Cosmos Quest (Naruto/Lupin III)

[Vindictus]

Drat, you mean we could have used the Bringer of Darkness haxx and not alienated Sasuke?

EDIT- Also, seconding Guiles 'Can we keep voting for the Genjutsu we got' because between Guile, Uju and I I'm pretty sure BoD has as much support as the other build does.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

And the first monkey wrench is thrown.

Enjoyin' yourself Furiko?

And good lord people, yes Bringer of Darkness is nice. We are pretty damned light on personal offense though and Tree Binding Death is a confirmed shit wrecker in our hands.

Also, getting BoD from Kurenai just feels cheap to me. Hey, this young jounin has the Hokage's uber-jutsu, go nuts.

 

[FurikoMaru]

I'll open 'er back up if you can prove to me there's a majority willing to switch their votes from Tree Binding to Bringer of Darkness. It won't come up for another couple updates anyway, I don't think, so it's not a big deal. Go nuts.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

*sighs*

And here we go. Although when you say switch their votes do you mean, "The people who voted for genjutsu" are still the ones deciding here, or people who didn't vote for genjutsu don't get a vote and you misspoke? Just clarifying.

I still recommend Tree Binding Death. Kurenai can teach us no question, and it'd be a very strong, "You no move cause you my bitch" jutsu, given our prodigious skill with genjutsu.

Click to shrink...

It would at that. It's excellent if you want a Pacifist Run.

Click to shrink...

Bringer of Darkness, very nice, I know. Tree Binding Death also rips people up in this exam

 

[Vindictus]

Bringer of Darkness is 'Fuck you, you're blind'.

Wait, no, scratch that- BoD is 'Fuck you, the horse you rode in on, and all your friends- You're all blind.'

So, I guess the question is- Which status effect do we prefer, Paralyze or Mass Blind?

 

[FurikoMaru]

Well, there aren't really that many people following the quest in the first place, so I'd imagine anyone voting now would need to convince at least a few of the TBD fans to change their minds to get a majority.

 

[hunter09]

[X] Loudly announce that it's hopeless, tell only your friends that these guys are chuunin and casting a genjutsu, leave the building, and wall-walk up the outside to get to the third floor without tipping off the other candidates.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

....Huh, yeah, turns out the vote count under genjutsu wasn't updated Furiko. For the individual jutsu at least. Or there was a typo.

Vindictus: I wouldn't underestimate Paralyze. Because someone 'merely' blinded is asking for them to lay down saturation fire if they've got the jutsu, and smart money says that yes, we will have some wild cards who can do that.

Trust me, I am aware of the havoc blindness can cause. Ask uju, Anko Quest screwed us well and good with something very close to total blindness. Even then, the main thing keeping us from wrecking the place around us was not want gratuitous property damage, and not wanted to hurt an ally. I can see Bringer of Darkness being a good step one to beating the tar out of someone with our speed. Assuming we can move while keeping the genjutsu up and attack effectively.

But look at our move list. Our offense is SEVERELY lacking. We're not even up to chunin level with taijutsu and our tessen still isn't anything special. So being able to truss someone up like a turkey with our mind? It's got a definite appeal. Also, if blinding them means we can't use Throne on them, that is a definite con.

Although I am assuming that in our hands, both are ridiculously hard to dispel once we've placed it on a person. And that we can still take action while maintaining the genjutsu.



EDIT: Also, kinda tempted to do our own False Surrounds Double Layer, except as soon as they dispel it halfway up the staircase they think a big bundle of explosive notes are about to go off in front of them.

Cue delicious panic.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

...And I'm probably gonna get ripped for this one, but now that this plot hole is in my head.

If Bringer of Darkness is interpreted as wrecking a Sharingan, or at least inconveniencing it, and Kurenai is presumed to know it, they why on earth wouldn't she use it to (try to) punk Itachi's ass in canon? In fact it's an all around good way for a genjutsu user for utterly screw over a normal Uchiha, which politically probably means it's a kinjutsu because Uchiha no like that shit.

