- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The plan is to offer her a big pile of money. Since she's not getting the funding from Hiashi any more she's probably willing to negotiate
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
Noburi nearly got squashed even though we have an S ranker protecting our collective ass.
This is assuming that the Hyuuga are too poor to continue the deal or that Hinata changed her mind.
Last edited:
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If you'll examine the deal you will see that these are things he was only able to do with the office of the Hokage.
Some part of it required the office. Some don't. However, money's generally not a problem for a very rich clan such as the Hyuuga.
Wiki page in question?
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
You do know that unless approved, it's not Canon, right?
Edit: Given that I have authored most of the page, I have no idea why non-jonin sealmaster would receive any tax exemption.
Last edited:
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
Then why did you tell me to look at the wiki when I pinged EJ for an answer?!
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
However this increases the likelihood that Tsunade is more likely to accept a deal
Chapter 318: Bombs and Secrets
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Okay," Hazō said, once everyone was settled and tea had been poured. "Here's the deal: This bridge"—he tapped his finger on the map—"needs to not exist and not be easily rebuildable. The canyon is eighty feet deep, fifty feet wide, and made out of limestone, meaning there's no good anchors for MEW or other jutsu-related bridging techniques. The only reason the bridge is there is because there's a basalt upthrust that provides support for the bridge. We'll need to delete the bridge and the upthrust. The terrain in that area is relatively flat and mostly lacking in cover around the bridge; it's probably been cleared, since there's forest half a mile away.
"Kagome-sensei, you're on this mission because you're Leaf's premiere expert on explosives"—he paused to let Kagome-sensei preen for a moment—"so really this meeting is to help you. Obviously, if you can get in close to the bridge you're the best choice to know how to make it go away. That said, I'm afraid of losing you and I pretty much assume the bridge is guarded, so I'd like to propose some alternatives."
"Alternatives are good. Not getting splatted by guards is good, so yes, definitely do the alternatives."
Hazō's chuckle was more a twitch of the lips than an actual sound, but the fact that Shikamaru echoed it suggested that the amusement was shared.
"First option is the one we don't like: Kagome-sensei and the strike team sneak under the bridge and place charges. On the one hand, it's guaranteed effective at destroying the bridge. On the other hand, it's got the highest chance of you being caught. In my opinion this should be the last choice.
"Second option: The Aburame. Before going into this: Shikamaru, do you know what their attitude is towards their insects? If they're high value and can't be risked then this idea is dead in the water."
Shikamaru nodded. "Interesting, but likely unworkable. Yes, they regard their insects as expendable so long as a breeding group is retained and the effectiveness of the host is not unnecessarily compromised. Regardless, their insects would not be strong enough to carry explosives to the target, and they definitely would not have the skill to place them for maximally effective destruction. Plus, if they were noticed there would be no way for the host to be aware of that fact and it would be proof positive of Leaf's involvement. What is your next idea?"
Hazō nodded; that wasn't much of a surprise. "Okay, third option: Fuck subtlety. The Hokage said that he'd give us enough skywalkers for thirty minutes for four people. You walk into the attack zone a mile in the air and drop big rocks on the area until the bridge is gone, then you scram."
Kagome-sensei grinned. "I like that one, but I've tried it and it's really hard to hit anything." He thought about it and shrugged. "Still, drop enough rocks and we'll probably manage it. Especially with MEW bombs."
Hazō cocked his head and frowned. "With what?"
"Storage seal only takes a couple hundred pounds," Kagome-sensei reminded him. "That's a chunk of granite about a foot on a side, maybe a little more. When we played around with those down on the southern islands I found that if I dropped it from low enough for accuracy then it did less damage than an explosive tag wrapped around a pebble. If I dropped it from higher up then it would do massive damage, but I couldn't hit anything. Still, the damage scales up. If you use Multiple Earth Wall on something that isn't earth then it's just a construct and it dissolves in thirty seconds or so but, for those thirty seconds, it's completely the same as granite. When you use it you can make cubes...what, three feet on a side?"
"A little more, but yeah. And those would do massive damage...enough that accuracy wouldn't be as important." He thought about that. "Plus, if we managed to do it in one shot then it could look like an act of angry sky kami."
"Not really," Shikamaru noted. "Besides, Asuma's information leak will ensure that it does not."
Hazō blinked. "Asuma's what now?"
