zap lunch
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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
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
Sealmasters sufficiently skilled to craft them are in short supply and, uh, "taken care of" if they become too popular?
- Location
- Europe
Alright, I did some thinking (if you want to call it that...) on the Substitution/TacMov dilemma and here are my thoughts.
Currently everyone in the team has TacMov 15.
(Hazou, Noburi and Akane have Substitution 8; Keiko has Substitution 1. we are going to ignore this however since it doesn't really change anything.)
The Twice Folded Xp Plan (TFXP for short!) currently calls for 15/15 spread between Substitution and TacMov.
There are few other options we could go with, first simple step is to just raise TacMov in addition to this. Dex*3 is the limiting requirement here, so the next capped stops are TacMov 18 (63 XP) and TacMov 20 (133 XP). If we want to keep the plans the same XP wise (we do) that means taking that much XP away from other skills in the plan.
If you take a look at the plans, there's not that much wiggle room left there. Dropping Transformation 10 would get us roughly the XP for TacMov 18; Nobby could drop one of his Jutsus for the same effect and Keiko could just not level Zephyr's Reach. Otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss to what drop from the plans to make room for TacMov 18, not to mention TacMov 20.
One way I see doing this is fiddling with the Substitution/TacMov ratio. 10/18 is about the same price as 15/15, we would just have to decide which one is better.
Substitution 15, TacMov 15
Static TacMov: 15
Max Boosted TacMov: 19
Substitution Dodge: 22
Substitution 10, TacMov 18
Static TacMov: 18
Max Boosted TacMov: 23
Substitution Dodge: 19
So looking at these, I would actually be in favor on 10/18 split. We would lose out on Substitution distance etc. and Substitution dodge would be weaker and not chakra efficient (+1 dice for 8 CP when we could just boost for 5 CP) but three more dice for standard running away sounds really nice. There's also the problem of QMs hinting about the difficulty of substituting with moving objects. 5 less dice in Substitution might not let us do all the cool things we might want with PMYF.
Opinions?
@eaglejarl @Velorien @Jackercracks and @AugSphere Can Substitution be chakra boosted? Also, there's a confusing bit in the System Rules in the Substitution section:
The red part implies that you just roll the Substitution without the +TacMov/2. I was confused whether you actually do add the TacMov when rolling against Weapons or Taijutsu or if the TacMov addition was an explosives specific mechanic. Could you please clarify that?
Also, the brackets in the end confuse me. Does that mean we don't get to use the Substitution + TacMov/2 against explosions?
Halp!
Currently everyone in the team has TacMov 15.
(Hazou, Noburi and Akane have Substitution 8; Keiko has Substitution 1. we are going to ignore this however since it doesn't really change anything.)
The Twice Folded Xp Plan (TFXP for short!) currently calls for 15/15 spread between Substitution and TacMov.
There are few other options we could go with, first simple step is to just raise TacMov in addition to this. Dex*3 is the limiting requirement here, so the next capped stops are TacMov 18 (63 XP) and TacMov 20 (133 XP). If we want to keep the plans the same XP wise (we do) that means taking that much XP away from other skills in the plan.
If you take a look at the plans, there's not that much wiggle room left there. Dropping Transformation 10 would get us roughly the XP for TacMov 18; Nobby could drop one of his Jutsus for the same effect and Keiko could just not level Zephyr's Reach. Otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss to what drop from the plans to make room for TacMov 18, not to mention TacMov 20.
One way I see doing this is fiddling with the Substitution/TacMov ratio. 10/18 is about the same price as 15/15, we would just have to decide which one is better.
Substitution 15, TacMov 15
Static TacMov: 15
Max Boosted TacMov: 19
Substitution Dodge: 22
Substitution 10, TacMov 18
Static TacMov: 18
Max Boosted TacMov: 23
Substitution Dodge: 19
So looking at these, I would actually be in favor on 10/18 split. We would lose out on Substitution distance etc. and Substitution dodge would be weaker and not chakra efficient (+1 dice for 8 CP when we could just boost for 5 CP) but three more dice for standard running away sounds really nice. There's also the problem of QMs hinting about the difficulty of substituting with moving objects. 5 less dice in Substitution might not let us do all the cool things we might want with PMYF.
Opinions?
