I think it's important that we include something to the tone of the following:
Time to wear our clan head hat.
Order Yuno not to attack girls that Noburi seems attracted to.
This is for her protection. As her clan head, our job is to keep her safe. If she injures the wrong person, the hokage will execute her.
She can scare the girls off, but no violence. Understand?
If she suspects Noburi of cheating, she should bring this accusation to us, and we will arbitrate on whether the accusation is likely to be true, and if so, what Noburi's punishment should be.
Reassure her that even if she divorced Noburi, she would still be welcome within the clan, and we would continue to protect her so long as she wished to stay.
The core idea here seems like an excellent precaution.
Do y'all remember us talking about how 'there will definitely be some kind of interruption after O'uzu, which will prevent us from research+buff time skipping until Kagome can do whatever seal magic he does into opening the rift?'
The Yuno funny axe-murder thing is a prime example of how that might come about. If we prioritize making nice over preventing a social kaiju, especially when we can do both, that'll be a shame.
I think it's important that we include something to the tone of the following:
Time to wear our clan head hat.
Order Yuno not to attack girls that Noburi seems attracted to.
This is for her protection. As her clan head, our job is to keep her safe. If she injures the wrong person, the hokage will execute her.
She can scare the girls off, but no violence. Understand?
If she suspects Noburi of cheating, she should bring this accusation to us, and we will arbitrate on whether the accusation is likely to be true, and if so, what Noburi's punishment should be.
Reassure her that even if she divorced Noburi, she would still be welcome within the clan, and we would continue to protect her so long as she wished to stay.
Perhaps we can talk about this in a softer, plausibly deniable sort of way? Less "girls that Noburi is attracted to" and more "Don't assault anyone. Training sessions are okay. Nothing that would keep someone from missions."
I think it's important that we include something to the tone of the following:
Time to wear our clan head hat.
Order Yuno not to attack girls that Noburi seems attracted to.
This is for her protection. As her clan head, our job is to keep her safe. If she injures the wrong person, the hokage will execute her.
She can scare the girls off, but no violence. Understand?
If she suspects Noburi of cheating, she should bring this accusation to us, and we will arbitrate on whether the accusation is likely to be true, and if so, what Noburi's punishment should be.
Reassure her that even if she divorced Noburi, she would still be welcome within the clan, and we would continue to protect her so long as she wished to stay.
The core idea here seems like an excellent precaution.
Do y'all remember us talking about how 'there will definitely be some kind of interruption after O'uzu, which will prevent us from research+buff time skipping until Kagome can do whatever seal magic he does into opening the rift?'
The Yuno funny axe-murder thing is a prime example of how that might come about. If we prioritize making nice over preventing a social kaiju, especially when we can do both, that'll be a shame.
The fourth part of my commission for @Twinnstars, in which I write the famously bad poetry of the Fourth Hokage.
Translator's Note: Due to the limitations of the publishing medium, marginalia have been inserted inline. In some cases this may suggest that they were written while the poem was only partially complete, but the original text neither confirms nor disconfirms this idea.
The Righteous Third Chronicle
Cut from mighty cloth
Thoughts out our heads do fly our thoughts are cut from cloth? STAY OUT OF MY DRAFTS! then don't leave them lying around! THEY WERE LOCKED IN MY DESK!!!! pfft. Call that a lock?
Yes, these the swirling wisdom
Of right- and leftmost, front- and backmost are you feeling okay, honey? you're sounding weird. do you have a fever? or maybe brain damage? Argh! Why do you taunt me so, you foul woman?! I can't help it. you're so much fun to tease.
Leaders, followers, both and two
Be it now the pen's strokes or the hand's strokes you know, if you would put all this 'poetry' aside and come to bed some night, we could talk about that hands' strokes thing... *eyebrow waggle* okay, seriously, I locked this in a safe that I put in a storage seal that I folded up and slipped between the floorboards. by the name of the Sage, how did you find it?! come to bed and I'll tell you ...okay
By which was history's draining, moment and moment and moment, ever secured
Now the gift of modernity: we may invert these grinding, glaring pains of yesteryear
And in inversion change them, death to life the pattern new
An age of darkness first and war beyond, now third the age of reason brung
Our hope so simple is: let not our fleeting minds blank be found.
