Thank you, much gratitude. Also, nice to have you back. :>
You don't currently have one on the way. No one you talked to was even remotely willing to entertain the idea.
Consider that what you're asking goes like this:
You: Hey, Fred, would you mind giving me your phone number and then walking to Belize?
Fred: Um...what, person that I met two minutes ago? You know that I live in Boston, right?
You: Sure. Why?
Fred: It's hundreds or maybe thousands of miles -- not sure which since our maps are terrible. Also, I think there's a mountain range in the way.
You: Okay, and...?
Fred: I'm a redhead and Mexico is very hostile to redheads. They might kill me.
You: Okay, and...?
Fred: Uh-huh. And why exactly do you want me to do this?
You: So I can use you as a communication relay. When I want to talk to someone in Belize I'll call your phone and you find the person that I want to talk to and give them the phone.
Fred: Assume I was willing to do this. How long would I have to stay?
You: Indefinitely. Until it's convenient for me that you're not there anymore.
Fred: Man, why couldn't it have just be Jehovah's Witnesses knocking?
(NB: 'Boston' and 'Belize' are randomly chosen and not representative of the actual distances on the Seventh Path.)
"-by the way, this is a promotion from almost certain insignificance requested from space-Jesus to your personal demigod for the purposes of preventing all of reality from being consumed by carnivorous monstrosities twenty-ton spiders are terrified of the Sage himself attempted to seal outside of space and time to save the literally everything. Literal puppies are already serving duty."
"-by the way, this is a promotion from almost certain insignificance requested from space-Jesus to your personal demigod for the purposes of preventing all of reality from being consumed by carnivorous monstrosities the Sage himself attempted to seal outside of space and time to save the literally everything.
"-by the way, this is a promotion from almost certain insignificance requested from space-Jesus to your personal demigod for the purposes of preventing all of reality from being consumed by carnivorous monstrosities twenty-ton spiders are terrified of the Sage himself attempted to seal outside of space and time to save the literally everything. Literal puppies are already serving duty."
Hazō briefly weighed his options. The worst Hebifaya could do was start a massive summon brawl that would damage the building, catch innocents in the crossfire, and result in a diplomatic incident that would be remembered the next time Hazō tried to get different clans to work together. The worst Orochimaru could do… frankly, it was beyond Hazō's imagination.
Hazō was terrified of Orochimaru. That was a fact. Some of that was probably irrational, given his emotional trauma from what he'd seen in the Basement and the way Orochimaru had psychically ripped his head open and stuck a bunch of knives into it in response to an accidental act of rudeness. But some of it was extremely rational fear of a humanoid who'd kidnapped people and tortured them to death, was doing the same semi-consensually on a daily basis, and, again, psychically ripped people's heads open and stuck bunches of knives into them for accidental acts of rudeness. What kind of entertainment would someone like that, with no known hobbies and a belief that he was above both morality and the law, make for himself when bored and surrounded by people with unique unstudied abilities?
No, Hazō couldn't let someone like that near his family. Noburi had just demonstrated the immense potential of his Bloodline Limit, and its value to a summoner. His newfound value to Leaf gave Asuma reason to intervene on his behalf, but on the other hand, Hazō had seen with his own eyes how good Orochimaru was at keeping people alive. What if he just kept Noburi intact enough to wheel out whenever Leaf needed his bloodline—or ripped it out altogether and gave it to a more convenient host? Hadn't Tsunade done that once?
Besides, even if Orochimaru could be convinced that Noburi was too valuable to spare, there was no argument he'd care about for not taking Wataru instead. Hazō couldn't allow that to happen either.
Kei's situation was even worse. Orochimaru was already on record as wanting to kidnap and possibly dissect a Frozen Skein user. Maybe Ami's deal had included her safety, or maybe the humanoid who never left his lab simply hadn't registered that the Nara consort was a former Mori. But the Final Gift Programme only needed Ami (if that), and there was no telling what Orochimaru would do if Kei came to his direct attention.
Frankly, even letting him bump into Kagome-sensei would be a disaster, between Kagome-sensei's high odds of blurting something that would make Orochimaru Take an Interest and Orochimaru's palpable aura of "danger to your loved ones". During Orochimaru's memorable first appearance at a gaming night, Kagome-sensei had needed to be physically restrained from attacking him.
No, Orochimaru needed to either be entertained enough to forget his Orochimaruness for a couple of hours or made bored enough to leave without incident.
Hazō mentally gritted his teeth. "Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru half-turned.
