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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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RandomOTP said:
Not to delve too deeply into a conversation about the sexual interests of teenagers, but thus far, they haven't exactly expressed interest in women --let alone each other. In my opinion, we should leave that possibility up to the writers to decide if there's any natural chemistry there before we start drafting wedding contracts.
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I don't understand how that's relevant. It wasn't for Keiko/Shikamaru after all.
 
@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail There's something weird going on with XP stuff, some of our characters seem to skip XP gains for certain days, such as Keiko and Noburi not gaining XP for Chapter 289 (81XP), which is a lot. Yes, I recognize that they weren't actually involved in this plan (this was during our training trip with Akane, Kagome, and Naruto), but to say that they didn't gain any XP over a 20-day period doesn't make much sense to me.
 
faflec said:
@eaglejarl @Velorien @OliWhail There's something weird going on with XP stuff, some of our characters seem to skip XP gains for certain days, such as Keiko and Noburi not gaining XP for Chapter 289 (81XP), which is a lot. Yes, I recognize that they weren't actually involved in this plan (this was during our training trip with Akane, Kagome, and Naruto), but to say that they didn't gain any XP over a 20-day period doesn't make much sense to me.
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The chapter 289 rewards for Keiko and Noburi (who did not come with us on the mission) I think have been properly accounted for in a payout between Chapter 294 and 295. I put together a big list of awards stated in chapters and whether or not they appeared to be reflected in the sheets, if you want to cross-reference what is and what ought to be a little faster.
Inferno Vulpix said:
XP Awards and Where to Find Them:

ChapterAwardHazouKeikoNoburiAkane
Chapter 270: Clan Meeting #1, continued1+11Missing11
Chapter 271: Disaster Relief and the Ownership of Souls5+1MissingMissingMissingMissing
Chapter 272: Binding Alliances4+1MissingMissingMissingMissing
Chapter 275: Yet More Talking1MissingMissingMissingMissing
Chapter 276: Slanderous Tokens3MissingMissingMissingMissing
Chapter 277: The Election30+131313131
Chapter 278: Assuming Control44444
Chapter 279: The Basement55Missing55
Chapter 280: Consistent Characterisation22Missing22
Chapter 281: Brain-Eating Monstrosities and the Taste of Blood00MissingMissingMissing
Chapter 282: Travel the World, Meet Interesting Creatures...44Missing44
Chapter 283: ...And Kill Them44Missing44
Chapter 285: Futures Bright and Dark55Missing55
Chapter 286: Long Held Plans...Achieved?TBD11Missing?1111
Chapter 288: Save Your Family. No Excuses.44Missing?44
Chapter 289: Stickball, Salt, Surprise!818137?37?81
Chapter 290: Akane's Birthday9+110101010
Chapter 291: New Powers Rising12+113131313
Chapter 292: Blah Blah Probably Treason Blah3+14444
Chapter 293: Ominous Foreshadowing44444
Chapter 294: Housing Projects00000
Chapter 295: The Master Returns33333
Chapter 296: Brushing Against the Beyond-1-1-100
Chapter 297: Refracted Darkness??MissingMissingMissing
Chapter 298: Regrouping1+12222
Chapter 299: A Threatening Plan00000
Chapter 300: The Hole SolutionTBD+11111
Chapter 301: Pieces in Play3+14444
Chapter 302: Recovery9+110101010
Chapter 304: Mixed News4+15Missing55
Chapter 306: Unfair Advantages5+16666
Chapter 307: Shadows on the Wall of the Cave2+57777
Chapter 308: Uplift Begins. Also, Bioterrorism13+114141414
Green means it all squares away, orange means I'm unsure and you should probably check it out, and red means I'm pretty sure something's wrong.


