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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Adhoc vote count started by eaglejarl on Aug 8, 2020 at 12:25 PM, finished with 115 posts and 12 votes.
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So, this is Mango. She's still getting used to the apartment, but she's a gorgeous little kitten. She keeps her tail curled into her side or on top of her paws and has the overall demeanor of an unimpressed dowager. I love her so much. (sorry about the link, SV wouldn't let me upload the picture)
 
RandomOTP said:
So, this is Mango. She's still getting used to the apartment, but she's a gorgeous little kitten. She keeps her tail curled into her side or on top of her paws and has the overall demeanor of an unimpressed dowager. I love her so much. (sorry about the link, SV wouldn't let me upload the picture)
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She's adorable. Thanks for sharing.

Toughy said:
Just finished reading this amazing work!
Thank you, it's very entertaining!
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You're welcome. I'm glad you've enjoyed it.
 
Are there bona fi foreign language in the EN?

Mist immigrants like Hazo appeared to able to fluently speak with Leaf no problem. Even Kagome.
 
Kiba said:
Are there bona fi foreign language in the EN?

Mist immigrants like Hazo appeared to able to fluently speak with Leaf no problem. Even Kagome.
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I'd say that there's likely a common base language in the EN (see conspiracy list for more info) and that there's only a very minor amount linguistic drift (slang, technical jargon, pronunciation, and the like) between countries (given Keiko's tidbit about Rock being perfectly understandable). And maybe Team Uplift had an accent or Mist-specific verbal tics for a little bit (that Mari quickly beat out of them because politics).

Of course, that said, anyone who's been to New York City and Florida knows that sometimes two people can be, technically, speaking the same language while being extremely distinct from each other.
 
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RandomOTP said:
Of course, that said, anyone who's been to New York City and Florida knows that sometimes two people can be, technically, speaking the same language while being extremely distinct from each other.
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Consider the differences between the urban west-coast English which predominates in Hollywood films and the many varieties of "mountain talk" (Appalachian rural English)
 
Based on discord talk with QM and everyone else:

The status of engineering side projects:

Toilet: ??? We were supposed to be experimenting with a U-bend type toilet and water pressure, MadScientist expressed the opinion that it shouldn't be that hard.
Sewer: ? Some details were mentioned about experimenting with type of pipes...and digging around the estate. But no idea on their state of progress. May or may not require aqueduct project to function correctly.
Skyslider: Nowhere near a usable skyslider, but progress been made to the extent that surface controls are being experimented with.
Aqueduct: Surveying finished, clearance will begin.
 
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Chapter 363: Dogs and Turtles
  • Threadmarks

    • "—and he gave me my blue scarf!" Canter interrupted, bouncing around Hazō like a pogo stick so that the aforementioned garment flapped up and down. Long ago, the scarf had been a rich and finely-woven azure. Now, it was dirty, fraying at the edges, and faded from the sun. Despite that, it could not have been more clear that the ratty old thing made Canter deliriously happy, and that was all that any decent person would care about.

    Canter was a young black-and-tan mastiff, age three ("and seven twelfths!") and theoretically on the verge of young adulthood, but she still had the excitable personality and misproportioned body of a puppy. Her beige-and-tan paws and ears were huge in comparison to her body, signs that once she grew into herself the baby mastiff was going to be a force to be reckoned with and probably very intimidating. For now, Hazō had to keep himself from saying "D'awwwww!" every time he looked at her.

    "Shut up, Canter!" Canopuya snapped. "This is my story, and you aren't even supposed to be here. Go play with the puppies." He was six, a young bulldog male in his prime. Short and squat, with close-fitted fur and a squashed-in face, he fell cleanly into the "so ugly he's adorable" bucket. His jaws, which looked strong enough to bite through bone, suggested that any comments about his appearance should be carefully phrased or absent. "Anyway, Summoner, there I was! Side-by-side with Kakashi as we stood against the invading Leopard scum! He chopped the first one in the face with that cool lightning thing of his but he was so strong and the thing was so weak that he accidentally punched all the way through its head and got his arm stuck in its neck!" He paused, panting a doggy laugh. "It was hilarious. But! It left him off-balance for a second, because Leopards are fat bastards. One of the others tried to bite Kakashi on the leg while he was vulnerable, because Leopards are cowards who can't hope to win if they fight fair. I darted in like this"—he leapt across Hazō's legs, jaws gnashing down at the end of the jump—"and bit its throat out!" He shook his head as though tearing a chunk of flesh loose from an enemy. "The blood geysered forth, sending the rest of the ugly cats running for their miserable lives!"

    "No you didn't!" Canter said. "I heard that story from Mom after you guys came back. You bit some Leopard and got your jaws stuck and Kakashi had to cut you loose!"

    "Shut up, Canter! That's a lie and you're a liar!" He swatted at her with one paw but the young mastiff was too fast; she bounced backwards out of reach and then lunged in, chomping Canopuya on his massive black nose before fleeing behind Hazō. Canopuya yelped in surprise and pain, then went after her. She looped around Hazō again, staying just ahead of her pursuer and going ptthhbbbbbttt with her tongue in a way that a dog should not have been able to.

    "Children," Cannai said.

