>>5966789
A night of sleep at the inn, followed by the most important week of travel of your trip so far. You were a bit worried that your experience yesterday would haunt your mind and throw you off your game, and you were somewhat right. It’s hard not to feel a bit perturbed and dissociated, but you have no choice but to cope.

First thing in the morning Naoki takes a look at the slash on your leg. It’s looking a lot better. Still an angry red color, slightly puffy, but that just means that it was getting some legitimate blood flow. It healed up a lot faster than you assumed it could, presumably because you’ve been consistently channeling your chakra to the area to speed up your healing. Raw life energy could do wonders for such things. Getting the stitches removed is painful since he doesn’t provide you with anything to numb it, but it’s the good kind of pain that reminds you that you’re alive. It’s also a good kind of pain because it means that the area hasn’t withstood terrible damage from nerve severing, only having speckled areas of alternating numb and painful flesh. Having patchwork feeling in that area of your thigh was better than not having any at all.

He has you do some squat jumps and walk around the inn room in your underwear so he can observe your agility. You’re fine, but you feel tension in the muscle that makes you feel like you might rip something if you move too explosively. Naoki tells you that you should be good to go after 4 or 5 more days, and that hopefully we’ve overestimated the region of danger and it will take approximately that long to enter the danger zone proper.

Still, it’s not like things will get supremely dangerous right away. For the first day or two you’ll still be within the vicinity of the temple and you won’t have strayed too close to Lords of Fire territory. It’s a good moment to paint your new crab and relax. It’s getting to be about the time where you can’t really justify riding in the cart anymore, but you decide to take at least an extra half-day so you can sit and really focus on your craft. A selfish thing to do, but nobody is going to challenge you over it because you’re still convalescing.

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>>5966791
You set a couple sensing water spheres to hover nearby, detecting life and chakra. The one that detects life is going apeshit because of the trees, donkeys, and several people standing around in the caravan. You dispel it and create another one, this time adding a dollop of blood to it with the intent that it will only react to humans. This works better, because it’s only reacting to the people standing in front of and behind the cart you’re sitting on and leaves the sides clear enough to see if there’s anyone lurking in the bushes off the side of the road. Not perfect, but better.

You finally realize where Hotaru has been lurking during the whole trip, glancing upward to peer at you from a high perch in a tree. She nods at you when she notices your gaze on her. A little embarrassing that you haven’t caught her until now, but you feel quite a bit safer knowing she’s there.

Anyway, crab.

Your last crab was red. This would be different because you wanted to incorporate all three of your new colors. The crab was quickly becoming the mascot for your team, at least, in your own internal opinion the others would probably think was childish and stupid. If the colors would represent your team, you would obviously be blue, Masami green, and Naoki red.

Naoki was the backbone of the team, in the role of your bruiser. Thus, red would serve as the core of the crab. You and Masami had more support-oriented abilities, so you meld the green and blue along the supporting structures of the legs and claws.

You decide to meld blue and green together a bit because… Well, you don’t know why. It was just because you were making the crab for her, that’s all. She wanted it, you’re making it. That’s what it was.

After a short hour and a half the crab is done. The carving process was the hard part after all.

You inspect it for a minute to make sure that you didn’t miss any spots and then set it down to dry and recline back in the cart, listening to the creak of the wooden wheels and the infrequent noises of the donkeys as they trundle along.

A sensation of utter relaxation takes you, and you drift off to sleep for a short while.

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>>5966792
>It’s April 1st.
>It’s April Fools’ Day.
>You are Dilbert.
>Sorry
>Regularly scheduled programming will return soon.
>This is a Naruto Quest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG1uBb104Is

You sit in abject depression on your filthy mattress in your filthy home contemplating your framed portrait of ET the extraterrestrial, thinking about love lost and love impossible as a more innocent age has left you in the dust. Even as a child your life was grim and hollow, and you knew you’d never amount to anything. But at least back then you carried a secret ember of anxious hope that things might work out.

They didn’t. You are worthless and alone.

ET was completely alien to you, much like women were. It was clear you have no hope for a happy future or for a better tomorrow.

You need to go to work soon.

>Throw the picture into a wall to expend some rage and generate some dopamine to carry you through the work day.
>Jerk off while thinking of Marilyn Monroe to generate some dopamine to carry you through the work day.

>>5966795
>Jerk off while thinking of Marilyn Monroe to generate some dopamine to carry you through the work day.

Pre-Work J.O. to get the blood flowing.

Glad to see my favorite Naruto quest continues

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>>5966798
You decide to jerk off while thinking of Marilyn Monroe.

Why?

Why not?

This doesn't matter.

Nothing does.

It's hard to focus on anything other than ET while you do the deed. Eventually you're just thinking about ET instead and it kills your mood completely, so you give up.

It's now later, and you're at work.

>Post about Shrek on twitter.
>Post about killing yourself on twitter.

>>5966803
>Post about Shrek on twitter.

>>5966803
>>Post about Shrek on twitter.

I have no idea whats happening, but Masami will freak out and overthink things if we ever explain the idea behind the crabs paintjob.

Good to see you're back Blue, and I have no idea what the buggery is going on.

>>5966816
>>5966818
Twitter is the modern day greek forum where a true Diogenes such as yourself can make your deep and profound thoughts known.

You'd work, but you honestly can't remember what your job even is.

You power up the ol' office computer, set your fingers to the keyboard.

And you B L E E D.

wwhy shrek is piss. why shrek is piss #italiano

You give a post about trying to find bug pics a quick like before you turn to your boss and listen to what he's saying.

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>>5966820
"From now on I need you to wear this. I need you to wear this bolo tie. It's office policy."

>Wear the bolo tie.
>Go wet your whistle at the water cooler.
>Wear the bolo tie AND go wet your whistle at the water cooler.

>>5966821
>Wear the bolo tie AND go wet your whistle at the water cooler.
>Get reminded of ET when you extend a finger to dispense your water.

>>5966821
>>Go wet your whistle at the water cooler.
#AnarchyintheUK

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>>5966826
>>5966829
You decide to """kinda""" wear the bolo tie to the water cooler.

You wear it, but you're really half-assed about it.

When you arrive Wally is there. You can't help but think about ET and how worthless your life is as you extend your finger to fill up a cup.

"Welcome to the water cooler. You come here to wet your whistle?" He asks.

"I'm here to wet something else, motherfucker." You reply.

"How 'bout that sport with the pigskin?" He asks.

>How 'bout that sport with the pigskin?

>>5966821
>Whet your whistle with the water cooler, then pour coffe in the water.

>>5966832
>The pigs oppress us, and they fly. How can their skin be in any good game?

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>>5966832
>>5966835
"The pigs oppress us and then they fly. How can their skin be in any good game?" You say, pouring water in Wally's coffee. You'd pour coffee into your own water, but you don't have any.

Wally is momentarily stunned by your philosophic brilliance.

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>>5966840
"I want you to check out this website. Go to www.nfl.com. And just check it out. That's www.nfl.com"

"Football? Did you say football?"

"The Cleveland Browns, uh... Buffalo Bills. Seatle Seahawks. Uh... Carolina Panthers. Cincinnati Bengals. Greenbay Packers. Tampa bay Buccaneers. Uh... Jacksonville Jaguars. Miami Dolphins, uh, Washington Redskins. Arizona Cardinals. Houston Texans.-"

>Chant HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT
>Wait until he uses the copier and stab him in the back.
>Jump out the window and end this nightmare.
>All three.

>>5966847
>Chant
>Leap out the window while chanting
>Think of ET in your final moments

>>5966847
>All three.

HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT!
Otomo what drugs did you take, where can we get some?

>>5966850
>Second

>>5966852
I agree, its to early and I'm far to sober.

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>>5966847
>>5966850
>>5966852
>>5966853
>>5966856
"HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT-" You chant recklessly.

Wally watches you with complete indifference as you sprint full force for the office window and throw yourself out into the daylight air to your doom.

For a moment you can enjoy the first shred of peace you've had in decades as you plummet.

A trick of the brain, you see ET waiting to catch you, standing on the pavement below.

Wham, bam, thud. You die.

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>>5966869
>Can't do this forever. Let's move on.
>I hope you enjoyed your Easters, and happy April Fools’.

You are Otomo Mizutani.

You jerk awake with an incredible start, gasping for air. You immediately spring out of the back of the cart, rubbing your chest, trying to massage some oxygen into your terrified lungs.

"Whoa... WHOA... Kami-Sama..."

"Otomo! What's wrong?!" Masami asks, rushing to your side.

"I don't know... I- I can't remember. It was some kind of nightmare."

"Does it have something to do with that ritual, are you-"

"NO! No... It was about... I don't know. It's over now, Kami save me... I finished the crab you wanted. Let me get it..."

You reach into the back of the cart and retrieve the now dry crab figurine. You wipe the remaining sweat off your brow and hesitate for a moment, well and truly putting whatever that was behind you. Emerging from the cart, you hand the crab over to Masami for her inspection.

“I like the colors!” She says, delighted. “Is it for me?”

“Well, I consider it ours. It’s our team crab. But you can hold onto it, it’ll pair well with the other one I gave you in the academy.”

Masami stands there for a moment, her face turning red. She twiddles her thumbs a little bit before lunging at you, wrapping you in a hug. It was nice. The only other time you remember being hugged like this was with Daigo, and that was decidedly less pleasant. You feel a bit of instinctual resistance to the contact, momentarily considering shrinking away. But in a short second you relent and reciprocate the hug.

She feels surprisingly frail in your arms. A strange combination of bony and soft as you feel her shoulder blades through her jacket. You have to bend down a little bit to rest your chin on her shoulder, feeling the warmth radiating from her neck and the softness of her hair on your cheek. Even after weeks of travel, she somehow smells nice, like salt of the ocean and freshly tilled earth.

Realizing that you’re standing in the middle of the caravan sniffing Masami’s hair, you reluctantly let go, holding your hand in front of your mouth to disguise whatever goofy grin you’re making and coughing lightly at the awkwardness as you realize you’re being stared at by every single human being in the caravan, which has stopped for you.

“A-anyway…” You say.

“Yeah?” She says, her face glowing a beet red beyond anything you’ve ever seen before.

“Uh, yeah, well, we’d better get back to it. I’m glad you like it?”

“It’s fine.” She says, quickly whipping her head away from you, her hair tossing to the side.

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>>5966871
She twiddles her thumbs for another second with her back to you before jogging off to her spot towards the front of the caravan.

You sheepishly wander to the back of the cart you’ve been riding in, daring not to look at anyone as you retrieve your things and take a deep drink of water before you begin walking along with the caravan again as it begins moving once more.

You resummon your sensing water spheres (Which dissipated while you were napping.) and get back to it. It was time to stop being a lazy asshole and walk. Your leg was good enough by now.

