Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
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- Tags
- naruto rationalist romance armageddon is looking better and better damn you kishimoto explosions everywhere explosives solve everyone if in doubt surrender to the mercy of zabuza it seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a really bad case of being a jōnin my god. where does the lore end? precommitting is the winning plan screaming in kagome screw the rules i have explosives something bad might still happen sometimes you gotta sociopath stabby zabby subsection c of paragraph 9 should include we can weaponize this so hard open voting
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Shhhh... I am carefully trying to steer them away from treasonous thoughts. The last thing we need is for Hazō to start training in oneirology in order to pierce the barrier between worlds in a canon-permitted way.
Edit:
Muscle memory isn't literally memory. It's conditioned reflex. I'm sure you can say whatever first word you said perfectly, unless you've acquired a speech impairment in the meantime, but that doesn't mean you remember what it was.
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Aodyssey
The glass will not protecc you
- Location
- Chaldea
So you're saying there's an amount of similarity between zero-likeness and not-at-all. We should go talk to the creepy crawlies guys next!
- Location
- Europe
[X] Action Plan: The Silvery Spider's Web Descends Into Hell
It's probably a tropical island like this:
Grey, grave, green and the normal ocean blue. And if the Sage wanted to hide his Grave/Tomb than an island in the south is a good idea, because it's pretty much out of the way of anything relevant and hard to reach. Unless you have Skywalkers of course.
"Beyond the trees" can also mean anything from, "Inside the forest/jungle", "Below it" or "Inside a cave".
We did just talk with him a few days ago, so we can just cut this for wordcount.
@MMKII , the Sages grave apparently.
It's probably a tropical island like this:
Grey, grave, green and the normal ocean blue. And if the Sage wanted to hide his Grave/Tomb than an island in the south is a good idea, because it's pretty much out of the way of anything relevant and hard to reach. Unless you have Skywalkers of course.
"Beyond the trees" can also mean anything from, "Inside the forest/jungle", "Below it" or "Inside a cave".
We did just talk with him a few days ago, so we can just cut this for wordcount.
@MMKII , the Sages grave apparently.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
He moves around from pack to pack, spending anywhere from a few days to a few years with each one and moving on when the time feels right. Right now he's with the Grassy Hills pack. He has no plans to leave but he's
Grassy Hills is about 80 dogs. Hazō has at least seen all of them. He has not seen any other packs.
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- Location
- Yes.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well, very long-lived.
Yeah you guys probably should have seen it coming that the Hivemind would try to game the shit out of whatever bloodline you gave them if they were given one at all.
Also to the double standard bit, couldn't that problem be if not easily rectified then atleast rectified in way faster then it would take a normal person to train Taijustu techniques by also training those routines on uneven and rocky terrain?
Also at the start of the quest Hazo, Noburi and Keiko where essentially fresh Genin and all had stats hovering around level 1 (which back then must have been the baseline for fresh Genin, we know this for certain because it was stated that the only reason that Hazo was not made Rookie of the year was because he asked too many annoying questions.) excepting for the stats raised with our starting XP. Since the great rebalancing the power levels for a ninja's main combat stat works as follows:
1-20 = Academy student levels of skill/power
20-40 = Genin levels of skill/power (25-28 or so for instance might be the level of fresh Genin Sasuke, with the extra 5 levels to account for rookie of the year status, assuming you need the baseline of 20 to graduate the academy. This is just about enough to reliaby win spars against his level 20 fresh Genin classmates as befitting his Rookie of the year status.)
40-60 = Chunin levels of skill/power
60-80 = Jounin levels of skill/power
80+ = Kage levels of skill/power
with these thresholds being alot lower for things that are not a ninja's main combat stat
Since the great rebalancing the baseline for fresh Genin's has as you can see become 20 (Assuming this power level chart is right) meaning that fluff wise a main combat stat of 20 has retroactively become the absolute bare minimum of what Hazo could have possibly had at chapter 1 of this quest and that is if we stretch the lowballing of Hazo immensely as a main combat stat of 20 is implied to what you need to graduate while he was implied to be the best of his year (again it was stated that the only reason he did not get Rookie of the year was because he asked too many annoying questions)
Meaning Hazo upon graduation probably had a combat stat more on the lines of 25, and considering that the whole swamp incident happened a 9 months after graduation, which means probably had a main combat stat of atleast 30 at that point fluff wise.