I'll make a link to this in the post you already threadmarked.
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Inferno Vulpix said:
The chapter 289 rewards for Keiko and Noburi (who did not come with us on the mission) I think have been properly accounted for in a payout between Chapter 294 and 295. I put together a big list of awards stated in chapters and whether or not they appeared to be reflected in the sheets, if you want to cross-reference what is and what ought to be a little faster.
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Ah, lovely, thank you.
 
faflec said:
Ah, lovely, thank you.
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Oh, fair warning, I think EJ got started on fixing some of it up. I know at least that Hazou's XP payouts from 271-276 (just before the election, which was missing for everyone (which is a poignant example of how much of a slog those days were)) have been added back in, but I don't know what else has been gone over.
 
Inferno Vulpix said:
The chapter 289 rewards for Keiko and Noburi (who did not come with us on the mission) I think have been properly accounted for in a payout between Chapter 294 and 295. I put together a big list of awards stated in chapters and whether or not they appeared to be reflected in the sheets, if you want to cross-reference what is and what ought to be a little faster.
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Assuming this is true, this suggests that K/N's XP gain rate is just a little shy of 2/day - which sounds about right for their default i.e., prior to Swamp and such). IIRC, a 2 XP/day ninja corresponds to a career chuunin.
 
RandomOTP said:
Also: when Hazou mentioned hunting Summoning Scrolls to Asuma, did anyone else get the feeling that Asuma was a little discomforted by our casual disregard for human life? I reread it and he seems a little put off. I'm not sure if it's Asuma dealing with adjusting his moral compass to match the role of a Hokage and stifling his own personal qualms about that notion ("It'd be good for the Leaf, I suppose...") or if Asuma was merely disquieted in a different way ("Well... they are the product of Mist. And they're trying...).
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I assume it's just supposed to be Asuma not really knowing Hazou all that well, Asuma did just approve some biological warfare a few days ago and "allows" Orochimaru to live.

Jiraiya also thought: "Hazou you might never become a jonin" and then later went: "You're ruthless enough and I don't really have another heir also good job with Stabby Zabby, here become clan head".
 
ContextBot said:
I assume it's just supposed to be Asuma not really knowing Hazou all that well, Asuma did just approve some biological warfare a few days ago and "allows" Orochimaru to live.

Jiraiya also thought: "Hazou you might never become a jonin" and then later went: "You're ruthless enough and I don't really have another heir also good job with Stabby Zabby, here become clan head".
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Hazo not becoming a jonin ever does not really contradict Hazo's action against Stabby Zabby.
 
RandomOTP said:
Also: when Hazou mentioned hunting Summoning Scrolls to Asuma, did anyone else get the feeling that Asuma was a little discomforted by our casual disregard for human life? I reread it and he seems a little put off. I'm not sure if it's Asuma dealing with adjusting his moral compass to match the role of a Hokage and stifling his own personal qualms about that notion ("It'd be good for the Leaf, I suppose...") or if Asuma was merely disquieted in a different way ("Well... they are the product of Mist. And they're trying...).
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Be a bit hypocritical of him when he just sent Naruto to help Kei kill a summoner
 
Oneiros said:
Be a bit hypocritical of him when he just sent Naruto to help Kei kill a summoner
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I mean, even if I were okay with killing people I might still feel discomforted by seeing Honoka want to kill people, on account of how someone like her shouldn't have gone through the same personality changes this hypothetical me had gone through.

I feel like Asuma, a hardened Jounin making tough calls for the future of Konoha, might feel like something's wrong if naive idealist Hazou exhibits the same willingness to kill people in cold blood for utilitarian purposes. Of course, Hazou is perfectly capable of doing those calculations and making that choice, but Asuma's seen much more of Hazou "Treats civilians like people" "Lectures the assembled leadership of the ninja world on humanitarianism" Goketsu than Hazou "started learning how to kill before entering the Academy" "weaponizes everything he sees" "Sunset Racer" Goketsu so I wouldn't blame him for thinking that planning a murder feels out of character on someone like him.
 
In fairness, if we capture them with Noburi we can fairly easily "convince" them to rescind their contracts with the clan. If... that's a thing they can do at all. I'm not sure if it is.
 
