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You know," Hazō said quietly, "just once I'd like to offer an idea without being told it'll throw the village into fire, death, and destruction."

"I understand the Festival Committee is gathering suggestions for this year's Founder's Day decorations," Shikamaru told him seriously. "Ribbon colours and the subjects of painted scrolls are popular topics."

Hazō brightened up. "The Gōketsu can help with that. What if some of the painted scrolls were seals that passers-by could trigger to I'll shut up now."

They both tried, for a minute. The conversation is an excellent summary of both Hazou and the hivemind, which I appreciate.

Currently, all SSA is doing for us is making projects get done faster and reducing that chance of sealing failure.

I mean, that's not a small thing by itself. I'm not saying more calligraphy for better sealing isn't worthwhile, but we do have to weigh that against slower FOOM time, don't we?
 
Sorry about the formatting, on mobile and my head is pounding.

Edit for vote:
[x] Authority Doesn't Come from a Rank, It Comes From The People Who Give It To You (Now With More Space!)

"I ask your forgiveness, dear wife," Shikamaru said gravely. "I had always assumed your past trauma stemmed from growing up in a brutal totalitarian state where those around you constantly tormented you and denied your value."

"Not at all, beloved husband. I think it likely that those experiences did play a certain contributing role."

As always, Shikamaru and Keiko have a lovely dynamic of true, intimate friendship. It's always a pleasure seeing them interact :)

It took Hazō a moment to process the sound that came out of Keiko's mouth as "Please continue", compressed for speed until it barely counted as a syllable

This made me laugh ^.^

That was the image that came to mind when Hazō saw Keiko's reaction, or lack of it.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, looked intrigued.

Thought it was lovely that Shikamaru and Keiko have different loyalties and goals, but still respect each other's differences. That's a hard line to walk, let alone write, and you've managed it perfectly!

Yet here I am, after prolonged exposure to unsafe levels of Hazō, followed by support for a friend in the aftermath of disaster—and, yes, I suppose Ami might in some way be a causal factor as well—and suddenly I find myself feeling forced to return unasked-for trust with responsibility. There are hundreds of people whom I am unable to leave to their own devices, lest they undergo suffering I could have prevented with the power they have one-sidedly bestowed upon me.

Keiko is becoming successful and she equates success with Ami, not herself. Big imposter syndrome. I'd say we should give her a hug (because hugs are fucking awesome) but she'd stab us.

...maybe we can give a dramatic "Fuck Your Insecurities, You're Awesome, and Here's A Thousand Reasons Why" speech?

"You know," Hazō said quietly, "just once I'd like to offer an idea without being told it'll throw the village into fire, death, and destruction."

"I understand the Festival Committee is gathering suggestions for this year's Founder's Day decorations," Shikamaru told him seriously. "Ribbon colours and the subjects of painted scrolls are popular topics."

Hazō brightened up. "The Gōketsu can help with that. What if some of the painted scrolls were seals that passers-by could trigger to I'll shut up now."

Shikamaru nodded. "Permit me to return the courtesy, as I have a wife who needs… Quite frankly, I have no idea what she needs, but you and I both know that ninety percent of research is trial and error. Thank you again for bringing your idea to us first."

"Good luck," Hazō said. "Try to make sure there aren't any sharp objects in the room before you talk to her."

"She shares a room with Tenten. I could sooner drink the ocean dry.

"And now, I must bid you good day. If we never meet again, know that you were an acceptable brother-in-law."

"You were not bad either," Hazō said with the gravity of a man delivering a final benediction. "Though you really should have come to more of our parties."

Okay, so I know that I said that Keiko and Shikamaru have a nice power couple thing going on, but Shikamaru and Hazou have a nice brotherly relationship that isn't often remarked upon. So I'll remark upon it now: it's mellow and understated, but most things are with the Nara. That said, I genuinely think that Hazou and Shikamaru are as much brothers as Hazou and Noburi are.
 