Shikamaru frowned, then glanced at Kagome-sensei and nodded in realization. "Apologies. It is conceivable, albeit unlikely, that it would be viewed as an act of supernatural displeasure. Even if our enemies were foolish enough to believe that, their belief is not to Asuma's maximal advantage and therefore he will arrange an 'information breach' to ensure that they discover it was Leaf."
He held up a hand to preemptively cut Kagome-sensei off before the man could interrupt to demand explication. "Rock has effectively extorted land from Leaf, but that land is disjoint from their main nation. They are bargaining with Grass to fix that. The deal amounts to Grass giving some of their land in the east to Rock and receiving in exchange some of what is currently Fire. Effectively, they would shift from an east/west rectangle into a right angle matching the northwest corner of a square; their east/west extent shortens but it is more than made up for by the addition of a north/south leg reaching down into Fire. The value of that part of Fire is dependent on the bridge to enable civilian transport of goods from the new land to the old. If the bridge is destroyed then the value of the land is drastically reduced and the negotiations fail. Everyone will know that it was sabotage by Leaf, but so long as they cannot prove it there will be no casus belli.
"The destruction serves more than one purpose. It cancels the negotiations but it also conveys a message regarding Leaf's power. If the destruction is accomplished through use of explosives planted on the bridge then we are boasting of our stealth. If it is undermined and collapsed as a result of tunneling jutsu we are boasting that we can compete with Rock on their own ground.
"On the other hand, if the bridge is destroyed in the manner suggested, what then? Suppose any guards onsite are killed in the attack. When the event is discovered, Grass will find that the land in the area is devastated, but there is no evidence of how—after all, the Multiple Earth Wall that caused the damage was a construct and will have dissolved. Grass will naturally conclude that Leaf has some incredibly powerful jutsu that can cause massive impact craters yet leaves no evidence of a projectile. What is the nature of this attack? What are its limitations? Can it be deployed easily and frequently? The unknown is always far more frightening than the known.
"On the other hand, it is unlikely that all guards will be killed in the initial attack, and if they are not then they will flee to a safe distance. What do they see? What appears to be a massive Earth Bullet from the sky—or, better, a dozen of them. What do our enemies think of this event? Clearly, we have not only an enormously scaled-up version of an already powerful jutsu, we also have someone with the chakra reserves to use it multiple times in quick succession...or multiple people each able to use it once.
"Most likely, such a jutsu would require massive reserves, meaning that the user is likely an Earth-natured S-rank ninja that we are willing to field-deploy. Who might that be? The Third had all five natures but he was known for skill, not reserves, and is dead. Jiraiya had all five natures and large reserves but is also dead. Tsunade is a medic and not renowned as an Earth user. Naruto has effectively unlimited reserves but is not known to have the Earth nature. That leaves two options: Orochimaru or someone unknown.
"Orochimaru should be a blank to modern intelligence agencies. He has been completely off the map for a generation and no one will be sure of his capabilities. The legends of the Sannin are just that: legends, and therefore untrustworthy. He is the most likely source of this attack, but that means that he is willing to be field-deployed on the Hokage's orders. This will change strategic calculations of every nation in the Elemental Nations and make Rock much less willing to press us.
"Alternatively, perhaps we have an S-rank ninja that no one knows about. Unlikely, but conceivable. We might have rescued and turned one of the jinchūriki believed to have been killed at Nagi Island. Alternatively, perhaps Uchiha Itachi has returned to the fold; after all, we have been shown to offer citizenship to missing-nin on two occasions now—yourselves and Orochimaru—so would it be surprising that we would accept Uchiha? To my knowledge, he never demonstrated the Earth nature before going missing, but it's been long enough that he might have acquired it.
"Finally, what might be the worst possible option from the perspective of a foreign nation: It was not a single S-rank ninja. No, somehow our jutsu researchers found a way to drastically reduce the cost of the Earth Bullet, to the point where it can be used to create vastly larger projectiles for a cost that can be paid by...jōnin? Chūnin?" He placed a hand on his heart in supposed shock. "What if it could be used by genin? When a Leaf ninja is next engaged in the field, will they be able to repeatedly make attacks of such devastation?"
He dropped the pretence of fear and shook his head. "No, I feel that this is your optimal strategy and in order to reap maximal benefits, Asuma will ensure an information leak such that other nations are aware, but still unable to conclusively prove, that Leaf is responsible." He chewed on his cheek for a moment, his face as sour as though he'd bitten a lemon. "I confess that I had not thought of this methodology."
