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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped Can we get confirmation on combat stagnancy (all stagnancy?) being based on your skill level at your previous barrier? Paper suggested it and didn't think the others would disagree but would still need to talk it over. I think it's an important point for our near future build decisions
 
Sir Stompy said:
I don't think he still eats food. Probably too inefficient.
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I don't think he would have removed his capacity to eat, just the need. I suspect he can still enjoy the taste and mouthfeel of something.

He's honestly probably the easiest ninja to make dinner for in the entire EN because it's not like you can possibly poison him.
 
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Chapter 619, Part 2: Poisoned Wells
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    • Kurenai was composed. Hazō recognized that it wasn't the most exceptional description, but for a woman whose husband, commander, and religious leader had been violently murdered barely a day ago, any level of composure was remarkable.

    Still, he reflected, it couldn't be her first time. As a senior jōnin and formerly clanless ninja, Kurenai had probably lived through the violent murders of her mother, father, siblings, teammates, friends, lovers, sensei, other mentor-figures, and possibly students if she'd had students before Shino's team – which, as a ninja in her thirties, would almost certainly have been the case.

    So, Lady Kurenai was composed. Not remarkably so, but enough that Hazō couldn't see any signs of tears, or detect the grief and rage she was probably hiding. For the better, probably. Kurenai in control of her emotions wouldn't incur the cost of murdering him outright, but an angry Kurenai who remembered only the extremely obvious fact that Hazō's close connection with Hidan had brought the killer to the village might have been willing to pay any cost to exact revenge.

    "Lord Gōketsu," she said. "Welcome. Forgive me for skipping the pleasantries, but there's a lot going on and I think it's better to cut right to the heart of the matter."

    "Lady Sarutobi," Hazō said. "My condolences. Lord Asuma inspired me. He believed in my potential despite my flaws where many men wouldn't have, and made me a better man. Leaf is poorer without him."

    She nodded.

    She didn't respond for a moment. Hazō wasn't sure if she was waiting for him – she still looked composed and neutral – or if she was thinking from behind her mask.

    Finally, she inhaled deeply, then sighed. "Yes. Yes, Leaf is poorer without him as Hokage. Regardless, I've received enough condolences. I want to understand what happened and take action. If I were not with child," she said, gesturing to the faintly visible rounding of her belly, "I would have chased down Hidan whatever the cost."

    Her words were calm and her tone mild, but Hazō felt a bite of steel within them. Whether or not she would have actually done so, Kurenai at least believed that she would have followed Hidan even if it meant going to her grave.

    "Instead," she said. "I will do what I can inside Leaf. As I said, I want to know what caused Hidan to murder my husband. You are a nexus in this situation, one way or another. That Asuma favored you above other clan heads, or at least above the ones not in his genin team, is no secret, and Akatsuki was called in over a supposed AMITY violation against your clanmate. Do you know how this came to pass?"

    "I don't," Hazō said, thinking ahead through what he knew to make sure nothing would implicate him accidentally. "I think you already know everything I know. Akane… Akane died under inexplicable circumstances that seemed worth investigating and Lord Asuma agreed. He contacted Akatsuki and ordered the mission to find her killers, though I helped provide them with what we thought they needed to know for the investigation. They went off, and when they came back… then, you know more than me."

    "I see," Kurenai said. "So you don't know why Hidan had that story about the shirt?"

    Hazō shook his head. Was she trying to subtly grill him to see if he'd been involved? "I don't think it was just a story, Lady Kurenai." He quickly raised his hands in preemptive apology. "To be clear, I do think Lord Asuma was framed and that Hidan was totally wrong about what the shirt meant."

    "Then?"

    "Hidan, well, I don't think he's the kind of person that would just make up a story, and Asuma himself confirmed that the scents matched. Hidan might have put the blood on Asuma's shirt himself to frame the Hokage, but it's not his style. Even if he just wanted to kill Asuma, I think he would have had other, more effective ways of doing it."

