- Location
- uk
I was stuck here:
Just couldn't turn in air fast enough - still no idea how I made it through, I think I died there a hundred times.
Everything since then was reasonable, now in Golden Ridge.
Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
-
- Tags
- naruto rationalist romance armageddon is looking better and better damn you kishimoto explosions everywhere explosives solve everyone if in doubt surrender to the mercy of zabuza it seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a really bad case of being a jōnin my god. where does the lore end? precommitting is the winning plan screaming in kagome screw the rules i have explosives something bad might still happen sometimes you gotta sociopath stabby zabby subsection c of paragraph 9 should include we can weaponize this so hard
Just couldn't turn in air fast enough - still no idea how I made it through, I think I died there a hundred times.
Everything since then was reasonable, now in Golden Ridge.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I was stuck here:
Just couldn't turn in air fast enough - still no idea how I made it through, I think I died there a hundred times.
Everything since then was reasonable, now in Golden Ridge.
For some reason, this was the kind of thing running through my head the entire chapter:
Pros: Open late hours
Convenient location
Free strawberries
Cons: Murdered 300 times by furnishings
Manager turns into a giant killer ghost head in response to criticism
No WiFi
Verdict: 4/10. Would not stay again.
Convenient location
Free strawberries
Cons: Murdered 300 times by furnishings
Manager turns into a giant killer ghost head in response to criticism
No WiFi
Verdict: 4/10. Would not stay again.
- Location
- Seattle
As someone who spent nearly a calendar year playing Celeste on and off until I 100% it (well, until the DLC, which I think only like 18 people technically have 100% on), this discussion is making my weekend. Chapter 3 is generally considered the first sharp difficulty spike, so you're on your way! I also credit it with a lot of personal emotional growth and wish I was as successful as Evenstar has been at getting people to play it.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I imagine context matters. What's the point of a rational community if not trying to grow past our cognitive limitations?
- Location
- USA
If only you could see us now, Jiraiya. Money isn't a problem, and somehow politics and the Seventh Path still weigh heavy on our minds.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
We're coming for you, old man!!
e: And on that note, I am sufficiently tired to come up with interesting thoughts.
Notably: Consider for a moment that Jiraiya spent 40-odd years boning anyone who caught his eye. Assuming he did so 3 times a day on average (many days doing so more, mission days where he didn't at all, etc.), that means 365 * 3 * 40 = 43800 Boning Incidents, or BI for short.
If Ninjapersons are no more or less virile than IRLpersons, then it takes an average of 78 BI to result in a pregnancy, meaning that there are 561 little Jiraiyalings running around Fire and surrounding nations.
Other than leaving you guys with mildly uncomfortable thoughts, I bring this up because, as Jiraiya's children, any ninja that resulted of such a union -- for which we are woefully lacking in statistics -- would be part of the Goketsu clan. (Of course, Hazou would likely adopt them all.)
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- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
HDK, but the law may well be against you. The only precedent for a new clan appearing post-Leaf foundation that Hazō knows is the Minami, and the Hyuuga would absolutely have ruled at that point that blood relations with a clan do not mean automatic membership of it.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
True, though being the direct child of the first clan head seems a little more arguable.
e: Also, consider how entertaining it would be having Hazou deal with a bunch of 2-8 year olds.
e2: Oh, also, forcing Mari to have her second chance whether she wants it or not.
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- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"And then Great-uncle Kagome decided to teach all our parents sealing. And that's why we have to live on the Asura Path now that all the others are gone."
"Hana was right about everything. At 25, I already have 561 children.
"On the plus side, I am also the mother of half of Leaf's future military potential. Once Ami and I have signed a formal alliance, this village will belong to the Mistborn."
Emstar
The Shining One
- Location
- Trapped in an extradimensional rift.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Its probably more like 20-40ish, depending on various factors such as LoBI (Location of Boning Incidents- pronounced 'lobby'), DCEBI (Double Counting of Effective Boning Incidents) and TotJGTFIGI (Time of the Jokes Gone Too Far I Get It).
