Wait from her feelings towards the seal it looks like Mari still has feelings towards Jiraiya. Unless those feelings were newly generated that gives a sorta upper bound on how much she has erased her emotions and changed
I've maintained that "this" Mari is still the same Mari that we all know and love. The genjutsu seems to have erased the emotional context from her Heartbreaker days and maybe early into the Swamp. But she still reads Jiraiya's journals, still pours over his literature, still feels maternal emotions towards Hazou and the rest of Uplift (not that she's comfortable admitting it to herself), still values her sexual freedom immensely, still enjoys making her little children blush, and still believes in Uplift as an ideal worth pursuing.
The only thing that has really changed is that Mari no longer remembers what it felt like to be the Heartbreaker --even if Mari can still recall what she did as the Heartbreaker. In my mind, that's no different than being 30 years old and not wholly remembering what it was to be the 20 year old version of yourself.
"This is the latest financial review," the older man said, efficiently conjuring a sheaf of papers from the rightmost stack. "As you can see, the chocolate monopoly is producing nicely, although we expect it to break in another month or so. One of the fields was not fully flooded and it was having a bountiful but delayed harvest. The delay enabled our monopoly to succeed temporarily, but harvesting is now almost complete and will end up with roughly one quarter the normal total volume of chocolate-bean production, more than enough to break our control of pricing. Our agent in place, if that isn't too grandiose a title for a day laborer who gets talkative in his cups, says that he saw three men in uniform on the fields a week ago. He only saw them at a distance but he is confident that they were ninja. They surveyed the entire field and spoke with the owner and the foreman before leaving.
So - we know that the chocolate monopoly thing has sort of maybe failed a slight bit, considering we were going to try and recoup about a billion ryo from these little financial shenanigans. But looking at a map of the trade routes...we might be either over or under-reacting.
"Anyway," the redhead continued brightly, "I think you'll find that once we buy out all three of Leaf's chocolate shops we can use the leftover supply to establish heavy inroads with the top Hot Springs resorts using the preliminary market data that I for some reason seem to have on my desk already. We'll do that with Asuma's approval, of course. Turn it into a spy network that we place under his control, not ours. Get him to assign the controllers from his own people. It'll be a good contest submission and also a good way to show ourselves as loyal Leaf ninja who should absolutely be trusted and not executed." She shrugged. "And, of course, once the current groundswell of approval for the 'eliminate the Merchant Council' goes through, he'll have one less headache. No more silly tribunals to sign off on."
"I have been having one of the genin go to the board every day and bring back details of all posted missions. When a mission is removed from the board I send someone in to sign up for it. The desk genin will often volunteer the name of the person who 'scooped us', so to speak."
"Good job," Hazō said, impressed at his secretary's resourcefulness. Secretary? Perhaps 'lieutenant'? 'Executive officer'? 'Spymaster'? Something. He pushed the thoughts away and skimmed through the log.
"Courier mission to Hot Springs.
Courier mission to Grass.
Transport guard to Tanzaku Gai.
Extermination mission to northeastern Fire.
Escort mission to Keishi.
Courier to Tea.
Courier to Tanzaku Gai.
Caravan guard.
Escort to Keishi.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Courier to Keishi.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Courier to Keishi.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Escort to Hot Springs.
Courier to Hot Springs.
Escort to Hot Springs." He shuffled through the papers. "It doesn't list who posted these."
"No sir. That information isn't publicly available. Would you like us to find out? I can speak to Lady Mari about how to acquire the information."
The items of interest here are all the attention to Hot Springs - and Keishi.
See, Hot Springs is a known tourist destination for nobles, so it kind of makes sense for there to be a lot of people traveling to Hot Springs, since perhaps a marketing push or whatever - but as I look on the map, the chocolate we're sourcing here in Konoha likely must pass through Keishi, and that makes the two Escort and Courier mission to Keishi more interesting to me. Perhaps it is our own people, but it could also be whoever wanted to break our nascent chocolate monopoly.
"Here we have the Naked Jaybird reports. As a reminder, the Jaybird is a source of revenue but Lady Mari has been using it for information advantage—knowing who is dining with whom on what days, being able to arrange a casual meeting by seating two people at adjacent tables, that sort of thing. On to the report: The Mist seafood menu is popular, but there was an incident last week. Several diners were poisoned, none fatally, and it's led to an extreme drop in attendance. They're investigating what caused the issue; the current working theory is that it was the confluence of an unusually venomous batch of prawns and sloppy preparation. The financial projections are on the third page. If things don't improve quickly, the Jaybird will be out of business in two weeks.
A problem, certainly, one that might be restored by the Lord Goketsu publicly eating the seafood or something. I dunno, we should probably look into it.
I'm tempted to say "we'll have to wait to sic Kagome on it"...but Akane is also right there, and heading down south would give us a chance to swing by the chocolate merchants and see about starting the second part of taking over courier companies...
"These are predictions about what other clans are doing, financially and otherwise. The first page is the summary. The most interesting item is the second page; one of Lady Mari's friends on the Merchant Council has alerted us that the Kurusu are going to be auctioning off some of the land they gained as their prize in Lord Hokage's contest. Simultaneously, the Amori are probably looking to acquire land suitable for grape farming. I've included a map that shows the three main locations where grapes are grown and several other locations that might or might not be feasible as well.
"The Kurusu won the 'ten thousand acres' prize in Lord Hokage's contest and will be choosing the acreage shortly. They plan on auctioning some of it off and will be accepting bids soon; bidders are expected to provide a last-and-final bid and a map of the acreage they would like. Sale will undoubtedly be contingent on the Hokage granting the relevant land to the Kurusu.
"This is the latest reports on criminal and Grey World activity throughout Leaf, as reported by our Yakuza contact, Yodogawa Ikurō. He says—"
Hazō frowned. "I thought our contact was that Gotoda guy? Kin-something?"
"Gotoda Kintaro. Yes sir, it was. Unfortunately he turned up dead in his home, head smashed in. Judging from the size of the wound it was probably done by a very strong man using a large sledgehammer. Presumably by a competitor, and most likely by our new contact: Yodogawa Ikurō, the new Second Lieutenant of the Fire Dragon Yakuza. He's been quite helpful, and has doubled the number of Yakuza enforcers who serve as escorts for Gōketsu citizens going into the city."
"Yeah, what's up with that? Why are they volunteering as bodyguards? They started soon after we moved here, and we'd never done anything for them as far as I know."
"Presumably they wanted to get on the good side of a new clan. They must have known that we didn't have contacts yet and thought it a good opportunity to make themselves indispensable. It's proven effective for them; the enforcers protect our people but they also suggest destinations when asked. Gōketsu civilians are playing in Yakuza games, shopping at the stores the Yakuza protect, and otherwise funneling money back to them."
"Is that a problem?"
"No, sir. They've been ensuring that we get discounts everywhere we go, and anyone who attempts to cheat one of our people is immediately disincentivized from repeating the behavior."
Hm. This may be another point of interest - the problem with allowing our contacts to just kill each other and replace each other means both that we have the interest of the Yakuza but also no ability to protect our contacts, which seems like it may be something we want to...discourage going forward.
"Yes sir. Speaking of people being jumped, we had an incident last week. A pair of our teenagers went into the city to do some shopping and slipped their bodyguard, presumably because they wanted to find a dark place to engage in a bit of pickling."