    Hazō suppressed a wince as he realized he was talking far too frankly about Asuma's death in front of one of the people on the Path that had loved him most. Still, Kurenai kept her composed expression and he wanted to be honest and forthcoming, so he barreled onwards.

    "So Hidan genuinely thought the blood was real. To Hidan, I think it's a pretty damning piece of evidence to find your target's blood on someone's piece of clothing – objectively, I think that would mark someone as the killer. And Hidan… well, he's not one for logic. He says that conviction is the greatest virtue, and I think he mostly means that he doesn't like to change his mind. Once he decided that Asuma was behind the attack on Akane, I don't think anyone could have talked him out of it."

    "So who do you think set out to frame Asuma?" Kurenai asked.

    "I don't know," Hazō said. "Whoever it is has to be pretty well connected to know both about Hidan's blood sense and to know Hidan's general demeanor well enough to understand that given even one piece of evidence, Hidan wouldn't back down in the face of reason, common sense, or even directly contradictory evidence. They'd need Akane's blood, which means they either snuck into the Gōketsu compound despite Kagome-sensei's defenses, they somehow had enough Tower access to search the Hokage's office, or they were Akane's killers. They have to be able to sneak into the Sarutobi compound – and apparently they know enough about my summons' abilities to take intentional measures to avoid leaving any scents. They'd need a pretty high access level for all that, and they'd need to be highly adaptable plotters to smoothly co-opt the Akatsuki investigation into a murder plot. Hidan didn't exactly make the investigation a secret, but very few people would risk manipulating an S-ranker because of the obvious consequences of failure. But I don't know any organization that could fit all those criteria. Do you know anyone that would want Lord Asuma dead?"

    Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Apart from every non-Leaf ninja in the Elemental Nations?" She scoffed. "There may be a half-dozen enlightened elites in Mist that recognize that Asuma was a better leader of Leaf for them than whatever Hokage gets elected – unless that girl gets her other enamored jinchūriki under a hat – but apart from them and a handful of even more irrelevant elites in Sand, yes, every other ninja outside these walls would have preferred him dead. In terms of access level and capabilities, well, I've learned not to discount enemy ANBU. They always have tricks we aren't aware of. Still, I wasn't asking you for a summary of the situation. I wanted to speak to you for your particular insight. With your privileged access to Asuma, do you think you have any special perspective on the situation that everyone else might have missed?"

    She continued to push. She considered him a suspect for reasons that, just like Kei had said, were probably pretty convincing to an outside observer. Merely saying that he didn't know anything else wouldn't be enough to fully absolve himself. He needed to clear the air.

    "Lady Sarutobi, apologies if I'm too forthright. In the interest of clear communication, I want to say that I had no place in causing any of yesterday's events."

    Kurenai seemed taken aback. "Gōketsu, I didn't mean-"

    Puzzle pieces clicked into place for Hazō. Kurenai's expression of fake shock was perfect. If it hadn't been for Kei warning him about the suspicion he would draw, and if Shikamaru hadn't let slip that Kurenai had subtly probed him for information, Hazō might have not realized that Kurenai was actually making an accusation and hiding it behind a layer of social-spec subtlety. Objectively, Kurenai had every reason to gather information from one of the few other people so close to the former Hokage. Yet Kei and Shikamaru had poisoned the well for her, and Hazō understood the conversation's true purpose.

    And… in turn, Kurenai had poisoned the well for Hazō and Mari. Whatever she'd confronted Shikamaru about (with her information, she would surely have no reason to suspect Shikamaru for framing Asuma, right?), it had let him see through Mari's otherwise discreet probing.

    "Sorry, Lady Sarutobi, I think there's been a miscommunication. Again, I want to be fully honest. I knew coming into this meeting that you might have some reasons to suspect me for somehow being involved in the attack on Lord Asuma. I just wanted to make it explicit that I fully believe everything that I said yesterday – that the Hokage's death is a tragedy, that I reject everything Hidan stands for, and that Leaf needs an appropriate vengeance."

