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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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God I loved this chapter so much! I'd like to personally thank Noburi for his good taste. I'm very curious what Ino's outfit was like, but a description would probably be pushing the boundaries anyways.

Also, it's good to know that Ami relations haven't worsened too badly. She seems to have gained a wary respect for the Goketsu as a whole, in that she isn't fully confident she can predict and manipulate us. It could've gone much worse, and Ami can still continue to bond with Hazou.
 
Velorien said:
The Beastmaster snorted. "As if the cowardly Byōsō would dare face us in a straight fight. They fled to the north, young Gōketsu, and hid themselves among other clans so we would not pursue. If you ever meet a shinobi claiming to be from the Irie Clan, drive your kunai straight into his throat before he can start spinning his lies."
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Oh right, those are a Rice clan, by the way. I think Jiraiya implied we're allowed to take over Rice? If we ever need a favour with the Inuzuka, we can go wipe them out. Good to know!
 
Zeus and Hades, Ami had good reasons for what she did. She was assuming that Hazou was bright enough to infer a firehose of information she could not express directly. She was not just being cruel for the lulz. If we ignore her message it will be to our peril.
 
Lailoken said:
Zeus and Hades, Ami had good reasons for what she did. She was assuming that Hazou was bright enough to infer a firehose of information she could not express directly. She was not just being cruel for the lulz. If we ignore her message it will be to our peril.
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You would think that interacting with Hazou for more than 5 seconds would have disabused her of that.
 
faflec said:
You would think that interacting with Hazou for more than 5 seconds would have disabused her of that.
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I mean, half the time he's talking to her, we just fed him a detailed XL plan laser-focused on precisely navigating that exact interaction. I think it's understandable that she'd have inflated expectations.
 
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Noumero said:
I mean, half the time he's talking to her, we just fed him a detailed XL plan laser-focused on precisely navigating that exact interaction. I think it's understandable that she'd have inflated expectations.
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We keep that up and we'll develop a reputation for consistently inconsistent brilliancy. As much as if love to shape Hazou's personality into something capable of keeping up with Ami, I don't think it's possible.

I don't mean impossible in a "Hazou will never get there" sort of way, but that the required methods of thinking are something I doubt a majority of voters will vote for. People seem to like the current passionate and emotional Hazou full of righteous anger more than a cooler-header one. Yes, Hazou is getting better at controlling his emotions, but that's a whole world away from Hazou being provoked to anger and immediately analyzing why someone would provoke us to such an extent instead of reacting angery.
 
Inferno Vulpix said:
Important question:

What's Keiko going to think about all this?
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Think about what? No idea what you're talking about. None.

Velorien said:
Now take a deep breath, say a prayer to Mari the patron saint of making hard work look easy, and get out there.
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That's such a good line. And gives me vague ideas for a birthday present...

Pharos said:
We keep that up and we'll develop a reputation for consistently inconsistent brilliancy. As much as if love to shape Hazou's personality into something capable of keeping up with Ami, I don't think it's possible.

I don't mean impossible in a "Hazou will never get there" sort of way, but that the required methods of thinking are something I doubt a majority of voters will vote for. People seem to like the current passionate and emotional Hazou full of righteous anger more than a cooler-header one. Yes, Hazou is getting better at controlling his emotions, but that's a whole world away from Hazou being provoked to anger and immediately analyzing why someone would provoke us to such an extent instead of reacting angery.
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What do you mean develop? IC we're known for having brilliant flashes of insight, and then falling flat on our face over different issues. Noburi even says we do this thing where we zone out for a couple seconds before Doing the Thing. Really, the fact that we're now usually perceived as competent with only occasional bits of stupidity is a combination of lots of mindfulness from the more active player base and very good quality character growth from the QMs. But, even then, I don't think we could really push Hazou in that direction you're describing fully. Not without multiple impactful IC events to also catalyse him, and even then it would be a lot of QM discretion. Hazou's his own dude, we're just interesting thoughts.
 
Velorien said:
And between the two, also in black with a single red ribbon around her waist, was Ami. Hazō was pretty sure that hadn't been one of the options in the briefing.

No, it had. Do not give a gift in a black container, as that symbolises sin, or the receiver having something to hide. If you have to, wrap it with a red ribbon to symbolise that it has been purified by blood spilled in atonement.
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Wait, Ami's apologizing to us???? Admittedly not out loud, but wow.

Velorien said:
Hazō could tell by the flicker of shock on Ami's face that she had not taken one of the better samples.
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Okay, who is this, and what have they done with Ami?

Velorien said:
"Ami, do you really think I would blackmail you with anything," Hazō said disbelievingly, "much less Akane's feelings?"

