Cosmos Quest (Naruto/Lupin III)

[iamnuff]

[X] "I know that someone would notice, but I cheated well enough to pass didn't I?
That is what this test is about isn't it? Stacking the deck on your favour as heavily as you can without being obvious enough that the examiners call you out on it?"



none of the stuttering love-stuck girl act please, keeping your cool and letting her know that you are applying the lesson from the first exam into the second will probably do more to impress her.

Try to meet her eyes when you do this, but settle for not staring at her boobs if you can't.

We made a bad impression when we first met, and now we try to make up for it by acting professional in front of the women we have a massive girl-crush on.

 

[uju32]

Come on. Think about the synergy here- What if, instead of jumping ourselves we alter this to send one of our mental constructs into our opponent? Or leave an 'Outpost', a small copy of our Palace of Mind?

Click to shrink...

Shintenshin is a terrible idea at the moment.
It's a support skill used in conjunction with your team; we're going to be fighting one on one duels.

We lack the skill to reproduce Constructs that would be a credible threat in other people's heads yet; in the future maybe, but it's not something you will develop over 5 days after making Shintenshin combat-capable.
And trying to build a basic skillset like that in 3-5 days, instead of refining what you already have, strikes me as an all round bad idea.

Our Sasuke army is reliant on zerging numbers of a genin/chuunin candidate.
That's why I decided to switch to a single construct of one of the Four; we need at least one heavy hitter of higher quality than that in our arsenal, for if/when we run into people a little stronger than your standard chuunin.

Save Shintenshin for post-exam, when we can consult with Inoichi.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Can someone explain why people want one of each of the Fab Four? It seems to me like having a demo version of them and being incomplete, while providing nice versatility, is gonna be a big fat tease from them just not being all the way there. At least as far as narrative goes.

 

[Guile]

Can someone explain why people want one of each of the Fab Four? It seems to me like having a demo version of them and being incomplete, while providing nice versatility, is gonna be a big fat tease from them just not being all the way there. At least as far as narrative goes.

Click to shrink...

I don't mind one way or the other, really. Doing them one at a time rather than all together might be fun from a narrative perspective.

So sure, I'll switch over to [X] Lupin, although I'd rather Goemon~


A few other thoughts:
Still rereading old updates, and I just ran into a fun Yamanaka technique Ino referenced. I forget the exact name, but something like Line of Sight Jutsu? It sounds like it lets you see through other people's eyes. Not hugely useful right now, but if we need the Mind Switch to branch off into that one, we might want to get it sooner rather than later.

And what is Menka planning with the Fortress-born? He couldn't forgive Nekomata BEFORE they came down and killed half his friends and family. What are WE going to do about this? We could probably poke our nose into the fortress under guise of being a scholar or Speaker, but we'd need a hell of a good plan.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

I don't mind one way or the other, really. Doing them one at a time rather than all together might be fun from a narrative perspective.

So sure, I'll switch over to [X] Lupin, although I'd rather Goemon~

Click to shrink...

Eh, I suspect all three would be good. I'm just sharp to Zenigata and Lupin in particular since Furiko has made a point of drawing attention to them. Goemon, well, I pointed out the scenes to be had there myself.

And I seriously want to burn a Z-Slash on Goemon using a Z-Slash in our head. But maybe instead I'll save it to try and invoke, "A new challenger appears!" when we're in a bind.

A few other thoughts:
Still rereading old updates, and I just ran into a fun Yamanaka technique Ino referenced. I forget the exact name, but something like Line of Sight Jutsu? It sounds like it lets you see through other people's eyes. Not hugely useful right now, but if we need the Mind Switch to branch off into that one, we might want to get it sooner rather than later.

Click to shrink...

Yup, I remember that. Furiko didn't being it up though, and it had limited utility so I didn't bother. Good for chunin first exam, but we didn't really need it. It was offered without Shintenshin being mastered though. Still, picking up Yamanaka stuff to take out that Geas is important.

And what is Menka planning with the Fortress-born? He couldn't forgive Nekomata BEFORE they came down and killed half his friends and family. What are WE going to do about this? We could probably poke our nose into the fortress under guise of being a scholar or Speaker, but we'd need a hell of a good plan.

Click to shrink...

This...is true.

Well. If we want to straight up fuck them over, we plan a heist.

For the original Cat Summoning Scroll.

