- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Remove the follow OPSEC and it will work for me
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
[] Action Plan: The Power of Meetings
I like this, I feel like it's going in the right direction. Maybe the thing I really like most is that we're talking about what we could do instead of actually executing our ideas - I feel like the power for a lot of our ideas is in making sure the right people know about them. And this also gives us a chance to quietly check which ideas make sense in-universe.
I like this, I feel like it's going in the right direction. Maybe the thing I really like most is that we're talking about what we could do instead of actually executing our ideas - I feel like the power for a lot of our ideas is in making sure the right people know about them. And this also gives us a chance to quietly check which ideas make sense in-universe.
I feel like our ideas so far kinda fit under these strategies (please let me know if I'm missing something!):
Are there other high-level strategies I'm missing? I'm not sure if this breakdown is even useful, but it might be a useful checklist, to see how a plan handles each point.
- Win war quickly (summon armies, EM nukes, ...)
- Make Goketsku look more valuable than Oro (noburi, kei holds embassy hostage)
- Bring in other players (Ami, Mist, Naruto, Tsundae)
- Give Oro what he wants (explain Snowflake, limited examinations)
- Run (Sent to Isan, sent to Mist, other)
Are there other high-level strategies I'm missing? I'm not sure if this breakdown is even useful, but it might be a useful checklist, to see how a plan handles each point.
- Location
- Italy
The OPSEC is for all the other parts that involve extremely classified intel(Summoning Army, Shadow Clone interaction with Bloodlines, ect). I can add "explain while maintaining deniability if the Oro-Asuma situation must be kept secret". Basically let Ami understand without screaming "The Hokage is not going to protect us", or you prefer Hazou to simply explain everything to Ami?
Personally i believe Ami would understand everything easily, without neededing to tell her everything but with this Hazou can keep himself out of trouble, while letting everyone understand the situation.
If you want to vote, i would like to note you need to [X] the vote, otherwise it's useless. Just saying in case you don't know.
Ehm....that is exactly the defensive Summoning Army i keep posting about. With the hard target being Leaf. Unless you mean "The Rock Fort attack only in defense", but i don't see why it wouldn't work.
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- Location
- Yes.
Sorry, I'm not paying attention to a lot of things going on RN. Could you link me?
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yeah explicitly saying that we tell everything about the Oro situation and what Asuma has told us is what I would like. Can explicitly say that we keep OPSEC about everything else
- Location
- Italy
I'm open to be convinced, but if the outcome is the same(And it would be the same, because Ami is SocialSpec Jonin and we would still explain the situation to her while maintaining deniability), i don't know if i am willing to risk a killbox by removing the sanity check on purpose.
These post should have all the important points i made, IIRC. But it's basically "Noburi+Summoner+Chakra = An Army of summons to protect Leaf, while using the fact the villages works on the Great Seals as a way to convince the Clans to give theirs strongest members"
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Just saying I don't view the plan as suicidal for keiko
edit:
Check if Oro actually plans to harm Kei/learn more info on Oro
Stall until Oro leaves for Isan
distract him (like with great seal) as a stalling tactic
Edit2: ignore kei and focus on great seal
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Interlude: Field Research, Part 1
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It was (now) a quiet morning in the Gōketsu compound. Akane, still sitting in the snow where she'd finished her morning training, reflected on the valuable lessons she'd learned today. First, be careful what training methods you use after spending all your chakra on shadow clones. Second, younger KEI genin are mischievous little imps. Third, if you fail to specify "no ninjutsu", somebody will notice.
"Lady Gōketsu? Hello? I was told that Lady Gōketsu could be found over here?"
The courier, standing right in front of Akane, peered around in confusion.
"Good morning!" Akane said perkily. "How can I help you?"
The courier jumped, then spun around, finally noticing her.
"Lady Gōketsu! Are you... are you all right?"
"Never better," Akane confirmed with an unsuccessfully attempted nod.
The courier gave her the look of a man struggling to refrain from comment because if he said what was on his mind it could get him killed.
Finally, he produced an envelope from his bag and held it out in her direction. "I have a message for you from Lady Nara."