I get that this is AU, there are differences, but....yeah, Kurenai knowing BoD doesn't sit quite right with me and was part of the reason I choose TBD. Even if I do drool in its direction. So if narratively Furiko says we can only have one high rank jutsu from Kurenai, what's the narrative reason for it being available to learn?

Sorry guys. Believe me, I could be pretty happy with either winning, but this feels like the kind of thing we'd need to nick off the Forbidden Scroll or get Sarutobi himself to teach us.

EDIT: I will try to make amends for throwing this argument at BoD, maybe Sarutobi made BoD wider known amongst genjutsu specialists precisely because Itachi?

Wait, no, Itachi's still supposedly on Konoha's side so Sarutobi wouldn't want it. But maybe political leverage from someone to get it out? Or Kurenai pulling strings to get us cleared for it because Itachi is coming?

Eh, we don't seem close enough for her to put her neck on the line for us. But I tried.

 

[cyberswordsmen]

[x] BoD

Mass blindness for the win. We are fast enough to dodge their attempts at saturation fire if they are firing at random.

[X] Loudly announce that it's hopeless, tell only your friends that these guys are chuunin and casting a genjutsu, leave the building, and wall-walk up the outside to get to the third floor without tipping off the other candidates.

 

[Vindictus]

...And I'm probably gonna get ripped for this one, but now that this plot hole is in my head.

If Bringer of Darkness is interpreted as wrecking a Sharingan, or at least inconveniencing it, and Kurenai is presumed to know it, they why on earth wouldn't she use it to (try to) punk Itachi's ass in canon? In fact it's an all around good way for a genjutsu user for utterly screw over a normal Uchiha, which politically probably means it's a kinjutsu because Uchiha no like that shit.

I get that this is AU, there are differences, but....yeah, Kurenai knowing BoD doesn't sit quite right with me and was part of the reason I choose TBD. Even if I do drool in its direction. So if narratively Furiko says we can only have one high rank jutsu from Kurenai, what's the narrative reason for it being available to learn?

Sorry guys. Believe me, I could be pretty happy with either winning, but this feels like the kind of thing we'd need to nick off the Forbidden Scroll or get Sarutobi himself to teach us.

Click to shrink...

Because not everyone does the perfect thing at the perfect time? EG, Kurenai's decision was not decided by a bunch of min-maxers with time to debate the pros and cons of her actions for a while- It was a spur of the moment thing in a fight.

TBD is Kurenai's signature move. It makes sense for her to use a move she's familiar with when faced with a major threat, rather then one she's not as familiar with, simply because she's got the one down reflexively.

And given it is Tobirama's signature move, it'd be kind of silly if it didn't work against the Sharingan. You know, what with the Senju being at war with the Uchiha and Madara being Tobirama's dramatic rival and such. It would be designed with the Dojutsu- Or at least, the basic/common form of it- in mind.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Because not everyone does the perfect thing at the perfect time? EG, Kurenai's decision was not decided by a bunch of min-maxers with time to debate the pros and cons of her actions for a while- It was a spur of the moment thing in a fight.

Click to shrink...

She is a jounin, and....let's face it, Uchiha Itachi probably has a goddamn list of things to do in case of encountering him, usually running. But Bringer of Darkness, if it screwed over the Sharingan, would be very high up there. Probably very close to, "Don't use genjutsu on the S-Rank Uchiha Genjutsu Specialist," but Kurenai did that too. Hell, with Bringer of Darkness massacring the Clan probably wouldn't even take an S-Rank monster like Itachi.

And let's face it, who DOESN'T want to blind an Uchiha at some point?

TBD is Kurenai's signature move. It makes sense for her to use a move she's familiar with when faced with a major threat, rather then one she's not as familiar with, simply because she's got the one down reflexively.

Click to shrink...

Yeah....but ITACHI. UCHIHA. Blinding the bastard oughta be real damn high up the priority list and Asuma was buying her time.

