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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Omake: Kagome and the Beard
  • Apocrypha
    • Kagome and the Beard
    --
    The brush did not drip. Just enough ink that was the key. Keep the brush dipped for one second with a single full rotation widdershins as you raise the hand and you had the exact amount of ink you need for completing the seal.

    All sides now complete, Kagome stowed the brush after rinsing it clean and inspected the array with a self satisfied air. Hazou's Earth Walls made this go a lot faster in the field when the time came to make camp; he had to give the kid credit there.

    With a pulse of chakra to activate the seal, opaque walls of pure directed force sprang into existence and the real trial began.

    Eight deft movements honed by the practice of years; that was all it took for the blade to glide over his neck, chin, and lip. The hair falling into the waiting cloth sack forever half full of hair. These would make good materials for custom brushes, longer than normal but still stiff short bristles instead of the curl of longer growth. It had taken some time to gain the level of trust to shave within the camp, but all defenses where in place and the Earth Walls made for great surfaces for this quick operation.

    Kagome stood up lifting the bag and tying it closed just in time for the walls to fade, as if waiting for that cue to stop existing. As he walked back to join the breakfast preparations, Kagome definitely did not run his hand over his face to hide his smile. No, he was definitely just checking that he did not miss a spot. Definitely.

    ---

    Omake out of nowhere.

    Edit: Corrections made; Thank you for the Threadmark. The small screen of the phone plus getting distracted by the work I have been procrastinated on to write this Omake led to most of the errors I think.
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • Does anyone know how to copy the infoboxes from the Naruto Wiki over into the MfD Wiki? I've been trying but can't get it to work.

    Edit: Nvm, figured it out.
     
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    Traiden said:
    Omake out of nowhere.
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    Nice. Threadmarked. A few copyedits for you, if you want them:

    Traiden said:
    The brush did not drip, just enough ink that was the key.
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    Comma splice. You probably want: "The brush did not drip. Just enough ink, that was the key."

    Traiden said:
    All sides now complete Kagome stowed the brush
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    Unmarked dependent clause. Better as: "All sides now complete, Kagome stowed the brush"
    Traiden said:
    Hazou's Earth Walls made this go a lot faster in the field when the time came to make camp, he had to give the kid credit there.
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    Again, comma splice. Change the comma to a semicolon or break the "he had" off into a separate sentence.

    Traiden said:
    Eight deft movements honed by practice of years, the blade ran over his neck, chin, and lip.
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    Confusing. Typically it would be "years of practice" or "the practice of years". Also, the sentence structure doesn't quite fit; if you simplify it you get "Eight deft movements, the blade ran over his neck." Maybe something more like one of these?

    "With eight deft movements honed by the practice of years, the blade ran over his neck, chin, and lip."
    "Eight deft movements honed by the practice of years; that was all it took for the blade to run over his neck, chin, and lip."

    Also, consider 'glide' instead of 'run'. It fits better with the "lots of practice" concept.


    Traiden said:
    It had taken some time to gain the trust of the group to shave within the camp, but all defenses where in place and the Earth Walls made for great surfaces for this quick operation.
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    It took time for the group to trust Kagome enough, or for Kagome to trust the group? I would have expected the latter, but it's written as the former. If it's what you meant then just ignore me.

    Traiden said:
    Kagome did not run his hand over his face to hide his smile, it was only to ensure that he did not miss a spot as he rejoined the rest of the group as they prepared breakfast.
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    Comma splice, and the 'as...as' structure is repetitive. I like the mention of breakfast prep as it shows a close connection to the team. Maybe something like this?:

    "As he walked back to join the breakfast preparations, Kagome definitely did not run his hand over his face to hide his smile. No, he was definitely just checking that he did not miss a spot. Definitely."
     
    @eaglejarl @Velorien current unaddressed issues I could find and wanted to put in one place, from both the doc and the thread.
    • Would this setup allow 5SB to function?
    • Does henging prevent poison from progressing? Hallucinogens?
    • What does the team know about protections against currency counterfeiting?

