Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

_The_Bomb · Feb 25, 2024

eaglejarl said:
solid stable enduring

true, but not like this

??

you should be like this

am not

should be

...like so?

yes

...am not

should be. now is not how you should be. should be like this

.........am not?

no. be like this

..............

like so. this is how you should be

....yes

I wonder how similar this is going to be to Technique Hacking….

Crunbum · Feb 25, 2024

Twinnstars said:
A central seal is placed on the object to be protected, with a maximum volume determined by the
sealcrafter's skill. The target must neither possess chakra nor be part of a contiguous greater object
(e.g. it cannot be one section of a wall). Four support seals are placed 3-100m away, on the
circumference of a circle with the master seal at the center. The circle can be tilted but must be planar.
The orientation of the individual seals does not matter as long as the center of each seal is on the
circle.
While the seal is in place, neither it nor the target object can be moved (relative to the centre of the
earth), and both gain massive damage resistance, enough to be indestructible by any art Kagome
knows. This effect lasts for 30 days, gradually decaying over time before finally cutting out without
warning. Up to three of the support seals can be removed without fully deactivating the effect - the
protected object remains immobile, but its level of protection declines as each seal is removed. If all
four are broken or removed, the Five-Seal Barrier will deactivate.

5 seal barrier creates a defensive effect strong enough to be completely invulnerable to any effect Kagome knows. Hm, let's take a look at what Kagome knows. Well, we've got the absurdly sharp force wall blades that we're ao excited about as an s rank trick, they can't get through five seal barriers. Directional charges, implosion seals, nothing. He also knows about scores of jutsu and lore effects that he personally doesn't have access to.

Oh hey force walls. They literally create invulnerable planes of force.

Why are you so confident that runes can't scale defensive effects up?

A TN 5 explosive rune made a TN 100 explosive with weapons rating. How you come to the conclusion that TN 120 defenses are the limits of PS, I have no idea.

> Be Jiraiya

Not quite Jiraiya. He listened to us, though.

Spymaster for 40 years vs a-social neet and a-social exile

See above

J deserved better :<

Edit: xenforo ate the link this was replying to, and I'm not going to wrestle it into submission

5SB has the weakness of having vital parts of it in unprotected, attackable locations but otherwise yeah, I think a lot of the community is massively lowballing the capabilities of Runes and I find it baffling as to why, given how much outright evidence we have been shown that it is extremely powerful.

Personally I believe TN 150-170 (15-17 Boxes) is the likely range for a wide-area TN 60 Barrier Rune at the edge of PS 26 (Eff 51, AB 3, Prep 57) research capabilities if we want to make it big enough to cover vital parts of the village like the Tower, Clan Compounds or the entirety if layered.

I would be rather surprised if it were softer than that and these numbers seem enough to hold Essies for a long while, though likely not forever.

Cariyaga · Feb 25, 2024

Thank you for the chapter, EJ!

Crunbum · Feb 25, 2024

_The_Bomb said:
I wonder how similar this is going to be to Technique Hacking….

Honestly the description makes me more and more convinced that Earthshaping 60 would lead to outright natural energy manipulation which we could then reverse engineer into Sage Mode if we needed too. But is a hypothesis and way too much XP to even attempt anytime soon.

Twinnstars · Feb 25, 2024

Any chance we could treat this as a youthsuit incident? Literally every aspect of Hazō's research this chapter he's attempted before, word for word in some cases, lifted from Sir Stompy's own previous winning plan.

Except for the aerodynamic stuff. Which you've outlined your own complaints with.

Sir Stompy · Feb 25, 2024

Twinnstars said:
Any chance we could treat this as a youthsuit incident? Literally every aspect of Hazō's research this chapter he's attempted before, word for word in some cases, lifted from Sir Stompy's own previous winning plan

What are you talking about dude?

The BoC stuff is new, the making thread out of substrate stuff is new. The only repeat is the rocket boot testing.

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

Twinnstars said:
Any chance we could treat this as a youthsuit incident?

(Deadpan voice) oh no. Time spent with Snowflake. What a nightmare.

redzonejoe · Feb 25, 2024

Twinnstars said:
Literally every aspect of Hazō's research this chapter he's attempted before, word for word in some cases,

I don't know how accurate this is, but I can say that I was definitely getting some "Last time on marked for death..." vibes here. Like when you open the second book in a series and it gives a brief outline of stuff you already know from the first book.