You can’t help but give Masami several furtive glances while you walk along and the caravan continues along its way. You catch her glancing back at you once or twice, the both of you nervously breaking eye contact instantly. She rubs the back of her neck nervously as she carries along.

You decide that life was good. Unbearably good. You rotate around the cart so that you can’t see each other anymore, which will hopefully give you the presence of mind to drive some focus back into your addled brain. You didn’t have time for this! Soon this journey would be a matter of life and death, you couldn’t be thinking about… Whatever that was.

—

It’s four days later. Masami pointedly avoided you for a couple of those days, but eventually things returned to a sense of normalcy. There seems to be a sense of growing tension between you though. It’s hard not to wish Katsuro were here like he said he’d be, you feel like you need his wisdom.

You’re practically obsessed with your sensing water sphere these days, constantly summoning and resummoning them, trying to come up with some combination of sensors that would allow you to be as safe as possible. The whole atmosphere of the caravan has changed by now. Everyone is nervous. People are less talkative, and even the carts and donkeys seem to huddle closer and quiet down.

Hotaru lands heavily beside you, only sparing you from being startled shitless by the momentary warning over her rapid approach in one of your spheres.

She places a hand on your shoulder and whispers in your ear. “There’s a bridge coming up. Men infest it. Don’t startle the civilians. Gather with your teammates and make a decision. This is an important milestone in your career.”

You nod silently, and Hotaru returns to the canopy.

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>>5966874
With as much subtlety as you can muster, you tag Masami and Naoki, urging them to gather around you. You relay what Hotaru said, and ask for their opinions.

“We should break from the caravan before it’s noticed and ambush them.” Naoki explains. “We can put all of them down and return before the civilians even know there was an issue. It’s better we have a confrontation away from the caravan so none of them get caught in the crossfire.”

Masami shakes her head “There’s no reason things need to come to bloodshed yet.” She says “They may be bandits, but they’re also revolutionaries. They’re probably just marking their territory and charging a toll for the bridge to intimidate people. If we remove our headbands and just pay it, it probably won’t even be that expensive and we can get deeper into the area. If all of those guys go missing it won’t be long before the entire gang realizes that we’re hostiles. We can pay the Kumamoto’s back what they lost when we get access to the bandit loot later.”

“Wishful thinking.” Naoki points out. “What if they decide to tear the caravan to shreds? We have no idea what their attitude is, so we should hit them first, and hit them hard while we hold the advantage.”

They both look to you for your judgment. For better or worse, you were the decision maker.

>What’s your plan?

>>5966856
>>5966852
>>5966850
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKfo2NfeZnQ

>>5966876
Ironically I think the most dangerous of us would seem the most vulnerable. If we can rustle up a straw hat and maybe some sort of sack or something like that to seem more villager-y all the better.

>Naoki approaches the bridge without his arm attached, we dictate a signal for if he needs assistance.
>If he signals we pop Mist and a crab escort shuttles him away and gets him re-armed
>Re-engage through the fog.

If he's not comfortable with this arrangement we can sub in for him, we've been injured long enough to ham up the leg a bit when we approach. Only thing that changes is we Mist ourselves and re-connect with the gang before we attack.

>>5966876
>Fear will be our weapon. With the jutsu and tools at our disposal, we could easily create an impression of a supernatural occurrence, of a curse settling over the area rather than the work of men and ninja. Demons or dissatisfied Kami, it doesn't matter - just sell it so hard that anyone with half a brain would abandon the post. And if they don't abandon ship, then their lives are forfeit.

>>5966898
Whoops, I deleted some clarification in my editing by accident.
Essentially, we'll settle a fog over the area and arrange for a bunch of 'misfortunes' to happen. The number four coming up repeatedly. Chopsticks being found upright in food. The personal names of each person there being written in the RED ink we recently purchased, or blood if you want to be particularly scary. 'Crows' cawing from the surrounding woods. People stepping on sharp objects.

We could even ramp it up if it's not working in time - jutsu a water clone (with red ink in the water) into a copy of someone, walk up to that person when they're relatively isolated, tell them something unnerving as fuck. Make the clone dissolve into that red water.

If the spookfest doesn't get them to fucking get out, we just icespike them all simultaneously.

>>5966901
>>5966898

That sounds like a long-term idea, I do like the way we're overthinking it tho.

So I agree with Naoki here, our job is to protect the caravan and a more proactive approach is probably the better choice here.

>sneak up, get an idea of how many (and if there are any hidden sentries, runners or the like, and divide them up between the three of us. Go in and go in hard, but we probably don't need to start using summons.

>>5966924
If you ramp it up hard enough and these guys are superstitious enough, you could drive them out in a couple of hours, I bet! I mean, I personally wouldn't hang around a place if I saw my name written in blood there. I'd immediately say "Alright, cool, I'm out".

>>5966897
I would like to spare them but ultimately this is the best solution.

Sub ourselves into this plan, excuse ourselves as returning home after a pillgrimage to the shrine, pay a bribe if that is their disposition or wipe them out if not.

Use the time to consider their placement and their numbers.

>>5966876
>>5966898
>>5966901
+1 For attempting to scare them off, and failing that killing them before there is any real threat to the merchants.
The Lords of Fire will discover our presence soon enough, but the less time they have to prepare for us the better. A dead man is slower than a messenger.

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>>5966898
>>5966901
>>5966925
>>5967047
I'm not going to give you a hard no, but I need to introduce 3 points.
1. Hotaru told you about these guys because she's been consistently scouting ahead. I didn't specify exactly how far away the bridge was or how much time you had because I don't want to be needlessly autistic about it, but you're more in the ballpark of having 30 minutes than several days. She's not scouting terribly far ahead because she doesn't want to leave you completely unsupervised.

2. These people are aware of what ninjutsu is and are more paranoid about it than usual due to the fact that they know you're coming eventually one way or another. The basis of their organization is that they're anti-ninja rebels, so they're pretty hip to the fact that their enemies might try to use ninja magic against them. If they're assaulted by supernatural effects they're a lot more likely to assume they're being fucked with by a ninja than a curse.

3. Clarification: How exactly are you actually going to manifest these effects? Scrawling someone's personal name in blood might be scary as fuck, but even if you had access to strong genjutsu abilities that's easier said than done. What jutsu are you actually going to try and employ to make these things happen?

Point 1 is your basic time limit, point 2 means that what you do is probably going to be scrutinized more than you assume, and point 3 is just a requirement for me to pull the trigger on writing this for you because I can't write you doing something when I don't understand what mechanism Otomo is meant to use to pull it off.

>>5966897
Remember that you have access to the transformation jutsu + clones! Doesn't come up as often as it probably should in the anime/manga, but it's a core requirement to graduate the academy for a reason. Bread and butter.

Pic related is from the google doc I maintain for writing down what abilities you have.

>>5967073
Transform into a pack of wolves? Illusion up a good dozen, we only need minor interaction to get them to abandon the bridge long enough for the caravan to be on their way.

>>5967084
Or just, you know, pop up out of nowhere because we're sneaky.
Perhaps with some clones approaching them all "Hello fellow traveler" to distract them before we pop up and start chucking all manner of sharp objects at them, before jumping into melee where even we ought to be superior.

>>5966874
What do you use to gen your characters QM?

>>5967115
The story.
Every single number and ability that's written there is something you and your teammates have picked up during the narrative.

As far as why I'm using those specific attributes and that specific scale, they're the attributes used in the official naruto databooks I've retrofitted to work with the 3d100 system we're using. There was also some random guy who did a writeup for what the average total powerlevel was for the different ninja ranks here: https://www.deviantart.com/anniberri/art/Naruto-Official-Stats-Guide-540693619

Seems logical to me so I incorporated it into the math concept in the rear end. I'm one of those QMs that doesn't want the math/stats shit to be on the forefront of your brain, but I do scrutinize those stats when I call for rolls so that I can secretly set the DC to something that actually matches what you have going on.

As for how I decide on the DC, I basically think to myself that a DC 70 is what I consider to be average. So if a Strength 1 character is going to try and lift a heavy rock that I would consider average for that stat, the DC is 70. I might consider moving one of these heavy ass carts to require 3 strength to move at a DC 70 average roll because they're laden with goods and heavy as hell. For every .5 you're off on the stat-for-average basis, I'll adjust the DC by 10. Otomo trying to move that cart with his strength 1 would set his ass at having a DC 110, which, oops, no way is he going to fucking move that. If you were rolling as Naoki with his strength 4 he'd have a DC of 50, which means he would absolutely be able to move that shit, and fairly easily going by the 3d100kh1 math.

That's assuming I'm factoring in zero circumstantial modifiers. Otomo summoning some water clones to help put their backs into it might be good enough for me to lower the DC by 30, making it achievable at DC 80 or something.

A minor math spoiler, but assuming you try and trick these guys the DC is going to shake out as probably Otomo's intelligence vs the smartest bandit's intelligence. Otomo has a 3.5, smartest bandit might have a 3 to make things interesting, by default the DC would therefore be 60, which is good, but since they're paranoid as fuck about ninjas I'll circumstantially bump the requirement back up to 70, plus or minus an additional modifier based on whether or not your plan actually sounds like a good idea. A good as fuck plan that seems like it couldn't possibly fail and you might need a 50, a plan I honestly don't think makes any sense might need a 90. So a +/-20

That said, I'm not actually super anal about the DCs because it's sort of subjective and also because I don't think this system is a perfect simulation, I'm mostly starting with a gut check and then testing my gut check against some kind of objective measure to determine if my instinct is fair or not. Luckily most rolls are "really obviously succeeded" or "really obviously failed" without a whole lot of edge cases.

>>5967112
Yeah fair, not everything is 5d chess.
Changing my vote
>Play to our strengths, surprise attack. All the better if we can distract them/catch them off guard.

New plan I have instead of >>5966976

>Approach Hidden. Fog them while our allies do Kuni to the vitals and send in a crab to distract them from one side. Large and loud, ideally.
>Naoki goes the other end, Looking like a bandit and decapitation strikes the man in charge then fades back and we can drop fog to take em out with Water bullets and knives.

Once the leader is down, I think that should scare the rest into flight, making them easy pickings.
They might be soldiers but now they are bandits. We also should clear the bodies out of the way of the road to avoid scaring the kids.

>>5967257
Gah.
>>5966876

Also remember guys. Officers die first, then men who can control the aituation then anyone we like.

>>5967257
+1
>Captcha TRAP Y

>>5967073
Otomo is such a waif, I think all the girls in his (former) class are physically stronger than him

>>5967285
All the better to hug him with.

>Maximise handsigns to perform the two person handholding ĵutsu

>>5967073
You make a good point, I'm not Kakashi brained enough, we should use a clone if we decide to contact them first.