"You have invitations for dinner next week from the Aburame, Motoyoshi, Hagoromo, and Renbutsu. The Motoyoshi conflicted with the Aburame, so I asked if it would be possible to reschedule them—the Motoyoshi—to the following night. They did so without complaint. Here is the schedule, the required dress code, a list of suggested host gifts, and the RSVP letters for your signature. The host gifts are reserved with the relevant merchants and I can have whichever ones you prefer purchased and delivered here tomorrow."
We're invited to dinner with these people, which shows that they are at least taking an interest in us - perhaps it would be best to repay this interest, and see what we can do for each other.
Hazou tore through the poor civilian's room on the upper story of the Kazumi Inn, ripping open cabinets and shelves for any clothes that would fit him. Unlike the other rooms, which were unused except by intermittent travellers, it seemed that this one held someone who made an extended stay. Unfortunately, if a fight broke out here, few would stay at the inn ever again.
Hazou didn't really care about the continued profitability of this one inn, of course. Not when Noburi was crippled and cornered in another part of the city, and Hazou was being corralled into a death trap of another sort. As always, the stakes were high, and the prizes were potentially even greater – if they made it out of this alive, they would have the Kraken Scroll to show for it.
Finally! Hazou cast off his soiled merchant clothing and put on the drab and well worn tunic and trousers. The nighttime would hide his scars, and he could adjust his posture so that his musculature would be hard to notice. He peered out the window as he did so to make sure there was no movement on the rooftops.
That marked the first step of the plan. The second would then be…
The door downstairs burst open with a slam, as the rising sound of crackling electricity and the entering footsteps answered an unasked question. His enemies clearly didn't see him as much of a risk to fight since they only sent one person into the inn. Their allies would be keeping watch outside to stop him as he fled, possibly even with whatever seal or technique allowed them to track his underground travel. They didn't treat him like a threat to their lives. They should have.
"Shadow Clone Technique."
Rust appeared a few inches away from Prime and immediately formed hand seals.
At the same time, Prime allowed the Iron Nerve to contort his throat into a practiced configuration as he yelled out, "Help! Help! He's here!" It didn't matter if they believed the ruse or not, they would be coming up here anyway when they heard the techniques being called. With the bait laid, Prime moved to set the trap.
Seconds later, the door was cut in half as the Cloud ANBU came charging through, her weapon sheathed in rippling waves of grey-blue electricity. She held her sword out in front of her in a parrying stance, its length not allowing a more conventional guard as she entered in a blur of motion. Her eyes instantly flicked to Prime, and she started towards him before she looked at the ceiling, noticing Rust overhead. She dodged out of the way as he fell and spun on the wall, raising her weapon with a strike from above, poised to slice him in half. Rust was fast, but she was faster.
The inn did not comply. As she swung, the sword got caught momentarily in the beams of the rafters overhead. Rust did not hesitate to take the opportunity once offered, and he immediately leaped towards her and grappled her around the midsection as he pulled back roughly on her shoulder to control her sword arm. She desperately searched the room for a substitution target but before she could get a lock on anything, Rust got a leg under her and swung, slamming her back-first into the ground and momentarily disorienting her.
The substitution failed, and she was pinned, her lightning-quick movements constrained. She turned to Prime, rage surely behind her mask as she realized her true vulnerability. Both Hazous felt a tickle of killing intent. Cute. They had underestimated Hazou, and now that mistake would cost a battle-hardened jounin her life. She trashed as if expecting Prime to try to lay her throat open with a shuriken. Instead, he just smiled and waved as he reached up and activated the relay seal.
An Earth Dome instantly appeared on the ceiling like a water droplet suspended on underside of a drainage pipe. The beam that the ANBU had nearly cut in half cracked and started to fall, bringing the Earth Dome with it to bear down with several tons of force. As a chakra construct it would dissipate once broken, but it would take several seconds to do so, during which the ANBU would be reduced to paste.
As the woman saw this and dropped her weapon, looking for any handhold with which to evade, Prime fired a directional explosive downwards through the floor. The wide angle blast cut through the support beams and caused both Rust and the ANBU to start to fall. Accelerating downwards with the dome overhead, the ANBU's struggles grew frantic, but she wasn't strong enough to break free now that Rust had solidified his grip.
They made contact on the bottom floor, but only briefly. The ceiling support beam that the dome was placed on was sturdy enough to survive a one-story fall, and the dome was several tons of solid granite. It crushed through Rust in an instant, dissolving him in a puff of clone smoke, and pinned the ANBU to the wooden planks with the sound of breaking ribs as it crashed through the bottom story of the inn to the basement.
Hazou fell with her and prepared to dive into the earth as he landed. He got a glimpse of her as the dome hit the ground, barely slowed by her flesh and bone. Her left torso was flattened, her heart surely bursting like a grape as the dome cracked against the ground, granite tearing apart from the eight meter fall. It was a small mercy for her that one of the pieces seemed to be heading for her head.
Underneath the surface of the ground, Hazou swam towards the safehouse.
Who showed up?
1d3: 1
It's the swordsmaster ANBU
Initiative:
ANBU
Hazou
Round 1:
ANBU
Spends the full round continuing her search
Hazou
Standard: Shadow Clone Technique; 1 Shadow Clone (-175 CP; 153 CP remaining)
Chakra rebalances. Hazou has 153 remaining after casting, so now Prime has 77 CP and Clone has 76 CP.
Supplemental: Place an Earth Dome seal at one end of the room
Supplemental: Place another Earth Dome seal at the other end of the room
ANBU
Full-round: Signal the other outside to watch the windows, cautiously proceed to the ninja noises upstairs.
Prime
Supplemental: Affix ARS to one of the Earth Domes
Supplemental: Affix matched ARS to the other Earth Dome - now activating one will activate the other.
Standard: Call out to the ANBU, pretending that he's a civilian being attacked by the enemy ninja. This is a Maneuver.
Hazou (Deceit): 32 - 9 (dice)
Hazou spends a Fate Point to reroll!
32 + 4 (Invoke "Lists and Plans") + 0 (dice) = 36
Enemy ninja (Deceit): 39 - 3 (dice) = 36
Hazou wins (ties go to the attacker), and creates the Aspect "Totally not an Ambush!"
Clone
Standard: Clone creates a Block against the first person to come into the room, stopping them from doing anything or getting out of the way of the collapsing Earth Dome.
Hazou (Taijutsu): 70 + 16 (2 Tags Pantokrator's Hammer) + 2 (Ghost Scales) + 8 (Tag "Totally not an Ambush") + 8 (Invoke "Promising Sealing Student") + 8 (Invoke "Team Uplift") + 6 (dice) = 118
(NB: Hazou could plausibly get Roki, so I'll include a Deceit Block that only procs for Roki situations)
Hazou (Deceit): 32 + 4 (Roki) + 9 (dice) = 45
Round 3:
No one is chakra boosting since Hazou Inc. are using PH and enemy ninja doesn't expect contact yet and wants to save for their more pricey jutsu (excluding the one they precast, which lasts 10 minutes).
ANBU:
Supplemental: Enter the room
Enemy ninja enters the room, causing Clone's Block to activate, attempting to grab onto the enemy ninja. Enemy ninja tries to cut him in half with her sword as he approaches. I'm ruling that if she exceeds the Block with MW, she *will* do stress as a consequence (because seriously, what do you expect when you try to grapple someone with a sword?)
Cloud ANBU (Deceit): 39 - 3 (dice) = 36 Hazou gets Roki! The strength of his Block against the Cloud ANBU is now 126.