    The two dogs and Hazō all jumped in shock and then froze. They had been sitting on the open grasslands, sightlines clear for miles in all directions and no one within fifty yards. The Dog Boss had not run up, or appeared with the customary blink of Substitution. He had simply melted into existence two arm's lengths from Hazō and directly in front of him.

    Hazō bowed deeply. "Cannai."

    "Summoner. A moment, if you please. Children? Are you fighting in front of our Summoner?"

    "No, Alpha!"

    "He star—"

    Canter cut herself off mid-word when Hazō placed a hand on her head; she peeked at him from beneath his fingers but did not attempt to pull away.

    "These two were reenacting a battle for me, sir," Hazō said. "I asked them to tell me stories about Kakashi. Canopuya was kind enough to relate one about fighting the Leopards and Canter was helping him demonstrate their battle tactics and how to foil them. It may have gotten a bit excitable but it was still in good part."

    Cannai looked at Hazō with a 'you expect me to buy that?' tilt to his head and a twitch of his ears.

    "I see. The demonstration seemed to lack a certain degree of accuracy...why don't the two of you go talk to Packmaster Cankeru for some remedial lessons? I need to speak with our Summoner for a moment."

    "Yes, Alpha." / "Awww. Yes, sir."

    The two younger dogs sloped grumpily off, arguing back and forth about what had happened when and whose fault it was.

    "You chose your words carefully, Summoner," Cannai said, lying down in the grass in front of Hazō. Even lying down while Hazō knelt, Cannai's head was still higher than Hazō's.

    "They were only playing, sir," Hazō said. "Canopuya was telling me a story about fighting the Leopards and his pawswipe seemed very much like the combat tactics he described the Leopards using. It seemed fair to say that it was a reenactment."

    "Canter needs to learn restraint. Nose bites are amusing when they come from an unweaned pup. She is growing into her strength and will soon cause real damage."

    "Yes sir." Hazō gave a shallow bow, turning off the Iron Nerve for a moment so that his face would give an honest picture of how chastened he felt.

    Cannai huffed in amusement. "On the other paw, it's nice to see you bonding with the children enough that you would defend them."

    "Thank you, sir." He gestured towards the saddlebags draped over Cannai's midsection. "How do you like the bags, sir?"

    Cannai twisted around so he could study the bags for himself for a moment, then faced Hazō again. "Until now we have used normal sacks that we had to carry in our jaws. It gets hard on the neck, and on the teeth, if the sack is loaded. Also, you have to be careful not to bite through the fabric. These are a great improvement. Thank you."

    Hazō forced himself not to blink in surprise at yet another reminder that this was an S-rank being who was able to say 'please' and 'thank you'.

    "Still surprised by basic courtesy, I see." Cannai shook his massive head. "The Human Path must be a terrible place."

    "Have...have you ever been there, sir?"

    "Several times, over the span of centuries. Generally I am only there for a few minutes when a Summoner needs me to kill someone. I try to keep in mind that these experiences are not representative of an entire Path and its people."

    "Uh...good. Thank you." He looked around for a moment, idly pulling a blade of grass out of the ground and fiddling with it. "I see that you tried the saddlebags. Would you like to try the sleds? They're still just a prototype and I'm sure there's going to need to be improvements. The current version may not work for you at all, but I promise that we can—"

    "Peace, Summoner. Yes, we tried the sleds. I wanted to do it without your input the first time because I wished to see their capabilities without expectations set by outside knowledge. And because at some point it will be necessary for one of my Clan to use them without instruction, and thus I wish to know how easy it is to figure out without guidance."

    "What did you find?"

    "The harness is too weak. Canaria demanded to be the first to attempt it so that she could make the saga from first-hand experience. When she started running the left strap burst and the sled tipped over."

    "I'm sorry, sir. I'll get a new version turned around right away. One with stronger materials."

    "It is fine, Summoner. We tried the second sled, and this time Canaria was careful to start slowly. It worked fine for perhaps fifty yards, until she tried going up a hill. One side bounced, the front of the runner on the other side dug in, and the whole thing broke."

    "Ugh. Sorry again. Wider base for stability and I'll have them curve the runners right around in a circle so that can't happen again."

    "Thank you. I'm sure it would work better if the sled were loaded, but there will be times when we must move them from place to place with nothing to put on them."

    Hazō hesitated. "Actually, sir...we talked about seals before this. You've seen storage seals at some point, yes?"

    "I have."

    "I was thinking that storage seals might make your lives a lot easier. You can't put living things in them so they won't help with transporting the pups, but they'll make it easy to carry food, firewood, or whatever else. You can put a lot of stuff in those saddlebags if its all in storage seals, and then it won't weigh you down."

    "My understanding of these seals is that they are extremely dangerous. I recall Chizuru saying something about 'tentacles everywhere!' Granted, she was a bit excitable." He paused. "Also, that was more than four hundred years ago, so perhaps your seals have improved."

    "It's true that seals carry risks, as does any tool. Fire is good for cooking food but it can burn you if you get too close. Storage seals are good for carrying loads, but if you destroy them when there isn't enough room for their contents to emerge, it can cause bad things to happen. That's very rare; storage seals have had more effort devoted to them than any other seal in existence. They are as safe as it's possible for a seal to be."

    "Hm. I shall think on it. In the meantime, I would like you to meet someone. Candoru! Attend!"

