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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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We're really running out of Jonin. I suppose it's a good thing we got AMITY up when we did, Cloud would've invaded us as soon as news got out Hidan killed the Hokage. Hopefully he doesn't go around advertising why.
 
Unsurprising that Hidan can tell Asuma killed an incredible number of people.

The question is what is he going to do as a result.
 
So many things to react to in that chapter.

I'm thrilled Hazo is going to be okay and I'm thrilled that Yuma is going to be alright.

I'm smug-by-association about the grandmothers thing. I think I was involved in that idea and it's a great one. I wonder how other clans approach it, but I'm pretty damn sure it's not going to be anywhere near as effective as our grandmas.

I'm thrilled with our family.

I'm more than a little skeptical that the Hidan thing is a headfake. I would have guessed that Hidan would have been around Asuma after he got Akane's blood, but I'm not super sure about that. My guess is that it's related to Orochimaru.

I'm terrified as to what might happen if Asuma killed Akane and did so in a way that Hidan can sniff out. I don't think an own goal would count as an AMITY violation, so we're at Hidan's mercy - either he tells us, or he doesn't and Asuma needs us dead yesterday.

We would get to kill Shikamaru, though, which would be entertaining. And, frankly, probably not too difficult. I half expect he'd go willingly in exchange for some promises about the fate of the Nara.

But if Asuma dies, and if Hidan kills him, and if it becomes known that Hidan killed him because he killed Akane...where does that leave the village, politically? A Goketsu-Sarutobi feud? Who takes the hat - I don't think Ritsuo would have a chance in hell, but it might be Shikamaru. Having Akane's death over him would be helpful. Maybe Tsunade would step up - that's not impossible, and it would be good for us.

What would it mean for the Will of Fire? The Will of Fire is whatever the Hokage decides, but I think everyone would agree that the Will of Fire definitively does not include murdering absolutely loyal specjonin.

My money is on headfake, with a side bet that Hidan dumps Asuma's body on our doorstep. If that happens, we need to immediately call a general Leaf clan counsel meeting and let Mari drive the bus. We should brief Naruto, Kei, and ideally Ami immediately.

...honestly, I think I'd vote Ami for Hokage. She's friendlier to us than a lot of other clans would be, she'll be good at it, and she's aligned with our goals. We'd immediately have a Leaf-Mist alliance which could be based on actual trust (because Ami is effectively Mizukage, anyway) and I think we could use that to enact a peace more formal than AMITY.
 
eaglejarl said:
"Ah." Kei shifted unhappily. "Hazō, this places me in an awkward position. As your sister, my loyalty is to the Gōketsu and I wish to preserve the clan's secrets. As one of the KEI coordinators, my loyalty is to the clanless ninja of Leaf and it would be tremendously to the advantage of those ninja for clan secrets to be dispersed into our population. Perhaps I should leave...?"
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Bruh. These secrets are the Pangolin jutsu.
 
eaglejarl said:
"Hazō, your face—" Kei began, eyes wide in horror.

"Not now," Hazō said.
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HAZŌ: "You can tell me how pretty I am later."

eaglejarl said:
which really should have been called the Land of Trees but noooo, someone had to get cute.
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'The Will of Trees' doesn't quite hit the same. Although I suppose it would be a good fit for Hazō's philosophy of growth (economic, population, FOOM, etc.).

eaglejarl said:
"He's alive,"
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Well, that's a pleasant surprise.

eaglejarl said:
"Send the grannies to his bedside in shifts as soon as they're allowed,"
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It's awesome that Hazō has a legion of grannies he can deploy.

eaglejarl said:
"Figure we gemall inna room, talk to 'm. Ask'm wasss goin'..." His words trailed away as the sedative that had been administered twenty minutes earlier finally took effect.
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EVERYONE ELSE: "Thank the Sage, he finally shut up."

eaglejarl said:
"Hazō, what are you doing?" Noburi asked. "This doesn't look like resting."
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Hazō's just a high-speed, low-drag kind of guy. Can't stop, won't stop.

eaglejarl said:
Hidan's eyes clicked onto Asuma like a sight hound pointing. "Well, now don't you smell nice?" he murmured, lips spreading wide in a psychotic smile.
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Is this some Omegaverse shit?
 
Inferno Vulpix said:
Inferno Vulpix said:
I notice that I am confused. The impression I have of Leaf, as it has been described various times throughout the story, is that it is a collection of micro-nations in the form of Clans, who only grudgingly surrendered some of their autonomy to the institution of the Hokage and jealously hoards the privileges they still have. More poignantly, these clans are in a state of perpetual paranoia about their clan secrets and successfully enshrined the enforcement of said secrets into the foundational laws of Leaf.

My baseline expectation is that the standard provision for "a member of a clan wishes to leave and share their secrets with another clan, or maybe Leaf at large" is "you are not allowed to do that, and if you try we will kill you". That's how I imagine it worked in the Warring Clans Era, with quite a lot of confidence, and I struggle to see the Clans agreeing to this "Hidden Leaf" project if it meant surrendering that right. After all, any Clan that's made it this far is going to know that bad actors are an inevitability, and that you only survive as a clan by keeping them from inflicting catastrophic damage against you.

So I have a strong expectation that the laws at the formation of Leaf would not include provisions allowing someone to leave a clan without recourse, taking any and all secrets with them free to share with whoever they like. Even accounting for the fact that clans keep their best stuff to inner circles, such people would only have a lower rate of betraying the clan, not zero. The risk would still be immeasurably great, in the eyes of every clan.

Is this a recent thing, with the rise of the KEI? If so, how did it not get demolished by a unified front of clans terrified at the prospect? I struggle to think of a scenario, any scenario, that would get the clans to agree to this situation. Would the Minami have had to fight for their lives against Lord Hyuuga, who used his authority as their Clan Head to demand their deaths without ordinary Leaf law intervening (and only being thwarted by executive action by the Hokage allowing the Minami to form their own clan), if they were permitted to simply leave the Hyuuga whenever they please?

In this same chapter, it is said that getting access to a clan's secrets is one of the main reasons to be adopted in the first place. It would be extremely hard to say that every adopted ninja is properly and fully vetted for loyalty before they are given access to clan secrets (remember that even those raised in the clan will be expected to have some rate of bad actors, let alone outsiders). So, failing that, the only options seem to be "precautions exist to stop said ninja from walking away with the secrets and spreading them" and "any secrets a clan is willing to share with adoptees cannot be expected to remain secret for very long". It is also known adoption was not uncommon even before the events of the quest, when a talented clanless ninja showed promise: the risk profile existed in the past as much as in the present.

Heck, for that matter, if these laws are as Kei said, could you not get people agreeing to adoption with premeditated intention to betray the clan? I suppose at that point you're liable to get a kunai to the neck in a dark alley, but this again stands out to me as a security risk that would make every Leaf clan extremely concerned. Revenge or not, you can't put a secret back in the bag. Forget the KEI not wanting to hand out any adoption tickets, what clan would want to adopt ninjas at all if this is on the table?

Perhaps I'm looking at it the wrong way. Maybe it really is a new innovation, ushered in with the KEI or thereabouts, and the Clans were so shaken up by the debilitating events around then (BotG, Collapse) that they were in no position to argue against it. Maybe there's widespread sentiment against it that simply hasn't boiled over yet. Maybe it's an open secret that, like Mari implied, anyone who tries to leave with clan secrets wouldn't survive the experience no matter what the laws say. But then why have the laws in the first place? It just seems so at odds with everything else we know about how Leaf operates.
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@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped
Just following up, thanks.
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@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped
Just following up, thanks.
 
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