Remove ads

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

Voting is open for the next 1 day, 7 hours
Reader mode
@faflec I think that EJ provided some reference images, although this may have been via DMs when Sagemas was organized.

I know that this information existed at one point, at any rate - not a breed, but the very least that happened was 'that looks about right, although with different colouration'.
 
Black King said:
Don't need 24/7. Just an occasional check up to see if they're leveling EM.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Given that the entire village hasn't discovered FOOM, I don't think occasionally checking in on someone is enough to determine the progress of techniques that they're working on.


Also! This talk of wiping out a nation to keep a dangerous secret makes me think: is this what happened to Uziogakure?! (Whirlpool)
 
BEHOLD MY SCUFFED CREATION:



This is my Marked For Death, character tier list.

The metric for ranking is how much I enjoy their characters

updated because I forgot Hana:

 
Last edited:
cog-nito said:
BEHOLD MY SCUFFED CREATION:



This is my Marked For Death, character tier list.

The metric for ranking is how much I enjoy their characters
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't know why, but oro, tsunade, and jman all being on the same tier as both naruto and Mareo, and collectively lower than Asuma tickles me pink.

"You like the brat more?! And what about Orochimaru! Surely I rank higher than Orochimaru!"

Oro, popping his head in "Kid likes his uncles, they don't die on him"
 
cog-nito said:
What sort of dog is Cannai again? I'm making a character tier list, so I'd preferably get a picture for him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

eaglejarl said:
The Alpha Dog had brindled fur that lay flat to his body, outsized paws, a long tail, and a massive, short-jawed head. He was currently lying down, paws stretched out in front of him with his head up, studying Hazō
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not a real breed of dog, but he looks like that

He'd be a brindled Doberman if they existed
 
Halberdier said:
Also! This talk of wiping out a nation to keep a dangerous secret makes me think: is this what happened to Uziogakure?! (Whirlpool)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not according to Orochimaru.
From C550:

"What happened to Whirlpool?"

"The same thing that happens to all naïve fools who believe that learning is the key to mankind's salvation."

"Specifically?"

"They discovered that mankind did not wish to be saved, and left to seek a place where they could simply study in peace."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
MadScientist said:
[X] Action Plan: The Federalist Option
  • Suggestion: Cut Isan in.
    • Arrange a meeting with the Isanese leadership, and explain the situation.
    • Leaf and Isan are currently the only nations with the potential to nuke. Let's work together.
    • Leaf already has the nuke, and Isan doesn't.
      • If you defect before attaining it, you die.
      • If you defect after attaining it, Leaf's Deadman Switch ANBU hiding away from the village retaliates, and you die.
      • If Leaf defects after you attain the nuke, we die.
    • We could have alpha-struck you while you were oblivious to our intentions, but chose to loop you in instead — sign of good faith.
    • We know that neither of us will war with the other or risk instant total mutual destruction. Instead, let's sign strong treaties that ally/integrate our villages to a further extent than has historically occurred in order to massively disincentivise defection.
    • There is precedent for the coalition of independent polities for mutual benefit in the creation of Leaf.
    • Shikamaru, do you think that the Nara and Leaf-Mori clans could successfully design a set of treaties that would work in this scenario to contain the nuke without significantly harming Leaf's interests?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Could someone please summarise the other main suggestions for Asuma? It's not clear to me that we can return to this scene later, and I'd like to try to integrate the suggestions into a single plan.
 
MadScientist said:
Could someone please summarise the other main suggestions for Asuma? It's not clear to me that we can return to this scene later, and I'd like to try to integrate the suggestions into a single plan.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm still hoping for some clarification on the time weirdness here, and hoping we can have the Cannai discussion first, but in the interest of improving the Asuma portion as well, Hazou could mention that Asuma can make his own training of EM somewhat safer by focusing on the heating aspect of EM nuke. Akane's heat EM felt like standing in front of a glass furnace or whatever but it wasn't catastrophically powerful.
 