The Joys of Jutsu
Chakra, lightly sing and sprightly prancey
Betwixt my mind and fancy it's spelled 'prancy' *sigh* what have I said about my drafts? that I'm very clever for always finding them? yes, except I believe I actually spelled it 'stay out!!!!!'
Twist and twirl, a lovely girl
A spring morn and twisty tale
Of heroes brave and villains pale the internal rhyme thing is a nice bit but if you're going to do it then you should do it consistently by the Sage's name, IT'S A DRAFT!
My thoughts made manifest
More joy than wifely love and then a good night's rest rowr! also, more joy? I'm not sure if I'm more motivated or angry you're cute when you're angry, so I see this as a win either way. Also, this is what you get for going into my drafts.
Your flowing curves preferred to her tangled hair
Her morning breath, like unto a dead raccoon okay, now you're just being mean nyah!
Her bazillion bottles, pots, and creams
Vanity's tools, spread atop our washing basin
I wonder, does she simply stick her entire face in? *glare* hehehehe
Her cleansing of the toe cheese
Always makes me freeze
Abject horror on my face
I feel the need to flee this
[Translator's note: There is a large ink blot here, stretching down to where the rest of the page is torn away]
Basically he started to make verses to get kushina angry.
His fault really. Why would you not care those drafts ina a storage seal on your person. Even Hazõ is sensible enough to have those kind of secrets on person all the times.
Changes include telling Yuno in no uncertain terms to stop assaulting people, a removal of the line about spreading Isanese values, the suggestion that she practice teaching estate ninja first, adoption prep, and minor changes to wording.
This second plan is for @Inferno Vulpix and anyone else who wants to leave for O'uzu right now instead of wrapping up MARS.
[X] Action Plan: Field Trip!
Word count: <300
Depart for O'uzu with Yuno, Kagome, and whoever Kagome thinks would be helpful.
At appropriate times (after healing consequences) have the below conversations.
Sanity-check with Noburi/Mari.
Have Kagome to stay quiet or be elsewhere.
Tone: respectful, following Isanese customs.
Employ Isanese 'clan head requests favour of valued clanswoman' forms if they exist.
Would you train estate/KEI nin to fight chakra beasts?
The war is over, civilian welfare's a priority - these skills will be in demand.
We want Goketsu deeply involved in every aspect of civilian welfare. This is a cornerstone.
Yuno's easily the best choice for this. We'll provide support (lessons on instruction, assistants - Akane?, etc.) where she needs/wants it.
We're not asking her to teach Mountain Cleaver - just general principles/tips.
Emphasize: this is a request, not an order.
Additionally...would you want to help train Academy-age students?
Kagome did Academy outreach. It helped him build connections.
Children would love you.
Also, Fujisawa.
A key clan value is communication. What happened was the opposite of that.
This is not a dressing down. We know you feel bad. We know you'll apologize.
If you ever want support - advice, someone to talk to, whatever - let us know. We say this as a clan head and a friend.
(Employ Isanese 'I mean this with utterly sincerity' forms if they exist.)
Relatedly: you need to stop assaulting people.
Not for Noburi, not for the clan. For her. If this continues, there will be consequences. We cannot lose her.
She's an incredible asset, but more importantly, family.
Please come to us. Whatever it is, we will help.
(Intensify previous Isanese forms if possible.)
Offscreen:
Prepare to adopt the remaining estate nin.
I haven't added any quick-and-dirty research questions to either plan; the first because I legitimately don't think there's room (I feel good about all the wording there right now, but that's subject to change) and the second because...I didn't. I'll probably get around to it. @Halil and @ContextBot, please take a look over the revised plan as you've voted for it.
(I apologize for the double post - I want to be able to link this in my signature, so I'm getting the words down while I have them in my brain.)
I try to be responsive to plan feedback! Writing plans can be a lot of fun and they generally get better with suggestions. Having done this for a while, I've become aware of things (listed below) which make me likelier to implement requests and suggestions. All of the listed recommendations should be possible to incorporate in your suggestion or request regardless of what it is.
Make a clear effort to engage in good faith - be polite, and talk about plan elements you like.
Vote for my plan while making the suggestion, or clearly outline what the requirements for your vote are.
Make all your suggestions/requests in one post - back-and-forths can be frustrating.
Clearly explain the motivation for your request - be more detailed than you think necessary, or look over your suggestion and ask if you've left any assumptions as subtext/unwritten.