Pardon me, @eaglejarl? I've been watching the Witcher, which made me want to reread the books. Out of pure nerd-driven curiosity: would it be possible to create a Witcher-like human using biological fuuinjutsu? I'm not proposing we do that (terribly inhumane aspects of the notion aside, with our current skillset and resources, it'd likely be impossible to complete within any length of time... Though if we get Orochimaru involved... Wait, no. Bad-me!), I'm just curious if it'd be possible with MfD's magic system.
 
Velorien said:
-o-​

Hazō stared despondently at the familiar zeroes on the menu. He had a strong feeling they'd had many order-of-magnitude babies since his last visit, just to catch up with him getting clan head resources. He honestly couldn't tell whether Ino had picked this place a second time because the food was that good, because she enjoyed making his life difficult in subtle ways, or because she was making a point by bringing him to the café where she'd reamed him out for breaking Akane's heart. Stupid social experts and their social expertise.

"So what's the deal?" Ino asked, casually spinning a fork in a gesture of poor etiquette that would also allow her to launch it at his eyes without shifting her body weight. "Telling you up front: if you're here to bribe me for the big competition, go to Shika first. Weeding out stupid ideas before they get to the people who matter is in his job description. I pay him in cookies."

Shikamaru accepted cookies as payment. This information could be tactically useful somewhere down the line.

"I just wanted to unwind," Hazō said. "Things are crazy back at the estate, they're crazy here in the village proper, and I feel confident in saying that they're pretty crazy in the rest of the world as well. It would be nice to have a couple of hours with someone who has a sense of humour and can spare a little time to use it."

Ino took a few bites out of her flambéed rodent. "I suppose I can do that. Mind, you're still in the middle of paying back the karma for what you did to Akane. But on the other hand, she seems happy enough being your clanswoman now, so the jury's still out."

"What's a jury?" Hazō asked.

"Chakra catfish," Ino said. "So what did you want to talk to Leaf's best and most gorgeous about? Is it fashion? Because I should warn you, Lightning-style winter cheongsams are on the way out. Great status symbols while they were in—what with there only being the one crate imported—but nobody can fight weather, at least unless they have a certain rare ninjutsu you shamelessly spilled the beans about.

"You do really need to work on your colour coordination, Hazō. Red and green didn't work for Jiraiya, and it's not working for you. Hit me up some time if you want me to do you a favour and make you look less like Naruto's long-lost cousin."

"Duly noted," Hazō said, suddenly self-conscious about wearing an outfit that, until the last few seconds, he had imagined to have a timeless kind of quality, like the black pyjamas Academy trainees used for particularly cruel stealth training.

"Not fashion, then?" Ino asked briskly. "Then boys. Hey, is your brother still available?"

Hazō choked on his drink as if a condor had gone down his throat.

"Asking for a friend. Anyway, what's the deal with you and Ami?" Ino leaned forward hungrily, though without lowering the fork. "Star-crossed lovers? Battle buddies? Nemeses fated to battle each other lifetime after lifetime?"

"No idea," Hazō confessed. "I'm pretty sure we're not lovers, what with me not being dead of Keiko, I'm positive I'd remember if I had multiple lifetimes of Ami, and I don't think we've ever stood side by side, except maybe for Keiko. I think technically we might be siblings?"

"Your family tree sounds more like an octopus tied in a knot," Ino said approvingly. "If I could write, I would be halfway through Hōketsu Gazō and His Chamber of Secrets right now. If you end up marrying any of your siblings or technical siblings or siblings-in-law or Tenten—what? I'm not blind—I will be expecting a detailed report. Except if you marry Akane, in which case I will murder you because you've done enough to that poor girl who is too forgiving for her own good."

"I am not going to marry Akane," Hazō was about to say, but somehow the words stuck in his throat. At least the condor was going to be in good company.

"Changing the subject completely," Hazō said, "how have you been? In a non-fashion, non-boy way?"

The fork stopped spinning.