Meanwhile after spending the XP from ''The Great Embetterment'' which gave us the XP from the 9 months of being a Genin before the swamp incident XP which we when you really think about it we should have had from the start of the quest, Hazo in actuality only had a Taijustu stat of 27 which is 3 lower then the relative lowball estimate of 30. (Remember Mist Genin Hazo did not have sealing as a XP sink so he would have likely focused more on Taijustu his main combat stat as he only knew the acedemy
This means that the great rebalancing nerfed Hazo to such a point that after it he was weaker then he realistically should have been fluff wise at the start of the quest and thats while Hazo had gained a grand total of 1355 XP (I got this number from manually adding all the XP until the great rebalancing happened, it might be slightly off) up to that point, XP that due to the great rebalacing barring the XP spent on sealing was effectively banished into the ether after which Hazo got a additional extra nerf for good measure.
my point in this is that in truth the nerfs the PC's received after the great rebalancing were basically lorebreaking as it nerfed them beyond the point it made sense (As this way it no longer makes any sense that Hazo would have been at a level were he would have been rookie of the year if not for him annoying the intructors, let alone defeat those three genin) where everybody else's stats got modified for the new system even 2 of our party members in Mari and Kagome our Hazo, Noburi, Keiko and Akane were one and all nerfed into the ground. With the consolation prize being XP they logically speaking already should have possesed in the first place.
This is not to say I think the great rebalancing was a bad idea mind you, no no no that shit was 100% neccesary if only so you no longer have absurd nonsense like the absurd rolls that allowed yagura defeating Hiruzen while Hiruzen had the massive advantage skywalkers give at his disposal to happen.
No the only thing about the great rebalancing I take issue with is that the PC were nerfed a tad too much.
As for a way to rectify this I would caution against just awarding the playerbase a whole bunch of XP, as that would inevitably result in them spending it all on FOOM. No instead I'd suggest you just have another [SHIFT] that buffs the stats of Hazo, Noburi, Keiko and Akane to a level you deem appropiate like you did for all the npc's when you guys did the great rebalancing itself.
It might also make for some fun scenes with Kagome as he would naturally be the only one to realise that Hazo, Noburi, Keiko and Akane all got buffed in the last shift, resulting in everybody being really confused as to why Kagome just started to seemingly spontaneously whoop with joy.
PS. Considering that the training ninja receive in the academy encompasses both taijustu AND weapons training shouldn't logically speaking all ninja, Genin level and above who have gone through the academy curriculum have a skill level of at the very least 10 or something? Because right now Hazo for instance is treated as if practically having even touched a kunai or shuriken in his life, which makes zero sense as he would not have been able to graduate the mist academy if that were the case.
And then there is Keiko with her Taijustu skill of 2, which does not make much sense as she was trained in THE MIST NINJA ACADEMY which most definitely would not have let Keiko sit out taijustu practice just because she has a aversion to physical contact.
Noburi meanwhile has this problem with both Taijustu AND ranged weapons.
The same should logical apply to any and all npc's.
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- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
A couple things to note:
- A typical Genin only makes Chuunin around age 18, so that's about 6 years to go from Taijutsu 20 to Taijutsu 40 (factoring out that an overachiever might be >20 before graduating and >40 before getting promoted). 9 months doing D-ranks (Hazou explicitly had been having a hard time finding any actual ninja missions) is not going to give rapid gains, especially not when D-ranks would be boring low-XP drudge work.
- The point of the rebalancing was to bring the character growth in line with what made sense for the world, and it was a nerf because the previous state of affairs was unduly strong. The original version of Let The Bodies Hit The Floor had Hazou beat down three chuunin, and Keiko was once complimented on almost being special Jounin in her RW skills. The point of the great rebalancing was to recognize that even being missing-nin in the wilderness forced through constant trial by fire doesn't grow you as fast as the original XP curve was indicating.
