- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Is he even a thing in MfD?
Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
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- 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
Is he even a thing in MfD?
- Location
- USA
...so, they want to kill the KFC summoner?
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
- Location
- Europe
I know you mean the six-tails, but Ukitake is the bleach Captain, your inner bleach fan is showing.
edit: Also Six-tails is probably to old to date.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Damn, maybe I need to try and find the time to reread the quest. But as for seeking him out... I'm not quite sure what that would do to benefit us or him. I'd be alright with finding out more info about him (maybe through the spynetwork?) but otherwise I'd say let's finish (or at least make some amount of progress) with our current irons before we throw yet another one in the fire. Especially one that has us seeking out a host that may or may not kill us on first sighting.
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No after the battle of gods he rejoined Mist. So he is a ninja in good standing who we can interact with when we go steal the Koi. Becoming good friends/partners with Mist's only S-ranker who be super helpful for long term political positioning
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I'd... tentatively vote for a plan that had us cautiously doing this. Hazou likely wouldn't know much more than "Mist has a jinchuuriki other than Three Tails" so he wouldn't really be prepared for the level of indoctrination that might have occured as a result from the memory-damage. I wouldn't vote against a plan just because it included this in it, but it'd have to, at bare minimum, tackle it carefully to get my vote.
Especially because Mist is still down a jinchuuriki and are likely going to be relying on him to help subdue the Three Tails when it reforms, so they're going to be treating him like a prince and watching over him like he's a sickly newborn. And also because getting the attention of an S-rank ninja while we're doing illegal things on their home field is something that can go very wrong, very quickly.
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- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I am 100% down with getting to know her as well. I think we should be super interactive in networking on this trip.
Noumero
Omit Needless Words
Because Yuno is going to be interacting with Yukino. Two cursed children of minor villages turned missing-nin then repatriated, they'll get along like they're setting their respective hometowns on fire.
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So Yuno pairs with Yukino. Hazō with Utakata. Is there anyone we want to throw Haru, Akane or Nobs at?
- Location
- USA
...double date? ....multi-date?
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Haru: No one, too much of a chip on his shoulder to be a good diplomat. He hates clans and Mist still has a lot of bloodline clans, since they never went through the "purges" in MfD.
Akane: Send her along with Yuno and Yukino to help smooth things along and keep the fires from spreading. Also Akane's a delightful friend for Yuno and could be a delightful friend for Yukino, too.
Noburi: Um... I can't think of anyone. Maybe have him tag along, too? Yukino might pick up on the awkwardness between Yuno and Noburi and poke at it, creating interesting situations. And with Akane there, it won't get too out of hand.
Whether or not Yuno and Noburi eventually end up together, they do need to sort this out and become friends again. Or at least friend-ly. They have too many mutual friends not to, really. And if it leads to a relationship in the years to come? Well, the best relationships are "friendship that's caught fire," right? Or maybe it won't and they'll just be close friends with an awkward moment of history between them. But, for now, I just want to get them talking to each other again. Whatever romance might or might not happen can happen later on, when they're of-age.
Let's... avoid any romantic buildup until they're all adults.
On one hand: minors.
On the other: cross-village relationships probably wouldn't survive. Friendships might, if expectations are carefully managed. But not relationships.
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Noumero
Omit Needless Words
I agree with @RandomOTP that adding Akane to the Yuno/Yukino group would go well. There's no specific character I could assign Haru to, but I don't imagine Mist is lacking in somewhat capable clanless ninja who hate the clans.
Regarding Noburi... Well, I suppose he could go get to know Kiri (of Team Downfall) or Gisuji Kanako (the I&S specialist from Event 3), if we're willing to dispose of their—
Oh. It's all coming together now. Noburi seduces Kiri, Kiri brings us some koi. After Satsuko learns, we make it look like a shark attack. Perfect.
Chapter 327: Setting New Coordinates
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"I enjoy being brought into deep, dark, claustrophobic underground spaces as much as anyone who's ever spent time in a perverted noble's 'special' dungeon," Mari said wryly, "but around you, I'm starting to get used to it. What horrors await this time, Hazō?"