    Kurenai was still putting on the act. "Of course, Lord Gōketsu. Still, I don't want to come across wrong, and I certainly don't mean to accuse you of anything, I just wanted to know-"

    Telling her to fold would certainly be rude. He just needed to tell the truth. "Shikamaru-"

    "Oh," she said, cutting him off. "I see."

    She paused, and Hazō's intuition suggested that this wasn't a pause he needed to fill.

    The mask of calm composure melted away, or at least melted into another mask. This was the mask of a killer. Her gaze turned into a glare, and the shadows playing over her face somehow seemed like an omen of Hazō's impending demise. If it weren't for Hazō's dedicated training towards maintaining mental composure, the whispering edges of her aura would probably have unnerved him.

    "I'll dispose of the extended pleasantries, then," she said, venom dripping from every word. "You are the only one I see that could have carried out all the different steps in this plan. You have the means. You could either have planted the blood, or have convinced Hidan that, for whatever reason, killing Asuma was right. You had plenty of opportunities to make this happen, not the least of which was when you disappeared out of the village with the killer for a full day."

    "I promise you, I had nothing to do with it," Hazō said. "I respected and trusted Lord Asuma, I would have had no reason to-"

    "Oh, I've spent enough time thinking about what motive you might have had," Kurenai said as the whispers steadily multiplied around Hazō. "At first it confused me. Asuma liked you and supported you, much more than any other Hokage would have after the shit you pulled, and you couldn't have thought this would actually help you in any way. But then… I thought more about you. You're the one insane enough to plan collaborations with Rock and Lightning. You maybe worship Hidan's evil god. Hell, Hidan only took an interest in you because you tried to ally yourself with Akatsuki before, going above the Hokage's head to do so!

    "So, I thought, what if a ninja like that genuinely believed that Asuma had somehow killed his girlfriend? Suppose this ninja grew up in the Bloody Mist with a Kage that barely blinked at butchering his own, so he wouldn't realize that such a thing would never happen in Leaf, that a man of Asuma's principles would never do anything of the sort. Well maybe a ninja like that, with a history like that, might go pretty damn far for revenge. So, Gōketsu. Explain yourself. What was your part in my husband's death?"

    "I did nothing," Hazō said, standing firm under Kurenai's wrathful gaze. "I've had no secret communication with Hidan, I didn't leak any information or materials that might have aided whoever framed Asuma, and I genuinely have no clue who did it."

    "Prove it."

    Hazō paused. How exactly could he do that? He could try to refute the claims against his loyalty or the ways he might have somehow collaborated to frame Asuma. He certainly didn't want to bring up religion, not with his history of Jashin worship within the privacy of his mind.

    "I could give you an alibi for everything I've done recently – I've had people with me for pretty much the past month – though I guess that isn't airtight, since I could have used shadow clones. Besides that one day, which I told Asuma everything about, I can't have communicated with Hidan since there's no way to communicate over long distances like that without physically traversing the distance. Leaf doesn't have any messenger birds so anything of that sort would have been noticed, and I can have the summon clans confirm that I haven't contacted Akatsuki on the Seventh Path."

    "Circumstantial," Kurenai said. The whispering voices pressed in around Hazō. He thought he saw shapes moving in the corners of his vision, but something told him it would be a very bad decision to look away from her red eyes. "No one but you could have done it. If you can't prove your innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt, then you are responsible."

    "I didn't," Hazō said, keeping his voice steady against the slowly ratcheting pressure of her aura. "I can't give you solid proof. I can give you my alibis, but you could always say that I fooled them somehow. I could open my compound to a search to show that I've kept no communication with Hidan, but you could say that any records would be hidden better than a search could find. There's nothing that's going to be one-hundred percent convincing.