As a plea to everyone who just gave up on Paranormal Activity swutch-voting straight to Jump Murdering these guys: I ask you to reconsider, I think it'll be far more useful to talk to them and get information or a general feel before we do any violence. We're going to look like complete retards if even ONE of these guys is a Civilian. It's really cool to jump out of the smoke like a badass, but we can't question corpses. (plus I wouldn't put it past our team-leader to be using this as another test, all her tests have been about the same thing so far: Deception and How we handle unforseen situations.)

>>5967243
>>5967540
I shall reconsider a second time, I forgot about the underneath of the underneath.

I have no idea where that leaves me. The underneath of this encounter is twofold, there is context for the bridge dudes being there, essentially the lore our dear Blue has written for this arc, and there is context for us being here, where all the coming-of-age stuff and proving ourselves as a ninja, finding our place in the world journey lies. Underneath all of that? I suppose there is something about commonality of us all as humans and fighting for our place in the world, but that seems redundant and overly philosophical. I'm not very good at this. It does seem to point towards diplomacy, but I feel we're missing something ninja-flavoured.
Fuck it, the lords of fire know their days are numbered and that Konoha is out to get them, our current task is to escort the caravan. We can deal with whatever difficulties come from them learning of our presence when it happens.

I say scope them out, get a handle of what we're dealing with, then try diplomacy with a water clone. If it doesn't work, they die.

>>5967540
Our job is to protect the caravan and wipe out the bandits.

I'm all for sending a few disguised water clones to talk and cause a ruckus, while we get an overview if the situation.
But in the end our job here is murder, I know we don't like the idea but we don't have much time between now and when we have to fight the presumed (yes, check if they're armed) bandits while keeping the civvies safe.
It's unpleasant, it's unfair. Get it done and over with

>>5967854
Oh make no mistake, every bandit on that bridge is dead as door-nails, we'd have to clean them up later or go hunt them after even if we did slip by unnoticed anyways.

I just think we should always prioritize INFORMATION over direct combat as a first resort. At no point did I say we shouldn't kill these dudes, we should just talk to them first and see if we can find out:

Total number of bandits
Who is in charge
What is he capable of
Where is your base of operations
What's the general spread of your men?
Any rogue Nin involved in your little clan? (my biggest fear)

Rather than summoning a fog cloud, stabbing them to death, chucking their bodies in a bush, and then walking right back down the road into more unknowns.

Alright, this vote was pure write in, so we're going to have a second vote with more clear options based on what you guys are saying.

>Create a water clone, disguise it, send it in alone. You're not telepathically connected to your clone, though it has a copy of your mind and you can therefore trust its judgement as much as you can trust your own. It will have a signal based on what it learns to tell you guys to drop the hammer or not. (The drawback of this is that you won't know what the fuck the clone is conversing about until after the situation is resolved, and if it gets dissipated you may never know what it was thinking.)

>Create a water clone, disguise it, disguise yourself and go with it. Have it converse with the bandits and see what the situation is and what you can learn. Have signals set up so you can relay to your team whether you want them to attack or relax. (The drawback of this is that you'll be in increased danger.)

>Same as above, but send a transformed Naoki to accompany your clone instead. He leans heavily towards resolving this with violence.

>Same as above, but send a transformed Masami to accompany your clone instead. She leans heavily towards resolving this peacefully.

>Employ one of the distractions/ruses you guys have mentioned and then kill them all.

>Some kind of last minute brain blast write in, but I'm ready to write soon so unless you get nigh unanimous support I'm just going to gloss over it.

Either way,
>Give me a 1d100, or 1d100+10 if you use WoF (You have 3.)

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>5967997
>Same as above, but send a transformed Naoki to accompany your clone instead. He leans heavily towards resolving this with violence.

Aaaa I am caught up! Kinda fell off during thread 2, spent yesterday evening catching up.

Well. We don't have time for anything too fancy, and we have to make sure we've got enough time to clean up the area. Can't scare the civilians, and obvious signs of battle is gonna do just that.
>>5967997
>Write in
With that in mind, I'm willing to support sending out a couple disguised/transformed clones to suss out which bandit is the top dog of this particular group. After that we drop on them fast and hard, capture the lead bandit for interrogation (away from the caravan, of course) and kill the rest. If possible, capture one or two more bandits to fact check what the lead bandit tells us.

>>5967073
Damn, I coulda sworn we learned Water Prison at some point!

>>5967997
>Create a water clone, disguise it, disguise yourself and go with it. Have it converse with the bandits and see what the situation is and what you can learn. Have signals set up so you can relay to your team whether you want them to attack or relax. (The drawback of this is that you'll be in increased danger.)

>>5968025
>Support

The 35 makes me nervous. But having a decoy should let us slam off a fog quick

>>5968013
>>5968025
>>5968054
Still need 2 more rolls.

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>5967997
>Create a water clone, disguise it, disguise yourself and go with it. Have it converse with the bandits and see what the situation is and what you can learn. Have signals set up so you can relay to your team whether you want them to attack or relax. (The drawback of this is that you'll be in increased danger.)

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>5967997
Rollan

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>>5968071

>>5968071
....well then

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>>5966876
>>5966897
>>5966898
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>>5966925
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>>5967243
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>>5968006
>>5968013
>>5968025
>>5968054
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>>5968071
>>5968092
>>5968690
“Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do.” You begin. “I’ll summon a water clone to do the talking, so they’ll be focussed on it instead of me in case something goes wrong. I need to be there as well so I can gather some intel about them and their group. If I get more information, we’ll have better judgment on the situation. If I touch the back of my neck, that’ll be the signal to attack. If I don’t do that, it means hold off for one reason or another, either because we’re going with Masami’s idea, or because things are just working out a different way.”

“... Alright, I can accept that. But you need to accept this: I’ll be watching, and if I decide I don’t like what’s happening, I might not hold back. I don’t see the utility in playing these chancy games. If you do something reckless I’m putting a stop to it.” Naoki says.

“Fair.”

Masami’s face has grown a bit pale, but she gives you a nod.

You approach Kin and firmly tell him that the three of you will be scouting ahead for a bit. He doesn’t argue.

Your squad quickly finds itself rushing through the branches of the surrounding trees. Eventually the three of you come near the river a 30 minute walk north of your previous position, cleared much faster with your ninja speed.

The scenario is as follows: You’re lurking at the edge of the forest, just before the trees start clearing out in the leadup to a short wooden bridge that spans a small river, your estimate is that it’s about 40 feet wide.

7 bandits lurk in the vicinity. It seems that there was once a legitimate toll booth here, long abandoned but somewhat restored by these people. The toll booth is too small to accommodate the 7 of them, so there’s a small camp clustered around it.

As for the seven bandits, they span a wide swathe of personalities and looks, some more typical of what you expected bandits to look like than others. You quickly note them down and give them their own special little names for your own mental reference.

1. Daggers. A short, wiry man with daggers. He looks lethargic and has a hood drawn.

2. Bow. A man with a wool hat and short bow. He has brown hair and his eyes have a perceptive gleam.

3. Fats. A large, fat man with a kanabo club.

4. Girl. A spindly and slightly nervous looking girl with a short sword.

5. Old Man. An older man, unarmed but with a steely look in his eye.

6. Scar. An adult woman with red hair and an angry scar on her face who wields a chain.

7. Knuckles. A muscular man with brass knuckles.

File: Transformed Otomo Clone.png (2.05 MB, 1024x1024)

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>>5969177
None of them leap out at you as potential ninja, but sometimes looks could be deceiving. Assuming they’re just normal bandits who don’t have access to chakra techniques, it seems clear to you that you could probably just wipe the floor with them. Still, if you were going through this situation with the caravan in sight there were a number of ways things could go wrong. For all you knew one or more of them might have tricks up their sleeves as well. It paid to be cautious.

Girl, Scar, and Dagger are sitting around in their camp discussing something.

Old Man, Knuckles, and Fats are standing on the bridge skipping rocks into the river.

Bow pegs you as the most dangerous. He’s actually seated in a folding chair, observing the road. His hand remains on his weapon and he seems alert, even if he’s paying too much attention to the road and not enough to the shadowy boughs of the trees you lurk in. You assume he’s probably the leader.

You share a final moment of silent eye contact with your team before quietly descending the tree you’re perched in and get to work with your water clone and the transformation jutsu. You unscrew the lid of your bottle and pour out a sizable puddle of water. You wouldn’t dare summon a clone out of the river. Eventually you have an Otomo clone crawling his way out of the mud like some kind of mud creature.

Since he shared your personality he requires no instructions, quickly forming the hand seals for the transformation jutsu. He transforms into a short but weathered looking guy with a straw hat. He could pass for some manner of farmer, but also has an angry gleam to his eye that might imply that he’s some kind of malcontent.

You transform into a naive-looking boy that might pass for such a man’s son. You’re not extremely gifted at disguising your voice, so you figure that looking like you’re related would clear up why the two of you are inevitably going to sound similar. You just hope your clone can pull off sounding a bit older.

You remove the items from your pack that might identify you as a ninja just in case you wind up being searched. You keep the art supplies and give your clone the majority of your survival gear.

Everything in order, the two of you form up on the road and begin walking towards the bridge as if you don’t expect there to be any issues.

It’s not too long before the seven of them take notice of you. Your clone turns out to be an admirable actor, missing a beat as he notices the armed people an instant before he raises an arm in front of you to shield you from the threat. For your part, choosing to be a naive-looking young boy serves you well because it allows you to openly stare around.

Anyone who was lounging around begins moving into action, regarding you with open suspicion.

The man with the bow stays seated, holding up a hand to stop you from coming too close right away.

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>>5969179
“Afternoon, gentlemen.” He states. “I know what you’re thinking, but these are dangerous times, aren’t they? Travelers on the road can never be too careful.”

“What the fuck is this? Are you some kind of band of highway robbers?” Your clone asks, unmistakably in your voice but with just a hint of gravel that makes him sound just old enough to match his new look.

“Oh, no no no! That’s why I apologized for the impression! We’re what you might consider to be members of a citizens militia. We’re just making sure that unsavory types aren’t wandering into our little region. Dangerous times, as I said. Can’t be too careful… That’s why I’m going to have to ask you to put your hands up and slowly approach my friends here so we can have a nice safe look at you.” He says, gesturing to a spot off to the side where Girl, Scar, and Dagger have subtly transitioned to standing.

“What, so you can rob us?” Your clone growls.

“If we were going to rob you, which we aren’t, you would count yourself lucky you’re not going to be killed. Just take it easy and do what I say. You’re making me nervous. You don’t want to make me nervous.”

Your clone shares a realistic furtive glance at you while you continue to just sort of stare around, wide-eyed. Your clone leans in and whispers “I’m saying something they can’t hear so it looks like I’m trying to comfort you or some shit.”