"If it's advice on what to do with your love life, you've come to the right place," Noburi added. "A deep, dark, claustrophobic underground space is perfect tomb material."
"Says the man with Hyūga as his love rival," Hazō parried.
"Hah," Noburi said. "Hyūga is that fat ugly girl that other girls stand next to so they can look better by comparison. I'll invite him over one of these days just so Yuno can fall even more in love with me."
"It's going well, then?" Hazō asked.
Noburi gave a gentle but extremely self-satisfied smile. "You betcha. That chakra beast mission was just the thing to show off my manly side. This time I even managed not to look like a complete idiot in front of her."
Hazō gave a mock gasp.
"In combat, I mean." Noburi rolled his eyes. "We sparred together back in Isan once, and it… didn't go great. I could feel my masculinity getting chopped in half with an axe."
Mari snorted.
"My masculinity," Noburi repeated peevishly. "I made a point of not saying 'manhood', or anything else you could jump on."
Hazō looked at Mari.
Do you want to take this one?
No, you go ahead.
"Noburi," Hazō said gravely, "Trust me when I say nobody present has any intention of jumping on your manhood. For a start, do you realise how long it would take us to find it?"
"Use a Fire Country map, duh," Noburi said. "Look under 'major landmarks and pilgrimage sites'.
"On the other hand, yours is Bear Country. Terra incognita which nobody wants or dares to cognit. Doomed to be forever isolated, nay, quarantined for the greater good."
Hazō felt something stab him from the inside. An all-too-familiar blade, not sharp—not anymore—but not a training kunai either.
"Forever isolated?" he repeated, mostly to himself.
Noburi winced. "You know I didn't mean it like that."
Uncomfortable silence.
"I didn't realise you were still sensitive about… it," Noburi said. "I thought you were, well, over it by now."
In the background, Mari sighed, though whether at Noburi's insensitivity or Hazō's immaturity was anyone's guess.
-o-
Earlier…
Hazō hit the ground with a thud… again. His back was not going to thank him tomorrow. Or rather, it was already filing a report with the Muscle secret police, and an invitation to T&I (or in this case, just T) was only a matter of time.
"Are you all right, Hazō?"
Akane reached over and helped him up. He winced.
"You seem distracted," she said. "Usually, you'd have seen that feint coming and countered with a right hook. Obviously, the act of feinting was in itself a feint and I was setting myself up to counter your counter—we should really ask Keiko to spar with us more often—but you didn't even get that far. What's up?"
"Just stuff on my mind," Hazō said.
"Want to talk about it?"
"It's nothing," Hazō said. But he looked at Akane again, and hesitated. "Just stress building up. There's so much to do, between the clan stuff, and the ninjutsu stuff, and the politics stuff, and special missions to plan, and so many different people and kinds of people to wrangle, and we have to maintain momentum now that we finally have it, and the political situation in Leaf is suddenly fluid and if we fail to take advantage of it now we might not get another chance, and Keiko and Naruto and Ami are out there somewhere on a really dangerous mission I have no way to influence, and… and... and there's no time to take time off, not really, because this is what I wanted all along and I have to give it everything I have now that it's finally within reach."
Akane gave a sympathetic smile as she leaned back against a tree. "I thought so. You're always in such a rush, Hazō. Trying so hard to seize every opportunity. It's almost as if you've forgotten that you're a genius at making opportunities yourself. You don't have to grab every one that life dangles in front of you at the same time. Maybe you shouldn't. Not if it wears you out to the point where you get yourself kicked in the jaw by someone whose fighting style you know off by heart."
"That I do," Hazō agreed, rubbing the location in question in a futile effort to assuage the pain. He really did.
"Actually," Akane said after a few seconds of silently watching him fail to recover his dignity, "I've had something on my mind lately too.
"Hazō, do you remember why we broke up?"
She watched him alertly.
Of course he remembered. How could he forget? Looking back, the pattern was easy to trace. With a high probability of termination on its existing course, her line of causality had shifted into entanglement with his, and continued in close parallel through several other points of existential instability. In the end, they reached what seemed like a point of near-convergence on several planes, only to discover untracked layers that led to deviation. The pull of his causal gravitation was disrupting entanglement with her line rather than intensifying it, and ultimately, the crossing separated them according to a version of a previously encountered pattern, albeit from a different coordinate set. Why would she ask about something so obvious?