More specifically, if you disagree with something I have in the plan, please try to explain what chain of logic you believe led me to include it in the plan, and why you think the reasoning is flawed or suboptimal. (This way, I either know why we disagree, or I can clarify anything that's being miscommunicated.)
Ask questions about my intentions instead of assuming them. What you read may be distinct from what I intend to communicate, and being told that problem is entirely on my end is frustrating.
Give me suggested phrasing which keeps the plan under wordcount, and do a grammar/spelling/style check of the plan.
My gold standard for this is that you quote my plan and makes the changes inline in a different colour. (Feel free to use strikethrough etc., but text diff tools abound.) This makes it very, very easy to copy and paste the changes, instead of needing to copy the individual change, find it, paste it in, etc. etc.
Give me suggested phrasing which will explain the motivation of the addition to the QMs in the plan (i.e. 'ask Gaku to X' should be 'tell Gaku we wish to accomplish Y, so we want him to do X', as this both gives Gaku room to accomplish our goal and adds context for the QMs).
None of those are necessary. I am categorically not saying that I'm going to ignore suggestions that don't come with votes or suggested phrasing or anything else. However, if you do those things, I'll be predisposed to incorporate your idea. I will note that I'm not guaranteeing that I'll make the changes if you do all those things, but it will help.
Please feel free to fork my plans if you have large changes you want to make; ideally I'd like you to link my plan if you're copying a significant chunk of it verbatim. Go ahead and fork them for minor changes, too, but if it's a good enough suggestion I might just absorb it.
Finally, please stop and take a moment to consider whether or not your suggestion is antithetical to the core of my plan. If my plan is something like 'talk to Noburi and then go train with Akane' and what you're saying sums to 'talking with Noburi is a bad idea and I think that training with Akane is a waste of time', that is less an actionable suggestion and more a request that I take my plan down. Sometimes that might be the best thing to do - I've written some bad plans! But in general, if I've gone to the time and effort to write a plan, I sat down and thought about it. I like to think that I'm sufficiently thoughtful and intelligent that any plan I've written will represent a course of action with at least some merit. A comment to the tune of 'your plan is fundamentally bad' is deflating even when it's true and delivered kindly...and my experience is it's rarely delivered kindly. I've generally found little good comes from internet conversations which consist of going back and forth over fundamental value disagreements. I encourage you to post your own plan or talk about the merits of your ideas, but if you can do it without intimating that my plan has no value, I'd appreciate it.
I don't really have the spoons to make a plan myself, but I'm not going to vote for plans that don't involve Noburi sitting in on a chakra reserves training lesson between Kagome and Honoka.
I haven't added any quick-and-dirty research questions to either plan; the first because I legitimately don't think there's room (I feel good about all the wording there right now, but that's subject to change) and the second because...I didn't. I'll probably get around to it. @Halil and @ContextBot, please take a look over the revised plan as you've voted for it.
I strongly disprefer that we are leaving Leaf before finishing MARS, I also think there's relatively little point in going to visit O'uzu without bringing a Hyuuga and Sasuke if we can. These aren't really actionable changes to your plan. I hope you don't mind if I yoink some of it
I'm still kind of keen on the idea of offering to adopt Honoka as a graduation present rather than on a whim. And we, uh, haven't actually asked her about it. I'd be happy leaving Honoka out of this for now.
I strongly disprefer that we are leaving Leaf before finishing MARS, I also think there's relatively little point in going to visit O'uzu without bringing a Hyuuga and Sasuke if we can. These aren't really actionable changes to your plan. I hope you don't mind if I yoink some of it
Note that I have two plans, one of which just has us finish MARS. I'm mostly including the second plan because a) it was requested and seemed reasonable and b) so there's actually a second plan.
Feel free to yoink, but if all you want is to finish MARS, I think you'll be happy with my other plan.
Note that I have two plans, one of which just has us finish MARS. I'm mostly including the second plan because a) it was requested and seemed reasonable and b) so there's actually a second plan.
Feel free to yoink, but if all you want is to finish MARS, I think you'll be happy with my other plan.
I do have one additional suggestion, I'd rather we have Yuno teach any estate ninja that are interested and the KEI ninja. I think that estate ninja should have first priority on our resources. Bribing KEI into good relations is also nice, but we gotta fulfill our obligations to our guys too.
Since I can't finish the turbojet proposal or the S&R prep options doc in short order (seriously these things are like thesis + case prep + marketing doc rolled into one), I humbly request that we keep on making one step of progress on any promising seal-tech path we have - even if it is off-screen.