@eaglejarl @Velorien @Jackercracks and @AugSphere Can Substitution be chakra boosted? Also, there's a confusing bit in the System Rules in the Substitution section:
System Rules Document said:
The red part implies that you just roll the Substitution without the +TacMov/2. I was confused whether you actually do add the TacMov when rolling against Weapons or Taijutsu or if the TacMov addition was an explosives specific mechanic. Could you please clarify that?
Also, the brackets in the end confuse me. Does that mean we don't get to use the Substitution + TacMov/2 against explosions?
Halp!
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- Location
- ?
Re sub vs TM I've always been in favor of tricks that don't rely on chakra, so that 10/18 split is looking a fair bit more attractive than 15/15 to me.
Plus I hope to get our hands on actual Hiraishin eventually, and that won't rely on substitution.
Perhaps a split in the party? Both Keiko and Noburi are going to have plenty of chakra so we level Kawarimi for them, and Akane with Hazou focus on TM?
Nobby's High subst plus high clones skill plus tons of chakra should be plenty useful and Keiko is supposed to be the main recipient of PMYF what with her weapons skill.
For Akane and Hazou I'd be content to keep Kawarimi at 8. Sealless and no more. Shove the saved XP in social
Plus I hope to get our hands on actual Hiraishin eventually, and that won't rely on substitution.
Perhaps a split in the party? Both Keiko and Noburi are going to have plenty of chakra so we level Kawarimi for them, and Akane with Hazou focus on TM?
Nobby's High subst plus high clones skill plus tons of chakra should be plenty useful and Keiko is supposed to be the main recipient of PMYF what with her weapons skill.
For Akane and Hazou I'd be content to keep Kawarimi at 8. Sealless and no more. Shove the saved XP in social
- Location
- Europe
Splitting the TacMov dice inside the party is a bit iffy since we also use TacMov to run away. Meaning the lowest dice will be the party's top speed. I could see us going 18 for slow people and 20 for fast people...but that would require 71 more XP from somewhere for the fast people.
The chakra amounts in TFXP are currently like this:
Noburi: 451 CP
Keiko: 150 CP
Hazou & Akane: 120 CP
Keiko ostensibly has more chakra than our youthful duo, but she will also be spending it for summons and has a wind jutsu lined up for direct combat.
If someone with more patience wants to calculate how far our genin's chakra reserves would last in combat (especially for Hazou), please do. I don't really know if those CP amounts are enough for actual combat.
For Akane and Hazou I'd be content to keep Kawarimi at 8. Sealless and no more. Shove the saved XP in social
That would make the Substitution Dodge drop to 17 from the projected 19, meaning it would be worse to move normally than use Substitution. That sounds kind of silly, especially since we are only saving 19 XP by doing it (1 dice more either Decep or Diplo for Akane.). I'm actually thinking we should get something like Substitution 12 on everyone. It would only cost 23 XP more than Substitution 10 and we would get Substitution Dodge to 21, breaking the magical 20 dice line and entering to the hallowed world of jounin.
Chapter 55: Choosing Words
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Keiko was sharpening her kunai with an expression of fierce concentration when Hazō found her, which did not at all make him feel apprehensive about starting a conversation which could come across as confrontational.
"Keiko," he began nonetheless, "can I talk to you?"
"Proceed," Keiko said, setting the kunai aside and turning the full force of her attention on him.
"So, Keiko. I have a question that I'm curious about your answer to. Suppose that we were expecting some Leaf-nin to be in opposition to a job we took and you needed to talk to Akane about the fact that we may need to fight and kill some of her former almost-comrades. How do you suppose she would take it?"
Keiko stared at him fixedly for a couple of seconds.
"Hazō," she began, "are you asking this question based on the encounter we had with the Leaf ninja in the Fire Country, where we were forced to kill them and you thus had an opportunity to learn Ishihara's response?"
"Um." Hazō's planning had not covered this contingency. This was the problem with trying to outmanoeuvre someone more intelligent than yourself. "Well. Yes?"
"Did you further prepare a comprehensive plan for this conversation which assumed I had forgotten the event in question? A plan which is now inapplicable, leaving you floundering?"
There was an awkward silence.
"It was a flowchart," Hazō finally admitted.
"A flowchart," Keiko repeated flatly.