- Yagura only got Hiruzen because, from what I remember, Hiruzen rolled spectacularly poorly.
- It's also important to remember that Hazou/Noburi/Keiko started out as mediocre talents, about the top 25% of their class. Hazou later, under the hivemind's influence, became more talented (as a result of more optimized training schedules and such) and that's why we have the XP rate to even consider going up against clan heirs our age like we did in the Chuunin Exams.
Instead of telling them you're sure they've done something wrong, point out where you see inconsistencies and ask what their thought process behind that was, giving them the benefit of the doubt that they have a good reason for what they've done while reserving your right to disagree with their explanation if you don't think it actually works. Maybe strike up a PM conversation with them so you can go more in-depth without the knock-on problems of broadcasting the inquiry to the entire thread (which does noticeably change how one might raise or answer concerns like these).
We're all here to have an enjoyable time, so there's no need to start fights.
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In hindsight I unironically din't realise how aggresive my writing sounded before you pointed it out hold imma edit that out.
like for real tho it's a bad habit of mine to sound waaaay more aggresive in writing then I meant to.
This is like the third time someone pointed out to me that I'm sounding hella aggressive.
Personally I think my problem is that I cannot exactly write in any kind of tone, thus making my words be way more aggresive then they were actually meant to be. I really need to watch out for that, death of the author and all that.
I would also point out tho that with the great embetterment we know for a fact that Hazo gained 875 XP in those 9 months which 3XP/day. And that much XP is enough to from Taijustu level 1 to level 40, so yeah with that XP it honestly speaking makes perfect sense that Hazo would have Taijustu 30 if not higher when he did not have any justu or sealing as a XP sink.
Hazo btw is notably not a typical Genin, a typical Genin probably only gets 1.5Xp/day considering it takes those 6 years to reach chunin.
My main beef honestly just was the fact XP wise Hazo and co. Effectively started the quest off as newly minted acedemy students when it came to their levels, we got XP for those 9 months as Genin but absolutely ZERO XP for our time as academy students which is downright silly.
Even if Hazo only got like 0.5XP/day on overall average in the mist academy, academy students start class when they are like 4, so that would be 8 years in the academy which amounts to 8 * 365 * 0.5 = 1460 XP
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- Location
- Liverpool
Surprise! The volcano in question is the caldera they throw us into! Talk about irony.
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
So, when Hazou and Akane went off with Naruto on that chakra beast-clearing mission, and was not present to help train Keiko and Noburi, their XP rates reverted to what they normally are without Hazou's help training, and if memory serves they averaged 2.1 XP/day (in contrast to the 3.5-4.0 XP/day with Hazou around). If we take that a typical Genin gets 1.5 XP/day from your calculations, then 2.1 XP/day would actually make sense for someone only in the upper 25% like the genin trio was.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oh, we did. The problem -- and this is purely my opinion, @Velorien can speak for himself -- was that it felt very much like a setup. We told the players that they were only going to be able to have a minor bloodline ability, since anyone with a major one wouldn't have been on the mission. We were pitched a minor bloodline ability: "Adds 1 (the equivalent of 3 under new rules) to all physical abilities." We approved that and instantly this pile of exploits came rushing in, clearly having been designed in advance. Hence my frustration.
As @Inferno Vulpix said, Hiruzen rolled *spectacularly* badly.
I regret hearing that you feel that way. There was some difficulty with it at the time as well, and we did our best to sort it out fairly.
I'm speaking purely for myself here, and if you can convince @Velorien or @OliWhail to your side then we (the QMs) will debate it: Under no circumstances are we going back to retroactively revisit rate of XP gain, initial starting amount, or a new XP bonus. The current situation is the result of a massive amount of discussion and effort, and we are satisfied with how it's working. You are currently gaining:
- More base XP than your talent level indicates
- Brevity XP on top of that
- "QM had fun" XP on top of that
- PCJ bonus XP to your Physique on top of that, allowing you to spend more XP elsewhere
- Yamanaka Jutsu bonus XP to your Resolve on top of that, allowing you to spend more XP elsewhere
- Shadow Clone bonus XP on top of that, which is going to end up being more than we actually intended when designing the Shadow Clone training system, but we approved it and it's justifiable in-universe so the QMs are stuck with it
Well yeah but that would still not apply to Hazo seeing as he is the source of that extra XP from the training advice.