You nod soberly in approval.

Your clone gruffly moves to the indicated location, awkwardly keeping his hands up. You amble along behind him, doing the same.

Daggers roughly pats you down and searches through your gear, finding your painting supplies. He then does the same for your clone, only finding survival equipment.

“Nothing.” He reports to Bow.

“Nothing? Where are you two coming from? Where are you going?”

“South. North.” Your clone responds.

“Hah! Don’t be like that. You must not get out much, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Well, let me paint a picture for you. The Lords of Fire are based out of this region. Know anything about that?”

“I don’t get out much.”

“So you’ve said. Well, let me enlighten you. For a little over a century, since the founding of the village system, ninjas have been treating our land like their own personal whore. Even the daimyo sucks their balls, sucks ‘em deep enough that he’s kicked the last of the Land of Fire’s samurai, his bodyguards, to the curb. Well, they were pissed off about that, so they’ve come up here to foment revolution, hoping to find like-minded people who don’t like that our entire world revolves around the amoral whims of scumbag mercenaries that murder their way into absolute political power. Despite them making up less than a percent of the population we’re ruled by an untouchable caste of bloodthirsty magicians. It’s a dystopian hellscape where the average man doesn’t matter and we live only to serve an endless ninja blood feud economy.”

>>5969181
“Is that what you are? Revolutionaries?”

“Not by choice. Necessity. If nobody makes a stand, eventually the Hidden Leaf is just going to start saying the quiet part out loud: That the hidden villages rule the world and the rest of us need to get in line or be killed.”

“Sounds like a conspiracy. Do you honestly believe this shit? More than likely you’ve been sold a convincing lie by a bunch of disgruntled-”

Fortunately Daggers decides to punch you in the stomach instead of your ‘dad’, which almost certainly would have dispelled the clone. You have no choice but to take the hit it to keep your cover intact. You couldn’t even brace yourself without seeming competent, so when you fall to one knee in pain it’s very real.

The transformation jutsu is very temperamental when it comes to taking blows like that, but you manage to maintain your concentration on holding it up.

Bow tuts at you before continuing. “Have whatever opinion you want, but you better be respectful in our territory. I do like the cut of your jib though, you’re full of piss and vinegar! Just mind your tongue.”

Your clone makes a show of being worried about you before he responds. “I don’t understand what you hope to accomplish. You said that you’re revolutionaries, but what can you hope to do against ninja? Nothing. You may not like it, but normal people are irrelevant in conflict with them. The ‘Lords of Fire’ have you sitting here waiting to die, and for what? To pick on people like me and my son, and so you can be a speed bump for when the ninja come. Even then, there’s only four of them! What are they supposed to do? Even if they’re strong, they can’t hope to win when the village comes for them.”

“First of all, no change ever came out of being a pussy. We’re here to collect taxes for the war effort. It’s going to be a game of attrition, and the Lords of Fire need money to hold out. That’s our job. Second, it’s not going to just be the four of them. We’re working on getting allies, and they’re going to make the secrets of chakra known to the masses! One day everyone is going to be able to use jutsu, even if it takes decades of quiet work there will eventually be a popular uprising. The ninja won’t be able to win against all of us, and when the average man and woman finally realizes they should revolt, the ninja will crumble. No matter how strong they are, WE make their food, WE make their weapons, and WE pay their salaries. Without us, they’re just starving tigers. Dangerous, but gone in time.”

>>5969182
There are several levels of incorrectness this man is operating on, and you wish you could talk him into it without blowing your cover. Even if his ideology was right, which it isn’t, the idea that a normal civilian can learn jutsu is asinine. Most people just don’t have the potential. He’s being sold a lie, and he’s being sold out to die. Your presence here was proof enough of that.

Your mind is a whirl of several ideas about what to make of this situation. Your clone’s acting was sharp. They would have been suspicious if he acted like a sycophant, as it stands, you’ve been punched in the stomach but they seem to respect you as legitimate. Even an antagonistic relationship can be seen as a type of rapport as long as it doesn’t boil over. There might be some kind of way to turn this situation to your advantage.

>Touch the back of your neck and signal Masami and Naoki to attack.
>If your clone is thinking what you’re thinking (It always is.), maybe he can ask these people if his ‘son’ can be trained to use jutsu? You might be able to get them to reveal a disposition, or even escort you there.
>Continue as you are and hope they reveal more during the conversation.
>Ask some questions of the other bandits. Maybe someone other than Bow has something interesting to say.
>Write in.

>>5969183
>>Continue as you are and hope they reveal more during the conversation.

>>5969183
>Can my Son be trained to use Jutsu? I'm not exactly rich but this is an education worth knowing.

Very nice. Very very nice, lets see if anyone comes up with "oh I can do that"

>>5969183
>If your clone is thinking what you’re thinking (It always is.), maybe he can ask these people if his ‘son’ can be trained to use jutsu? You might be able to get them to reveal a disposition, or even escort you there.

>>5969183
>>Continue as you are and hope they reveal more during the conversation.

>>5969183

This sucks because these dudes aren't EVIL, per say, just horribly misled and incited to commit violence for the hope of a peaceful future. In some ways they are the civilian counterparts to us, they probably don't relish the idea of killing someone but if they think it's necessary to advance their "good goal" then they won't hesitate. I don't see a lot of ways this can go other than us killing them. Even if we want to hog tie them or whatever we are too far from the end point of this mission to have it matter, they would escape and report on what happened before we could guide the caravan to it's location.

>Continue as you are and hope they reveal more during the conversation, trying to ascertain if anyone here has access to jutsu.

Depending on what we learn we just pass as normal, signal the attack when behind them and pincer the group, going for Bow first.

>>5969367
You are right, it will inevitably come down to killing them since they will, inevitably, try to kill us or our team. A shame but such is the impure world in which we live.

That said there is one very important tidbit in that traitors spiel: they are courting allies, and we need to figure out what allies, sounds like missing-nin or another village to me. Or at least get a clue about where to start looking.

So
>>5969183
>Continue as you are and hope they reveal more during the conversation.

Hopefully our clone picked up on that priority too and can say something like "So, what, you're gonna sell out to some other hidden village, hope they teach you the good shit and then go to war with the leaf. Or am i missing something here?"
People love correcting mistakes, so let's be a little, just a smidge, rude and give them a chance to correct us and explain who these allies are.

Then its stabby time

>>5969183
>If your clone is thinking what you’re thinking (It always is.), maybe he can ask these people if his ‘son’ can be trained to use jutsu? You might be able to get them to reveal a disposition, or even escort you there.

>>5967180
I meant the art, not the sheets that you shouldn't be using in a quest.

I think an issue is, getting them to take us to their leader - and if they actually are Shinobi, we might end up alerting them to our presence (as Leaf nin)

We could ask them if they have been taught any Ninjutsu so far, they'll probably say no but might give us some insight into their selection process.

>>5969183
>>5969217
>>5969315
>>5969348
>>5969349
>>5969367
>>5969435
>>5969535
You briefly formulate a plot to try and get these people to take you to another location, both because you figure you could get some good intel from the exercise and because it would serve as a method to clear them off of the bridge before the caravan passes through.

They don’t know it, but you’d prefer not to kill all of these people, if you could help it.

Still, the fact of the matter is that the plan would require a lot of contrivances and conveniences to work out in order to work. Real situations had an odd way of straying from the optimistic daydream that existed in your mind. It would be better to play “Wait and see.” when the alternative would be committing to a crunchy plan with multiple, sequential points of failure.

Your clone knows this as well.

“I must admit, it sounds less like a load of hogwash when you lay it out like that…” Your clone opines, convincingly.

“Exactly! We’re not just revolting for the hell of it, it will take many years, but these last few months have only been the beginning. All we need is to buy time and collect money.” Bow responds.

“Why do I feel like I know where this is going?”

Bow grins mischievously. “Because you do. We’re taking donations to keep the bridge operational, and for the continues security of our borders. If you’re doing business around here, you’d do well to remember that this is for your own benefit. Speaking of which, you never did say what your business was?”

“Just looking for work. Lost the farm.” Your clone says. An uncomplicated answer, but sometimes simple answers were better. You realized long ago that when someone gets wordy, the chances that they’ll come across as deceptive increase dramatically. Something Bow would ‘do well to remember’ if he manages to survive the following next few minutes.

“Seems like you’re not willing to share. Doesn’t matter. We all have our reasons.” Bow says, standing up from his seat and knocking an arrow in his eponymous bow. “Turn out your pockets then.”

Your clone can’t turn out his pockets because fussing with his inventory overmuch might dispel him at worst, and at best might lead to his coins dissolving into water. Instead, he shoots a look at you and says “Boy’s carrying the money. I’ve only got the heavy stuff.”

You reach into your own pocket and take out 2500 Ryo. It was a lot of pocket change for someone roleplaying as a peasant, but not so much money that it was outright suspicious. Definitely a low enough amount that you wouldn’t bellyache over its loss.

Daggers rips it out of your hand. Seems like he was the number two guy around here. He flips through the money rapidly and hands it over to Bow.

>>5972699
“Quite a lot of money for two travelers?” Bow asks.

“Seed money for starting a new life. Not that you’d give a fuck.” Your clone mutters.

“Hmm…” Bow says, contemplating the situation. “Well, I won’t make a total liar out of you.” He says, pocketing 2000 Ryo and tossing the remaining 500 back at your feet. “Seed money for a new life. You’re probably going to come across more like us as you keep traveling, tell ‘em you already paid Shinji at the bridge. That should buy you out of being harassed, that’s the whole point of our protection. Now get over my bridge and mind that I don’t want to hear any news about you ever again. Think about the things I said while you’re at it.”

“What if I think on what you said and decide I want more than 500 Ryo of seed money?” Your clone asks.

Bow smiles once again. “If that’s what you decide, then you need to visit the general store in Takefu, and ask about buying beetle resin.”

“Beetle resin?”

“Yep. Beetle resin.”

>You’re running out of time to meaningfully stall.

>Touch back of neck to signal attack, get ready to fight.
>Just move along and hope things don’t work out too poorly.
>Write in.

>>5972700
>>Touch back of neck to signal attack, get ready to fight.

>>5972700
>Touch back of neck to signal attack, get ready to fight.
>Scratch neck and ask what beetle resin in cause we're an innocent child who doesn't know what a codeword is.

We can pontificate on this as much as we like afterwards, but our missions are to protect that caravan, that includes from extortion, and to wipe out the LoF.
Both of those necessitates violence, so cold murder it is.