"Yes," Hazō cringed. He hadn't gone as far as showing Inoue-sensei the actual document. He felt certain that if she ever discovered its existence, he would not live it down for as long as he lived. And now, on top of everything else, he had to find a way to persuade/blackmail Keiko never to mention it again.
Keiko shook her head. "Flowcharts are an inefficient way of planning important conversations. As soon as you limit yourself to the physical space of the paper, you are effectively defining a small number of possible responses, which narrows your predictive abilities. I recommend visualisation of a three-dimensional possibility space, coupled with rehearsal of verbal fragments created using existing data, which you can swap in as necessary."
Hazō's jaw nearly dropped. "You mean you plan important conversations in advance too?"
Keiko nodded seriously. "When I have sufficient data to make reliable predictions, at least, and can form a suitably detached frame of mind in advance. Unfortunately, my bloodline has significant blind spots when dealing with human relationships, forcing me to draw on my own social skills instead."
"Keiko, that's… that's amazing." Hazō looked at her with new awe in his eyes.
Keiko gave a shy smile. "Thank you. I have found it very useful in the past, although it is still a work in progress."
She hesitated, giving Hazō a measuring look.
"It is my experience," she went on warily, "that human beings are inherently unpredictable. They react in unexpected ways, and often, especially when they are angry or upset, they will terminate the conversation without explaining why your words triggered such a reaction, never mind how you can avoid doing so in the future."
"I know, right?" Hazō exclaimed. "With the Kurosawa, you can use body language to signal your feelings at any given point in the conversation, and where you anticipate it going, and things like that. I mean, it's not perfect, but at least you know what you're doing most of the time. Whereas normal people are constantly giving off mixed signals, and lying about their feelings, and expecting you to read their minds! And would it kill them to just have a list of patterns of interaction you can use so conversations are structured and predictable, instead of constantly having to think on your feet based on guesswork about what the other person is thinking?"
Hazō and Keiko looked at each other.
"I have been thinking that my entire life," Keiko said quietly, something about her relaxing in a way Hazō didn't think he'd seen before.
"Then…" Hazō said slowly, choosing each word carefully, "I would like to persuade you that Akane is realistic rather than delusional when it counts. She surprised me when I asked her after the Leaf-nin encounter—she was offended that I felt the need to talk to her about it. She knows what we are, and she knows what they are, and she knows what we all signed up for. I assumed that because she's always focusing on positive outcomes and being upbeat that she couldn't handle the darker elements of our life. But that turned out not to be a very accurate description of her. She was neither shocked nor more upset than I imagine you or I would be at having to kill Mist hunter-nin.
"I am further hoping that changing your mind about her will reduce conflict between the two of you, and lay the groundwork for the kind of harmonious relationship with her that you already have with me and Noburi."
Keiko seemed to think about this for a few seconds.
"I accept the evidence you have offered me, and will commit time to considering it in depth. I appreciate your helpful motivations, but remain puzzled as to how this outlook of Ishihara's can exist side by side with her Spirit of Youth philosophy without severe cognitive dissonance. In addition, since I find said philosophy personally offensive, I would need her to avoid inflicting it on me if a positive relationship between us were to be established."
Hazō smiled. "I'm relieved that you're taking my words seriously. I don't fully understand how Akane can be so positive while experiencing the same world we are, but we can see for ourselves that she is, and I value the shift in mood that her presence and actions regularly create. I hope that, in time, you will be able to accept enough of it to expand your own emotional palette.
"Should I go away now and give you time to process?"
"Yes, please," Keiko said. "And thank you. I am grateful that we are able to communicate with this level of clarity, though also sympathetic to the fact that you are suffering similar difficulties to me in your everyday interactions. I tentatively hope that we will eventually be able to share our different coping mechanisms in order to achieve better optimisation."
She went back to sharpening her kunai. There was, now Hazō looked more closely, something meditative about the repeated motions.
Perhaps he should do something similar to give himself more clarity while he analysed what had just happened. Weren't there seal blanks that needed scribing?
"So what you're proposing," Inoue-sensei said in the special voice reserved for lunatics, small children and idealists, "is that we refuse to provide information to one of the most powerful men on the continent who also happens to be our nominal boss and who's directly responsible for us having this contract in the first place. We will then follow through by casually mentioning that we murdered some of his fellow Leaf ninja, and present him with bodies he may recognise as personal friends or acquaintances."
