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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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strange_person said:
Nah, what we need strategically is an Air Dome wide enough to stop flyers from bypassing city walls.

High-capacity storage seal might also be interesting - if summoner trade network gains the ability to haul equivalent of 40' freight containers, that might start to extend economic interdependence into bulk staple goods like ore and food, which (if managed properly) could make AMITY far more long-term viable by visibly tying it to ongoing quality-of-life improvements, rather than just an absence of overt conflict.
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Oooh yoy know, Leaf is our one big weakness now. Even if we pull off the yoink the portal thing, akatsuki will just nuke Leaf to make us stop

If they're protected by a sage/Hazō-begat legendary shield...
 
RandomOTP said:
I'd say Akane's death and the various dominoes make up 30-40% of my discontent. I can expand in greater detail, if you'd prefer, but I want to acknowledge that I fail to see how an author reading such a thing would be spoon-positive.
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I had some burnout start when Hidan came to play, and we refused to even try using force to prevent the villagers deaths :/

It would have worked, ughhh. Hidan would have backed off. He only hit Asuma because he felt safe from Kakuzu - he absolutely would have praised Hazō's determination, forced Hazō to kill some bandits, and fucked off
 
Twinnstars said:
Oooh yoy know, Leaf is our one big weakness now. Even if we pull off the yoink the portal thing, akatsuki will just nuke Leaf to make us stop

If they're protected by a sage/Hazō-begat legendary shield...
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Imagine turning this on while Itachi Prime was still stuck inside of Leaf robbing the Goketsu. Tsunade just goes full bonesaw

YOU'RE GOING NOWHERE! I'VE GOT YOU FOR THREE MINUTES! THREE MINUTES OF PLAYTIMEEEEE
 
Something for our to-do list: if we get in Trouble with Tsunade tell her it's a Hokage tradition to relax by killboxing Hazō
[X] [Noburi] Training Plan: Forward Movement!
 
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1071 Hokage Election Initial Breakdown
  • Informational

    • 1071 Hokage Election Initial Breakdown​

    When Hazō returns to Leaf, Mari and Haru deliver a report. Shortly before Hazō returned, Tsunade declared that she wanted Leaf to get a "proper" Hokage, now that Akatsuki had exacted their price and presumably intended to exact no more. The election will happen after three days in-character (Hazō returns to Leaf on March 22 at nightfall, election will happen on the morning of March 26).

    The current candidates are Uzumaki Naruto (nominated by Kei Haruka), Akimichi Chōza (nominated by Yamanaka Ino), Sarutobi Kurenai (self-nominated), and Hagoromo Ritsuo (self-nominated). Tsunade has not placed a bid.

    Being ninja, few clans have outright declared who they will support in the upcoming elections. Nonetheless, Mari and Haru have been hard at work information gathering, and believe clans have the following positions:

    In support of Naruto:
    • Uzumaki (himself)
    • Kei
    • Uchiha

    In support of Chōza:
    • Akimichi (himself)
    • Yamanaka
    • Nara

    In support of Kurenai:
    • Sarutobi (herself)
    • Aburame

    In support of Ritsuo:
    • Hagoromo (himself)
    • Hyūga
    • Kyoshō
    • Inuzuka

    Undecided/unclear:
    • Amori
    • Kurusu
    • Motoyoshi
    • Minami
    • Senju
    • Gōketsu (obviously)

    Yes, Mari agrees that it's concerning that Ritsuo currently has the most votes of any candidate. There's a few days for him to shoot himself in the foot, but with the support of the more politically adept conservative clans, his victory is not… unimaginable.

    If you do nothing, Mari and Haru will work behind the scenes to tilt the election in Naruto's favor. Otherwise, they make a few comments to guide Hazō's politicking:
    1. There are likely many parties trying to convince Tsunade to declare her candidacy. If she does so, she will almost certainly win.
    2. The Amori/Kurusu/Motoyoshi bloc is not an alliance in the same sense as the Nara/Akimichi/Yamanaka, being instead more of an affiliation of smaller clans who tend to coordinate their votes as a counterweight to the more powerful clans around them. As such, it's likely that they'll vote together. Mari notes that they're moderates that lean conservative, but are more interested in ensuring the good of Leaf than securing a Hokage of any particular affiliation. While Hazō can try to convince them, Mari thinks that there will be a fierce competition to win over their three-vote bloc.
    3. Haru suspects that Aburame and Uchiha are both voting based on simple team affiliation and personal trust. It's likely that either of them could be convinced to change their vote if someone makes a strong argument for why a particular candidate would be better for their clan or for Leaf. Upside: Hazō could perhaps convince Aburame Shino to change his vote. Downside: Someone else could convince Uchiha Sasuke to change his vote, if he's not sufficiently convinced that Naruto is genuinely the right choice.
    4. Flipside: Haru thinks that Hyūga Hinata likely has no personal trust in Hagoromo Ritsuo, and is voting for the interests of her clan and the preferences of her clan elders. She would likely change her vote if convinced that the benefits of a Hokage friendly to Clan Hyūga were outweighed by the costs of an incompetent Hokage.

    If you want Mari or Haru to try to gather specific intelligence, you should put such instructions in a plan. Otherwise, they'll continue monitoring the general shape of events.