"Oh." Akane briefly reviewed her situation and found that it hadn't changed at all. "Would you mind reading it out loud?"
"The message is sealed," the courier said. "Would you like me to open it anyway?"
"No," Akane said quickly. "No, that's fine. In that case, would you mind helping me up?"
After a second's hesitation, the courier reached into the enormous mound of snow occupying pride of place in the middle of the Gōketsu compound. It took a while of feeling around to locate her arm (she could tell he was being extra-careful lest his hands locate some execution-worthy part of her body first), then more time for him to clear away snow until he could pull her out. Akane, quite frozen at this point, wished he'd been a bit bolder (and she could surely weather a little embarrassment), but since freeing chūnin from involuntary entombment wasn't part of his job description, she could hardly complain.
"Sealing failure, Lady Gōketsu?"
"Not today," Akane said with a reassuring smile. "Just a valuable reminder that ninja cheat."
Next time, it would be her turn to deliver a valuable lesson, Akane decided. Koyuki might be an ace with the Water Element, but she suspected the girl still had a lot to learn about trapmaking (which, as it happened, didn't come under "no ninjutsu").
Akane didn't recognise the seal on the envelope, which, in context, was enough of a clue to tell her who it was from. If she'd needed more, 雪華, "snow flower", was the poetic term for "snowflake". The sender had used a variant second character—one which evoked a sense of the fantastical rather than the merely botanical—but after reading the message, the last thing Akane felt up to was literary analysis.
Dear Akane,
I realise such a request should properly be made in person, and that you are bound to have better uses for your time already scheduled, but if you are amenable, would you be willing to go on a date with me today?
I will humbly await your response outside the Hokage Tower.
Snowflake
P.S. I would appreciate it if you kept this proposal between the two of us.
-o-
Over the entire journey, Akane had wracked her brain over the right way to respond. In principle, it was only rational for her to follow Hazō's lead and try to be open to new discoveries about her sexuality. Certainly, she was already technically dating another girl—though, to be honest, not much had changed between her and Ino since then, including the frequency of Hazō as a conversation topic. Come to think of it, they'd barely even gone on any three-way dates. Getting schedules to line up when two of the partners were overworked clan heads, and the third was the second-in-command supposed to take over when one of them was busy, was enough of a logistical nightmare that it was almost tempting to welcome Snowflake into the polycule just for her specialist training. On the other hand, Akane had never felt any attraction to what Hazō referred to as the "Keiko base model", and, unfair though it might be, she didn't know if that was something that could change just because it belonged to a different mind.
Between Akane's dark days as a bedridden bookworm and, later, the general public's inexplicable failure to appreciate the Spirit of Youth, Hazō had been the first and only person ever to ask her out. She had no experience of letting suitors down gently, or preserving a friendship afterwards without crippling awkwardness or increased emotional distance (she cringed when she thought about how badly she'd handled their original breakup). Should she at least attempt some kind of romantic engagement with Snowflake, just to establish for a fact whether it was impossible, or would that only make things worse when it turned out it was? If not, how was she to say no in a way that didn't hurt Snowflake's shaky self-esteem and do lasting damage to their relationship?
Snowflake waited for her answer under the eaves of the Hokage Tower, her namesakes blowing past on the breeze as she raised a hand to keep her elaborately lacy blue ribbon in place. For some reason, in Akane's vision, the Tower briefly became a great tree, and the snowflakes cherry blossoms.
Faced with Snowflake's unwavering gaze, both shy and alert, Akane tried one last saving throw. "Are you sure you didn't mean an instance of two individuals spending a day together in order to facilitate greater mutual knowledge and familiarity, arranged in anticipation of a potential long-term relationship?"
"Akane, just how bad do you believe my handwriting is?" Snowflake asked with an amused smile.
"No," she went on before Akane could respond, "my purpose with regard to inviting you on a date is not greater mutual knowledge and familiarity, valuable bonuses though they may be."
"It's… not?" But what were dates for, if not getting to know each other better? It wasn't like Snowflake of all people would be after a purely physical relationship.