"Yes?" Hazō's plan didn't sound quite as insightful coming out of Inoue-sensei's mouth as it had in his head.
"I'm with Hazō-sensei on this one," the world's best apprentice said firmly. "It would be horrifically unyouthful to betray such an important promise, even to Jiraiya. And handing over those people's bodies so they can have a proper funeral is the least we could do after killing them. I'm sure they have friends and loved ones back home, wondering where they went, and whether they were killed, or captured and tortured for information, or still out there somewhere, alive but unable to get home on their own, and hoping against hope that their allies will come and save them before it's too late…"
Inoue-sensei gave Akane an uncomfortable look. "Yes, well. Right. I guess… I guess we can risk burning some of the goodwill we're about to get from Jiraiya on this, if the rest of you are on board."
There was a series of nods, except from Kagome-sensei, who seemed to be holding back some kind of comment. Given the kind of thing Hazō's sealcrafting mentor usually came out with when he didn't hold back (i.e. pretty much all the time), Hazō probably didn't want to know what was going through the man's mind.
"But that's not the real issue here," Inoue-sensei resumed. "Isan's existence and location is valuable strategic information. If Jiraiya finds out that we hid it from him—and he eventually will, once the village makes first contact with the outside world—I guarantee that he will make an example of us by feeding us to the biggest, slimiest toad he can muster. There's a time for being honourable and a time for not getting killed, and the only reason I'm alive today is because I'm good at knowing which is which. That goes for you too, Hidden Swamp kids. If I was the honourable sort, I'd have tried to help Shikigami against Captain Zabuza and we'd all be dead right now."
"I disagree, Inoue-sensei," Keiko spoke up unexpectedly. "Although I agree that honour in general is a sure path to death in this brutal world, there are nevertheless some things that must be kept sacred."
"Oh?" Inoue-sensei sounded genuinely curious.
"I am speaking of the master-apprentice bond. Consider our group: Hazō is apprentice to Kagome, and Ishihara, for reasons I admit continue to escape me, is in turn apprentice to Hazō. And while our relationship with you may have… evolved… over time, you cannot deny that its foundations feature much of the same. Without such bonds, we would be what we once were—individuals thrown together purely by a need for survival, without deeper loyalty or… emotional connections."
"Mori has a point," Akane chipped in. "In Leaf, they tell so many stories about Jiraiya's apprenticeship under the Third Hokage, and about how he then taught the Fourth. If we put the emphasis on Mori's duty to Takahashi, I think he'd respect it. He is an incredibly youthful man."
"And the rest of you?" Inoue-sensei turned away from Keiko and back towards Hazō and Noburi on her other side.
Keiko caught Hazō's eye, and mimed plucking something out of the air and placing it in front of her mouth as she moved her lips.
"I'm with Keiko," Noburi declared after a second. "I don't think it would be a good idea for us, I mean for anyone, to go to Isan anytime soon. We should give them time to adjust to their new situation. And getting Takahashi angry with us isn't going to get us very far from a diplomacy angle either, especially since it looks like he's the head of the dominant faction in the council now.
"I don't agree," Kagome said suddenly. "I say we throw Jiraiya at the stinking stinkers and watch the fireworks. They want to get us trampled by a tapir stampede just 'cause we're strangers? Let's see them try pulling that trick on one of the Leaf Three. Then we can point at the crater afterwards and say, 'That's what happens to people who try to stab us in the back.' And no matter who wins, somebody who knows who we are and how we fight is going to be dead at the end. How's that?"
"Right," Inoue-sensei shifted to get everyone in her field of view. "We have four votes for Hazō's proposal and two against. But your case isn't that bad, and you guys seem to care about it more than I expected, so I'm not going to use the all-seeing all-knowing jōnin veto. Instead, just in case it isn't possible to talk from inside a giant toad, I'm just going to say 'I told you so' in advance."
You have received 5 XP.
You have received an additional 1 XP for @OliWhail's magnificent omake.
You may assume that the activities listed under "Spend a week on healing and other actions" in the plan have been successfully completed.
What next?
Voting closes on Saturday the 9th, 9 am Pacific Standard Time.
"Keiko," he began nonetheless, "can I talk to you?"
"Proceed," Keiko said, setting the kunai aside and turning the full force of her attention on him.