Cloud ANBU (Melee Weapons): 80 + 9 (Storm Kami's Blessing) - 2 (Using a large weapon in a small room) + 9 (Invoke "I am the Huntress") + 9 (Invoke "The Well-worn Blade") + 9 (Invoke "The Squad") - 3 (dice) = 111
REROLL
+ 3 (dice) = 117 (NB: The odachi is oversized, and with a bonus stunt acts as Weapons:3. However, its size incurs a small penalty indoors, typically not a big deal. Truly unfortunate in this case.)
(NB: 2x half AB by burning FP would not allow her to escape since that would give her only +8. Instead, she accepts the loss of her Aspects and tries to flee)
Cloud ANBU fails to cut Hazou in half. Instead, she's going to try to Sprint out of the Zone as she easily spots the seals in there, and anticipates trouble (the coming explosion)
Standard: Leave the room
Cloud ANBU (Athletics): 79 + 20 (Substitution) + 8 (Storm Kami's Blessing) + 8 (Invoke "The Light") + 8 (Invoke "Survival of the Fittest") - 2 (made a Supplemental Sprint earlier in the round) + 3 (dice) = 116
Cloud ANBU is stuck in place! The escape plan having failed, she'll try killing intent.
Cloud ANBU (Intimidation): ?? + ? (TYS) + ? (Jounin Aura) + 6 (dice) = 54
Hazou Prime (Resolve): 89 - 6 (dice) = 83
Hazou Clone (Resolve): 89 + 3 (dice) = 92
Combat end, Shadow Clone is destroyed and Hazou recovers 39 CP (98 remaining).
Hazou spent 3 FP and recovers 1. With 1 FP spent on the safehouse declaration, this leaves him at 3 FP
o-o-o-o
Hazou checked over the various seals on his body. The so-called "exhaustive combat loadout" was not quite complete, as the accursed Haru had insisted they not leave skywalkers unattended in the safehouse. Stupid OPSEC. Still, with blast rings, explosives, goo bombs, rocket boots, and more, Hazou felt considerably more comfortable. He had managed to resurface almost exactly within the safehouse, the basement of an abandoned tailor's house, so if the past pattern held, he had roughly ten minutes here before they caught up to him.
He mulled over the possibilities. There was one jounin with Earth Element, who was certainly the one doing the tracking. They had a number of different utility techniques, including anti-flight and anti-sealmaster measures. It stood to reason that the other jounin who Hazou had met at the inn was the main firepower. This was some sort of tracking or assassination squad, with the auxilliary social-spec who had held him and Noburi in place long enough for the enemy team to set up. Hazou felt a bit of disappointment that the ninjutsu-spec jounin hadn't been the one to enter the inn looking for him, since he was almost certainly the one following Hazou's underground movement.
Now out of the frying pan, he had choices about which fire to jump onto. He had plenty of seals - he could try to fortify this location and force things to a standoff and initiate a fight on advantageous turf. He could try to return to the inn or to the site of initial contact in the hope that his teammates had heard the noise and were on their way. If they hadn't heard anything, he could go directly to their tavern and gather them, since subtlety had long since ceased to be an option. The Cloud ninja had underestimated Hazou in the inn, and let him set up a favorable situation. They wouldn't make that mistake twice.
Compel on "Team Uplift" - Hazou gets a Fate Point, but foolishly goes chasing after his allies in order to regroup with them in the most direct way possible.
On balance, Hazou had to prioritize grouping up with Akane. The enemy ninja would pose no threat to her. With the enemy following the trail he left underground, Hazou expected more safety from above-ground travel as well. He briefly considered the idea of laying false trails with Hiding Like a Mole, before shaking his head at the thought. He didn't understand their detection mechanism, and after casting Shadow Clone, his chakra needed to be rationed. Worst come to worst, Hazou might end up cornered, far from allies and dead out of chakra.
No, the choice was clear. He would travel by rooftop and keep an eye out for his allies while dodging the Cloud ANBU by virtue of speed. Once rejoined, Clan Gouketsu would destroy the remaining enemies and send to Noburi that he could return safely.
Hazou prepared to leave.
Hazou restocks his seals at the safehouse. In the absence of other information, it's just seals that he has access to in-quest. It's been about 20 minutes since Noburi was taken, so he's passively regened (1440 minutes/day / 20 minutes = 1/72th of a day worth of chakra, 1/72 * 360 CP = 5 CP; 103 CP remaining)
o-o-o-o
Hazou crept up the side of the building with his hands alone, careful not to leave muddy traces of his rooftop escape. The seal-paper hidden in harnesses beneath his civilian clothing crinkled gently as he crested the edge of the rooftop and took a quick look around to get his bearings. A moment later, he leaped.
Jump by jump, Hazou left the safehouse behind. However they were tracking his technique, Hazou's escape on foot should mean that they were now targeting the wrong location. With luck, chasing that false lead would keep them occupied long enough for the Gouketsu reunion.
Hazou surveyed the streets as he moved, looking down upon clustered houses and tight alleyways. No wonder some ninja acted so superior to civilians, he mused, when even their regular modes of travel involved looking down on others. This part of town wasn't the kindest. Even Hazou's experience from Hidden Mist sufficed for him to see the hints of crime and vice. Few people roamed the streets at night here, instead choosing to congregate in the occasional crowded building with colored lights and muffled music, but it didn't seem like many were going in or out. Occasional buildings were marked by signs that Hazou recognized as Yakuza – those were gambling dens where people would go to be relieved of what little money they had. Even beggars seemed hesitant to sleep in some of the alleyways.
Hazou slowed momentarily as he passed by a town square to tally the people he saw about. One drunkard, passed out against the wall of a cooper's shop. A middle-aged woman, dumping a bucket of slop over a pair of small bipedal creatures. A muscled and tattooed man and scantily dressed woman, walking arm-in-arm down a side street. A teenager in the alleyway, palming an explosive tag.
The world almost paused as Hazou drew upon his chakra and reduced his enemy's movements to slow motion. Hazou needed to break line-of-sight. He dove to the opposite side of the building, knowing that even though the flimsy walls wouldn't stop the explosive, he would get a moment's respite while the enemy ninja decided how to respond to being noticed and evaded. Hazou knew his objective immediately: eliminate the threat quickly and escape before the battle could draw attention.
Hazou landed, forcing himself to remain calm through the tension that preluded a fight. Some primal instinct screamed at Hazou to run, but Hazou ignored it as he scanned the path ahead, then turned back to the corner of the alleyway where he had just jumped down. Barely visible in the shadows at the end of the street was an ivory-white mask. Beneath it, the blur of a long chain of hand seals reaching completion.
"Earth Release: Demon's Cradle."
Hazou started to move even before the technique began, as the walls and floors of the alleyway started to erupt in Earth Walls positioned to box him in on all sides. The walls grew slowly to Hazou's chakra enhanced senses, the gaps in the wall closing too slugglishly to prevent his escape, he just had to go a little farther and –
The stone box surrounding him erupted in spikes. Every surface of the walls and floor and ceiling became hostile, earthen spears cutting off movement. Hazou might yet escape through the gap if he were willing to tear off chunks of his flesh to do so, otherwise those spikes would catch him and hold him here like meat on a skewer for the enemies to finish him off.