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By the way, does anyone remember in which update Orochimaru's new way of getting test subjects was announced?
I can't remember who thought up (and created) the whole "come die for science and money (and so Orochimaru doesn't have to kidnap his test subjects anymore)"
 
"Hazō," Keiko said, "allow me for a moment to suspend the catastrophic contradiction you have imposed upon me and speak purely as a representative of the KEI. First, pragmatically, clan adoption is a zero-sum game which the KEI must lose. When a shinobi is adopted, the KEI's power decreases according to the value of that shinobi—which one must assume to be high if they are an adoption candidate to begin with—and the power of a clan, of the clans as a whole, increases by the same amount. This is plain arithmetical fact. Its logical conclusion, in a world where the Clan Restoration Act is enthusiastically exploited, is the destruction of the KEI as a functional organisation, as it is by definition reduced to undesirables who lack the value necessary for their voices to be heard.

This whole thing can easily be mutually beneficial, it's not like all clans will prevent an ex-KEI ninja to help the organization, we even have a few examples:
  • Haru joined us to get the Pangolin stuff and easy money for his family and then started to help civilians.
  • Ebisu joined the Kei clan, probably to get even more funding and we know that he cares about the clanless.
  • And Kagome is teaching multiple clanless, who probably count as KEI, ninja for free.
Also, a clan that adopts a prominent KEI ninja is likely already positively inclined towards them, because you wouldn't want to adopt people you don't trust.

i realize that Goketsu, Kei and Nara are more willing to work with them, but my point is that a adopted ninja can bring new resources and influence to the whole organization. They just need to be smart about it.

And I think most clans wouldn't want to anger their newest member by being anti-KEI and increasing the chances for some form of betrayal.

We are mostly adopting people because of the Pangolin jutsu and to reward loyality anyway, we could just ally with people like Nakano and others for the Scroll hunt, if we give him cool stuff he probably doesn't care about getting the scroll for himself.

Spend a few days researching one of the following (whichever Hazō thinks would be easiest or wants to do).
  • Bigger storage seals
    • Try to make the volume and mass limits larger, with limits TBD based on Hazō's sealing knowledge.
  • Macerators v3
    • Lower capacity but higher ejection speed. (Maybe turn the sheer force up to 11? (Evil laughter.))
  • Slightly-off Storage Seals
    • Storage seals that release the contents slightly to the side by a foot or so.

I think you should remove the Bigger storage seals, they aren't that important right now.

And the slighly off storage seals? Why not forward? we could shoot with them through barriers like our doms (don't know how thick those are) or a five barrier shield. Just sit behind an air dome and shoot at people!
 
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Because <insert Kagome gobbledegook>

What exactly do you mean?
Kagome already told us that's what storage scrolls do normally:

Kagome-sensei frowned. "Hm. You'd have to modify the cthonomantic envelope on the storage space so that the boundary interactions with the seal were offset from the seal itself. Should be possible...the whole point of a storage seal is that the output site is offset by half an inch or so up from the seal. Wouldn't do any good to be in the seal itself. I suppose you could stretch that offset. In theory I can't think of any reason you couldn't stretch it as far as you like, but in practice I have to think it would be hard to get more than a few inches, a couple of feet at most. And it would be harder the farther you wanted it to go."

And he thinks that one can go a bit further, which is why I pointed out the whole "stay behind barrier" thing.
 
So, anyone up for some brainstorming on how to deal with the KEI on the subject of our proposal?

If we still want to go through with it, not blindsiding them would probably be better in the long term. Maybe we can add some rider to the bill? There's also Clan Kei, which currently can easily snatch away all of the most promising clanless ninja that are willing to get adopted despite the union line, but otherwise still have at least some loyalty towards the KEI. More adoption slots means more power to preempt poaching in quality, if not in quantity. Add to that that powerful KEI ninja with good amounts of solidarity and integrity will just say no to being adopted (as is their right), especially if they have an even shorter timeline in front of them when it comes to graduating from KEI to Kei, and the constant risk of any smart and promising clanless ninja that does agree to being adopted into a clan could be a KEI spy (especially because the KEI don't have a pact based on mutualism and protection of the status quo when it comes to respecting the clan secrets ruled) and we can easily spin this whole thing into an increase of KEI negotiating power. The law will on the surface look like a dominance move of all the clans against the clanless, but in effect actually trying to use it that way would be very risky for any clan that doesn't have good relations and is negotiating concessions towards the KEI.

