I hear you, Yuno. I really do. But I worry if we can pull it off. The fact is, the Gōketsu need a win. We've been in the Hokage's bad books on and off this whole year, and right now we're not in a situation where anything else can go wrong. We're the clan that nearly broke the entire Fire Country economy. If we prove ourselves a liability in the field as well, and it's one of Leaf's rivals that gets all of Isan's ninja and seals and ninjutsu, the Hokage might just decide it's better for the Gōketsu to die out and pass those summoning scrolls to ninja he can rely on. I want to save Isan as much as you do, but saving my family—including you—comes first."
This seems to be laying it on kind of thick. But that is inherently disagree with the worry, but I don't believe it to be that dire. And I'm unsure if Mari actually believes it that dire either. If nothing else, 1 jonin, 4 chunin, 4 genin and Kagome constitute probably a percent+ of leafs power right now. Treason is cause to have us die out. Mediocrity is not, not in the same way. It would have its own ramifications, but not as dire.
Listen to yourself!" Kei exclaimed. "Of course you did not require defending. You are strong. Immeasurably strong. What bliss it must have been, to be permitted to earn a place, and then to gaze at your inferiors below. Were you a bully, Mari? Did you partake in those rituals of building community spirit by tormenting the unworthy?"
"Yes, I earned my place! Do you want me to apologise for doing what I had to in order to survive, Keiko? I didn't have a clan at my back. I didn't have a bloodline that guaranteed academic success. I didn't have a perfect sister, an asset you completely failed to utilise, to be there for me whenever things got too tough. And if sometimes I had to hurt others to survive—you might not like it, but that's what it means to be a ninja!"
A wall that had been buckling under pressure for so long finally snapped completely.
Uh oh. Here is comes. Honestly I'm surprised it took this long. Not exactly ideal circumstances here.
Therefore, I am making this statement I can only make now. I do not forgive you, Mari. I do not absolve you of responsibility. I deny your redemption, and I deny that you have left the Heartbreaker behind. With the last of my untainted free will, I deny you the right to call yourself my family until you face and accept the full horror of what you, Gōketsu Mari, have done
I know other people have already quoted this, but dang. Saw it coming mid speech, but this will have effects. Bad time for Akane and Hazou to not be around, tbh. I'm sure both Keiko and Hana saying similar things is going to make it hurt much worse.
I'm weirdly glad to see Mari misstep when talking about her past. It humanizes her, that she has vulnerability related to get past trauma that keeps her perfect mask off.
Keiko is not actually invested in having this mission succeed. If she was she would be willing to make sure that the Nara or the KEI would have paid for the bribes. This is a Goketsu mission [accidentally clipped off quote saying it shouldn't a Goketsu mission].
Honestly your missing the point to. If the high priest is dumb enough to immediately strike against us when we do a tiny move of getting 5 ninja on our side to do public works he will destroy his credibility. Keiko is just as holy as he is and would have just declared herself as the protector of Isan. Moving against her is an invitation to start a civil war.
I'm assuming the high priest isn't an idiot and will realize the move will be to co-opt Keiko's authority under his own purview.
So yes if he does move against us we are getting exactly what we want.
I don't think this is being fair or charitable to either Keiko or us.
Keiko in particular wants to avoid another incident like the pangolin expansion incident, knowing how hard it is to stop that momentum once you build it up. That she didn't do everything you can think of to prepare isn't necessarily a fair standard, especially when this is a quest and that wasn't voted in. Keiko is invested, but wanted to do the harder thing, even though it shouldn't be as feasible. Which is a hallmark of both Hazou, and you as a planmaker. Her screwing it up so much is, unfortunately, also Keiko being Keiko, but it is also on us as well. I don't think it's not being invested.
Your plan was calling for martial law and an insurrection without much groundwork. The high priest moving against the heathens trying to disturb their way of life will not instantly destroy credibility and start a civil war. Given that context, it would have actually given him the excuse he needed to do what he seems to have wanted from the start. It will cause some civil unrest, but given our position at the time, we'd be unable to leverage that. And how "Holy" someone is isn't the measure here, it's the power they can wield through their position within Isan's religious framework. Our potential power is large, but let's not think we instantly rival the head priest who's been in power already for a length of time.
This isn't just meant as a critique of what you said. I did not like the plan, but offered minimal input and no alternative plan, so I am more culpable for not offering any path forward at all, which is a part of my frustration in all this.
But I do think that making very aggressive and ambitious plans that don't properly count for enemy agency, or assumes a response that isn't devastating, and then telling other questers they don't get it is not a path forward here.