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

eaglejarl said:
"Sorry," Hazō growled, brushing the crystal fragments from his hair. "Bones of Creation can make something that looks like runic substrate, is almost runic substrate, but still has misaligned chakra channels; I was hoping that I could create that, then finish the process with Earthshaping."

"No luck?" asked Kagome-sensei, settling back to his blanket. The ground was wet and chilly with morning dew, and both sealmasters were sitting on blankets and wrapped in more blankets with a hibachi furiously pumping heat nearby.

"No," Hazō said. "Fuck fuck fuckity fuck! I know Bones of Creation can make valid substrate; I've seen Orochimaru do it. I guess I'll have to do it the hard way and actually learn this stupid technique properly instead of barely being able to hold the chakra flows together."

Me too, Hazou. Me too.

Earthshaping 50 -> 638.5xp
Earth Infusion Stunt -> 125xp
Bones of Creation 30 -> 132.5xp

Several IRL years and ~900xp to discover lithosealing, learn the stunt, and actually get the shit to be able to use it.

~~If the Toad Sages don't cough up Sage Mode and Essie XP...~~

Sir Stompy · Feb 25, 2024

RandomOTP said:
Bones of Creation 20 -> 105xp

We need BoC 30 to get to infusible substrate

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

Sir Stompy said:
We need BoC 30 to get to infusible substrate

You're right, shouldn't assume that the ninjutsu stunt will help. That's, what 132, 133xp? I'll edit it in (almost 900xp in total).

Love wasting pyramid slots.

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

Un-Fucking Hazou's Build
BoC 30 Edition

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	Prim Sealing

Callig 47 for eff. Callig 50 for sealing
THing Stunt
Raise THing 10 for notes + Minatosealing

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	Prim Sealing	THing

Raise BoC 0 -> 30 to be able to actually use lithosealing

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique	BoC
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	Prim Sealing	THing

Primordial Sealing 11 -> 20-whatever

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique	BoC
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	THing

Athletics from 30 -> 60 (we have the pyramids for it, and need to be able to dodge)

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Chakra	Physique	BoC
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	THing

THing 10 -> 30 at some point along here (free with notes, should be passive XP generation)

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots

Alertness 30 -> 40

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Alertness
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots

Sub 20 -> 30

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Alertness
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing	Substitute
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots

Alertness 40 -> 50

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping	Alertness
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing	Substitute
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots

Physique 37 -> 40 (free from passive xp generation via Pang XP)

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping	Alertness
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Physique
30	Chakra	BoC	THing	Substitute
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots

Lightning Element
- Strength of the Storm 30
- Pangolin Flash 29
- Fist of the Lightning God 14

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping	Alertness
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Physique
30	Chakra	BoC	THing	Substitute	Strength Storm
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	PEA	Prim Sealing	Pangolin Flash
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	F. Lightning God

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	Prim Sealing

Callig 47 for eff. Callig 50 for sealing
THing Stunt
Raise THing 10 for notes + Minatosealing

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	Prim Sealing	THing

Raise BoC 0 -> 30 to be able to actually use lithosealing

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique	BoC
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	Prim Sealing	THing

Primordial Sealing 11 -> 20-whatever

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Athletics	Chakra	Physique	BoC
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	THing

Athletics to 50

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping	Athletics
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Chakra	Physique	BoC
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	THing

THing 30 (free by now with notes)

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping	Athletics
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone
30	Alertness	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots

Alertness 49

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping	Athletics
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Alertness
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots

Lightning Element
- Strength of the Storm 30
- Pangolin Flash 29
- Fist of the Lightning God 14

60	Resolve
50	Sealing	Earthshaping	Athletics
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Alertness
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing	Strength Storm
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing	Pangolin Flash
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	F. Lightning God

Athletics 60

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Alertness
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing	Strength Storm
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	Substitute	PEA	Prim Sealing	Pangolin Flash
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	F. Lightning God

Sub 30

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Alertness
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing	Strength Storm	Substitute
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	PEA	Prim Sealing	Pang Flash
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	F. Lightning God

Physique 40 (free with Pang XP)

60	Resolve	Athletics
50	Sealing	Earthshaping
40	Taijutsu	Calligraphy	Shadow Clone	Alertness	Physique
30	Chakra	Physique	BoC	THing	Strength Storm	Substitute
20	Deceit	Presence	Rapport	PEA	Prim Sealing	Pang Flash
10	Stealth	Empathy	Medknow	Ghost Scales	P.K. Hammer	Living Roots	F. Lightning God

T_of_A · Feb 25, 2024

@RandomOTP, is that list meant to be in order ? Or just a list of things to do in the medium term ?
Also if you're raising Ath you could raise Sub with it.

