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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Chapter 353: Heirs of the KEI
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    • It was far too late at night to be doing his summoning homework. In fact, he took exception to having summoning homework, or indeed there being such a thing as summoning homework. The head of Leaf's soon-to-be-greatest clan, who had already invented one of history's greatest seals and faced down some of its deadliest ninja, did not deserve to feel like he was back at the Academy, and he certainly didn't deserve to feel like he was failing. He strongly suspected that Tsunade's latest exercise was less a logical step in training and more a test of his determination, which she clearly had little faith in. Fortunately, the opportunity to overturn her expectations was all the motivation he needed.

    Which was not to say he didn't feel a massive sense of relief when he was summoned to the compound gates to receive a visitor (who, wonder of wonders, didn't simply saunter through the defences without waiting for an invitation).

    "Ami?" Hazō exclaimed. "You're OK!"

    Ami slipped her backpack off to rest at her feet, and gave a massive yawn. "Mmm. Good to see you too, Hazō. Hey, can I crash here tonight?"

    The question took Hazō off guard. "Don't you normally stay at the Uchiha compound, which, much as I hate to admit it, is not improvised out of cold granite in the middle of a creepy forest?"

    Ami gave him an unreadable look. "I just want to spend tonight somewhere where everyone doesn't worship at my feet. C'mon, it'll be fun. We can stay up all night braiding each other's hair and talking about boys."

    Hazō gave her a sceptical look. "Maybe you should save that for your actual sister?"

    Ami gave him an even more sceptical look in return.

    "…Oh, right. Never mind."

    "Cool," she said lightly. "Glad we've got that sorted. Have some souvenirs." She held out a storage scroll in each hand.

    Hazō took them and tentatively unfurled them one after the other. As was common with storage scrolls, the empty space in the middle of the seal bore a character that loosely indicated the contents: "Sword", for example, for a backup sword, or "water" for a barrel of drinking water. These, naturally, were labelled "^_^".

    "Should I open them now?"

    "Depends how hungry you are," Ami said. "The one on the left is glazed grilled eel from Byakuren's Cookbook. Should still be warm unless the laws of time and space changed on me when I wasn't looking again."

    She frowned.

    "Or was it grilled glazed eel from Yukizome's Experimental Cuisine? I can't remember which one I decided to pack in the end."

    Hazō felt a stab of suspicion. "That's one of my favourite dishes. I've never told you it was one of my favourite dishes. I'm not sure I've even told Keiko. It's not like you can get decent eel here for love nor money."

    Ami shrugged innocently. "Would it help if I told you that the other scroll was Kurosawa Hana-brand home-made cookies?"

    Mum's home-made cookies? Here? Now? Hazō knew he couldn't actually smell them through the dimensional barrier of the storage scroll, but his brain begged to differ, and the experience was enough to fill him with a glow of nostalgic delight.

    Then the implications hit him with all the bloodcurdlingly terrifying impact of a playful Fifi.

    "You met my mother?!"

    Ami grinned.

    "Why did you meet my mother?"

    "General curiosity/ingratiating myself with someone who has power over you/looking for embarrassing childhood stories. Take your pick. Hey, if you think I was out of line, I'll be happy to take those cookies back."

    Hazō's imagination tried to process the implications. It failed. There were so many different kinds of apocalyptic disaster on offer that Pain's world-ending ritual began to look like a little girls' tea party by comparison.

    However, he did not give back the cookies. One of the first and most important shinobi teachings was that some things were worth any sacrifice.

    "Not three minutes and I can already feel my sanity beginning to crumble. Welcome back, Ami."

    Ami beamed. "It's good to be back. Seriously."

    "So you got everything sorted out in Mist?" Hazō asked carefully.

    Ami's expression cooled. "Apparently almost being executed for treason isn't fun. I don't know why you're so into it."

    "Executed?"

    "Mmm. Turns out the Mizukage frowns on people actively working to get enemy villages summoning scrolls. Who knew."