And then we either hold it ransom or have it destroyed. We could try to have them make some horribly unfair agreement in return for getting on our scroll and serving us, but that seems liable to backfire unless we can enforce that really damn well.

There is an appeal is destroying the scroll, but putting them under some genjutsu that convinces them it's still around and they're still ageless and have them ignoring all signs to the contrary.

 

[Jack Trade]

[X] Damn it, why am I even MORE turned on now? "What do you mean Anko-chan? The Chuunin examiners didn't say anything, I assumed that meant I had tacit permission. Just like when Ibiki caught me in the first exam."

I don't care if this doesn't win it's to funny not to vote for plus it feels a little insensitive to use the massacre of Sasuke's entire clan as an excuse to not get kicked out a room.

 

[iamnuff]

[X] Damn it, why am I even MORE turned on now? "What do you mean Anko-chan? The Chuunin examiners didn't say anything, I assumed that meant I had tacit permission.

lets cut out the part about ikibi, other than that, its fine.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Oh, crap, I forgot to close the vote.

Hell, I guess it's okay to leave the what-do-you-do-with-your-time one open. But I'm halfway done with the Anko snip.

 

[iamnuff]

Oh, crap, I forgot to close the vote.

Hell, I guess it's okay to leave the what-do-you-do-with-your-time one open. But I'm halfway done with the Anko snip.

Click to shrink...

oh well, whatever.

I prefered my origional vote anyway.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

You know, at some point we have to tell Anko that we have a perfect memory. Then thank her for the memories.

Preferably while she's bending down looking at us with that delightful not-quite-concealing mesh and open trenchcoat. Ooh, the titillation~

 

[Guile]

You know, at some point we have to tell Anko that we have a perfect memory. Then thank her for the memories.

Preferably while she's bending down looking at us with that delightful not-quite-concealing mesh and open trenchcoat. Ooh, the titillation~

Click to shrink...

She will totally end us. With snakes.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

She will totally end us. With snakes.

Click to shrink...

Whether she succeeds or not probably depends on whether we're so distracted by the sexy our Speed doesn't save us. We outclass her by almost an entire 2 points, if she matches her canon self.

Of course, that's only for the immediate attempt on our life. Revenge is probably coming our way. If not of the violent variety, or if she realizes that only makes us swoon, then by pulling strings to get us assigned to all kinds of shit duties. She'll get hers. And understandably so, getting hit on by an adolescent would be pretty annoying/humiliating.

 

[uju32]

Whether she succeeds or not probably depends on whether we're so distracted by the sexy our Speed doesn't save us. We outclass her by almost an entire 2 points, if she matches her canon self.
Of course, that's only for the immediate attempt on our life. Revenge is probably coming our way. If not of the violent variety, or if she realizes that only makes us swoon, then by pulling strings to get us assigned to all kinds of shit duties. She'll get hers. And understandably so, getting hit on by an adolescent would be pretty annoying/humiliating.

Click to shrink...

Just gives incentive to dip into Poisons and their antidotes.

As for revenge? Me doubts it.
It looks bad for one, and we're actually pretty connected for another.
There are limits to how far you should mess with a clan heir, who is a member of a three clan alliance, whose father heads up Interrogation, and whose sorta uncle Shikaku IS jounin commander.

And to be honest, a halfway competent talker could spin a campaign of shit duty as the reaction of a tsun.
Especially if the fact that you're behind it leaks.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Just gives incentive to dip into Poisons and their antidotes.

As for revenge? Me doubts it.
It looks bad for one, and we're actually pretty connected for another.
There are limits to how far you should mess with a clan heir, who is a member of a three clan alliance, whose father heads up Interrogation, and whose sorta uncle Shikaku IS jounin commander.

Click to shrink...

Oh, most certainly.

On the other hand, if she spins it as, "Teaching the brat a lesson in humility," well, that would work pretty well. We are pretty arrogant and full of ourselves and that's the truth. She doesn't really need to hide it. Certainly, getting others on board means she has to respect boundaries (and crossing those would be unwise even if she weren't), but I really don't think it would take much to get us on someone's shit list.

We did just straight up cheat the Chunin Exam and got caught on tape. This is not the kind of thing Konoha wants to get out to other nations for multiple reasons. So she doesn't even need the personal offense to burn our ass. We've, uh, handed her a fair length of rope as it is. In all seriousness, we really don't want to make her use it.

 

[Selias]

She will totally end us. With snakes.

Click to shrink...

Or, she will snake us. In the end.