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

T_of_A said:
@RandomOTP, is that list meant to be in order ? Or just a list of things to do in the medium term ?
Also if you're raising Ath you could raise Sub with it.

Yeah, it's meant to be in order. Don't feel like doing my normal visuals with charts and the like.

We have room for Sub 30 after Alertness moves from 30 -> 40.

Just spliced it in. Refresh the page, and you'll see it. Thanks for the reminder, sending gratitude.

Emstar · Feb 25, 2024

Okay, well we might be able to skip BoC 30 if we can do either of the following:

Rune that saturates region with Runemaster's chakra, making it easier to manipulate the earth within it by a considerable degree.
TH up a tweak to ES that allows rolling like 2/3 ES instead of BoC. Maybe require that the second is bought up to 10.

I really really really really do not want to spend another month worth of XP on this thing if we can help it lol. Lets please grasp at straws first.

T_of_A · Feb 25, 2024

RandomOTP said:
Yeah, it's meant to be in order. Don't feel like doing my normal visuals with charts and the like.

We have room for Sub 30 after Alertness moves from 30 -> 40.

Just spliced it in. Refresh the page, and you'll see it. Thanks for the reminder, sending gratitude.

Then remember that we can't actually pay for the TH stunt first, we need to wait like 2 months until we reach an appropriate point in our lessons. I suggest putting Calligraphy first (IIRC we want to reach base 47, eff 50).

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

MMKII said:
I really really really really do not want to spend another month worth of XP on this thing if we can help it lol. Lets please grasp at straws first.

Agreed.

T_of_A said:
Then remember that we can't actually pay for the TH stunt first, we need to wait like 2 months until we reach an appropriate point in our lessons. I suggest putting Calligraphy first (IIRC we want to reach base 47, eff 50).

Sure, no problem. Refresh the page, and bear witness to the edits.

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

RandomOTP said:
Un-Fucking Hazou's Build
BoC 30 Edition

Callig 47 or something

THing Stunt

Raise THing 10 for notes + Minatosealing

Raise BoC 0 -> 30 to be able to actually use lithosealing

Primordial Sealing 11 -> 20-whatever

Athletics from 30 -> 60 (we have the pyramids for it, and need to be able to dodge)

THing 10 -> 30 at some point along here (free with notes, should be passive XP generation)

Alertness 30 -> 40

Sub 20 -> 30

Alertness 40 -> 50

whatever

Oh, if Biosealing and Earth Infusion are anything to go by, we'll unlock Minatosealing at THing 30.

Given the precedent set by Primordial Sealing, that may be its own stat. We'll need to account for that.

eaglejarl · Feb 25, 2024

Twinnstars said:
Any chance we could treat this as a youthsuit incident? Literally every aspect of Hazō's research this chapter he's attempted before, word for word in some cases, lifted from Sir Stompy's own previous winning plan.

It was all in this plan; if it's a repeat then that's not on me.

Crunbum · Feb 25, 2024

RandomOTP said:
Me too, Hazou. Me too.

Earthshaping 50 -> 638.5xp
Earth Infusion Stunt -> 125xp
Bones of Creation 30 -> 132.5xp

Several IRL years and ~900xp to discover lithosealing, learn the stunt, and actually get the shit to be able to use it.

~~If the Toad Sages don't cough up Sage Mode and Essie XP...~~

Earthshaping is double that - 1277 XP by itself, plus pyramid opportunities. Not halfcost unless its not our earth capstone - which it is. 1402 XP with the Stunt. Add 702 XP to get PS 0 -> 26 to reach Eff. 51, AB 3 for Prep 57 and TN 66 on double invoke + 3 FD, so thats 2104 XP for bare minimum for Jounin Runes.

2236.5 XP with BoC 30 on top.
...And it has a high Sealing prerequisite, so we gotta count double cost Sealing and Calligraphy and SSA which itself is one hell of a shiny or it would not be remotely as cheap. And then Iron Nerve too. Really for non-SSA, with say Sealing 69 Callig 49, its an added cost of 4830 + 1225 = 6055.