Another thing to keep in mind is Ami. Ami will use anything to her advantage and spin anything we ask of her as a favor, regardless of whether or how much it costs her. On the other hand, she doesn't actually have any major personal loyalties towards the KEI, except insofar as harming them upsets Keiko. In any case, trying to negotiate any of this between her and Hazō directly will be costly in some form or another.
 
@ContextBot I think a good way to model the whole KEI thing is like the relationship between corporations and unions. The clanless are the ground level minimum wage workers, clanless jōnin are highly skilled workers that have gotten great concessions, the KEI is the union that considers all clanless to be members whether they want to or not, the clan heads are uper management, shareholders and the board of directors all in one, the Hokage is an immensely powerful and independent CEO that can't be fired, and adoption is the act of promoting a worker into a prestigious position in order to make him abandon his fellow union members, except more so because they are legally not union workers anymore if they accept.
Haru joined us to get the Pangolin stuff and easy money for his family and then started to help civilians.
The KEI is not an organization that cares about civilians more so than the fact that they have clanless civilian parents.
Ebisu joined the Kei clan, probably to get even more funding and we know that he cares about the clanless.
The Kei clan is not like other clans. I would be surprised if most of the money the Kei clan head gets for his members through tax returns just go towards clan members proportionally, or even towards internal clan advantages. Being adopted into it in practice makes you more KEI, even if it makes you not KEI on paper.
And Kagome is teaching multiple clanless, who probably count as KEI, ninja for free.
That Gokētsu likes to gift handouts and advantages to clanless (technically always KEI but practically loyalty to the organization itself doesn't matter) and has seemed friendly towards KEI endeavors doesn't mean that our proposal won't seem like a stab in the back if we blindside them.

Also, a clan that adopts a prominent KEI ninja is likely already positively inclined towards them, because you wouldn't want to adopt people you don't trust.
All clanless ninja are KEI ninja. Adopting some desperate clanless with promising abilities weakens KEI's negotiating position. Prominent and dedicated KEI ninja won't agree to being adopted anyway, except if it benefits the KEI as a whole somehow or if they are turned first. The risk is losing people who prioritize their own employment conditions over those of their fellow union members.
And I think most clans wouldn't want to anger their newest member by being anti-KEI and increasing the chances for some form of betrayal.
Some do though. And they'd love to answer said betrayal with a righteous crack-down of some sort.

We are mostly adopting people because of the Pangolin jutsu and to reward loyality anyway, we could just ally with people like Nakano and others for the Scroll hunt, if we give him cool stuff he probably doesn't care about getting the scroll for himself.
We have more reasons than those. Clan Gokētsu has multiple clan secrets and interests that don't always align with the interests of the clanless, at least not at a glance. A clan member can be convinced to do things for us that are just short of treason. We also get the right to punish them as we wish for internal clan matters, which has weight even if Hazō repeatedly assures everyone he won't abuse that power.
Then there's powerful stuff like, among others, our Shadow Clone scheme. Right now it's secret contained on a need to know even internally, but if Haru or Atomu prove themselves loyal or trustworthy then we'll try to get them the SC jutsu as well and, if successful, include them in our scheme. The same goes for any other promising ninja we adopt.

That said, I agree with you that adopting the partially handicapped ninja is mostly just about personal integrity and reputation, with getting a trustworthy assistant with ninja powers being a side benefit.

(P.S.: Sorry for the double post. It didn't seem right to edit all of this into my previous comment and I did wait an hour between them)
 
[x] Authority Doesn't Come from a Rank, It Comes From The People Who Give It To You (Now With More Space!)
 
"Hazō," Keiko said, "allow me for a moment to suspend the catastrophic contradiction you have imposed upon me and speak purely as a representative of the KEI. First, pragmatically, clan adoption is a zero-sum game which the KEI must lose. When a shinobi is adopted, the KEI's power decreases according to the value of that shinobi—which one must assume to be high if they are an adoption candidate to begin with—and the power of a clan, of the clans as a whole, increases by the same amount. This is plain arithmetical fact. Its logical conclusion, in a world where the Clan Restoration Act is enthusiastically exploited, is the destruction of the KEI as a functional organisation, as it is by definition reduced to undesirables who lack the value necessary for their voices to be heard.