 

[uju32]

Oh, most certainly.
On the other hand, if she spins it as, "Teaching the brat a lesson in humility," well, that would work pretty well. We are pretty arrogant and full of ourselves and that's the truth. She doesn't really need to hide it. Certainly, getting others on board means she has to respect boundaries (and crossing those would be unwise even if she weren't), but I really don't think it would take much to get us on someone's shit list.
We did just straight up cheat the Chunin Exam and got caught on tape. This is not the kind of thing Konoha wants to get out to other nations for multiple reasons. So she doesn't even need the personal offense to burn our ass. We've, uh, handed her a fair length of rope as it is. In all seriousness, we really don't want to make her use it.

Click to shrink...

Arrogance isn't an offense in Konoha; both the canon special jounin(Ebisu, Anko) displayed pretty strong indicators of both.
So we're just getting an early start.

I expect there may well be unofficial repercussions for subverting the exam so thoroughly.
But it won't be an Anko thing, to avoid even the appearance of vendetta by someone whose security you defeated.
Probably Asuma will congratulate us, then put us on shit duty for a month or so.
And Shikaku might well have a quiet talk with us.

Then again, Naruto didn't get hit with any penalties for the Scroll heist, so who knows.
And it'll just remind us to make sure to get the cameras next time.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Arrogance isn't an offense in Konoha; both the canon special jounin(Ebisu, Anko) displayed pretty strong indicators of both.
So we're just getting an early start.

Click to shrink...

Ah, but you only get off scot-free for it when you win. Fail to live up to your hype.....well, next time we better aim to make the victory cleaner.

I expect there may well be unofficial repercussions for subverting the exam so thoroughly.
But it won't be an Anko thing, to avoid even the appearance of vendetta by someone whose security you defeated.
Probably Asuma will congratulate us, then put us on shit duty for a month or so.
And Shikaku might well have a quiet talk with us.

Click to shrink...

I doubt she'd be directly assigning the duty, but there's a reason I phrased it as pulling strings. There's ammo to be used against us. She likely doesn't need to do much.

Just be thankful our sensei isn't Kakashi, for once. It's even odds that he'd approve and let us get off scot free, be amused by Anko's revenge and tell us if we can't avoid someone else working outside the rules we should be more careful about stepping on toes ourself, or both.

Then again, people may well look at us and decide the fitting karmic punishment is, in fact, out of proportion punishment for the crime that is, in fact, completely unfair. What's that Ino? You don't like it?

Well, get yourself out of it. Be creative or admit defeat. Konoha either gets a stronger ninja or we get a lesson in humility.

Then again, Naruto didn't get hit with any penalties for the Scroll heist, so who knows.
And it'll just remind us to make sure to get the cameras next time.

Click to shrink...

Eh, the main reason this is a problem is likely because it's an international event.

 

[uju32]

Ah, but you only get off scot-free for it when you win. Fail to live up to your hype.....well, next time we better aim to make the victory cleaner.

Click to shrink...

Ah, but we did.
It was an exam after all, and the one constant is "Show your work".


Seriously, I doubt Ino wouldn't have considered cameras, not when she had a Hyuuga scan the place.

I doubt she'd be directly assigning the duty, but there's a reason I phrased it as pulling strings. There's ammo to be used against us. She likely doesn't need to do much.
Just be thankful our sensei isn't Kakashi, for once. It's even odds that he'd approve and let us get off scot free, be amused by Anko's revenge and tell us if we can't avoid someone else working outside the rules we should be more careful about stepping on toes ourself, or both.

Click to shrink...

That would be hilarious though.
He might just set us up against each other and watch the fireworks.

Then again, people may well look at us and decide the fitting karmic punishment is, in fact, out of proportion punishment for the crime that is, in fact, completely unfair. What's that Ino? You don't like it?
Well, get yourself out of it. Be creative or admit defeat. Konoha either gets a stronger ninja or we get a lesson in humility.

Click to shrink...

Not sure they want us escalating like that.
Asuma's had us long enough to know to set clear ground rules of what is NOT permissible.

But Naruto dubbed Jiraiya Pervert Hermit, Tsunade Old Woman, Ebisu something else, and the Hokage a variety of names.
And he wasn't shy about using them in public.

Eh, the main reason this is a problem is likely because it's an international event.

Click to shrink...

True.