"Well," Ino said lightly, "I lost my father a couple of months ago, followed by my entire extended family, plus a bunch of financial assets and orally-taught ninjutsu which I could really do with in order to rebuild the clan I wasn't supposed to inherit for another decade or two, plus my technical not-sibling is going through the exact same thing and there's nothing I can do to help him because anything I can do for him, I should already be doing for the Yamanaka. Any further questions?"

"I'm sorry, Ino," Hazō stammered. "That isn't what I wanted to…"

Ino shook her head. "No, my bad. You wanted to unwind. And besides, things aren't that bad. Chōji and his dad are managing a whole bunch of cross-clan practicalities so we don't have to, and I've got Akane when I need her, and I can entrust Shika to Keiko, no problem. Girl's useful and adorable."

"Adorable?" Hazō said incredulously. There was exactly one person in the world who might conceivably describe Keiko as adorable, and that person was so biased in her own way that she made Hyūga look like a champion of social equality.

"I just want to take her home and put her on a shelf," Ino confided. "But my shelves aren't big enough to carry teenage girls—though I'm keeping the option open—so I guess Shika's bed is the next best thing."

She stopped to process her own words. The fork clattered onto the plate.

"Unthink, brain, unthink! Ahh, that's better. Hashirama's enormous wood, it's great to be a Yamanaka."

"Changing the subject completely again," Hazō said, "I was actually wondering about Leaf humour. I keep noticing a lack of sharks in casual conversation, and it's making me feel almost like I'm in another village."

"Leaf humour?" Ino asked. "All right. Here's a riddle for you. Three travellers are on a cart going down a forest path. They reach a clearing, and they see a sheep. The driver looks back and says, 'I'm not from around here. I'll buy a beer for whoever gives me the best advice on what to do with that sheep.

"The trader says, 'Great. Free sheep. Let's catch it and have ourselves meat for dinner tonight.'

"The farmer says, 'Are you crazy? You don't get a sheep wandering around in a forest on its own. It must be a chakra sheep. Take a detour.'

"And the ninja in disguise just smirks and starts doing hand seals. 'What sheep?'

"Now, Hōketsu Gazō, can you tell me what each one of them did wrong?"

Hazō glared at her for the nickname, which he had a horrible suspicion wasn't going away any time soon, and could only hope wasn't contagious. Then he began to think.

"Well," he said, "wild sheep are pack predators, right? So the trader's wrong for not being suspicious."

Ino nodded. "Civilian common sense. If you're in the wilderness and see anything, you run. If you don't see anything, that means it's too quiet, and you run."

"The farmer…" This one was harder. If it was a chakra sheep, then giving it a wide berth could only be a good idea. Unless staying away from the sheep made you vulnerable to something worse, or gave it time to build up more power, or the sheep was a sign that you were already under predator genjutsu and you had to confront the heart of the illusion in order to be able to escape before you were eaten…

"All right," Ino said, "I guess you don't have chakra sheep where you come from, so I'll make this a freebie. If you have line of sight to a chakra sheep, then a chakra sheep has line of sight to you, in which case it's already too late to run. You may as well act as if it's something you can survive which just happens to look like a sheep."

"That makes sense. We say the same thing about chakra chameleons. If one lets you see it, it's because it will no longer make a difference."

"I didn't realise they had chakra scorpions in Water," Ino said. "So what did the last one do wrong?"

"If there's no more sheep, then you can't tell who was right? Or maybe killing it attracts more predators, or makes it self-destruct in a huge blast?"

Ino shook her head. "You're overthinking it. What the ninja did wrong was compromise his disguise, so now he'll have to kill all the witnesses and cover the remaining journey on foot—which will look suspicious at his destination and could endanger his mission."

Kill all the witnesses. All fifty witnesses.

Hazō gave a smile that was pleasant, rather than tortured, only thanks to hours of mocker- err, practice with Noburi.

