- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Too much suffering, please pepper in some wholesomeness. It'll refresh the mind, and prepare it for yet more suffering.
Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
-
- 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
- Location
- Yes.
- Location
- Texas
Reposting from Discord. I think we should consider one of these locations for when we have to clear our combat stagnancy.
Environmental and nature chakra are likely the same thing imo.
High Environmental/Nature Chakra Locations
- The Swamp of Death
- Two TBD locations from chapter 398
- O'Uzu Great Spirit Cave
- Crags of Doom in Mountain
- The Caverns of Mild Peril in Honey
- The Forbidden Dungeon on Crimson State Island
- Mount Certain Death to Any Fool Who Dares Approach in Snow
- The Travelling Island in the Nanmen Ocean
- West of Wind (Entire border?)
Environmental and nature chakra are likely the same thing imo.
High Environmental/Nature Chakra Locations
- The Swamp of Death
- Two TBD locations from chapter 398
- O'Uzu Great Spirit Cave
- Crags of Doom in Mountain
- The Caverns of Mild Peril in Honey
- The Forbidden Dungeon on Crimson State Island
- Mount Certain Death to Any Fool Who Dares Approach in Snow
- The Travelling Island in the Nanmen Ocean
- West of Wind (Entire border?)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Notably may contain the Rat scroll. We can corroborate with the Rats
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
PSA: Changes to a past update
Following player feedback, two minor retcons have been made to Interlude: Questionable Losses, Unknown Gains.
1) It was always the original intent for Ami to be asking Hazō about progress with A-Day preparations (or equivalent), not about general progress on Project Necromancy, and for Hazō to recognise this (and thus not bother mentioning his sealing research). Hazō's inner monologue has been adjusted.
2) Discussion of the role of the seal bank in preserving Akane's memory (which I forgot about when writing) has been added.
Following player feedback, two minor retcons have been made to Interlude: Questionable Losses, Unknown Gains.
1) It was always the original intent for Ami to be asking Hazō about progress with A-Day preparations (or equivalent), not about general progress on Project Necromancy, and for Hazō to recognise this (and thus not bother mentioning his sealing research). Hazō's inner monologue has been adjusted.
2) Discussion of the role of the seal bank in preserving Akane's memory (which I forgot about when writing) has been added.
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Chapter 604, Part 0: A True Believer
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hazō paced back and forth anxiously just outside the main building, feeling the cold but also needing the fresh air to reinvigorate him before what was likely to be a very tiring meeting on top of a very tiring day. He'd finished going over preparations with Mari. The messengers had been sent. There was so much to discuss, and he couldn't begin to guess how Kei and the others would react to the new information he'd obtained about Jashin–or to Hazō's steadily-evolving place within the religion. Hazō had said only what he had to in order to protect his own life and those of the villagers, but doing the wrong thing for the right reasons might not impress the Thinkers when that wrong thing related to pleasing or even empowering an eldritch horror.
"Good evening, Favoured One!"
Hazō whirled around in shock.
"Oh, it's just you, Yuno. Why would you call me that?"
Yuno's beaming expression faded a little. "Was that the wrong form of address? Sorry. I'm very new at this. What should I call you?"
Suddenly getting a very bad feeling, and realising they were standing in the middle of a quiet but not empty courtyard, Hazō urgently pulled her inside.
"Yuno, what are you talking about?"
"Oh, I'm a cultist of Jashin too now," Yuno said perkily as she shrugged off her coat. "Satsuko isn't, because you have to be able to take life with your own hands to qualify, but the Great Prophet was very impressed with her enthusiasm."
Hazō suppressed the mother of all groans. "Yuno, are you telling me you met Hidan?"
"That's right," Yuno said, fingering a terrifyingly familiar chain around her neck with her free hand. "I was very focused on training this afternoon, so I missed the evacuation signal when he came to look around the training grounds, and he recognised my colours and came over to ask if you'd finished converting the Gōketsu to Jashinism yet. And then he noticed Satsuko and asked about her, and I asked about Sanjin–we think they might have been made by the same smithing tradition because of how they're both made to spill lots of blood instead of just killing–and we ended up talking. I've never met anybody so wise."
"Yuno," Hazō said carefully, "you are aware that the man is a psychotic lunatic who massacres innocents for fun and was probably responsible for the deaths of numerous friends and relatives of people we care about?"