    "I get why she might not be happy about that," Hazō said thoughtfully, "but did she really call Leaf an enemy village?"

    "Tell me about it," Ami said. "If it had been me wearing the hat, I'd have spun it into an unprecedented example of inter-village cooperation, and maybe leaned on Leaf to reciprocate by lending out assets for use in Mist's own scroll hunt. Instead… ugh. It's like watching a child throw a tantrum because she's not good enough to play the game, only this child has a knife at your throat and the blood's already dripping."

    Hazō took a second to consider the image, then thoroughly suppressed it for the rest of his life. "So… are you OK?"

    "I'm fine," Ami replied after a delay that was just a fraction of a second too long. "Now show me to the Elysium of luxury that you naturally have prepared for a visitor of my stature. Unless you're taking this as an excuse to invite me to your own chambers, in which case I commend your sense of opportunism."

    Hazō smirked.

    "I'll get back to you if my hair ever gets long enough to braid."

    -o-​

    "This is a nice change of pace," Akane said, studying the elite café's menu with a casualness that she clearly still wasn't used to (the most expensive dishes here costing months of a carpenter's income). Ironically, it was the very same place where Ino had chewed him out after the breakup—there was no possible way Mari could have known that when she recommended it, but on the other hand, a combination of improbable knowledge of his personal life and cruelly playful wit couldn't be more Gōketsu Mari.

    "Does this mean you've made a decision on the thing we talked about?" Akane asked less casually, leaning over her shaved ice dessert and its enormous crown of syrup. "You can take as long as you need to, you know."

    "I have," Hazō said, "but there's something I wanted to talk to you about first. Akane, Mari told me what happened while we were away for the Chūnin Exam Finals."

    "Told you what, exactly?" Akane asked warily.

    "About what happened with you and Tsunade."

    "Oh."

    "What were you thinking, Akane?" Hazō asked. "Why do you insist on trying to sacrifice yourself the second I take my eyes off you?"

    "I wasn't trying to sacrifice myself," Akane said with deliberate patience. "Mari was hurting, and the treatment was only making things worse, and I had to take a risk in order to help her. I'm not suicidal, Hazō."

    "You could have fooled me," Hazō snapped. "You challenged Tsunade to a fight. Orochimaru isn't stupid enough to challenge Tsunade to a fight, and they violently disagree on literally everything."

    "I had to help Mari," Akane said. "I'm not a manipulator the way she is, or even the way you're becoming. And it's not like there was a single person outside the clan who'd take my side against Tsunade on a medical issue. You weren't there, and I had to face the challenge the only way I could."

    Hazō could feel his temper overflowing. This beautiful, ridiculous, self-destructive girl… how could she sit there and calmly say such stupid, insane things with a straight face? How could she keep making this one basic, primitive mistake, over and over again, and then defend it?

    "By throwing your life away?!" he demanded. "Akane, there is never a reason for you to throw your life away!"

    "There you're wrong," Akane said with an unexpected ferocity. "We're ninja. We exist to put our lives on the line for the people we love. I don't intend to ever throw my life away—I am not suicidal—but if I have to choose between risking my life and turning my back on you, or our family, or my parents, or the village, then I know what I'll choose every time."

    This was… this was unacceptable. Couldn't she hear herself speak? She was talking like a character in a Mist propaganda story, not a rational human being who could be trusted to make sensible decisions.

    "There's risking your life and there's this," Hazō said. "It's not even the first time. I love you too, Akane, but we are not more important than you are. Do you think Mari would have been happy if Tsunade killed you? Do you think anyone in the world would have been happy? Do you think I'm happy going around in the knowledge that every time a problem comes up that can't be solved without risk to your life, you'll just throw yourself at it with wild abandon?"

    Akane hesitated.