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I guarantee you that Jiraiya did not start boning at 10 years old. Also, speakng as a person with male biology, I assure you that he did not bone 3x/day for all the time that he was boning. Also, what everyone else said.
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Tua
鸡肉面条汤
- Location
- شوربة الدجاج المعكرونة
This is why Shadow Clones were invented in the perviest of all Villages: Leaf.
- Location
- Why would this be required?
No one seems to be taking into account the fact Jiraiya being 50 means that there's a veey good chance a lot of these theoretical children would be older than Hazo, maybe even older than Mari. Considering you're pretty much an adult when you get your headband, Leaf has a red light district, and Jiraiya is pervy as hell...You get my point.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
In other words, many, if not all, of Jiraiya's children are currently KEI ninja. Wonderful.
- Location
- Yes.
So what you're saying is that the Tower's been stiffing us.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I was going to ask what else was new, but then decided that the Tower has since more than paid for its sins.
- Location
- Europe
To be fair, we started/supported war for less money. So the Tower better pays us back.
Chapter 314: The Will of Fire Unleashed
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Later, while Keiko is presumably still gazing at the floor, but nobody is going to go check because they promised they'd give her space, and in any case the best thing they can do is have a fun, relaxed, and distracting environment ready for her if she comes...
You, loop left. I'll go over the top.
Understood.
Three. Two. On—
Hazō felt a powerful impact on his back, collapsing forward into the snow. Naruto, looking over the wall on top of him, happily buried him in another half-tonne of it before ducking to safety. Behind Hazō, Ami gave a childlike giggle and ducked behind a tree.
The rules were simple. No ninja powers, including snow walking. Three teams with flags to capture, and starting time to build snow forts. Two roving teams, ignoring flags, and gaining and losing points by successfully striking any other ninja with a snowball. Kagome, watching from a hill as the referee, and periodically shaking his head and making disapproving comments. Fifi, at his feet, gnawing on a frozen chakra wolf.
The competitors:
Team Shadow (Hazō/Shikamaru/Shiori), with the third player being balanced out by the fact that Shikamaru was a sitting duck for the roving teams. Their flag was a Gōketsu symbol intertwined with dancing shadows (Shiori could draw).
Team Naruto (two total; no powers meant he couldn't replace the clone if he lost it). His flag was a stick figure being hit in the face by a rain of pork cutlets (Naruto couldn't draw, but that didn't stop him trying).
Team Sanity (Noburi/Akane). Their flag was a simple smiley face.
Team Insanity (Ami). She'd agreed to be a chūnin for the purposes of the game. Her crest (of course she wanted one) was a cryptic ^_^
Finally, Team Tenten, with steely-eyed focus, as if to make up the lack of Keiko on her team with sheer determination. Her crest was two hands holding kunai, blades crossed.
Rank in ascending order:
I Need No Enemy
Pathetic
Poor
Decent
Great
Badass
Off the Charts
Shadow (average): Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Pathetic
Naruto (average): Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Pathetic
Sanity (average): Ranged Weapons = 2 - 3 = -1 I Need No Enemy
Insanity (reduced): Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Great (+9 roll)
Tenten: Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Badass
Shadow (average): Athletics = ? + ? = Poor
Naruto (average): Athletics = ? + ? = Off the Charts
Sanity (average): Athletics = 38 + 0 = 38 Great
Insanity (reduced) Athletics: = ? + ? = Decent (-12 roll)
Tenten: Athletics = ? + ? = ? (Great)
Ranged Weapons: Insanity -> Tenten -> Naruto -> Shadow -> Sanity Athletics: Naruto -> Tenten -> Sanity ->Insanity -> Shadow
Averages from the above: 1st: Tenten (3) 2nd: Naruto (4) 3rd: Insanity (5) 4th: Sanity (8) 5th: Shadow (9)
I Need No Enemy
Pathetic
Poor
Decent
Great
Badass
Off the Charts
Shadow (average): Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Pathetic
Naruto (average): Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Pathetic
Sanity (average): Ranged Weapons = 2 - 3 = -1 I Need No Enemy
Insanity (reduced): Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Great (+9 roll)
Tenten: Ranged Weapons = ? + ? = Badass
Shadow (average): Athletics = ? + ? = Poor
Naruto (average): Athletics = ? + ? = Off the Charts
Sanity (average): Athletics = 38 + 0 = 38 Great
Insanity (reduced) Athletics: = ? + ? = Decent (-12 roll)
Tenten: Athletics = ? + ? = ? (Great)
Ranged Weapons: Insanity -> Tenten -> Naruto -> Shadow -> Sanity Athletics: Naruto -> Tenten -> Sanity ->Insanity -> Shadow
Averages from the above: 1st: Tenten (3) 2nd: Naruto (4) 3rd: Insanity (5) 4th: Sanity (8) 5th: Shadow (9)
A dizzying labyrinth of paths. An illusion of total freedom, criss-crossed by lines of total failure. An explosion of powder behind her. Ami. Deity. Ally. Challenger. Prey. How can they look into those eyes and not see what she is?