 

[FurikoMaru]

She didn't know it in canon. She does know it here. There is a reason.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

She didn't know it in canon. She does know it here. There is a reason.

Click to shrink...

*raises eyebrow*

Well then, as long as there is a good one....

 

[uju32]

[X] The Exam Arc's Million-Dollar Debut
*snip*
Hahahahaha! You thought Kakashi would enter them in the exams without Sasuke's Sharingan activating and the Wave arc building up their bonds of friendship?

Click to shrink...

Huh.
So at least we don't have to worry about his getting mugged in the Forest; we only have to worry about our own skin.
Lol!Kiba by the way.

...And I'm probably gonna get ripped for this one, but now that this plot hole is in my head.

If Bringer of Darkness is interpreted as wrecking a Sharingan, or at least inconveniencing it, and Kurenai is presumed to know it, they why on earth wouldn't she use it to (try to) punk Itachi's ass in canon? In fact it's an all around good way for a genjutsu user for utterly screw over a normal Uchiha, which politically probably means it's a kinjutsu because Uchiha no like that shit.
I get that this is AU, there are differences, but....yeah, Kurenai knowing BoD doesn't sit quite right with me and was part of the reason I choose TBD. Even if I do drool in its direction. So if narratively Furiko says we can only have one high rank jutsu from Kurenai, what's the narrative reason for it being available to learn?
Sorry guys. Believe me, I could be pretty happy with either winning, but this feels like the kind of thing we'd need to nick off the Forbidden Scroll or get Sarutobi himself to teach us.
EDIT: I will try to make amends for throwing this argument at BoD, maybe Sarutobi made BoD wider known amongst genjutsu specialists precisely because Itachi?
Wait, no, Itachi's still supposedly on Konoha's side so Sarutobi wouldn't want it. But maybe political leverage from someone to get it out? Or Kurenai pulling strings to get us cleared for it because Itachi is coming?
Eh, we don't seem close enough for her to put her neck on the line for us. But I tried.

Click to shrink...

I can think of several reasons:
1) Itachi is an S-class nin.
Sarutobi was still able to engage in blind-fighting against multiple S-class zombies; it's a fair guess that Itachi would manage it against one A-class jounin.
Especially with a partner.

2)Tree Binding Death may have been faster for her to cast; she was basically within lunging distance when combat started.

3)Itachi referred to her as Kurenai-sensei in their fight, indicating she was one of his tutors; she may have gone for a genjutsu type prior experience indicated he was weak against.
Kabuto did demonstrate that Uchiha are vulnerable to non-visual genjutsu.

4)Tree Binding Death was a Kurenai original; much less likely he'd seen or heard of it, than Bringer of Darkness, which is famous as a signature Tobirama move.

5)She may not have been done internalizing it into her skillset.
There is a difference between knowing how to do something, and producing it at a moments notice.
You might wanna remember that Kakashi knows Rasengan, despite not using it in combat.


In summary, you can object about it's power, but A-rank techniques in the hands of a master are what you expect.
And I think you underestimate Kurenai way too much; granted, Kishi doesn't handle his females very well.
Still she was considered capable enough to tutor and protect 3 clan heirs(2 in canon).
She didn't get that rating and a 5 in genjutsu by sucking eggs.
Especially in the absence of a doujutsu, bloodline or clan.

EDIT And ninja'd.

 

[Unclouded]

I'll go ahead and back Bringer of Darkness as well. The way we're set up we're not much of a combat type. We're an infiltration type that resorts to combat as a last resort. Bringer of Darkness seems most standard for infiltration gone bad as our highest priority is getting away if discovered. In a straight up fight yeah I'd agree with the other one though. I still think we have time to master other genjutsu in the month between the finals assuming we don't get paired up with anyone from Kuranai's team (assuming she even put her team in the exams as Sasuke not being in them threw me for a loop).