    "Hazō," she said evenly, "your opinion is important to me, but I cannot use your preferences as a guide to how I should act. I value my personal survival more highly than you seem to think, but I don't value it as much as you do, relative to other priorities, and that is my right as an individual. If you have insight or advice to offer, then I will always welcome it, but I can't sacrifice my agency because you don't want to see me in danger."

    Hazō opened his mouth to furiously object, but at the last second he noticed the look in her eyes. It didn't speak of attacking or defending. It spoke of… waiting. Waiting for him to do something specific.

    No, to communicate in a specific way, which he had invented for just such a situation and nearly forgotten when it counted.

    He paused to gather his thoughts. He hated the idea of her risking her life the way she had with Tsunade—to be frank, he hated the idea of her risking her life in any way at all ever—but just saying that wouldn't resolve this situation. If he boiled down the essence of what he was objecting to, what would he end up with?

    "Akane," he finally began, "I disagree with your priorities, but I acknowledge that I can't change them. Instead, I'd like to ask you to raise the priority of looking for other solutions. With Tsunade, you might not have had other options at the time, but if you could have waited a little longer, we'd have come back and been able to help you. A few more days or weeks of suffering for Mari would have been objectively less bad than a chance of death for you, from her perspective as much as mine. You may consider risking your life to be necessary under some circumstances, but I don't think it's the only solution in most of them, or the best one."

    "I can accept that," Akane said. "I don't deny that I've put myself in unnecessary danger in the past, or that there are some ways in which I'm too inflexible in my thinking. I will make an effort to fix this, and on my part I'd like to ask you to respect my values and work with me to achieve better outcomes without trying to force me to be a different person."

    Hazō and Akane looked in each other's eyes for a long moment.

    "Done," Hazō said finally. "Can I have some of your shaved ice? I'm suddenly finding myself pretty thirsty."

    "Get your own," she fired back with a smile. "I have sparring with Rock Lee in half an hour, and I'll need all the sugar I can get."

    -o-​

    Everyone in Leaf, Hazō suspected, had received an invitation to this event. His own had come from Keiko in person, which was both a gesture of respect and an ominous statement that failure to participate would be a direct insult. As for the other clans, the crests he could and couldn't see spoke volumes.

    The overwhelming mass of people filling the clearing was, of course, primarily made up of KEI ninja. Hazō recognised every ninja from his estate, and every other KEI ninja he knew by sight, among the crowd of hundreds. It was a sobering reminder, to others more than to him, that the KEI comprised a third of the village. But more than that, he could see countless ninja with missing limbs or horrible scars. They were doubtless long since retired, and many had clearly needed help to make it outside the village (it was unclear whether the as-yet-unbuilt compound's land had been bought, rented, or given, but either way it seemed real estate within the village proper was outside the new clan's budget). Nevertheless, every one of them wore their forehead protector. Equally surprising, if only for a second, were the Academy students. The very youngest had probably been brought along by their parents just so they could be present for the historic moment, but the rest would be keenly aware of what they were seeing: their future prospects opening up beyond anything they could have imagined back when their parents first taught them to mind their place.

    There was a makeshift stage. The KEI coordinators were naturally present, but they stood unobtrusively in the background—on one level, this was the ultimate KEI event, but on another, the new clan's leadership would look weak if no dividing line were drawn between them and the existing triumvirate. Naruto wore a proud grin, while Ami's expression was, oddly, calmly neutral. Keiko looked relatively calm, but anyone remotely familiar with her would recognise a suppressed desire to squirm before the focused attention of multitudes. Hazō noted with a start that, while Naruto and Ami were wearing ordinary formal clothes, Keiko's were the grey and black of the Nara, complete with the clan crest.

