Cosmos Quest (Naruto/Lupin III)

[R.A.G.]

So I finally caught back up.

 

[Silversun17]

It's may 14th last post was April 9th.

 

[FurikoMaru]

It's may 14th last post was April 9th.

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Fuck your cries of necro, man, it's not like I'm no longer watching this thread. I'm just stuck, that's all. Don't jump down RAG's throat for having more enthusiasm than me.

It's just that I just lost my job; I can't justify writing a quest and a fanfic when I ought to be looking for work and writing my novel. I'll be back when I can think of what to write next. Fuck, I shouldn't have left this thing on such a dull stopping point; the rest of the exams are planned out perfect! It's just this fucking training arc bullshit I can't grok.

 

[Guile]

Fuck your cries of necro, man, it's not like I'm no longer watching this thread. I'm just stuck, that's all. Don't jump down RAG's throat for having more enthusiasm than me.

It's just that I just lost my job; I can't justify writing a quest and a fanfic when I ought to be looking for work and writing my novel. I'll be back when I can think of what to write next. Fuck, I shouldn't have left this thing on such a dull stopping point; the rest of the exams are planned out perfect! It's just this fucking training arc bullshit I can't grok.

Click to shrink...

Didn't stop you during the movie arc!

Just skip that bullshit. Suddenly we're presented with the Chuunin Exams and a buffed up Ino as a fait accompli, that's a wrap.

EDIT: Also, sorry you lost your job.

 

[R.A.G.]

when I ought to be looking for work and writing my novel.

Click to shrink...

You could do a serial novel, and get some ad revenue. Granted, that won't get you money now but it should later.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Didn't stop you during the movie arc!

Click to shrink...

XD It is so, so obvious that this is the first quest I ever did, isn't it? In retrospect I can't believe how many people still follow this monster.

Just skip that bullshit. Suddenly we're presented with the Chuunin Exams and a buffed up Ino as a fait accompli, that's a wrap.

Click to shrink...

Really? You guys won't bitch about not being able to decide what gets buffed? What about the plans you guys had for sealing shenanigans and the fights about whether Ranton or a gun is worth two slots?

EDIT: Also, sorry you lost your job.

Click to shrink...

Hey, it ain't no thing, sugar.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Geez, sorry to hear it's been so rough with you. Good luck with getting back on your feet, but don't be afraid to blow off some stress.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Geez, sorry to hear it's been so rough with you. Good luck with getting back on your feet, but don't be afraid to blow off some stress.

Click to shrink...

Thanks, man. *hug*

It's may 14th last post was April 9th.

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Sorry I yelled, Silversun.

 

[R.A.G.]

Also, I just realized Orichimaru may be Fujiko.

 

[Guile]

Really? You guys won't bitch about not being able to decide what gets buffed? What about the plans you guys had for sealing shenanigans and the fights about whether Ranton or a gun is worth two slots?

Click to shrink...

Oh, we reserve the right to bitch and moan. We're people on the internet, after all.

But personally, I couldn't care less about whatever powerup Ino goes with. You could have her learn basketweaving or get Inoichi's haircare tips or training to make the most perfect sandwich over the break before the finals, and we'd do okay.

 

[iamnuff]

Oh, we reserve the right to bitch and moan. We're people on the internet, after all.

But personally, I couldn't care less about whatever powerup Ino goes with. You could have her learn basketweaving or get Inoichi's haircare tips or training to make the most perfect sandwich over the break before the finals, and we'd do okay.

Click to shrink...

Underwater basket-weaving only.

what are you, some sort of casual?

 

[R.A.G.]

Really? You guys won't bitch about not being able to decide what gets buffed? What about the plans you guys had for sealing shenanigans and the fights about whether Ranton or a gun is worth two slots?

Click to shrink...

Eh, well probably still bitch about it, but only later. Basically, as long as it is IC to have done whatever we did, it's cool.

Also, with the time we have left, and going up against Dante!Garra, a gun would have been pretty useless anyways.




