As for the broken psyche, well, you've already thought of workarounds. The Shadow Clone Technique might be the solution to your problems after all."

    "Do not listen to her," Keiko begged. "Please. I merely considered it as a hypothetical. It might not even be possible."

    "It's about divergence," Snowflake said, throwing Keiko a contemptuous glance. "Clones experience things in parallel with their creator. You do Thing X while they're doing Thing Y. But that tiny gap in perspective—slightly different observations, slightly different lessons learned—gets amplified when the clone is dispelled and hours of divergence hit the creator's identity in a single second.

    "It shouldn't matter. How much difference can such microscopic deviations make against a lifetime of experience? Besides, the divergences might change you in a hundred different directions. Most will probably just cancel out. Granted, Leaf jōnin use shadow clones for training all the time and they're, well, Leaf jōnin, but coincidences happen.

    "What's interesting is this: suppose you diverge in the same direction every time, and you do it many times. Suppose you get hit with the same type of personality shift over and over and over again.

    "If you do it often enough? Why, you could end up overwriting the original personality altogether."

    All gazes turned towards Naruto, whose face was made of stone.

    "You being you, Kei, the Shadow Clone Technique caught your attention through its limitations. You instantly perceived the first, but oh, how beautiful, how elegant the second. After all, you needed a backup plan. What if the Frozen Skein was suppressed, only for you to learn that your weakness of will had nothing to do with your bloodline? What if you weren't saved?"

    All gazes swivelled back to Keiko.

    "I promise," she whispered. "I never intended to use it. I only imagined."

    "Of course," Snowflake said, "you don't necessarily have to go to extremes. Be subtle about it; focus on the parts that matter most, and nobody might even notice. After all, people change all the time. And if the change is gradual enough, who is to say the end result wouldn't still count as Nara Keiko?"

    "Please... It was only an idea..."

    "Sadly, time presses on," Snowflake said. "Before long, one of your loved ones won't be able to stand watching your self-revelation any longer, and take the risk and forcibly dispel me.

    "The truth hurts, Kei. Lots of truth at once hurts a lot. But you're both too proud and too ashamed to run from it in front of everyone whose respect matters.

    "You'd rather die than lose them. They love you, and it's incredible, like nothing you had ever dared hope for—until you realise that you can never live up to their expectations. You are loved now. Why aren't you happy? Why aren't you healing? They're giving you everything they can, everything you need. How twisted are you, how ungrateful, to keep being a drain on them anyway? They'll realise eventually, and give up on the endless, exhausting struggle to fix you. Or maybe they won't, and you'll forever be a parasite on those you love. You should have stayed hollow and alone, Kei, and left their finite time and kindness for somebody they could actually help."

    Keiko fell to her knees. Hazō could hear her sobbing quietly.

    And still, and still, Ami was holding them back.

    "Can you feel it, Kei?" Snowflake asked in a lower voice. "The simple pain of being yourself? It never ends, and every time one part of it goes to sleep, another wakes up. All you've done today is awakened some of the bigger monsters. But don't worry. They'll fall asleep as well… for a while. Your inner Swamp of Death isn't going anywhere.

    "Any time you reach outside for happiness, whether it's the warm, comfortable happiness of the Gōketsu, the intensity of Tenten, or the bond of equals with Shikamaru, or even any time you bask in Ami's radiance, you will pull back. You'll tell yourself that you don't deserve them, or that you don't want to drag them down with you, or that you're only setting yourself up for a fall. Those are lies. The truth is that if you ever step into the sunlight, you will disappear. You will melt away, like a snowflake when winter finally turns to spring. Kei cannot be happy. Something that is happy is no longer Kei. Just some girl with memories of what you once were."

    "Ami, please," whispered one of the onlookers, and Hazō had no idea who. It might have been himself.

    "Not yet," Ami said under her breath.

    "Please..."

    "Not yet."

    They stood there, helplessly. Keiko was on her hands and knees. Snowflake loomed over her, waiting.

    "Yes," came a whisper so faint it could only be heard because of the acoustics of the cave.

    Strangely, Snowflake frowned.

    "Yes, I dare not step into the sunlight.

    "Yes, something that is happy is no longer me.

    "But my pain is also something I have chosen."

    Snowflake took an uncertain step back.

    Keiko lifted her head.

    "Every day, I have thought about taking my own life. Every day, there has been something that made me aware—sometimes briefly, sometimes not; sometimes mildly, sometimes not—of some way in which my non-existence would be a boon either to myself or to the world. Even at the end of happier days, because there could only be a dark tomorrow.

    "I have researched the matter extensively. I know my options. Every day, I have not exercised any of them."

    "What are you trying to prove?" Snowflake demanded.

    "I have no need to prove anything," Keiko said, her voice weary but audible. "I am merely stating the obvious. No matter how impossibly broken I am inside, no matter how many lies I tell myself, no matter what I deserve or why… this one thing is mine."

    Slowly, painstakingly, she leveraged herself to her feet.

    "Every day, I have chosen not to take my own life. Every day, I will choose not take my own life. And somewhere in the future that I protect from myself, I will find a snowflake that does not melt in the sun."

    Hazō felt like applauding, but for the knowledge that Ami would murder him, with jōnin reflexes, before his hands ever came together.

    Snowflake sighed.

    "You tried real hard to break yourself there, Kei. I knew you had a masochistic streak, but wow. Maybe you should have another word with Tenten about those chains."

    Two faces flared instant, burning crimson.

    "Parting blow."

    Snowflake stepped back. She spoke almost gently. "But Kei, if you refuse to take your own life, then what will you do when you outlive Ami and discover you're not strong enough to exist in a world with no sun at all?"

    Then she smirked remorselessly.

    "Actual parting blow."

    Her eyes snapped fully onto Keiko's, without a hint of amusement.

    "Come see me anytime. Your inner demons will be waiting."

    Snowflake turned to the audience. "I hope watching Keiko tear herself apart has been as fun for you as it has for me. Don't worry, once all this sinks in, including the fact that you heard everything, she'll do the rest on her own."

    With two fingers, she pointed from Keiko's eyes to theirs. "Be seeing you."

    At long last, there was a puff of smoke.

    After an instant's disorientation, Keiko's eyes widened, then refocused. She looked at Hazō and the others.

    "There really is something wrong with you people…" she said distantly, and then collapsed, unconscious, into Ami's arms.
     
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    • Wait, is this canon? I'm genuinely scared that this is canon.

    Edit: OH JASHIN IT'S REAL HER CHARACTER SHEET HAS SHADOW CLONE 10 AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
     
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