"So, Keiko. I have a question that I'm curious about your answer to. Suppose that we were expecting some Leaf-nin to be in opposition to a job we took and you needed to talk to Akane about the fact that we may need to fight and kill some of her former almost-comrades. How do you suppose she would take it?"
Keiko stared at him fixedly for a couple of seconds.
"Hazō," she began, "are you asking this question based on the encounter we had with the Leaf ninja in the Fire Country, where we were forced to kill them and you thus had an opportunity to learn Ishihara's response?"
"Um." Hazō's planning had not covered this contingency. This was the problem with trying to outmanoeuvre someone more intelligent than yourself. "Well. Yes?"
"Did you further prepare a comprehensive plan for this conversation which assumed I had forgotten the event in question? A plan which is now inapplicable, leaving you floundering?"
There was an awkward silence.
"It was a flowchart," Hazō finally admitted.
"A flowchart," Keiko repeated flatly.
"Yes," Hazō cringed. He hadn't gone as far as showing Inoue-sensei the actual document. He felt certain that if she ever discovered its existence, he would not live it down for as long as he lived. And now, on top of everything else, he had to find a way to persuade/blackmail Keiko never to mention it again.
Keiko shook her head. "Flowcharts are an inefficient way of planning important conversations. As soon as you limit yourself to the physical space of the paper, you are effectively defining a small number of possible responses, which narrows your predictive abilities. I recommend visualisation of a three-dimensional possibility space, coupled with rehearsal of verbal fragments created using existing data, which you can swap in as necessary."
Hazō's jaw nearly dropped. "You mean you plan important conversations in advance too?"
Keiko nodded seriously. "When I have sufficient data to make reliable predictions, at least, and can form a suitably detached frame of mind in advance. Unfortunately, my bloodline has significant blind spots when dealing with human relationships, forcing me to draw on my own social skills instead."
"Keiko, that's… that's amazing." Hazō looked at her with new awe in his eyes.
Keiko gave a shy smile. "Thank you. I have found it very useful in the past, although it is still a work in progress."
She hesitated, giving Hazō a measuring look.
"It is my experience," she went on warily, "that human beings are inherently unpredictable. They react in unexpected ways, and often, especially when they are angry or upset, they will terminate the conversation without explaining why your words triggered such a reaction, never mind how you can avoid doing so in the future."
"I know, right?" Hazō exclaimed. "With the Kurosawa, you can use body language to signal your feelings at any given point in the conversation, and where you anticipate it going, and things like that. I mean, it's not perfect, but at least you know what you're doing most of the time. Whereas normal people are constantly giving off mixed signals, and lying about their feelings, and expecting you to read their minds! And would it kill them to just have a list of patterns of interaction you can use so conversations are structured and predictable, instead of constantly having to think on your feet based on guesswork about what the other person is thinking?"
Hazō and Keiko looked at each other.
"I have been thinking that my entire life," Keiko said quietly, something about her relaxing in a way Hazō didn't think he'd seen before.
"Then…" Hazō said slowly, choosing each word carefully, "I would like to persuade you that Akane is realistic rather than delusional when it counts. She surprised me when I asked her after the Leaf-nin encounter—she was offended that I felt the need to talk to her about it. She knows what we are, and she knows what they are, and she knows what we all signed up for. I assumed that because she's always focusing on positive outcomes and being upbeat that she couldn't handle the darker elements of our life. But that turned out not to be a very accurate description of her. She was neither shocked nor more upset than I imagine you or I would be at having to kill Mist hunter-nin.
"I am further hoping that changing your mind about her will reduce conflict between the two of you, and lay the groundwork for the kind of harmonious relationship with her that you already have with me and Noburi."
Keiko seemed to think about this for a few seconds.
"I accept the evidence you have offered me, and will commit time to considering it in depth. I appreciate your helpful motivations, but remain puzzled as to how this outlook of Ishihara's can exist side by side with her Spirit of Youth philosophy without severe cognitive dissonance. In addition, since I find said philosophy personally offensive, I would need her to avoid inflicting it on me if a positive relationship between us were to be established."
Hazō smiled. "I'm relieved that you're taking my words seriously. I don't fully understand how Akane can be so positive while experiencing the same world we are, but we can see for ourselves that she is, and I value the shift in mood that her presence and actions regularly create. I hope that, in time, you will be able to accept enough of it to expand your own emotional palette.