    A canine head popped out of the grass and its owner came bounding closer, covering the distance in a few seconds before dropping into a pose that humans called Downward Dog, for reasons that Hazō was now more able to appreciate. Candoru was pure white with black speckles across his chest and belly. His tail was a furry whip, his body was lean and long-legged, but his neck was thick with muscle and his massive head came equipped with powerful jaws.



    "Hazō, Summoner of the Dog Clan and Lord of the Human Path's Clan Gōketsu, this is Candoru. He is five, a new warrior of the Clan. He has fought in twelve skirmishes with the Hyena and acquitted himself well each time. He is a good fighter and a reliable sentry. He is not a tracking breed and therefore is poor at the task by our standards, yet likely still better than any human. The primary mark against him is that he speaks his mind too freely; it makes him difficult to deal with in a squad but I believe it will be less of an issue when fighting on his own beside a Summoner in short engagements.

    "Candoru: You are overconfident and refuse to be restrained by your pack leaders. In actual battle here on the Seventh Path this will get you killed. You have responded poorly to reasonable discipline; if you force me to escalate to more stringent measures I am concerned that you will be permanently injured. Therefore, I am seeking an alternative.

    "Hazō, I would like you to accept Candoru as a combat summon. Take him into combat as much as possible over the next few months. Focus on real opponents, not merely sparring matches; I do not want him to have the excuse that he only lost because he was holding back. Let him fight and die, then summon him again so that he may fight and die again. Once he eventually accepts that he cannot always win on his own, fight beside him and show him that a pack can do what an individual cannot.

    "I understand that this will take time and energy away from your other projects. The sleds are more important than fixing one young pup's poor attitude, so if this effort will interfere with that or anything else you regard as equally important, say so. I will not force you to accept him at this time.

    "Assuming you do choose to serve as his instructor, you are in command and have full authority as his pack leader. You may feel free to use him for whatever tasks you find him fit for, saving only that they must not damage the goals or reputation of the Dog Clan. I obviously cannot provide a complete definition of what that means, but the broad outlines should be clear—give no aid to the Leopards or Hyenas, do not humiliate Candoru in public or speak ill of our Clan, do not break loyalty with allies, and so on.

    "At this time, are you able to accept Candoru as your Summon and undertake the assignment I have offered?"

    Hazō paused, thinking through the problem. Having to do basic discipline training on what was clearly a powerful fighter would be time-consuming and exhausting.

    "Candoru?" he asked. "How do you feel about this?"

    The dog sat down, scratching at his ear with his right hind foot. "Eh. I'm fine with getting some action. The Hyenas have been kittying out lately, and we beat the Leopards down years ago so there really isn't anything worth my time. Alpha keeps assigning me to these overcautious old geezers that I could totally beat if I were allowed to, so I haven't really had a chance to do anything exciting for months. I only met Kakashi a couple times—I wasn't old enough to compete last time he was taking applicants—but working with him was supposed to be cool. You aren't him and I'm pretty sure I could bite your leg off if I wanted to but as long as you can get me to the Human Path that's all I really need. It's supposed to be all kinds of monsters and fighting there, yeah? So, sure. I'm in."

    Hazō digested that for a moment.

    "Alpha," he asked after a moment, "Candoru implies that hierarchy is sometimes established through violence in the Dog Clan. Is that true?"

    Cannai bobbed his head side to side in a so-so gesture. "Among youngsters and trainees, yes. Hierarchy tends to be based around power. Among adults, status is earned in different ways depending on one's path in life. Canaria is famous and well-respected for her lore and her singing, despite the fact that she is no fighter. She—"

    "Also for her tail," Candoru said, tongue lolling. "Rrowr!"

    Cannai's eyes flickered red, just for a moment, and the world seemed to pulse around the three of them. Hazō swallowed nervously at the feeling of Cannai's irritation brushing past him to focus on Candoru. Candoru cowered on the grass with a whine, ears down in submission and forepaws over his eyes.

    "Do not interrupt me," Cannai said calmly, staring down at the terrified dog. "And be respectful towards your clan mates."

    "Yes, Alpha!"

    "As I was saying," Cannai said, turning back to Hazō, "hierarchy among adults is determined by other things than sheer power. It is common for young males to have difficulty fitting into a military hierarchy when their commanders are significantly older than they, and perhaps also from smaller breeds. There was a time when we permitted recruits to challenge for leadership positions. Those times are no more, and most are able to accept that."

    "I see. And for those like Candoru who have difficulty accepting it, what options do pack leaders have?"

    "If you are asking 'are pack leaders allowed to strike their recruits', the answer is yes. It is rarely done, since any dog is permitted to fight back when attacked and therefore a leader must weigh the possible harm done to both parties. Still...yes. If you accept Candoru as your summon then you will have every authority to..." He paused, ears cocked in what Hazō had come to understand was a thoughtful frown. "Hm...how did Kakashi put it? Ah, yes. You will have every authority to 'kick the little bastard around the training field a few times' if you feel the need."

    "And, just to be clear, I don't have to accept him, or this task? Refusing will not damage my standing with you?"

    "It will not. It would be inconvenient, as it will force me to take stronger measures to curb Candoru's recalcitrant behavior. Measures that will likely have consequences he would prefer not to experience. Wounds and death on the Human Path are just as painful as they are here but they lack permanence; they therefore make for excellent training tools."

