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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Lord Marshal said:
@eaglejarl @Velorien What do we know regarding the off-screen section of the plan?
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  • Hidan:
    • Request Jashin's holy symbol back (Hidan might return). [Done. You have it.]
    • Start carrying world's best, sealed peppermint tea (delay tactic)
      • Make everyday carry [Gaku is seeking out the relative materials and a master-class tea expert to make it.]
  • Review information gathered from Rock Facility. [It's still under review by the Tower and has not been declassified yet.]
  • Kagome: please review Summoning notes [He's working on summoning full-time now, and therefore is not available for seal research.]
  • 7th Path
    • Kei/Noburi: Ask Summon Bosses about Nature Chakra, and if Humans can use it [Done in ch478]
    • Ask Hornets if they have a Summon Scroll. [You have no way to communicate with them quickly. The ones that were in Arachnid are dead.]
    • Have Hornets/Arachnids finished learning how to operate seals? [The Empress is able to, she will now teach others.]
    • Inform Asuma about Mareo's situation. [Done.]
 
Velorien said:
Have Hornets/Arachnids finished learning how to operate seals? [The Empress is able to, she will now teach others.]
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Did Hazou not train anyone during Chapter 468/9? The Empress was trained in a previous update.
Paperclipped said:
  • Train willing Arachnids in seal operation for anti-Dragon measures.
  • Hazou to stand by in 7th Path otherwise to receive reports, especially around the time of the assault.
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eaglejarl said:
Author's Note: This update covered 13 days, most of the time spent on finding summon contracts and getting a representative to travel to Pangolin territory in order to be colocated with Noburi.
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It was in the plan, and Hazou didn't really have anything to do during the 13 days covered in the update, since he wasn't out making contracts or traveling to the facility. He was supposed to be on the Seventh Path for much of that time. I thought he was training Arachnids to operate seals then.
 
Supposed we killed generously killed 30 ninja in that raid on the island where we captured a new scroll, we decimated probably 3% of their manpower reserve, assuming a thousand. IF there is a jonin, than the damage to firepower is much more than a nominal 3%.
 
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Chakra Metal Synthesis
  • Informational
    • Chakra Metal Synthesis
    ​
    SIDE NOTE: Chakra Golems and the Endgame of Marked for Death
    Part 2: Synthesizing Chakra Metal with Currently Available Abilities and Resources

    Part 1: What is Chakra Metal?
    Chakra-conductive metal (henceforth called "chakra metal") is an extremely powerful and impossible-to-acquire resource that has tempted the thread since the very beginning of the quest. Fanon Naruto typically depicts it as lightweight, extremely tough, and with the unique property of being "unaffected by any and all chakra-based attacks." Annoyingly, these useful facts appear to be exclusive to the fanon, as official canon is incredibly sparse on details and says little beyond the fact that, when forged into a blade, the weapon can serve as the origin of its user's techniques and may have additional properties when chakra is channeled into it. Nevertheless, chakra blades, especially when equipped by an elite-jōnin, are an obscenely powerful combat asset.

    As of yet, we have not verified that chakra metal has the same properties in the MfDverse as it does in canon Naruto. Even with the power and wealth of a clan, it's not something that can be easily acquired. We haven't even seen it in-story, let alone had the chance to purchase it. No amount of money can buy chakra metal because no one is selling it. It's a strategic-class resource that's beyond the reach of even a Hidden Village. The only confirmed examples of chakra blades are Asuma's wind-enhanced daggers and the legendary swords wielded by the Seven Swordsmen of Mist.

    Contrary to what you would expect from its extreme usefulness and complete absence from the story, chakra metal deposits themselves are not impossibly rare. Instead, chakra metal's scarcity comes from the sheer danger involved in acquiring it. According to Itachi, chakra metal is rare "but no more so than gold, and there's plenty of that around if you look for it. No, chakra metal is rare in society because it's so dangerous" (Chapter 338: Metal to the Core). Although it's not completely confirmed, we strongly suspect that there is chakra metal in both the Greater Forest where we obtained the Porcupine Scroll and in the center of the Swamp of Death. The fact that we know of two separate potential sources, both of which are extremely dangerous, seems to support Itachi's claim. Additionally, when speaking about what is considered a useful contribution to Konoha for Asuma's contest, EagleJarl said this about chakra-metal mines:
    All contributions must be useful. "There is a deposit of chakra metal under the Tsuchikage's Tower" is not helpful, because there's no way to get to it. "I have reports that there is a deposit of chakra metal on an island in the middle of the Kaiju Ocean" is mildly useful, but not as useful as "I found a chakra-metal mine on an island in the middle of the Kaiju Ocean, proved it, and have set up facilities for extraction. Here's the ownership papers, I can take a group of guards/miners out there tomorrow."​
    From this, we get the sense that even "reports that there is a deposit of chakra metal" is not more than "mildly useful," which supports the idea that the cause of the scarcity is not a lack of chakra metal deposits. Although not stated outright, EagleJarl also heavily implied that the Tower would consider a chakra metal-mine to be enormously valuable if and only if the facilities are already set up. From this, we can gather that confirming the chakra metal's existence and setting up the mining facilities is the truly difficult part. This makes perfect sense if the extraction of chakra metal is extremely dangerous and is the true cause of the scarcity.