Options:
Second Life Seal: Test if live animals can be stored (and whether there is a size threshold), and/or test if we can store one of those animals after Noburi drains their chakra. These are simple preliminary tests. Have Kagome there.
Hazou's SSS / Water reclaimer: Set an Usamatsu seal up in a clear area (with little air pollution so that it collects water vapor and not, say, smoke), and check how much it has stored up by the end of the update. (Or, set up a few seals like that to get a better reading by tearing them to access their storage at different times).
Or set up any of the three experiments in the proposal, which are designed to consume as little time and effort as possible. For example, we can simply ask Kagome/Hazou-pilot about the Access Test, and set up the seal as above for the Capacity/Duration test - and they won't impede us while we spend our time with MARS.
Any of the Banshee Slayer and Silence Mine Experiments. These are not simply for 'stop explosions', but in addition to 'stop explosions' can lead to 'silent explosions/guns/tags' and trivially reshapable shaped explosives.
Chakra gun (the explosive version): We can simply ask Hazou-pilot and/or a civilian smith about feasibility.
Or anything else I can't think of right now.
We have to progress by at least one step on any novel seal-tech (or jutsu, but less relevant) project in as many plans as we can. Why?
We had the Daizen fight two years ago. If we had been pushing ourselves, making the word count space, and chipping away at anything necromancy-related (like the vision experiment that succeeded), we likely would have had Jiraiya back already.
Our greatest returns for effort have come from innovation. Either directly, or through all that they enabled us to do later. Look at skywalkers.
If we have as many irons running in the background as we can, even the most modest success rate will grant us a skywalker-grade success with a quicker turnaround than waiting two years for another drop of necromancy. Where we are is great. If we spare less than ten percent of word count every plan, even with off-screen results, we can reach a much better place at a much quicker pace. (oh no, what have I done)
Anyway, in this case MARS is the big constant effort 'step' for this update. And that's great. If we can squeeze in a quick question or a minutes-long/background experiment to progress on some of the other paths as well, it'd be even better. With the kind of compound interest/return innovation projects represent, a small change in periodic increase can mean the difference between buying a sports car and buying the country a hundred updates from now.
From the Discord:
Off-screen compatible and low-effort tests that determine whether excellent development paths are possible are the definition of low-hanging fruit. Except in this case the fruit is golden.
Additionally: If the tests fail in the background, we won't care. If tests fail on screen, and so we've wasted at least an update of time, that's a discouraging mess. So much so that even if the next test could have led to the next Skywalker, we now have enough cold feet to never do something like that on-screen for something like 2 years irl.
And considering that the sealing system is opaque enough such that even the simplest assumptions require testing, we have to find a way to decrease our exposure to those inevitable failures as much as possible.
Therein comes off-screen questions and experiments that test for small and well-defined properties necessary for the next Skywalker to work.
Changes include telling Yuno in no uncertain terms to stop assaulting people, a removal of the line about spreading Isanese values, the suggestion that she practice teaching estate ninja first, adoption prep, and minor changes to wording.
This second plan is for @Inferno Vulpix and anyone else who wants to leave for O'uzu right now instead of wrapping up MARS.
[X] Action Plan: Field Trip!
Word count: 282
Depart for O'uzu with Yuno and Kagome.
At appropriate times (after healing consequences) have the following conversations.
Sanity-check with Noburi/Mari.
Instruct Kagome to please stay quiet or be elsewhere.
The war is over, civilian welfare is a priority - these skills will be in demand.
We want Goketsu deeply involved in every aspect of civilian welfare. This is a cornerstone.
Yuno's the best Goketsu for this by far. We'll provide support (lessons on instruction, assistants - Akane?, etc.) where she needs/wants it.
She could start with estate ninja to practice.
We're not asking her to teach the Kannagi style - just general principles/tips.
Emphasize: this is a request, not an order.
Additionally...would you want to help train Academy-age students?
Kagome did Academy outreach. It helped him build connections.
Children would love you.
Also, Fujisawa.
A key clan value is communication. What happened was the opposite of that.
This is not a dressing down. We know you feel bad. We know you'll apologize.
If you ever want support - advice, someone to talk to, whatever - please let us know. We say this as a clan head and a friend.
(Employ Isanese 'I mean this with utterly sincerity' forms if they exist.)
