Did we live through the same 2020?
Seriously, us humans band together in the face of invading tribes of other humans. In the face of natural disasters it's pretty hit-or-miss. YMMV about which one the Dragons are.
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 open voting
Seriously, us humans band together in the face of invading tribes of other humans. In the face of natural disasters it's pretty hit-or-miss. YMMV about which one the Dragons are.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
@Paperclipped any updates dor Hazou, wrt these?Does anyone know if Hazo is eligible for either of the two sealing style stunts yet? Here's the link
Prerequisite are 100 research cycles with full prep or without any prep.
PLAYERS - Known Stunts
Stunts that are Fluffed as Jutsu Combat Styles Explosion Master Gentle Fist Roki Youthful Fist of the Mythological Beast That is Really Strong and Tough System Translation Notes Combination Stunts Two-advantage Combinations Three-advantage Combinations Disguise Related Stunts Improvised Disguis...docs.google.com
- Location
- how about no
Are we living in the same 2023?
Humans band together against threats and issues they can grok. Politics and selfish people can hinder selfless acts but most people still help one another after tragedies occur.
People trapped underneath rubble? Simple solution: get them out.
Citizens lost their homes in extreme weather events like say... tornadoes? FEMA provides aid to victims every year.
I would hope that 'Giant, scaly, flying death monstrosities coming to eat you and everyone else too' would quantify as a thing which people generally agree upon is a bad thing that needs to be stopped.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Agreed. In the words of Mr. Rogers: "look for the helpers."
- Locate other examples of 3D sealing.
- If the clans have any secret 3D seals from the time of the sage in their holy of holies inner sanctums, or have legends of where one even might be found, it could drastically improve our situation with the Dragon Storage Seal.
- [looks pointedly at Shikamaru]
- Convince the other major villages, plus Akatsuki, of the threat, and get them to help.
- This may or may not require obtaining scrolls for them, and teaching them summoning, in, eg., Lightning's case.
- Hold another "empower Leaf with your shinies" contest, with defeating the dragons as the explicit goal.
- No idea what the grand prize might be, but something good enough to get the clans to fork over their best stuff. A permanent extra council vote/adoption token per year, or something??
- Teach Hazou TH.
- Sealjutsu combo seems really super powerful, and might be necessary for decoding Minato's projects.
- Asuma is Hiruzen's heir — so might have extra TH secrets.
- Sidenote: also creates a teacher-student bond between us, which helps his eternal quest to integrate us into Leaf.
That's all I can think of, for now. Other topics for Asuma include:
- We're a Sealing SpecJ now, and are requesting the official rank to match. Ask Orochimaru to verify, if you like.
- Idea that was positively received on discord: R&D missions.
- You hire a ninja to research something for you as a mission via the tower.
- If a seal/technique, that thing is considered non-secret property of the hirer -- if people other than hirer/people they designate mod/hack/are-known-to-publically-use it then they're required to pay a fee (like how sealmasters need to pay to sell mods of someone else's seal).
Hard disagree here honestly. It sure is easy for a government official to spend money that isn't theirs on things that benefit their public image. No one will ever get mad about the government funding aid for the victims of natural disasters, after all, and it even makes them feel like good human beings. It amounts to a low effort high reward gesture, same as billionaires donating a tiny fraction of their wealth to charities and such. Costs them nothing, gives them a feeling of having done good for the world, which, well, they did, but...
But the low effort thing is key. Most humans are fundamentally tribalistic and cowardly by nature and do "altruistic" things to improve either theirs or their in-group(s) perception of themselves, and only when it does not carry too much risk to do so. Banding together to fight dragons is uh.. you don't see nations sending boots on the ground or joining a certain conflict in Europe directly. The western governments are, once again, happy to fund aid and equipment for that war, because it costs them no public opinion, in fact it gives them some, and because it is not their money that they are spending. They would not have done even that or even any real sanctions in fact, out of fear of provoking the aggressor's ire, like in 2014, had that aggressor not proven incompetent in the first place, but they did, so they are happy to do the low risk high reward thing as always.
Are some people very altruistic, helpful and well-meaning and bright and amazing human beings in the face of extreme danger? Absolutely!