Speaking of Garra, if we Throne him, can we go full Agnus on him?:

"It was my assumption that those Sasuke's would prove far inferior... (standing up) ...In the face of your tactics."

Because then we can turn it into a battle of the hams, which we can win.


or, you know, we just Throne him, and have Lupin pin his body for us.

 

[Vindictus]

Also, I just realized Orichimaru may be Fujiko.

Click to shrink...

Wut.

 

[R.A.G.]

Wut.

Click to shrink...

Think about it:

Snakey.

Also a thief.

Changes faces at a drop of a hat.

Intellegent, knowledgeable.

Wants to live forever, supposedly to master every jutsu. Personally, I think SHe just wants to live long enough to find all of her friends.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Eh. Personally I'm of the opinion that we shot ourselves in the foot during this scene and we botched it up enough that playing it cool like we always intended to do this isn't convincing. We made a blunder, but we're not the type to swallow our pride and even with we were we wouldn't fool Kakashi. So overall our in-game actions don't live up to our supposed competence.

I perfectly understand how Furiko can't get past this scene and keep us the cool kid on the block at the same time. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but sounds less like the training arc is a bomb and more like this particular scene is a bomb. Something's gotta be done to get past it anyway though, either some really clever idea to get us past this scene or just skipping ahead and never referring to it again. A mulligan.....ehh, doesn't feel right, but also on the table.

 

[R.A.G.]

[X] Because my main specialties are infiltration, stealth and genjutsu. You know that, I know that, and so does Garra. He's also the kind of opponent I can't expect to get around that way. The only way I'm going to win is by pulling out something he wouldn't expect. My weaknesses.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Man, I'd feel bad if I didn't give you at least a summary or something before moving on.

Kakashi was going for the To Learn To Win, First You Have To Be Able To Tell Which Situations Will Actually Give You The Opportunity To Win angle. So at first, his idea of getting these poor kids to the point where they can survive an invasion consists of a week-long tide of You Guys Just Aren't Good Enough, Here's What You Need To Work On.

There. I think I can build off of that. Everyone get the idea?

=

[X] Backstreet's Back, All Right!

"Ino, are you sure you won't marry me?"

"Why are you trying to get Ami to murder me?" you shriek-whisper, clapping a hand over Sasuke's mouth instinctively and checking for your friend in both directions.

He bats your hand aside. "You made Kakashi teach," he says, awestruck.

"Sasuke's right!" Naruto chimes in, nodding vigorously, before realizing what he just said and adding, "... for once. We weren't doing any real lessons until you showed up!"

"In the past six and a half months," Shino says mildly, "we have taken exactly twenty missions, one of which was a two-week C-rank to River Country and nineteen of which were D-ranks completed in a single day. The remaining 130 work days were spent on a combination of team-building exercises, sparring, chakra control, and intermediate tactics."

Sasuke scowls, but doesn't say anything.

"... aw, y'know what I mean, Shino," Naruto says sheepishly, "I mean, like, jutsu and stuff! We didn't even do tree-walking until we went camping."

This conversation is tilting ever-so-slightly in the direction where someone eventually asks, "So why is Kakashi suddenly so keen on teaching us actual killing techniques?", and you would really rather no one actually asked that question. Naruto probably won't, he doesn't seem the type to look a gift horse in the mouth, but Sasuke can be really paranoid when he puts his mind to it.

"Are you guys gonna do any supplemental training?" you ask to change the subject.

"With my family and a tutor Kakashi-sensei recommended," Shino says with a nod.

"I still don't see why we can't just learn that stuff from Kakashi," Naruto grumbles. "He's supposed to be our teacher, not some other guy."

"If we can round out our knowledge of the basics with someone else," Shino explains calmly, "Kakashi-sensei will be free to use his time on teaching us more advanced jutsu."

Naruto perks up a bit at this. "Hm. I guess that makes sense. And it's not like Sasuke gets to do anything cool with the extra time he gets - he's just tryin' to make his eyes work."

"The Sharingan is cool, dumbass," Sasuke says sourly.