Another explosion. Focus. She deserves nothing less than perfection. That moment of disjunction, the body imperfectly aligned. Seize that one moment without hesitation, because there can be only one. Ready. Aim.
o-o-o-o
Ami faceplanted into the snow, Tenten's snowball sailing well over her head.
"I meant to do that!"
Tenten stared at her blankly for a second before unloading the full remainder of her arsenal.
o-o-o-o
"Hey, hey! I give! I already said I was done!"
Akane laughed and sent another barrage of snowballs at Noburi. The barrel-wearer tried to duck aside but the kite in his hands interfered with his balance and prevented him from moving fast enough; he ended up taking a trio of loose-packed snowballs to the face and one more to the chest...which tore through his kite on the way. He looked down at the injured flier, then looked up at Akane. His eyes narrowed.
Akane had felt instant remorse when she damaged the elegant red-and-blue, dragon-painted kite. That remorse changed to nervousness at Noburi's expression of annoyance...translating into dark glee.
"Noburi?"
He sniffed and turned away, marching back towards the house. Akane watched him go.
He made it five steps and then suddenly whipped around. Her eyes went wide as she saw his hands forming a Bird seal.
"Water Element: Water Dragon Bullet!" he cried. Chakra-construct water coalesced out of thin air, leaping towards her even as it formed itself into a roaring dragon, jaws agape.
Ambush round!
Noburi, Water Dragon Bullet: 30 + 4 (AB; part of the jutsu) + 4 (tag "Akane is Flat Footed!") + 6 (dice): 44
Akane, Athletics: 40 -1 (Pangolin Conditioning Jutsu) + 0 (dice): 39
Noburi, Water Dragon Bullet: 30 + 4 (AB; part of the jutsu) + 4 (tag "Akane is Flat Footed!") + 6 (dice): 44
Akane, Athletics: 40 -1 (Pangolin Conditioning Jutsu) + 0 (dice): 39
She dove aside, but the dragon was faster. It swept her up in its massive jaws and suddenly she was drowning. She thrashed and fought, trying desperately to swim out of the dragon's body, but inner currents tumbled her around, disorienting her and keeping her trapped. Vertigo tore at her inner ear as the dragon swooped and swirled in the air, swinging down to skim the ground and scoop up a literal half ton of snow that rendered the water freezing cold and threshed at her with tiny shards of ice. The 'strikes' were more distracting than dangerous, but it only contributed to the confusion. The pain of the dragon's jaws champing on her ankles and its gullet crushing down on her from all directions...that would have been serious had not her Pangolin Conditioning Jutsu shielded her. As it was, she felt the protective technique shatter.
Suddenly the ride was over as the dragon rose up a dozen feet, then spun around and angled head-first into a massive snowbank. She bounced and rolled, bleeding momentum by tumbling in complete disarray. She tried to roll up to hands and knees but it took several seconds for her to get there because the world kept tilting out from under her.