Hazō's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
Shikamaru glowered at him. "I feel no need to repeat myself. Now, is there anything more? I am quite busy."
Hazō grinned and spent a moment debating with himself whether the satisfaction of mocking his supposedly-brilliant brother-in-law would be worth the knowledge of his own immaturity.
"Huh. So, your mom had a fling?"
Hazō winced and glanced at Kagome-sensei, who was leaning forward and studying Shikamaru like a curious Aburame might study an interesting new bug.
"What?" Kagome-sensei asked, catching Hazō's horrified expression. "I thought he liked that whole skipping steps thing?"
"Sensei..." He trailed off, mind completely blank on how to respond.
"I mean, isn't he supposed to be this super genius, always one step ahead of everyone else? I thought of this and everyone thinks I'm a crazy idiot."
"No one thinks that, sensei," Hazō said, hurrying to do damage control. "It's just—"
Kagome-sensei waved him off. "It's fine. I'm used to it. 'Oh, Kagome's so crazy' they say. 'Paranoid freak', they say. 'What an idiot, can't even ask a girl out without sounding like an idiot' or 'Let's pretend to be his friends and then get him drunk and dump him in the girls' bathhouse; he'll never expect it because he's so stooopid.'" He sniffed. "At least I'm not stupid enough to miss something this obvious."
Hazō glanced from a smug Kagome-sensei to an utterly stone-faced Shikamaru. "In fairness, sensei, you've had a lot more time to think about skywalkers and MEW than Shikamaru has." He turned to his brother-in-law. "Shikamaru, I'm sorry. Kagome-sensei didn't mean to say that you were stupid, or illegitimate."
"I only meant that he's dumber than he's supposed to be," Kagome-sensei said, not at all helpfully. "So, either that whole Nara bloodline thing isn't all it's cracked up to be or else he isn't really a Nara." He gestured towards Shikamaru. "Look at him. His supposed dad's face was longer than his, and his nose was bigger. Maybe—"
Recognizing an unsalvageable situation, Hazō grabbed Kagome-sensei by the arm and hoisted him to his feet, practically shoving him out of the room. "Thank you for your help, Shikamaru, we need to be going!" he called over his shoulder.
o-o-o-o
"Oh, hey, we should probably talk to Asuma about the spy stuff before he kills us all."
Ten minutes. Was it really so unreasonable that the universe offer Hazō a ten-minute respite between crises? They weren't even halfway back to Command Central. He blew out a deep breath and then inhaled slowly. Inhale calm and peace, exhale stress and panic.
"And why, exactly, might the Hokage want to kill us?"
Kagome-sensei was busy rummaging a trail bar out of his pockets and tearing the waxed paper off of it. Hazō waited impatiently, knowing better than to come between his teacher and food. It only led to longer delays before they could actually get back to the topic, and to hungry-grouchy Kagome-sensei.
"If Jiraifa's nof'," the older man said around an impolitely large mouthful of honeyed granola. He paused to chew for a moment, then swallowed. "You know how we talked about Leaf's intelligence stuff taking a big hit in the Collapse and that's why you turned in all the spy stuff I had decoded? Well, there's a lot more of it. That got me thinking; all this stuff is Jiraiya's portable office, right? I mean, he turns in reports to the Hokage but keeps a copy for his own reference when he's out in the field, or even just working from home."
"Okay..."
"Well—" He paused to take another bite and noisily masticate it to destruction with his mouth open. At least he swallowed before continuing. "The Tower and the Academy both got stomped in the Collapse, right? So all the intelligence reports that were stored there are gone. That probably includes a lot of the details of who their spies were, how to control them, that kind of stuff. That means that what we have might be the only copy in existence. If I were Asuma, I'd be pretty grumpy with anyone who hadn't turned in a major strategic advantage like that. Sure, we gave him some of it but we've got more." The third and final bite got processed; he folded the waxed paper and tucked it back in his pocket. "Won't he want copies so that he can have other people decoding it? We didn't give him copies. And there's a bunch of other stuff we didn't give him."
Hazō hesitated. "Is it easy to tell the spy stuff from the other stuff?"