Yuno nodded. "And if any of those people want to try to take revenge on him, that's only fair and I won't stand in their way. I might even help them if that's Lord Jashin's will. But that doesn't change what he is to me."
Yuno took an alarming step closer, into Hazō's personal space. Her hand was tight around Satsuko's hilt.
"The Great Prophet took one look at me and he understood, Hazō. He understood everything, even the bits Noburi will never get. Especially those bits. I didn't have to explain what it meant that blood was colour, or how you could want somebody dead with all your heart but not care what happened to them at the same time. He was practically finishing my sentences for me. And then he told me that everything I was feeling had a name, and that name was Jashin, and that Lord Jashin's teachings would make me complete and fill all the holes in my heart that my happiness as a Gōketsu never will."
"Yuno," Hazō attempted to reason, "Jashin is evil. He tells Hidan to kill innocent people. He told Hidan to kidnap me and make me fight someone to the death against my will."
"Exactly!" Yuno exclaimed. "He didn't just say, 'Follow my precepts and you will live a proper life' and then stand there and do nothing while people bullied you for being unclean even when you were doing everything right, like Ui does. He didn't just say, 'Believe in me and it'll make you a good person', and then turn his back on you when you couldn't believe enough, like the Will of Fire does. He set you a practical test you were capable of passing, and when you passed, he rewarded you with his favour. As Jashinists, we know exactly what Lord Jashin wants from us, and we know that doing it will earn us more of his favour, and it isn't even hard because Lord Jashin is already in our hearts and all we have to do is be true to ourselves.
"The Great Prophet was even willing to offer me training so I could serve Lord Jashin better, but he said he didn't have time right now because he had to go and butcher the people who killed Akane, and he didn't want me to head to one of the compounds because you needed my support."
"I… do?" Hazō asked warily.
"The Great Prophet said you could teach me about theology and interpreting Lord Jashin's will, and I could teach you about true devotion and not being a pussy, and together we could set up a temple and start gathering converts and make sure you met your sacrifice quota.
"I'm thinking of starting with Snowflake. She's an immortal like the Great Prophet, and she has a lot of questions about the meaning of life and death, and she's always looking to try new things. Also, it'll mean Kei can learn about Lord Jashin without having to formally convert, in case there's a theological conflict with being the Pangolin Summoner."
Hazō's head was spinning. He was already exhausted from his day out with Hidan, and now there was this.
"Wait. What was that about a quota?"
"You have to kill enough people before he next sees you," Yuno said. "But he wouldn't tell me how many because he said that way would be more motivating. Something about making sure you weren't just paying lip service by doing the bare minimum.
"So if I don't call you Favoured One, what do I call you? The Great Prophet said Jashinism wasn't a very formal faith, but he didn't say I couldn't pay respect to a senior cultist, and I was brought up to be proper about these things."
Hazō opened his mouth, but before he could come up with a suitable response, there came the sound of distant voices. The genius trio, naturally, were precisely on time.
"Just… I'll deal with you later," he hissed at Yuno. "For now, do not talk to anyone about Hidan or Jashin. That's a clan head order. And for the love of the ancestors, put that amulet away."
Yuno gave him a blank look, but as he turned away from her and headed out to meet his guests, she mercifully headed in the direction of her room rather than in the direction of making his life even more complicated.
-o-
Voting is closed.
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So for A-Day alternatives all we have so far is kill Sasori. Which is not bad as far as these things go. He should be substantially depowered if his abilities are from canon, since we can assume that the bulk of his puppets were destroyed at the BotG.
@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped is that correct? Sasori's puppets made an appearance at the BotG and were substantially reduced in number? Does Hazou know anything else about Sasori?
Without Sasori, they don't have another sealmaster that can compete with Hazou. So we can enter the Rift at our leisure, even take the time to figure out how to move it to a more convenient location.
@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped is that correct? Sasori's puppets made an appearance at the BotG and were substantially reduced in number? Does Hazou know anything else about Sasori?
Without Sasori, they don't have another sealmaster that can compete with Hazou. So we can enter the Rift at our leisure, even take the time to figure out how to move it to a more convenient location.