"My turn," he said after a lengthy pause. "So one night, a Hoshigaki stumbles into an underground broker's shop in a panic. 'You've got to help me,' he says. 'I told my brother I'd bring my new girlfriend to his wedding tomorrow, but she got arrested for treason this afternoon, and I can't tell him something like that on his wedding day. I need someone to take with me, but I can't afford to pay for a professional escort.'

"So the broker thinks a little, and smiles, and he says to the Hoshigaki: 'I have the perfect solution. I'll let you pay in instalments, and you can use my loan shark.'"

Ino looked at him blankly.

"The Hoshigaki are the shark clan like the Inuzuka are the dog clan," Hazō explained awkwardly.

"Oh, now I get it!" Ino gave a gracious smile. "We don't make fun of the Inuzuka much. It's like shooting fish in a barrel—which is probably popular entertainment in Mist, now I think of it."

"Actually," Hazō said, "we use fishing as a trial of manhood. You can't tell in advance what kind of fish is going to bite, and it could be anything from a kasagin to a chakra megalodon. It takes guts to go fishing off the coast, even if you're a ninja. The Angler of Attack championship is like the Chūnin Exam, only it's against the ultimate opponent—nature—and that makes it a lot harder. The Mizukage provides the prizes because he thin- thought that survival fishing expresses Mist's ideology of man overcoming the natural world and absorbing its strength."

"You sound like you're still into it," Ino observed neutrally.

"You can't do proper fishing in the Fire Country," Hazō said. "Not that I've really had time to try, but your freshwater fish don't even bite your arm off if you tug on the line at the wrong moment. It's like hunting tamed sheep with ninjutsu."

"Well, obviously," Ino said. "Leaf is the bastion of civilisation and refinement. Around here, we read poetry at each other. It can get very heated."

"Poetry."

"Sure," Ino said. "The Third was an amazing old-school poet, though people had to beg him to publish his work. Lord Akimichi's well-known in certain circles. And Shika's dad was awful, but people still read his work because he got the technical level perfect and everybody wanted to learn from him. The Fire Country has the oldest civilisation in the world—obviously—so we've got a cultural heritage going all the way back to the Sage of Six Paths."

Hazō raised an eyebrow. "And you?"

"I'm more of a popular fiction kind of girl. Still…

Beneath the cold snow
He dreams impossible dreams.
I fear for us all.

"You can't be a clan heir, much less clan head, without a proper classical education. Nudge nudge."

Hazō rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll just have to go sign up for remedial classes while the wealthy, influential clan founded by my clanless orphan stepfather runs itself without me. Maybe I'll ask my Mist-educated clan consort sister to look in on it when she's not too busy running a third of the village."

A shadow passed over Ino's face, but only briefly.

"Touché," she smirked. "Maybe you're in with a chance after all."

"You mean in the competition?" Hazō gave his own smirk back. "The Gōketsu Clan welcomes all challengers."

"Yeah," Ino agreed. "In the competition too." She looked down thoughtfully at the strawberry cake (the availability of strawberries in winter probably had something to do with the number of zeroes in that menu). She raised the fateful fork. "But enough talk. Have at it!"

-o-​

You have received 2 + 1 = 3 XP.

-o-​

Kagome dithered a little over the Shadow Clone Technique, insofar as he was uncomfortable with the idea of another ninja with all of his knowledge wandering around, especially given that the copy would be as sensibly but dangerously suspicious of him as he was of it. However, Hazō persuaded him by highlighting the practicalities of never having to take time off research, even when seals needed scribing. He also commented that Kagome could now have a permanent disposable prototype tester who would pass along detailed memories of how the prototype failed, but was thrown into silence by two words: "Out contamination".

That said, the odds of a specialised sealmaster having the chakra to use it right now are low.

-o-​

The paralysis experts Ommonē Clan have lost their drive with the recent death of inspired clan head Sae. They may be willing to sell an adoption slot in return for rare ninjutsu, which would allow them to pursue a new vision for the clan.