Kagome-sensei shook his head. "It's all mixed together—story ideas, spy stuff, seal theory, seal designs, random journal entries, blah blah blah I'm so clever because I'm Jiraiya-stinker and I don't need any sensible kind of organization." He sniffed disapprovingly. "The papers all have key phrases across the top-left corner so it would have been easy to find something when you were riffling through a stack. The phrases don't make any sense to me—I think they're probably references from his past that he used as mnemonics, so they're not going to be interpretable by anyone else." He thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose you could ask Punchy Lady. Still, it's been ages since they worked together so I'd be surprised if she could make anything out of it."
"Got it. That means that we've got a ton of stuff that might be intelligence data which should be shared with the Tower, but it's all mixed in with stuff that should be clan secrets. There's no way for Asuma to take one without taking the other." He thought for a moment. "He wouldn't have known that we had the stuff until I turned over the first batch, and I told him that we were decoding it as quickly as we could. I guess he's giving us the benefit of the doubt?"
Kagome-sensei sniffed again, this time in magnificent disapproval of the concept that the real world might be isomorphic to a hypothetical world in which Leaf's Hokage-stinker would be doing something nice for the Gōketsu.
"We can mention it when we turn in the mission plan," Hazō said. "You're cool with the MEW bombing, right?"
"Are you kidding? You're asking if I want to be there when we drop ginormous rocks from the sky that make all those foreign stinkers poop themselves?"
"Right. Stupid question."
o-o-o-o
"That was even quicker than promised," Asuma said as Hazō and Kagome-sensei were ushered into the room. "Please, have a seat." He indicated the chairs opposite him, then picked up the steaming pot of tea on the desk to his right and fished three cups out of a drawer. He poured all three full and set them on his desk before gesturing invitation. Hazō took the one closest to him; Kagome-sensei eyed the options with narrow-eyed distrust.
Asuma picked up both cups, took a sip from each, and set them down again. Hazō nudged his teacher nervously until the sealmaster grumpily chose one and skooched it closer to himself, touching it only with the sleeve of his shirt.
Asuma sat back in his chair, rolling the third teacup between his palms and inhaling the fragrant steam that rose from it.
"So," he said after a moment, "you have a plan for me?"
"Yes, sir. We talked to Shikamaru and went through multiple options. He approved Kagome-sensei's suggestion and said it was the optimal choice: We use skywalkers to approach at a great height, then use Multiple Earth Wall to drop large rocks on the bridge and everything around it." Quickly, he laid out the chain of conclusions that Shikamaru had drawn for them.
"Interesting," Asuma said, nodding. He took a sip of his tea. "MEW needs to be performed on a surface, but I assume you can simply hold up a board."
"That was my thought, sir."
"Hm." He thought for several seconds. "All right. I can find someone who possesses the Multiple Earth Wall jutsu. Kagome, there's no need for you to go, so I'll let you get back to what you were doing."
"Hey! That's not—"
"Excuse me, sir," Hazō said quickly, clamping a hand on Kagome-sensei's arm. "Kagome-sensei expressed interest in going along in order to review the effectiveness of the technique."
Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Kagome, you are needed here to scribe skywalkers and decode Jiraiya's notes."
"But...explosions!"
Hazō gritted his teeth. "Sir..." He broke off, trying to think of a convincing reason that Asuma should let a valuable asset out of the village on a mission he didn't need to be on. "I think it might be useful to let Kagome-sensei go. He's been working flat-out and could really use a break. It's only going to be a day or two, right?"
"Yeah, that's it!" Kagome-sensei nodded furiously. "I'm really tired!" He drooped in his chair. "So tired! Definitely need to take some time off. Maybe a couple days. Definitely can't be doing anything useful. Because I'm tired."
The Hokage's lip twitched in amusement. "Well, if you're that tired then I suppose it wouldn't be fair for me to ask you to run for hours on end...."
"Nonono, I'm not that tired! Uh...I mean, not physically tired! My brain is tired. That's it. I definitely need to get out, go for a run in the fresh air." He pumped his arms as though jogging and gave Asuma a hopeful look. "Short run in the fresh air. Just what I need."
Asuma snorted and shook his head in amusement. "Fine. This plan means you're unlikely to have enemy contact, so I'll allow it. You, Snake, Cat, Hawk, and a jōnin who possesses Multiple Earth Wall. We haven't built up a sufficient stock of skywalkers that I'm comfortable authorizing you to travel in the air the whole way, so you'll need to go out and come back on the ground, taking to the air only when you're near the target. Kagome, you will stay in the middle of the group at all times. If you encounter any resistance you are to activate your skywalkers, disengage, and return immediately to Leaf. The other members of the team shall be considered expendable. Understood?"