"No," Ami said after a couple of seconds. "No, I don't think you would. But then, I'm not dealing with you. I'm dealing with the Gōketsu. All bets are off."

With that, she walked away without leaving him an opportunity to respond, not that he had any idea what he'd say.
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Yuuuuuup. Ami is definitely trying to avoid getting positive emotions for us. Looks like getting her hair washed just gave her more ammo to use for the purpose of thinking of Hazō as anything other than family.

Velorien said:
Keiko shook her head. "For those who are unaware of the… unique relationship between Snowflake and myself, this will accomplish nothing. And even those who are, on the whole, do not understand exactly what is happening, and appear to believe that this is some kind of sophisticated Nara social experiment. The Nara have a reputation for such. No, I believe I should put an end to this before it goes any further."

But Hazō remembered training with Snowflake. He remembered her earnest desire to find answers, and he remembered feeling just a little touched that when she found herself isolated from the people she spent her time with by default, she'd come straight to him.
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Looks like one of Ami's reasons was not just to prime us for accepting the clones as people, but also because she's worried Keiko might delete one of them if they become too annoying.
 
MMKII said:
@faflec Do you have any thoughts on what we can do (perhaps with respect to the current pile of Anti-Hagoromo plots that are in motion or have been proposed in character)?
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I mean, besides the plots we've already gotten up to...I'd like to take a look at the previous Lord Hagoromo, the one who died in the Collapse, and see if he was more of a moderate than the current Lord. There's an argument to be made that we could start rumors that the Hagoromo Clan's recent woes are because the spirits/ancestors/whatever are angry at the current head for straying from the path as espoused by the previous head.

Also, Inuzuka Clan conversion.
 
MMKII said:
Ah, expand?
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Velorien said:
"You want her to visit?" Hazō clarified. The Inuzuka had voted against Keiko at the Clan Council meeting. Didn't that mean they'd been swayed to Hagoromo's side?

"There is a balance that cannot be restored without her," the Beastmaster said. "Oh, don't tell me you're taken in by that homosexuality nonsense, young man."

"What do you mean by that?" Hazō asked. He'd been hoping to see more sensible clans that wouldn't one day have to be dealt with the same way as the Hagoromo, but if he was honest, the Inuzuka would not have been his go-to clan for open-mindedness and common sense.

The Beastmaster chuckled. "There's no such thing."

"I-I beg your pardon?"

"I know of no species, not one, that does not see intercourse between members of the same sex. It might be for play, or social bonding, or to assert dominance, or any one of a thousand reasons. If your sister thinks enjoying the body of another woman from time to time makes her somehow special within the natural world, I assure you that is nothing but ignorance and youthful folly."

"She's never claimed to be special," Hazō said testily, then caught himself. "I mean," he said in a softer tone that implicitly acknowledged his moment of rudeness, "it was Hagoromo that started stirring people up. She just wants to be left alone."

The Beastmaster sighed. "That young hothead. Always so zealous in defending the Will of Fire, even when it is not being attacked. Your sister has promised the Nara children, hasn't she? That's what matters to Leaf, not what she does recreationally."

Hazō was torn. Should he try to explain to the man that Keiko's relationship with Tenten was not only serious but primary in her life, or should he let sleeping dogs lie and accept the Beastmaster's misguided tolerance as "good enough"? In the end, he had come here for reasons of his own, and the last thing he wanted to do was damage relations with the Inuzuka in the name of something Keiko was perfectly capable of handling on her own.
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There still hasn't been enough conversation about HNK facing at least one, and possibly up to three jounin. Remember that ninja power scales exponentially such that a village's combat power is mostly composed of its small number of jounin rather than its far more numerous chuunin or genin. In all likelihood a single jounin could wipe the floor with the kids, much less three familiar with working together.
 
[X] Lore Update
[X] Interlude: Hazou's Birthday
Lailoken said:
There still hasn't been enough conversation about HNK facing at least one, and possibly up to three jounin. Remember that ninja power scales exponentially such that a village's combat power is mostly composed of its small number of jounin rather than its far more numerous chuunin or genin. In all likelihood a single jounin could wipe the floor with the kids, much less three familiar with working together.
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One Jonin, 2 Chunin.

Also, ninja.
 
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SC Math for Chapter 381 (Applied):
@eaglejarl, @Velorien
By the SOPs, Keiko is training with 4 clones and Akane is training with 3. With 2 base XP, the SC payouts are:
  • Keiko: +0.8 XP (2 x0.4)
  • Akane: +0.6 XP (2 x0.3)
Given that Keiko's SCs show up at the party, I'm unsure if they were training that day. If not, strike Keiko's bonus from the record.

All previous payouts are accounted for.
 
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