"Sure I do," Hazō said. "Your causal line was following a course which would result in excessive parallelisation, and consequently switched planes while maintaining entanglement."
"I-I'm sorry?"
"Was I unclear?" Hazō frowned. "Here, let me try to collapse it to four dimensions."
"We started at these points here." He put his fingertips in the appropriate positions in mid-air. He only had ten fingers, which dismayed him, especially since their motion was interdependent, but Akane had most of the same data he did, so a simplified version should still get the basic idea cross. "If we take these," he wiggled several fingers, but not too much lest they slip out of alignment, "as our pre-divergence patterns, and assume that they're following linear motion on these planes—I know they're not really linear, but you get the idea—then proceed to..."He cursed silently. "Would you mind giving me your left hand in the third, seventh, twelfth, and thirteenth dimensions, Akane? I need to indicate more points."
But the coordinates of Akane's hand changed (in a linear fashion) as he reached for it. "Hazō," she said with perfect cold seriousness, "please tell me this is just a badly-timed joke."
"What are you talking about?" Hazō asked. "I'm trying to answer your question. If you're low on cognitive space, I can try to stick to three, but I don't know if the resulting model is going to be accurate enough to be useful. Maybe if I had a dozen sheets of paper so I could build a simulacrum… but then we'd have to come up with suitable notation… Akane, could you give me a little time to think?"
The coordinates of Akane's body changed significantly, relative to the bounded context. "Yes," she said tensely. "Yes, I think I need some time to think too."
-o-
Hazō couldn't remember, now, what it was he'd said that made Akane leave without explaining what was on her mind. He was pretty sure, though, that it had been eminently reasonable, and unworthy of the overreaction. He'd have to figure out where she'd gone, and see if he could resume the conversation.
For now, though…
"I wanted to talk to you about the Shadow Clone Technique," Hazō began. "You know how, despite being the same age as us, Naruto is an unstoppable god of war?"
Mari and Noburi nodded.
"I think the reason is his ridiculously large chakra reserves."
"And the fact that he's been trained from birth by some of the most powerful ninja in the world," Noburi said.
"And the fact that he has unique jinchūriki powers we have no idea about and can't distinguish from his observed abilities," Mari added.
"And the fact that he's probably had free access to all of Leaf's most powerful techniques, including all of Jiraiya's ninjutsu, since he was old enough to consciously use chakra," Noburi said.
"Work with me here," Hazō said. "Huge chakra reserves mean he can create a huge number of shadow clones. That dramatically amplifies his learning speed, which is why he can be so powerful despite being the same age as us."
"Makes sense," Noburi said.
Hazō took a deep breath.
"I think we can do the same."
"Godlike power on top of my natural awesomeness?" Noburi asked. "I'm listening."
"Nobody in the world has ever had the unique combination of chakra drain powers and the Shadow Clone Technique. With your help, we can have functionally unlimited chakra. We can do the same thing as Naruto. With a little time, we can become as powerful as him."
He paused to take in the other two's looks of absolute attention.
"I've made some off-the-cuff calculations," Hazō said, bringing out a sheet of paper which was immediately waved away, "and I reckon that if we really focus on making this work, we can eventually reach the point where we're training and learning four times faster than we are now. And we're still talking about the Shadow Clone Technique, so we get massive multitasking benefits. We could be a family of Jiraiyas within the decade."
Mari's expression was distant. "A family of Jiraiyas…"
"All the power we need to change the world," Hazō said decisively. "But this needs total OPSEC, because depending on who finds out, they could do this better than us, and then they'll be unstoppable, and we'll be all but at their mercy. Orochimaru can probably use his powers to find some way to offset the stress from reintegrating the clones, which is the technique's biggest weakness, and I'm pretty sure he can get his hands on a Wakahisa if he tries, or one of the other draining bloodlines. If his powers get multiplied by four, it's over. This whole world will be his Basement. I don't know what the odds are of Ami getting the technique—she's a foreign ninja who should have no possible way of learning it, but she also rules a third of the village and is very good with favours—but she's also an optimiser playing on at least our level, and the Frozen Skein might also be able to help her manage clone sickness. It wouldn't be quite as bad as Orochimaru getting it, but she's already a different kind of dangerous. I don't want to have to rely on Keiko to save the world."