    Some possible mid-long term projects that are not (directly) sealing-related:
    [] Research: Kawarimi and PMYF Munchkining
    1. How much earth needs to be present to create more real earth from it using MEW? Test different masses, volumes, surface areas.
      1. If the answer is "an amount that we can put in a storage seal", does adding more granite to an unsealed PMYF projectile slow it down disproportionately more than would be expected with the larger surface area?
    2. Does leaping from large blocks of granite in midair allow us to substitute from them? (After all, a planet sized amount would clearly do it, and human-massed chunks apparently don't, so the line has to be somewhere. Maybe it'll be in a reachable place.)
    3. Extra: Can chakra constructs be used to form seals? In particular, can construct-MEWs theoretically be made into 3D seals?
    4. Extra: If we ever get around to force generation seals, we should see if flying around with those extends the range as well.
    Kylinger said:
    If there was a ladder, would we be able to substitute to the top of the ladder? (Each rung is a "Platform")
    If there was a rope ladder made from ninja wire with small rungs that was very difficult to climb, but still possible, could we use that?

    What about a single ninja wire? Can we climb that using with/without chakra adhesion- and in turn, substitute straight to the top?
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    [] Research: Pharmaceutical Combat
    • Look into developing tactics based on rapid application of mind altering drugs, paralytics, and other toxins.
      • Research a wide range of drugs
      • Find vectors good at delivering these quickly, with rapid onset of effects
        • Coating kunai?
        • Hollow senbon?
    [] Research: Chakra mechanics
    • What effect does short-term chakra water exposure have on...
      • ...chakra monsters?
      • ...civilians? (Noburi doesn't know, consider testing on some bandits)
    • What effect does long-term chakra water exposure have on...
      • ...mundane creatures and plants?
      • ...chakra monsters?
      • ...civilians? (Noburi doesn't know)
    • Can pangolins gain chakra upon drinking the water? Does it have any other effects?
    • Can Noburi drain pangolins, being chakra constructs, hopefully without disrupting their channel to Kei?
    • Chakra genetics - look through genealogical records/see if anyone knows the likelihood of...
      • ...a ninja child from a civilian mother/ninja father?
      • ...a ninja child from a civilian father/ninja mother?
      • ...a ninja child from two civilian parents?
      • ...a ninja child from two ninja parents?
      • ...inheriting various kekkai genkai?
        • Does which parent(s) had it matter?
      • ...new kekkai genkai appearing?
      • (In nonhumans)
        • Is there any physiological difference between chakra monsters and their normal-animal equivalent to suggest they are separate species?
        • What happens when we give a blood transfusion from a chakra monster to an animal of the closest possible evolutionary cousin?
        • Can chakra monsters breed with mundane animals and have offspring capable of reproduction?
    • Can we make chakra-monsters?
      • Capture and breed small mammals or insects with frequent exposure to various levels of chakra, to both or either parent(s), ranging from none to the maximum safe sustainable level
      • Observe effects in both parents and offspring across the groups
        • See what levels of exposure cause effects at various time-courses (e.g. what levels are lethal, what merely cause illness, which are enhancing, and over what time frames...)
        • Are offspring of parents exposed to survivable chakra-levels more tolerant of chakra-water?
    [] Research Akane: DIY Enthusiast
    • Can we produce a writing duplicator? What about brushes with consistent ink flow from a well (pens)?
    • Work on new traps with the materials from the inn
    • Mari has mentioned aerial surveillance of the former Uzu, as well as scouts on gliders employed by Wind. Find out from her what kinds of techniques and devices were involved, see if any of them can be adapted for our group.
      • Designing hengeable shapes that will let us PMYF further/slow down more safely (yay gliders/aerodynamics!)