Is the human race at large? No, and by far. I'd say most people trend towards selfish, tribalistic, cowardly self-preservation behaviours whenever their livelihood is whatsoever threatened, and if given a choice to act or wait, they will only ever consider undergoing substantial risk for their own sake or that of their loved ones, if that. People don't care about children in Africa, and they would not even stand up for a stranger on the street that's being beaten or worse, because bystander effect is a real thing. so why would they go fight Dragons in another dimension to save some sapient animal people they've never interacted with, while already being in a deathworld, and band together with hostile tribes to do so?
I think you much overestimate humanity. When polled, 90% of it says that they would not tell their partner if they happened to cheat (the same 90% that also rates lying to your partner about cheating as extremely morally abhorrent, in other polls), and another 40%, almost half of us, would not even pull a lever to divert a train that's about to run someone over if doing so delayed their amazon package by a couple minutes. Or so they claim in online polls that are pure hypotheticals, so the real number is likely even higher due to need for validation when answering.
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- Location
- Fifth Dimension
So...asking for SC for Kagome is actually pretty relevant to this. Maybe we squeeze that in? Also ngl summoning scrolls for Akane and Mari make ALL the sense now. It sounds like a power grab and it is, but it's also all we really know and can use.
lol if we ask for some Yamanaka jutsu or something. "Any secret jutsu than can help against the beautiful Dragon?"
lol if we ask for some Yamanaka jutsu or something. "Any secret jutsu than can help against the beautiful Dragon?"
- Location
- U.S.
A bit late on this, but if we give them input at some point we might want to base our instructions off of IRL history.
Plumbing is not a modern invention. Cheap plumbing is the modern invention; Rome had running water and sewage systems. We're re-inventing the wheel here - I suspect the only reason that our idea wasn't immediately met by 'Oh, you mean plumbing like they use in Hotsprings? It'll be a bit expensive, but as you wish Clan Lord.' is because the knowledge was lost, and/or another village has it but just kept it secret, and/or we just have no plumbing experts in Leaf and we're in the middle of Telescope 2: Search Harder.
This being MfD, why would you expect people to be as sane or saner than current reality?
I fully expect some hidden villages to decide that maybe it's better for other clan's summons to be xmorgghd' before actually dealing with the global threat
- Location
- a
While I understand the point that is being made, I don't think discussing this is a good idea for this thread. Especially views such as a certain european war l, modern government geopolitics, and certain study about human behavior(which I would normally would ask for citation on the 90% figure if this was a dedicated discussion thread).
Anyways, I do think we need to give Asuma a very real proof of the threat of the dragons for him to propose to the AMITY meeting atleast if a coalition is to be made.
- Location
- how about no
I agree that on average people in positions of power are usually more calculating and self-interested than the average person due to a variety of criterias. Should that then discredit people who choose lower paying, less prestigious occupations out of any sense of altruism from humanity's overall judgment?
Most people follow trends and unconsciously group-think: that's why propaganda works. The dragons are more akin to a natural disaster than a geopolitical threat. I doubt anyone sane on either path would make an argument to side with dragons by eating their neighbors or capturing people to offer them or themselves up as dragon snacks.
It is the responsibility and duty of altruistic leaders to find and implement ways to convince the majority of the populace to engage in gradually yet increasingly escalating prosocial behaviors. Would the American Revolution have occurred if Thomas Paine's Common Sense did not convince the colonists that separation was in their personal, individual best interests? Would the American Civil War have evolved to encompass freeing the slaves if not for the actions of and reports about John Brown? Would the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s have succeeded as much as they did (if at all) without the oratory skills and organizations of Martin Luther King Jr.?
Being a genius is not enough to bring about lasting social improvements. We have to sincerely convince the peoples of the 7th path and the human path that cooperation will not only save their lives but improve them in the long run too. That is why I would like to follow up on how the trade between 7th path clans originated in the hopes of replicating its (presumably) pacifying effects on all of the residents at the conclave with human delegations.
To clarify my stance on humanity as a whole: I believe people's dispositions follow a rough bell curve with monsters on one end and saints on the other. Average people can be swayed to acts of barbarity or benevolence by charismatic leaders and social pressures leading to either holocausts or heroics. For altruism to triumph over accumulating yet overall damaging acts of self interest altruistic leaders must find ways to inspire their constituents and find morally acceptable means of leading (not giving) their people to better lives. For those changes to stay and endure the people need not to be indoctrinated but to receive educations: they need to learn and adapt to changing environs not follow dogmatic, static beliefs while persecuting one another for not following today's writ of the deified, untouchable historical supreme leader precisely.