Noburi nodded. "Can't have the clans getting it either. I'm getting visions of infinite UberHyūgas, and it's not fun."
"Right. Size matters. Whatever we come up with, they have the people and resources to make more effective use of it if they get it. And since they don't have a chakra drain user of their own, they're going to turn Leaf upside down to get at you."
"So it's a main family secret," Noburi said. "Gotcha. As long as nobody else makes the same leap of logic you did."
"Leaf doesn't have any chakra drainers, and Mist and Hot Springs and whoever else don't have shadow clones. But you're right. Once we've done it, there's a risk somebody else will work it out. We can't use Naruto levels of chakra without anyone noticing that we're using Naruto levels of chakra."
"We're the Gōketsu," Mari said with a smile. "What are we good at? Crazy ideas that inexplicably work and embarrassing OPSEC failures. I see a particularly bad one in the near future where top-secret documents listing the clan's Bloodline Limit powers get stolen and do the rounds until everyone who matters knows what they are. Did you know the Iron Nerve lets people perfectly replicate motions they've made before? Or that Keiko's Frozen Skein gives her special powers of calculation and optimisation? Or that Kagome's Handsight lets him sense when people approach an object he's touched, so he'll know you're there even if you disarm or bypass his traps? Obviously, this document also lists our terrible weaknesses, like the way the Iron Nerve won't let you stop a motion once you've started it, and that's why Hazō can't stop himself once he begins saying something stupid. And of course, Vampiric Dew can't be used on clones. Can't let that one get out, or the clan is doomed.
"How can we power the Shadow Clone Technique? Who knows? We invented skywalkers. We're in the process of inventing more things that move through the air for some reason. There's no point even trying to guess what insanity we've cooked up this time."
"I like it." Noburi grinned.
"Won't work on our main threats, though," he said more soberly. "Orochimaru and Ami know about both shadow clones and chakra drain. Ami might know that Wakahisa can power other kinds of clone perfectly well, and draw her own conclusions—or just see through the trick full stop. Orochimaru… I have no idea what he knows, but if there's anyone who can guess what Vampiric Dew is really capable of, it's him. If he ever comes up with the possibility of we're talking about here, he might just decide to test it, in which case some Wakahisa out there is in big trouble. Or some Wakahisa in here." He gave a shudder.
"There's always an element of danger," Hazō said. "It's part of being a ninja. But we have the chance to take one of the world's most powerful ninjutsu and supercharge it until it turns us into ninja to rival the Legendary Three. Don't you think that's worth the risk?"
-o-
You have received 1 + 1 = 2 XP.
-o-
Mari and Noburi do not know Asuma's conditions for letting them learn SC. You will have to ask someone more qualified at a different juncture.
Mari already has some Technique Hacking skill from when she was inventing her own genjutsu, but she decided to stop for reasons she can't quite remember now. In retrospect, she thinks it was probably the dangers involved. TH is a lot like sealing, except you can't run away from a disaster happening inside your own body. Shadow clones would mitigate this, but on the other hand, as somebody with her own issues, she is seriously spooked by what happened to Keiko, and is hesitant to risk going through the same thing.
The more he thinks about it, the more Noburi is worried about a lifetime of being a chakra barrel boy for his family as they ascend to heights he cannot reach. He'll go through with it anyway, because he wants to be the kind of person who puts his family's needs ahead of his own, but you had better be quick about that TH so he doesn't end up years behind.
Mari and Kagome are putting off the conversation about your Out-related situation in an unexpectedly emphatic way. You really thought they were starting to relax.
-o-
What do you do?
Voting ends on Saturday 22nd of February, 9 a.m. New York Time.