Hazō wished he'd had a contingency ready. He'd instructed Noburi to invite the summoners—and, thinking about it, explicitly snubbing Orochimaru might not have been a good move anyway—but Hazō had assumed he'd be as likely to turn up to a gaming night as Lord Hagoromo was to attend next week's commitment ceremony. He'd allowed himself to forget the Sealmaster's Fourth Law ("Something Will Go Wrong"), and now he was facing impending doom without any kind of list.
Still, maybe he could find opportunity amidst the disaster. Orochimaru had sent Jiraiya a board game once. He was familiar with the concept. If he could be persuaded that such things could be fun, that there was a role in his life for other people that wasn't "raw material" or "obstacle", such a heroic achievement would surely be worth a scroll or two from Asuma.
"Would you like to join me for a board game?" Hazō ventured.
Phrasing would be paramount. Noburi and Mari both claimed that games were primarily a social activity—unlike Hazō, they wouldn't touch solo variants with a ten-foot pole (whereas Hazō just didn't have time anymore). Orochimaru treated social activities like Yuno did purification rituals, as an occasional tedious necessity to be minimised through proper living. Hazō wasn't going to be able to hook him so easily.
On the other hand, he remembered once being… well, not like this, but like someone who also often found socialising more trouble than it was worth. His frustration with other people's failure to communicate in a reasonable way was one of the things that had brought him closer to Kei, back before their experiences in Leaf had sent them in different directions. If he modelled Orochimaru like his past self or like Kei (he'd have to get her carrot cake to make up for just having the thought)…
"I've found they make for a great intellectual challenge," he said. "Different games test the intellect in all kinds of different ways. More than one of my sealing ideas has been inspired by something I saw or did in a game."
"At your age," Orochimaru observed, "my idea of an intellectual challenge was tracing the connection between elemental affinity and the balance of the bodily humours. Some of the analytical procedures I developed continue to serve me to this day."
He began to turn away.
Hazō didn't know where he was heading, but he did know that in that direction lay Noburi's solidarity-building "summoners versus summons" game of Kage Hunters.
"What if you thought of it as an experiment?" he tried.
Orochimaru paused. "Nephew, are you aware of the fate of the last shinobi to attempt to manipulate me?"
Hazō froze. As Orochimaru slowly turned around, head twisting just a little further past his shoulder than was natural, he could feel himself break into a sweat.
If he used the Multiple Earth Wall Technique to block the corridor, would he have a few moments' grace to get out of the building? Maybe Orochimaru wouldn't consider it worth the effort of hunting him down, and that would buy him time to come up with a plan before their next encounter.
No. If Orochimaru didn't go after him, he'd go back to Plan A: Possibly Kidnap Hazō's Family.
Unlike last time, Orochimaru hadn't unleashed his aura. That meant there might be room to salvage the situation.
Hazō gave the deep, stiff Bow 13, a Chūnin Exam special designed to appease visiting Kage before they could further ponder your insult and realise it was bad enough to demand restitution.
"My humblest apologies. I did not mean to give offence in any way." Praise be to Mum, Mari, and the Iron Nerve for the ability to deliver that line sincerely and without his teeth chattering.
Orochimaru seemed to consider for a second, glancing down at his pale grey sleeves as if they were relevant to the situation.
Then he turned away again, as if losing interest.
Unfortunately, much as he would have loved to, Hazō couldn't leave it at that. His family was still relying on him to keep them safe.
"Would you mind telling me about your experience in the Battle of Five Clans?" he asked as evenly as he could. "It sounds like it was an extraordinary battle, and getting your impressions should help me optimise the strategy for next time."
Orochimaru didn't even look back. "My report is on file."
Hazō could hear Kagome-sensei's voice from around the corner, offering someone a homemade snack. There was no time left for half-measures, and a risk to him was better than a risk to someone he cared about.
He uttered a silent prayer to the ancestors, the Will of Fire, and the spirit of Jiraiya, who could have talked his way out of anything given enough motivation.
"You know," Hazō said, "I don't think I've had a chance to tell you about the Great Seal."
Finally, to his satisfaction and his regret, Orochimaru turned to face him head-on.
"I have seen the misshapen lump you describe as a replica of the most sophisticated seal known to man," Orochimaru said coldly. "I am given to understand it posed a puzzle which Leaf's sealmasters were able to solve overnight by mass-producing a beginners' training seal. I was aware that standards had declined in my absence, but that does not mean I appreciate a mockery being made of my discipline."