Relatedly: you need to stop assaulting people.
Not for Noburi, not for the clan. For her. If this continues, there will be consequences. We cannot lose her.
She's an incredible asset, and more importantly, family.
Please come to us. Whatever it is, we will help.
(Intensify previous Isanese forms if possible.)
Offscreen:
Prepare to adopt the remaining estate nin, Honoka.
I haven't added any quick-and-dirty research questions to either plan; the first because I legitimately don't think there's room (I feel good about all the wording there right now, but that's subject to change) and the second because...I didn't. I'll probably get around to it. @Halil and @ContextBot, please take a look over the revised plan as you've voted for it.
(I apologize for the double post - I want to be able to link this in my signature and get it the words down while I'm thinking of them.)
I try to be responsive to plan feedback! Writing plans can be a lot of fun and they generally get better with suggestions. If you want to maximize the chances that I implement your requested changes, I suggest the following.
Make a clear effort to engage in good faith - be polite, talk about plan elements you like.
Vote for my plan while making the suggestion.
Clearly explain the motivation for your request - be more detailed than you think necessary, or look over your suggestion and ask if you've left any assumptions as subtext/unwritten.
More specifically, if you disagree with something I have in the plan, please try to explain what chain of logic you saw leading to the elements in question and why you think the reasoning is flawed or suboptimal.
Give me suggested phrasing which keeps the plan under wordcount, and do a grammar/spelling/style check of the plan.
My gold standard for this is that you quote my plan and makes the changes inline in a different colour. (Feel free to use strikethrough etc., but text diff tools abound.) This makes it very, very easy to copy and paste the changes, instead of needing to copy the individual change, find it, paste it in, etc. etc.
Give me suggested phrasing which will explain the motivation of the addition to the QMs in the plan (i.e. 'ask Gaku to X' should be 'tell Gaku we wish to accomplish Y, so we want him to do X', as this both gives Gaku room to accomplish our goal and adds context for the QMs).
None of those are necessary. I am categorically not saying that I'm going to ignore suggestions that don't come with votes or suggested phrasing or anything else. However, if you do those things, I'll be predisposed to incorporate your idea, and none of what I'm suggesting requires that you change your idea in any way: these are totally orthogonal things you can do to boost your odds of getting me to make your suggested change. (I am also not guaranteeing that I'll make the changes if you do all those things.)
Please feel free to fork my plans if you have large changes you want to make; ideally I'd like you to link my plan if you're copying a significant chunk of it verbatim. Go ahead and fork them for minor changes, too, but if it's a good enough suggestion I might just absorb it.
Finally, please stop and take a moment to consider whether or not your suggestion is antithetical to the core of my plan. If my plan is something like 'talk to Noburi and then go train with Akane' and what you're saying sums to 'talking with Noburi is a bad idea and I think that training with Akane is a waste of time', that is less an actionable suggestion and more a request that I take my plan down. Sometimes that might be the best thing to do - I've written some bad plans! But in general, if I've gone to the time and effort to write a plan, I sat down and thought about it. I like to think that I'm reasonably thoughtful and intelligent and therefore, what I'm proposing represents a course of action with some positive outcomes. A comment to the tune of 'your plan is fundamentally bad' is deflating even when it's true and delivered kindly...and my experience is it's generally delivered rather dismissively. As well as being stressful, I've generally found little good comes from internet conversations with their roots in fundamental value disagreements. I encourage you to post your own plan or talk about the merits of your ideas, but if you can do it without involving my plan, I'd appreciate it.
Second Life Seal: "Test if we can store small animals before and after Noburi drains them of chakra." (15 words)
Infused seals cannot be stored. Neither can living beings. We are testing if the presence of chakra, insofar as Noburi can drain it, is the common reason.
Hazou's SSS / Water reclaimer: "Put an Usamatsu in a small Air Dome over boiling water. Afterwards, have Akane cool the air dome and seek liquid water." (22 words)
We want to do the easiest and most impactful test first: verify that Usamatsu can store water vapor. Water vapor isn't 'necessary' to make an airlike gas, unlike say oxygen. If you remove the oxygen from the atmosphere, you can no longer breathe it - which goes counter Usamatsu's probable motivations for making the seal. However, if you remove water vapor, that quality of air doesn't change. In fact, too much water vapor makes respiration and cooling hard enough to knock you out if you do anything to exert yourself.