Self interest is inherently neutral: people doing what is best for themselves in a vacuum is only logical. Where those acts become selfish occurs when a person knowingly engages in an act that will harm another person or people without any compensation for or permission from the victim(s). Finding ways to align any person's self interest with a righteous cause is the only way to move beyond the limitations charity. Are there any polls regarding people engaging in acts that, while inconsequential or marginally beneficial to them, would improve the quality of life of a stranger however briefly?
Perhaps one of the greatest failings of our time is the generally held unspoken assumption that acts of good must always require at least moderate effort and be completely selfless to truly count as Good?
It is in my self interest to convince as many MfD voters to agree with my plans for Hazou and his band of misfits so those plans will come to fruition. Assuming you, like most people, receive a small hit of dopamine from seeing one of your posts gaining a 'like' I have probably directly made your day just a tiny bit better by only pressing a button on my end. Do I have an ulterior motive to pressing that button, an act that took me maybe 2 seconds? Yes, yet I hope by explaining what I would like to achieve with a real world example helps to elucidate my points. I'll even go a bit further by truthfully saying that I enjoy in depth responses to my posts since it is easier to interact with and address concerns about them that are more clearly displayed. It is another one of my hopes that you continue to be as thorough and thoughtful in your posts in this thread as it is to the benefit of everyone who participates in MfD.
Selfless acts are almost always laudable and fleeting whereas mutually beneficial acts can reinforce themselves through repetition. Please enjoy your positive feedback and, if/when you feel magnanimous enough, spread that positivity to a third party to brighten up their day too.
- Location
- how about no
If Asuma thinks it would be worth antagonizing Snuncle, Asuma could demand the experimented upon dragon bits to show to AMITY while giving Oro monetary (or otherwise (but hopefully not)) compensation. We could also collect as many testimonials from summon clans as well in the form of 7th path clans telling non-Leaf summoners to take us seriously: "Yes, (insert leader of clan here) says the dragons are a real threat. Cooperate with their extermination originated from Leaf or be replaced."
The upcoming Chunin exams would be a good time for Asuma to politic with the other kages about the dragons before introducing the issue to AMITY. Whether or not he should take the dragon bits with him to better make his case at the exams should be up to him though, imo.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
All Hazō knows about that is "Jiraiya and the toad sages said it was dangerous but Noburi made them drink and then they said a little of it is good still," isn't it? At least no one is working under the assumption that human path chakra harms them, the main assumption being that it doesn't and they'll destroy the world if they get here. Calling attention to nature chakra now might endanger the secret, which is that a little nature chakra now and then does your body good
- Location
- U.S.
Alright, got caught up on the story.
I can think of one big thing which we know and Asuma is not up-to-speed, and which may be very useful and should at least be considered, and which we have not even mentioned in this discussion so far:
Nakara. Naraka.
We could rescue Jiraiya or other sealmasters. We might learn more things about sealing or dimensional phenomena for killing dragons. We could use it as a bargaining chip. And from what Kagome has said, we're fairly close to opening the thing.
We can bring this up to Asuma. Regarding our goals, this is a tradeoff; we might gain major backing for resurrection projects, but we stand to lose some autonomy on these projects even if Asuma decides not to pursue it.
I can think of one big thing which we know and Asuma is not up-to-speed, and which may be very useful and should at least be considered, and which we have not even mentioned in this discussion so far:
We could rescue Jiraiya or other sealmasters. We might learn more things about sealing or dimensional phenomena for killing dragons. We could use it as a bargaining chip. And from what Kagome has said, we're fairly close to opening the thing.
We can bring this up to Asuma. Regarding our goals, this is a tradeoff; we might gain major backing for resurrection projects, but we stand to lose some autonomy on these projects even if Asuma decides not to pursue it.
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It is Naraka, not Nakara, btw.
Not to belabor this point. But in this quest we have seen firsthand how apathetic and disinterested the Summon Clans are about the threat of the Dragons until it was literally staring them in the face.
That is, the people who were most at risk, directly threatened by the Dragons, still are taking careful convincing and manipulation to be willing to take the slightest effort to save themselves.