The corridor narrowed around Hazō like the jaws of a hungry beast, light turning to shadow to darkness until all that was left was Orochimaru's gaze in the middle of a lifeless void. There was nothing to cling to, nothing to keep him whole. Orochimaru's eyes cut straight into the flesh of his mind, severing arteries and carving out nerves as Hazō was reshaped into a thing more to Orochimaru's convenience—
The eyes/fangs paused briefly, and in that gap, Hazō rushed to get as many words out as he could.
"There's more to the seal and we haven't solved the puzzle and I have a lot more information to offer and—"
Orochimaru blinked. Everything was exactly the way it had been before. Hazō stumbled, caught himself on the wall, and before he knew it, he was clinging to it as if to make sure it wouldn't disappear.
"Proceed," Orochimaru allowed.
Hazō kept one hand on the wall as he took slow, hesitant steps back in the direction they'd come from. "Let's… Let's find a room."
New objective: keep Orochimaru in one place for the rest of the evening without boring him, offending him, giving away secrets, or becoming interesting enough to keep.
-o-
Hazō virtually collapsed into a player chair, while Orochimaru sat down on the dealer's side of the table without a second thought. Yuno's game of Pony Island, half-set up between them, was surely symbolic of something, especially the half-shuffled ritual sacrifice cards. Yuno herself had accepted the exile with grace; Orochimaru had given her exotic red eyes a curious glance but let her leave without comment.
"Well?" Orochimaru asked.
Hazō took a moment to compose his thoughts. His best-case scenario for this meeting was to actually get Orochimaru interested in the Great Seal, in which case he might be convinced to get his act together and help save the world. His worst-case scenario didn't bear thinking about. Still, even if all he could do was keep Orochimaru talking and not give away anything disastrous, he'd call it a win.
"The Great Seal replica you've seen," Hazō began, "is a very rough approximation of the real thing. I won't deny that. However, I remember the original, and as soon as my health recovers"—he looked down at his hands, which were trembling slightly, though admittedly right now that was less from Great Seal damage and more from Orochimaru—"and I get better at sculpting, I'll be able to create something much more accurate, something from which we might be able to learn secrets of sealcrafting used by the Sage himself."
"The Sage was not a sealmaster," Orochimaru noted. "However, his companions are each said to have been paragons of their disciplines, commanding powers now lost to humanity over a millennium of imbecilic conflict-driven decline. It is not beyond imagination that their relics might have survived better on the largely-unchanging Seventh Path."
"I assure you," Hazō said, "I saw the Great Seal myself, and it was completely intact, Dragon-related damage aside. Whatever secrets were used to create it are all still there, waiting for us."
Orochimaru leaned forward slightly. Was he interested? Was Hazō finally getting through to him?
Was it really, now Hazō thought about it, a great idea to let Orochimaru get his hands on the keys to ultimate cosmic power? But if it was that or the end of the world…
But after a second's pause, Orochimaru moved back again.
"On reflection, I find it doubtful," Orochimaru said, "that supposing the structure you saw was even a seal to begin with, you would be able to memorise a complex abstract shape in such detail as to yield a viable research substrate. I need not tell you the effect even a misplaced dot of ink can have in sealcrafting."
Alarm bells began to ring in Hazō's mind. Unfortunately, Great Seal research so far had hinged on his powers of memorisation, and all of Leaf's sealmasters had watched his replicas get more detailed as his original act of observation receded into the past. Even if he tried to deny it now, Orochimaru would find out when he became involved with the project.
"I can," Hazō said, willing the Iron Nerve's veneer of calm not to fail him. "You might not believe me, but it's a fact that Leaf's sealmasters have already extracted usable information from the basic replicas we have now—not just proof that we're dealing with a seal, but enough information to make inferences about its mechanisms of function. It's the reason we already have a way to slow down the Great Seal's deterioration. I'm sure with your abilities, you'd be able to get much more out of it than we have already. In fact, if I could just give you a few examples of the pathways we've already identified—"
"Nephew," Orochimaru interrupted, "Kabuto explained your wild claims during his attempts to direct my attention to your project. If you stand by your insistence that you were able to accurately memorise a vast 3D seal, in its entirety, in a matter of seconds, and recall it still despite the Dragon's psychic assault that cast you back to the Human Path and nearly shattered your mind, that means you have a powerful combination of cognitive enhancement and 3D scanning ability. This is something I require."
Oh, no.