    "And, confirming again, you are ordering me to take him into combats that I know are too strong for him with the express purpose of getting him killed? Well, popped."

    "Indeed. As I mentioned at our first meeting, the borders have been relatively quiet for a time. The strongest fighters of the Hyena and Leopards have been busy elsewhere, probably with the Pangolin, and we do not battle our other neighbors. As such, Candoru has yet to find an opponent he could not defeat and this fact has...'swollen his head', I believe is the human phrase? He needs to see that the world is larger than his experience."

    Hazō found himself wondering how it must feel to be standing in the middle of a meeting in which your superior was literally instructing a strangely-shaped being from another world to get you killed. Repeatedly.

    "Thank you for explaining, Alpha. With all that understood, I will—"

    What will Hazō do? The proposition is 'We should accept Candoru as our summon'. The options are:
    • [x] (Candoru) Yes. Also, beat Candoru a little bit right now to establish your dominance
    • [x] (Candoru) Yes. Respectfully tell Candoru that you look forward to working with him
    • [x] (Candoru) Yes. [Write in a few words of detail here]
    • [x] (Candoru) No. [Hazō will come up with an appropriately respectful wording]


    Please use the precedeing options exactly as written so that the '(Candoru)' tag will make it easy to sort them.

    Voting for this scene will close when @Velorien closes voting on Wednesday. I will write the resulting scene and edit it in sometime this week. Voting for this scene is independent from what you do otherwise. As always, please do not mess with time.

    Hazō feels that Cannai is probably not open to giving him other summons at this time; if the sleds shake out, or if you do a good job with Candoru, then you'll be in better shape to negotiate.

    EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: The voting is complete.
    "—be glad to accept the mission. Candoru, I look forward to working with you."

    Candoru lolled his tongue out, panting in amusement. "Yeah, sounds like maybe it'll be fun. I don't know about this whole 'fights too strong for him' though...I'm pretty damn strong."

    "I'll see if I can find something that will be worth your time."

    "Sure, I guess. Heeyyyy, quick question...Kakashi mentioned a couple of times that you have dogs on the Human Path, yeah?"

    "...We do."

    "Are any of them...lady dogs?"

    Hazō's brain shut down as too many signals tried to go out to the mouth at the same time.

    "You understand that the dogs of my world aren't like the Dog Clan, yes?" he asked after a moment. "They aren't people. They can't talk, they don't really think. They definitely do not have the sort of physical or mystical strength that you and I have."

    "That I have, anyway. Eh? Eh? Gonna have the best thighs around, ooh yeah. Watch out, ladies." The white dog preened and raised his chin in a dramatic fashion that Hazō was almost completely certain was dramatic. At least, he hoped. The dog either had a wonderful sense of self-directed irony or he was just the worst.

    "Candoru..." Cannai began.

    The smaller dog looked up. "Yeah, boss?"

    "...Never mind. Just try not to embarrass us when you get to the Human Path. Summoner, is there anything else you will need from me?"

    "I don't think so. Thank you, Alpha."

    "Excellent. Please make your pact with this one. I suddenly feel the need to be elsewhere."

    o-o-o-o​

    "How did your trip go, sir?"

    Hazō paused, thinking. "I really want to make a 'it sure went to the Dogs' joke here, but it's not quite coming together. Pretend I said something clever." He sighed and dropped into his canvas-backed chair, snorfling one of the honeyed dates that had been laid out on a snack tray for him.

    "Of course, sir. Very witty, sir."

    "No, not literally pretend...never mind. Starting over. My visit to the dogs went well. They're happy with the saddlebags, they generally like the sleds although there need to be some construction changes, and we've got a good relationship. Cannai offered me a really weird mission. He wanted me to...actually, never mind. That's a tangent. Let's focus on the important stuff. What have you got for me?"

    Gaku reached into his satchel and pulled out a roll of papers tied together with a red rawhide string. He glanced at the notes in front of him on the desk as he passed the roll over. "As you requested, I found more skilled craftsmen for the skyslider project. The current team are teaching the new people what they need to know in order to be useful." He paused, then spoke carefully. "May I offer a comment, sir?"

    Hazō raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Of course. What?"

    "Sir, the original skyslider team seem to be feeling slighted by having these new people assigned to them. They are taking it as a critique of their abilities. Which, granted, have been shown to be insufficient to the task. I asked Kimmi, one of the Academy students, to keep a stealthy eye on them. She reported bickering and some yelling."

    Hazō sighed. "Lovely. Well, I'm not going to worry about it for now. If they haven't gotten it sorted in a few days, let me know and we'll deal with it. What else have you got?"

    "I passed on your message to Lady Gōketsu that she is to acquire all the available grape-producing land in Fire."

    "You remembered to tell her the part about not doing anything treasonous, right?"

    "Yes sir."

    "Okay, good. She's been a little...less restrained than she used to be, so I worry."

    "I'm sure you know best, sir."

    "As Noburi will be delighted to tell you, I very definitely do not know best. Anyway, moving on. How's the Jaybird?"