"Should I go away now and give you time to process?"
"Yes, please," Keiko said. "And thank you. I am grateful that we are able to communicate with this level of clarity, though also sympathetic to the fact that you are suffering similar difficulties to me in your everyday interactions. I tentatively hope that we will eventually be able to share our different coping mechanisms in order to achieve better optimisation."
She went back to sharpening her kunai. There was, now Hazō looked more closely, something meditative about the repeated motions.
Perhaps he should do something similar to give himself more clarity while he analysed what had just happened. Weren't there seal blanks that needed scribing?
-o-
"So what you're proposing," Inoue-sensei said in the special voice reserved for lunatics, small children and idealists, "is that we refuse to provide information to one of the most powerful men on the continent who also happens to be our nominal boss and who's directly responsible for us having this contract in the first place. We will then follow through by casually mentioning that we murdered some of his fellow Leaf ninja, and present him with bodies he may recognise as personal friends or acquaintances."
"Yes?" Hazō's plan didn't sound quite as insightful coming out of Inoue-sensei's mouth as it had in his head.
"I'm with Hazō-sensei on this one," the world's best apprentice said firmly. "It would be horrifically unyouthful to betray such an important promise, even to Jiraiya. And handing over those people's bodies so they can have a proper funeral is the least we could do after killing them. I'm sure they have friends and loved ones back home, wondering where they went, and whether they were killed, or captured and tortured for information, or still out there somewhere, alive but unable to get home on their own, and hoping against hope that their allies will come and save them before it's too late…"
Inoue-sensei gave Akane an uncomfortable look. "Yes, well. Right. I guess… I guess we can risk burning some of the goodwill we're about to get from Jiraiya on this, if the rest of you are on board."
There was a series of nods, except from Kagome-sensei, who seemed to be holding back some kind of comment. Given the kind of thing Hazō's sealcrafting mentor usually came out with when he didn't hold back (i.e. pretty much all the time), Hazō probably didn't want to know what was going through the man's mind.
"But that's not the real issue here," Inoue-sensei resumed. "Isan's existence and location is valuable strategic information. If Jiraiya finds out that we hid it from him—and he eventually will, once the village makes first contact with the outside world—I guarantee that he will make an example of us by feeding us to the biggest, slimiest toad he can muster. There's a time for being honourable and a time for not getting killed, and the only reason I'm alive today is because I'm good at knowing which is which. That goes for you too, Hidden Swamp kids. If I was the honourable sort, I'd have tried to help Shikigami against Captain Zabuza and we'd all be dead right now."
"I disagree, Inoue-sensei," Keiko spoke up unexpectedly. "Although I agree that honour in general is a sure path to death in this brutal world, there are nevertheless some things that must be kept sacred."
"Oh?" Inoue-sensei sounded genuinely curious.
"I am speaking of the master-apprentice bond. Consider our group: Hazō is apprentice to Kagome, and Ishihara, for reasons I admit continue to escape me, is in turn apprentice to Hazō. And while our relationship with you may have… evolved… over time, you cannot deny that its foundations feature much of the same. Without such bonds, we would be what we once were—individuals thrown together purely by a need for survival, without deeper loyalty or… emotional connections."
"Mori has a point," Akane chipped in. "In Leaf, they tell so many stories about Jiraiya's apprenticeship under the Third Hokage, and about how he then taught the Fourth. If we put the emphasis on Mori's duty to Takahashi, I think he'd respect it. He is an incredibly youthful man."
"And the rest of you?" Inoue-sensei turned away from Keiko and back towards Hazō and Noburi on her other side.
Keiko caught Hazō's eye, and mimed plucking something out of the air and placing it in front of her mouth as she moved her lips.
"I'm with Keiko," Noburi declared after a second. "I don't think it would be a good idea for us, I mean for anyone, to go to Isan anytime soon. We should give them time to adjust to their new situation. And getting Takahashi angry with us isn't going to get us very far from a diplomacy angle either, especially since it looks like he's the head of the dominant faction in the council now.
"I don't agree," Kagome said suddenly. "I say we throw Jiraiya at the stinking stinkers and watch the fireworks. They want to get us trampled by a tapir stampede just 'cause we're strangers? Let's see them try pulling that trick on one of the Leaf Three. Then we can point at the crater afterwards and say, 'That's what happens to people who try to stab us in the back.' And no matter who wins, somebody who knows who we are and how we fight is going to be dead at the end. How's that?"