 

[mkire]

[X] ._.; "... um, yeah, a-actually. I mean, officially, no one noticed when my best friend's brother killed his whole family in one night and ran off with the corpses, so I tend to assume 'security' is kind of an optional feature in this town."
-->[X] "Also, I heard one of my classmates made Genin by literally breaking into the Hokage tower and holding a sacred scroll hostage or something?"

[x] Lupin the Third

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Ah, but we did.
It was an exam after all, and the one constant is "Show your work".

Click to shrink...

But we got caught. We got away for the moment but we left hard, conclusive evidence. I put that under, "Close, but not quite there."

Seriously, I doubt Ino wouldn't have considered cameras, not when she had a Hyuuga scan the place.

Click to shrink...

Excuses for getting caught does not change the fact that, well, we got caught. Living up to your arrogance means living up all the way.

That would be hilarious though.
He might just set us up against each other and watch the fireworks.

Click to shrink...

Oh it'd be hysterical, I have no doubt. For him to be sure.

Not sure they want us escalating like that.
Asuma's had us long enough to know to set clear ground rules of what is NOT permissible.

Click to shrink...

Let's be honest, we wouldn't listen to those either if we really thought we could get away with it. Authority and us are probably always gonna have problems. They may just decide that since as the Clan Heir we ain't going anywhere to make a blessing of a curse, and then set us loose on Konoha's enemies.

But Naruto dubbed Jiraiya Pervert Hermit, Tsunade Old Woman, Ebisu something else, and the Hokage a variety of names.
And he wasn't shy about using them in public.

Click to shrink...

I categorize that as, well, hot air and talk. Plus he's the walking nuclear bomb, so you know. A level of special treatment, aside from being outright favored by three of the four.

 

[uju32]

But we got caught. We got away for the moment but we left hard, conclusive evidence. I put that under, "Close, but not quite there."
Excuses for getting caught does not change the fact that, well, we got caught. Living up to your arrogance means living up all the way.

Click to shrink...

Again, did we?
Remember, the point of the exam is not just to win, but to display the thinking and initiative necessary to prove yourself worthy of chuunin status.
That means showing your work.

And Ino has previous experience that examiners can't be relied on to capture nuance; remember she only got named Kunoichi of the Year(instead of Rookie) because she focused on winning her taijutsu matches, not on showing her skill in it.

Let's be honest, we wouldn't listen to those either if we really thought we could get away with it. Authority and us are probably always gonna have problems. They may just decide that since as the Clan Heir we ain't going anywhere to make a blessing of a curse, and then set us loose on Konoha's enemies.

Click to shrink...

True.

I categorize that as, well, hot air and talk. Plus he's the walking nuclear bomb, so you know. A level of special treatment, aside from being outright favored by three of the four.

Click to shrink...

Perhaps.
Depends on how Furiko plays it here.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Again, did we?

Click to shrink...

Yes. We are on camera. There is physical evidence of our actions. Anko is confronting and calling us out on it not a day after we did so.

We have been caught.

Remember, the point of the exam is not just to win, but to display the thinking and initiative necessary to prove yourself worthy of chuunin status.
That means showing your work.

Click to shrink...

We didn't know it was there. It's not like we waved to the cameras. We also subverted what was meant to test combat skill and gave the means to other teams, like SSS, to avoid that potentially.

And Ino has previous experience that examiners can't be relied on to capture nuance; remember she only got named Kunoichi of the Year(instead of Rookie) because she focused on winning her taijutsu matches, not on showing her skill in it.

Click to shrink...

We won taijutsu that way, but we had other things recommending us too you know. And that is a very different arena and very different matter.

Why are you so intent on trying to weasel word your way out of this? We're busted. We are now on clearly on damage control. Stop trying to play it off like, "Oh yeah, TOTALLY meant to do that."

We own up, and move on.

 

[uju32]

Yes. We are on camera. There is physical evidence of our actions. Anko is confronting and calling us out on it not a day after we did so.
We have been caught.
We didn't know it was there. It's not like we waved to the cameras. We also subverted what was meant to test combat skill and gave the means to other teams, like SSS, to avoid that potentially.

Click to shrink...

You miss my point.
Did we get caught because we didn't notice, or did we get caught intentionally?
There's evidence for the latter; there's no way HINATA didn't notice the cameras, even if we didn't, and she scanned the place for us.

And as for waving to the cameras, we WERE in the middle of a heist, with multiple moving parts, and trying to project a mournful image at the prospect of disqualification
A cheerful wave to the cameras in the presence of witnesses would have been OOC.