The blond waves him off in a manner he probably thinks makes him look mature and jaded. "I'll believe it when I see it."

=

Training with Dad isn't quite what you expected.

Granted, what you expected was to improve the Shintenshin, work on the Tobideru Shiryoku, maybe get as far as the totally awesome Shinranshin, and round the whole thing out with yet more sensing training.

What you didn't expect was to do all of that, and learn a slew of clan-specific privacy seals, the practical details of several agreements the clan has with its non-Akimichi or Nara allies in the village, and the access codes to a dozen safehouses scattered across the continent.

"Dad, what exactly do you expect me to be doing during the invasion?" you ask one evening as you gingerly shift through a veritable mountain of paperwork - how does a clan with the ultimate eidetic-memory jutsu end up with so many print records?!

"Luck favours the prepared," is all Inoichi says before handing you your dinner on a tray and heading back downstairs.

Any ideas what this is about? you ask.

Mm? Ah, maybe he wants you to help him coordinate an evacuation for all the civilians with the help of some of these other families?

... do you really think that, you ask suspiciously, or is that just what you're going to say to make me feel better?

... yes?

You sigh, and go back to sorting documents.

=

With all this training, you have limited time to train for the finals. Hell, you had to move back into your parents' house for all the Yamanaka stuff.

[X] Focus your efforts on winning your first round fight with Jigen and Kankuro and your second round fight with either Kuyo or Ami. Your Dad is right; anyone planning an invasion has to have spies trying to get the 411 on the new blood, so it's better if you don't fight Gaara and call attention to yourself
-> [X] Plan?

[X] Screw that! If you don't fight Gaara you're basically putting Neji or Lee in the line of fire!
-> [X] Plan?

Your few opportunities for socialization, you spent with:

[X] Sasuke and your old friends.

[X] Kankuro and his siblings. You can keep the gossip mill turning, freak out the bookies preparing for the finals, and spend time with one of your oldest friends all at the same time - it's win-win-win.

[X] Kibi! After all, who else are you in a position to pump for information about Oto?

 

[R.A.G.]

[X] Screw that! If you don't fight Gaara you're basically putting Neji or Lee in the line of fire!
-> [X] Over the break convince Jigen to throw the fight. You're the only one from Konoha allowed to fight Garra, and you'd rather have him fresh for the invasion. If it's Ami, take her out before she gets a Genjutsu in. Be on watch in case she gets you before the match. If it's Kuyo hit him with Genjutsu. When you get to Garra, throne him, and have Lupin pin his body while you keep him busy.


[X] Kankuro and his siblings. You can keep the gossip mill turning, freak out the bookies preparing for the finals, and spend time with one of your oldest friends all at the same time - it's win-win-win.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

That'll do I think.

And Kibi, I'd almost forgotten about her. That's tempting. We can probably take the concept of her gentaijutsu and make something of our own. Like instead of throwing people off balance, disguise our own actions. Make them think we're doing one thing, they reflexively prepare for that, but we're really doing something else. Or make feints and whatnot more effective. As long as we don't overplay our hand we could use ninja paranoia and reflexes against them.

Also, Kibi works too hard for her shtick. Instead of memorizing our opponents style to use against them we only memorize one style: ours. And then we use it against them.

Simplicity itself.

 

[Unclouded]

Waiting to vote on a plan once more ideas are tossed out. Meanwhile Socializing is:

[X] Kibi! After all, who else are you in a position to pump for information about Oto?

 

[Guile]

>Your few opportunities for socialization, you spent with:

I can see the potential with Kibi, and I won't be heartbroken if she wins. She's cute, she's a stupid genius (she's like a mini-us!), she's a good contact, and it might be valuable to keep the long con of 'Kankuro and Ino are bitter enemies' going. But I was wondering: how exactly does the Shinranshin work? The users stays conscious in their body, and ALSO enters another body at the same time, effectively splitting their consciousness. What about the Tobideru, the Art of Projected Sight is like we just piggyback along behind someone's eyes without them noticing, right?