To anyone else, Hazō could just say "clan secret". However, this was Orochimaru, and those two things both sounded like something he might ignore the rules to get. Hazō knew the incredible value of perfect recall, and would go pretty damn far to get new kinds if the opportunity arose. Meanwhile, depending on how you interpreted "3D scanning", on the scale of the Great Seal it could imply something as grandiose as Byakugan-lite.
Could he claim it was the result of a seal or a ninjutsu? Then Orochimaru would just demand those, and Hazō doubted he could invent either fast enough to support his claim. Maybe there was something hidden in the Nara Library, where Orochimaru had never had a chance to look? The one thing he absolutely could not say, under any circumstances, was that it was the product of his Bloodline Limit. What could he—
Orochimaru did not let him stall. His voice turned rigid as steel. "Tell me what you used."
Orochimaru: Intimidation ?? + ? = ??
Hazō: Resolve 26 - 12 - 3 = 11
Hazō is Taken Out legendarily. He receives the Mild Mental Consequence "Cowed" and the Medium Mental Consequence "Crippled Will". His Severe slot is already full up, so the remaining stress is sadly wasted.
The world disappeared. Hazō's consciousness narrowed down to two words. Tell me. On one side was the absolute that was Orochimaru's demand. On the other was total destruction. Of Hazō. Of everyone. Of everything. To so much as turn around to look at it, to conceive of an alternative to obeying, would be enough to break him.
The other choice, if there had ever been one, fell away from his mind. He would tell Orochimaru everything, and pray that was enough.
"It's a secret special ability of the Iron Nerve," Hazō explained as fast as clarity of speech would allow. "When I looked at the Great Seal, I was able to—"
"There you are, Hazō!"
The voice sounded familiar. Hazō was… yes, he was in a room. In a chair. There was a doorway. Mari was in the doorway.
"Good evening, Lord Orochimaru," Mari said with a respectful bow. "Thank you for joining us this evening."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed in contempt. "You are interrupting. Leave."
No. Mari leaving would be bad. For some reason. Hazō couldn't be alone. He couldn't be alone with Orochimaru.
"I have an urgent message from the Hokage," Mari said as if she hadn't heard him. "I'm afraid he's demanding Hazō's immediate presence for a follow-up debriefing."
"The boy can wait," Orochimaru said dismissively. "I would have been summoned for an enemy attack. Anything less is unimportant. Nephew, resume your explanation."
The world began to shrink again, swallowed up into the darkness of Orochimaru's vertical pupils.
"Oh, that? I'm sorry, I couldn't help overhearing," Mari said casually. "It's nothing exciting. Hazō's just learned to use the Iron Nerve to memorise the surrounding terrain. Normally it's unconscious—the Kurosawa need it so they don't fall over when they replicate a movement in a new location—but you can train to become aware of what would be under your feet within a certain radius."
Mari spends 3 FP to invoke "(Formerly) Marked for Death" to improvise like Hazō's life depends on it, "Team Uplift" to put herself on the line for his sake, and "Deceitful Imp" to lie her head off.
Mari smiled at Hazō, and in the depths of her smile he recognised all the many Maris he'd once named for her. A mother's warmth. A teacher's guidance. A trickster's cunning. A guardian's resolve.
The hand stretched out to him wasn't enough to break Orochimaru's iron grip, but it was enough. Hazō submerged himself in the Iron Nerve, and gave the exact nod of a man reluctantly admitting a secret.
"Regrettable," Orochimaru muttered, his gaze wandering into the distance.
Hazō did not have it in him to feel relieved, not right now, but he recognised the glorious, impossible victory. He'd been so scared, for so long, of what would happen if Orochimaru found out about the power to memorise any seal he saw, once and forever, and about exactly which seals were locked away in Hazō's head…
Now he was safe. He could take his time figuring out a way to deal with Orochimaru, for Great Seal purposes and perhaps in general, without constantly feeling he was standing on the edge of the abyss.
"That said," Orochimaru mused, "when I consider my original reasons for overlooking the Iron Nerve…"
Hazō felt a chill. He'd forgotten the Sealmaster's Fourth Law again.
Whatever lay at the end of that thought, Hazō instinctively knew Orochimaru had to be stopped from reaching it.
Hazō looked at Mari, but this time she had no trick up her sleeve. Instead, she held still for a few long seconds, as if making up her mind.
"Actually," she said to Orochimaru, "I've been thinking about a research topic you might find interesting. Tell me, what are your thoughts on cognitively-independent shadow clones?"
Oh, no. Mari, no.
