A few comments on the update (which is still being written):
First, I previously wrote PMYF in brief for the megalodon incident, but I wasn't really thinking about it at the time — it was a detail, not an essential element. This time around it was important, so I actually put some effort in. I promptly realized that there's some issues with PMYF that I hadn't appreciated before.
*) Substitution (aka kawarimi) has a range of (Level)x10 meters. Everyone in the group has a Substitution of at least 8, so that's a maximum range of 80 meters. In practice you can't PMYF that far because you need to swap with the target while it's still in your range and you're not going to be able to hit exactly the moment that it reaches 80 meters.
*) There's a couple of ways to use PMYF:
First, you can throw it and wait for the target to hit the ground and stop, which is a good way to ensure that there's a valid kawarimi target where you need it. It also works well in that you're not moving when you switch.
Second, you can swap with the target while it's still in the air, which is what's been promoted as the normal mode of operation. Problem: you can only swap with something that you could move to. Ninja can only jump about 3 meters up, so you can't swap with anything more than 3m in the air. There's also some timing issues: you need to have the seal dispense its log in the fraction of a second that it's still <3m in the air, then swap with the target before it crosses out of that range. Even if we handwave the issue, you will still find yourself 3m in the air and falling (or possibly moving up a bit more and THEN falling). Either way, you're moving fast and the ground is close. You can prevent yourself from going splat in one of two ways: turn into a blanket just before impact (I don't remember who suggested this, but it's a great idea), or arrange to have a clone on the ground that will kawarimi with you so that you arrive with zero velocity relative to the earth. The Transformation (henge) is fast but not instantaneous, so there's another timing issue there. Having clones in place requires that someone else (probably either Inoue or Noburi) has gone first, and then needs the clones to have perfect timing.
I thought about how I would handle the "can you save yourself before going splat?", and every method I thought of was bad for someone. My first thought was to assume that part of a person's Transformation skill represents how fast they can perform the jutsu. I could therefore use their Transformation skill as a check against some number of dice to represent their falling speed. That was (a) complicated because falling speed is different at different points and (b) Akane has a Transformation of 1, so she would end up injured or dead. Given that the characters have practiced this in the past, they would have figured out that these issues exist, so I decided I would not do something that would definitely kill Best Apprentice.
Even if you did manage to get all the above-mentioned timing checks correct, you're in a dense forest, meaning that the distance you can throw a kunai is sharply limited. Really what you'd like to do is throw it up and out from a clearing somewhere — probably with Inoue's Wind Wall to accelerate the throw — but then the initial timing check gets even harder because you have a sharply limited range of vision. (Alternatively, you could throw one straight up, switch with it, then throw another one horizontally and switch with that. You need to do this in the 3-4 seconds before you hit the ground.)
On top of that, when you start descending you're going to land on the crowns of the trees. Maybe you can henge into a blanket to slow down, then pop back to being yourself in time to tree-walk your way to the ground — except you're going to be standing on thin branches that cannot support your weight, so you're going to fall and have to catch yourself on the way down, with no certainty that you'll actually go past a branch that you can grab that is sturdy enough to support you.
Given all these problems, I am choosing to go with the "throw, wait for target to stop, switch" solution. This sharply curtailed the distance you could move, but at least it meant that no one died.
The PMYF trick is really cool, and I'm sure the hivemind can sort out the above issues. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. If there are obvious solutions that you find quickly I'll try to work them into the update, but if I've gone too far then they'll have to wait for next time.