Now how to do this, cause if we just started throwing signs I dunno if that would work.
Have the clone throw itself against Bow while Naoki/Masami close in as s distraction while we water bullet someone (dagger? Cause close)

>>5972700
>Write in.
"Say, how long are you going to keep this racket running? What will you do when the hidden village send ninja to wipe you out?"
Might as well get onto the subject, see if we can find some weakness at least.

>>5972705
+1

For the distraction maybe when Naoki and Masami come out of the woods our clone gives us a shove and yells "Run boy!" or something like that. We fake fear and book it behind them and then start lighting up backs with Water Bullets. Starting with Bow since he is our only ranged competition unless our friend with the knives also chucks em.

Committing to the bit and acting like scared villagers will hopefully give us some room to operate.

>>5972700
I support
>>5972705
>>5972714

We got what we needed. Time to do our job.

>>5972714
I like that, i like that a lot.
Tho I still say we shoot dagger first, less likely to catch onto us the bow and I'd rather deal with arrows, that we can dodge or shoot, than someone shanking us while we do our thing.

>>5972705
+1

>>5972705
>>5972714
Support

>>5972704
>>5972705
>>5972713
>>5972714
>>5972762
>>5972784
>>5972842
>>5973076
Alright, give me 3 1d100s.
It's arguable that it doesn't make sense to use Will of Fire for a pre-meditated ambush without some really strange mental gymnastics or being merciful and letting some of them escape.

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>5974793

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>5974793

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>5974793

>>5974806
>>5974808
>>5974823
I have an odd feeling that we're not gonna get to shift the blame for someone's, or half a dozen someones, death this time around.
Hope Masami will be alight

>>5975157
I think we can take the strain. If there is any strain at all.

Masami is a risk point but I'm also not entirely sure naoki is stable as he looks either.

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>>5972700
>>5974793
>>5972704
>>5972705
>>5972713
>>5972714
>>5972762
>>5972784
>>5972842
>>5973076
>>5974806
>>5974808
>>5974823
>>5975157
>>5975208
You hesitate for a brief moment after the conversation has concluded. This was another one of those heavy moments in your life, but unlike others it wasn’t one that could easily pass without acknowledgement for a person of lesser intuition.

This was a moment of real gravity, a great and terrible moment that loomed before you like a dark mountain’s shadow, suffocating you in a black shroud while demanding that you climb to the top before you could see the other side.

You could just walk away, and these people would live.

They would live on as loose ends, risky existences that could cause any number of disastrous hypothetical problems.

Or you could touch the back of your neck, and these people would die.

They would die right here, right now, and you would have done your simple duty. A pure, monolithic matter of grim fact. It was what your duty compelled you to do. But it was also a decision that made you feel like you were standing on the precipice of some unknowable abyss, perceptible to you only as a deep, yawning darkness.

Still.

You don’t actually have a choice.

No matter what you thought or how you felt, there was a glaring, hard reality that you knew in your core: You are a ninja, you are a tool. You know what you are, therefore you know what you have to do.

Your hand reaches for the back of your neck, giving it a sheepish rub. The signal. Your stomach drops into a pit of dread as you anticipate what’s about to happen, and your mind is filled with a grim, nervous silence.

>+1 True Ninja.

“Well? You just going to fucking stand there all day?” Bow says, amused. He even prods you hard in the shoulder to spur you into action. “Go on, get out of here. We don’t-”

He’s cut off by one of the other bandits screaming “What the fuck is that?!”

Your brain refuses to identify who. It wouldn’t allow you to risk perceiving them as humans anymore. It was for the defense of your own sanity.

You turn to look at what the bandit is referring to, momentarily feeling stupefied along with them. A giant crab taller than you are is barreling out of the woods sideways towards the bridge at human sprinting speed.

The bandit with the bow shoots it. The arrow bounces off the crab’s shell, doing absolutely nothing.

“Move BOY!” Your clone bellows, shoving you along towards the bridge, maintaining the ruse for a little longer.

You're grateful to it as it allows you to momentarily turn away from the action to sprint across the bridge for a better position. The bandits allow the two of you to pass as they’re more focused on mustering their initiative to mount a defense. A big mistake.

When you reach the other side you whirl around, taking in the situation for a split second while you weave the hand seals for Water Bullet.

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>>5976487
Tora.

The crab, identified by a primitive node of coherent memory in your subconscious as Denki, trundles up to the large man with the kanabo and electrocutes him with one of the electric anemones it wields in its claws, utterly stunning him and dropping him to the ground. One of the crab's legs then slams down into the stunned man’s chest, turning the rotund man’s core into a bleeding well of smashed bone and gibs.

Ushi.

Naoki leaps out from behind Denki, who he was using as cover for his approach, and immediately springs into a flying knee that collides with the jaw of the larger bandit with brass knuckles with such a catastrophic boom of shattering teeth that you can feel the sickening crunch reverberate in your heart. The man’s spine severs with the force of the impact as he falls limp to the side.

Tora.

The bandit with the bow retreated across the bridge with you. You’re still transformed and he’s not looking at you. He says something to you about staying behind him while he knocks another arrow and takes aim at Naoki.

Ne. You send a gout of water slamming into the man’s back, launching his unbraced frame forward to collide into the wooden planks of the bridge, where he skids along with enough force to shatter his nose until he comes to rest in front of Naoki, who cleanly dispatches the man with a lethally brutal kick to the side of his head.

Three down. Four to go.

The older woman with the scar on her face loses her nerve and leaps into the river, the only possible route of escape that doesn’t bring her near any ninja. Automatically, robotically, you weave the seals for the Water Spikes jutsu. The spot in the river she lands in blooms into nothing more than a cloud of murky blood, a curt shriek of pain and fear quickly silenced as her organs are penetrated and her corpse sinks beneath the current.

Your water clone blasts the old man in the back with a water bullet, knocking him down into the dirt just long enough for Denki to rise over him and smash him with his body. Denki weighs well over a thousand pounds, and the man’s body pops like a smashed grape to continue on as nothing more than a pool of shattered gore in the dirt trail.

The remaining two, the man with the daggers and the teenaged girl with the short sword simply run. They drop their weapons and flee as fast as they possibly can. There was absolutely no hope for them. They both make the decision to cross the bridge, possibly because you’re the least alarming of the dangers present here.

Daggers only makes it a few feet before Naoki launches his prosthetic hand towards the man, its claws erupting through its wooden knuckles just in time to allow you witness those spikes of metal erupt from the front of the man’s throat, dropping him to the ground to gurgle sickeningly as he dies.

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>>5976489
The girl is the last one. She’s nearing you in her mad dash for safety. Her eyes lock on yours, striking you dumb. You can’t help but hesitate as you take in the tears streaming down her cheeks and the look of abject terror in her eyes.

“Otomo.” Naoki says, your name in his throat spoken like a spike of raw steel to your soul.

Your clone acts first, shooting at her with a water bullet. She tries to dodge, but she’s moving too fast for agility. It catches her in the shoulder and she falls at your feet. She sits up, staring up at you as she scrabbles backwards towards the side of the bridge in complete desperation.

She keeps saying a word. Over and over.

Over and over.

You pull out a kunai, winding it back to throw into her throat, mentally calculating your aim to put her down as cleanly as possible.

She keeps saying a word over and over.

“Please.” She says. “Please.”

What?

Huh?

Your will finally breaks. You just stare at her, stupidly. For a brief moment, you don’t even feel like you understand what’s going on anymore. Why was she even here? Why were you even here? Nothing makes any sense.

“Please.” She says, raising her hands in surrender. She has brown hair and green eyes. She actually reminds you a bit of-

A crab leg slams down into the top of the girls head, detonating her skull into a paste of red and brown hair. Denki’s leg pierces all the way through the bridge before retracting.

The girls arms and legs spasm wildly as her remaining blood pumps into the river.

Mission accomplished.

>You win!
>How do you celebrate your victory?

>>5976492
>It may not be our place, but offer up a silent, unspoken prayer for their passing.
>While they certainly couldn’t have been left to do as they please, if they believed even a fraction of what they were selling you, then this victory was a necessary tragedy between fellow countrymen, not a triumph against any great foe. Frankly, even the ones that didn’t believe it were likely just backing their comrades.
>…fuck these 'Lords of Fire' for dragging them into this over their own bruised egos.

>>5976595
Adding on to that:
>Or maybe they were all just opportunistic bandits taking advantage of a chance to make themselves appear justified. Not like we have any way to know now anyway.
Either way, Otomo’s a good kid who probably doesn’t relish this part of his job and feels that for his own sanity he should at least acknowledge that killing is usually gonna be a little fucked up no matter how necessary.

>>5976598
>>5976595
>Support.

But then, back to work. We have a caravan arriving soon, full of children, who we probably need to keep the bodies and blood away from.

Denki is big and strong enough that it should be able to carve up a little trench / grave with its legs, Naoki can get them into the ground and cover it back up while we vomit water and try to clean the place up, for lack of a better term.

I just don't know if Otomo would be happy to just leave people to rot and if we can justify it as doing it for the clients children then its not just cause we're a nice person, its cause we're a professional damnit!

>>5976492
>offer them a prayer. Then instruct the others to hell start cleaning up the bodies, so the caravan doesnt have to see the devistation.
>Check the others, see if they are alright

>>5976598
>>How do you celebrate your victory?
>>5976595
>>5976607
+1

>>5976492
>Clean the place up. Thoroughly.
Maybe plant some evidence to imply the group abandoned their post rather than were slaughtered by shinobi

>>5976612
+1

>>5976492
Denki, what the fuck
This bridge is national property, you can't just go around damaging it because you want overkill...

>>5976492
Nooo :(
>>5976624
This one. If it's cleansed, it's like it never happened.

File: Panic.png (1.67 MB, 1024x1024)

1.67 MB PNG

>>5976595
>>5976598
>>5976607
>>5976612
>>5976622
>>5976624
>>5976651
>>5976739
>>5976749
You immediately turn away. You can’t look at that.

Staggering back a few steps, you grip the wooden railing of the bridge and just attempt to breath.

In, out.

Get it together.

In, out.

Get it together.

Slowly, the fog on your senses begins to clear. The wooden rail reminds you of your figurines, and just how much of a monster you are for trying to make art when you-

You let go of the railing.

In, out.

Get it together.

Where are your teammates?

Turning back around, you scan the battlefield. Denki is gone, unsummoned now that it’s over. You had no idea where Masami was. She clearly never even exited the woods. Naoki is busying himself tossing bodies into the tollhouse. Gruesome work.

You begin walking towards him, but stumble. Your legs are shaking, and more than that, you feel weak. Your body is betraying you and your strength is waning. You focus on breathing, but it’s getting difficult. Fast, shallow breaths, unable to get any air. It feels like there’s a heavy metal rod pressing into your stomach, electrically charged to cause your muscles to tense up and spasm.

Get it together.