Sir Stompy said:
Jutsu are better than seals because you don't have to pay a sealmaster every time you want the effect. Chakra is free (for most ninja, Wakahisa change that but bear with me) seals are very expensive for most ninja.

EM is especially great as a jutsu because the best thing about seals is that you don't need to expend XP and chakra to create the effect. This is absolutely bonkers amazing (hence Hazou's build) but it has its limitations. EM is very inexpensive in terms of XP and chakra so it doesn't make sense to turn it into a seal.

If there are other limitations that you had in mind, feel free to list them, but I don't think they'll be more impactful than that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Well I'd say fire element folks wouldn't see the appeal of the seals. Everyone else would avoid spending 1000 XP to buy fire element and just use firewood like everybody else if they dont want to shell out money for the convenience of a seal version. It'd have to be worth monetarily.

But I do hear you in that the Goketsu usage of seals is extremely weird. Most don't do the amount of experimentation or go through the amount of seals we do in their lifetimes. I'll admit it colors my perception of the appeal of a seal version of EM. The conditions that allow for our sealbank idea among the Goketsu are very specific and not quite as replicable as I assumed.

I'll also say thanks for the pushback. Made me rethink the whole scenario over and past updates. I took for granted that EM usage was emphasized for difficult winters and harsh climates. Its usage and role in Isan entirely different than how Goketsu or even Haru engaged with it. That changes things a lot imo.

With this in mind, theres a couple issues I see that would occur if EM v2 is introduced.

It might prod people to compare and contrast between the two jutsu within Isan more than they would have normally. What i mean is that this jutsu hasn't been used as a precious tool for survival for the Goketsu. We use it as a quality of life tool. My assumption is that this is very much not the case for Isan's people. It's a matter of survival, pride, tradition, and a test of one's competence; EM is taught to everyone regardless of elemental affinity.

Regardless of whether we go behind Isan's back or are open with them, if EM suddenly has a counterpart out there spreading like wildfire, not sure how Takahashi can manage Isan's reaction to that. Some might stubbornly refuse to use the alternative or this might inadvertently encourage EM tinkering.

Not sure how to get around that.
 
MadScientist said:
Could someone please summarise the other main suggestions for Asuma? It's not clear to me that we can return to this scene later, and I'd like to try to integrate the suggestions into a single plan.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Without filtering these for plausibility/how much I like them...
  • Hack a 'superior' version of EM and release it in hopes it quickly out-competes normal EM.
  • Enter into some sort of exclusivity agreement with Isan.
  • Release some sufficiently-good Fire jutsu such that no one in their right mind would ever spend even a level in EM.
  • Create a warming seal and flood the market with that and Harumitsu's cooling seals.
  • Use Isan's reverence (fear?) of Thinkers to put pressure on them not to spread EM.
  • Find a scroll and buy Isan with the scroll. Knock-on benefits: they're now a vassal state.
I think ultimately it'll be the combination of a few factors. Ideas that I haven't heard from anyone else include leaning on their reverence for Thinkers and the potential of buying their asses with a scroll for the village.
 
The real solution to make sure EM nukes don't destroy civilization is that we kidnap and unseal the five and then force them to rewrite the way chakra works to forbid it. Super simple
 
Orisha91 said:
Well I'd say fire element folks wouldn't see the appeal of the seals. Everyone else would avoid spending 1000 XP to buy fire element and just use firewood like everybody else if they dont want to shell out money for the convenience of a seal version. It'd have to be worth monetarily
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think everyone else just asks their buddy/subordinate with Fire element to cast it. Ninja clans live together and they would all have a few members with Fire element. Each of their clans has like 40+ members so they'd have a few in each clan.
Orisha91 said:
It might prod people to compare and contrast between the two jutsu within Isan more than they would have normally. What i mean is that this jutsu hasn't been used as a precious tool for survival for the Goketsu. We use it as a quality of life tool. My assumption is that this is very much not the case for Isan's people. It's a matter of survival, pride, tradition, and a test of one's competence; EM is taught to everyone regardless of elemental affinity.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Why would you assume it's a matter of pride for them? They were ready to give it away to a bunch of filthy, impure, criminals. That doesn't imply they are proud of it.