Or would she? It would be unyouthful for Akane to be closed-minded when a friend was clearly experimenting outside her comfort zone. Snowflake had, after all, apparently cleared the "holding hands" stage back in Isan. It wouldn't be that strange for her to want to go further with someone she trusted. But if that was the case, why Akane? And how was Akane to respond? She wished that she'd taken more lessons on dating etiquette from Mari while there was time, instead of letting herself grow complacent just because she was already in the relationship of her dreams.
"It is not," Snowflake said. "Rather, I was hoping to avail myself of your expertise as the most, shall we say, experienced person of my acquaintance, at least of those I am prepared to ask. You must surely have learned much from your time with Hazō which could be of aid to me given my profound inexperience."
Akane could feel herself turning red. "Snowflake, I—I really don't think…"
"I understand some of your activities may have been quite personal," Snowflake went on, "and perhaps I am being too forward in requesting a physical demonstration, but I honestly believe that hands-on experience would be a better teacher than verbal descriptions and diagrams, or indeed lists."
"…"
"Naturally, I will endeavour to make it as enjoyable for you as I can. I may be untrained, but I do pride myself on my creativity."
Akane's head was starting so spin.
"But…" she tried, "but aren't you only attracted to girls? A lot of what we do simply wouldn't apply to you!"
Snowflake frowned. "First, I have never made any definitive statements about my sexuality. Second, are date activities really that segregated by gender? It was my assumption that all couples (for argument's sake) would have access to the same options, barring perhaps the public baths."
"Wait," Akane said slowly. "Exactly what is it that you want to do with me?"
"Receive live training on how one conducts a romantic date," Snowflake said as if it was obvious. "The fact is, nobody in the Snowflakesphere has much knowledge of conventional dating at all. Kei's romantic success is inversely proportional to her adherence to convention. Tenten tends towards passivity. Shikamaru considers dating a pathological social construct and avoids it like the plague. Shiori is… not a viable source of guidance. Yuri and Minori until recently limited themselves to activities which could never be construed as romantic by a hostile public. The literature, too, has proved to be most unreliable."
"The literature?" Akane asked. "Do you mean Icha Icha and the like?"
"Appalling, all of it," Snowflake replied. "Hoary tropes that were geriatric before the invention of the printing press, language that is overwrought yet lacking in depth like a wedding cake made of papier-mâché, characters next to whom a paddling pool is the Abyss itself, clumsy dialogue intended to rush the reader from exposition to exposition like a heavily-concussed genin trying to follow an evacuation drill, virtually no lesbian relationships, and those that are bestowed upon us like crumbs dropped from the mainstream reader's table are cringeworthy caricatures written by overexcited straight men. Or so I hear."
"And so… you want to go on a date with me."
Snowflake nodded firmly. "I have a notebook, a map, a pocket abacus, and a set of concealed kunai. I am ready for romance."
In the face of such youthful determination, how could Akane say no?
-o-
To be continued.
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
That awkward moment when a letter implying something tangentially related to romance… actually *is* related to romance???
I must have clicked on the wrong quest.
I must have clicked on the wrong quest.
I like that Snowflake appears to Oro and discloses the info. But it would be better if multiple shadow clones were there to actually back up Snowflake's claims that each clone is independent and unique. We gotta do more to satisfy that burden of proof.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Mechanics clarification:
Mental stress does not automatically pop shadow clones. However, any mental stress and/or mental Consequences taken will be transferred to the user when they are dispelled. Clones clear mental stress at a normal rate (i.e. it goes away at the end of the scene), but Consequences take the usual amount of time to heal, which is usually longer than the clone will exist.
@faflec, if you want to cite precedent where this blatantly did not happen, now's the time.
Mental stress does not automatically pop shadow clones. However, any mental stress and/or mental Consequences taken will be transferred to the user when they are dispelled. Clones clear mental stress at a normal rate (i.e. it goes away at the end of the scene), but Consequences take the usual amount of time to heal, which is usually longer than the clone will exist.
@faflec, if you want to cite precedent where this blatantly did not happen, now's the time.
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- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
I wish I had this kind of preparedness and entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to dating. That said the concealed blades? Scoring massive wlw points, this is going to go great.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
You just posted in the wrong neighborhood.