I can just imagine the excuses piling up "Leaf is lying, the Dragons aren't real." "The Dragons are real but no threat to the 7th Path." "The Dragons are real, and a threat to the Seventh Path, but I don't care because they can't harm me." And so on and so forth.
The QMs have stated multiple times that the reactions to the Dragons are inspired by humanity's own reaction to global warming. Which I do find a little unrealistic, since it took less than 20 years do something! Apathy and avoidance are the typical response so far. Why would it be different in a bunch of people who have less to lose?
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The people who choose lower paying, less prestigious occupations out of altruism and desire to make grassroots change do not have the social clout to make real change in society beyond influencing their immediate circle, and that kind of change never lasts because generations come and go and the more people turn altruistic, the more social space is created for narcissism, manipulation and sociopathy because generally speaking benevolent and altruistic traits correlate highly with being a vulnerable and valuable target for others to manipulate and take advantage of. If there are more saints, there will be more monsters.
Change comes from the top of the social status ladder, not the bottom, and the higher up that ladder, the less altruistic people tend to be as a general trend because the traits that help one climb it are very self-serving ones. It is not just about chancing into benevolent leaders either. No one rules alone. Even if, hypothetically, you had a moral saint at the helm of every single society in the world, it would scarce make a dent because the the upper echelon of every society consists mostly of people ambitious and confident beyond their station and of an intellect not exceptional near enough to match their position, because those are simply the vast majority of people who will aspire to and attempt to fill those positions. A moral, benevolent, altruistic person scarce ever wants to be a leader of significant influence because they as a rule do not feel comfortable shouldering such a heavy moral responsibility (one which worse people will simply not care about in their pursuit of power), just as a woman rarely aspires to be an engineer and a man rarely chooses to be a nurse or psychologist, even in scandinavian countries that have tried their hardest to systematically eradicate any and all social pressures related to gender identity.
Yes, sometimes leaders can arise and inspire entire nations to momentary heroism (or horrible things) at their behest, and sometimes this can lead to systemic changes that have lasting impact, but my point is this - why are you assuming that the military dictators of a deathworld that doubtless served as killers for hire and worse in their missions prior to assuming the post and came from effective nobility with zero regard for the common civilian, are benevolent moral saints?
We can certainly try to paint a convincing mutually beneficial goal to make people cooperate, sure.
No disagreements here.
It is not about people not wanting to help others when it is easy, because they do, mostly because it makes them feel good, and people like feeling good. No, it is about people almost never wanting to help others at their own expense when they have nothing to gain from the exchange.
Because perhaps they must? If one truly wants to posit a nebulous concept of objective "Good", in the first place, then relative sacrifice and intentions that one attempts to honestly act upon are literally all that matters, not the outcome of those actions. A person whose account balance does not even change from donating a few milions to charity has done no Good, they have merely done a small part of their due out of convenience. With greater status comes greater responsibility and I refuse to judge a person of great means who makes a paltry sacrifice that is inconsequential to them but just so happens to have an end result of helping others despite being made solely in the name of moral catharsis and seeking outside validation, as one of greater moral virtue than someone genuinely good and benevolent but of low means, however great that help may be. Good is Good, Evil is Evil, people are neither, both and in-between at various points in their lives.
I am not against plans for the quest per se, I was by and large merely replying to the optimistic wider notion concerning human nature and I'm afraid I'll have to dispel the faulty assumption, because I in fact derive no dopamine from internet points whatsoever. The contents of your post, however, were thought provoking, and I do like myself a little thinking, hence I certainly enjoyed reading and replying to you
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- Location
- U.S.
Do not conflate irrationality with disbelief or differing goals. At best, you do yourself a disservice and fail to predict people.
The clans were indeed much more eager to address the problem when it was staring them in the face. Specifically, they were much more willing to address the problem when evidence was staring them in the face.
Refusing to believe in grandiose tales when you're a lying cheater in a world of lying cheaters who like to lie and cheat is quite sane and rational.
Also, the widespread myth that most people deeply care about the abstract well-being of the whole world, has caused more harm than can be easily enumerated. I will not delve into IRL examples, but at the least in the story, we have firsthand evidence of how people in power are (by design) focused on the well-being of their village only. Lamenting this fact is about as useful as lamenting water rolling downhill. The world has a shape; learn to use it, or learn to change it.
- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
I see the Dragons as a mix of the two. "Can they escape the 7th Path" is still a completely open question and villages without summoners, like Rock, might not give a lick about this crisis. But plenty of Villages do have Summoners, including at the very least Cloud, Mist and Rain/Akatsuki. And those could easily be made to see the crisis as imminent and to convince their own allies of the same.
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I take it you agree with my point that we won't be convincing any of the Human Summoners without putting them eyeball to eyeball(?) with the Dragons.
Which would be an idiotic thing for them to do. From their POV all we'd have to do is say "Kumokugo kill them" and they'd be dead. They would be utterly in her power. We could simply claim to their allies after the fact that the Dragons killed them, and they would have no possible way of verifying it.
Mist? I didn't think so. Do you recall which Clan?
- Location
- No
At a bare minimum one of their Kage had a summon in the anime. I'm unsure how that was adapted here.
- Location
- U.S.
Hmm. That's the wrong way to go about it, I think. And maybe a bit too pessimistic.
Imagine it this way; you're walking down the street, and someone walks up and tries to convince you that aliens exist. Which of these two scenarios would you be more willing to hear out:
A: A guy wearing dishevelled clothes and a tinfoil hat, rambling at you with bloodshot eyes.
B: A professional-looking man in a suit, who flashes a badge at you and gestures you towards a limo with tinted windows where you can discuss the matter in more detail.
Context. Lots more things play into a person's thought process than is immediately obvious. If we want to convince the summoners, we have to create a context where they are likely to be convinced. Getting the full, public support of Leaf would help. Getting the backing of a majority of hte summon clans (potentially even the ones the summoner belongs to) would help a lot. Etc.
If we get the context right, we'd barely need to convince anyone of anything. The fact that everyone else believes it will be evidence all on it's own.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
RITSUO (through the plays): "What's Hazou even doing? I bet he's happy Jiraiya died, so he could seize power. What did that kid ever even do during the war?"
HAZOU: [appears out of nowhere with an S-rank mission on his record]
HAZOU: "Sorry, what were you lying?"
HAZOU: [appears out of nowhere with an S-rank mission on his record]
HAZOU: "Sorry, what were you lying?"
- Location
- Liverpool
Talking to Asuma about stuff
I do not think now is the right time to ask about being special jonin. It does not meaningfully impact the goal of defeat dragons, and make us look bad. Both Asuma and Oro can vouch for the dragons, and Oro for the complexity of the great seal, and we can have our skills back up our sealing talk. And considering we were just given a couple million Ryo? Any argument about needing it for clan functions and more political power is going to look very bad.
After this is all over, I imagine Asuma will offer it to us anyway. And it's going to be better for us if he initiates they conversation. If he doesn't, then we can bring it up, I think
Asking Asuma about reaching out to other villages/AMI is worth talking about, I think. Not telling him to do it, but actually talking through the cost/benefit analysis with him. Akatsuki members have sealing, or scrolls, though I don't know that any of them have both. But we'd need a clear picture of how they can help. Sharks close to the Butte would be the biggest I can think of, if the boss shark could fight one dragon (or keep it busy) while in its own territory as the rest of the everyone does a thing.
We could bring up Akane getting a scroll for EM, but I'm very cautious of that. First, it'll take her months to learn summoning, and she was just assigned a genin team, which makes that a lot harder and less likely to pay off. Also, the closest clan option would be bear, but we don't want to kill him off for a few reasons.
Getting Asuma and other summoners to weigh in at the conclave would be helpful, and it sounds like Asuma is in for that. If he's trying to get the snake and slug bosses there, he's seriously pushing from his end.
Getting Dragon parts to show the conclave would be a good idea. They could be the ones Oro has, or they could be temporarily borrowing parts that Arachnid holds onto. But we really need to make clear how much effort went into taking out that one, and how much harder they get after others are killed, it seems. If we're dealing with a gradual death resistance, killing them all at once/close enough gets more important.
Asking for help getting any mineral/material that we could play with for shaping/Chakra conduction sealing understanding would be very helpful, I think. That one seems a pretty easy ask, and it's very clearly for solving the problem.
I think asking about the existence of emergency McGuffins is fair. We don't need to necessarily know what they are, but knowing if Asuma has a trick or card up his sleeve helps as make more informed choices.