You force yourself to walk towards Naoki. One leg in front of the other. Awkward, like you’re on stilts. In your mind, a dull mantra. You were fine. You weren’t hurt, none of this was lethal. It was just your body rebelling, and it would pass.

He looks at you as you approach, a cold gleam in his eyes. Gesturing flippantly to the destruction, all he has to say is “I’ve got this. Clean up the blood.”

You weren’t in any condition to argue about it, or care. It had to be done. You would probably have suggested the same thing if he weren’t already acting. It had to be done.

It had to be done.

You use the water bullet jutsu to hose down the bloody patches, as well as the gore that Naoki wouldn’t reasonably be able to move without a shovel. It all goes into the river.

Your clone helps you. He’s dropped his transformation by now, and looking at yourself in the mirror, this kid looks pale. Sick to his stomach. Dazed.

You can’t bear to look at him, so you dispel him into a puddle.

All you wanted to do was get the fuck out of here, find some dark corner to crawl into where you could just hide away. Forever. There was no reason to ever come out again. Even the sunlight and the chirping birds felt like some kind of sick lie to you right now. A joke.

But it wasn’t about you. Civilians would be passing through soon, and they didn’t need to see this. They didn’t need to know this ever even happened, especially not Akimitsu, Fumiko, or Hana. That’s the only thought that restores some amount of vigor to your limbs.

Eventually you finish. Naoki saunters up to you, gazing around analytically.

File: Omen.png (1.79 MB, 1024x1024)

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>>5977472
“Well. Good work.” He says. “Nothing we can do about the crab damage, shit happens. I should probably walk down the river, fish that redhead out of the water and get her stuffed somewhere where she won’t wash up and get discovered too fast.”

He places a hand on your shoulder. For the first time ever, you feel revolted by his touch and you quickly brush it off.

“Naoki, PLEASE.”

To his credit, Naoki hesitates before ignoring you. “We’ll need to know if you learned anything while talking to them.”

For a second, you imagine hitting him. Yelling at him. Letting the confused disgust in your core have a target and just let him have it. But you’d be a hypocrite. This was all your decision. Just yours.

You feel like it’s getting difficult to breathe again and you wish he would just piss off for a second and let you relax, but you focus on deliberately trying to calm down. It doesn’t work, but at least trying gives you a reminder of your sense of self control.

“General store in Takefu. Code word is asking for beetle resin. They implied support from other organizations. They said the Lords of Fire were promising to train civilians to use chakra.” You manage to squeeze out. You don’t even feel like you’re talking, just letting your animal instincts work your mouth with puppet strings.

“Alright. So, nothing actionable right away. I’ll get that corpse out of the water before it drifts too far, you should probably check on Masami. She’s probably having some kind of panic attack.”

Yeah, no shit, asshole. You manage to croak out a grunt of acknowledgement as you turn to walk into the woods, but you quickly change course and head over to the tollhouse where the bodies were tossed.

Naoki had the sense to close the door, but there’s an aura emanating from this place. Unclean. Disgusting. You want to burn it down, or at least get the bodies buried somewhere with a bit more dignity. But there wasn’t any time for dignity.

Instead you fall to your knees as a wave of incredible vertigo overcomes you. You begin rubbing the dirt in front of you in some kind of bizarre ritual to steady yourself and remind you that you’re settled on solid earth, trying to get your bearings.

Could you doctor the scene so that it looks like something else happened? No, that’d be basically impossible. Too many bodies to get rid of, too little time. No real tools to make some kind of elaborate scene either.

In moments like this, all you could really do was pray.

You take a deep breath, and begin.

“May they be received in the Pure Land. May they be free from animosity, oppression, and trouble. May all beings, the living and the dead, be free from all evil.”

You could go on, but going any further seemed obscene because you’d be talking to yourself instead of to them. That was enough.

Strange. Why do you wish Daigo were here right now?

File: Denki.png (2.06 MB, 1024x1024)

2.06 MB PNG

>>5977473
You take a minute to calm down further before you once again get up, and wander into the forest to look for Masami, calling her name, which she isn’t answering to.

Eventually you find her, sitting against a tree trunk, hugging her thighs as she pulls them into her chest. She just watches a beetle walking by.

“I’m sorry.” She says.

“Sorry about what?”

“I was scared. I couldn’t go out there.”

“That’s… There’s nothing to be sorry about. Denki was a big help. That’s enough.”

She shakes her head. “No. I made you and Naoki do it alone because I was too chicken.”

“You were-” You have to pause to drink water. Your mouth was so damn dry. “You weren’t scared to fight; you were scared to hurt people. That doesn’t make you a chicken, that makes you a good person.”

Your own words feel like a storm of blades in the interior of your skull, and you’re once again starting to feel completely disoriented. But you needed her to feel better.

She wipes her face with her sleeve. In your dissociated state you’re in awe of how fat and heavy her teardrops could be, and how you can see the snot trail from her nose to her sleeve without thinking it’s gross. She wipes her face some more as you begin gently rubbing the hair on her scalp.

Only now does the tension in your chest slowly begin to dissipate.

“I’ll do better next time.” She says.

“I don’t mind either way.” You respond. “It’s fine either way.”

You detect the sound of the caravan approaching. The trail leading to the bridge wasn’t too far away. You take Masami by the hand and help her up. She wipes her face for a third time, before silently suppressing her emotions as you lead her to the caravan.

When you emerge from the woods, Kin gives you a beaming smile.

“Our guardians! How was the scouting?”

“It’s safe.”

“I sure hope so! It’s why we’re paying you!” He says, letting out a hearty chuckle. Disorienting.

The caravan passes over the bridge without comment. Nobody notices anything out of place. The only comment you hear is Shinji noticing the hole punched into the bridge and mentioning poor maintenance.

You couldn’t help but deeply despise these bastards right now, but it will pass. They didn’t know any better.

You wish they knew, so they could judge you. Some kind of vain hope that they’d judge you more favorably than you’re judging yourself.

You look around for Hotaru, hoping that she’ll emerge with some wisdom that could set you straight and reaffirm that you’re on the right path. You catch her gaze as she watches over you from a branch on the other side of the bridge. Impossible to know how long she’s been there.

The look in her eyes is steel, and bone. Completely dead, until she notices you’re watching her, and she smiles, giving you a curt wave that didn’t make any sense. Disorienting.

Birds circle overhead. Scavengers.

This day was going to stick with you for a long time. A long, long time.

>>5977475
>You’re now heading into the belly of the beast.
>Any special preparations or tactics you want to get ready?
>You now officially have a burgeoning case of authentic ninja PTSD. All the good ones do. How are you going to cope?

>ONE 1d100 to symbolize your luck on the road, please.

>>5977476
>Tactics, Keep scouting ahead every few hours, send Naoki or us.

>Coping mechanisms? We have a selection we can choose from, Repression, Disassociation, chemical abuse, self harm. But I think we might as well try bottling it up until the mission is over.

Rolled 25 (1d100)

>>5977481
And I dont expect good luck for this.

Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>5977476

Tactics:
>Naoki physically scouts while we use our orbs during the times he's back woth the caravan

Coping:
>The only way we have atm. We journal about things and then keep it moving.

>>5977525
Journal huh?
Yeah that might do us better.

>>5977476
>How are you going to cope?
Slip back into the mask you wore during the offense, and analyze your performance. What could have been done better, by both you and your teammates? Identify any points where you were sloppy, and any points where you performed ideally. This is a point of growth as a ninja.

>>5977476
Cope by disassociation, write in our journal and then try to just kinda repress things.
I have a feeling that after living with our mother that's just kinda how Otomo deals with things.

As for tactics, we should set a goal rather then going right into means and I'd say our goal here is aggressive recon, we want to find problems *before* the caravan is under any danger and as such:
the Water sensory orb we created earlier with a drop of blood to search for "human", that is our first line.

The second line should be water clones sent out, maintaining their own sensor spheres on lets say 20-30 minute patrols ahead of the caravan, to help us get a heads up.

Between us at the caravan and water clones further out Masami and Naoki can alternate going out on 10-15 minute patrols ahead of us giving us several layers of "see shit coming" without relying entirely on any one person, while having everyone that matters close enough to regroup if something (like a water clone dying)

Yea it'l be taxing as hell on us, but we wen't hard into stamina so lets make use of it! The effort to maintain a few clones and the sensor sphere will also force us to focus on that and not think about the massacre we just committed.

>>5977476
>>You now officially have a burgeoning case of authentic ninja PTSD. All the good ones do. How are you going to cope?
Carving

>>5977476
>>5977525
>support

Bump, return to us Blue

>>5981153
I hope he's just waiting for us to discuss the tactics and come to a conclusion.
Or dead and buried under a nice tree somewhere

Make sure if we get pulled by a toll we remember to say we already paid Shinji.

Blue please sooge some dooungs

File: Takoyaki.png (625 KB, 945x630)

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>>5977476
>>5977481
>>5977483
>>5977525
>>5977644
>>5977697
>>5977705
>>5977744
>>5978259
>>5981153
>>5981289
>>5981449
Several days later, you’re able to slowly get a grip. Somewhat. Falling asleep has been rough, and getting up in the morning has been harder than normal. You keep seeing that girl’s face, and you keep feeling the thump of Denki’s legs in your torso. When it comes time to get up, you’re doing so reluctantly as a sense of dread washes over you. Clinging to your nightmares seems superior to facing another day because at least you can spend some amount of your night in the embrace of unconscious oblivion.

Masami seems to have gotten over it pretty quickly. After all, she basically sat the whole thing out. It’s not quite as bad for her. She’s still carrying a palpable sense of unease, but also a sense of determination.

Naoki is acting a bit strangely. He seems a lot more tense. Jumpy even. The dark circles under his eyes speak to why. He might be better at suppressing it than you are, but you can feel the tension in him. Even when he makes jokes there’s a very slight hint of desperation in his voice, like he’s wearing a mask and fishing for some kind of external feedback to inform him everything is fine. You try to take positive inspiration from his example, but unfortunately the two of you are just built differently.

You find solace in carving and writing in your journal instead.

Carving is the same as ever. You’re having trouble experiencing actual joy from it, but the demands it places on your focus at least drown out the negative thoughts while it keeps you busy.

Journaling is more interesting. Because you’re writing about your experiences, you can’t help but relive them. Still, you’re being oblique in your descriptions so that an uninformed reader wouldn’t be able to understand what you’re referring to. It’s the calligraphy that really helps. Focussing on your penmanship, trying to make the words LOOK good as well as SOUND good is a neat little exercise. Making the characters flow in an artful way is like a combination of both carving and painting, and your honest attempts at trying to impart some kind of poetic flow to your prose also helps you hone your creativity and senses.

It’s still dogshit, but you’re getting better.