The ignominy was finalized when a thrown snowball smacked her in the shoulder.
"You're out!" Noburi cackled.
o-o-o-o
Hazō lounged on a comfortable tree branch (well, comfortable after the snow had been swept off) and watched Noburi running atop the snow of the meadow, the string of his newly-patched kite taut behind him as the painted dragon danced its way into the sky. The snowball fight continued unabated around him, but everyone was careful to leave him out of it for fear of more draconically-expressed vengeance.
The kite reached a satisfactory height and Noburi stopped running, playing the string back and forth to make the kite spin and turn.
Kites were amazing, when you thought about it. Imagine being able to capture a wind spirit without needing to use jutsu or any form of chakra manipulation!
Well, it was less 'capture' and more...play games with? Bargain with? You made an offering of a kite, the wind spirit was willing to move it for you in entertaining ways. It would even respond to your suggestions as transmitted through the string, as long as you weren't too demanding. Something like dangling a bit of yarn for a kitten, except with fewer claws involved.
It looked like fun, honestly.
Hazō didn't have a kite to hand but he was a Kagome-trained sealmaster, so he had paper. He pulled a sheet of it out of a storage seal and stuck it to his finger with a bit of chakra adhesion. He didn't have a string handy, or a rigid kite frame to wrap the paper around, but maybe the spirits would accept an offering without the proper forms if he was polite?
"Spirits of air, please accept this instead of a proper kite," he murmured, swinging his hand along as though running. The paper billowed out behind his fingers, but the lack of rigid frame kept it from being accepted; when he stopped moving it fluttered to a halt.
Huh. Maybe the spirits didn't like having to be so close to a person?
"Soar like my brother's kite," he said quietly, releasing his chakra and allowing the paper to drop. It squiggled down through the air, the spirits tumbling it and spinning it but refusing to lift it up.
Hrmph.
Why did it have to be specifically a kite? What was so important about the string, or the wooden frame, or the running? It wasn't the shape that mattered; there were triangular kites and roughly-semi-circular kites and diamond-shaped kites. The presence or absence of tails didn't matter either, nor the number of strings beyond one.
Actually, the frame made sense. The spirits needed something to push against, and if the paper simply flopped around then they couldn't get a good grip. Still, did it have to be a wooden frame? Would metal work? Or what if the paper was simply rigid on its own?
He took another sheet and folded it into tightly-creased fourths, then flicked it out from the branch, spinning it like a shuriken. It flew mostly straight, but the spirits again refused to lift it up.
Hrmph.
Now feeling determined, he pulled out more paper, once again folding it and creasing it to be relatively rigid. From a different storage scroll, one of the ones he used for official correspondence, he dug out a leather bundle with his sealing wax, his official Gōketsu chop, and a small wooden box containing a burning ember. He took the rawhide strip that had been tying the package shut, used the ember to melt some wax onto the paper, and stuck the end of the strip in it. Now he had something much like a kite...it was smaller than his palm, lacked a wooden frame, and used rawhide instead of twine, but it was still kite-like.
He blew on the wax until it hardened, then pulled the rawhide sideways, expecting his miniature kite to soar.
The rawhide came loose and the paper, no longer sufficiently kite-like to please the spirits, fluttered to the ground beneath him.
Hrmph.
Irritated, he sealed everything away again and went back to watching Noburi.
How strong were wind spirits, anyway? Noburi's kite was relatively small, but Hazō had seen larger. The larger ones had flown just as well, so clearly the spirits weren't too small. Certainly they were strong enough to thrash large trees around when they got angry.
Huh. The spirits weren't just lifting the kite, they were also lifting the string, and some kites used a lot of string. Could the spirits hold the kite strongly enough to keep the line taut while a ninja climbed up it? No, twine wouldn't do it; you'd need heavy rope. Based on Hazō's experiment with the rawhide, that might require a larger kite.
