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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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OMAKE: REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Part 1
Inspired by a weird dream I had

Shrooms said:
A Mori that was probably definitely Ami. She'd conspicuously put a lot more time into learning Taijutsu since getting dunked in a bowl of soup by Mari a second time, in a story that had even impressed Momma
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I'm very curious about that story, and understand Ami's wanting hard power when presented with it as a counter to her soft power.

Shrooms said:
For the purposes of seeding, there would only be one judge watching each match at a time so they could run multiple fights at once. That would change in a few days, where all twelve judges would review every single seeded match.
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A more cynical being would ponder how to exploit that for advantage, but that's against the spirit of the competition (I think. This is essentially Ninja world martial arts tournament).



Shrooms said:
Hazou's first match was against a girl from River. He tensed when he thought she was attacking him immediately, but she actually wrapped him in a hug. The judge, who was himself from River, gave Hazou a shrug. "Uh…" Hazou said, very diplomatically.

She gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Lord Goketsu, it's just...Well, my name is Nakamura Akina. I'm clanless. Your diplomatic affairs with River let me get proper resources and access to training when I was barely scraping by as a chuunin. Now I'm here representing my village as one of their best. Thank you."

Hazou returned the smile. "Of course. Thank you, I think I really needed to hear that." He shifted into an opening stance for Roki. "Of course, I still won't go easy on you."

She shifted into her own battle stance. "Wouldn't dream of it."
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This is cute. I like this. This is the mid step Hazou between current Hazou and ultra-powerful Hazou I didn't know I needed to see until now.

Shrooms said:
He fought a Cloud ninja who didn't hit very hard but launched an absurdly fast barrage of attacks. Hazou had to step back to look for an opening in the pattern of their attacks, before snatching an arm out of the air and pulling them into a not-quite-full-strength side kick, ending the match more or less immediately.

He faced another ninja from Rock whose blows did in fact feel like rocks, but Hazou
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Love the visual additions for the update!

Shrooms said:
"I haven't seen them around yet, but thanks for the heads up. Here's hoping they get eliminated early."

"Who?" Neji asked, confusion on his face.

Hazou's eyebrows went up. "Uh, Kurosawa? We were just talking about him."

"Ah, were we?" Neji continued, "From what I have gathered by reading lips, he is currently favored as the number one seed."

Hazou whistled. "Really? So young, and seeded as number one?"

Neji looked at him quizzically again. "What?"

"You just said Kurosawa was favored as number one seed."

"Did I?" Neji asked, face scrunching up in thought.
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Well that's suspicious and problematic. Out issues? A grue incarnate? A memetic bloodline, and he's only pretending to be a Kurosawa/was by marriage/adoption?

Shrooms said:
he caught a glimpse of her face, wide-eyed exactly the way Keiko was when Hazou was angry. The hesitation let her curve her neck to the side before kneeing him in the stomach and punching him directly in the center of his chest.
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That's cheap, even for... No, for Ami that's not out of the expected. But that's still low.

Shrooms said:
Hazou never knew a list would cause him so much dread. A betrayal of truly epic proportions
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The greatest of betrayals! This was for the time he was forced to forsake lists, his great love, wasn't it?

Shrooms said:
Hazou stepped that way, only to find that he was a̶l̸r̷e̵a̸d̵y̵ ̴t̴a̶l̵k̷i̵n̷g̵ ̷t̷o̵ ̷K̸u̴r̷o̸s̴a̷w̶a̷.̶
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Oh, this take isn't good. Also, matching 11th and 1st seed, even if there's a half-decent reason, is still strange. Someone is definitely at work. Definitely more out-related it seems.

Shrooms said:
Wait, purple? Hazou squinted squinted squinted squinted squinted at the 898$@ before him:

"You look like…" Yagura.

"We see you," not-Yagura said. Hazou's mind ached. The Numbers floated in his mind, and he desperately tried deciphering them, as if trying to derive meaning from a dream.

"Bondwalker," Hazou said at last, but he spoke to no one. Hazou swiftly left the arena, not bothering to watch the rest of the matches for the day.
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Oh dear. This is not boding well. Though I'm curious what exactly bondwalker means.

Shrooms said:
Lee was simply too fast for Hazou to maneuver around. Lee could move quickly enough to fall for Hazou's feints and still catch him afterward. Hazou needed to do more than fool him, he needed to know how he would react to the trickery… He had that capacity, didn't he? The Numbers had once told him even the most intricate social details of an angry S-ranker. They let him see. The Threads, the Paint, the Truth.

He could feel it like a pressure in his head, like a dam just waiting to burst open and flood those who dared to build beneath it. He could almost feel Lee's attacks before they came out, if he would just accept. He...couldn't do it. The pressure faded, and a solid blow from Lee removed him from the disks, and from Winner's Bracket.

It was a tight, mildly disappointed voice that told Hazou, "Thank you for letting me win."
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That's...I understand Lee's frustration. Truly. And Lee is a good man, for all his eccentricities. I'm guessing we'll get to work back through the loser's bracket for redemption.
I doubt it'll happen, but I'm pretty sure it would be very satisfying if Lee just Rocket punched this being before we even got a chance.


Definitely looking forward to the second part of this! Very fun to read.
 
eaglejarl said:
Bravo! Well done. I'm fascinated to see where you go with this...I want to know what Bondwalker is, why it's after Hazō, and how he beats it.

One piece of advice about writing fight scenes, if you're willing to take it? Steal from the greats, but don't link your sources. It's much easier to seem like you're a brilliant fight writer when you don't tell people that large parts of your cool fight scene were lifted from some random movie. ;>
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I actually didn't steal them, I tried to find things that were similar to what I was coming up with (or I guess what I dreamed up). I felt like they were pretty close around half the time but some of them uhhhh I couldn't find anything lol
 
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So! It's almost Mari's birthday, but this is all happening. I see it as we have two options: nice present prepared before this happened that we give, or present reflecting the currently changing paradigm. It isn't like we can have a regular party either way, so we'll have to rely on sending the gift via Kei to get to Mari, which is...a thing.