    Shikamaru himself was also in attendance, talking quietly to Chōji in the concealing shade of one of the taller trees off to the side. Of Lord Akimichi, however, there was no sign. Hazō couldn't see Ino either. Shino was off to the right of the main mass of people, together with a couple of older Aburame, and while Hinata had apparently decided not to come in person, there was an unfamiliar young man in Hyūga beige observing the proceedings from near the back. Sasuke was present—after the positive relationship he'd cultivated with Ami and the KEI since the Great Collapse, he was hardly going to snub them now—but Hazō couldn't see a single Inuzuka or Hagoromo. Hazō didn't see Asuma at first, but he was here, at the very front, the only person (or at least the only able-bodied person) to have been accorded a chair. No special accommodations had been made for anyone else, regardless of rank.

    Hazō's game of spot-the-clansman was interrupted as a tall, slim woman in her mid-twenties took the stage.

    "Thank you for coming," she said, projecting across the entire space while keeping a level voice in a clearly practised manner. "It honours us to have so many people come to take part in this historic moment. My name is Kanata Haruka. I am a jōnin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and the primary representative of the Konoha Enlightenment Initiative at this event."

    She gave a deep bow, ostensibly to the crowd overall, but the fact that Asuma was at the centre of the front row, directly in front of her, lent the movement a certain ambiguity.

    "For a thousand years," she began, "we have endured. We have endured as all shinobi fought together, bled together, and died together for the sake of our families, our comrades, and our villages. We have endured as some of the survivors went home to feasts and celebrations, honour and glory, while the rest earned only sneers and contempt. We have endured—all for the sake of surviving until this day with our spirits unbroken. And unbroken we stand."

    All around Hazō, spines straightened, making him suddenly feel as if he himself had grown a little shorter.

    "Lord Hokage is a man of vision like none before him. Even Senju Hashirama, who founded the Village Hidden in the Leaves with the Will of Fire at its heart, only saw the clans he needed to unite. It took Sarutobi Asuma to see that the Will of Fire is within all of us, not just those born with privilege, and to give us the chance we needed to prove ourselves to the world. And we have proven ourselves beyond what anyone expected.

    "Today is a landmark day in the history of mankind. Today, we, the shinobi of common birth, the shinobi without clans, have won the right to build a clan of our own. A clan that does not draw its power from special blood or secret techniques or ancient lore, but from the shared strength and wisdom of a full third of this village."

    Unfortunately, Hazō couldn't see the face of the Hyūga observer some way behind him. Elsewhere, however, clan ninja stirred. Shikamaru was frowning, but what emotion this represented was, as usual, anyone's guess. A few Minami, whom he now recognised, were whispering to each other, but he had an odd feeling they were amused rather than offended. Sasuke had gone stiff.

    "This is not the fulfilment of our goal," Kanata stated with a firmness that once again imposed quiet on the audience. "This is only a foundation. This is where we begin to make our thousand-year dream into reality. This is where we begin the quest to fulfil the Seventh Hokage's vision: a Leaf in which every shinobi can fulfil their true potential in Leaf's service, and in which every shinobi will receive the recognition and reward they deserve for their loyalty and labour.

    "But the true value of the Hokage's reward is not that another clan has been entered into the registry scrolls. It is not the special right of expanded adoption. It is not even the seat on the Clan Council. No, Lord Hokage has given us one simple thing that we have been denied for over a thousand years:"

    She let the alert silence last a few seconds, then spoke a single word.

    "Respect."

    She raised a hand, and a huge banner went up behind the stage: the character 敬, emblazoned in shining gold on a blue background.

    "I hereby announce the foundation of the clan for the clanless: the Kei Clan. Written as 'Kei'; read as 'Respect'!"

    After a second's hesitation, likely guided by a few forewarned figures in the audience, hundreds of voices shouted in unison, "Written as 'Kei'; read as 'Respect'!"

    Hazō's every move here could be interpreted as a political act, and he chose not to join in despite the current of shared emotion threatening to drag him along (and the fact that, even without the theatrics, he really was moved by what was happening here). If any of the KEI ninja noticed, he figured he had built up enough goodwill with the organisation (whether on his own merit or as a side effect of his recent "redemption") for one act of neutrality to be forgiven.