"Right," Inoue-sensei shifted to get everyone in her field of view. "We have four votes for Hazō's proposal and two against. But your case isn't that bad, and you guys seem to care about it more than I expected, so I'm not going to use the all-seeing all-knowing jōnin veto. Instead, just in case it isn't possible to talk from inside a giant toad, I'm just going to say 'I told you so' in advance."
-o-
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You may assume that the activities listed under "Spend a week on healing and other actions" in the plan have been successfully completed.
What next?
Voting closes on Saturday the 9th, 9 am Pacific Standard Time.
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm confused. It has been our plan for a while that we are gonna introduce Jiraiya to Hidden Mountain as soon as Takahashi gives us permission, before they become publically known, so they can negotiate a Leaf-Mountain alliance. That would be the greatest possible way for Mountain to break stealth, and Leaf will certainly be interested in grabbing a fresh alliance before anyone else makes the offer, and it would give them a degree of control over how and when Mountain breaks stealth. None of these were reflected in their arguments.
Can someone get me a link to the winning Report Plan? I cant remember precisely what it said.
- Location
- The Deep Blue Sea
Can someone explain what she's communicating here?
...Keiko knew? How come none of us knew that she knew? Did we tell her or did she deduce they must have been Leaf?
Same here Keiko, same here :lol
Oooooooooh we're all going to die
Her certainty that Jiraiya will kill us horribly has me worried. What are some ways out of this?
- If Hidden Mountain won't emerge to the public for more than a year, we may be able to renegotiate our promise to Takahashi and act as the intermediaries for their emergence into the broader world (this is the current plan iirc)
- Be very careful with our phrasing? E.g. in addition to saying we made a promise, point out that revealing the strategically relevant information now will be disadvantageous to all involved, waiting may well change that
- Location
- Europe
Sorry Keiko, you have been officially removed from Hazou's "When I'm 18" -harem list. I can't with good conscience risk unleashing the progeny of you two on the Elemental Nations. That would be both cruel and unusual.
Now where are we going to find a weapon mistress to take her place...
Search for "report plan" posted by eaglejarl gets you the tally and the tally leads straight to this:
As a general idea, I suggest we focus the next plan on prep work (summons), research (PMYF, Akane's style) and generally prepare to contact Jiraya.
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- Location
- Yes.
So what's the status of our injured right now?
- Location
- ?
She figured it out, smart girl that she is. She didn't mention it because we didn't talk about it, and she's not the kind to bring things up randomly?
I'm confused, myself :| Something to do with Akane's words, since she was speaking earlier?
Gosh, look at our adorable children. It's kinda sad that Hazou refers to other people as normal, implying that he's not. That talk tho. Flowchart is canon. Dating is going to be amazing and Noburi is prob preparing popcorn even now.
Akane is absolutely the best apprentice, mah darling gurl.
We don't have the permission yet, and we won't for at least a year, if at all. Takahashi was very clear on that. If J discovers the village before we deliver it to him.. yeah, he won't be happy. Hopefully not to the point of "feed you to my toads".
I mean, we can just give Jiraiya my "The scroll had a guardian who asked us for privacy. We think they'll be more helpful to you as well as us if we wait until they feel comfortable before revealing them to you, but we'll cave if you really want to know because you terrify us and our job as your spies is worth more to us than the guardian's help." speech.
- Location
- ?
If there was no timeskip between ch 54 and 55 and the update took one day or something, we're looking at another 3/7 days of recovery for Noburi/Mari.
- Location
- The Deep Blue Sea
Putting this here for reference in making the next plan:
Neither will the village, which will (probably) be worse overall for Leaf. Except that I think Tea is Fire-allied, meaning Hidden Mountain will probably end up Leaf-allied regardless of the circumstances of their reveal unless they want to break off their own country and ally with Mist or something. Ugh. Politics all over again.
I wouldn't bet on Leafs willingness to ally with Hidden Mountain. Do remember that they are already allied with the great clan that is currently running Tea, who have a summoning contract themselves, are probably not that much weaker than Mountain and are extremely likely to be hostile to a new Hidden Village muscling in on their turf. Konoha needs to honour its alliances first and foremost to uphold its international standing and their web of influence, so they are very likely to interfere on the Clans side in any conflict.