The Daisho Clan have kept themselves politically relevant by having a sealmaster in every generation—until this one. With the rise of the KEI, their hopes of adopting a non-clan sealmaster any time soon have plummeted, but they still want their adoption slots on that million-to-one chance. Preferential seal trade terms, however, are the next best thing, and may be an option for persuading them.

The Shihō Clan were once in the top seven non-voting clans, only to undergo a great collapse when precious ally Shimura Danzō died in a tragic accident, and the dissolution of his clan meant their investment in him and his cause could never be repaid. They have learned their lesson well, and no longer care about lump sums of payment. Instead, they are building sustainable income streams with which to fuel their return to power, and can always be bribed with more.

-o-​

Asuma appreciates the copied seal list, and will check it against backup records, but he implies that your list is incomplete relative to the Tower's.

He is willing to accept a transfer of mortgage from the Orochimaru estate to the Gōketsu estate, but is not going to fight Orochimaru over whatever back rent etc. the latter feels you owe him.

-o-​

Any Yuno punching scenes are hereby officially left for @eaglejarl, should he desire them, with the note that Yuno was last seen in combat in Chapter 49 (poor Noburi).

-o-​

What do you do?

Voting closes on Saturday 18th of January, 9 a.m. New York Time.
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Time for a goddamn proper analysis post.

"I have been properly briefed on you now," Hyūga said coldly to Yuno as he gazed down at the cup in front of him disdainfully, as if it were an insufficient offering from a ritual summoner. "I should have been able to tell that you were a foreigner from those ridiculous allegations you were throwing at Gōketsu and myself."
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Neji's trying for the "disdainful, refined social superior gives you shit for your inferior upbringing" approach.

As usual, everything was thanks to Akane. It was Akane who'd worded the invitation in a way that would get Hyūga to come even though he was a xenophobe (not that anyone outside Isan had any idea what xenophobia really was). It was Akane who'd led her to this café despite how busy she was. It was Akane who'd smiled and left them alone, with Hyūga in less of a foul mood than Yuno had expected given what she'd heard about their two clans. It made sense, of course. Nobody could really hate Akane. She'd even managed to find a café with no more than three window-side seats and a female proprietor who looked between thirty and forty years of age.
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Akane is best girl, and the best friend anyone could ever ask for, and the best friend no one would ever think to ask for. It is known.

Also, Akane either remembers enough of Isan culture to figure out what's appropriate as seating arrangements go or asked skillfully enough that Yuno did not bring it up.

Also, fuck Kouta.

"What do you want from me?" Neji snapped.
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Neji's failing at the "disdainful, refined social superior gives you shit for your inferior upbringing" approach

"I just wanted to talk," Yuno said. "We didn't really get to last time, because of the asura attack." She'd have to apologise to Satsuko later, but Akane insisted that it was too early to formally introduce the two to each other.

"Fine," Hyūga said. "What do I want from you?"
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Neji at least has the social sense not to be thrown off by the more oblique reference to Orochimaru. Meanwhile, Yuno is talking about her axe again. I'm not 100% sure that it isn't actually a magically intelligent weapon of some kind. On the other hand, as coping mechanisms go, talking to your weapons isn't the worst.

"I've been thinking about you," Yuno said, "and about what Noburi and the others have to say about you." The way they'd sounded… they were well-meaning, trying to educate her about the dangers of this world. But she couldn't help thinking that this was also how the parents of Isan tried to educate their children about the dangers of Yuno.

Hyūga gritted his teeth. "Those filthy—"

"Hyūga," she interrupted. "I want to hear about you from you too."

Hyūga went quiet for a moment. "What?"

"I want to hear your side of the story," Yuno said gently. "I would never condemn someone without listening to what they had to say."
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I wonder if Hazou's spoken ill of Neji, or if she's primarily talking about Kagome and Noburi (and Keiko question mark?) here. Neji reacts predictably badly to being informed of his denigration by those he sees as traitors and foreigners. Yuno is showing him that she knows what he's gone through in some regard as a member of the branch family.