"Impossible," Orochimaru scoffed. "A dead end of research. Do you think I would require apprentices if I could have assistants of my genius with the potential to generate different ideas from the same stimuli?"
Hazō tried to open his mouth to stop her. He tried. But whenever he looked at Orochimaru, he felt a lingering shadow of that inexorable compulsion, of iron walls separating him from his will. To lie to Orochimaru would be to reject his own existence.
"There is one," Mari said. "I could introduce her to you—or to her original, at least. I believe she's currently in one of the far outbuildings, lecturing her summon on proper behaviour."
"The very notion is preposterous," Orochimaru said. "I'll believe it when I see it." He rose from his seat to follow her, carelessly knocking one of the ritual sacrifice cards to the floor.
As Mari stepped back, ostensibly getting out of Orochimaru's way as he left the room, she made a pair of Gōketsu hand signals behind her back: "Kei" and "run like hell".
Mari began to lead Orochimaru away. After one final glance to make sure the humanoid wasn't going to change his mind and come after him, Hazō headed for the main room at the briskest walk he dared.
-o-
You have received 4 + 1 + 1 = 6 XP.
Hazō has received 2 FP for taking Consequences during a meaningful conflict. Mari has received 1 FP for winning a meaningful conflict.
-o-
Voting ends on Saturday 23rd of October, 1 p.m. New York time.
To be fair, if Orochimaru figures out whats going on (that Mari is either lying or just misdirecting him) he will just kill her, then Keiko and then Hazou.
To be fair, if Orochimaru figures out whats going on (that Mari is either lying or just misdirecting him) he will just kill her, then Keiko and then Hazou.
To be fair, if Orochimaru figures out whats going on (that Mari is either lying or just misdirecting him) he will just kill her, then Keiko and then Hazou.
Thing is, she hasn't lied. Kei really does have cognitively indpendent shadow clones, as a direct result of her bloodline. If we try to sneak Kei away then Orochimaru will become annoyed (and at this point he has enough information to narrow the pool of candidates significantly, so odds are Kei would just receive a visit the next day).
From Orochimaru's perspective, when he sees Kei he'll understand that the cognitive independence of her shadow clones is tied to an effect her bloodline provides, which will be suboptimal but not-unexpected because if there's anything out there that would do something 'impossible' like that it would be a thinker bloodline. The only question left, then, is what happens next.
Thing is, she hasn't lied. Kei really does have cognitively indpendent shadow clones, as a direct result of her bloodline. If we try to sneak Kei away then Orochimaru will become annoyed (and at this point he has enough information to narrow the pool of candidates significantly, so odds are Kei would just receive a visit the next day).
From Orochimaru's perspective, when he sees Kei he'll understand that the cognitive independence of her shadow clones is tied to an effect her bloodline provides, which will be suboptimal but not-unexpected because if there's anything out there that would do something 'impossible' like that it would be a thinker bloodline. The only question left, then, is what happens next.
"There is one," Mari said. "I could introduce her to you—or to her original, at least. I believe she's currently in one of the far outbuildings, lecturing her summon on proper behaviour."
I do think Mari lied, actually: I don't think Kei is actually in the outbuildings. Mari's leading him in the wrong direction to give them time to run away. Wonder what Orochimaru will do to her for wasting his time...
@eaglejarl@Velorien would we be able to use a fate point to know Tsunade's whereabouts? Reasoning being we looked into it to know if it was possible to invite her to game night but decided against due to her doing x at y.
I do think Mari lied, actually: I don't think Kei is actually in the outbuildings. Mari's leading him in the wrong direction to give them time to run away. Wonder what Orochimaru will do to her for wasting his time...
I do think Mari lied, actually: I don't think Kei is actually in the outbuildings. Mari's leading him in the wrong direction to give them time to run away. Wonder what Orochimaru will do to her for wasting his time...
Probably yeah, he may take revenge later though. Then again, maybe it's not worth his time lol he just shakes his head and goes back to dissecting rock ninja
there are a couple of options, Namely Naruto, Tsunade, Shikamaru and Asuma. the only way to tread whit Orochimaru is to appeal to a higher authority or throw him an alternative target.
out of these options, Naruto is the most reliable oddly enough he has the reputation to just slung Keiko over his shoulder and sprint away without justification if he sees Oro accosting her. it will be hard to justify his presence afterwards but we could just say that given the disproportionate number of genin to WMD Asuma sent him to be security as no one thought Orochimaru was going to appear.