- Location
- Yes.
Also pinging @eaglejarl @OliWhail Does this also apply to Mental stress/Consequences already present in the creator? For example, if Hazou made a Shadow Clone while he still has Severe Mental Consequences, would the resulting Shadow Clone have the same Severe? For that matter, would Prime!Hazou get hit by said Severe Mental Consequence when that Shadow Clone pops?
- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Action Plan: Hesitation Is Always Easy but Rarely Useful
Word count: < 399
To briefly outline my thinking:
We need to remove Orochimaru as a threat at least until WWIV is over. Ideally, longer. We can't try to fix the Great Seal and contribute to the Fourth Shinobi World War and finally fucking recover from our brain and body getting blended if we're always looking over our shoulders. I don't think that a letter will do - I think he'd ignore that or (at worst) take it as a sign of weakness. The only way for us to achieve any degree of safety is getting coverage from heavy hitters. I don't think that it's productive for us to approach Naruto: we have limited time and energy and Tsunade has already shown that she's willing to stand up to Orochimaru. (I think that getting Naruto to look out for Kei makes a lot of sense - he likes her and if he's looking out for her, then he knows the deal, too.)
I think that if we let Tsunade know what's going on then she's going to be broadly inclined to help us out, or at least tell Orochimaru to knock it off until the war is over. I don't think it's very likely that she's going to shrug and say 'not my problem'. She likes Leaf, and I don't think that she wants Orochimaru to rule it through fear, or go missing again. I think that there's a reasonable possibility that she tells us that unless it's life or death we should never speak to her again because she gave us perfectly good advice we totally ignored and that if we pull this shit again she's going to kill us because we keep causing problems for the village, but that's a better outcome than, y'know, dying.
I think that sitting down and talking to Orochimaru will both give us a better model of him going forward and allow us to assess whether we need to think long and hard about whether or not we need to go missing and lighthouse or whether we can actually manage this situation. I think that there's a chance that we actually get something useful out of this, but not a strong one.
If anyone strongly prefers the previous plan, let me know and I can potentially revert. I made some modifications which I feel are improvements, while preserving the spirit of the previous plan.
@Shrooms, @Unaligned Player, @Salaris, @Inferno Vulpix, @Paperclipped, @Halberdier, @RandomOTP, you voted for this last time. Here it is again.
@Sir Stompy, I incorporated a lot of your feedback. @Lord Marshal, here's a non-suicidal plan which includes a letter to Asuma.
Word count: < 399
- Meeting:
- Run our plan by the group.
- Yes, we'd need to admit we lied before experimentation begins. We think he'll focus on our bloodline, not the lie.
- Run our plan by the group.
- Kei, Snowflake, Shikamaru (immediately):
- Delegate getting Naruto to support/protect Kei.
- Requesting resources/coordination/optimization of the below.
- Loop in Ami? Your decision.
- Petition Tsunade for protection/support:
- Buy 15 minutes of her time. (Nara resources?)
- Tone: straightforward, consultative.
- We failed to be uninteresting.
- Detail our interactions with Orochimaru. We conclude he'll kidnap/experiment on Hazo/Kei.
- We see this ending in his defection/Leaf's defeat or significant civil unrest.
- We can't fight him, avoid him forever, or produce compelling false explanations for seal memorization/cognitively-independent SCs before he returns.
- Are we misreading this?
- Can you see solutions?
- We want to persuade him that he can achieve his goals via cooperation. This prevents harm to the village - and us. Detail our proposed conversation.
- Is detailed study of us at Leaf General with witnesses, guarantees of safety, etc. viable? Likely to be interesting to him?
- Can we safely interact with Orochimaru? Is any of this sane?
- Do you have suggestions/ideas?
- Will you accompany/support us?
- Offer clerks: the GED produces literate/numerate civilians. She runs an international aid organization, which needs clerks.
- Conversation w/Orochimaru:
- Explain our understanding of the situation.
- Express confusion - we see the consequences as obvious, bad for him.
- Were you hoping we'd volunteer? We respectfully decline: clan secrets.