[X] Loudly announce that it's hopeless, tell only your friends that these guys are chuunin and casting a genjutsu, leave the building, and wall-walk up the outside to get to the third floor without tipping off the other candidates.

Less people not ready for the exams the better.

 

[Guile]

*sighs*

And here we go. Although when you say switch their votes do you mean, "The people who voted for genjutsu" are still the ones deciding here, or people who didn't vote for genjutsu don't get a vote and you misspoke? Just clarifying.

Bringer of Darkness, very nice, I know. Tree Binding Death also rips people up in this exam

Click to shrink...

Bringer of Darkness the second exam is a thing of beauty. 'Oh yeah, quarter mile of the forest is now blind. In the super deadly forest. Have fun~'

Tree Binding is a one-target thing, and thus of much more use in the 3rd exam.

 

[Jack Trade]

[X] Loudly announce that it's hopeless, tell only your friends that these guys are chuunin and casting a genjutsu, leave the building, and wall-walk up the outside to get to the third floor without tipping off the other candidates.

 

[Selias]

[X] Loudly announce that it's hopeless, tell only your friends that these guys are chuunin and casting a genjutsu, leave the building, and wall-walk up the outside to get to the third floor without tipping off the other candidates.

 

[LightMage]

[X] Loudly announce that it's hopeless, tell only your friends that these guys are chuunin and casting a genjutsu, leave the building, and wall-walk up the outside to get to the third floor without tipping off the other candidates.


I missed the voting for the training. I was distracted by Creeper World 3's release!

But I'm fine with what we got from it.

 

[uju32]

Okay.
Lemme ask a question:
Do we actually want more people disqualified at this point?
How does it benefit us?
We are good enough to avoid or overpower the scrubs, and the more teams we have around at this stage, the more ablative armor we have between us and the actually dangerous teams.

So how does it benefit us to get them disqualified now?
Would it not be superior strategy to let them get in to the exams?

And while Ino tends to go for flash, she does know about being discreet when necessary.
None but the dumbest or those who didn't do their homework would believe Konoha's Kunoichi of the Year would quit loudly.
You'd give away both the fact of something odd, and the fact that we're good enough to see through it to those with eyes.
Which means giving away pre-match intel for free.
And we're being rated even now.

The way I see it, we have two options:
1) Sneak away and say nothing.
2) Blow the whole charade open as flashily as possible.
I doubt misdirection will cut it.

 

[Guile]

I hate to assume, but I think any foreign nin that recognizes us and knows our proclivities will be able to spot and defeat the genjutsu, because they are not scrubs.

That said, it is an interesting plan to try and HELP the scrubs pass, to serve as a buffer. Or maybe we should seek to ensure all the Konoha teams pass?

 

[uju32]

I hate to assume, but I think any foreign nin that recognizes us and knows our proclivities will be able to spot and defeat the genjutsu, because they are not scrubs.

Click to shrink...

Thing is, we may not have been noticed yet.
There are a lot of shinobi here after all.

But if we do go yelling we're certain to be recognized; I'm pretty certain that foreign villages would have files on the genin teams of elite jounin, almost as soon as they were formed.
And Asuma qualifies.
The smart would have done their research, or been briefed by their village Intelligence so they put in a good showing.

That said, it is an interesting plan to try and HELP the scrubs pass, to serve as a buffer. Or maybe we should seek to ensure all the Konoha teams pass?

Click to shrink...

Team 7 did do this in canon.
Sasuke first blew the cover off the chuunin manipulating the genjutsu.
Naruto then got a lot of prospective quitters to stay before the tenth question.
Problem is, neither of them had any sort of long term strategy when doing this; Sasuke wanted to show off while cheering up Sakura(amazing how much not-a-dick he was then), and Naruto was just venting.

Of course, question here of morality: is it moral to make it easier for scrubs to enter a potentially lethal exam?
For your own benefit?
I dunno how Ino would answer that.

 

[LightMage]

Huh I hadn't thought of that Uju.