Huh again. If Noburi had a large enough kite with a strong enough string and he held to the string tightly enough, would the wind spirits bear him aloft? If so, would he still be able to suggest a direction to them? It would allow for actual flight, without need of skywalkers. Given the current shortage of the seals, that would be a major boon for Leaf.
For that matter, the spirits were willing to support Hazō's clumsy paper shuriken for some distance, even if they wouldn't lift it up. They prefered instead to let it slide down to the earth from whence its elements derived—slide, not plummet. Suppose you used a massive kite to lift yourself into the air, then rode a similarly-massive paper shuriken sideways? It would save even more on the need for skywalkers, and shuriken could be thrown faster than ninja could sprint, so it might actually let you travel faster than you could on skywalkers.
He dropped from the tree and jogged towards where Kagome-sensei crouched in a grumpy-vulture referee position. Hazō needed to talk to his teacher about these...'skysliders'.
o-o-o-o
The following morning, at oh-demons-it's-early o'clock...
"Welcome."
The Seventh Hokage's voice, typically warm and relaxed, was grave and full of portent. The air seemed to hum with traces of heat, the aura of the man's will nearly visible around them. It was the taste of a bonfire blazing, holding back the cold barely-post-dawn darkness but also hinting at the possibility of massive destruction.
The Hokage paused, allowing the single word of greeting to resonate in the air as he surveyed the crowd filling half the arena beneath him: The Clan Heads from every one of Leaf's clans, major and minor. Advisors to the Clan Heads, plus any family members who had chosen to come. (All of the Gōketsu had.) The KEI Triumvirate: Keiko, a Naruto, and the foreigner Mori Ami. A score of masked ANBU, and probably more without their masks. Scores of other ninja, some of whom Hazō recognized as jōnin or senior chūnin and over a dozen of whom he recognized as Naruto. They all crowded into the half of the previous-year Chūnin Exams arena closest to the Kage Box in which their leader stood. They had been there since just after dawn, summoned by orders delivered the previous day.
"In recent months, Leaf has weathered blow after blow. The death of my father, God of Shinobi. The death of his student, Jiraiya of the Legendary Three. The death of Hyūga Hiashi, greatest wielder of the legendary Byakugan. The loss of life at the Battle of Nagi Island. More losses in the Collapse.
"Despite all these, Leaf has never faltered, never broken. We stand united, the Will of Fire sustaining us in the face of the worst that the world can offer. Time after time, we have demonstrated our unity and our strength; we elected new leaders with no strife. We mourned our dead while still caring for our living. We kept our commitment to trade when it would have been easy to pull back, to huddle in on ourselves with suspicion and hate for the outside world.
"The rebuilding is now largely complete. Our citizens are once again housed, our dead have been burned or buried, the rituals of mourning and remembrance have been performed, and the time comes to look to the future. That future is a chaotic and unpredictable place, the world destabilized by the Battle. All the Kage, save only Kurosawa of Mist: dead. Most of the jōnin from the Leaf and Sand and Mist: dead. Our enemies have gained in proportion to our loss: Rock and Cloud suffered little, and a missing jinchūriki was returned to the fold in Mist." He paused, his eyes fixing momentarily on Mori Ami. He smiled. "Granted, that last point may be a boon, since the wise Jiraiya was strong enough to bring them to the negotiation table and forge an alliance with them. They are of course known for their trustworthiness."
A brief chuckle went through the crowd; Ami's face showed no reaction.
"Leaf stands in peril from this instability, yet my father was wont to say that instability is another word for opportunity. The truth of this can be seen over and over through our history.
"Seven decades ago, the Warring Clans Era was chaos and destruction. Leaf's founding brought order to the chaos, ushered in a new era, and forced all other ninja to follow our model or be destroyed.
"Three decades ago, the Second Shinobi World War was once more chaos and destruction. Leaf's power surged when the Sannin each captured a Summoning scroll and used those scrolls, and their own power, to kill the jinchūriki of the Two- and Seven-Tails. This changed the military and political structure of the world for a generation and and set Leaf's star ascendant.