        • As a first step, try them out with paper (paper planes/origami) and then wood
      • (w/ Hazou) Maaaaybe zeppelin stuff? Dubious value without modified EM.
    • (w/ Hazou and/or Kagome) Case for the Chakra-Poor Man's Storage Scroll to prevent accidental activation but keeping deliberate use easy
    • Work w/ Keiko to optimize ice production
    Edited to add:
    [] Research Keiko: Pangolin Cultural Exchange Program
    • Do pangolins have a transformation jutsu? If not, maybe it'd be a good idea to gift them the technique, or trade it for one of theirs. This is especially true for any of Keiko's contracts, who benefit from not looking like pangolins while on the Human Path.
    • More pangolin ettiquitte, ideally in a more organized way and in small chunks
      • What was the issue with the Mori bloodline? Is this an issue with bloodlines in general?
      • Inter-summoner etiquette, e.g. if the pangolins are allied to a clan whose summoner is a Mist hunter nin, what do?
      • Is it okay for the summoners to bring their allies into the summon realm? Is that even possible?
    • Is the pangolin economy currency-, barter-, and/or favor-based? What do elite Pangolins have that lower status Pangolins lack?
    • Can we get historical info that the village was denying us? (e.g. what happened to Ui/what are the last interactions the pangolins had with him?)
    • Is Keiko able to sense when a pangolin desummons?
    • Summons that are not combat specialists that might be useful (if Hazou is presenting these to Keiko, frame them as considerations rather than suggestions, using their Clear Communcation no Jutsu, since our last suggestion didn't go over so well)
      • Sealmasters
      • Medics (Make sure it'll work on humans first)
      • Various ninjutsu teachers - ideally do some survey of what techniques exist, even if Kei isn't allowed to share with the party
        • Communication/coordination jutsu
        • Technique Hacking
        • Sensory jutsu
          • What are the other elements Pandaa mentioned? (could lead to nature chakra/Sage Mode Stuff)
      • Therapist? (Don't actually suggest this one to Keiko without thoroughly vetting the idea with Mari)
      • Sensory specialist/scout (Kei didn't like this idea? Pandaa even agreed with us!)
      • Engineers and craftspangolins
    • Be sure to also answer Pandaa's questions about humans!
    [] Brainstorm Everyone: Scorch Squad Squash
    Background
    • Kagome suggested that the sparseness of the population is the fundamental reason behind the effectiveness of scorch squads.
      • Can we fix either or both of the contributing problems?
        • The difficulty of patrolling large areas of populated land
        • The difficulty of growing enough food in a small area to support a condensed population
      • Make that technique or technology available
        • globally?
        • to our allies?
      • Doing this might be a quick way to modify the tradeoffs for that method of warfare.
    • As discussed in the thread, there is an additional underlying problem of lack of empathy and trust between nations which prevents simple de-escalation.
    Some initial brainstorming:
    • Teleportation tech like the safety poles/safety sticks in Significant Digits (which we may want to keep for ourselves/Hidden Heaven)
    • Automated defenses against ninja (golems? seal-based clones?)
      • Would need to be good enough to stand up to jounin, which implies that this would only be a good solution at much higher power levels than we're currently playing with
    • TH-ing plant growth jutsu, or creating relevant seals, or combining existing jutsu and seals in a clever way that optimizes plant growth, or in any way enabling large numbers of people to be fed while being secured against invasion, seige, crop burning...
    • Bigger-on-the-inside tech to let people farm in their own homes within cities (heavily modified storage seals?)
    Further Steps
    • Get others' thoughts/critiques/contributions, and start working on the approach we judge to be most promising
    • Learn about current agricultural practices and try to figure out improvements to equipment or techniques (e.g. better fertilizers, seed drills, focused selective breeding...)
     