But more importantly then that, HOLYSHIT, Hazo gives 1.4-1.9XP per day from his training advice, EBISU YOU RAYBAND WEARING FUKBOI GET ON OUR LEVEL!
Seriously why is nobody talking about the fact that Hazo's training help makes training like 2 times better holyfuck.
@eaglejarl
Is this impressive or does Ebisu's training help and plans give even more bonus XP when compared to the massive help Hazo evidently is?
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- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
Hazou only got to his current XP rate after in-story events happened and Hazou grew as a person into the kind of person who gets a higher XP rate. (in other words, the hivemind got its optimizing claws on him and now he's much better at organizing training and such)
Back in the Academy he presumably was on a similar level of talent to Noburi and Keiko.
Yeah that's fair, however I would still like a answer on the whether or not it wouldn't make sense for all ninja Genin and higher to have atleast 10 or something in all the combat stats taught in the academy, because it seems absurd that taijustu stat of 2 (which Keiko and Noburi both have) would be high enough to graduate the mist academy.
In the show at the very least both weapons skill and taijustu get taught and tested for the Genin exam, so by that logic it would make sense that a certain base level of proficiency would be needed to graduate even if it's not you're primary combat stat.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Hey, look! A distraction!
Cannai has a very grounded sense of what makes a good day good and a bad day bad. I like that. He's been alive for who knows how many centuries (especially if time on the 7th path doesn't quite mesh with time on the human path), so maybe that comes with age? As the leader of the Dogs, I imagine he has to worry about politics (even if its more simplistic and bloody than Ninja politics), but his mindset is one I think Hazou would do well to learn to emulate.
Canvass is the ultimate team mom.
Hazou needs more days like this. Free of stress, just napping in the sun surrounded by Doggos. It'd certainly make for good relaxing after the stressors of being a Clan Head.
Ah, os the dogs have an aural tradition like the Monkeys, and tell their tales in the style of epic poems/songs? Nice. I like that aspect of worldbuilding.
So bards ran out of favor around the time the Hidden Village system started up? That makes sense. After all, instead of semi-nomadic clans, villages would be stationary and accumulate power/influence and civilians would lose the political influence that nomadic ninja clans afforded them.
I also like the humble/honest way that Cannai is guiding Hazou towards wisdom. I think that Cannai is being the sage mentor for Hazou because he sees that Hazou desperately wants to learn and understand, improving upon himself. Cannai is also very openly showing harmless amusement during his questioning, to let Hazou know that he won't be harmed for his response.
Based on Cannai's early interactions with Hazou (wherein Hazou was very formal and stiff), I think that Cannai knows that most of Hazou's interactions with authority have been backed by the threat of violence. Granted, less so with Asuma, but Hazou still spent a huge chunk of his formative years under Yugara's reign and then as a Missing Nin, where the slightest misstep held the potential for a gruesome death.
So, Cannai doesn't need to flaunt his power/authority because he knows that Hazou is well aware of it. Instead, Cannai reinforces the notion of "hey, you can make social blunders and I won't eat you for it." And this allows Hazou to reveal his true thoughts, which then allows Cannai to provoke Hazou to examine them via intellectual midwifery.
Cannai very much embodies the wise, sleeping dragon type of character. He'll offer advice and perspective readily enough, but if you draw his ire... well, he's the Boss Summon for a reason.
"You're not nearly as subtle as you think you are. [yawn] Next time just ask outright, it'll save us both time."
Cannai is the best and Canvass is definitely the team mom of the pack.
I like Cannai. Maybe it's his casual wisdom and hints of protectiveness, but I can very easily visualize Cannai as a multi-century/millennia old Boss Summon, with all the power and wisdom that comes with it. He fits somewhere between advisor, leader, and father figure for the Dog Clan.
Cannai is clever and I vote we should have Hazou spend some time around him, if only to try and gain some of his wisdom via osmosis.