"Two decades ago, our power grew yet again when the Third forged diplomatic ties with Sand, River, Grass, and other minor nations.
"Half a year ago, we towered over the world when we became the only nation capable of making skywalker seals."
The Hokage's voice had grown steadily louder and more intense with each point and the crowd had followed along until they were moments from cheering. He stopped speaking and waited, staring impassively down, as the excitement slowly faded and was replaced with uncertainty.
"Time marches on and all advantages fade. Leaf cannot afford to rest on its laurels; we must move constantly forward. Cloud is making overtures to Waterfall, which could perhaps bring the Seven-Tails back to enmity with us. The jinchūriki of the One-, Two-, and Three-Tailed Beasts were slain at Nagi Island; the beasts dispersed, but if history is any guide then they will reform soon enough and promptly be sealed into new jinchūriki, thereby making the nations of those jinchūriki far more powerful. Furthermore, we can presume that all of the other major nations are now capable of making skywalkers. Likewise, much of the diplomatic work of decades past has been undone, and Leaf must forge alliances and treaties anew.
"Forging alliances is the work of years and not entirely within our control, as it relies on the other nation to adhere to the Will of Fire enough to deliver on their bargains. One concern that is within our control is that three of our summoning contracts—Dog, Turtle, and Toad—currently lie fallow, waiting for bearers who will raise them up as banners leading the way to Leaf's future. Toad and Turtle have bearers in training; if they successfully pass their tests then the power of those contracts will once again be in our service...yet no claimants have been found for Dog."
He paused, allowing the silence to weigh heavy as he surveyed the crowd of ninja spread out below him. Hazō could feel the uncertainty and disquiet throughout the crowd. In truth, he felt it within his own heart.
"The greatest lesson that my father ever taught me was to believe in the people of Leaf," the Hokage continued. "To believe in their courage, their honor, their creativity, and their wisdom. Today, I take that lesson to heart. Today, I call on each of you to embody the Will of Fire by bending your efforts towards the power and security of Leaf.
"For the next two months, any Leaf ninja may present their efforts for consideration. Novel seals, jutsu, trade contracts, long-term resources such as mines, new technologies...anything that will present large and ongoing benefits for Leaf as a whole may be offered. All contributions will be gratefully accepted, turned to the benefit of the nation, and their providers honored. At the end of those two months, I shall weigh the contributions and hold court here to announce the results. The five ninja making the greatest contributions shall be allowed to choose, in order, from a pool of the following prizes:
"The first option: Ten thousand acres of high-quality land, complete with tenants to provide tax income."
A wave of murmured surprise went through the crowd and everyone perked up. If this was the first of the prizes, and therefore presumably the least, what must the others be like?!
"The second option: Repayment of all debts previously incurred by yourself and your immediate family, forgiveness of all taxes for you and your immediate family for the rest of your natural life, and an income of ten million ryō per year for the rest of your natural life, contingent only on remaining a Leaf citizen in good standing.
"Third option: Six months of full-time training under Master Instructor Ebisu, plus the ten jutsu he feels will best serve you."
Once more, excited murmurs went through the crowd. Once again, the Hokage gave them a moment and then gestured for silence.
"Fourth option: The winner's clan shall be granted a seat on the Clan Council and permanently allowed to adopt five ninja per year instead of two. If the winner is not a clan ninja, a clan shall be formed with them and up to ten other ninja as the founding members.
"The fifth and final option: The Summoning scroll of the Dog Clan and the training to use it. If for any reason you are unable to make use of the scroll then you will instead receive fifty million ryō, forgiveness of all taxes for the rest of your natural life, and a duplicate of one of the other prizes."
The crowd was abuzz with gasps, murmurs, and excited chatter. The Hokage allowed it to continue for half a minute, then raised his hands for silence; it was instantly granted.
"I am certain you will have questions about the details of this competition." His young face broke into a grin that was purely that of Asuma and not of the demigod Hokage. "We all know that there are always details and provisos, rules and restrictions, fine print and finagling. Rest assured, they won't be onerous." He became serious again and gestured to the two ninja on either side of him. "The staff at Command Central is prepared to answer your questions. If they are unable to answer, they will bring you to my deputies, Sarutobi Yōta and Sarutobi Rin. If they too are unable to answer, they will bring you to me."