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    [] Research Akane: DIY Enthusiast
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    • Can we produce a writing duplicator?
    • Work on new traps with the materials from the inn
    • Mari has mentioned aerial surveillance of Uzu. Find out from her what kinds of techniques and devices were involved, see if any of them can be adapted for our group
      • Designing hengeable shapes that will let us PMYF further/slow down more safely (yay gliders/aerodynamics!)
      • (w/ Hazou) Maaaaybe zeppelin stuff? Dubious value without modified EM.
    • (w/ Hazou and/or Kagome) Case for the Chakra-Poor Man's Storage Scroll to prevent accidental activation but keeping deliberate use easy
    • Ice production (work w/ Keiko to optimize?)
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    If you want to have Akane learn aerodynamic quickly, have her make paper airplanes or just origami. This will help her experiment with varieties of shape on the cheap, such as parachutes and gliders.
     
    Kiba said:
    If you want to have Akane learn aerodynamic quickly, have her make paper airplanes or just origami. This will help her experiment with varieties of shape on the cheap, such as parachutes and gliders.
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    I feel like you might have suggested this earlier and I just didn't copy it over, sorry about that. Will put in a bullet.
     
    OliWhail said:
    • Mari has mentioned aerial surveillance of Uzu. Find out from her what kinds of techniques and devices were involved, see if any of them can be adapted for our group
      • Designing hengeable shapes that will let us PMYF further/slow down more safely (yay gliders/aerodynamics!)
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    I wonder if it would be possible to have one person henge into a glider and another henge into their lightest human form to pilot it.
     
    OliWhail said:
    I feel like you might have suggested this earlier and I just didn't copy it over, sorry about that. Will put in a bullet.
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    Hm... actually. I wonder if folding a piece of paper would damage a seal on it. Ask Kagome about that and we can consider things that we could do with seals delivered in such a fashion (we Konan now).
     
    Cariyaga said:
    Hm... actually. I wonder if folding a piece of paper would damage a seal on it. Ask Kagome about that and we can consider things that we could do with seals delivered in such a fashion (we Konan now).
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    It would.

    "Seal-quality paper" exists because minor creases and damage to the paper would result in bumps that would affect the ink: drawing a seal on said paper would result in a slightly different seal blank than the intended seal...and when you infuse it different results would happen.

    eaglejarl said:
    There are cheaper versions of paper available, but seal-quality paper is stupidly expensive because it has to be perfect -- unblemished, even texture, uniform color, not too absorbent so the ink doesn't bleed, absorbent enough that it doesn't sluice off.
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    faflec said:
    It would.

    "Seal-quality paper" exists because minor creases and damage to the paper would result in bumps that would affect the ink: drawing a seal on said paper would result in a slightly different seal blank than the intended seal...and when you infuse it different results would happen.
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    We should look into how to make our own seal-quality paper. ...Or develop a ninjutsu that just makes it out of nothing. Or out of other seal-quality paper.
     
    Cariyaga said:
    Hm... actually. I wonder if folding a piece of paper would damage a seal on it. Ask Kagome about that and we can consider things that we could do with seals delivered in such a fashion (we Konan now).
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    So, we would need to develop a different sealing paper when dealing with paper planes.

    I think we have a new delivery mechanism for smart bombs!

    The disadvantage is that it could be swatted away with wind justu, though.
     
    OliWhail said:
    Truly, technique-hacking MEW is the answer to all of our problems
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    Yep! :D

    On the note of paper airplanes as delivery method, we can write out multiple seals on a single paper, correct? So, just make super-small seals (something that Hazou will excel at; for anyone else, this would be hellish) and put them on the wings to stabilize the flightpath or whatever, then whatever seal we're delivering along some other side.
     
    Cariyaga said:
    Yep! :D

    On the note of paper airplanes as delivery method, we can write out multiple seals on a single paper, correct? So, just make super-small seals (something that Hazou will excel at; for anyone else, this would be hellish) and put them on the wings to stabilize the flightpath or whatever, then whatever seal we're delivering along some other side.
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    This would make great indirect fire weapon against anyone who want to chase us.