Cannai is the best, and I wonder if his amused-playfulness with younger Dogs comes as a result of outliving them? The form of immortality/long life he has is a hard one, and I could easily see it being a "punishment" of some sort.
Okay, so the first stanza is pretty clear. The Sage says "You call me omnipotent and wise, but I have my own limits and I am fallible." It then goes on to say "You call me the First Spinner" which basically seems to be something to the effect of "the first storyteller." The Sage then admits "okay, this fits, since I'm the origin of all the Summoning Clan's stories."
Likewise, the second stanza is also pretty clear. It basically says "Though time may bring joy and sorrow alike, I cannot be there to witness it with you, because I have to go to live amongst the humans, because they need me more." The tone of this makes me wonder if the Summons are really being punished. Granted, I suppose Cannai could be twisting the details to hide that fact, but this seems more like the Sage made a home for the Summons and said "Okay, now that you exist and have all you need, I have to go help those who don't." It also seems to call into question whether or not the Summons were ever human. It sounds like the Summons were all sophontic beings that the Sage created wholesale, on his own.
Okay, so the third stanza is a little less clear, but seems to point to locations or, perhaps, events?
The fourth stanza is relatively clear. The sage says that he'll go die/rest/hibernate "beyond the trees," meaning... away from the Leaf? Away from natural resources/civilized society? Perhaps it simply refers to the Aura Path (or whatever you want to call the plane/path that the Elemental Nations exists on). This interpretation is lent credence if you believe that the "seven rocks" refers to the "seven paths," and the boundaries that separate them as the "seven locks." Each Path is supposed to hold a "treasure" that are "bright" and shall "give guidance." If we accept the previous two lines as referring to the Paths, then we could make the assertion that the Seventh Path's "treasure" is the Hidden/Lost Library. Such knowledge would surely provide "guidance." I think it's telling that the next line isn't "Truth or falsehood" but rather "Truth or death" which implies that there'll be a gauntlet of some sort and any amount of deceit would result in death (perhaps Cannai's observation about the nature of truth can shed some light on this?). And that the result of this "Truth" gauntlet would be a way to find the Sage "and more," whatever that might mean.
The fifth stanza seems to be a call for unity. It asks the speaker to spread the word, and to "unite the bounding arc of dream." Without knowing the (forbidden?) details of the magic system, I can only say that maybe it's asking the Speaker to gather all the disparate dreams of people and give them a shared, singular one: finding the Sage. Then the Sage says to do it through the call of "reason" or by a motivational bite... So this reads to me as "by hook or crook, devote all you are to finding me." The last half of this stanza then goes on to say that everyone "from [the] first to [the] last" will remember the "lost" "wisdom." The shared connection between the MfD "planes" being called "paths" and the fact that this poem says "path of wisdoms lost" isn't lost on me, but I cannot think of why it exists. Maybe each "path" refers to the "path" the pursuant/adventurer must walk/succeed before they find the Sage? Regardless, the Sage closes the poem with a standard "when time enough has passed, some find me."
Cannai has a very grounded sense of what makes a good day good and a bad day bad. I like that. He's been alive for who knows how many centuries (especially if time on the 7th path doesn't quite mesh with time on the human path), so maybe that comes with age? As the leader of the Dogs, I imagine he has to worry about politics (even if its more simplistic and bloody than Ninja politics), but his mindset is one I think Hazou would do well to learn to emulate.
Canvass is the ultimate team mom.
Hazou needs more days like this. Free of stress, just napping in the sun surrounded by Doggos. It'd certainly make for good relaxing after the stressors of being a Clan Head.
Ah, os the dogs have an aural tradition like the Monkeys, and tell their tales in the style of epic poems/songs? Nice. I like that aspect of worldbuilding.
So bards ran out of favor around the time the Hidden Village system started up? That makes sense. After all, instead of semi-nomadic clans, villages would be stationary and accumulate power/influence and civilians would lose the political influence that nomadic ninja clans afforded them.