Hazō found himself wondering if the partially-built Command Central actually contained enough staff to answer the deluge of questions that would undoubtedly come flooding through the doors in the next few days.
XP AWARD: 4
Brevity XP: 1
This update covered one day. It is now about 7am.
Vote time! What to do now?
Voting ends on Wednesday, January 1, 2019, at 12pm London time.
Author's Notes: First of all, a big thank you to @Velorien for writing the snowball fight.
Second, feel free to post questions about the contest and we'll assume that you ask them of the relevant people. Here are some basics:
- All decisions are ultimately up to Asuma and not subject to debate. Pestering him with 'will this work' or 'is this allowed' or 'would you consider this valuable' is just going to annoy him; you can ask his staff for clarification on rules but you need to submit things without asking whether or not they meet the requirements. The winners will be announced but there will be no explanation of how the judging was accomplished or why an individual person didn't win. (Basically, Asuma is looking to get advantages for Leaf and is willing to pay through the nose to get them, but doesn't want to be nagged at by sore losers or made to litigate his decisions.)
- Rules-lawyering will be looked on with disfavor. The point here is to incentivize everyone to show the Will of Fire by working together in advancing the interests of Leaf as a whole. Cheating, selfishness, etc, go against the Will of Fire.
- Asuma is well known for being an ardent follower of the Will of Fire; both Keiko and Shikamaru expect that he will play fair. That means they expect that he will judge contributions on their merits, not screw people on the details, etc.
- Contributions must be something of ongoing, non-contingent value. Apply 'reasonable-person' standards to what qualifies as 'ongoing' and 'non-contingent'. Some examples of things that are/are not valid as contributions:
- Valid: A jutsu that can be taught to other Leaf ninja.
- Valid: A new, more efficient way of making something important such as kunai.
- Not valid: A payment of 100 million ryō. It is a one-time thing and therefore lacks ongoing value.
- Not valid: A promise to make 100 seals per month. It has ongoing value but is contingent on you being willing and able to keep your promise.
- Each prize can only be picked once.
- All items turned in by a single individual are considered part of that person's contribution. That means that one person can only win one prize, regardless of whether they turn in one jutsu, ten jutsu, or a gold mine AND a new technology AND a trade contact with a lost tribe from outside the Elemental Nations, etc.
- Where relevant, all parts of an item must be turned in. That means you can't hand over a 99-year lease on a silver mine, you need to hand over ownership. You can't hand over a bunch of infused seals, you need to hand over full research notes and agree to help other people learn it. etc
- All contributions must be useful. "There is a deposit of chakra metal under the Tsuchikage's Tower" is not helpful, because there's no way to get to it. "I have reports that there is a deposit of chakra metal on an island in the middle of the Kaiju Ocean" is mildly useful, but not as useful as "I found a chakra-metal mine on an island in the middle of the Kaiju Ocean, proved it, and have set up facilities for extraction. Here's the ownership papers, I can take a group of guards/miners out there tomorrow."
- After choosing your prize, you are generally free to pass it to someone else if so desired, although the Tower does retain veto rights if you try to (e.g.) give it to a non-Leaf person, give something to someone who can't use it, etc.
- 'Immediate family' means yourself, your spouse, your parents, your already-born blood-relation siblings, and your already-born blood-relation children.
- 'Citizen in good standing' is a flexible term, but it mostly means that you haven't been convicted of a crime or been censured by the Hokage.
- The location of the 10,000 acres of land will be worked out between Asuma and the recipient. That means you can choose whether you prefer inland, coastal, farmland, mining land, etc. He doesn't promise you'll get what you ask for, but he'll work with you unless you do something obnoxious like demand the land under Hokage Tower or another clan's land or etc. The staff at Command Central doesn't say this explicitly, but the implication is that you'll be negotiating directly with the Hokage, so making requests that piss him off too much will mean you get nothing. They also don't know if the land is required to be contiguous, but their best guess is "yes, but the Hokage might be willing to make small exceptions if they're reasonable."