I think asking if there's any remotely relevant Lore he could tell us is perfectly fair game, but I don't think we'll get much back on that. We're the expert on the ground here. And trying to get unrelated Lore DEFINITELY counts as a power grab.
In theory, techniques to help us survive/get away are helpful, but considering how far above us dragons are, I don't think there's much that's going to really make a difference, especially given us only having Earth element.
We could bring up the Oro thing. I'm...I think we'd need to phrase it right, since in theory Oro gaining power is Leaf gaining power, but Asuma already knows he's having issues keeping Orochimaru in line. I don't love it, but if we hint to Asuma that Orochimaru wants us to make him his own great seal, but by doing so for *reasons* we'll attract dangerous attention, he may be able to help us out? Considering his stance with the Kei situation was "I wish you well, but there's not much I can do", maybe prevention is best here. Even if it's just making sure Noburi is kept busy by Tsunade, which shouldn't be a big ask.
It really is a shame Hazou is further behind the FOOM track, since that extra resolve would probably come in handy dealing with the dragons. That said, my single biggest piece of input is ES 50 GET.
I do not think now is the right time to ask about being special jonin. It does not meaningfully impact the goal of defeat dragons, and make us look bad. Both Asuma and Oro can vouch for the dragons, and Oro for the complexity of the great seal, and we can have our skills back up our sealing talk. And considering we were just given a couple million Ryo? Any argument about needing it for clan functions and more political power is going to look very bad.
After this is all over, I imagine Asuma will offer it to us anyway. And it's going to be better for us if he initiates they conversation. If he doesn't, then we can bring it up, I think
Asking Asuma about reaching out to other villages/AMI is worth talking about, I think. Not telling him to do it, but actually talking through the cost/benefit analysis with him. Akatsuki members have sealing, or scrolls, though I don't know that any of them have both. But we'd need a clear picture of how they can help. Sharks close to the Butte would be the biggest I can think of, if the boss shark could fight one dragon (or keep it busy) while in its own territory as the rest of the everyone does a thing.
We could bring up Akane getting a scroll for EM, but I'm very cautious of that. First, it'll take her months to learn summoning, and she was just assigned a genin team, which makes that a lot harder and less likely to pay off. Also, the closest clan option would be bear, but we don't want to kill him off for a few reasons.
Getting Asuma and other summoners to weigh in at the conclave would be helpful, and it sounds like Asuma is in for that. If he's trying to get the snake and slug bosses there, he's seriously pushing from his end.
Getting Dragon parts to show the conclave would be a good idea. They could be the ones Oro has, or they could be temporarily borrowing parts that Arachnid holds onto. But we really need to make clear how much effort went into taking out that one, and how much harder they get after others are killed, it seems. If we're dealing with a gradual death resistance, killing them all at once/close enough gets more important.
Asking for help getting any mineral/material that we could play with for shaping/Chakra conduction sealing understanding would be very helpful, I think. That one seems a pretty easy ask, and it's very clearly for solving the problem.
I think asking about the existence of emergency McGuffins is fair. We don't need to necessarily know what they are, but knowing if Asuma has a trick or card up his sleeve helps as make more informed choices.
I think asking if there's any remotely relevant Lore he could tell us is perfectly fair game, but I don't think we'll get much back on that. We're the expert on the ground here. And trying to get unrelated Lore DEFINITELY counts as a power grab.
In theory, techniques to help us survive/get away are helpful, but considering how far above us dragons are, I don't think there's much that's going to really make a difference, especially given us only having Earth element.
We could bring up the Oro thing. I'm...I think we'd need to phrase it right, since in theory Oro gaining power is Leaf gaining power, but Asuma already knows he's having issues keeping Orochimaru in line. I don't love it, but if we hint to Asuma that Orochimaru wants us to make him his own great seal, but by doing so for *reasons* we'll attract dangerous attention, he may be able to help us out? Considering his stance with the Kei situation was "I wish you well, but there's not much I can do", maybe prevention is best here. Even if it's just making sure Noburi is kept busy by Tsunade, which shouldn't be a big ask.
It really is a shame Hazou is further behind the FOOM track, since that extra resolve would probably come in handy dealing with the dragons. That said, my single biggest piece of input is ES 50 GET.