"Uh-huh!"
"Repeat it back, please."
"We go out and come back on the ground. I stay in the middle of the group and if there's anything dangerous then I run away on my skywalkers like a scared little girl and leave all those ANBU stinkers to die horrible screaming deaths."
"That...is not quite how I would phrase it to your escort, but you understand the parameters."
"Sir, I wonder if it might make sense to send Akane along? She's a strong fighter and"—his eyes flicked to Kagome-sensei and he hesitated for an instant, trying to find the appropriate wording—"she's trustworthy and a reassuring presence."
Asuma cocked his head, considering the words, then nodded as he caught the subtext: She will keep Kagome from freaking out and/or saying the wrong thing to his escort. "That sounds sensible. She performed quite well in the Exams; I'd like her to get a bit more field experience before promoting her, and this seems like an excellent opportunity. I'll add her to the roster."
"Thank you, sir." Hazō took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter. "If I may, there's one other thing I'd like to discuss. It relates to Jiraiya's notes."
Asuma leaned back in his chair, sipping from his cup so that the lower half of his face was masked. "Hmm?"
"Sir, I gave you all the intelligence-related elements of the notes that we found so far, but there's a lot more of it and it's all mixed together with stuff that should be Gōketsu property."
"Such as?"
Kagome-sensei started counting on his fingers. "Jiraiya-stinker's Lightning Lash technique, Swamp of the Underworld, love letters, the start of three separate romance novels built off those love letters, a bunch of blackmail stuff on people here in—Yow!" He glared at Hazō, whose grip on his arm had gotten tight enough to grind the bones together.
"There's a wide variety, sir, and it's not organized in any way that we've been able to figure out, so there's no way to know what a given page references until it's been decoded. I understand the importance of this material and I fully intend to turn over everything related to intelligence work. I also expect that I'll be using some of the jutsu, seals, and other things as part of the Gōketsu contribution to your contest, but I'd like to be able to choose what we hand over."
The Hokage's eyes locked onto Hazō's.
The room seemed to expand around them, everything becoming blurry except for the brown eyes in which danced and flickered subtle hints of fire. Fire in both its life-giving and all-destroying aspects; its heat was measured and contained, yet the implied devastation left Hazō sweating and pale.
Asuma's gaze shifted back to his teacup and the spell was broken. He took a final sip and placed the cup back on the table, sitting up straight and studying the teenage Clan Head across from him.
"The Gōketsu are a loyal clan," he said calmly. "I feel confident that you will hand over all information of strategic importance to Leaf as soon as you find it, and therefore I would not dream of asking you to surrender these notes."
Hazō swallowed nervously. "Thank you, sir."
"Was there anything else?"
"Um...yes sir. With Keiko off looking for the Condor Summoning Scroll, I thought perhaps this would be a good time for the Gōketsu to go after one of the others. I was wondering if you would be willing to ask the Monkeys for any information they have related to scrolls that either have no summoner or, um...a summoner that we don't particularly care about. If you take my meaning."
One eyebrow went up. "You are discussing assassinating a Summoner merely to claim their power? That seems a bit out of character for you, Hazō."
The words were spoken calmly, yet they resonated through Hazō's mind and he found himself suddenly watching from somewhere metaphorically behind his own eyes.
Was this idea in fact out of character? The rest of the family had been worried that he was being influenced by the Out, but he didntt feel that way. Everything seemed perfectly n0rmal, and his thoughts were no stranger than they ever were. Capturing a Summoning Scroll was a perfectly sensible thing to do to do to do; it would render the Gōketsu significantly more powerful and they could use that power to help people. Loook at how much the Pangonls hda acomp!shed; their space-warping shells had strengthened those items that Hazō cared most about, their ability to clear land had allowed the Gōketsu to provide comfort loci for all the entitites that Hazō had chosen to identify with, and their provision of matter had enabled much of the clan's monetarily-necessitated interactions.
He blinked, forcing himself forward within his own self so that he was looking out from his eyes instead of from behind them.
"For now, it's intended as a scouting mission, sir. We would locate the Summoner and identify opportunities; would it be possible to steal the Scroll? Could we perhaps buy it from them? Are they looking to pass it on—perhaps they are on bad terms with their Summon Clan and want to get out from under."