- If this works, leave.
- Do you not care about consequences, or see different consequences?
- Were you hoping we'd volunteer? We respectfully decline: clan secrets.
- We believe cooperation is possible.
- We have common goals: we want to defeat death and know more about our bloodline.
- Hazo is open to participating in experiments given certain conditions: guarantee of safety, observers, shared knowledge, etc.
- Happy to discuss specifics after the war is over.
- Right now we need to run our clan, fight a war, try to save the multiverse.
- We can't cooperate if we're being coerced. We can't stop him from achieving his goals via violence, but if he keeps intimidating us, we'll actively resist as best we can.
- Tone: calm, seeking genuine understanding. Use the IN.
- Tone: refusing to negotiate with terrorists...even if they're strictly more powerful than you.
- Offscreen:
- Write Asuma. Suggest Summon Army as a defensive tactic. Summoners aren't all simultaneously field-deployed. Could mention to Summons that if Leaf falls, Great Seal likely fails, as incentive to defend Leaf.
To briefly outline my thinking:
We need to remove Orochimaru as a threat at least until WWIV is over. Ideally, longer. We can't try to fix the Great Seal and contribute to the Fourth Shinobi World War and finally fucking recover from our brain and body getting blended if we're always looking over our shoulders. I don't think that a letter will do - I think he'd ignore that or (at worst) take it as a sign of weakness. The only way for us to achieve any degree of safety is getting coverage from heavy hitters. I don't think that it's productive for us to approach Naruto: we have limited time and energy and Tsunade has already shown that she's willing to stand up to Orochimaru. (I think that getting Naruto to look out for Kei makes a lot of sense - he likes her and if he's looking out for her, then he knows the deal, too.)
I think that if we let Tsunade know what's going on then she's going to be broadly inclined to help us out, or at least tell Orochimaru to knock it off until the war is over. I don't think it's very likely that she's going to shrug and say 'not my problem'. She likes Leaf, and I don't think that she wants Orochimaru to rule it through fear, or go missing again. I think that there's a reasonable possibility that she tells us that unless it's life or death we should never speak to her again because she gave us perfectly good advice we totally ignored and that if we pull this shit again she's going to kill us because we keep causing problems for the village, but that's a better outcome than, y'know, dying.
I think that sitting down and talking to Orochimaru will both give us a better model of him going forward and allow us to assess whether we need to think long and hard about whether or not we need to go missing and lighthouse or whether we can actually manage this situation. I think that there's a chance that we actually get something useful out of this, but not a strong one.
If anyone strongly prefers the previous plan, let me know and I can potentially revert. I made some modifications which I feel are improvements, while preserving the spirit of the previous plan.
@Shrooms, @Unaligned Player, @Salaris, @Inferno Vulpix, @Paperclipped, @Halberdier, @RandomOTP, you voted for this last time. Here it is again.
@Sir Stompy, I incorporated a lot of your feedback. @Lord Marshal, here's a non-suicidal plan which includes a letter to Asuma.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] @RandomOTP
[X] @FaintlySorcerous
[X] @Inferno Vulpix
[X] @faflec
Ordinarily I would not use this voting tactic but I'm gonna be unavailable til Sunday so I can't follow any new plans y'all post. Good luck and don't get us killed!
[X] @FaintlySorcerous
[X] @Inferno Vulpix
[X] @faflec
Ordinarily I would not use this voting tactic but I'm gonna be unavailable til Sunday so I can't follow any new plans y'all post. Good luck and don't get us killed!
- Location
- Yes.
[X] Armageddon Initiative
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Shadow clones inherit all your Consequences, mental and physical. This is why Hazō can't make shadow clones right now (although per the Aspects are Real rule, not all Consequences would have that effect; most Severes probably would). A user can only get additional mental Stress or mental Consequences that a clone received after creation.
- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
He isn't neutral. I don't trust that he wouldn't act strictly in Orochimaru's best interests.
We could theoretically ask. I would expect him to decline.
- Location
- The Void
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Will vote for this if we include telling Ami what's going on and the political realities. Since she's leaving for Mist this is def time sensitive