    "Functional and ready to serve, sir. Ever since the food poisoning incident, attendance has dropped to effectively nothing. I've been sending Gōketsu civilians to dine there each night so that the establishment always looks mostly full, but I'm unsure if it's helping or not. If you would like, I can quietly pay non-Gōketsu civilians to dine there and talk up the quality. Additionally, we could ask the Yakuza to do the same."

    "Sounds like a plan. There isn't a lot of money in a restaurant but it's awfully useful to have as a diplomacy- and intelligence-gathering tool. Let's do what we can to make it work."

    "Yes, sir. In either case, it will be ready for your dinner with Hyūga Neji tomorrow. As you requested, I sent messages to the Nara inquiring after Lord Hyūga's food preferences. I was given a surprisingly detailed list, which I have passed on to the chefs. The invitation has been delivered and confirmed."

    "Great job, Gaku." Hazō sighed in relief as he felt some of the accumulated worry shift from his shoulders. It was so nice to have good subordinates. "Did you talk to Kagome-sensei about our research? I didn't manage to catch up with him last night or this morning."

    "Yes sir. He is just as glad that you did not want to research today or tomorrow, as he is doing a practicum with his students. I...think he is pleased with their progress?"

    "Was he grumbling or screaming?"

    "Grumbling, sir."

    "He's pleased with their progress."

    "Yes sir. In any case, he will be ready to work with you starting at mid-morning the day after tomorrow. He requested mid-morning because—"

    "—that will give him time to go over the sealing lab with a fine-toothed rake and then verify that the place is still level to within a one-inch tolerance and there is nothing red within fifty feet."

    "Uh...yes, sir." The older man paused. "Sir, is sealing truly that dangerous? Would a raspberry actually cause disaster?"

    Hazō chuckled. "Honestly, I don't even know how to answer that. We've used berries as our test targets before, so maybe it's something about the particular seal that we're researching, or maybe Sensei is just feeling like being a little extra careful."

    "Yes, sir. Moving on, I have two candidates for a clan magistrate." He handed over a pair of thin folders. Hazō flipped them open and skimmed through them.

    "Have you talked to them?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Which way do you lean?"

    "Sir...it's really not my place."

    Hazō waved dismissively. "You're a smart guy, Gaku. You're allowed to have opinions. You've vetted both of these guys, right?"

    "To the best of my ability, sir. I passed their jackets to Lady Mari for her review. She, uh, she seemed to find them both acceptable."

    Hazō's 'Mari gonna Mari' sense started tingling. "What did she say exactly?"

    Gaku swallowed nervously and fidgeted with his shirt cuff. "She...she told me that she had complete confidence in my choices and felt no need to investigate further."

    Which might have been Mari saying 'I have complete confidence in your choices and feel no need to investigate further' or 'This sounds boring and I want to do something else'. Still, best not to tell Gaku that.

    "Well, I agree with her. Pick the one you like best, get him set up as the magistrate."

    Gaku's eyes widened. "Sir, I can't! I'm a civilian secretary, I can't be choosing the clan magistrate!"

    "Who says?"

    "What? I mean...everyone knows...that is...you can't—"

    Hazō laughed. "Pretty sure I can. Clan Head, remember? I'm tired of having to sign off on minor disciplinary offenses and I have confidence in you." Besides, if the one that Gaku chose didn't work out they could simply replace him. "Pick the one you like and get him started. And get used to making decisions like that—you're too good at your job to be doubting yourself." He paused as a thought struck him. "We should get you a title. You're a lot more than my secretary and we should make that clear to everyone. Chancellor? Vizier? Executive? Anything particular appeal?"

    "I...sir, I can't...that is..."

    Hazō took mercy on the man. "Let's both think on it for a couple days. It deserves an appropriate amount of thought to pick the right title and then solemnity when we do the public announcement."

    "Public announcement?!"

    "So, anyway, let's finish this up so I can get some sleep."

    Gaku took a moment to gather his flustered self before nodding weakly. "Yes sir. Here are the compound logistics reports for your review, sir. If you could sign here..."

    o-o-o-o​

    "Gōketsu."

    "Neji. Good evening. Have a seat. What would you like to drink?"

    Neji's outfit was perfectly turned out and far more formal than the occasion warranted. Hazō wasn't sure if that expressed nervousness on Neji's part or an implicit putdown of his host's standards. Given the sour expression it was probably the second.

    "What do you want, Gōketsu? Lady Hinata said I had to meet with you in order to 'maintain and improve clan relations' because apparently that's a thing that we care about now."

    "Neji, please sit."

    Grumpily, the white-eyed ninja settled in the chair across from Hazō, his back perfectly straight and hands in his lap.

    "You're snarkier than usual. What's going on?"

    "Nothing. Get to the point."

    "Well, let's get some food first. I'm starving." He actually wasn't. Everyone trained by Infiltrator-sensei would know to eat something before going to an important meeting. ("Empty bellies make empty heads. Empty heads make you dead.") He caught the waiter's attentive eye and signaled readiness. The man bustled over.

    "Welcome, My Lords, to the Naked Jaybird. The menu tonight is—"

    "It's fine," Hazō said. "Just send us the chef's choices. Water with berry juice for me. Neji?"

    Neji glared sourly at the universe in general. "I suppose that will do. And hurry."

    The waiter bowed deeply and vanished into the kitchen.

    "So, how are things?"

    "Fine."