    "Above all, I wouldn't do that. I respected the Hokage deeply. He was smart, kind, and funny, and I'm grateful that I had the privilege to know him more personally than just as a leader. He was helpful to me in many ways, not the least of which is the fact that he put all his support behind me in the fight against the Dragons on the Seventh Path, a cause that is both extremely important and that will be substantially hindered for his loss. You can ask anyone you know if I've shown any hidden resentment towards Asuma. Hell, Enma knows that I needed him just as much as he needed me. And… well, in some ways, I really did come to think of him as a friend. So no, Lady Sarutobi, I reject your premise. I cannot give you the proof you want, and I did not frame Lord Asuma. Both are true."

    Kurenai glared at him and Hazō met her eyes and held them, even as her aura tried to worm through the shield of Hazō's conviction. They stared at each other for several seconds.

    Suddenly, the oppressive whispers faded away and Kurenai slumped back in her seat.

    "I believe you," she said, in a whisper half-directed at herself. "Sage-dammit, I believe you."

    Hazō lowered his head for a moment.

    "Then who?" she asked. Her expression was more like what he expected to see from her – tired, grieving, desperate – but it could still be yet another mask. "Who's responsible, Gōketsu?"

    "I don't know," Hazō said. "But the enemy is competent and dangerous. We need to find out."

    "The investigation will continue. I suppose I should tell them that it may still be worth using your summons, that the information the dogs turn up won't necessarily be immediately invalid. Still," she said, blinking her eyes hard and clenching a fist, "I will see Hidan dead, and I will kill everyone responsible for making my child grow up without a father.

    "Go, Gōketsu. I'm sorry I… lost my temper, in a way, when you cut through the conversation I'd intended to have. I'll need to tell Shikamaru to be more circumspect."

    Hazō stood and bowed shallowly. "Lady Sarutobi."

    He took his leave.


    Apologies for the delayed chapter, and further apologies for failing to get to the Clan Council scene. I currently intend to write the Clan Council scene on Sunday, but I haven't had the chance to catch up with @eaglejarl. Consequently, voting is closed unless he opens it.
     
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    • Our objectively terrible Deceit score might save our ass; when we say something honestly, everyone* genuinely knows we are telling the truth.

    *Everyone jōnin and up or with a social specialty.
     
    Paperclipped said:
    Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Apart from every non-Leaf ninja in the Elemental Nations?" She scoffed. "There may be a half-dozen enlightened elites in Mist that recognize that Asuma was a better leader of Leaf for them than whatever Hokage gets elected – unless that girl gets her other enamored jinchūriki under a hat – but apart from them and a handful of even more irrelevant elites in Sand, yes, every other ninja outside these walls would have preferred him dead.
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    Emphasis mine. We should expect resistance to getting Naruto elected. Choza is the only plausible candidate within Leaf. I expect Tsunade will be recalled.

    I think Ritsuo is a pretty long shot, but it's possible support will coalesce behind him. We can rely on the Nara to reject him, which I think torpedoes his chances, but it's worth thinking it about.
    Paperclipped said:
    "So, I thought, what if a ninja like that genuinely believed that Asuma had somehow killed his girlfriend? Suppose this ninja grew up in the Bloody Mist with a Kage that barely blinked at slaughtering his own, so he wouldn't realize that such a thing would never happen in Leaf, that a man of Asuma's principles would never do anything of the sort. Well maybe a ninja like that, with a history like that, might go pretty damn far for revenge. So, Gōketsu. Explain yourself. What was your part in my husband's death?"
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    Emphasis mine, again. No Kage has ever stared down a literal existential threat to the entire world as far as we know. I don't believe that Asuma couldn't have done this. Minato wouldn't have done this, but Jiraiya would have if he thought it necessary.
    Paperclipped said:
    Kurenai glared at him and Hazō met her eyes and held them, even as her aura tried to worm through the shield of Hazō's conviction. They stared at each other for several seconds.
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    I wonder what would have happened if our Resolve were lower? She could have cracked us, but would she have manipulated us into

    More to the point, what is she going to take away from the fact that she didn't break us? She didn't push too hard with her aura, but she should have the measure of a newly-frocked (special?) jonin and have noticed that we were tougher stuff than that.
    Paperclipped said:
    Suddenly, the oppressive whispers faded away and Kurenai slumped back in her seat.