Silence Seals Experiments: "Place banshee slayer and silence mine seals in protective boxes. Observe their interaction with increasing strength explosive seals inside and outside of their areas." (24 words)
We are testing if the seals neutralize soundwaves rather than 'removing them' only in their AOE, if they interact with shockwaves which are equivalent to soundwaves with high energy, and we are testing for silencing explosions - which need not interact with the shockwave.
Explosive-based chakra gun: "Take a one-ended metal or earthshaped pipe. Put increasingly strong explosive seals, some padding, and an earthshaped ball in it. Observe the fireworks." (23 words)
We are testing for guns and how a basic setup interacts with different levels of explosive seals. Metal pipework existed in ancient China.
By the time I started writing, we had 17 free words. With @Sir Stompy 's suggestions, that goes up to 22.
Please read my quotes message for why it's worth squeezing any of these or an equivalent progress step for seal-science projects in the plan.
Otherwise, I think the edited plan is good. Thank you for writing and updating it.
I don't really have the spoons to make a plan myself, but I'm not going to vote for plans that don't involve Noburi sitting in on a chakra reserves training lesson between Kagome and Honoka.
Serious question: @Velorien, did the suggestion that he do so get skipped in the last plan because Pilot decided asking wasn't a good idea, or because you didn't have space/spoons/inclination etc.?
(Basically - if we want to see this, should we vote it in again?)
Worth noting that this plan doesn't include experiments re: revivification seals because it has us leave immediately and those experiments rely on Noburi, who won't be there. Given how behind it is (two votes to seven) editing an experiment in doesn't feel like a good use of my time because at that point I'm maintaining two wholly different plans and not just one main body and two headers/footers, because changes would need to be made due to wordcount.
I'll add one if it pulls ahead, or if you want to take ownership of the plan (you post it and I'll delete it) and do what you will with it, that works for me, too.
I'm still kind of keen on the idea of offering to adopt Honoka as a graduation present rather than on a whim. And we, uh, haven't actually asked her about it. I'd be happy leaving Honoka out of this for now.
Done. We should probably ask her parents, too. (Or maybe just them? Them first? I don't know what etiquette looks like when your very young daughter is a superperson.)
I do have one additional suggestion, I'd rather we have Yuno teach any estate ninja that are interested and the KEI ninja. I think that estate ninja should have first priority on our resources. Bribing KEI into good relations is also nice, but we gotta fulfill our obligations to our guys too.
I don't really anticipate making more significant changes partially due to time constraints - I'm rather busy tomorrow. (At least, I should be.) Please ping me on Discord if someone finds a fatal flaw.
1. Name
Sasuke's Retroactive Telephone Game
(or, if you want to puff him up: "Uchiha Temporal Mastery")
2. Brief idea
Sasuke's sharingan allows him to see the distribution of probabilities from "a few seconds ahead" for "persons or things".
We can turn Sasuke into a quantum / tachyon supercomputer that can outcompute even modern computers for pre-defined problems.
Example: Sasuke observes Hazou. They have a box in front of them. Kagome put a ribbon inside the box, and it is either red or blue. Hazou precommits to stepping to the left if the ribbon is red, and to the right if it is blue. Future Hazou opens the box and steps accordingly. Past Sasuke sees which way Hazou steps before he does so. Past Sasuke knows what's in the box without needing anyone to open it.
Now, apply this to code breaking, safe cracking, scouting, looking for Jiraiya, interrogation, seal research, and more. We're coming for your crappy codebase, Sage!
Here is the relevant passage from when we took Sasuke to O'uzu:
"I'm saying that there's a disruption in the air currents," Sasuke said. "And it's very faint and I could only see it under exactly the right circumstances." He paused, chewing his lip as his whirling eyes continued to study the spot. "And the futures are wrong."
"The what?"
"The Sharingan allows me to see a few seconds ahead. Word of that is out there already but I'd appreciate you not sharing it with anyone you don't have to. Anyway, it's part of why the Uchiha are so good at taijutsu-we can see what you're likely to do. Emphasis on 'likely'-the future isn't fixed, there's always multiple possibilities, but we can see them as something like an overlapping set of images where some images are stronger than others because there's more overlap there. It's like a cloud of mist around a person or a thing, shifting and concentrating and thinning. The futures around that spot there?" He pointed to the air next to Hazō. "They're wrong. When you shift your weight towards it, the futures aren't evenly distributed. They… squish in on the side towards that space.