    "You guys were hit hard by the Collapse. I know that you must all still be in a lot of pain; I suspect there isn't anything I can do, but can the Gōketsu help in any way?"

    "No."

    "Okay." Hazō let the silence hang and used the time to pour two cups of tea. He gestured an offer to Neji, who took the one on the left with poor grace.

    "By the way, I never congratulated you on signing the Turtle Scroll," Hazō said.

    "Listen, Gōketsu—!" Neji stopped himself, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Thank you. I appreciate your concern."

    "Okay, seriously. Neji, what's going on? Have I done something to offend you? Oh, thank you." The last words were addressed to the waiter who had returned with a pitcher of berry-infused water and two younger servers with platters of tiny dishes that they quickly unloaded onto the table. All three staff members bowed, deeply and repeatedly, and vanished.

    "That was quick," Neji said suspiciously.

    Hazō shrugged. "You're known for your punctuality, so I felt safe giving them an exact time to start preparing."

    "'Known for my punctuality', huh?" Neji snarled. "Is that all you think of me?"

    Hazō leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "Okay, look. I have no idea what's going on with you. I came here to have a good meal, a nice conversation, and offer you a deal, that's it."

    "A deal, hm? Trying to bribe me?" Neji had not so much as glanced at the food on the table...not that he needed to, since the bulging veins along his temples indicated that his Byakugan was active. That was a bit of a social faux pas, but Hazō wasn't about to call him on it.

    Hazō made a point of inspecting each of the twelve dishes before finally choosing shrimp balls in squid ink. "Look, Neji," he said, nibbling the first of the savory treats. "I don't know what's bothering you and I can't fix it until you tell me. What's going on?"

    Neji studied him in silence for several long seconds. "Do you know my cousin, Mitsuo?" he asked grudgingly.

    Hazō searched his memory and came up blank. "I don't, I'm sorry."

    "He's dead. Killed while spying on those Rock bastards last week."

    "Oh, Sage. Neji, I'm so sorry."

    "Why are you sorry? You just said you didn't know him."

    Hazō took a deep breath. "I didn't, but I know you and I know what it's like to lose someone. I can empathize with you even if I can't grieve directly for your cousin."

    Neji eyed him for a moment, then snorted and jabbed at the plate of salted green beans, loading a good helping of them onto his plate.

    "Your red-headed witch was sure she could get rid of those bastards, with her so-clever plans about sending animals to harass them." Neji stopped abruptly and took a breath, then another deeper one. When he spoke again his voice was calmer, although it still had an edge. "Intellectually, I know that Mitsuo's death is not that woman's fault. Despite that, he was in that location solely because he and his Aburame teammate were assigned to herd a tangle of swamp vipers into the Rock camp. Because of her plan."

    "I'm sorry," Hazō said quietly.

    Neji grunted and took a resentful bite of his beans. He paused, then practically inhaled the rest.

    "Try the stuffed hummingbird," Hazō suggested, pointing. "They're amazing."

    "I know what you're doing," Neji said, serving himself one of the tiny birds. It had been defeathered, soaked in vinegar until the bones softened, then stuffed with a sausage and mushroom mix and baked. It was an incredible amount of labor for two bites of food, but it tasted amazing.

    "What am I doing?"

    "You got a list of all my favorite foods from somewhere—"

    "The Nara."

    "Of course. You thought you could bribe me with stuffed hummingbird?"

    "No, I thought I could give you a nice meal that you would enjoy. And, yes, that it might put you in a better mood when I make my pitch in a minute."

    "Unlikely. Spit it out so that I can turn down what I'm sure will be another example of treasonous idiocy." The words were harsh but the tone held a very slight sense of teasing.

    Hazō chuckled. "Why, Neji. That almost sounded like a joke. Couldn't be though, right? The great Lord Neji would never actually joke with some worthless non-Hyūga. Right?"

    "Of course not. Especially not of your clan—your brother has made it perfectly clear that the Gōketsu completely lack the capacity to appreciate the refined humor of the Hyūga."

    "I'll tell him you said that. He lives to spar with you and I'm sure it will inspire him to new heights of creativity at your next meeting."

    "You should also tell him to expect another humiliation."

    "Sure." Hazō took the other hummingbird and crunched it up, savoring the flavors and allowing the shared moment of (grantedly bitter-edged) camaraderie to solidify in the air. "Anyway, I wanted to get your take on something, Summoner to Summoner."

    Neji's expression became guarded again.

    "Here's the deal," Hazō said. "If all the summoners in Leaf work together, we can create an instantaneous transportation network between all the Summon Clans and anywhere in Fire, allowing us—meaning the Summoners and also our clans and Leaf as a whole—to become vastly wealthy. With the Hokage's permission we could even branch out into allied nations such as Sand, Grass, and so on. All we have to do is get embassies set up between all of our various Summon Clans. For example, I arrange for Canoe to be stationed in Turtle country. I summon her and give her a storage scroll full of whatever. She unsummons back to the embassy and hands that scroll to a turtle. You summon that turtle and he gives you the storage scroll. Alternatively, you and I can meet in person by getting reverse-summoned back to the embassy."

    "'All we have to do' is get embassies set up between our respective Summon Clans?" Neji parroted in disbelief. "The Turtles are a thousand miles or more from the Dogs, separated by multiple other Clans with whom they are not allied and a major mountain range. They are nearly as far from the Monkeys. They are merely several hundred miles from the Toads, with whom they have no alliance."