"What does that even mean?" he demanded. "Do you expect me to try to justify myself in the face of their doubtless preposterous accusations?"

"Forget the allegations," Yuno said. "Forget about them."

Noburi sometimes felt like he could be her counterpart, light to darkness. Yuno wondered if Hyūga was someone like her instead, and if it would be better or worse if he was.

"You sound like the world is wrong," she said, "and you're the only one who's noticed."
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Neji, upon being shown genuine sympathy: "DOES NOT COMPUTE"

Yuno: Expert in active listening. Take notes here, Hazou.

"Well, yes," Hyūga said with a note of confusion in his voice. "You haven't even met Rock Lee. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"My world is wrong too," Yuno said. "The rules are supposed to be for everyone, but every time I try to follow them, I run into an exception. Even if I try to explain that, nobody will understand, because in their mind, everything is working fine, and the parts that hurt me are working as intended."

Hyūga frowned. He took a sip of his drink, winced when it was hotter than he expected, but didn't interrupt.

"People don't respect me, even if I don't make mistakes. They never give me the benefit of the doubt. It's like I'm an outsider in my own home, even if I try to do what everyone else is doing."

Hyūga took some time to respond.

"For a foreigner, you have a surprisingly astute grasp of human nature," he concluded. "It doesn't matter how much insight you have if no one is willing to listen. And while a comprehensive set of laws is necessary for human existence, that doesn't matter if they are the wrong laws. But what of it? The world is not going to change, and if you are here merely to deal in wishful thinking and hypotheticals, then I have an oversized scroll to study."
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Oof, Yuno. I can empathize. It sucks to be caught in that kind of cycle. Poor girl. And Neji gives her the only answer that really is appropriate for this world. The subtext in what he says is that unless you've a way to change the world, there is little to be gained from meditating over long about things you can't change, and one's time is better spent on gaining the power to do so. This is tacitly mirroring Hazou's own mindset re: summon scrolls.

"I'm here because I want to find out what you're like," Yuno said. "You must have realised by now. I'm supposed to marry one of you, and it's not fair for me to only know Noburi."

"Hmph. If he is my sole competition, then I suppose I may as well start instructing you in the Leaf wedding rituals now."

Yuno beamed.

"It was a hypothetical!" Hyūga said urgently. "I never said…"

"Do you see now?" Yuno asked. "I have to marry one of you. And I'm not going to marry him just because it's the default option."
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Snrk. Yuno, you are a gem. I admire how forthright you are and willing to pursue your own happiness. She's like a less socially-savvy version of Akane with a touch more bloodlust.

Hyūga rubbed the bridge of his nose. "A wonderful parting gift you've left me, Lord Hiashi. Either I marry a foreigner, or Gōketsu marries her because she has a mind disturbed enough to find him better."

"The world is a cruel joke," Yuno agreed, "fashioned to the twisted sense of humour of someone you want to find and disembowel so the rain of their blood and innards can wash away your tears even for a second. But I'm starting to think it might have its merits."

"I wonder if it would be easier to find this person with the Byakugan," Hyūga said abstractedly.

"I have wasted enough time here," he said an alarmed second later. "I have work to do. Much work. I will take my leave."

"See you again soon!" Yuno said brightly.

Hyūga walked away. Yuno watched him. In the back of her mind, she wondered whether the Byakugan was a property of the eyes or the chakra system, and whether the eyeballs would still be pale and lacking pupils if they were scooped out and left to drain.

"Neji."

"What?"

Hyūga looked slightly sideways as he spoke, not even looking over his shoulder, so the word was hard to make out.

"Hyūga Neji."

A second later, he disappeared into the terrifying amorphous beast that Leaf called a busy street.
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Goddamn, Yuno, you go girl. Best hope she doesn't catch wind of Valerian in CftG... I'm really glad I went through with this analysis. I really like Yuno.

Also, back to the analysis, Neji gives her his given name, then clarifies the intent of saying such. This is a big deal in the culture of Japan/the EN, indicating a high degree of intimacy.