Spector29
It Only Gets Worse From Here
The funny part is I'm doing a Naruto 5e game, and I've taken this quest's interpretation of Jashin as well as Yuno as a character for that game. I even made Yuno a Jashin cultist, because I thought it would fit her character.
Small world.
Small world.
I think we've made her upset with us, but if we can somehow navigate this situation without publically renouncing Jashin we can probably weedle this back.
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- Location
- Pacific standard
Nah, he's keeping her at the meeting. She'll keep until the end of the conversation.
Strike me God's of irony.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Praise Jashin
Other ideas include moving the rift out of Akatsuki reach or entering the rift, getting enough data to target the dimension ourselves, then closing the Ouzu rift permanently. We can ask Kagome/have Hazou consider how hard that is supposed to be. They made it seem like targeting is 90% of the challenge of actually using rifts.
If we absolutely must get Pain out to get Akatsuki off our backs we can rip his eyes out. Dunno if we'd be able to keep them cuz probably Akatsuki will be waiting at the door, but we can destroy them at least.
We already pitched that to Ami. We'll need an argument for how we'll actually pull it off (which tbf we have been discussing some, just not in-universe.)
Other ideas include moving the rift out of Akatsuki reach or entering the rift, getting enough data to target the dimension ourselves, then closing the Ouzu rift permanently. We can ask Kagome/have Hazou consider how hard that is supposed to be. They made it seem like targeting is 90% of the challenge of actually using rifts.
If we absolutely must get Pain out to get Akatsuki off our backs we can rip his eyes out. Dunno if we'd be able to keep them cuz probably Akatsuki will be waiting at the door, but we can destroy them at least.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
Depends what you understand "impress" to mean, in a way-
That's actually quite reassuring. Isan had Jashin-like symbols, after all. Well, it's reassuring in a redundant way. They're still all dead.
Oh to be a fly on that wall...
... Oh, perhaps Isan was a Jashinism den. It's just that Yuno didn't know.
Now I'm not saying he's right buuuut
Well that's a scathing critique of chri- of the Will of Fire.
hahahahahahahahahaha
Oh that's a genius way of looking at it. Mind: blown.
Our first convert. Nice!
In retrospect this makes perfect sense and it's a miracle it didn't happen sooner.
Honestly, not a terrible pitch.
This is such a good sentence. Still laughing about it.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I feel like Hazou should have been more supportive of Yuno here. Or, at least, been more calm about asking to postpone that conversation.
Hazou is ever-loyal, always forgiving, and extends far more grace than anyone should ever give. Mari even joked to Haru about how once Hazou decides you're in, you're in no matter what.
Further, Hazou knows how fragile Yuno's sense of belonging is, and how important connections are to her. When Yuno expressed confusion about why Hazou was her friend, he quickly made room in his schedule and deliberately reached out to Yuno to confirm their friendship and why he wanted her as his friend. He went optimized it all with Mari, Kei, and Noburi to obey every single inane and complex Isanese tradition that they knew, in order to facilitate as clear a communication as possible.
I know that Hazou's been through the wringer lately, but if we're going to say that his prior characterization means that he allows Shard and Kei to verbally harass him, unimpeded, then can we not use that same characterization to be kinder to Yuno?
-.-'
TL;DR -> Hazou's ability to be a social wuss should be more consistent.
Hazou is ever-loyal, always forgiving, and extends far more grace than anyone should ever give. Mari even joked to Haru about how once Hazou decides you're in, you're in no matter what.
Further, Hazou knows how fragile Yuno's sense of belonging is, and how important connections are to her. When Yuno expressed confusion about why Hazou was her friend, he quickly made room in his schedule and deliberately reached out to Yuno to confirm their friendship and why he wanted her as his friend. He went optimized it all with Mari, Kei, and Noburi to obey every single inane and complex Isanese tradition that they knew, in order to facilitate as clear a communication as possible.
I know that Hazou's been through the wringer lately, but if we're going to say that his prior characterization means that he allows Shard and Kei to verbally harass him, unimpeded, then can we not use that same characterization to be kinder to Yuno?
-.-'
TL;DR -> Hazou's ability to be a social wuss should be more consistent.
- Location
- Yes.
In Hazou's defense, he seems to have literally just gotten back from a day with an S-rank mass murderer who literally just performed one such act of mass murder within earshot of Hazou, and then forced him to hunt down and murder other civilians. Bad people or no, the juxtaposition would not be good for Hazou's mental state.
