- Location
- Raleigh, NC
[X] Action Plan: ESealing
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
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
[X] Action Plan: ESealing
@Sir Stompy
I'd like to add "Shikamaru seemingly hasn't made or discussed the timeline connection, which is odd." to the "the investigation seems weird" catagory.
Possibly also "Shikamaru didn't want us to pursue across borders, while Asuma expected us to, and ordered a bunch of teams to do so" not a huge deal on it's own, but I'm seeing a pattern.
(Also, "the investigation seems weird" seems like a better category name, several of the points aren't about Ruka.)
I wouldn't. There are plausible reasons not to mindwalk, but in face of the threat of EM nukes, it's one more thing that seems... weird. thus it should be mentioned here.
I'm interested in voteing for this plan. I like most of FaintlySorcerous's adjustments. I'd also like you to make these adjustments. (or explain why not)
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- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Do you suspect Asuma of having been involved? I, personally, don't in an appreciable sense. I also found his decision not to mindwalk Ruka compelling based on the logic he presented. On that basis, I think bringing up mindwalking is a distraction.
Keep in mind that his knowledge of these events is likely limited to Shikamaru's report. Asuma trusts Shikamaru implicitly - probably even more than he trusted Shikaku, as Shikaku was hypercompetent, had his own agendas, and Asuma and Shikaku weren't as close as Shikamaru and Asuma (sensei-student bond). IMO it's unlikely he questioned anything in the report. If we overturn or cast doubt on Shikamaru's report, then Asuma looks at this with new eyes and might approve a mindwalk.
Can I convince you to add some of what I have below? I think offering a post-exam gift is a classy thing to do and explicitly being very respectful of the examiner is probably a good idea as we have no idea who they are.
Odds are pretty good that we walk through this with no significant issues (except maybe calligraphy) but there are some things we can do to cut off potential pain points fairly costlessly.
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I mostly don't suspect Asuma. As you point out, Asuma would have every reason to take Shikamaru's word if he said no mindwalk was needed.
And reguardles of who it implicates, it's another way the investigations seems slightly off, at least to me.
- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I would support phrasing it as, 'is it inconsistent that Akane was mindwalked for EM security but not Ruka?'
- Location
- Bronx
[X] Action Plan: Suspicious Minds
[X] Action Plan: ESealing
[X] Action Plan: ESealing
- Location
- Yes.
Done, though I have sanity-checked that with Mari as well.
EDIT: Changed the content of the sanity-check because I am a paranoid goober.
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If Shikamaru admits that he had Akane killed. I will vote for Hazou to kill him and then go missing. After mounting Shikamaru's corpse over the Hokage monument.
Plan updated, mass pings are disfavored for some reason, so I'll post the current version here.
- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is 272 and didn't cut anything AFAIK.
Plan updated yet again, added a couple lines (bolded). It's now 299 words. I'll keep an eye on the thread until I go to bed and lock it in then
- Location
- Yes.
@Sir Stompy I am uncertain that the post-exam gift would be an appropriate thing (as it depends on whether or not we get the result immediately or not), and would highly recommend a sanity-check for that.
Isn't giving small gifts to people who are in authority over you a polite thing to do in Japanese culture? I don't think I have the WC for a whole sanity check, but I can specify a small gift if you think that's sufficient
- Location
- Yes.
I don't know if offering small gifts to an examiner would be polite in Japanese culture. I definitely do not know if it would be appropriate in a 12th century-esque dictatorship. I do believe that specifying a small gift would not change my concerns.
- Location
- Yes.
@Sir Stompy Given that Snowflake is a Shadow Clone of Kei, and by definition must receive Kei's memories of EM Nukes, she must be cleared to know about EM lest Kei be banned from ever using Shadow Clone ever again on pain of treason. I would recommend deleting the relevant parenthetical to make word count for my suggestion.
- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We could say post-result.
- Location
- Yes.
I prefer adding the sanity-check. Again, we do not know if it is appropriate or not.
[X] Action Plan: To Speak in Vain to Silent Ash
I like this plan, just a few comments.
I'll also note that, in addition to this being a pre-planned ambush with aid from an infiltrator in the tower, it's also possible that the enemy has some form of instantaneous communication (e.g. someone in Leaf with a summoning scroll) or that they had a ninja infiltrate Leaf who, very shortly after learning of the mission assigned to Team Akane, ran at full speed for the border to notify a waiting team, without being detected by Leaf (for all I know, this happens all the time, but we should ask if it would be surprising given how secure we believe Leaf to be against infiltrators). In any of these cases, it seems weird that Asuma and Shikamaru were not much more freaked out about what happened to Akane. It could be worth bringing up some of these alternate possibilities with Mari, Kei, and Snowflake.
I like this plan, just a few comments.
I'm pretty sure one of the QMs said that we don't know who assigned the mission because the tower didn't keep a record of it.
I'll also note that, in addition to this being a pre-planned ambush with aid from an infiltrator in the tower, it's also possible that the enemy has some form of instantaneous communication (e.g. someone in Leaf with a summoning scroll) or that they had a ninja infiltrate Leaf who, very shortly after learning of the mission assigned to Team Akane, ran at full speed for the border to notify a waiting team, without being detected by Leaf (for all I know, this happens all the time, but we should ask if it would be surprising given how secure we believe Leaf to be against infiltrators). In any of these cases, it seems weird that Asuma and Shikamaru were not much more freaked out about what happened to Akane. It could be worth bringing up some of these alternate possibilities with Mari, Kei, and Snowflake.
The extent to which Kei's memories are visible to Snowflake and vice-versa is not clear to me. As I understand it, Kei's memories are intelligible to Snowflake and the reverse is not true, but I could be mistaken. Not willing to risk EM nuke opsec over it.
This whole minor gift requiring a sanity check seems ridiculous to me. But I will say it is a Mari-approved gift if that will satisfy you.
There are very good reasons to doubt they have a Summoning Scroll in Leaf, Summoning scrolls are very visible they would need to be concealing it the entire time and stash it where it could be stolen. Not a good way to keep your Summoning Scroll. We also don't know of any Summoners in the EN except in Leaf, Akaksuki and Grandmaster F. Summoners are very notable (giant talking animals tend to be so) and they would need 2 Summoners to pass messages.
I'm inclined to say instant messages being passed via Summon is <0.1% chance, and disregard it.
As far as exiting and entering Leaf, as I understand it, nobody gets in or out without a pass. You could ninja-walk the walls, but doing that in broad daylight without a pass...... it's not a good plan. I'll see if I can make raising the issue more explicit without adding WC at this point.
- Location
- Yes.
I think that is a reasonable compromise.
It seems unlikely to me that Shikamaru or Asuma would have Akane killed to preserve EN opsec when Isan still, uh, exists, and that if they did they would at least pretend to freak out about an enemy infiltrating the tower. And if it's expected that at least some of the tower staff will be infiltrators and this can't be avoided, then Akane obviously should have been receiving missions only from known trustworthy staff. So the relative lack of freaking out / concern displayed on Asuma's part seems bizarre to me, and I think there must be some other factor, which the QMs haven't conveyed to us or which I didn't pick up on, that explains this, and I look forward to discovering what it is.