That couldn't be allowed to happen. Hazou drew chakra out of his coils until his body felt like it was made of screaming lightning, turning midair to one of the few unmarred patches of stone around him, gravity temporarily forgotten within his cage. Even that patch started to expand with stone spikes as Hazou pushed like an uncoiled spring towards the last opening into the alleyway beyond. It wasn't enough. Every action he had ever done was laid out before him through the Iron Nerve and still none of them would let him escape the improvised killbox unmarred.
Fine. Time to make one. With an elbow strike, Hazou crushed through the two largest spikes, planted his feet on their flat bases and leaped off of them, steeling himself against the tiny cuts starting to break through his clothes. He activated the rocket seals at his feet for a little extra speed, but the last exit in the corner of the killbox was tiny and half-obscured obscured to still-growing spikes. Even if Hazou were right there, he might not even fit through the gap. No tools left in the toolkit. Time to die.
There! A pair of small crates lay just outside the opening. Desperate, Hazou used the Substitution Technique.
As he landed, he stumbled a little, feeling warm blood running down the back of his leg from where a spike had made a deep cut along his hamstring. A couple inches deeper and he would have been crippled. If I make it out of this alive, I'll never complain about Mari insisting I practice my substitution.
The ANBU kneeled on the wall just above the killbox with his head cocked to the side as if curious that Hazou survived. Hazou spun and rushed him down. The close-quarters specialist was dead, Hazou thought, so let's see how this bastard likes a fist through the skull. Hazou's leg wound would slow him down over the course of the fight – he had to end the ANBU now before his ranged backup could force Hazou away and into another corner killbox.
The enemy scrambled backwards before jumping off the wall to the opposite side of the alleyway, his opinion on hand-to-hand combat made clear by his body language. Hazou closed in as he wrapped himself in the strength of the Pangolin Clan.
The ANBU didn't turn away from him. A true professional, he knew he couldn't stop Hazou from closing the range. Hazou would make that experience his downfall.
Hazou planted his forward foot and raised the other to imply a floating front kick, but the ANBU was already ducking to escape around him. Damn, if the man wasn't fast. Hazou turned on his foot, revealing a feint as he turned the planted foot into a sweep, dropping awkwardly on his hands as gravity pulled him sideways. The ANBU pulled off a jump somehow above Hazou's already blurring attack, flipping to land on the floor of the alleyway. Hazou smiled internally. Nowhere to dodge when you're in the air. He pulled himself to his feet in an awkward motion he could not have replicated but for the Iron Nerve and pulled back his left shoulder millimetrically, cocking his head. The ANBU, to his credit, twisted midair and guarded his flank, correctly judging that Hazou's injured side would be easier to handle.
Hazou activated the wide-angle blast ring and the night tore open with the sounds of force and fire. The spacing was off – instead of being inches away from the man and ready to blast him to chunks, the explosion instead battered him, lifting him up slightly and corralling his trajectory into Hazou's attack path. Hazou dropped from the side of the alleyway as he reached out with his leading arm and grabbed the ANBU by the throat. He dove, driving the man directly into the ground by the neck, feeling something give way slightly in his windpipe. His back hand formed a spearhand strike, piercing through the man's ribs -
No, he had shattered a metal bucket. The ANBU had substituted back into the main street, putting the improved killbox at Hazou's back, clearly holding back a cough against his injured throat. Hazou growled and started towards him, forming the handseals for Pantokrator's Hammer again as the ranged specialist cleared the rooftop of the building that Hazou had been on moments ago and threw a kunai that flickered with foxfire as it flew.
Thoughts flicked through Hazou's head. The explosion would engulf the entire alleyway, and Hazou's injured leg would render him unable to make it out of the radius. He had to take cover. He discharged the Hammer to give his tired legs speed as he raced towards the kunai, jumping and arcing over the killbox. With some sense that he did not yet understand, Hazou felt the tag about to explode. He had to go faster. Desperately, he reached into his coils and scraped them dry to pull together one final Substitution Technique to swap himself with the other crate, finally behind the stone walls.
Hazou gasped in pain and exhaustion as he collapsed to a knee, flames rolling over the edges of the box. He had toed the line of chakra exhaustion with that final substitution and now he was completely dry. Without chakra giving him speed and power, his injured leg throbbed from the abuse it suffered, leaking blood with every precious heartbeat. He didn't even have the reserves left to cast Hiding Like a Mole and escape.
Hazou flicked through solution after solution, none viable. Trapped and outnumbered, out of seals and techniques, and no aid in sight.
Hazou had taken too long, and the enemy ANBU had caught his breath. As Hazou struggled to his feet, the sides of the box itself began to grow more of the Earth Walls as the alleyway once again contorted to trap him within.
As the side of the alleyway extended with a sheet of granite overhead, Hazou savored the irony that he would be the one crushed by a falling Earth Wall in the end. He lurched for the opposite side of the alleyway, struggling to get clear, but the emerging wall from the building collapsed the weak mortar and threatened to trap him under the weight of the chakra construct. No escape would be found in the skies even if he were willing to take his risks against the kunai-user. Hazou flipped midair and pushed off the alley wall with full force, lunging for the open space on the far end of the alley.
He didn't have any hope that he would make it.
Moments ago, this trap had been a novel and unexpected attack and it had cost him a dangerously slowing wound to the back of his thigh. Now, injured and dry of chakra, he understood the trap and how to dodge clear of it, yet he could not. The collapsing wall resembled nothing less than the maw of a megalodon, hungry for the prey that escaped it once before.
The cage closed around him. Hazou tried – he couldn't afford to give up – but there was no way out. Growing out of the wall overhead and the alley and the ground, lances of compressed stone sought to impale him on all sides like shredded meat. He made one last burst of motion, his legs knotted with howling eddies of pain, at the one opening in the spikes. Not enough. As he leaped, he saw the final spike. It was positioned perfectly, no amount of twisting or turning midair would stop the spike from going through his center of mass. It was over. He grimaced, closed his eyes, and made his peace.
Noburi… We somehow became the inheritors of the great Jiraiya, someone so tremendous that the two of us could never fill his shoes. And yet, you tried your hardest even while loving and supporting the rest of your family, something even Jiraiya struggled with. May you become the man you dream of being.
Mari… I'm thankful for being your student. You've done so well to save us, bringing us from missing-nin hiding from the most ruthless village to people with power and position and safety. You've given me so much more than I deserved.
Haru… You've shown me both how the world conceals such wide gaps, and how one man can go so far as to cross them nonetheless. Thank you for the kindness you showed me, kindness that once seemed impossible.
Keiko… I'm sorry for being distant. You somehow were always the one who sacrificed the most, always willing to give up everything for your friends, your family, and your village, even when these were found rather than by birth. I hope you find what you're seeking.
Kagome… You always said that sealing would eat my face some day; looks like I finally proved you wrong on something. You protected me from so much for so long and taught me so much; I'm sorry that I could not protect myself this time.
Akane… … I'm sorry. I thought there would be more time. I thought there would always be another month, another mission, some time when we would finally be stable and it would make sense to try us. I'm sorry that I didn't heed Mari's advice to take the chance now, because we never know when we will have a future to come back to. I'm sorry for our future. Please, find your future.
Hazou tries to escape into the city
Hazou (Stealth): 15 - 3 (dice) = 12
Enemy 1 (Alertness): ?? - ?? (malus for being nighttime and Hazou wearing dark clothes) - ?? (malus for being pretty far behind Hazou) - 9 (dice) = 30
Enemy 2 (Alertness): ?? - ?? - ?? + 3 (dice) = 21
(NB: the enemies were 10 minutes behind Hazou, I'll step up the time ladder by 2 steps to say he's found a minute later.)