Also, I'd bet my hat that they are the Tapir summoners. The GMs would not let such a sweet opportunity to create conflict pass them by.
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- Location
- ?
[X] Training Akane: Mmm Whatcha Say
Presence 3 [6/98]
Diplomacy 5 [11/98]
Diplomacy 6 [17/98]
Manipulation 3 [23/98]
Deception 5 [28/98]
Deception 6 [34/98]
---
Save 64 XP
[X] Training Noburi: Up to Snuff
Control 9 [18/99]
Water Whip 14 [32/99]
Water Whip 15 [47/99]
Deposit 52: Medic Fund (3->55) [99/99]
---
Save 0XP
[X] Research Hazou: PMYF
Presence 3 [6/98]
Diplomacy 5 [11/98]
Diplomacy 6 [17/98]
Manipulation 3 [23/98]
Deception 5 [28/98]
Deception 6 [34/98]
---
Save 64 XP
[X] Training Noburi: Up to Snuff
Control 9 [18/99]
Water Whip 14 [32/99]
Water Whip 15 [47/99]
Deposit 52: Medic Fund (3->55) [99/99]
---
Save 0XP
[X] Research Hazou: PMYF
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- Location
- Phoenix, AZ
I feel like we want to tell Jiraiya all about the village, including the deal we struck with them (he could always have another group of ninja 'just happen' to stumble upon the village entirely separate from us). He's going to find out about the village eventually, and then he'll pretty much know we didn't tell him everything. I'm OK with doing some sort of dance where try to fulfill the letter but not the spirit of our promise to Mountain, but I'd really rather prioritize making Jiraiya happy with us over making Mountain happy with us.
- Location
- Atlanta
[x] Training Akane: Mmm Whatcha Say
[x] Research Hazou: PMYF
I'll wait on voting on Noburi's plan until I see what other ideas people have.
For the coming update, if we're sufficiently healed up (which I don't expect, but @eaglejarl and @Velorien, can you confirm?), then my vote would go towards heading to a city, picking up gossip on what's going on in the world (particularly Iron), and having a contingency list of places we want to go to outside of Tea depending on what gossip we get.
If we're still healing up, then Keiko should do that visiting the summon realm part of the plan and we (the forum) can talk about whether we want to start any sort of surveillance on the old fort or start experimenting with EM and balloons or whatever.
Also, in either case, Keiko asked us to request that Akane stop trying to push Youth on her, so we should at least line item that. Plus we need a new plan for Akane's birthday.
[x] Research Hazou: PMYF
I'll wait on voting on Noburi's plan until I see what other ideas people have.
For the coming update, if we're sufficiently healed up (which I don't expect, but @eaglejarl and @Velorien, can you confirm?), then my vote would go towards heading to a city, picking up gossip on what's going on in the world (particularly Iron), and having a contingency list of places we want to go to outside of Tea depending on what gossip we get.
If we're still healing up, then Keiko should do that visiting the summon realm part of the plan and we (the forum) can talk about whether we want to start any sort of surveillance on the old fort or start experimenting with EM and balloons or whatever.
Also, in either case, Keiko asked us to request that Akane stop trying to push Youth on her, so we should at least line item that. Plus we need a new plan for Akane's birthday.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
I think that we could manage to make Jiraiya respect us, if not happy with us.
[x] Training Akane: Mmm Whatcha Say
[x] Research Hazou: PMYF
[x] Research Hazou: PMYF
- Location
- Europe
Hold it!
What about the combat style!? Buying more social dice is easy but we need some peace and quiet to develop the style and start prepping the equipment for it. (Assuming we are going with the MechApt and not the Jashin style) Wouldn't it be better to spend training time on that and get the huge combat boost Akane desperately needs?
Re: the dead Leaf-nins
If it turns out that Mari killed team 7, I swear to Jashin...
If it turns out that Mari killed team 7, I swear to Jashin...
- Location
- Atlanta
We probably need to wait for training until after Kagome gives her her birthday gift.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
Not if we went with the Mech Apt style.
It's really a pity we don't have more time, there are a few seals I'd have considered making -- maybe one that makes a gout of flame for her, literal flames of youth
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