Also why would you assume it isn't used as a tool for comfort? They know how to build houses and light fires. They aren't freezing to death in the snow.

I don't even understand what you mean by "EM is taught to everyone regardless of elemental affinity" like......no it isn't. What?

It seems to me like you just picked your favorite conclusion to jump to. If there's deeper reasoning behind it, I'm interested.
 
Sir Stompy said:
I think everyone else just asks their buddy/subordinate with Fire element to cast it. Ninja clans live together and they would all have a few members with Fire element. Each of their clans has like 40+ members so they'd have a few in each clan.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I can see this being a genin job. Just something performed out of duty and an opportunity to get familiar with fire element jutsu.

Sir Stompy said:
Why would you assume it's a matter of pride for them? They were ready to give it away to a bunch of filthy, impure, criminals. That doesn't imply they are proud of it.

Also why would you assume it isn't used as a tool for comfort? They know how to build houses and light fires. They aren't freezing to death in the snow.

I don't even understand what you mean by "EM is taught to everyone regardless of elemental affinity" like......no it isn't. What?

It seems to me like you just picked your favorite conclusion to jump to. If there's deeper reasoning behind it, I'm interested.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not pulling anything out of the air. I'm referring to statements made by Taka. And the culture we've seen from Isan's people in the past and more recent times.

Velorien said:
"Ah, yes. Well, I have given the matter some consideration. You have brought new ninjutsu to our village for the first time in centuries, and you and I are allies in a common cause. It is not something I would normally consider, but I believe I will teach you a ninjutsu unique to this village—it was invented by the Founder's master, and taught only to him, so nothing like it will exist in the outside world."

He turned to Akane, the intended student, and looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds.

"A harsh winter is coming, and you must be prepared if you are to endure. Thus, I shall teach you… the Elemental Mastery Technique."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Velorien said:
"So when you said a harsh winter was coming," Mari asked slowly, "you were being completely literal?"

Takahashi nodded. "Oh, yes. In a climate such as ours, a technique that raises or lowers the temperature of a room to comfortable levels is nothing short of invaluable. We teach the Elemental Mastery Technique to all our children as soon as they're ready to learn ninjutsu."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Here's 2 quotes from way back when. It was back on our first visit to Isan. It's possible he could have been talking the jutsu up, but I doubt it was entirely just a negotiation tactic or political talk. Maybe Mari let it slide thinking it was a good deal, but I figured Taka recognized he wouldn't be able to pull one over on her iirc as well.

He also mentioned they teach it to all their children. And Isan did seem pretty rough of a place to live in. So pretty believable.
 
MadScientist said:
Could someone please summarise the other main suggestions for Asuma? It's not clear to me that we can return to this scene later, and I'd like to try to integrate the suggestions into a single plan.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Excluding things already mentioned in replies to you to reduce redundancy. Looping in kei and Mari immediately. And
roobee said:
we can bring up that the one in a thousand years ninjutsu civilization death might not be a uniform probability across time.
recently there have been many civilization ending threats (pain ritual, dragons, elemental mastery). This suggest an underlying cause that if not resolved will cause future civilization ending threats. hence civilization ending threats might bunch up in chokepoints, that if resolved mean a thousand years of stability until the next threat. orochimaru mentioned the ritual not mattering until the next thousand years. the sage occured 1 thousand years ago? hence a history of cooperation (already developing from pain ritual and dragons) for ending threats will be more beneficial for future threats than one of annhilation. and that isan leaders may have hidden lore that can combat future existential threats (although mentioning this could be opsec risk).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Voting is open for the next 1 day, 7 hours
Remove ads
Back
Top