Code breaking, safe cracking, scouting, looking for Jiraiya, interrogation, seal research, and more.
If Sasuke and at least one other person precommits to using a 'reflective' sign language to be used for future-to-past messaging, Sasuke can always be aware of specific events like ambushes even without specific questions. (depends on the focus necessary for the future sight of Sharingan, as well as the Sharingan itself)
"Will we find Jiraiya to the east, west, south, or north?"
"Is the primary danger to the [direction] due to chakra beasts, ninja, or a hostile landscape?
"Will Hazou end the world in the next 24 hours?
And other reasonable questions...
4. How would it work?
The example I gave in Section 2 is an exceedingly simple one-step retroactive computation. The fundamental idea is that we model possible outcomes to a 'future info gathering question' as well as we can, and precommit to making the appropriate future moves that the Sharingan can pick up on and inform present Sasuke.
We can put some work into the system to easily get an exponential amount of knowledge - either by increasing the sophistication of our messages / questioning, or increasing the number of steps (or depth) by having Future Sasuke carry messages from Future+Future Hazou to Future Hazou, who then gives Future Sasuke a message to carry to Present Hazou. Think of it like the difference between a single-step ARS and an indefinitely long chain of MARS. More importantly, all of this happens instantly. Because in the end, all present Sasuke needs to see is one step into the future. If there is any other information gathering necessary further ahead, future Sasuke/Hazou already has that information, and will relay it to present Sasuke. Thus, we can gain ex-nihilo correct and otherwise impossible knowledge in limited fields instantly.
An example of a single-step ("step" as in recursive depth through Sasuke) but sophisticated questioning version from the inimitable @Inferno Vulpix :
Binary search tree:
"I asked Noburi to write a random number between 1 and 9999 on this piece of paper, which I verifiably have not looked at. Is it larger than 5000?" (let's say the answer is 6389)
*estimated future: Hazou reads the paper and gives a thumbs-up-Taijutsu* (Halil clarification: By multiple parts in the passage, Sasuke can see non-taijutsu stuff as well)
"Hn."
"Cool, is it larger than 7500?"
*estimated future: Hazou reads the paper and gives a thumbs-down-Taijutsu*
"Hnn."
"Cool, is it between 5000 and 6250?"
etc. Estimated runtime, log_2(n) of total search space. (Halil note: that means if we have 1000 different outcomes we can discretely identify, we can find the answer in 10 questions without having to actually do the work necessary to reach the outcome.)
An example demonstrating how to have indefinite time depth in our 'screw causality' computation in accordance with Sasuke's description of his capabilities:
"Sasuke, this seal I'm trying to fix will eventually explode and destroy the world - sometime probably in the next ten minutes. I need to know precisely when, to determine what options I have."
"Hn."
"Every minute, Kagome will execute another lupchanz infiltrator. Noburi there will count how many infiltrators Kagome has shot so far, and put up a corresponding number of fingers. I want you to always be looking ahead with the Sharingan and hold up as many fingers as future Noburi is, but only if it's more than how many fingers Akane is holding up. If Akane's are more, mirror Akane. Future Akane will repeat your motions back to past you, which you will repeat to past Akane and she will pass it ever backwards, and so on. Got that?"
"Hn."
"Cool. How many-"
"I see six fingers. So we've got more than six and less than seven minutes. Dobe."
There is obviously a way of combining the two approaches for deep and wide answer-seeking, the gist of it goes like:
Binary-search code cracking on a four-digit safe lock. The 'is it lower/higher' questions will eventually lead to the correct answer, but manually asking those questions takes too long. So we ask those questions in the future. As in the time depth example I gave above, the future event causes past consequences, so the fact that there exists a future where we find the answer can be relayed back to the past much more quickly with a good questioning tree.
5. What underlying nontrivial technical properties does this project require?
Sasuke needs to be able to actually see probabilities rather than have poor man's mind-reading. If the passage is correct, he can use his ability on objects as well, so this won't be a problem then.
Even if he can only read minds, if he can indirectly read future minds we're still in business.
There might be a limit on future-Sharingan's foresight ability. This is probably the easiest way the QMs can shoot the Sharingan Ultra Tachyon-computer in the brains (and after you've demolished the Iron Nerve Proprioceptive Supercomputer, no less! ). Now, common logic says that future Sharingan should have the exact same capabilities as the present Sharingan. Because, you know, it's the same thing. But we can always find the answer to be "Chakra is trolling you. You literally lack the brain dimensions to know how.".