Hazou is travelling by rooftop when he's spotted. Enemy stealth?
Hazou sees Enemy 2 within 1 minute of leaving the safehouse. He can try to chain HLaM to get to the bar, but he'll be dead out of chakra if he gets there and if Akane and Haru aren't there, he'll die. He can try a chase scene, but that makes a mess of things and flashes his face all over the city. Instead, he'll try to take them out quickly. The jutsu user should be low on chakra (and FP) anyway, and the unknown factor can probably be handled. Hazou is already fully committed, and just has to hope that no civillian overhears his calling out Pangolin Clan techniques, since that would be a pretty big problem.
Round 2: NB: At this point, it's pretty much over, but I'll do a roll for Hazou anyway just in case.
Cloud ANBU (2 points boost, 31 CP remaining)
Hazou (1 point boost, 2 CP remaining)
Tokaji (6 points boost, 90 CP remaining)
Cloud ANBU
Standard + Supplemental:
Demon's Cradle (Effect: 1, 31 CP; 0 CP remaining): 64 + 7 (1x AB, jutsu bonus) + 2 (boost) + 6 (dice) = 79
Hazou (Athletics): 60 + 1 (boost) + 7 (Tag Mild) + 0 (dice) = 68 Hazou takes 4 stress! He takes a Medium Consequence, then a Severe Consequence! He certainly dies now, so I'll just pretend this attack kills him to give him a more dramatic ending.
o-o-o-o
Weeks later...
Humans were rather absurd things. Meat on bones which stood upright by the meat carefully manipulating other meat to stay balanced. Why would six of the silly things group up and watch a rock? The way that they were balanced was different too, finding different ways to stay mostly upright even with approximately the same configuration of joints and components.
Noburi stood tall and confident, though his eyes and balled up fists betrayed his thoughts. Mari's face and bearing seemed blank and devoid of emotion, almost to the point of being invisible. Haru was in the relaxed stance of a killer, prepared to strike out yet unsure of what to do with that violent energy. Keiko's expression was blank as well, but her posture was tense and hunched up, all pointed inwards. Kagome stared absently into the middle distance, physical body all but forgotten. And Akane, she was making no efforts to hide her feelings, even now a storm of emotion and movement as she sobbed.
Through the tears, they read:
Gouketsu Hazou
The Second Lord Gouketsu Dreamer, loyal friend, beloved son and brother
He made the world better
He will be missed.
o-o-o-o
No.
No, he would not die here.
No, he would not disappear, and leave a jagged-edged hole in a world already so broken.
Hazou refused to die. No imaginations of peace, no mourning family and gravestones. As long as he could still sacrifice, he would dance on the edge of the reaper's blade to have a chance to win back the future he deserved.
Flying through the air, each fractional moment of life increasingly precious, Hazou closed his eyes, and visualized his body, the muscles and bone that made his physical presence, and the chakra coils that underlaid it all, rooted at the base of his spine.
He split himself open from the inside out. The chakra poured out of his vital systems, no longer contained, and he hastily gathered it up and poured it into his greedy muscles to give him speed. Hazou no longer danced with death so much as held it arm-in-arm, and if he survived the next fifteen seconds, there would be hell to pay. First step – survive the next fifteen seconds.
Hazou's blood burned, somehow freezing cold even as it threatened to immolate him. He spun, grabbing the spike an inch away from his chest and letting it push him through the air. Hundreds of cuts appeared on his skin as the spike drove him into the opposite wall and he narrowly avoided skewering his feet. As the spike grew and threatened to punch through him, he looked to the other crate left behind in the box, punctured through by spikes no longer growing. He contorted himself and substituted.
The alleyway suddenly went quiet as lightning-quick movements came to a stop. A moment later, the panicked screams of the civilian inhabitants of the adjacent houses filled the night, reacting only now to the sounds of the combat. The Cloud ANBU signaled to his ally to wait as he watched the cradle. Trapped within, injured as he was, the man should be cut to slivers, dead or soon to be, yet the ANBU's battle instinct told him to wait just to make sure that the deed had been done. The sensing technique was still active and he felt no movement underground. Was it over?
Almost unaware of his own motions, the ANBU flinched and jumped away from the box as he heard the sounds of muffled speaking within. A technique call.
Hazou erupted out of the killbox they had put him in, glowing faintly from the aura of the Pantokrator's Hammer and spraying granite over the floor of the alleyway. Every motion he made was perfection, barely seeming to touch the rubble as he glided towards the ANBU jounin, elbows tucked close at his sides in an predatory stance. The jounin tried to whirl backwards, but as he turned, Hazou was suddenly cutting him off, his momentum unbroken as he attacked.
He touched off the wall as he turned in a crushing roundhouse meant to cave through the man's chest. The ANBU ducked underneath, pressing his body almost flat to the ground to avoid Hazou's downward motion as he pushed to flip backwards and out of melee. Hazou followed through with stomp that would have broken the man's wrist, but the ANBU snatched his wrist out of the way, aborting the flip into a sideways roll.
Layers on layers of feints. Hazou leaned forward, turning the stomp into a falling knee that caught the man's shoulder. The ANBU moved to twist out of the way, but Hazou caught his motion with a hand around the man's neck. They had been here before, but the enemy would not survive it again. The ANBU turned, as if looking for substitution targets. Hazou pointed his hand behind him and set off the wide-angle explosive at the man's lower body, turning everything below the ribcage to red mist.
Hazou heard the sounds of leather on slate above and jumped, careful not to slip on his liquefied former enemy as he moved to the rooftop, his body filled with boiling steam ready to explode. He made eye contact with the other enemy, who wore no mask to guise his fear. Hazou stepped forwards and faltered.
For a moment, he panicked. He felt his chakra system draining out at the bottom as the thrumming energy within his bones began to soften. His hands and feet were starting to grow numb as the price of maiming his spirit made itself clear. The enemy had a moment to recover his senses, and had backed away from Hazou while he collapsed. Hazou hastily pulled himself to his feet, relying far too much on his good leg as the enemy threw a kunai, but the man's aim was absurdly wide. The kunai hit a house behind him and exploded (collateral damage, need to finish this soon) as Hazou closed the distance, step by lumbering step.
The fire that had been filling his veins a moment earlier now seemed to turn to molten hot lead, searing him from the inside even as it weighed him down. He forced his fingers into their positions, feeling ripples of pain circling every joint as he made hand seal after hand seal. The pain the seals cost him was a mere fraction of the pain he felt within as he drew out yet more of his body's chakra, and he screamed, before twisting his ragged throat to use the breath to invoke the Pantokrator's Hammer.
Suddenly, the light filled him once more. The agony was still there, yet the pain no longer hindered his movements. He surged forwards.
Hazou's vision was swimming as he approached, and he couldn't pin down where the enemy was. Instead, he spun, throwing out his injured leg like a mere bludgeoning tool. The enemy treated it like an academy move, ducking under it as Hazou spun through, ignoring the feeling of the bones in his leg splintering as he delivered a backfist to the ninja's shoulder. A glancing blow, but enough to knock the ninja off balance. The ninja took the fall, landing on his stomach with the intent to roll away, but Hazou grabbed his arm and wrist in an arm-bar, forcing the ninja face-first back into the ground and twisting, ready to tear his arm off – if the ninja hadn't substituted with a damn water barrel.