Possible solution: limit the act to otherwise unappealing candidates for adoption. For example, "only genin with a chunin-sensei instead of a jonin-sensei, or disabled ninja".

The KEI gets to keep the best of the clanless -- and so not be rendered toothless, the clans get to (marginally) increase their power, the unnappealing clanless get to join clans -- increasing their personal power and survival chances due to clan techniques (considering that KEI is supposed to be looking out for these people in the first place, I think they'd consider this a pro instead of a con).
 
There seems a relatively easy answer: couple it with the elimination of the special tax status of jounin. The whole point of it is to placate independently exceptional ninja and bleed off their support of their compatriots in a manner so subtle that it's likely that everybody in power has forgotten it. Without that, they more than pay for themselves even with the discount and the Kei go to the top and bidding wars ensue. They don't affect the council vote, so no initial resistance to the resolution as long as they don't realize the deeper implications.

Also, again, the technique hacker is a jounin, so no adoption slot is necessary if we follow up and convince her to join. Perhaps going through Keiko or Ami?


Let's see, other things to follow up on...

The initial effort at vibro-weapons fell victim to a misunderstanding with the GMs about ultrasonics. There is absolutely no reason that any serrated weapon cannot be equipped with multi-kilowatt earbusters in much the same way that Hazou almost killed himself by placing one in direct contact with his torso.

Combine air containing seals with God Breaking Wind wrapped around an explosive tag to create an enormous thermobaric discharge.

Gouketsu Prime. From our previous experience, most isolated settlements get one visit a year from a caravan and have to wait another year for delivery. There is no reason that they can't receive a genin with a bunch of storage seals and explosive tags every two weeks to deliver a mail-order catalog.

For the love of the Kamis, let the summons roam about and haul in chakra beasts for draining and harvesting. We're already outside of the walls anyway. Hey, would it be possible to use this approach to tame wild territory?

As long as Keiko is keeping chakra constructs around, let's ask her to make some summons. I want to see pangolin cooks arguing with Akimichi chefs and Pandaa wandering the streets making friends with urchins while wagging his tail.
 
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[x] Authority Doesn't Come from a Rank, It Comes From The People Who Give It To You (Now With More Space!)

@QMs, would it be reasonable, for the purposes of SC training, for Akane and Keiko to get ~10 extra chakra a day from Noburi?
 
@QMs, would it be reasonable, for the purposes of SC training, for Akane and Keiko to get ~10 extra chakra a day from Noburi?
Akane, sure. However, the practicalities make it difficult for Keiko, since they mean that every day she can't train until she's gone all the way out to the Gōketsu compound and back, and it's also not great for Noburi who has to make sure he's in to receive her.

Also, why does Akane have more chakra than the summoner?
 
Akane, sure. However, the practicalities make it difficult for Keiko, since they mean that every day she can't train until she's gone all the way out to the Gōketsu compound and back, and it's also not great for Noburi who has to make sure he's in to receive her.

Also, why does Akane have more chakra than the summoner?
Can Keiko/Noburi meet in the summon realm at a scheduled time each morning? Keiko can grab the water, drink it, then with the overcharged chakra, summon back and immediately cast SC.

Because Akane is stupid strong. Also, Flame Aura is OP but costs a lot of chakra to cast.
 
Akane, sure. However, the practicalities make it difficult for Keiko, since they mean that every day she can't train until she's gone all the way out to the Gōketsu compound and back, and it's also not great for Noburi who has to make sure he's in to receive her.
Why can't she just meet Noburi in the Summoning Realm?
 
Where's the post about Flame Aura's stats? I'm curious about why it's so powerful.
docs.google.com

PLAYERS - Known Jutsu

Player-Known Jutsu Inconsistency of Chakra 3 Non-Elemental 4 Akimichi Chakra Enhancement Technique 4 Pangolin Clan Technique: Defend the Log 5 Pangolin Clan Technique: Exploring Tongue 5 Pangolin Clan Technique: Ghost Scales 6 System Translation Notes 7 Pangolin Clan Technique: Pangolin Conditio...
 
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