Could we use one or both of these techniques to basically spin off Lupin or Ino and stick them in Kankuro for the ride while they do their thing? Hang out in their brainpan and shoot the shit for a while, while our body keeps doing its thing? Could we combine it with Throne to suck Jigen or Kankuro into our Gourd to hang out with while the other one keeps on keeping on? Could we stick those two in our body and then run around with theirs?

I sense the potential for ENDLESS SHENANIGANS, and Jigen is already well-conditioned to do whatever crazy thing we come up with (thanks, Lupin!).

[X] Hang with the Sand Siblings. Explain to the Sibs and Baki that this is just standard procedure for the Perverts Hidden in the Leaves; they send out someone cute and charming to feel you out (eyebrow waggle). Just think of you as a tour guide!
-[X] Just casually kinda sorta mention to Kankuro (in the security of your own mind or his) about one of those boltholes... you know, everyone needs a good bolthole. Just in case.

[X] Build on that for the Kankuro fight in the tournament. It's not you fighting Kankuro, it's you and Kankuro working together, figuring out the awesomest show that's sure to get you both promoted.

I'm not sure what to do about Gaara. All I know is we don't want to actually fight Gaara in any way that could be considered fighting. Have a rock off, or use genjutsu to make one of those big-ass 'Press X to not die' cinematics from DMC3. Suna wants a show? We can do a show. Then at a good stopping point, we surrender.


If Kibi does win though, could we add this caveat?:
-[X] Ino-neesan explains it all: You KNOW it sounds crazy, it did when you learned it too - but it turns out other people can be geniuses too. Even people you think you know like the back of your hand can suddenly bust out some trick you never suspected and backhand you right in the face with it. The trick isn't crazy preparedness, though that doesn't hurt; it's learning to roll with the punches. And cheat. Cheat a LOT.

 

[The Nobody]

I'd like to offer some encouraging words about finding a job, but can't come up with anything good.

Socialize with:
Kankuro and his siblings

Before I pick the other vote option, what do you guys think: how in-character would it be to have a battle with Gaara without having a fight?

 

[Guile]

Seems like it could go either way.

He likes to 'violently flirt', as Lupin put it. But Dante likes anything that is awesome, and a killer rock guitar solo counts.

The benefit of setting up a 'press X to not die' cutscene sequence for Gaante with genjutsu is: no matter how over-the-top we make it, he's still on board for it and is unlikely to disbelieve it, because Dante has done all kinds of crazy shit; the local buyers of ninja will eat that shit up, and it makes both Ino and Gaara look great; it's the spectacle Sand wants; and the elder ninja in the stands can be reassured that we're silly and immature, and our genjutsu isn't very sophisticated at all.

Basically, we use genjutsu like a sledgehammer, because that's fun for Gaara, the audience likes it, and it's not really our true skill with genjutsu at all, so it doesn't give as much away. Inoichi would likely be less pleased that we're fighting at all, though Gai and the Hokage should be that we're being all gloriously patriotic and stuff. And we can claim that we weren't really fighting at all! Gaara was mostly just fighting himself. If at any time it looks like we're in personal danger, we instantly tap out and disqualify ourselves.


Edit: Kuyo Ino'd still like to defeat if Ami doesn't get her, but it's been a month, we're likely not still in "beat her 'splodey ASS!" mode. Use our incredible speed to dodge her explosions and take the fight to her with seals and tags. Use the smoke from the explosions to stealth around if necessary; our sensing is almost certainly better than hers, and we have Tobideru to boot. We could literally fight the battle seeing what she sees.

If we draw Ami? Run. Never stop running.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Ehhhh.

[X] Kibi! After all, who else are you in a position to pump for information about Oto?

I suspect Lupino would enjoy Kankuro and them more, but we did promise to hang with Kibi so we might as well live up to that. That's really the deciding factor for me. If we could, I dunno, run around with Kibi on our shoulders while we do our errand list of socializing and all our sneaky stuff right under Kibi's nose (just because we can) I'd totally do that.

 

[FurikoMaru]

I was just rereading earlier in the thread and found this.