I'm thinking it might be better for us to just silently slip past. It won't draw as much attention to us, while anyone who knows of us will see us when we yell out how it is impossible. On the other hand, anyone who knows us, like our fellow Academy students, will know that we'd never give up that easily. That will signal to any of them that there is more to this than meets the eye.

 

[iamnuff]

[X] let your team know, then sneak in.

don't bother with misdirection or breaking open the trick, just bypass it, quietly if possible, but if not, then its not a big deal.


also, BoD has my vote.


we really need to pick up some offensive tricks soon.


then again, at this point naruto had clones, and Sasuke had, like 2/3 Katon and some wire tricks.

I think we might be ahead of the curve here.

that said, there's a reason i was voting for razor-wind tessen.

It would have enhanced out melee abilities, and given us a lethal ninjutsu.

remember that no matter how many cool jutsu we learn, we are limited by low chakra.

something fast, close-ranged and very lethal would be best for our "oh shit" button.

the thing about being fast is that if you do more than just punch people, its incredibly OP.

watch a rock-lee fightscene some time, or a Neji one. they land a lot of hits, but their foe just shrugs it off. "i'm a tough guy" style.

now imagine that Neji did his 32 palms thing while holding knives instead of using his fancy "internal organ damage" attacks, well, saying that... organ damage should be lethal too, but everyone except Hinata seems to be able to ignore it.

using speedblitz tacitics basically insures that we get a couple of hits in, at the very least. we aren't like lee or Neji, who would waste them on mere punches and kicks.


bladed weapon? a single hit can kill. or atleast wound. which will slow them down, giving us MORE free hits.
Razor wind? basically impossible to block with a normal weapon. capable of cutting through flesh and bone alike...


sorry for rant, its 4am and this whole "i'm faster than you, but i'm going to try to wear you down, instead of ending the fight in 3 attacks" thing has been bothering me since the first time I saw Ranma punch a dude 30 times in the exact same spot to try and hurt him, instead of exploiting his insane speed to jab him in the throat or some shit.

 

[Serous]

Been a long, long time since I last participated in this quest...

[X] Tell only your friends that these guys are chuunin and casting a genjutsu, and climb the stairs to the third floor.

Having more scrubs would always be useful in the second and third exams. Having only strong teams would cause us to waste more time and resources in the latter tests. The scrubs can be used as fodder, after all.

Also, I'm partial to Bringer of Darkness.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Bringer of Darkness the second exam is a thing of beauty. 'Oh yeah, quarter mile of the forest is now blind. In the super deadly forest. Have fun~'

Tree Binding is a one-target thing, and thus of much more use in the 3rd exam.

Click to shrink...

Only if we can target people even if we don't know they're there. If we have to designate and locate each target, much less so. All depends on how much chakra it takes to keep it up and for how many people.

And Tree Binding a single person means that at best, a team is now outnumbered and one person is disabled. Our team has five members. And considering how fast we can move and act we can probably immobilize, pop, rinse and repeat genin pretty fast.

BoD seems to be gaining headway though. Let's hope it lives up to expectations. It'll help with the Stealth build I guess, but....well, I'm gonna be pretty sad to be without a good OHKO move. Better not get separated from our team, instead of a Glass Cannon we're gonna be Fragile Speedster.

 

[Guile]

Only if we can target people even if we don't know they're there. If we have to designate and locate each target, much less so. All depends on how much chakra it takes to keep it up and for how many people.

And Tree Binding a single person means that at best, a team is now outnumbered and one person is disabled. Our team has five members. And considering how fast we can move and act we can probably immobilize, pop, rinse and repeat genin pretty fast.

BoD seems to be gaining headway though. Let's hope it lives up to expectations. It'll help with the Stealth build I guess, but....well, I'm gonna be pretty sad to be without a good OHKO move. Better not get separated from our team, instead of a Glass Cannon we're gonna be Fragile Speedster.

Click to shrink...

I wouldn't dub Tree Bind as glass cannon. It's just another way to lock targets down.