    "I believe you," she said, in a whisper half-directed at herself. "Sage-dammit, I believe you."
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    I don't believe you, Kurenai. You're a social spec and you would have planned this. We're seeing what you want us to see.
    Paperclipped said:
    "Go, Gōketsu. I'm sorry I… lost my temper, in a way, when you cut through the conversation I'd intended to have. I'll need to tell Shikamaru to be more circumspect."
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    This is an interesting apology. I don't buy it for a moment, and I respect her for it. This would have been a good moment to mention that we accused Shikamaru. Doing so cost us dearly and it's not like we got anything from it. It's a push towards 'Hazo didn't do this'.
     
    _The_Bomb said:
    Our objectively terrible Deceit score might save our ass; when we say something honestly, everyone* genuinely knows we are telling the truth.

    *Everyone jōnin and up or with a social specialty.
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    Our objectively sub-par for the level of play we're competing in Deceit score, rather. It's on the level of a Genin social-spec, which is very underleveled for the Clan Council of Konohagakure but, like, you can't be on the level of a social-spec anything without being good at what you do on some level.

    The fact that we can be read like an open book speaks more to the incredible skill of our opponents than Hazou being unable to tell a proper lie.
     
    _The_Bomb said:
    We currently have effDeceit 15 and she's a jōnin with particularly good social skills. It would be extremely unsimulationist for her to not recognize that we were telling the truth.
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    The part that would be weird is a social jonin providing actual information to someone who was a suspect 30 seconds ago. We're probably lower on her list now, but $5 says that WoG would be 'Kurenai still suspects you and told you that at least in part to make you feel comfortable, increasing the odds that you'll let something slip'.
     
    My best guess is that Kurenai thinks Hazo was manipulated by someone else since she's observed Hazo can be manipulated, and is now observing Hazo carefully. So, possibly a bad time to investigate whether Kagome, Mari, or Ami might have been involved.
     
    Shika actually did us a solid by inoculating Hazo against the kind of social play that Kurenai started with. Unfortunately, Kurenai did Shika the same favor

    I thought this chapter was really great - a refreshing change of pace from the tinfoil-chewing that happens whenever Hazo has to initiate or contribute to a social interaction. All we had to do was throw Hazo into the path of a brand new social spec!
     
    I am very proud of Hazō for how this went. He completely accepted that Kurenai suspecting him makes sense, while also defending himself with absolute earnestness and conviction, without contradicting the sensible parts of Kurenai's arguments and without negative emotions hindering him. Showing off what a highly leveled Resolve is good for other than SC FOOM shenanigans was also great.

    I am also proud of Kurenai. She did the best she could questioning Hazō and she trusted the sense of his words and the things her own (partially social spec jōnin) senses told her, not letting foregone conclusions blind her. We should keep in contact. Especially if she's Asuma's designated Sarutobi heir. Among other things, she is the sensei of the wing of the conservative block that's not Hagoromo aligned. Her pupils are two Clan Heads and (I think) one heir, just like Asuma's pupils.

    Other than that, I'm eagerly looking forward to the Council meeting.
     
    There's no point in asking Mari if she's guilty, but if we get the chance we ought to ask Mari about preparing an escape plan or coverup if, you know, it turns out she or Kagome or Ami or whoever ends up guilty.
     
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    man it's great that hazou can just believe the convenient things so he doesn't have to lie, until the moment we need to make him believe something else.
     
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