All in all 8291.5 XP as bare minimum for Jounin Runes, before pyramid needs, without SSA/Iron Nerve. So yeah, I would rather spend the ~500 XP we need to get there right now soon xp

RandomOTP · Feb 25, 2024

Crunbum said:
Earthshaping is double that - 1277 XP by itself, plus pyramid opportunities. Not halfcost unless its not our earth capstone - which it is.

Big shrug.

I just copied from the character sheet.

Going to decrease my involvement for a cycle or two.

I've readjusted the Un-Fucking Our Build walkthrough.

Ping me if

There's a plan that has us trading our Akatsuki-Stolen Jonin Seals with the KEI or the Aburame Clan.
There's a vote for jutsu tweaks/creation from our apprenticeship.
Someone tries to push through a goddamn meme vote.

Crunbum · Feb 25, 2024

Imo:

PS 26 gimme that. Athletics and Sub sure. We do need them after GC got nerfed.

We dont, however, need nor benefit from BoC 30 until after we leave and thus lose substrate access. There is zero benefit to levelling it before then.

Similarly, we dont need nor benefit from TH until just before we go missing and thus lose the opportunity to learn the Stunt.

More than Callig 45 is also unnecessary to hit our safe TN for RRBs. In fact 47 is unoptimal for it vs 45 + rerolling with FP, unless we research 3+ more S-rank seals after it which we will never really have time to do. Or the will to, over Runes. Sure it looks nice and round as Eff. 50 AB 6 via Iron Nerve, but its not actually giving us anything.

Alertness 40 or even 50 does nothing at all in the kind of combat that higher Athletics + Sub isnt enough to survive. Especially after Akatsuki stole chakdar. Its a binary stat, we either start first or we dont and its zero benefit, and its always the latter vs Essies/Jounin. Essentially a total waste of XP until we are at a like 25k total and can afford it.

Twinnstars · Feb 25, 2024

Sir Stompy said:
What are you talking about dude?

The BoC stuff is new, the making thread out of substrate stuff is new. The only repeat is the rocket boot testing.

Ah so we're being disingenuous today. Cool

This is the stuff that was 100% repeated

Sir Stompy said:
Rocket Kunai Research

Ask Snowflake/Kei, in consultation with Ōshirō and the skyslider engineers, to design a specialized kunai/shuriken that would better handle the propulsion from Rocket Boot seals.

Scattershot suggestions

Fatter

Larger

Cone-shaped

Four, equidistant fins

Rocket Boot Research

Ask Snow to help us test experimental Rocket Boot configurations to determine if they're combat applicable

Nonstandard locations - elbows, shoulders, knees, palms, hips...

Set off via CA touch or MARS - try both

Stack multiple RB inserts on the feet (set off the innermost with a MARS so that the stack isn't destroyed)

Use reasonable safety precautions

This was the stuff that wasn't

Sir Stompy said:
Substrate Experimentation

Under maximum safety conditions, test if...

...Earthshaping can produce usable substrate from low-level BoC

...Earthshaping can change the shape of substrate into different shapes (chakra conductive thread/wire, kunai, knives, etc)

Are these objects meaningfully different from the metal versions (strength, ductility, flexibility, chakra conductivity, etc)

Try braiding strands of substrate into cords/ropes with ES

...Substrate strands can trigger seals, or extend chakra adhesion/repulsion

Out of these, we've already tried the materials properties testing of seal substrate. Not specifically BOC substrate so it gets a pass, but eh.
The braiding stuff is more materials science testing that Hazō has already done - though I think there could be potential there with a tweaked ES with better ability to change the properties of rock

The substrate strands triggering seals, and using earthshaping to check for making proper substrate were novel. That's 19 words. The runes are novel. That's 10 words. 29/177.

By my count that's 177 words spent on researching, with "only" 87 words completely wasted on the rocket boots and rocket kunai testing.

The best part of your plan is the rune prep days, which is incredibly frustrating because you spend your time in thread downplaying the strength of runes!

Why does wordcount matter? Because we stuck to a very restrictive 299 wordcount, and Stompy used CCnJ to insist there was absolutely no space for improvements in the plan.

So, knowing that Stompy is a genuinely smart guy, this leads me to several possibilities.

Either he lied and completely neglected to check the contents of his plan, because if you checked you would have caught this. I did. Twice.

Or he told the truth, and after checking he genuinely didn't think that were any possible changes to improve the plan. Guy worked a long day when voting closed, could make sense. Except I warned him earlier in the week he was repeating stuff. Whoops.