We don't really have any strictly offensive techniques.

 

[FurikoMaru]

[X] Walk This Way

Pulling Lee by his arm into your group, you whisper, "Talk to me like you're pissed off about something."

"Why?" Kiba asks, confused.

"Does this look like the third floor to you? Those guys have a False Surroundings genjutsu going. And from what I can sense, they're probably chuunin under a henge."

Lee blinks. "Surely we should inform the others!"

"Tell your teammates, sure," you say 'grouchily', "but if we pretend to give up and go outside, we can wall-walk up to the third floor without letting everyone else through and broadening our field of competition."

Ami and Kiba nod. "I'll pretend to be annoyed you're giving up so easily," Ami says.

"Ino-chan!" Lee says, shocked. "This is very poor sportsmanship."

You nearly facepalm. "Lee-sempai, we're ninja." After a moment's thought, you try another tack: "The proctors probably set this obstacle up to keep people who genuinely aren't qualified to be chuunin safe from the rigours of the exam. If we tell everyone, those people are the ones most likely to get picked off by foreign competitors, and it'll be our fault."

"... I see your point," Lee says gravely. "Very well, Ino-chan."

"Screw this, I'm outta here!" you whine petulantly. "I'm gonna find a proctor and complain!" And you turn and stomp back down the stairs, grumbling about nothing in particular.

"Ino!" Ami 'scolds', following, Kiba in tow.

"You aren't gonna take that from them, are you?" Kiba says, 'scowling'.

When you're out of the building the three of you grin at one another.

"Race you to the third floor."

Civilians point and stare at you as you run up the side of the exam offices. You wave to them merrily, humming a song whose words you can't quite remember.

"In the heat~ of night, da-da-daa da-da-da, at the speed~ of light..."

The window locks from the inside, of course, but that's nothing a little jiggling with some wire can't fix, and soon the three of you are climbing in from the ledge. Lee and the others are close behind.

"You damaged the lock," Tenten says in dismay. "It's not going to shut properly now."

"I'm sure this place has taken heavier beatings than that and survived," you say with an easy grin. "How ya been, Tenten-sempai?"

"Well enough, Yamanaka-san," she replies coldly.

Heh. 'The Professional' hasn't changed. You always kind of suspected she didn't like you, and with the tempering influence of Sagara-sensei gone it's become obvious that suspicion was correct.

The exam room might as well be a roadside cafe in the moments right before the mysterious scruffily-handsome drifter hands the tightly-wound yakuza their asses; when you open the doors, a surge of killing intent smacks into you like a blast of hot air from a hair dryer. Your team winces as one at the sudden pressure, and Akamaru whimpers under Kiba's hood.

Then the veteran competitors notice your age and obvious inexperience, and most of them relax a bit. They don't look any friendlier, but they no longer seem to be interested in jumping you.

"Well, we're about as welcome as a fart at a funeral," you mutter. "Guys? Where do you want to wait?"The room is large and there's no point in hanging around right in front of the doors if more people are coming.

"Anywhere near the people who won't carve our faces off for looking at them funny," Ami whispers back.

Well, that narrows it down a bit. Which location will you suggest?

[X] Close by the door, so you can huddle up with Lee's team, Shika, Chouji and Hinata before the exam.

[X] Over by the window with that nice squad of Konoha genin office ladies. Hm... that pink hair is familiar...

[X] Those lookers from Mist! Sure, if you're not careful they'll know as much about Konoha as you do inside thirty minutes, but one thing you can say for Whispering Mist, they don't generally kill people without a reason. (Or maybe they do. Ya never can tell with them. Still, bishie!)

-----

There. Is that better than pretending to give up?

 

[Guile]

>You always kind of suspected she didn't like you, and with the tempering influence of Sagara-sensei gone it's become obvious that suspicion was correct.
Clearly, we must counter this by being neighborly.

Furiko, we picked the research option, right? What do we know about those delectable Mist swordsmen?