You still feel as though you’re in a dark place, but you’re regaining the sensation of hope, coming to terms with the fact that things would eventually get better. You just needed to suppress it until this mission was over and then you would insist on a break. A real vacation. Total relaxation. Legitimate downtime.

For a moment, you feel happy.

>>5981800
Then you remember that your mission isn’t even close to being over.

For caravan security, the three of you work out a system of scouting patrols. You would stay behind and have water clones constantly scouting ahead while you and the clones maintained sensor spheres. If any of your clones ran into trouble you would know about it the second you felt the burden on your chakra dissipate.

As for Masami and Naoki, they tag in and out to scout around as well. One is always off in the woods while the other leads the caravan with Hotaru, who has stopped lurking in the trees for the most part. Having an adult jonin visibly standing in front of your ensemble is a good deterrent.

—

Though you’re paranoid and the world itself seems like a dark hole, life goes on. It goes on, and on, and on, and sometimes it goes on into directions you don’t like. Like right now.

The caravan is moving along past a takoyaki stand in the wounds. The civilians insist on stopping for a lunch break because takoyaki is ‘good’, and you have no choice but to go along with it because eating takoyaki in the middle of a hostile region is apparently something to do.

Sometimes it seemed like shinobi inhabited an alternate reality. You were still mentally trying to recover from killing 7 people, still looking over your shoulder expecting violence to erupt at any second, and yet you’re also just one of many standing around in a field ordering a boat of tasty wheat balls.

Hana orders them for you because you’re too busy seething about how stupid everything is. In short order you’re sitting on a bench, drifting mentally a mental abyss with the sheer tonal whiplash of events. A random man decides to sit down to your right next to you, and without even needing to look at him you can’t help but consider whether or not he’s merely disguised by the transformation jutsu and if you should just shank him right now.

You eat one of the takoyaki balls. It’s fine.

“It’s a hot one today.” The man says, biting into his own takoyaki.

You consider telling him to get away from you before you’re compelled to do something drastic. Ultimately you just let out a deep yet silent sigh and tell the man “Yeah.”

Your takoyaki experience stretches on in agonizing silence for a bit.

>>5981801
“You folks heading up towards Takefu?” He says.

“Why?”

“I’m just curious.”

You regard the man with increased suspicion now. He seemed relatively clean and fit. Not exactly rebel material. Late twenties, maybe early thirties with a healthy lifestyle.

He’s not carrying any weapons, but you just don’t like the look of him. He keeps glancing at you with an impish look in his eye, and the grin of some kind of predatory fox. The fact that he’s smoking a cigarette while also eating his food does not do wonders for your impression of his character.

But maybe your mind is just playing tricks on you. You weren't exactly thinking straight.

"Yes we are!" Hana says from your left. You honestly forgot she sat down next to you. "We're heading up there to do some trading, just hoping it's not too dangerous with everything going on."

"I see, that makes sense." The man states. "You folks have any trouble on the bridge?"

"No." Hana responds, looking confused. "Why would we have?"

This conversation was getting completely out of control. Suspicious man to your right, ignorant civilian to your left, and you're stuck in the middle between a rock and a hard place. Hotaru and the others should be nearby though, so... How bad could it honestly be?

>Interact with the takoyaki man.

>You need to get it together, he’s just some random guy. Despite the hostile activity in the area, life goes on and it’s not out of the ordinary for a man to make smalltalk and eat takoyaki. Strain to be polite and normal.
>Give up on being polite and ask suspicious interrogatives. Who gives a shit about propriety, honestly. He’s either irrelevant, in which case being rude to him won’t matter, or he’s very relevant, in which case you need to know more.
>Just walk away.
>Write in.

>>5981289
>>5981449
I'm alive, sorry.
Sometimes when I'm writing a post like this I think to myself "Is this actually something that should happen right now, or am I some kind of lunatic?" and decide to put it off until the next day. But then the days drift by because life passes me by on fast-forward.

>>5981804
Soug Dooungs?

>>5981802
>>You need to get it together, he’s just some random guy. Despite the hostile activity in the area, life goes on and it’s not out of the ordinary for a man to make smalltalk and eat takoyaki. Strain to be polite and normal.

>>5981802
>Just walk away.

>>5981802
>Write in.
Say we already paid Shinji and walk away.
Maybe he is in on it or maybe he isn't. better safe than sorry.

>>5981802
>You need to get it together, he’s just some random guy. Despite the hostile activity in the area, life goes on and it’s not out of the ordinary for a man to make smalltalk and eat takoyaki. Strain to be polite and normal.

>>5981802
>You need to get it together, he’s just some random guy.
Turn it around, ask him if he's had any trouble with the takoyaki stand

>>5981802
>You need to get it together, he’s just some random guy. Despite the hostile activity in the area, life goes on and it’s not out of the ordinary for a man to make smalltalk and eat takoyaki. Strain to be polite and normal.
>>5982044
>"So, you come here often?"

>>5981802
>>Give up on being polite and ask suspicious interrogatives. Who gives a shit about propriety, honestly. He’s either irrelevant, in which case being rude to him won’t matter, or he’s very relevant, in which case you need to know more.

>>5981909
>Support.

The civillian needs to shut it.

>>5982108
Not a civilian.
Its either Hotaru having a laugh or a spy.
>Asks about the route of the caravan
>Asks about the rebel tollbooth

Two red flags. And we're a overthinking person right now sinking into paranoia.

>>5981802
>Give up on being polite and ask suspicious interrogatives. Who gives a shit about propriety, honestly. He’s either irrelevant, in which case being rude to him won’t matter, or he’s very relevant, in which case you need to know more.

Even if not I'd say it fits right in with us being on edge and generally jumpy

>>5982133
Thw civilian is a little girl, Hana. She needs to shut it.

This guy is an enemy.

>>5982314
My bad, I do agree.
Yes she shouldn't be ruining opsec, but alas... She is a civilian and probably doesn't know why telling strangers in bandit infested forests which road the slow caravan full of valuables is heading down.

This whole scenario is just plain weird.
Why anyone set up a random fast food stand, in the middle of the forest.
Why would it remain without a steady stream of clients, and so far the road hasn't exactly been busy.
And why would the lords of fire allow it to keep going unless it serves a purpose for them?

All in all this man needs to be followed at the very least.

>>5981909
Support

If we mention we paid Shinji, then Hana says she never saw anyone he might go and investigate. I still think we should, though. I don't know what else to do.

Suog Douunngs?

>>5985198
Not much else we can do we have no way to alert her to be quiet without being noticed maybe we should have made all the civilians learn signals for a situation like this

Sougee Dounnges?

Sougue Duoungs?

Blue do you Suouge Duonegs?

What does "Suouge Duonegs" mean?

>>5986089
Suouge Duonegs.
That's an IRL friend of mine who is fucking with me since I mentioned I was running these threads. Don't feed him any (you)s or he'll grow dependent and lose the ability to survive in the wild.

>>5986174
Doungue sougs?

File: Stand.jpg (246 KB, 1024x1024)

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>>5981802
>>5981880
>>5981888
>>5981909
>>5981968
>>5982044
>>5982056
>>5982065
>>5982133
You don’t like this guy. He’s suspicious. However, you don’t have the time nor the inclination to saddle yourself with some sort of drawn out problem with him.

“Sir, with everything going on it pays to be cagey about sharing information.” You say, shooting Hana a pointed look. “No offense, but I don’t think our route is any of your business, and even if it were your business, that’s not a good thing for either of us.”

You stand up with your food and grab Hana by the hand to lead her away from this guy.

The man chuckles. “More than reasonable, friendo. Dark times abound for the people around here, I was only asking because I was heading up that way myself and was hoping to travel with the safety of numbers.”

“Why are YOU going to Takefu?” You ask.

“Heh. It pays to be cagey about sharing information. Maybe you’ll be satisfied if I ask the leader of your caravan if I can come? It doesn’t seem like you’re the one in charge here.”

“None of my concern. Hana, let’s go.” You say, briskly leading her away from this guy. Once you’re out of ear shot you look at her and say “He’s right that I’m not in charge, but, please, keep in mind that we’re not in a position to be friendly with people. That man could be affiliated with the Lords of Fire for all we know. He doesn’t need to hear our plans.”

“Why did he ask about the bridge?” Hana asks, ignoring your good advice.

You can’t help but feel that familiar sense of being disoriented. You’re beginning to realize it’s the sensation of dissonance that comes from the discord between how you want to view yourself and the world, and how it really is.

“It was handled.” You say, already revealing too much but unable to reel it in out of frustration. “You don’t need to worry about it, and neither does he.”

Hana pouts at you as if her facial expression is going to have any effect on your judgment, and when it doesn’t have any effect on your judgment she eventually shrugs at you before wandering off to be with her father, Gin.

You take a breather for a moment, standing there with the donkeys. You were surrounded by blades in the dark, blades of all types. Something bad could happen at any moment. One second everything would be fine, and the very next some catastrophe could rear its head and everything could go to shit. It was your job to be prescient of that fact so you could take steps to avoid it or, barring that, handle it immediately.

Prescience, huh?

What was the worst thing that could happen right now?

File: Fugetsu.png (1.94 MB, 1024x1024)

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>>5986194
Well, you didn’t mention that you paid Shinji. That might be your ticket for tricking him, but Hana just induced an element of suspicion into the situation that you didn’t help by being standoffish. If you namedrop Shinji now, someone might investigate. Additionally, the strange man you were just speaking to could walk up to Kin and get invited to walk with you to Takefu, which would be a total nightmare because you wouldn’t be able to use any jutsu in front of him without tipping your hand. That in mind, you check what the man is doing… Making a beeline straight for Kin with the intention of realizing this nightmare scenario.

You couldn’t run up and say something without really obviously running interference and all but confirming you had something to hide, so you’re forced to watch in impotent silence.

The strange man walks up to Kin, obviously explaining himself as needing an escort to Takefu.

Kin laughs, confirms something the strange man said, then laughs again while patting his belly, but ultimately shakes his head regretfully.

The strange man then walks away. He pauses to light another cigarette, after which he shoots you an odd look, a smirk, and then walks away once more.

You rapidly approach Kin and ask him what just happened.

“Well, Fugetsu there asked if he could come with us to Takefu, but I just bantered with him for a bit and told him that the bigger the crowd, the bigger the target. He’ll be safer on his own, I think. And so will we.” Kin says, patting you on the head. “I’m not a successful merchant for being a rube! I have faith in your abilities despite you being so young, and you can have faith in mine despite being so fat! Haha!”

“Hana was stressing me out by talking with him a bit too openly.” You admit.

“Ah, well, a gregarious nature is more beneficial in our line of work than the opposite. I’m glad you were there! As they say, ‘Some birds eat berries, some birds eat bugs, but every bird has its place!”

“... Who says that?”