    From this point forward, most of our information on chakra metal comes from this one encounter with Itachi. Based on the fact that his initial claim about the cause of the scarcity seems to be supported by everything we've seen in-story, he seems to be a trustworthy source. He also is an S-Rank ninja with access to a substantial amount of hard-to-acquire information and even learned about chakra metal directly from Nagato, the world's best export on chakra dynamics. It is highly likely that the rest of information on chakra metal he gave us is an accurate starting point.

    According to Itachi, acquiring chakra metal is dangerous for two main reasons. The first is simple, chakra metal can only form in extremely chakra-rich environments. Unfortunately, said chakra-rich conditions mean that those environments have a very high concentration of chakra predators with even more powerful abilities than normal (Note: Kagome believes that chakra beasts come from open portals to "the Animal Path." The fact that there is a connection between the chakra density of regions and the quantity and abilities of the chakra beasts in said region may be a sign of the portal's location, a sign that chakra beasts are attracted to these regions, or a sign that chakra beasts evolve from ordinary animals in presence of large amounts of chakra. This merit's further investigation.) Obviously, it is very difficult to set up and guard a base of operations in the middle of such a dangerous area.

    The second reason chakra metal is so dangerous to mine is the process that creates chakra metal also frequently creates extremely powerful chakra golems. To be more specific, "the rocks around a chakra metal nodule often acquire a sort of pseudo-life. They can swim through the surrounding rock, carrying the nodule with them at their core like a heart. Occasionally one of these things accidentally breaches the surface, at which point it stumbles around causing horrific damage" (Chapter 338: Metal to the Core). Aside from raising an interesting connection between chakra and the ability to create life that may be an integral part of the true story of the Sage of Six Paths, this statement gives us both the reason why there is so little chakra metal available and the reason why artificially synthesizing it could be an extremely bad idea. Chakra metal deposits are often guarded by chakra golems. On its own, this would not explain why Hidden Villages don't just send a team of combat jōnin to destroy the chakra golems, collect the chakra metal inside of them, and then set up a mine in the now unguarded area.

    Unfortunately this idea doesn't account for the fact that these chakra golems are so extraordinarily dangerous and powerful that even Hidden Villages would struggle to destroy one. When Hazō brought up the idea of destroying them and harvesting their chakra metal core, Itachi frowned and said, "I know of three people who have ever fought one and survived: Nagato, Konan, and Jiraiya. Konan didn't manage to hurt it at all and half her papers were shredded before she escaped. Nagato killed his through application of one of the Rinnegan's more powerful abilities; we were in Earth Country at the time, right on the border with Bear. After the battle there was a pass in the mountains that hadn't been there before….[Jiraiya] only survived because Tsunade got to him within minutes. If she hadn't been there he would have died, and if she weren't as good as her reputation then he would have lost his arm. He was on complete bed rest for a month" (Chapter 338: Metal to the Core). Chakra golems are endgame threats that are capable of going toe-to-toe with the most powerful S-Rank ninja we've seen in the entire story. Hidden Villages would love to equip all their jōnin with chakra weaponry, but the risk of encountering a chakra golem and losing a massive amount of military power makes it nonviable. Any force strong enough to successfully guard a chakra-mine from the horde of powered-up chakra predators that will inevitably besiege it will also be too strong to be casually expendable and won't be sent anywhere near a chakra golem.

    In summary, chakra metal is a rare resource that can be turned into extraordinarily powerful weapons. Despite its value, it's virtually non-existent in ninja society. It cannot be bought for any amount of money and is so dangerous to mine that it may as well be impossible for even a Hidden Village. Even a relatively small supply of it would be extraordinarily valuable and would have strategic implications for the military of whatever village possessed it. In other words, the ability to artificially synthesize chakra metal is very much worth pursuing.

    End of Part 1
     
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  • Informational
    • _The_Bomb said:
    (Note: Kagome believes that chakra beasts come from open portals to "the Animal Path." The fact that there is a connection between the chakra density of regions and the quantity and abilities of the chakra beasts in said region may be a sign of the portal's location, a sign that chakra beasts are attracted to these regions, or a sign that chakra beasts evolve from ordinary animals in presence of large amounts of chakra. This merit's further investigation.)
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    IIRC, Noburi once watered a plan with his chakra water under Hazou's orders. Noburi stopped because the plant in question "started growing spines."

    Edit: also, the members of this playerbase are so hecking smart. I am both proud and intimidated to be a part of this community.
     
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    RandomOTP said:
    IIRC, Noburi once watered a plan with his chakra water under Hazou's orders. Noburi stopped because the plant in question "started growing spines."
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    Are you thinking of my omake?
    Shrooms said:
    He watered the broad, leafy palm plant Akane had given him to "spruce up the room" a few months ago. He'd been watering it with chakra water out of curiosity, but stopped doing it after the plant started producing blue-purple flowers, despite not being a flowering plant. No one had noticed thus far, and he wouldn't be the first to bring it up
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