In which case, the depth of answers we can seek with a single question decrease sharply, but the bright side is that we can still make repeated single-step attempts like @Inferno Vulpix 's example even if this limitation exists.
We may need to come up with past-messaging systems. "Yes/no" and "NWSE" and "higher/lower" are pretty simple, but more sophisticated domains/questions might require better systems. (Although IV's example has a simple answer set and a great result anyway - the sophistication there is taking advantage of 'higher/lower') Thankfully, communicating nonverbally isn't a novel problem for anyone. Hazou just needs to map that onto the task domain at hand.
6. First-order evaluation - Are there any experiments we can run or questions we can ask to quickly validate/falsify these requirements? - This would save us effort and time.
Ask Kagome for input / opinion - he has some directional but not necessarily precise expertise in all that is forbidden/weird. That is, he has broadly somewhat correct knowledge about a lot of surprising stuff, but he can get the specifics wrong even when said specifics are very important. So if he doesn't immediately explode after us telling him this, we're good. (I'm joking, but the idea is there)
On the bright side, Kagome can probably help us come up with excellent past-messaging systems given his expertise in high-level cryptography.
Ask Sasuke if he would like to rule half the world and slam dunk on Itachi in the meantime... Not strictly necessary, the important step is:
Do the secret number or colored ribbon tests as above.
The tests must be double blind, with Sasuke not seeing the setup or even the people who might know the answer. If anyone has an idea to also randomize a test, go for it!
(If the result is positive, Forever-Ally with the Uchiha immediately. "Hey Cousin it's me - Hazou!" Sasuke, like most ninja, is woefully blind regarding non-immediate-combat applications of pretty much all of magic. So we will have an opportunity to lock that alliance in (especially with Mari prep))
7. Which bloodline is this based on?
Sharingan, baby!
(I don't mean "Sharingan Baby", because that would be the Iron Nerve and the QMs already told us 'No, you can't gotcha us into turning a custom bloodline into a quantum supercomputer.' )
8. Who could assist us with doing this?
Sasuke for the thing.
Mari for preventing us from causing a political or economic collapse.
Kagome for preventing us from causing a reality collapse.
You know, the usual.
9. What are the possible unwelcome consequences or risks related to this project?
Reality collapses, Shikaku's rambling conspiracy posts are redeemed, the Sage bops us in the head. (Kagome, help!)
Uchiha have a clear path to world domination, Mari suddenly forgets her godlike socials and does not prep for / realize this alliance. (Mari, help!)
Ami gets a tip-off from future Ami to screw this up right now. (no one can help.)
Notes:
- More politically-adept minds than mine can help with creating a more effective Uchiha alliance plan if we go forward with this. (please)
- If Sasuke's description of his ability is accurate, this works. On the other hand, if Sasuke lied for some reason (or is simply mistaken), we can run into problems. However, if you were Sasuke (or any ninja deciding to lie about their capabilities), you wouldn't want to lie deception-worthy targets into overestimating you, you would want them to underestimate you. After all, if the enemy prepares enough such that they can handle the overestimated version of you, they can definitely handle the actual you. On the other hand, the enemy preparing for a less powerful version of you gives you the advantage you would seek. So if we presume that Sasuke lied, the expectation should be that Sharingan can do more not less.
- If this is somehow right, then Sasuke and Itachi are the two most valuable people in the Elemental Nations and have no idea, because they only think like ninja.
Thank you very much for your contribution to the A New Skywalker Every Other Update Foundation. (Also, as usual, thanks for the work on the update)
And the most critical part of all this is that even negative results are valid results. If we get anything more than "there are no rules actually" (an outcome which I sincerely doubt given the QMs great commitment and competence therein), that's another step forward towards one of our many, many good outcomes. Each point of information becomes a new supporting/launching point for any one of the Skywalkers of the future.
The worst I expect that could happen with SLS is whatever we store coming back as a zombie or something, in which case we blow it up and probably shelve the 'store>retrieve>resusciate' chain.
). Now, common logic says that future Sharingan should have the exact same capabilities as the present Sharingan. Because, you know, it's the same thing. But we can always find the answer to be "Chakra is trolling you. You literally lack the brain dimensions to know how.".