"Hm. You realize those are unlikely scenarios, yes?"
"Yes, sir. Still, I'm willing to make the effort. And another scroll would greatly boost Leaf's power."
"True...both in absolute terms and by reducing the power of whichever nation had its Summoner." He thought about that. "It's late on the Seventh Path, but I'll talk to Enma when he wakes up. Offhand, I can think of five possibilities: The Condor Scroll, which your sister is already after, the Capybara scroll, the Otter Scroll, the Porcupine Scroll, and the Kangaroo Scroll."
Hazō sat up, excited. "That's more than I had expected, sir."
"Well, don't run too fast. All of my information is out of date and uncertain. The Capybara Scroll was being sold some time ago but the sale was interrupted, so it's possible, but very unlikely, that it still doesn't have a Summoner.
"The Otters is probably the most secure lead. Five or six years ago, I sat in on a briefing in which Enma told Dad that the Turtles had raised the price of iron so much that the Otters were buying it from the Human Path by way of the Toads. That would imply they didn't have a Summoner of their own.
"The Porcupines...Enma makes it a point to stay in touch with the neighboring clans, which usually results in knowing their Summoners. At my twelfth birthday, Dad summoned Enma to tell stories at my party, and I remember him telling a very long and raunchy story in which he mentioned in passing that the Porcupine Summoner was quite old. If she's still the Summoner then she may be looking to retire.
"As to the Kangaroos, that's the least certain of all. Enma mentioned meeting the Kangaroo Summoner back about thirty years ago; at the time that was Yoshida Daichi of Cloud. I was Dad's part-time adjutant since before I graduated the Academy; I didn't see all the intelligence reports, but I saw a fair number of them, and I don't remember ever seeing a single current mention of Yoshida, nor any reference to the Kangaroos being summoned. It's weak evidence that he died and the Scroll is lying fallow, possibly lost in the wilderness somewhere."
"Thank you! That's a lot more than I expected to start with."
Asuma nodded but gestured a warning. "Don't read too much into it. Summoning is chakra-intensive and most Summoners are already S-rank ninja. There's a narrow range of battles in which it makes sense to use a Summon; it needs to be an opponent that you cannot defeat on your own, but the chakra cost of Summoning will not cause you to lose the fight. Furthermore, the older reports on Yoshida said that he was assassination-spec. Very stealthy, good at disguises, that kind of thing. It's possible that he's still out there but has changed his identity so as to confuse potential enemies, and has been avoiding using his Summons where they would be seen."
He shrugged. "I'll be honest, Hazō, this seems like a longshot to me. If you're doing it because you want to win a Scroll as part of your contribution for the contest, I would be surprised if you could locate one and capture it within two months. If that's your goal then your efforts would be more productively spent elsewhere. On the other hand, if you're doing this because you want power, fine. You're an adult and a Clan Head; you can choose how your resources are allocated, and so long as your decisions do not interfere with the needs of Leaf I won't stop you."
"Thank you, sir."
Asuma raised a finger. "To be clear: Until Jiraiya's notes are fully decoded and all intelligence-related parts have been turned over, I expect that to be the Gōketsu's top priority."
"But—!"
"Aside from the brief run in the fresh air that you're going to be taking, Kagome."
"Oh. That's fine then."
Asuma smiled at the older man, then turned back to Hazō.
"Before he died, Jiraiya mentioned that clarity was important to your family," the Hokage said, his fire-tinged eyes serious. "Given that, please forgive me if my words are a bit blunt: The Tower owns everything that Jiraiya knew about Leaf's intelligence service, its enemies, and any scrap of information that might have strategic or geopolitical relevance. I expect those to be turned over, in full, as soon as possible. Failure to do so would constitute high treason against Leaf; I have confidence in the honor of the Gōketsu and am therefore confident that you would never do such a thing intentionally. I simply mention it so as to avoid any oversights or confusion. I assume I have eliminated any possibility of such?"
Hazō swallowed. "Yes sir. Crystal clear."
"Excellent."
XP AWARD: 2
Brevity XP: 1
Author's Note: The plan called for checking things with the clan before going to Asuma with them. That was entirely reasonable and it's good that you did it. I skipped over it because it didn't fit well with the narrative structure and I knew that the answer was going to be "yup, that's fine." Don't worry, this is not a thing I would do if it was going to screw you.