    Note: Hinata is currently voting against her sensei. This is likely to have ramifications in the future, most likely a cooling between Sarutobi and Hyūga, although Mari isn't sure how strong it will be.
     
  • Informational
    • …I vote Chouza.

    We don't want Ritsuo for obvious reasons, and both Naruto and Kurenai have obvious reasons to never work with Akatsuki on the Dragonwar, which must be our first priority.
     
    faflec said:
    He has the lesser reason, relatively speaking.
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    Maybe. He was also friends with Asuma, who they also just brutally killed... I'm very highly unconvinced he's going to be willing to work with them any more than Naruto or Kurenai are, only factoring for personal bias.

    I think we have to make the choice based on the personality of the candidate rather than on their misc Akatsuki beef, because Hazou is pretty much the only one who would be willing to overlook an overwhelming personal vendetta against them IMO.
     
    eaglejarl said:
    There are likely many parties trying to convince Tsunade to declare her candidacy. If she does so, she will almost certainly win.
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    eaglejarl said:
    Flipside: Haru thinks that Hyūga Hinata likely has no personal trust in Hagoromo Ritsuo, and is voting for the interests of her clan and the preferences of her clan elders. She would likely change her vote if convinced that the benefits of a Hokage friendly to Clan Hyūga were outweighed by the costs of an incompetent Hokage.
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    Okay, so basically:

    0) Ritsuo getting the Kage hat will be the biggest pain in the ass for us. Do not want. He will make it arbitrarily difficult for us to get shit done. Bleh. Pls no.
    1) Convincing Tsunade via some Big Brain plan magic is a slam dunk.
    2) Failing that, we probably need to flip ISC and/or Hinata and some of the other clans in support for Naruto or Chouza.
    3) We take a Third Option and somehow alter the Hokage/Jounin Commander structure that Leaf has going on to be more beneficial to a few clans in some way, thereby securing the vote but splitting the power up or something. Conservatives would not like, unless they get something solid out of it directly.

    I don't really have time for plan crafting this week but feel free to ping on Discord for interesting plans.
     
    ...How is Ritsuo even a serious candidate here? I'm confused. I mean, even putting aside his many political humiliations in recent years, the man got caught helpless by a chuunin Nara at a Clan Council meeting and could not even follow Hidan because he got knocked out cold by the rubble. He does not look like a strong jounin and Leaf has not fallen this low. I would have thought Mari to have been a more viable Hokage candidate than he is, and she would be impossible because in spite of having likely enough power to qualify for a bid, being a Goketsu makes that a no-starter.

    Just feels odd that someone weak enough to be in Shikamaru striking range would even be considered for the position when there is still not one but two feasible essies and many elite jounin to consider. A Kage is first and foremost a position one qualifies for by strength, after all, and he... come out of the narrative feeling severely lacking in that department, a combat SJ like Akane or Yuno could probably have taken him in a fight.

    ...We could propose a Cloud style leadership reform honestly, at this point. Feels like a good time for Leaf to stop being a one-man dictatorship. Anything but Ritsuo with the hat, pretty sure that would end up with the Gouketsu being exiled (at best) or worse, a Leaf civil war.
     
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    faflec said:
    …I vote Chouza.

    We don't want Ritsuo for obvious reasons, and both Naruto and Kurenai have obvious reasons to never work with Akatsuki on the Dragonwar, which must be our first priority.
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    Tsunadae is doing a quite good job, having a strong Kage helps while leaf is weak, and we just heavily invested both impressing and trusting her. Also, she values civilian welfare and is reasonably uplift aligned.
    The big sticking point is ordering us to close the rift.

    Naruto is pretty good for us, especially in the necromancy sense. The issue is, he really wants to pick a fight with the Akatsuki, and might not be a good pro-AMITY pick.

    Choza is very much unknown to the players. note that Shkamaru is not Shikaku, and while this expands Shikamaru's influence, it will not be Shikamaru as shadow-hokage. He seems like a safe pick, and would be a good choice in calmer times. but we have a bunch of weird high-trust high-stakes decisions that desperately need hokage support, and we don't know this guy.

    Ritsuo sucks.

    Kurnai is up-to-date on a lot of goketsu secret projects, and takeing them seriously. but she's probably to emotionally compromised when it comes to the Akatsuki. she would probably be very pro-necromancy, but it's kinda moot while she doesn't have the support to actually win.

    ------

    One takeaway is that we need to learn more about Choza. We should really talk to him, and ask Shikamaru about him.
     
    Naruto has skin in the game as far as the Rift goes and he respects us as someone who deals honestly and knows what they're doing with respect to arcane bullshit. Tsunade is a Summoner and will continue to push for the Dragonwar.

    Ritsuo will refuse to support us on general principles and I'm personally skeptical that Choza will take us seriously. Neither can reign Orochimaru in. Kurenai doesn't trust us and likely won't support our work.

    We need to get Ma and Pa in the room with Tsunade. Failing that, we need to impress upon Shikamaru the importance of our work.

    We should ask Naruto what we can do for him. We can push on Sasuke to firm up his support, bribe anyone we can bribe, and see what Shino says.
     
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