- Location
- Pacific standard
And found out that while he was setting up an anti jashin meeting his sister in law fullheartedly joined up with Jashin lmao
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Really, it seems unfair to exclude her now.
- Location
- United States
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
Hazou's been recoiling against Jashinism all day. Even when he deliberately twisted his mind into a knot so he could honestly dedicate himself to the Birth aspect, it was done in desperate attempt to fend off the pressures of the Death aspect.
And here we found Hazou mere minutes away from the anti-Jashin brigade showing up, including Shikamaru who has every reason to be worried about Hazou serving Jashin and, accordingly, who Hazou needs to be as convincing as possible towards when he says he's not a Jashinist.
So it makes sense to me that Hazou's first reaction to "I'm serving Jashin now!" was "You're what?!" (delivered with a sense of profound horror) and then quickly followed by "I can't afford a hit like this right now, I need to get you away and deal with this once the Thinkers are gone". A bad reaction, to be sure, but I understand why he would react badly.
What I want to do is circle back to Yuno afterwards and apologize for our reaction earlier. We can explain that we understand that this development is dear to Yuno but we also have to be careful about it because Jashinism is heretical to the Will of Fire and Hazou in particular can't afford the political damage of being associated with it. We can be supportive that she's found something that sparks joy and wish her the best in figuring out what about it makes her happy as long as it doesn't bring fire and brimstone down on our heads.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
If the mounting stress of [everything that is listed below] is causing Hazou's edges to fray and for him to lose some of his endless tolerance, that's fine, but can it at least carry over into other areas?
Or maybe last until Hazou does something to decompress, in-character? (Narratively boring, but if it helps maintain a more consistent Hazou...)
I also recognize that Hazou's wildly mercurial characterization is a massive challenge for the QMs, and I also recognize that there will be moments where the playerbase will never be uniformly happy with how Hazou-the-character is written.
I would normally agree with you wholeheartedly, but... When Hazou allowed Shard to lambast him without interrupting or pushing back, there were players who expressed severe discontent that Hazou-the-character didn't push back (especially re: "you don't care about your Clone sisters!").
We were told "this is Hazou's character as it currently exists. If you want to make a change, then alter your action plans accordingly."
And I even agree with that response, to an extent.
But during updates like these (Shard laying into Hazou, Hazou-the-character reacting without the hivemind putting our thumb on the scale), we-the-hivemind aren't given an opportunity to respond and influence Hazou's reactions. Hazou-pilot blissfully carries on with his preexisting inertia, without presenting the playerbase with an opportunity to change it.
(Or when Hazou-pilot outright ignores our commands to "talk calmly with your Hokage" and Hazou ends up screaming at Asuma, instead)
And then during this update, where Hazou's characterization is pushed in a different direction due to external pressures, without the influence of the hivemind.
I understand that Hazou-the-character exists one foot out of the hivemind's complete control. And I even think that (on the whole) that's a good thing.
I just wish Hazou-the-character was more consistent (though I'm sure that's a feeling that I'm sure the QMs can empathize with, lol).
Or maybe last until Hazou does something to decompress, in-character? (Narratively boring, but if it helps maintain a more consistent Hazou...)
I also recognize that Hazou's wildly mercurial characterization is a massive challenge for the QMs, and I also recognize that there will be moments where the playerbase will never be uniformly happy with how Hazou-the-character is written.
- Fighting Conclave bullshit, trying to convince idiots who won't lift a finger to save themselves
- EM Nuke Creation
- EM Nuke Fallout (personal/political)
- Akane Died
- Akane Death Fallout (personal/political)
- Speedrunning Minato Seals
- Ami telling Hazou he isn't doing enough, and to stop grieving (though the latter is almost endearing, because it's Ami honestly trying to help, in her own way, rather than using social spec powers to heal the pain away)
- trying to save Isan from genocide and failing
- discovery of ES50 for 3D Sealing
- using ES50 for political and financial gains that our clan really needs
- Kagome expressing turmoil
- Jin and Mio being stupid idiots
- Hidan showing up, trashing our reputation, slaughtering an entire civilian village while we do nothing, and then turning around and forcing Hazoh to slaughter a bunch of civilians (bandits notwithstanding)
- Hidan apparently finalizing Yuno's conversion to Jashinism.