I also like the humble/honest way that Cannai is guiding Hazou towards wisdom. I think that Cannai is being the sage mentor for Hazou because he sees that Hazou desperately wants to learn and understand, improving upon himself. Cannai is also very openly showing harmless amusement during his questioning, to let Hazou know that he won't be harmed for his response.
Based on Cannai's early interactions with Hazou (wherein Hazou was very formal and stiff), I think that Cannai knows that most of Hazou's interactions with authority have been backed by the threat of violence. Granted, less so with Asuma, but Hazou still spent a huge chunk of his formative years under Yugara's reign and then as a Missing Nin, where the slightest misstep held the potential for a gruesome death.
So, Cannai doesn't need to flaunt his power/authority because he knows that Hazou is well aware of it. Instead, Cannai reinforces the notion of "hey, you can make social blunders and I won't eat you for it." And this allows Hazou to reveal his true thoughts, which then allows Cannai to provoke Hazou to examine them via intellectual midwifery.
Cannai very much embodies the wise, sleeping dragon type of character. He'll offer advice and perspective readily enough, but if you draw his ire... well, he's the Boss Summon for a reason.
"You're not nearly as subtle as you think you are. [yawn] Next time just ask outright, it'll save us both time."
Cannai is the best and Canvass is definitely the team mom of the pack.
I like Cannai. Maybe it's his casual wisdom and hints of protectiveness, but I can very easily visualize Cannai as a multi-century/millennia old Boss Summon, with all the power and wisdom that comes with it. He fits somewhere between advisor, leader, and father figure for the Dog Clan.
Cannai is clever and I vote we should have Hazou spend some time around him, if only to try and gain some of his wisdom via osmosis.
Cannai is the best, and I wonder if his amused-playfulness with younger Dogs comes as a result of outliving them? The form of immortality/long life he has is a hard one, and I could easily see it being a "punishment" of some sort.
Okay, so the first stanza is pretty clear. The Sage says "You call me omnipotent and wise, but I have my own limits and I am fallible." It then goes on to say "You call me the First Spinner" which basically seems to be something to the effect of "the first storyteller." The Sage then admits "okay, this fits, since I'm the origin of all the Summoning Clan's stories."
Likewise, the second stanza is also pretty clear. It basically says "Though time may bring joy and sorrow alike, I cannot be there to witness it with you, because I have to go to live amongst the humans, because they need me more." The tone of this makes me wonder if the Summons are really being punished. Granted, I suppose Cannai could be twisting the details to hide that fact, but this seems more like the Sage made a home for the Summons and said "Okay, now that you exist and have all you need, I have to go help those who don't." It also seems to call into question whether or not the Summons were ever human. It sounds like the Summons were all sophontic beings that the Sage created wholesale, on his own.
Okay, so the third stanza is a little less clear, but seems to point to locations or, perhaps, events?
- "Flow of fire, standing high" seems to refer to a volcano. It's "standing high" like a mountain, and the "flow of fire" could be lava, flowing from an active caldera. My mind goes to that one Land of Demons/Oni from the filler arc in Naruto. Perhaps it warns of a supervolcano erupting, or just a supervolcano in general?
- "Tower the mighty waves, grave and gray and green" makes me think of a lighthouse. "Tower" above "the waves," and without it existing, it could lead to many "graves" for the sailors who'd miss it. "Gray and green" could refer to the "green" algae/vines that cling to the stone? Maybe a natural lighthouse, caused by weird chakra fuckery/luminescence?
- "Water's power raised by storm-wind's breath" makes think of a Tsunami, or perhaps flooding caused by hurricanes? Or perhaps a ninja with a storm-related bloodline seizing control of Mist?
- "Fire and Wave" could refer to a volcano creating new land, but I think it also fits the Goketsu Clan. Mist natives joyfully joining Leaf and then the interactions between the Goketsu and Leaf bringing about new lands of possibility. We're bringing about a better world for civilians and the clanless, and that could be classified as a "different" world --if you're feeling poetic. And that would fit the line. This could also fit Minato (fire) and Kushina (wave) whose resulting relationship (joyous chorus) resulted in Naruto (birth of new earth).