Too bad it's a bit too soon to bring her a scarf made of spider silk
 
Halberdier said:
So! It's almost Mari's birthday, but this is all happening. I see it as we have two options: nice present prepared before this happened that we give, or present reflecting the currently changing paradigm. It isn't like we can have a regular party either way, so we'll have to rely on sending the gift via Kei to get to Mari, which is...a thing.

Too bad it's a bit too soon to bring her a scarf made of spider silk
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Have a picture of Hazou using her birthday bathtub painted and mail it to her via the 7th path
 
How big is the bathtub, anyway? Can we stuff it in a storage seal and give it to her via Seventh Path transport?
 
What is it made out of? Porcelain tubs weigh too much. I assume copper ones don't have to be nearly as heavy to prevent breakage.

We could saw it in pieces and send it that way

Edit: Medium sized copper bathtubs are about 45 kg, equivalent porcelain ones are 200 kg.
 
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I really liked the idea of color-coding the plan in order to convey more information without actually adding more words.

We could go even further by adding underlines, italics, bolded text, and text of different sizes and fonts. Imagine just how much more content and specificity we could cram into a plan if it looked like THIS!
 
Pharos said:
I really liked the idea of color-coding the plan in order to convey more information without actually adding more words.

We could go even further by adding underlines, italics, bolded text, and text of different sizes and fonts. Imagine just how much more content and specificity we could cram into a plan if it looked like THIS!
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You know, it would be impossible to coherently string words together without spaces (picturesomethinglikethis), but if you were willing to abuse text characteristics youcould​dosomething​likethis​ and cram an indefinite amount of content into a single 'word' without losing comprehensibility in the slightest!

Do not actually do this the QMs know how to make us regret such decisions.
 
[X] Interlude: Noir Detective Haru

Shrooms said:
I like FS's plan but I think we should save it for next Thursday.

Color-coded the plan to make it more obvious what we would like to be on-screen vs. offscreen. Blue are scenes, red is prep.

[X] Action Plan: Seal Team 6
Word Count: 294
  • Akane, Haru, Gaku:
    • Bank run update.
    • Hyuga/Hagomoro connections are interesting.
      • Can we track the scrip they spent? (Markings, wood/paper/other distinguishing qualities? Reference Kagome and Jiraiya's notes.)
      • Very pleased with progress. Offer resources: writs from clan head, directly pressuring people, whatever we can provide.
    • Tone: Haru is doing a great job, we want to enable his work without interfering.
  • Sealmaster Coalition
    • Prep (Offscreen)
      • Kumokogo
        • Could you defeat a Dragon independently? How much help would you need?
        • How easy would it be to separate and ambush a single Dragon?
        • Do they have any known weaknesses?
        • What info should/can Hazou share?
      • Asuma
        • When Hazou's medium consequences heal, pitch the coalition to Asuma, request Asuma's attendance at meetings, availability permitting.
          • Possibly ask Enma to go in his stead?
        • Provide a summary of all discussions for Asuma.
      • Tsunade
        • Tips for working with Orochimaru?
    • Request the attendance of Leaf's Sealmasters and Summoners, with Asuma's backing if provided. Request that Summoners summon a Clan Representative.
    • Explain what Hazou knows of the Great Seal and the Dragons, hand out copies of the Great Seal made with Kagome's help.
      • Emphasize that one mostly-depowered Dragon massacred a battalion of Summons without injury, and could reach this Path at full power.
      • Share Kumokogo's threat estimate of the Dragons and any information she wants passed on.
      • Any information Summon Clans are willing to disclose would be greatly appreciated.
      • Hazou has extensive notes on the Great Seal, but this project is beyond any one person. Understanding and fixing the seal will require everyone.
        • One team should research fixing the seal, another should begin devising weapons for Summoners to use, since only they can reach the threat.
          • Ask who would prefer what research team.
          • Does anyone know anything about shaping stone seals?
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[X] Action Plan: Seal Team 6
I like the plan! Only thing is that I'd like to see the "can you beat a dragon" talk on screen as much as off. I'm dubious of the coloring system, but curious as to QM response.
 
TigerBoyd said:
Thanks, I'm new here and I binged this whole thing in like a week so I don't know all the rules.
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Welcome!!

Don't worry about not knowing all the rules, they're easy to pick up as you go and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask! We're a pretty friendly group, so don't hesitate to join in the conversation! It's great to have you here and I hope to have the chance to talk with you in the future ^.^
 
Halberdier said:
I'm dubious of the coloring system, but curious as to QM response.
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In this specific case it increases legibility without adding information. The plan is already clear given the indentation, but this makes it much more readable.

If we used it to sneak in extra information I think that would be a no-go.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by eaglejarl on May 8, 2021 at 3:04 PM, finished with 92 posts and 12 votes.
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Voting is closed.
 
Inferno Vulpix said:
You know, it would be impossible to coherently string words together without spaces (picturesomethinglikethis), but if you were willing to abuse text characteristics youcould​dosomething​likethis​ and cram an indefinite amount of content into a single 'word' without losing comprehensibility in the slightest!

Do not actually do this the QMs know how to make us regret such decisions.
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I left an Insightful, but it was for the invisitext (which I have changed to red), not for the main body. *gaze of doom intensifies*

TigerBoyd said:
Thanks, I'm new here and I binged this whole thing in like a week so I don't know all the rules.
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Welcome! Lovely to have you. How did you find us?

Also, you binged ~2 million words in a week? Yow.
 
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