- EM Nuke Creation
- EM Nuke Fallout (personal/political)
- Akane Died
- Akane Death Fallout (personal/political)
- Speedrunning Minato Seals
- Ami telling Hazou he isn't doing enough, and to stop grieving (though the latter is almost endearing, because it's Ami honestly trying to help, in her own way, rather than using social spec powers to heal the pain away)
- trying to save Isan from genocide and failing
- discovery of ES50 for 3D Sealing
- using ES50 for political and financial gains that our clan really needs
- Kagome expressing turmoil
- Jin and Mio being stupid idiots
- Hidan showing up, trashing our reputation, slaughtering an entire civilian village while we do nothing, and then turning around and forcing Hazoh to slaughter a bunch of civilians (bandits notwithstanding)
- Hidan apparently finalizing Yuno's conversion to Jashinism.
I would normally agree with you wholeheartedly, but... When Hazou allowed Shard to lambast him without interrupting or pushing back, there were players who expressed severe discontent that Hazou-the-character didn't push back (especially re: "you don't care about your Clone sisters!").
We were told "this is Hazou's character as it currently exists. If you want to make a change, then alter your action plans accordingly."
And I even agree with that response, to an extent.
But during updates like these (Shard laying into Hazou, Hazou-the-character reacting without the hivemind putting our thumb on the scale), we-the-hivemind aren't given an opportunity to respond and influence Hazou's reactions. Hazou-pilot blissfully carries on with his preexisting inertia, without presenting the playerbase with an opportunity to change it.
(Or when Hazou-pilot outright ignores our commands to "talk calmly with your Hokage" and Hazou ends up screaming at Asuma, instead)
And then during this update, where Hazou's characterization is pushed in a different direction due to external pressures, without the influence of the hivemind.
I understand that Hazou-the-character exists one foot out of the hivemind's complete control. And I even think that (on the whole) that's a good thing.
I just wish Hazou-the-character was more consistent (though I'm sure that's a feeling that I'm sure the QMs can empathize with, lol).
These ideas are all really cool, and I'd like to do them, but they share one big problem.
When I ask "what do the Akatsuki do upon learning (the rift is gone/Sasori is dead)?", "Kidnap Hazou" is a pretty natural follow up, even if they don't suspect his involvement.
If we can come up with a plan that prevents this, our necromancy options get way better.
- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
More to the point, this would be a massive AMITY violation. Asuma would need to declare us traitors and kick off a manhunt.
- Location
- Texas
Also reposting from Discord, adding reference quotes.
Wait a second, the Tama are the ones in charge of the mining operations? The same operations that "too deep we delved there, and woke the nameless fear"? From the new Hidden Rock, who was potentially looking to find a certain sealed entity that originally stored in the original Hidden Rock precursor was at the fork of the Gushiken river? The same Rock who's Kage was supposedly corrupted by this entity? The same Kage who had had his replacements be trained by the Tama ahead of time? The same Kage who orchestrated the devastation of Leaf and attempted destruction of the Nara, possibly releasing their sealed entity?
Wait a second, the Tama are the ones in charge of the mining operations? The same operations that "too deep we delved there, and woke the nameless fear"? From the new Hidden Rock, who was potentially looking to find a certain sealed entity that originally stored in the original Hidden Rock precursor was at the fork of the Gushiken river? The same Rock who's Kage was supposedly corrupted by this entity? The same Kage who had had his replacements be trained by the Tama ahead of time? The same Kage who orchestrated the devastation of Leaf and attempted destruction of the Nara, possibly releasing their sealed entity?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Unironically yes! "Okay Yuno I'm sorry I got upset at you, this Jashin stuff is new to me. As I am the prophet of Births, as my acolyte you will be expected to support that aspect. You and I will only hunt those who threaten more births, like bandits, murderers, predators, and the like."So we get to make the tenets of this religion?
And we know she feels very strongly about having children when Noburi is of traditional Isanese age so I'm sure she'll be elated about that...
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
IIRC, Noburi said that Yuno made it clear that she wants a big family. What a "big family" is by ninja standards I'm not sure (ninja pregnancies are hard, bloodline ninja pregnancies are even harder), but I second that this line of thought is the way to go.