- The Summoning Scroll prize is predicated on the Summons being useful to Leaf. Being 'unable to use' the summoning scroll means that you cannot get through the summoning training in a timeframe that Asuma finds acceptable, or that the Boss rejects you, or that you are unable to make useful contracts in a timely way, or that you refuse to use your summons for Hokage-assigned missions, etc. In any of these cases you will be required to step down as Summoner and return the scroll to the Hokage to be given to someone else. The penalty for refusal is not stated but it's safe to assume that it starts with a bad case of Rasengan poisoning and escalates from there. You are smart enough to not ask this question, but it's safe to assume that going missing-nin with a Summoning Scroll would bring cataclysmic response.
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- Location
- Yes.
@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail I had to fudge some of the numbers starting on the Christmas Bonus Update, since I don't know if it started the day after the Heartbreaker/adoption interview events or after that point. It does seem that the most recent three chapters were within the same two days, so whatever dates you feel is most reasonable should be used here.
Jello_Raptor
(Confirmed Jelly)
- Location
- Left of Center
In order of preference from best to worst: 4 3* 2 3 1 5 (Edit: Yes, the order changed as I thought about it more)
Edit: I know that arguably the dog scroll is the "best" but face it, that gets us one upgrade for one person that can probably be passed down. On the other hand each other option provides us a concrete scaleable benefit either indefinitely or for many years.
So looking at each of the rest:
- #4 - This is super versatile and I'd be surprised if Asuma isn't willing to let us split the prize up a little.
- An extra 3 adoption slots a year is a massive benefit and allows us to grow our strength by continually picking up the exceptional chuunin and genin.
- Instead of getting ourselves a second seat in the council, I think Asuma would be open to something like:
- A representative council seat for the clanless ninja of Leaf, administered through KEI.
- The representative has to be a leaf ninja in good standing, and chosen only by the clanless of Leaf through some publicly visible process.
- There must be some mechanism to allow the representative to be changed if there is sufficient discontent among the clanless.
- If we ask really nicely, he might also be willing to grant us 9 singe-use adoption slots.
- #3* - If we're allowed to share the 10 jutsu with anyone of our choosing this gives us a way to bootstrap to a strong base of clan techniques we can use to bridge the missile gap between us and the other clans.
- It also gives us something with which to entice new members.
- #2 - This only lasts for the life of Hazou but the negative tax rate gives us a shit-ton of liquidity we don't otherwise have and can put to good use economically.
- #3 - If we're only allowed to share the jutsu within the clan, this is less valuable but still good. Especially when we have a tech hacker and sealer to maximize their value.
- #1 - This is also kinda amazing. If we have a base of civilian laborers we can build ourselves an economic powerhouse much more easily. Not just for getting money, but for bootstrapping to a higher tech level.
- Downside : We can probably get this on our own in 5-10 years.
- Downside : If we get this now, even with the civilians on the land, we won't have the trusted manpower to administer it effectively for a few years. We don't need the land to gather the trusted manpower we'll need.
- #5 - I like the dogs, but a scroll only makes Hazou more personally powerful. As long as he's clan head and required on the home-front for sealing he can be just as effective without summons.
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- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
How convenient that just before Asuma sets up a big event calling for innovations that might help Leaf we start putting together an innovation that might enhance the ever-critical Skywalkers
I think we have a decent shot at making this work, particularly if we start dipping into Jiraiya's notes. (I obviously do not support giving it all away, but we haven't yet catalogued the whole thing so we can easily look through it for items that would greatly benefit Leaf)
I think we have a decent shot at making this work, particularly if we start dipping into Jiraiya's notes. (I obviously do not support giving it all away, but we haven't yet catalogued the whole thing so we can easily look through it for items that would greatly benefit Leaf)