I was being serious comparing this to a youthsuit incident. A low voter turnout lead to a plan implemented by someone uninterested with the interests of the thread at large.

T_of_A · Feb 25, 2024

Crunbum said:
We dont need more than Callig 45 to get RRBs extremely safely, in fact its unoptimal to ever get 47 for our target TN vs 45 + rerolling with FP, unless we plan on researching 3+ more S-rank seals after it which we will never really have time to do. Or the will to, over Runes.

I think you're wrong about this, by the way. Runes are slow, defensive tools. Our sky-high paper sealing is still going to remain one of our key combat research tools. I expect to research a bunch of S-rank paper seals in the near future (and also a bunch of runes, of course).

Here's my desired short-term leveling plan :

Calligraphy 47
A little bit of Athletics + Sub (until we hit pyramid limits)
By then we'll probably want to start saving up XP so we can buy TH the moment it's offered (to avoid wasting clone-hours)
After that... I'd want TH 10, but I know there are people who'll want to raise PS to the mid-20s first. Then ofc we'll want BoC 20 or 30, and of course more Athletics + substitution. I think all these things are necessary in the short term, but the exact order can be debated.

I should also tell you about the combat plan that's been suggested on the discord, which I'm putting in the spoiler below. Apparently once we grab a few low-hanging fruit with Athletics/Taijutsu, the most cost-effective way to massively improve our combat power is to get lightning element ?!? Remember that once we pay the 1k XP to learn lightning, we instantly get 500xp to spend on lightning jutsu.
This is too medium-term for me to really commit to it though, I doubt we'll manage to follow that plan.

Crunbum · Feb 25, 2024

T_of_A said:
I think you're wrong about this, by the way. Runes are slow, defensive tools. Our sky-high paper sealing is still going to remain one of our key combat research tools. I expect to research a bunch of S-rank paper seals in the near future (and also a bunch of runes, of course).

Here's my desired short-term leveling plan :

Calligraphy 47

A little bit of Athletics + Sub (until we hit pyramid limits)

By then we'll probably want to start saving up XP so we can buy TH the moment it's offered (to avoid wasting clone-hours)

After that... I'd want TH 10, but I know there are people who'll want to raise PS to the mid-20s first. Then ofc we'll want BoC 20 or 30, and of course more Athletics + substitution. I think all these things are necessary in the short term, but the exact order can be debated.

I should also tell you about the combat plan that's been suggested on the discord, which I'm putting in the spoiler below. Apparently once we grab a few low-hanging fruit with Athletics/Taijutsu, the most cost-effective way to massively improve our combat power is to get lightning element ?!? Remember that once we pay the 1k XP to learn lightning, we instantly get 500xp to spend on lightning jutsu.
This is too medium-term for me to really commit to it though, I doubt we'll manage to follow that plan.

Oh sure, in the long long long term we will probably research more S-rank Seals. I dont disagree with that. But I dont see us doing RRBs + 3 more Jiraiyas anytime soon, especially when we will have crucial runic research to do.

At the moment we are very short on XP and can really use it on other skills, like PS 26 and Athletics and Substutution. By the time we will have wanted Callig 47 from an optimization perspective, we would already be drowning in spare XP, if not having all but won the quest already.

Basically I dont think the present-time marginal utility of Callig 47 is even close to enough to level it that far as opposed to other Skills, if we are optimizing our medium term goals which we would better be. We have several apocalypses to stop!

Its also why I want to beeline PS 26 so badly. Besides respect and opportunities from Orochimaru, the quicker we get there, the quicker we get usable Runic designs rolling. Combat stats won't matter until we need to unstagnate on the other hand - anyone capable of attacking us within Leaf proper can just kill us past them even once we hit their goals.

As for Tajiutsu... levelling it further over eventually getting the Jounin Combat Training stunt once we hit Athletics 60, just doesnt make sense. Besides, we are never going to be punching hard enough at a reasonable XP cost that we will want to melee over reverse summoning or doing Zoo Rush from inside Geode Coffin once we can survive Round 1, which is also far cheaper and better scaling for its.attack portion alone, especially with the inclusion of SoTS / Lightning Element which would cost a ton. I get it, its cool. So is GC and one of those rolls higher. If its just for long-term survivability, lightning for SoTS can make sense once we get lots of Athletics, but thats too long term to make plans on.

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

Handsome Gentleperson

Vaguely Pastafarian

The Shining One