Likewise, the plan asked about requisitioning flash seals and earthquake seals and etc. I chose to skip those because they weren't necessary for the plan that got chosen and Hazō felt that asking for unnecessary stuff, particularly seals, could look selfish. Similarly, he didn't talk about chakra beasts etc because it would have been a diversion from the "Rocks fall, Rock falls" plan and it was better to keep things focused.
It is now about 2pm. Hazō is technically still in Asuma's office, but it's clear that Asuma is looking to wrap it up. If there's anything else you want to ask, you can, but the expectation is that you're going to move on and the next update will start somewhere else.
Vote time! What to do now?
Voting ends on Wednesday, January 15, 2019, at 12pm London time.
Last edited:
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Sassy Shikamaru is best Shikamaru. Maybe he's learning from Ami? Or maybe he's just growing more comfortable around Hazou? I mean, when placed next to Ami, Hazou is infinitely more understandable.
We're pretty lucky that Asuma likes us.
Woo for subtly! And it gets Akane more experience during what should be a relatively easy mission!
Jesus. Yeah, we're lucky that Asuma likes us. Hiashi would've had us killed for a manufactured reason (let's be honest... probably Kagome), taken the info for himself, and used his own resources to decode the info. Can we send Asuma a gift basket? Maybe a bouquet of flowers? Something that says "thanks for treating us like Leaf ninja and not traitors-in-waiting?" I'm sure that there's some form of flower language that says that, right? Ino might know.
Last edited:
@eaglejarl Plan link doesn't work
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Fixed, thanks.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Would you like to try those experiments?
ClawClawBite
Mad Engineering!
- Location
- Seattle, WA
I do not know if it has been discussed as I'm not keeping up with all discussion, but..
It might be interesting to try some field testing of different shapes of MEWnicians for bombing, and seeing what targets well. We just noticed air spirits and kites. Perhaps air spirits care about the shapes of falling things too. Round, square, sheet? I'm sure there are more shapes. What penitrates? What shatters?
It might be interesting to try some field testing of different shapes of MEWnicians for bombing, and seeing what targets well. We just noticed air spirits and kites. Perhaps air spirits care about the shapes of falling things too. Round, square, sheet? I'm sure there are more shapes. What penitrates? What shatters?
OK. Assuming we successfully bribe Tsunade and get her do the mission, I don't think the payment consisted of only the bribe. There's reputational cost as well, which you may not care about.
Essentially, we are aiming for a naked power grab, which will make Tsunade colder to us instead of more of our ally.
I don't think in my honest opinion, is an insurmountable barrier to whatever uplift thing we want to do with Tsunade. But I prefer Tsunade to be our ally over obtaining another scroll.
Last edited:
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hey, @RandomOTP, will there at some point be another chapter of Time and Tide? I just went and skimmed back through it and find myself really wanting more. Also, my post is the last one in that thread and I'm afraid that I killed the story. Sorry for that. :/
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I hope to be posting regularly by mid-February at the latest. I have the outline for the next chapter prepped, but in the past few weeks I've gone from having a mild chest infection, to a full-on cold, got strep throat, then the flu, and now I'm dealing with post-flu bronchitis and residual exhaustion from the flu. Right now I'm more focused on chugging medicine and water, while resting up and doing some light reading. Trying to get somewhat presentable before the semester starts, you know?
And don't stress about your post! Honestly, it was actually really rather helpful! I've just been pretty sickly for the past month and a half (I swear, winter weather kills me each year). It kinda feels like a cop-out, but trying to write with a fever is... not an experience I'm going to repeat soon. Trust me, those drafts will likely never see the light of day.
Emstar
The Shining One
- Location
- Trapped in an extradimensional rift.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Ahhhh, kid you should have said "And also he can be present as a backup plan." The ninja general guy would have probably agreed!
@eaglejarl I liked the chapter! More interactions with Asuma are always swell.
- Location
- France
Thanks for the reading rec!
Oh, and your final comment was 100% great and I totally agree. It would definitely shake the fic out of the "formula, seal flavored" that it's currently in.
Emstar
The Shining One
- Location
- Trapped in an extradimensional rift.
- Pronouns
- She/They
It wouldn't really matter I don't think: we haven't read the Icha Icha series and he's the only one with any XP in Cryptography.
Unless your suggesting..... No, no we can't do that!
... but could we?