    "We have received the respect of the wisest man in Hidden Leaf and the mortal representative of the Will of Fire. The Kei Clan has but one mission and one ambition: we will build a world where even the most bigoted must follow his example. Written as 'Kei'; read as 'Respect'!"

    "WRITTEN AS 'KEI'; READ AS 'RESPECT'!"

    Kanata waited for the crowd to quiet down.

    "Allow me to introduce myself again," she said. "My name is Kei Haruka, and I am the first head of the Kei Clan. With me are the ten ninja chosen by the KEI to bear the honour and the responsibility of being a clan founder."

    One, by one, they stepped out from the back of the stage to stand alongside her.

    "Kei Minori." The unsung heroine of the Battle of Nagi Island stepped forward with a proud smile on her face.

    "Kei Ebisu." Leaf's master instructor joined her. This surely can't have been Ebisu's first chance for clan adoption, and Hazō couldn't help but wonder if his own efforts to get the special jōnin to work with clanless students were part of the reason the man had changed his mind.

    "Kei Suguru." The second jōnin from the Battle of the Heavens stepped forward. He seemed more stoic than pleased to be standing there, but Hazō doubted that he'd signed up for the doubtless hard days in store without truly caring about his cause.

    "Kei Ruri." Hazō didn't recognise the short, bashful-looking young woman, but her adoption didn't seem to come as a surprise to any of the KEI ninja around him.

    "Kei Yoshi." This was the genin singled out by Asuma at the contest results announcement. A genin as clan founder? Hazō supposed it would be hypocritical of him to object, though he couldn't help wondering if the boy would still have been standing up there if Asuma hadn't made him famous.

    "Kei Anko."

    Countless people exchanged looks ranging from surprise to frank bewilderment. She wasn't anywhere near Ami's level, but who would choose that walking headache to be at the core of their still-fragile new clan?

    No, this was also a political move. There was no better way to prove the Kei Clan's meritocratic credentials than choosing a talented ninja with obvious personality problems. It was also, Hazō's Mari-trained instincts noted, a sure way to earn the favour of Morino Ibiki, perhaps Leaf's most influential clanless ninja. Assuming he wasn't standing on that stage already, it could even pave the way towards adopting him as well. And then there were the rumours that Anko had once been Orochimaru's own apprentice, and might possess some of his secret lore… Hazō could only hope, for their sake, that it proved worth the pain.

    "Kei Sadao." The balding, middle-aged man was familiar to Hazō as one of the early adopters of till'n'fills. Hazō had never looked into the details, but some infirmity or other had apparently restricted the chūnin to non-combat missions, and the arrival of a whole new category of utility tasks had been like the Sage's own blessing upon him.

    "Kei Hayate." The swordsman looked hopelessly sleep-deprived, but stood firm. Hazō suspected he was deliberately radiating professionalism to cancel out the grinning Anko next to him.

    "Kei Yūgao." Despite the distinctive purple hair, Hazō was drawing a blank on the woman.

    "Kei Raidō." Hazō had a vague awareness of seeing the man more than a few times on his visits to the Tower. Right now, he looked on high alert, seemingly scanning the area for threats despite the fact that it currently held what might have been the highest concentration of Leaf ninja anywhere ever.

    "Thanks to the generosity of Lord Hokage," Lady Kei said, "the Kei Clan has five unfilled adoption slots for this year. In the coming days, we will be reaching out to the shinobi who we believe can make the greatest difference using the resources of the clan, as well as working closely with the KEI coordinators to make sure that every KEI ninja will be able to reap the benefits of the seeds we are planting today.

    "We would like to once more thank Lord Hokage for giving us the chance to earn this opportunity. Your open-mindedness, your magnanimity, and your vision will go down in history. We will make sure of it." All fourteen ninja on stage bowed deeply.

    "We would also like to thank the three coordinators of the Konoha Enlightenment Initiative, Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Keiko, and Mori Ami. It is a fact that without the three of you, we would never have discovered how strong we are united, and would never have come this far." The head of the Kei bowed to the heads of the KEI, together with her clansmen. "We look forward to working together with you and the KEI for many years to come."