    "This is a strategic intelligence weapon for Leaf and for the various Clans, as well as a source of income for everyone involved," Hazō noted, falling back to section 7.a.1 of his Mari- and Keiko-approved script. "It's going to happen, the only question is who comes in at the start and who gets left out.

    "I've already spoken with Asuma about the potential and now I'm talking with the various summoners to get the details hammered out before I go back to him for his signoff. Either the Summoners push their Clans to get involved or the Clans will hear the offer and push their Summoner to get involved, but it's too advantageous for anyone to skip out on. Again, the only question is who is onboard at the start and therefore gets the largest share of the profit."

    Hazō studied Neji carefully before choosing which part of the script to move to next. "You understand that this deal is between the Summoners, right? Only those of us who have travelled through the Paths are worthy, and only we have the knowledge to make it work. The arrangement will be approved by the Hokage and all military intelligence gained will be presented to him immediately, but it's a deal between individuals. How you involve the rest of the Hyūga is up to you—obviously you shouldn't conceal it from them, but you can choose your own approach."

    The problem with the Byakugan is that those who are using it do not need to look you in the eyes to read your reactions, since they can simultaneously see your eyes, heart, lungs, stomach, muscular system, and even your spleen. Also, every Hyūga was given extensive practice at maintaining a completely blank expression so as not to give away what their cheating eyeballs were discovering.

    "And what exactly will I be getting as one of the members of this deal?" Neji asked suspiciously.

    "An absolute ass-ton of money. The basic idea is that we're enabling people to trade with one another who wouldn't have been able to otherwise and we take a percentage of every transaction. For example, one of the Toad Sages wanted to buy pipeweed from Turtle. If they sell him a hundred ryō worth of pipeweed, we take twenty ryō and the Turtles get eighty. The twenty gets split between all the Summoners in the network and any other partners we bring in."

    Neji's Hyūga training was insufficient to prevent the frown of confusion. "What?"

    "Okay, let me try it again." He pushed dishes and condiments around until the center of the table was clear. "Let's say that we start with you, me, and Noburi." He placed a salt shaker, a pepper shaker, and an empty sake cup in the cleared space.

    "I want to be the pepper."

    "Fine, you're the pepper. I'll be the cup and Noburi can be the salt." He produced three meeples from his pocket and held them up. (Having a well-stocked gaming closet was helpful when looking for appropriate symbolic markers!) "Now, each of us is the representative for our Summon Clan. You stand for the Turtles." He placed the blue meeple down next to the pepper shaker. "I stand for the Dogs." The red meeple took its place next to the cup. "And Noburi stands for the Toads." He set the green meeple next to the salt shaker.

    "Let's say that the Dogs want to sell the Toads some hides. They give me a storage scroll full of the stuff." Hazō turned his hand to reveal the rolled-up ball of grass he'd been palming and mimed passing it from the red meeple to the sake cup. "I give it to Noburi"—the ball transferred from the cup to the salt shaker—"and he gives it to the Toads." It completed its journey to the green meeple. "The Toads send a thousand ryō back the other way." He reached into his pocket and produced a group of coins laced onto a string. "We take twenty percent." He slipped two of the coins off and set them aside. "The rest go from the Toads to Noburi to me to the Dogs." The string of coins completed its journey.

    "Now, that twenty percent gets split between all the Summoners in the group. In this case that means that you, me, and Noburi split two hundred ryō, so we each get sixty-six ryō."

    "I did nothing. Why am I getting money?"

    "Because the value of the network goes up every time a new Summoner joins. Your participation means that everyone can buy and sell goods with the Turtle Clan, which they couldn't do otherwise. Splitting the profits evenly keeps our interests aligned." He studied Neji for a moment, then gestured dismissively. "The details are still up in the air. Maybe a twenty percent fee is too high—maybe we only take ten percent, or even five. Maybe we split the profits between the Summoners and a company run by the Merchant Council, making them be responsible for doing necessary market research, finding products for us to sell, and so on. Again, the idea is for this to be mostly hands-off for us. We do one or two daily summons at a pre-arranged time, pass storage scrolls around, and get paid. We aren't merchants and we shouldn't pretend to be; finding the goods and doing the haggling is someone else's job, we just give them the chance to do it."

    Neji frowned. "This is dishonest. You're stealing from these people, slicing off their earnings."

    "Nope. Everything is completely aboveboard. They know how much we're going to take and agree to it. Right now the Turtles can't sell to the Dogs at all, so every ryō they make by way of the network is money they wouldn't have had otherwise. So what if they earn eight hundred instead of a thousand ryō? They're still ending up ahead. And so are the Dogs, who wouldn't have been able to get the Turtles' products without us."

    "It's too much. We shouldn't be taking that much when we're doing nothing."

    "We are doing something. We are providing a service and that service has value." He paused for a moment. "Imagine a civilian village is having a problem...let's say that chakra voles that have been killing people. The village posts a pest-clearing mission for a thousand ryō. You take the mission—"

    "Why would I take such a ridiculous mission?"