So, I had a fun idea to take on Kankuro.

Shortly before the third exam, we sneak attack Kankuro and take his place using our masks. Then, disguised as Kankuro, we convincingly stage a loss to 'Ino', which is actually Kankuro under mind control or a genjutsu that causes him to think he's fighting as himself or whatever. How else do they expect a stealth-focused ninja to pass a public exam?

Not saying we have to do this exactly, but I really want to learn Ranton and then NOT have to use it.

Click to shrink...

Thoughts?

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

I can dig it. Especially if prior to this we play Kankuro so well his siblings don't realize we were even there. Get the win, have them cheering for Kankuro, and the reveal.

The looks on their faces just might be worth the inevitable sore losers claiming we staged it all.

We'd probably need to hang ith the Sand Sibs instead of Kibi though, which is a point against it.

 

[R.A.G.]

sounds cool.

 

[Guile]

I was just rereading earlier in the thread and found this.

Thoughts?

Click to shrink...

I can dig it. Especially if prior to this we play Kankuro so well his siblings don't realize we were even there. Get the win, have them cheering for Kankuro, and the reveal.

The looks on their faces just might be worth the inevitable sore losers claiming we staged it all.

We'd probably need to hang ith the Sand Sibs instead of Kibi though, which is a point against it.

Click to shrink...

Obviously I like the idea, since I came up with it and all.

But that was before the reveal of Kankuro as Jigen. Lupino can be thoughtless and even cruel, but s/he always struck me as a 'me and my buds against the world' kinda person. Plus, Ibiki was pretty clear (albeit silent) that we may not wanna reveal the mask trick. So I'd rather stick to what they know we can do: Yamanaka arts.

[X] During the Kankuro fight, wait for Kankuro to send Jigen into his favorite puppet. Then use Shinranshin to have Lupin take over one of his other models ('borrow' one previously if he doesn't intend to bring more than Karasu to the match). Then have Lupin and Ino use henges to look like Kankuro and Karasu. Then have a good, clean fight. Using Kankuro's moves. Switch places with Replacement frequently. Possibly, at one point use Shinranshin to stick Kankuro in our body and take over his. Henge back into Ino in Kankuro's body. Stuff like that.
Ideally, when the winner is declared, we don't want the ref or the audience to have any idea who actually managed to win.
-[X] For extra mindfuckery, we could win the match as 'Kankuro' and go on to fight our other matches that way. Emerge victorious in the tournament, only to reveal ourselves as Ino at the 13th hour. Of course, that would mean we'd have to beat Gaara at some point...


Possibly, we should have Lupin and Jigen assume their old forms with henge. Not only is it nostalgic, but we wanted to find anyone else from the old gang, right? Well, now's the time, with half the Great Elemental Nations' eyes on us; word of weird monkey men and water country stooges will get out, nobody will know what to make of it... except people in the know. Anybody feel like using a Z-slash for that purpose?

EDIT: I don't think we'd lose, but if we do, Lee and Neji wouldn't feel the need to take on Gaara, so that's kind of a stealth benefit to going down in the first round...

 

[The Nobody]

[X] During the Kankuro fight, wait for Kankuro to send Jigen into his favorite puppet. Then use Shinranshin to have Lupin take over one of his other models ('borrow' one previously if he doesn't intend to bring more than Karasu to the match). Then have Lupin and Ino use henges to look like Kankuro and Karasu. Then have a good, clean fight. Using Kankuro's moves. Switch places with Replacement frequently. Possibly, at one point use Shinranshin to stick Kankuro in your body and take over his. Henge back into Ino in Kankuro's body. Stuff like that.
Ideally, when the winner is declared, we don't want the ref or the audience to have any idea who actually managed to win.
-[X] For extra mindfuckery, we could win the match as 'Kankuro' and go on to fight our other matches that way. Emerge victorious in the tournament, only to reveal yourself as Ino at the 13th hour.

Click to shrink...

Yes.

 

[iamnuff]

mindfuck switcharoo?

all of my yes.

"and the winner is... fuck if i know"

[X] guile