    Naruto's grin, which had faded to a more relaxed smile over the course of the speech, returned in full force. Keiko gave a polite nod of acknowledgement. Ami's expression stayed perfectly neutral.

    "And now," Lady Kei said with a sudden, dazzling smile, "the celebration! I think the fact that we've been able to make catering plans for a third of the village out here in the wilderness is the ultimate proof that together, we can accomplish anything."

    As servants began to stream into the clearing with sacks of storage scrolls, Hazō had a sudden sense of Dad standing beside him, watching the common-born rise to wrest control of their destiny from the clans. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked, just in case, but all he could see was a sea of smiling faces.

    -o-​

    You have received 3 + 1 = 4 XP.

    -o-​

    You decided not to touch on matters of the heart with Akane, figuring they had better wait for a time when you weren't cooling down from an argument. You also haven't had a chance to talk about FOOM yet.

    You're going to need a plan to track down the family of telescope merchants/manufacturers, since right now, your only lead is that a telescope merchant named Jibura Tobikomi was last seen heading to Mist several months ago.

    -o-​

    What do you do?

    Voting ends on Saturday 27th of May, 1 p.m. New York Time.
     
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    • Akane's training plan has been implemented. Noburi's hasn't as, per the rules, you have to be accepted as summoner before you can buy the stunt. The alternative would be dangerous.
     
    Alright, so, our situation is essentially the same as before wrt what we want to do, except:
    • Some of the things we wanted to do have been done.
    • Ami is back.
    • The Kei clan exists.
    As such, I propose the following perspective for our next plan:
    • Do the things that didn't get finished last plan.
    • Add anything we want to do (if applicable) now that Ami is back and the Kei clan exists.
    • Proceed to timeskip.
    edit: last cycle's winning plan, to use as a reference:
    Inferno Vulpix said:
    Fork of Oneiros' plan, handling some things a little different:

    Wordcount: 236
    [X] Action Plan: Leaves on the tree
    Timeline: until Noburi completes his summoner training
    • Hazou sets his affairs in order before starting Summoning training.
      • Arrange for Mari, Gaku, and/or one of their subordinates to take over things Hazou would be doing during the training period (projects, meetings, etc.).
        • Hazou still expects daily briefings on important events and things that require Clan Head input.
    • The Talkwith Akane. In addition:
      • Hazou and Akane clearly still have feelings for each other.
        • But right now Summoning training would get in the way of any kind of relationship. Akane deserves better.
        • What does she want to do? You won't and can't decide what should happen alone.
        • Maybe we chould go on some casual dates once training finishes, to feel things out?
          • We want to be mindful of the pace, so we don't rush into it and remake prior mistakes.
      • Share the concept of FOOM with Akane, in high-security conditions.
        • Convey both the kind of benefits she could gain from it and the importance of keeping it secret.
          • It'd be very bad if someone like Orochimaru learned of it.
    • Game night
      • Have a casual game night. Make sure to invite Sasuke and other peers.
      • Have a fun and relaxed time.
    • Misc
      • Have the clan track down and offer adoption to the family of telescope merchants/manufacturers.
        • Failing that, buy three telescopes.
      • During summoning training, inquire in particular about what other Leaf summon clans think about the Dogs.
    ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
    Changelog (at time of initial posting):
    • We share FOOM with Akane instead of vaguely alluding to the value of SC, as per my suggestion for maximum safety.
    • Porcupine Scroll line removed, as I think it's best if we leave that be.
    • Re-worded Akane section, to streamline it and (I feel) convey the key points more clearly.
    These aren't ironclad changes, but each of them I feel is better than Oneiros' plan, to a varying degree.
    Click to expand...
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    ContextBot said:
    The announcement of their formation as a clan during a Goketsu gaming-night, without Hazou's knowledge is pretty disrespectful.