I'll get to the rest of this analysis later, this is a good start though! Great chapter, Velorien!
 
RandomOTP said:
Pardon me, @eaglejarl? I've been watching the Witcher, which made me want to reread the books. Out of pure nerd-driven curiosity: would it be possible to create a Witcher-like human using biological fuuinjutsu? I'm not proposing we do that (terribly inhumane aspects of the notion aside, with our current skillset and resources, it'd likely be impossible to complete within any length of time... Though if we get Orochimaru involved... Wait, no. Bad-me!), I'm just curious if it'd be possible with MfD's magic system.
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It's been a kajillion years since I played Witcher one, but I suspect the answer would be "Yes, but you'd need to work on your BioSealing a decent amount first."

Average academy grad is already street-fier superhero strong, so I don't think boosting a vanilla EN human to that level is outside of the bounds of a solid sealing score with some biosealing oomph behind it.
 
RandomOTP said:
Pardon me, @eaglejarl? I've been watching the Witcher, which made me want to reread the books. Out of pure nerd-driven curiosity: would it be possible to create a Witcher-like human using biological fuuinjutsu? I'm not proposing we do that (terribly inhumane aspects of the notion aside, with our current skillset and resources, it'd likely be impossible to complete within any length of time... Though if we get Orochimaru involved... Wait, no. Bad-me!), I'm just curious if it'd be possible with MfD's magic system.
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I'm not familiar with the relevant powers but the answer is "probably". It really depends on what you're looking for.
 
Lailoken said:
Can we just ask Akane to marry her already? It solves a lot of problems at once and allows us to get back to civ-quest instead of hyperfocusing on specific autocatalytic subcomponents.
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If you manage to legalise gay marriage in Leaf, Keiko will love you forever. Then Ami will legalise polygamy and Keiko will be the happiest girl in the Elemental Nations. Also Leaf clan politics will need to be rewritten from scratch, and Ami will be the second happiest girl in the Elemental Nations.
 
Velorien said:
If you manage to legalise gay marriage in Leaf, Keiko will love you forever. Then Ami will legalise polygamy and Keiko will be the happiest girl in the Elemental Nations. Also Leaf clan politics will need to be rewritten from scratch, and Ami will be the second happiest girl in the Elemental Nations.
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something something Ren defects something something screaming in Kurosawa
 
RandomOTP said:
Pardon me, @eaglejarl? I've been watching the Witcher, which made me want to reread the books. Out of pure nerd-driven curiosity: would it be possible to create a Witcher-like human using biological fuuinjutsu? I'm not proposing we do that (terribly inhumane aspects of the notion aside, with our current skillset and resources, it'd likely be impossible to complete within any length of time... Though if we get Orochimaru involved... Wait, no. Bad-me!), I'm just curious if it'd be possible with MfD's magic system.
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eaglejarl said:
I'm not familiar with the relevant powers but the answer is "probably". It really depends on what you're looking for.
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I would imagine that the samurai creation program we helped to stop back in Iron would be the most similar results-wise to recreating witchers in MfD.

In fact if we could get our hands on any samurai creation experimentation data we could combine that with Arikada's interrogation logs and ask good ol' Snake uncle to collaborate with us to make some worthwhile super soldiers. Of course, we'd have to throw ALL ethical constraints out of the window forever and ever (this undertaking would probably make the skin farm look like a children's cartoon (and not the kind Kishimoto makes)), but that's almost a given when one gets serious about fast human experimentation.

It's a shame we never got to see a person become a fully realized samurai as intended by the people experimenting on them in the sense that we don't know how powerful a samurai could be. It's for the best that such samurai couldn't prove their combat effectiveness nor impress the Elemental Nations in anyway or everyone would be waiting to be strapped to a table for their next patriotic injections.

Incidentally we should never admit to Oro that we were the ones who caused that program to fail. He might discipline us for impeding the march of !!!SCIENCE!!!
 
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