Unaligned Player
Agony that desires to meet Extinction
- Location
- Adrift between sanity and madness
- Pronouns
- Shrug
She was going to die so she joined up with him and stayed through many dangerous trials. They learned more about eachother and became close only to discover the many points of irreconcilable difference between them. With the force of Hazou's personality dragging her in she could see herself becoming but a drop of water in his metaphorical ocean, another limb unto this million armed being rather than being a partnership of equals. When she came to terms with this she decided to revert/terminate/change their relationship though what it was has changed it significantly from the previous versions.
Noumero
Omit Needless Words
Success.
- Location
- Yes.
*screaming in faflec*
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
shitshitshit! We're not better, we're getting worse! Quick, has Hazou been getting worse since we began Ami-style training?? The few times we haven't done it, did we get worse, better, or stagnate??
Hell yes, Old Mari's back! A little. It's a nice glimmer, at least. Gives me hope ^.^
"Those Goketsu people are insane! They make skywalkers, skytowers, a paper bird that can fly us through the sky, and now they're working on something that'll either blow us all up or give us free energy for life."
If we're to continue on this path, then this needs to be a priority. This needs to be central to our plans going forward until we've resolved it.
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
word count ???
[X] Action plan: Gōketsu Hazō and the quest for ultimate power
plan should take 10 days
Check everything with the clan
[X] Action plan: Gōketsu Hazō and the quest for ultimate power
plan should take 10 days
Check everything with the clan
- Talk with Kagome, bringing Mari and Noburi.
- Prep:
- Search Leaf General Hospital's archives for evidence of Ebisu's claims.
- Get details/numbers of crippled kids.
- Talk to survivors and get their stories.
- Follow-up on other leads.
- Get cookies; it'll calm Kagome.
- Search Leaf General Hospital's archives for evidence of Ebisu's claims.
- Explain Ebisu's concerns and suggestions.
- Give a character assessment of Ebisu as well – from Hazou's perspective, he's one of the more competent, reasonable people he's met.
- Show him our collected evidence. Offer to arrange meetings with survivors.
- Ask Kagome how he wants to proceed.
- We do believe Honoka's fine. However, we need to prove that this is safe.
- Leaf holds Ebisu's teaching skills in high regard; Kagome wanted him for supporting his educational reform. Showing that Kagome's willing to exercise caution andprovide evidence would greatly improve Ebisu's opinion of him.
- Suggest limiting chakra usage to <Noburi-suggested amount> to prevent 'burnout', and making sure Honoka gets daily checkups with a Hyuuga medic when she does chakra training.
- Or, if it turns out to be unsafe, revise the training methods.
- Of course if it is safe we will work to help convince Ebisu
- No one is saying he can't train Honoka. We just want to ensure that she and any of Kagome's future students are safe.
- We do believe Honoka's fine. However, we need to prove that this is safe.
- Prep:
- Meet with Asuma
- Give him the report on educational reforms
- Use the school we've sit up on the Gōketsu estate as an example of ways to improve early childhood education
- Suggest using Noburi to help identify potential Ninja earlier
- Get permission to have Yuno join summoning scroll hunt
- Discuss Mist diplomatic mission
- Discuss with Asuma the potential of creating trade deals using the 7th path to instantly move goods
- Also Hazō would like to discuss trying to serve as a bridge between Mist and Leaf
- He's the Mizukage's nephew
- The Kurosawa currently don't have a clear next clan head after Ren
- Who isn't having children
- And Hazō is the purest Kurosawa of his generation
- With the Hokage guidances Hazō is sure that Hazō can put himself into a position to steer Mist to a stronger pro leaf position
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- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
Well it's good to know those were happy memories. Either that or her TH specialty was Henge.
OOC, we still have the Consequence and will continue to have it for a while longer, and we have not taken PotO to potentially crystallize it into something different. We're still a fair while away from the effects fading away, but I haven't seen anything indicating that we're slipping into a worse state.
Even more OOC, Velorien promised to give writing Out!Hazou a try in some of his updates, and this is likely one of those.
Noumero
Omit Needless Words
Oh my, this meme ascended.
"Hazou, why do you keep putting your foot in your mouth?"
"Iron Nerve."