    I don't really know why you think this is acceptable in a ~12th century magic fighter world.
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    If this is a joke, I'm afraid I don't get it. If it isn't, I think you need to re-read the update.
     
    What's known about Kei Haruka? Sure, with Ami back from Treason Camp she's probably little more than a figurehead, but even figureheads have a nominal amount of power, and she's the figurehead for a third of the village now. Might be worth setting up a meeting to evaluate her general mien; I guarantee other clan heads are going to, or have already.
     
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    I'm guessing Hazou either expressed his agency and cancelled the gaming night in response to the KEI celebration. Or the gaming night happened another day offscreened
     
    roobee said:
    I'm guessing Hazou either expressed his agency and cancelled the gaming night in response to the KEI celebration. Or the gaming night happened another day offscreened
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    The gaming night hasn't happened yet. I wanted to write it, but it took me two days to write this much through the heat and ongoing sleep issues, so I simply ran out of time. It's possible that @eaglejarl will decide to write it.
     
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    Velorien said:
    Ami gave him an unreadable look. "I just want to spend tonight somewhere where everyone doesn't worship at my feet. C'mon, it'll be fun. We can stay up all night braiding each other's hair and talking about boys."
    Click to expand...
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    Awesome!

    Velorien said:
    Hazō gave her a sceptical look. "Maybe you should save that for your actual sister?"
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    No, you fool!

    You've doomed us all!

    Velorien said:
    You're going to need a plan to track down the family of telescope merchants/manufacturers, since right now, your only lead is that a telescope merchant named Jibura Tobikomi was last seen heading to Mist several months ago.
    Click to expand...
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    We should ask Ami if she's met this man on her travels.

    Fantastic update. Y'all have been hitting some grand slams recently.
     
    Velorien said:
    Ami's expression cooled. "Apparently almost being executed for treason isn't fun. I don't know why you're so into it."
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    That was a beautiful line. A great clap. And sign that Ami really can relate to us when the mercury isn't tilted all the way to one side.

    In other news, Akane's defending her agency to us and sticking to her values, explained to be*less* self-sacrificing than we thought, is really encouraging on the note of her likelihood to not get swept away again. Hazou getting as mad as he did is... Understand, but frustrating.
     
    [X] Action Plan: Operation Tele(Micro)scope

    Timeskip to Noburi finished training.
    • Share the concept of FOOM with Akane, in high-security conditions.
      • Convey both the kind of benefits she could gain from it and the importance of keeping it secret.
        • It'd be very bad if someone like Orochimaru learned of it.
    • Game night
      • Have a casual game night. Make sure to invite Sasuke and other peers.
      • Have a fun and relaxed time.
    Give Mari the telescope project
    • Overall goal: Acquire the expertise on making telescope.
      • Presumably by adopting telescope craftsmen and their family.
    • Incidentally also expand the merchant spy network to aid in the search.
    • A budget to Incentivize people for information.
      • Also reward people for useful tips in general.
    Give optics/glassworkers the other project:
    • Kabuto got eyewear that correct his vision, right? Optics craftsmen may be locals.
      • Adopt/invest and work with them as necessary.
      • The Aburame Clan are known glassworkers, and they made non-optical eyewear. Maybe collaboration is possible?
    • Objective: Replicate a working telescope. Buy telescopes for them if available.
    • Reward them for success/progress/effort. Also reward them for any incidental useful innovations.
    • Project continues until success or Mari achieved her goal.
    Birthday gift:
    • Commission manga about Keiko expy frantically rescuing her siblings from various perils.
    Misc:
    • Check on projects.
    • Ask Noburi to message the Dog clan Hazo's intent of becoming summoner.
     
    Last edited:
    Hah, I never expected you to aim the KEI naming towards the character reading. I just thought it was an older sister's tribute to Keiko. Very neat bit of foreshadowing/narrative planning. Mad 尊敬 yo.
     
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