We won taijutsu that way, but we had other things recommending us too you know. And that is a very different arena and very different matter.

Click to shrink...

Yes we did.
The major reason we didn't make Rookie was because our taijutsu was adjudged subpar, and it was judged that way because we didn't show our work then after having to return to our class post-Neji graduation.

There are clear parallels between that Konoha exam and this Konoha exam.

Why are you so intent on trying to weasel word your way out of this? We're busted. We are now on clearly on damage control. Stop trying to play it off like, "Oh yeah, TOTALLY meant to do that."

Click to shrink...

I am drawing an alternative set of conclusions from the demonstrated facts; it's allowed.

And because even if you're completely right , bullshit is well within Lupin's characterization afaict.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

You miss my point.
Did we get caught because we didn't notice, or did we get caught intentionally?

Click to shrink...

Because we didn't notice. Because Ino has ducked cameras before and if we had known about the cameras the smart thing to do would be to cover them ahead of time and give a measure of plausible deniability. There is showing off, and then there is leaving hard evidence of your cheating before you've even finished the exam you're cheating for.

Also, if Ino had known, Furiko would almost certainly have given us an option to say exactly that, however unwise it would be.

Finally, this was a Rihaku-style brainstorm session, and I don't believe a single person mentioned cameras so we don't necssarily get the benefit of that. Not clever enough.

There's evidence for the latter; there's no way HINATA didn't notice the cameras, even if we didn't, and she scanned the place for us.

Click to shrink...

I question that if they're discreet enough actually, as if she weren't looking for them....

And as for waving to the cameras, we WERE in the middle of a heist, with multiple moving parts, and trying to project a mournful image at the prospect of disqualification
A cheerful wave to the cameras in the presence of witnesses would have been OOC.

Click to shrink...

Because we totally didn't have these people under a genjutsu and seeing only what we want them to see.

Yes we did.
The major reason we didn't make Rookie was because our taijutsu was adjudged subpar, and it was judged that way because we didn't show our work then after having to return to our class post-Neji graduation.

There are clear parallels between that Konoha exam and this Konoha exam.

Click to shrink...

Asking for a citation now, I do not remember that. I don't think you're lying, but I don't remember it and there is a difference between not showing our skills and straight up cheating an exam.

I am drawing an alternative set of conclusions from the demonstrated facts; it's allowed.

And because even if you're completely right , bullshit is well within Lupin's characterization afaict.

Click to shrink...

Lupin, certainly. Us, less so. All well and good to be an audacious arrogant shit IC, OOC we should be keeping a cooler head.

But your jest is taken for what it is.

 

[Vindictus]

... I see you two are having fun repeating yourselves this lovely evening.

 

[FurikoMaru]

... hell with it. You have the full attention of a beautiful woman and whether she decides to kill you or not, the most important thing is to make an impression! Cool, Ino; think cool! The nervous smile drops off your face.

[X] "... yeah, actually."

Ami lets out a choked squeak behind you. Kiba and Akamaru share an audible facepalm.

Before she can reply, you add, "I mean, officially, no one noticed when my best friend's brother killed his whole family in one night and ran off with the corpses, so I tend to assume 'security' is kind of an optional feature in this town."

"You-!"

You hold your breath, and wait for her little pet to latch onto your nose like a vice.

Menka stares unblinking at the Mamushi from his perch on your shoulder, as if daring it to try something. The snake is almost certainly faster than he is, but you appreciate the thought.

"... hmph. No denying you've got balls," Anko says, lowering her arm. "But a smart mouth and some parlour tricks aren't going to be worth jack in the finals. You're not going to defeat that Oto crumbsnatcher with a little quip and a smile."

"Maybe not," you reply, "but you have to admit it'd be damn impressive if I did."

"The key word in that sentence is 'if', half-pint." She puts her hands on her hips. "Your file says your taijutsu is pathetic and your ninjutsu is bog-standard. I don't know what Asuma was thinking sending you into the exams this early - you've been a genin what, five months?"

"Yeah, and we've already had a B-rank mission," Kiba points out, crossing his arms.

"Whoa-ho, looks like we've got a badass over here," Anko says, raising her hands in a mock-defensive position. "A single B-rank fighting bandits and redneck-nin with your jounin-sensei and a half-dozen taijutsu masters on hand? That's what you point to? Go tell Sabaku no Gaara that and watch his sister blow you into the stratosphere because you aren't worth his time to fight."