The strength of the technique left him, and Hazou collapsed to his hands and knees, then face-first into the barrel as his damaged hamstring proved inadequate to the task. Hazou's vision went white and he screamed, as the pain spiked. Even as his throat worked itself raw, he pushed with one arm, turning his body to keep vision on the opponent.
His arms and legs were completely numb now and he relied on his kinesthetic sense to control them. He barely managed to flop to the side and see a shape thirty feet away through hazy vision. One arm hung limply at his side but the ratfucking bastard was ambidextrous, because he still grabbed a shuriken from a pouch behind his back as he threw at Hazou's throat.
Hazou was lying on his side, no limbs on the ground to dodge even if he had the energy and willpower to. Though his hands were numb to his touch, they still had the ability to complain as Hazou pushed a pulse of chakra through them to fire the wide-angle blast ring in one hand directly downwards, blasting apart the roof of the house that he was on. A moment later, he fired a rocket seal directly upwards, propelling himself down through the fallingrubble and slamming him into the packed earth floor of the civilian abode.
Hazou screamed again, the intensity of his yell cutting off as something in his throat gave way, reducing the noise to a harsh gurgling. He felt like he was filled with glass needles, every inch of skin perforated by the sudden slam into the ground.
His senses were dimming, barely staying conscious as the inhabitants of this house made panicked escapes. Had to keep on going. He commanded the Iron Nerve, allowing his body to become an instrument of torture against himself as his treacherous bloodline forced his stiff and numb fingers into the shapes of familiar handseals. He drew on his chakra again, the pain indescribable as he mutilated himself from the inside out to form the technique that would grant him life-saving speed.
Hazou's heart stopped.
He had drawn too much, and the numbness that had been spreading inwards had reached his heart. He was going to be dead in ten seconds or less.
Take that asshole down with me. Just like Jiraiya did.
He whispered for the strength of the Pangolin Clan, and it filled him once more. Where once Hazou had been a fine-tuned killing machine ready to receive the power, now he was a broken, imperfect vessel. The light leaked from him as he struggled to his feet in crude movements and jumped through the hole in the ceiling. Outside, the enemy had backed away, but Hazou crossed the distance in a flicker, each step driving a spike of pain through Hazou's broken mind.
Kill him.
Hazou could feel the fibers of muscle in his legs cramping and tearing as he pushed them to engage the enemy. He surrendered himself to the pain as he let the motions in the Iron Nerve engage the enemy for him. No thought informed him as he twisted into a hook kick. No particular memory of training gave him the ability to lunge forwards into an uppercut feint. No intention gripped his mind as he grabbed the enemy's shoulder instead. No mind guided him as the enemy tried to cut his hand away with his kunai, and he instead pulled the enemy's hand into their own chest and yanked, reducing the pectoral muscle to hacked meat. When the ninja collapsed to the ground, he didn't decide to crush their throat with a heelstamp. It all just happened, power and speed and –
Hazou's foot crashed through a water barrel. The same fucking water barrel. The enemy had substituted away again, somehow still having the chakra to cast techniques freely. Hazou bent over double, gasping, as, concerningly, the pain fled. He could barely feel his body any more, barely felt like he had any control over it at all. Still, his heart didn't beat.
Was it over? The enemy had chakra to spare, but Hazou didn't. The enemy could still fight, but Hazou… No, Hazou was Lord Gouketsu, and he would protect his family now, or die trying.
As he pulled his head up to make eye contact with the enemy, he could imagine a part of himself in the enemy's eyes, a mirror to the pain, the physical damage, the suffering of the fight. At least, he thought it was eye contact. Hazou could no less make out the eyes of the enemy than could he feel the pain of straightening up. Hazou took a step. The ninja spoke, voice halfway between fear and awe, "Sage, how are you still standing?"
Hazou advanced.
Hazou could see the uncut fibers of the enemy's pectoral muscle struggling to compensate as he drew a kunai from the pouch behind his back and threw. Hazou couldn't dodge so he instead leaned to the side, not enough to tip over and fall down, but enough that the kunai hit one of his ribs. The rib broke as the kunai was lodged in him, but Hazou kept on walking forwards. The enemy's crippled arm twitched as he tried to do something, but to no avail, and he drew another kunai and threw it at Hazou's forehead. Hazou ducked as the kunai glanced off of his skull and he felt it shear off his skin and hair. Blood started dripping down around his ears and eyes, but Hazou kept on walking forwards. The enemy stumbled back, all the way to the edge of the roof. He didn't have the energy left to leap to a nearby rooftop, so he drew one more kunai, lashing out desperately at Hazou's throat. Hazou caught his arm as he swung, grabbing his wrist and twisting it upwards. As the man screamed, his chest muscles torn open, Hazou pulled on the man's arm.
They collapsed to the ground, Hazou barely managing to turn midair to land on top. The ninja dropped the kunai they were holding, forcing their other hand to catch it as he screamed. Hazou put his knee on the man's chest, grabbed the kunai lodged in his own ribcage, and thrust it at the enemy ninja's eye. It glanced off, tearing away a strip of skin on the outside of the man's skull and revealing the whiteness of his bone. Hazou pulled back, and sunk it through the man's eye and brain.
The screaming stopped. Hazou's heart still didn't beat.
Hazou pulled himself upright. He could feel it coming, the numbness and dizzyness and tingling like a solid blow to the head, coming to take him to an unconsciousness that he would never wake up from. He looked at the blood splattered on his clothes, matted in his hair, and covering his hands. Once, he would have thought this an inelegant ending, but in truth, this was the fight that someone like him deserved.
His heart twitched.
Hazou turned his focus inwards while mindful not to close his eyes. It was weaker than he had ever felt before, but as he released his grip on his chakra coils, his body slowly started to resume its essential functions. Somehow, he had toed the line of death by chakra exhaustion and made it out in one mangled piece.
He smiled, so faint not even a Kurosawa would notice it. He waited a few moments to confirm that his body would not cease to function. Then he slowly started to climb down the roof, continuing to ignore the pain of a body ruthlessly abused. The others would be waiting for him.
Psyche! Hazou died the first time I wrote this, then someone suggested to me that he could overdraw his reserves for a chance at winning. With that in mind, I rerolled the combats with new changes in play.
Round 2:
Cloud ANBU (Overdraws for a Medium [45 CP; 86 CP remaining], 6 points of boost, 56 CP remaining)
Hazou (Overdraws for a Medium and a Severe, [90 CP; 97 CP, remaining], 8 points boost, 57 CP remaining)
Tokaji (6 points boost, 90 CP remaining) NB: Consequences from Overdrawing only come in at the end of a round
Hazou
Supplemental - get into Melee
Supplemental - swap out seals
Standard - Punch
Roki
Hazou(Deceit): 18 + 4 - 6 = 16
Tokaji(Deceit): 11 + 6 (dice) = 17
Hazou (Taijutsu): 45 + 9 (dice) = 54
Tokaji (Athletics): 31 - 2 (did a supplemental sprint) - 6 (dice) = 23 Tokaji takes 12 stress! He's super dead!
Hazou flees as fast as he can with full injuries and 1 chakra. Just going to the bar because holy shit, he cannot take on Touma like this. Hopefully anyone who could track him is dead by now.
(Hazou gains 4 FP)
o-o-o-o
Hazou was alive.
He waited behind a small blind set up on the rooftop of a building near where Noburi had reverse summoned. He had been carried here at his teammates's insistence, after he arrived at the tavern looking like a walking corpse. Being alive was a mixed blessing, of course. On the one hand, all his hopes and dreams for the future wouldn't have to die with him, but on the other, the numbness was steadily retreating now that he had chakra again, and the area of his body filled with violent agony was slowly expanding in tandem.