- "Green the rising life shall grow" makes me think of the first Hokage. He was able to "grow" "green" and he could be called "rising life," since he brought about the Hidden Village era, allowing for mortality rates to decrease from what they were.
- "Trees of wood and iron and stone" could possibly link back to Hashirama. He was able to grow trees of wood, and we know that Steel elements exist, so it's possible that his Earth Nature was strong enough to manipulate iron and stone. That said, I suspect it's being less literal. I think it's referring to Leaf as a whole. I can't recall exactly what canon says about the Leaf, but didn't Hashirama at least create the Forest of Death with his bloodline? It's not impossible to think that he did things like that on more than one occasion. The Iron and Stone could refer to cave systems under Leaf? We know that there're mines, and we don't know if these were just built around natural mines that had ore veins within them or what. Might be worth exploring.
- "Beware their shade, where my Lost Ones sing, and more." If we take the previous line to refer to Leaf, then perhaps the shade refers to criminal underbelly of Leaf? Or perhaps it's referring back to the cave system? Is Leaf on a hill/elevated land? Because it could also be referring to land that's "in the shade" of Leaf's hilltop land. As for Lost Ones... I don't know. My mind instinctively goes towards Chakra Golems for some reason, or perhaps Tailed Beasts. But where Tailed Beasts are sealed away, Chakra Golems are a mystery and powerful enough that Jiraiya barely survived killing one (and if we factor in Tsunade's help, we might be correct to say that Jiraiya, as powerful as he is, should've died).
The fourth stanza is relatively clear. The sage says that he'll go die/rest/hibernate "beyond the trees," meaning... away from the Leaf? Away from natural resources/civilized society? Perhaps it simply refers to the Aura Path (or whatever you want to call the plane/path that the Elemental Nations exists on). This interpretation is lent credence if you believe that the "seven rocks" refers to the "seven paths," and the boundaries that separate them as the "seven locks." Each Path is supposed to hold a "treasure" that are "bright" and shall "give guidance." If we accept the previous two lines as referring to the Paths, then we could make the assertion that the Seventh Path's "treasure" is the Hidden/Lost Library. Such knowledge would surely provide "guidance." I think it's telling that the next line isn't "Truth or falsehood" but rather "Truth or death" which implies that there'll be a gauntlet of some sort and any amount of deceit would result in death (perhaps Cannai's observation about the nature of truth can shed some light on this?). And that the result of this "Truth" gauntlet would be a way to find the Sage "and more," whatever that might mean.
The fifth stanza seems to be a call for unity. It asks the speaker to spread the word, and to "unite the bounding arc of dream." Without knowing the (forbidden?) details of the magic system, I can only say that maybe it's asking the Speaker to gather all the disparate dreams of people and give them a shared, singular one: finding the Sage. Then the Sage says to do it through the call of "reason" or by a motivational bite... So this reads to me as "by hook or crook, devote all you are to finding me." The last half of this stanza then goes on to say that everyone "from [the] first to [the] last" will remember the "lost" "wisdom." The shared connection between the MfD "planes" being called "paths" and the fact that this poem says "path of wisdoms lost" isn't lost on me, but I cannot think of why it exists. Maybe each "path" refers to the "path" the pursuant/adventurer must walk/succeed before they find the Sage? Regardless, the Sage closes the poem with a standard "when time enough has passed, some find me."
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- Location
- Under a Rock
Almost certainly not Leaf, unless Cannai is messing with us. The Sage goes way back, and there are humans alive today who remember it getting founded. The Sage is old. ~1000 years, though I think all the Boss summons knew him, and could give us a real number.
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
Sounds to me like the sage is referring to chakra being intended as a form of communication, and everyone will get it and be able to use it to communicate.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Shrooms
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We've been operating on the assumption that everyone gets a minimal bit of instruction in order to figure out what they're good at, then they get put into a track appropriate for that. The way ninja combat works it's better to have one very high number instead of three mediocre numbers.
The villages started up less than 100 years ago, and Cannai said that the bards phased out 300 years ago.
Thank you for the reaction. :>
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
I wonder what caused the bards to phase out? Maybe the non-settled areas got more dangerous so even trained civilians were unable to travel safely?