Kiba scowls. "Listen, lady-"

"Excuse me," Ami blurts out. Her cheeks pinken lightly as the rest of you look over at her, and she awkwardly puts down the toiletry bag she'd been in the process of unpacking when the tokubetsu jounin showed up.

"Before this conversation goes any further... can you prove you're actually Anko-san?"

Anko's expression takes on a peculiar, measuring aspect. "And the moon-faced fake-crier joins the conversation. You're the big kenjutsu prodigy, yeah?"
Suigetsu
"Please answer my question," Ami says politely, but with a hint of her usual heat.

Anko nods, pulling out and unrolling a small mission scroll with the Hokage's seal stamped at the bottom. "There. My orders to serve as examiner. That a bright enough lantern for you?"
Hozuki
Ami looks slightly distressed. "... no," she says finally, "I'm sorry, but can we see your ID and a snipping from your hair as well?"

Anko lets out a bark of laughter. "Are you serious?"

"Ami, c'mon," you say, "you think I wouldn't check? Her chakra sounds exactly like Anko's."

"And you think someone who could take out a special jounin couldn't possibly have some way to fake that?" Ami retorts, trembling slightly as she slips into a battojutsu stance. "I reiterate, 'Anko-san'-"

"Ami," you say quietly, your eyes flicking in the direction of the woman's neck for just a fraction of a second, "I can tell it's her."

That gets you a sharp look from Anko as she hands over her ID and reaches for her hair.

"Wait." You hold up a hand, and pull a pair of sewing scissors out of your pocket. "If we're doing this, we're doing it right." Reaching upon tip-toe, you snip a few short strands from the tip of Anko's elaborate ponytail. She raises an eyebrow, but makes no move to stop you.

So it is a seal. An old one, too; she's had it a long time. But... it doesn't seem to be doing anything. It's like it's just a tattoo. What's that about?

"God, you're worse than the Kiri kids," the snake mistress grumbles as you pull back, heart still pounding. "Have you settled your doubts yet, or do you want a blood sample, too?"
kekkei genkai
"Ino? Kiba?" Ami asks, not taking her eyes off Anko.

"The scent adds up, but I could have told you that before," Kiba says, slightly off-put by where this conversation has ended up. "Akamaru?" The dog snuffles in confirmation.

You sigh, and smile fondly at your friend. "I just said, I know it's her. If she were wearing a mask I'd have smelt the spirit gum, if she were henge'd that haircut would've dispelled it, and she's a jounin - if she were under involuntary Shintenshin she'd look like she has to pee really bad. The only other possibility I can think of is that she's a zombie." You turn your grin on Anko. "You're not, right?"

"If I were I could've eaten your brains in the time the three of you stood around chatting about this instead of attacking me," she retorts.

"Not if you were a genius-zombie," Kiba points out, with the authority of a man who has seen Impure Resurrection ten times in the theatre. "Then waiting us out and gaining our trust would've been exactly your MO."

"I'm not a damn zombie!"

"Well, that's good to hear!" you say brightly.

"I'm truly sorry, Anko-san," Ami says, bowing. "But I've been friends with Ino for eight years, and after a while... it just makes more sense to assume that everyone's in disguise."

"Well it's nice to know she doesn't own the only brain on your team," Anko says dryly, tucking her mission scroll and ID back into her pockets. "After that totally transparent helpless-princess act back there I wondered."

Ami sets her jaw defiantly. "Transparent to a jounin, sure. But I wasn't facing a jounin. If it works, it isn't transparent."

Your eyes bug.

... did someone forget to mark Good Girls Find Their Backbone Day on my calendar or something? What's next, is Hinata going to introduce Lee-sempai to her father?

Anko snorts. "More tough talk. Don't tell me you haven't got anything else to offer." She holds out her hand for the hairclippings, which you give back. It's just good manners, after all.

"So if you aren't some other contestant in disguise fishing for intel on us, why are you asking about what we can do?" Kiba asks, frowning. "It should all be in our files, right?"

"Oh, paperwork tells such an impersonal story," Anko says airily. "I prefer the hands-on touch you only get from goading people into taking a swing atcha."

"What a coincidence!" you say cheerfully, pirouetting behind her. "So do I."

*vwoop!*

*taptaptaptaptap*

The hairpins holding Anko's updo in place fall to the floor with a clatter. Her dark hair tumbles loose down her back.