Noburi was fine, thank the Sage. He had sent back chakra water and many instructions to destroy the enemy while he waited to safely emerge, and Akane and Haru had decided between themselves to divide the duties. Haru would babysit Hazou while Akane swept the area for hostiles and removed the Lightning Lad, Touma.
One of Akane's clones was entering the alleyway now. To someone less attuned to the cover of night, seeing Akane's figure, even in her colored civilian clothing, would be challenging. Hazou could read her lips and saw as she made a hand motion as she entered. Contact.
Touma dropped from a windowsill as he spoke. "You shouldn't be here, girl. Run along now," he said, before noticing that Akane's stance had dropped instinctively, her hands halfway up to a respectable guard. He took a couple steps back as he prepared for a fight, his posture still confident. "So, you're with Wakahisa, then? Or maybe Hazou, the one that ran?"
He paused for a moment, then realization seemed to hit him. "Wait a second... I know who you are, Amane" Touma said the name with disgust, his fingers clearly itching to start a technique. "You're that girl from the Chuunin Exams, the weakling washout. Your brother… boyfriend" Touma's face curled in disgust, "ran away rather than fight me. The ANBU pair have hunted him down and cut him to pieces. At least, you better hope he's dead, because if he isn't, he'll be receiving a warm welcome at the medical labs in Cloud."
"How many others are with you?" asked Akane.
She hadn't responded to his taunts at all, but it seemed that Touma had a passion for the monologue. "A battlepair of ANBU, skilled and seasoned jounin, as well as my blood brother hunt the city for your coward boyfriend now. I remain here to guard against Wakahisa and to mop up trash like you as they come.
"You may be brave, but I know how weak you really are. And I know that in the three years since we've seen each other, I've grown stronger than anyone else at that exam." He took his stance fully as he started to form handseals. "You could have stayed away and lived, fleeing like a dog," Haru suppressed a chuckle, "But now, your life comes to an end! Lightning Element: Lightning Aura, Overdrive!"
The resulting movement was too fast for Hazou's weakened eyes to catch, but a moment later, Touma was on the floor and Akane was spinning, the chakra in her veins no doubt pushing her to find additional targets. Wait, that was just most of Touma on the floor, his leg had been separated and lay a few feet away and his skull seemed to be spread over a square meter of wall. When no more danger presented itself, Akane disappeared to the Seventh Path.
Are Akane and Haru actually at the bar? News spreads slowly without electricity, but it's been nearly an hour, and three ninja fights is incredibly noteworthy. The first one was actually pretty discreet if you weren't looking straight at it, and visitors would have found no bodies.
News hasn't reached the bar on a 1 or 2 on a d10: 3
The next interacted directly with civilians, and would have led to civvies fleeing the inn and heading across the city where they could find them.
Akane and Haru would have heard of it on a 1 to 5 on a d10: 9
Looks like the bar got rowdy as time went on, and people didn't notice. The most recent fight will definitely be heard of, but Hazou can get to the head of the crowd - even Severely injured, he's a ninja.
AKANE FOOM calcs (back of the envelope):
1100 days after current day
130 days to get SC 30
Every 6 days thereafter is a level of Resolve
She gets Resolve 69 in 300 days, min roll of 63, +12 + 6 = TN 81 for clones, so 20 cloneblocks so 3x XP rate
She raises Taijutsu 60, Athletics 50, requiring 60 days [610 days remain]
Resolve 79; 60 days [550 days remain], TN now 91, 3.3x XP rate
T70, Ath 60, Alt 50, SC 40, FA 30, EM 30, requires 210 days [340 days remain]
Resolve 89; 60 days [280 days remain], TN now 104, 3.8x XP rate.
T80, Ath 70, Alt 60, FA 50, requires 210 days [110 days remain]
Resolve 99; 60 days [50 days remain], TN now 114, 4.1x XP rate
Akane putz around with raising CR / Physique / other stats in the remaining 50 days. Doesn't matter at this point.
Touma (Taijutsu): 59 + 6 (boost) + 6 (Stunt: Lightning Aura Adept) + 6 (Overdrive) + 6 (Invoke "Prideful Brawler") - 3 (dice) = 80 [NB: He's saving some FP for Hazou, assuming that he's going to show up. Touma has a bone to pick with Hazou]
Akane (Taijutsu): 80 + 18 (Pantokrator's Hammer) + 36 (Flame Aura) + 9 (YFotMBtiRTS) + 5 (Shoryuuken) + 0 (dice) = 148 Touma takes 24 stress, not actually enough to kill him twice over. Enough to kill him, though. Definitely enough to kill him.
Noburi popped into existence with a puff of smoke.
Akane appeared just afterwards and moved to support him on the side with the broken ankle. They navigated the dark streets to make their way to the rooftop that Hazou and Haru waited on.
Noburi climbed up the rooftop on his own power, his ankle apparently strong enough to support his weight. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but he paused and instead grabbed the Kraken Scroll from across his back, setting it down on the ground between him and Hazou.
For a moment, everyone was mesmerized by the artifact, even the two that already bore one.
Hazou stood up. His movements were mechanical and crude, compensating for his torn muscles and many bruises. Noburi started to admonish him, but Hazou ignored the Summoning Scroll and stepped over it, grabbing Noburi in a hug.
Unfortunately, that's where Hazou's strength gave out and he collapsed directly onto Noburi. Noburi yelped and started to lift up his broken ankle, wary not to stress it. As he did so, Hazou and Noburi started to tip over, now only supported by Noburi's good leg. Haru moved to support Noburi and stop the fall, getting an arm under his shoulder, right before Akane hit the three of them with a direct tackle-hug that bowled them all over, knocking the four Gouketsu to the ground.
Noburi was the first to speak. "I gotta admit, Hazou, I'm not a fan of the new haircut."
Hazou started to laugh first, but the noise came out of his throat as a wet wheezing. That seemed funny enough to make Noburi laugh, and then they all were. There was a moment of golden peace, where they just enjoyed the moment.
Somehow, everything had worked out. His family was alive, the objective fulfilled, the enemies dead. Against all odds, Hazou had got what he needed from the world. His voice was less a whisper than a scratch, but he spoke anyway.
What are y'all's thoughts on putting a chakra farm at our Iron Mine? It's a perfect depot for researching out of the sight of the village, and we can experiment with other chakra sources like chakra rice and such there. Plus, clearing it out would be a nice test run for our group before they go on more serious adventures. We could even make the environment cater better to the various summon clans we have, and include creature comforts for them while they are our guests, making it a kind of summon-hub.
What are y'all's thoughts on putting a chakra farm at our Iron Mine? It's a perfect depot for researching out of the sight of the village, and we can experiment with other chakra sources like chakra rice and such there. Plus, clearing it out would be a nice test run for our group before they go on more serious adventures. We could even make the environment cater better to the various summon clans we have, and include creature comforts for them while they are our guests, making it a kind of summon-hub.
If by "chakra farm" you mean "chakra monsters to drain whenever we're in the area", then yes, sure. But ideally we'd want them in places we'd frequent consistently, and this place IIRC isn't exactly close to any of those.
Do we need to go straight to the top/clan heads on this? Alternatives would include asking the Nara at the jutsu library or a non-clan head Akimachi, and trying to go through the hospital or even Tsunade's protege (Kon Aoi, I think?). Also, while you have a meeting with Noburi in there, perhaps we could ask him if he wants to take the time to do something for a chance at FOOM that might not work, or if he'd rather spend his time doing summon stuff or more conventional things like ninjutsu training.