    I doubt it will be all that accurate unless we having some sort of homing seals.
     
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    OliWhail said:
    *is surreptitiously downloading all the AI/machine learning/robotic sensing&control related content I can find off Coursera*
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    AI is a bit farther than I'm thinking with this, but, uh, good that you're thinking ahead? Gotta prepare for when we accidentally go FOOM, I guess.

    e: Oh man. This is actually something that could work REALLY WELL. Imagine this: Seals that activate to deploy ninjutsu-style clones which we can send orders to (through seals of course) and a bird's-eye-drone seal to keep an eye on things, security-feed seals...
     
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    In all seriousness, I think sealed paper airplanes is a nifty ideas, especially if it can be used for indirect artillery fire and general standoff weapon, but I think it's a lot further down our tech tree.

    In the short term, it can be used as a mean of unnerving pursuers(if they aren't already unnerved by Kagome's bombs and traps) and attacking opponents from long distance, but I don't think it will be a killing blow.
     
    I'm actually being serious about security-feed seals at least.

    Prerequisites:

    Chakra-detector seal to tell if something with a sizable amount (above animal/civilian level) of chakra comes through. We can work with the casino seals for this one.
    Video-feed seals that are linked to another seal setup in our base that will show what's on the video feed (with an auditory alarm that the chakra-detector seals are linked to)
    We could start by developing a mirror seal: It just shows what's in front of it on the seal itself. From there, link that to a different seal and make it show what's in front of it on that seal instead.

    E:

    THEN we can put the video feed seals along the bottom of a paper airplane (or just paper, honestly) with a remote detonation seal on it (for cleanup if we can't retrieve it) and we can scout ahead/behind us with Mari/Kei's help with Zephyr's Reach.
     
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    Cariyaga said:
    I'm actually being serious about security-feed seals at least.

    Prerequisites:

    Chakra-detector seal to tell if something with a sizable amount (above animal/civilian level) of chakra comes through. We can work with the casino seals for this one.
    Video-feed seals that are linked to another seal setup in our base that will show what's on the video feed (with an auditory alarm that the chakra-detector seals are linked to)
    We could start by developing a mirror seal: It just shows what's in front of it on the seal itself. From there, link that to a different seal and make it show what's in front of it on that seal instead.

    E:

    THEN we can put the video feed seals along the bottom of a paper airplane (or just paper, honestly) with a remote detonation seal on it (for cleanup if we can't retrieve it) and we can scout ahead/behind us with Mari/Kei's help with Zephyr's Reach.
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    Let's hope modular sealing gets an OK, then, because otherwise this is going to be a long, tedious, and above all dangerous development process
     
    OliWhail said:
    Let's hope modular sealing gets an OK, then, because otherwise this is going to be a long, tedious, and above all dangerous development process
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    No more dangerous than any other sealing, honestly. Certainly, we'd need to be at our best and probably get a couple more levels of sealing, but none of that is exactly on the level of making an explosive seal; it's not going to blow up if it goes slightly wrong (e: any more than any other seal would, that is). The only thing I'm a little iffy about is linking distant seals, but we can ask Kagome for help with that. There are basically four seals we're developing there: Camera transmitter, camera receiver, chakra detector, audio transmitter. On the former two are necessary for mobile camera for peeking around corners and whatnot. Obviously, we'd probably develop the mirror seal first, so maybe 5, but they'll all be useful (excepting the mirror seal, maybe), and there is a certain amount of modularity as it is if only in our own knowledge of how to make seals work.
     
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    Cariyaga said:
    No more dangerous than any other sealing, honestly
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    Not more dangerous on a per-seal basis, but as you say we need a bunch of new seals to get this surveillance show on the road, so more dangerous (and time-consuming) overall. What other projects need us to complete four projects? Not even Hidden Heaven needs that, in its simplest form.
     
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