“Me! It means everybody has their owns strengths and we’re better served working together. Do you get it?”

“I think you need to workshop it a little more.”

>Onwards to Takefu

>For no reason in particular I’m going to need some 1d100s.
>+10 if you use Will of Fire. You have 3. Will of Fire makes scenarios softer.
>+20 if you use True Ninja. You have 1. True Ninja makes scenarios more brutal.

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>5986195

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>5986195

Rolled 53 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>5986195
WoF

Rolled 68 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>5986195

We are on edge right now, it's a bad spot to be in but I feel it's better we lean into playing it safe and suspicious rather than having to second guess everything. Also, the fat man isn't so bad.

Rolled 98 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>5986195
Will of Fire.

>>5986228
>>5986212
>>5986198
I see blood in our near future.

>>5987066
I see sougeged Doubnges in our future

Blue you still here?

>>5991757
Yeah, I just have writer's block that's holding me back. I know what's supposed to happen next, I'm just having a hard time writing it down in a form I feel good about. I guess I'm just creatively fickle, sometimes I sit down and just spew out a solid post easy, sometimes I sit down and think "Fuck. I've really got nothing."
I had a pretty clear vision up until crossing the bridge, and I have a pretty clear vision for what's coming later, but we're in a transitional zone that I don't know what to make of right now. I know what's supposed to happen in the next post, but I'm having a hard time finding the connective tissue to make it more than just "Thing happens.", if that makes sense.
Posts like yours are a good kick in the ass though, so I'll try and suck it up and push through it.

>>5991792
Just a suggestion, but you could indulge, leave out some details and include something thats fun to write. If you're worried about quality already then you may as well try something that you like, and even if it doesn't turn out how you want (and never will, art is like that) then at least you experimented, maybe learnt something, but most importantly, moved the plot along. The curse has killed far more than a brief drop in quality ever will.

>>5991757
>>5991792
Blue has been sougugueing dounggrdses

>>5991792
Hope everything's going alright for you, my boy!

>>5994726
It's going! It's just not going too well if I'm being honest. I'll spare you the venting sesh because my personal life is irrelevant and talking about it won't achieve anything, with the exception of the fact that I can say there's a lot of stress I'm experiencing oriented around finals week.
I'll probably manage to squeeze out a post or two before it's over, but I can't hold myself to any promises until after Wednesday.

>>5992151
Yeah, this is good advice. I might scrap what I was planning on and just pivot to doing something else I'd prefer more, fuck it. It's essentially a random encounter anyway.

>>5994870
Blues final is sougineing douunges

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>>5986195
>>5986198
>>5986212
>>5986228
>>5986295
>>5986358
>>5987066
>>5991757
>>5992151
>>5994726
>>5999283
>Will of Fire spent. You have 2.

You’re uneasy. That encounter was weird. Actually, weird might be too light of a word. Ominous fits more. A pervading sensation of threat and doom prickles at the back of your neck, as it has since you slaughtered the bandits at the bridge. It’s growing more intense now, that sense of impending judgment.

It's been several hours since you left the Takoyaki stand, and spirits are high. The civilians are realizing that just because there are bandits in the region doesn’t mean it’s a total war zone. For the vast majority of people living here having a bunch of revolutionary bandits prowling in the woods and setting tolls meant nothing. If you weren’t coming or going and you kept your head down, nothing had even changed. Bolstered by the arrogance of not seeing anything go wrong yet, the civilians in your party are optimistic. Nothing could go wrong.

While you peer obsessively at your sensing water sphere, your sensation of dread hits a peak.

You crane your neck back and forth scanning the trees and the trail, but can’t find a reason. The sensing water sphere is devoid of anything that would sound an alarm.

Paranoia, you suppose.

—

>You are Hotaru Nakagawa.

When you’ve been in enough conflicts you get a sense of what an opponent is capable of just by looking at them. A split second of eye contact is all it takes.

Eye contact with Fugetsu revealed a fairly simple message: That he was going to fight. If he were to fight while your kids and the civilians were there, they would die.

Presumably he could read the inverse in your eyes: That you were also going to fight, and if you took losses he would be guaranteed to die.

It’s a temporary impasse. You couldn’t lose anyone, and he couldn’t afford to turn you into someone who had nothing to lose.

So the caravan leaves. It’s a blessing that you had grown accustomed to hiding in the trees, because they fail to recognize your absence while you remain, lurking at the takoyaki stand with this animal in your sights. It was in both of your best interests to wait until they were gone. In the meantime, Fugetsu smugly smokes his cigarette while he slowly meanders into the woods. His motives were unknowable. Perhaps he still had enough lingering integrity from his honorable position as a bodyguard to keep this fight away from bystanders on principle, or perhaps he just valued a fair duel for its own sake.

Regardless, he leads you into a clearing a fifteen minute walk away from anyone else. You can’t hide without him noticing, his perception is too sharp for you to attempt to gain that advantage without triggering a response. You need to make a move, but he’s ready.

Fugetsu comes to stop and turns to face you. You land in the soil of the forest about twenty feet away.

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>>6001064
“I’ve never understood the ninja's predilection for involving kids.” He says. “Every time I see your genin, it makes my stomach turn. That you’d turn them into sacrificial pawns and then have the gall to blame your enemies for their deaths when it was your own choice to put them on the board. And the way you’re looking at me! Ha! As if it’s my fault you brought them to this place, to sick them on us like yapping little dogs! Why? So you could have some fake moral high ground when I kill the bastards? What did you think was going to happen? Honestly!”

“They have to grow accustomed to bloodshed while they’re young enough to adapt. Some losses are inevitable.” You respond, echoing your father.

“If you believed that you would have struck with your pawns at the stand. I would have killed them, but it would have served as a distraction. You would have won. Instead, you’re going to die.”

You return his evil smirk with a more legitimate smile, remembering a rhetorical phrase Otomo often uses. An Otomo-ism “I have questions.”

“Heh. Fine. Shoot. We have all the time in the world.”

“Do you honestly believe in your cause, or is this just a means to an end? Either way, it seems the four of you are out of your mind. Even if you win here, how can you expect to succeed in the long run? You’re a dead man walking. It’s only a matter of time.”

“You and I both know that living is far from the most important matter in our lives. I do believe in our cause… Though maybe a bit less embellished for the rabble. This world is fucking sick. Ninja are a disease. You need to be eliminated. I don’t expect to handle you personally, because I’m good, but nobody’s that good. Look at it as a cry for help. Someone needs to light the fuse, start the timer, set a clock that counts down to the end of your days. In the last twenty years I’ve watched your kind go from mercenaries to soldiers to something else entirely. Our replacement. An existential threat to the possibility of an honorable way of life.”

“Is that all? Some political blather about the woes of the world?”

“Hey, you got me!” He says, the grin sliding off his face. “I just fucking hate you. I hate what you do. I hate what you stand for. I like killing people that I hate. That’s it. I don’t need anything else.”

The clearing goes silent as the two of you stare each other down. You wait for some kind of trigger, a release in the tension before conflict starts. If you moved first, you would have initiative, but if he was good (And he is.), you could also tip your hand too early. A single mistake could be lethal, and you couldn’t be sure exactly what he was capable of.

The daimyo’s bodyguards were secretive about their abilities, so you didn’t know much. As for you, you had the pleasure of being largely irrelevant. There’s virtually no way he’s ever heard of you.

The wind rustles in the leaves overhead.

A branch falls.

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>>6001065
>Hotaru is a jonin, and her stats look like pic related.
>Listing all of her techniques would be overkill, but she’s capable of virtually any water or fire jutsu you can think of that’s not a bloodline or clan technique. Ditto for sealing techniques, though non-clan sealing techniques tend to require too much setup for frenetic combat.
>Additionally, her own clan technique allows her to push heat around. This sounds better than it is, because it requires setup. You can only push heat out of water or into water, and it’s a separate jutsu that can’t be used until your previous jutsu has been released.
>Some options follow, but feel free to do a write-in so long as you keep it grounded in common sense. Long, complicated plans will be better if you roll high and can actually execute them, but they’ll work out worse if you roll too low and your strategy crumbles in the face of the unexpected. Shorter, simpler ones are unlikely to end the fight, but also won’t catch you as flatfooted if you roll low and need to adjust.

>Spam some great fireballs at him to keep him moving. Watch what he does, see what he’s capable of doing. When he inevitably dodges them and closes in for an attack, summon a water dragon bullet to chase him. When he forgets about the fire smoldering nearby, push it into the water dragon, hopefully catching him in the middle. If not, the steam that erupts as the dragon explodes should give you some cover and hopefully cause some damage.
>Keep it basic. Use Hiding in Mist to conceal the area and then hide. When he searches through the mist, use your clan technique to boil it while he’s standing in it. If it doesn’t work, at least you won’t have expended too much chakra for no effect.
>He doesn’t wield a blade, even though he’s a samurai. He’s likely not a melee fighter. Summon a water blade and engage him in melee. Stab him in the heart.
>Write in.

>I'll need 3 1d100s.
>This isn't as Otomo, but you can still use Will of Fire or True Ninja for an edge. Your team is part of you, after all.

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>6001068
roll

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>6001068
I have three words for you Anon: Boiling Water Clones.
Because that sounds horrible to actually deal with.

>Keep it basic. Use Hiding in Mist to conceal the area and then hide. When he searches through the mist use it to form water clones, and boil the water clones. Surround him and see what happens.

They don't need to be convincing mimics, but sentient very hot water trying to give you fourth degree burns sounds like a good starter and setup.

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>6001068
No WoF or TN vote to use in my roll.

>>6001098
Thats a bit complicated for no real gain over the actual opener.

>>6001068
Create Mist, boil him when he searches through it.

>>6001068
>Spam some great fireballs at him to keep him moving. Watch what he does, see what he’s capable of doing. When he inevitably dodges them and closes in for an attack, summon a water dragon bullet to chase him. When he forgets about the fire smoldering nearby, push it into the water dragon, hopefully catching him in the middle. If not, the steam that erupts as the dragon explodes should give you some cover and hopefully cause some damage.

>>6001116
Figured complicated is better, kinda.
If this guy is high end, and has killed ninja before, he knows how the basic moves work.

Yes boiling the mist is neat, but that's only if he remains in it, doesn't blow it away etc etc. But water clones? Bet you he's used to those, and know how they work, ie a light hit and they go away.
So he taps them and now a fair portion of his body is scalded to hell.
And if he tries to stay away from them, well... Its Hotaru clones. Ranged justu spam is kind of her thing. Loose - Loose.

>>6001068
>Keep it basic. Use Hiding in Mist to conceal the area and then hide. When he searches through the mist, use your clan technique to boil it while he’s standing in it. If it doesn’t work, at least you won’t have expended too much chakra for no effect.

Blue?