    "Humor me. Anyway, you take the mission. You're a Hyūga with a powerful Byakugan, so it won't take you more than five minutes to find the warren and another five, if that, to destroy all the voles. Ten minutes, no risk, no effort. A thousand ryō is a lot of money to a bunch of villagers. Are they going to feel like you cheated them out of their money?"

    "Obviously not. I saved their lives when they could not have saved their own."

    Hazō spread his hands. "There you go."

    Neji considered that. "The Summon Clans will not feel cheated because they could not have made the trades without us."

    "Right."

    "Interesting."

    "Any questions?"

    "...Not at the moment."

    "Well, like I said, everything is still up in the air at this point. Right now I'm basically just figuring out who wants to be at the meeting when we sit down to figure out what percentage we're taking, what schedule we're summoning on, how we coordinate sales and distribute profits, and all that. I'll warn you: I'm going to push for the idea that people get a lower cut the later they come in, so if you think you're interested then it would be a good idea to say so now."

    Neji digested that for a moment.

    "Let me know when the meeting is," he said. "I'll be there."

    I ended up not rolling this, mostly because you did a good enough job that I didn't feel like I had to. You had two Aspects lined up and FP allocated to invoke them. You had an entire stage set to highlight your own wealth, concern and respect for Neji, and the value of your offer. I figured that Neji was probably feeling a little weird at the idea that this deal was with him and not with the Hyūga directly but that is only enough to make him wary, not opposed. He doesn't have the socials to beat you when you've stacked the deck this hard and he's not going to break off negotiation on something that he isn't firmly opposed to, so I simply went ahead and gave you the win. Good job.





    Community Chest: QM error in your favor! Collect research shifts! You requested that the update be 3 days and down in the Misc section you continued researching the chakdar seal. I did the rolls first (giving you credit for 3 days prep time), entered them into the research record, and started writing the chapter. Then I realized that it really should have only been 2 days of prep because the rules are that you get bonuses based on the number of days spent preparing before (not including) the day you make the attempt. Then I got most of the chapter written and realized that it should have been 0 days of prep because in order to fulfill what was in the plan you had to spend most of the first day on the Seventh Path learning about dog culture and Kakashi, then spend most of the second day on the meeting with Neji (planning it with the clan, finding his tastes and ensuring the menu was appropriate, then having the meeting itself). This leaves one day to do the sealing attempt with zero days of prep.

    Eh. The numbers are small and I can't be bothered to go back and change it, so you guys get a few shifts of success that you shouldn't have. Hazō estimates that he's getting close to a solution and another week or two should wrap it up, as long as he stays dedicated to his research. For future, remember that if you want the time bonus for preparation then the day cannot include significant other activities such as hanging out with Dogs, talking with clan heads, etc. It's intended to be an actual optimization decision that carries opportunity costs, not a footnote in the SOP.

    You spoke to Noburi and suggested he get moving on finding some combat summons. His response was "Duh." The Toads are being cagey but he's trying.

    You read through more of Jiraiya's journals, looking for information on Orochimaru. You found a lot of stuff that made you miss Jiraiya and nothing that was helpful.

    XP AWARD: 10

    FP AWARD: 1     For social victory over Neji. (The net is -1 because you spent 2 during the conversation.)

    Brevity XP: 2 @Velorien and I still haven't sat down and hashed out whether brevity awards are supposed to be per day or per plan. I'm awarding 2 instead of 1 in order to split the difference.

    "GM had fun" XP: 0 No strong feelings about these scenes one way or the other.

    It is now about 10pm.

    Vote time! What to do now?

    Voting ends on Wednesday, August 12, 2020, at 12pm London time.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Cannai is so reasonable. Hazou just has to be polite and we get politeness back! This is unprecedented!

    [x] (Candoru) Yes. Respectfully tell Candoru that you look forward to working with him

    We don't need to beat him up until he actually acts up, but we shouldn't be unwilling to fight when he inevitably does. Until then, we can merely schedule a pleasant excursion into our mine where we agitate waves of chakra beasts and send them his way until he gets overwhelmed, and then rinse and repeat until the mine is cleared.

    Overall this is a very happy update.
     
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    Initial thought after the update is that taking Candoru as a summon synchronizes very well with going scroll hunting, mine clearing and chakra beast looping (also note that I doubt Candoru will lose to chakra beasts though, so taking him means we're committing to going on a relatively dangerous mission).

    Alternatively, if we want to focus on getting the summon network running, dealing with our engineering projects, and doing sealing research (and improving the sleds, going that route instead of the rehabilitate-Candoru route), it doesn't seem very efficient.

    Basically, we should determine what area we want to focus on and then make the Candoru vote.

    Personally, I vote for scroll hunting and getting out of the village. That might be enough leverage to help Noburi get summons, a stress reliever for Keiko after the vote, and a good way to accumulate XP before FOOM, since after we start it we'll need to be in the village to fully utilize training blocks.
     
    eaglejarl said:
    "I've already spoken with Asuma about the potential and now I'm talking with the various summoners to get the details hammered out before I go back to him for his signoff. Either the Summoners push their Clans to get involved or the Clans will hear the offer and push their Summoner to get involved, but it's too advantageous for anyone to skip out on. Again, the only question is who is onboard at the start and therefore gets the largest share of the profit."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Also pinging @Velorien @OliWhail Who are the Porcupine and Condor Summoners???
     
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