"Ah, I thought so!" You complete your turn, in front of her once again, and gesticulate in what you believe to be a suave and romantic manner. "You look even more radiant with it down."

Anko appears to be in shock. This is handy, as you aren't sure you can survive a snakebite even with all the medicines Kiba's carrying, whereas you're confident that if Ami hasn't killed you yet, she's not likely to now.

"Are! you! com! plete! ly! in! sane!" she hollers in your face, shaking you backwards and forwards on each syllable. "I'm sorry, Anko-san, I promise she isn't insubordinate; she's just an idiot."

"... heh."

Oooooooh, that's a dark sound.

"Maybe you aren't a complete waste after all," Anko says, with a smirk that is half a glare. She turns and walks down the hall. "Keep the room. And while you're here, don't get your blood on my nice clean tower; the colour will be richer if you fall in the arena."

"... tsundere are so magical," you say, starry-eyed.

"Ugh, will you make up your mind already?" Ami says, shaking her head. "Boys or girls, whatever, just pick a side and stick with it."

"Impossible!" you declare jubilantly, snapping open your fan dramatically. "I must have them both!"

"... what the fuck is a tsundere?" Kiba asks.

=

In light of the intel Anko (and that one loose-lipped chuunin) have handed you, how will you help your fellow Konoha-nin prepare for the finals?*

[X] Write-in. You'll likely only be able to significantly help two people, but your overall rep and capacity to work with your comrades as a whole will go up if you help more than two. The Hina-Shika-Cho are downstairs by the kitchen, and Team Office Lady will be here tomorrow morning, giving them four days to prepare. The Mist Pretty Boys will be here tomorrow afternoon, and Gaara and co. should be here in about five hours.

Ha, I had a French Immersion moment writing this; for a second I almost thought fixant was an English word.

* Remember that at present Ino has no way of knowing how many people are going to get through the forest, so she doesn't yet know there'll be a preliminary bout.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Ack. Fixed the formatting, go read it properly.

 

[Vindictus]

RE French immersion- Isn't that how English became, well, english? We've got the scrubbiest murderhobo of languages, following others down dark alleys and shanking them for spare nouns and verbs.

Also, you know you invisibled half the thing, right? Nevermind

 

[uju32]

Because we didn't notice. Because Ino has ducked cameras before and if we had known about the cameras the smart thing to do would be to cover them ahead of time and give a measure of plausible deniability. There is showing off, and then there is leaving hard evidence of your cheating before you've even finished the exam you're cheating for.
Also, if Ino had known, Furiko would almost certainly have given us an option to say exactly that, however unwise it would be.
Finally, this was a Rihaku-style brainstorm session, and I don't believe a single person mentioned cameras so we don't necssarily get the benefit of that. Not clever enough.

Click to shrink...

Not if the security cameras are only there for review in the event of an incident; there's good reason to believe that they aren't being monitored in realtime.
If they were, disabling them would just set off the alarm early anyway.

And there's the point about time constraints if you're trying to disable a strange security camera system; you might remember the entire heist took ~40 seconds.
And the exterior of the scrollhut was entirely visible to multiple teams.

And while you have a point about brainstorming, I trusted Ino to abort in the event of overwhelming odds.

I question that if they're discreet enough actually, as if she weren't looking for them....

Click to shrink...

This requires a GM ruling I guess.

Because we totally didn't have these people under a genjutsu and seeing only what we want them to see.

Click to shrink...

We were manipulating multiple elements, physical and genjutsu wise.
You'll notice that Ino was always clearly visible; the genjutsu was to obscure others.
The more stuff you change, the more likely shit is to go wrong.

Asking for a citation now, I do not remember that. I don't think you're lying, but I don't remember it and there is a difference between not showing our skills and straight up cheating an exam.

Click to shrink...

I'll see you in hell, Pachelbel
http://questionablequesting.com/index.php?topic=83.msg14403#msg14403

Lupin, certainly. Us, less so. All well and good to be an audacious arrogant shit IC, OOC we should be keeping a cooler head.
But your jest is taken for what it is.

Click to shrink...

We should, but do we?
Really?
And this is possibly one of those audacity moments ie"You were meant to see me, otherwise how would you promote me for being clever?"
Look at the Team Kakashi omake with Kakuzu; plausible bullshit is in Ino's line.

EDIT And ninja'd by update.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Does this count as starting a relationship with Anko?