Yes we need to go to the experts to make sure that this is taken care of. These are the levels we interact with and need to be willing to accept that
As for FOOM and Noburi he made it very clear when we originally told him the plan that he wanted us to solve his problems so he could join us as Demi Gods
I made a post about this earlier, but we could just check with Kagome about what he's decrypted so far, so we can get a good idea of what we're dealing with. Again, only 30% done means there's likely to be some stuff, but who knows how much is the more philosophical stuff, and sealing and spymaster notes take priority, and this gives us the option to make a full scene about it later.
If by "chakra farm" you mean "chakra monsters to drain whenever we're in the area", then yes, sure. But ideally we'd want them in places we'd frequent consistently, and this place IIRC isn't exactly close to any of those.
"We" wouldn't need to frequent it constantly, just Noburi, since he can deliver along the 7th Path wherever we are, so he could lounge there more frequently than the rest of us if we need chakra for a mission. And by chakra farm, I mean potentially putting Koi there too, in addition to untested sources like chakra rice, or yeah, chakra monsters we capture.
"We" wouldn't need to frequent it constantly, just Noburi, since he can deliver along the 7th Path wherever we are, so he could lounge there more frequently than the rest of us if we need chakra for a mission. And by chakra farm, I mean potentially putting Koi there too, in addition to untested sources like chakra rice, or yeah, chakra monsters we capture.
I don't agree that Noburi would prefer to lounge in an iron mine in the SW region of Fire (it's right near the Fire/Rivers border) when compared to the safety of Leaf proper, and I definitely don't think having Koi there would be a good idea given how undefended it will be compared to being at the center of Konoha's power.
I don't agree that Noburi would prefer to lounge in an iron mine in the SW region of Fire (it's right near the Fire/Rivers border) when compared to the safety of Leaf proper, and I definitely don't think having Koi there would be a good idea given how undefended it will be compared to being at the center of Konoha's power.
I never said he would prefer it, nor did I say he would need to be there all the time, it would just be helpful during certain times, such as during missions (especially if we are unable to farm in the 7th path). Koi defense is a somewhat valid point, though I'd hesitate to call it defenseless given that we have a Kagome. Regardless, we don't have to put the Koi there, we can still experiment with other chakra sources.
I don't agree that Noburi would prefer to lounge in an iron mine in the SW region of Fire (it's right near the Fire/Rivers border) when compared to the safety of Leaf proper, and I definitely don't think having Koi there would be a good idea given how undefended it will be compared to being at the center of Konoha's power.
Yes we need to go to the experts to make sure that this is taken care of. These are the levels we interact with and need to be willing to accept that
As for FOOM and Noburi he made it very clear when we originally told him the plan that he wanted us to solve his problems so he could join us as Demi Gods
I mean we don't need to spend a scene talking to Kagome when we don't need to. We can assume that Hazō has access to them as the clan head
Your reasoning looks good here, and I don't/didn't feel very strongly about my criticisms, but I want to make sure we're considering alternatives and keeping harmony in both inter-personal relationships and inter-Leaf relationships by ensuring, for example, that we do have to go to Tsunade.
Also Kiba, I like your plan this cycle, and will probably vote for it next cycle barring something unforeseen. Apologies for unsolicited advice, but I think a lack of character interaction is preventing your plans from gaining widespread support. It might be a good idea, but personally I can't help but think that it's just going to overload us on projects that we continually have to check up on. We already have skysliders, latrines, summons, 7P trade network, FOOM, and chakra farm, and adding helping Noburi learn SC, a team of glassworkers, rewriting our legal system, and the iron mine spreads us pretty thin. The skywalkers are arguably our biggest success thus far, and they came when we were missing nin and didn't have to have such a diverse focus. Again, I personally prefer reading about Hazo interacting with Akane, Ami, and other people rather than playing manager (or worse, micromanager), and I think we can still accomplish our goals that way.
This was off the cuff so open to counter-arguments or just your opinion on it.
Edit - just fully processed this:
Latest Update said:
"You have invitations for dinner next week from the Aburame, Motoyoshi, Hagoromo, and Renbutsu. The Motoyoshi conflicted with the Aburame, so I asked if it would be possible to reschedule them—the Motoyoshi—to the following night. They did so without complaint. Here is the schedule, the required dress code, a list of suggested host gifts, and the RSVP letters for your signature. The host gifts are reserved with the relevant merchants and I can have whichever ones you prefer purchased and delivered here tomorrow."
I feel oddly prescient now. This is great news for the political situation as it shows we're ingrained in Leaf enough that clans see something to gain by courting us or they want something from us. It also makes me feel much better about our reaching out to Ino, Chouza, and Tsunade (assuming Onerios' plan wins), as we aren't standing out by doing something none of the other clans are doing. Finally, it means that we can put this aspect of politics out of mind similarly to money and focus on fun things like Ami, Dogs, and punching.
That looks like a gimme. We aren't hurting for money, so at worst we take a monetary loss and gain another connection or two with the Kurusu and/or Amori.
Not inherently, though the fact that we already have so much on our plate makes me a little bit leery of adding more. But no, I don't have a problem if you want to add it.
The items of interest here are all the attention to Hot Springs - and Keishi.
See, Hot Springs is a known tourist destination for nobles, so it kind of makes sense for there to be a lot of people traveling to Hot Springs, since perhaps a marketing push or whatever - but as I look on the map, the chocolate we're sourcing here in Konoha likely must pass through Keishi, and that makes the two Escort and Courier mission to Keishi more interesting to me. Perhaps it is our own people, but it could also be whoever wanted to break our nascent chocolate monopoly.
Why would the Kurusu choose and then sell us cheap monster infested land that we can then flip? They want to make a profit here.
Sure, maybe they sell us some land that has potential but would need some clearing, but I doubt that we are going to make a huge profit.
Also, if we need/want another adoption slot, now would be the time, give the Shiho the information and some money, or we just buy land and give it to them, doesn't really matter:
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.
I'm just spitballing here, but I had an idea for Mari to instead work with the Amori to buy the land, in exchange for a share of the profits (or something along those lines). I'm not sure if this is the overall optimal way of doing things, but I do think it would lead to better relations with the Amori than buying the land outright and then reselling it (or renting it? I recall that was thrown around) to them, and I do feel that better relations with a potential ally is more important than more revenue streams (unless we are trading for something else? Not entirely clear on this).
I'm just spitballing here, but I had an idea for Mari to instead work with the Amori to buy the land, in exchange for a share of the profits (or something along those lines). I'm not sure if this is the overall optimal way of doing things, but I do think it would lead to better relations with the Amori than buying the land outright and then reselling it (or renting it? I recall that was thrown around) to them, and I do feel that better relations with a potential ally is more important than more revenue streams (unless we are trading for something else? Not entirely clear on this).
I am mostly in agreement of working with the Amori in a partnership. However we will be in a much stronger position to dictate terms if we own all the land
What if we just delegated it to Mari and let her decide how best to leverage it - partner with the Amori, make a profit land-flipping, or generally let her use her best judgement to try and avoid any antagonistic feelings?
What if we just delegated it to Mari and let her decide how best to leverage it - partner with the Amori, make a profit land-flipping, or generally let her use her best judgement to try and avoid any antagonistic feelings?
