You are Kaguya Ryōko, an up-and-coming ninja born into a deadly bloodline and trained by a living legend. Now it seems that you’ll be able to put those things on display during a multinational promotion exam held by Konohagakure. While promotion to chūnin would be nice, your official objective here is to make it to the public final round of the exams so potential clients will see that your adoptive village, Yugakure, has not grown so weak and ineffectual as rumors would lead them to believe. Even more importantly, it’s an opportunity to finally begin to validate Tsunade-sensei’s decision years ago to become your mentor.One shinobi from Konohagakure has just opted not to continue to the final stage of the exams. After all his talk and his apparent efforts, you still can’t say that you quite have a sense for what Kabuto-san is actually trying to achieve. Since you’re no doubt missing some key aspect of the context, his choices have felt inconsistent to you.“Excuse me, Lord Hokage,” you hear Hiroshi-kun’s voice behind you. “I’ve given it some thought… and if withdrawing is possible, I believe I should as well.”“What the hell, Hiroshi!?” Akiji-kun demands. “You’re just gonna duck out like this when we’re right there?”“It might’ve been under unusual circumstances,” Hiroshi-kun explains, “but fact is I had to accept outside help to keep Ryōko-kun from spending her chakra on me instead of resting and taking advantage of us finishing early. It wouldn’t be fair to stay in when other candidates didn’t get that opportunity.”Ah. So that’s what it was.“You made that decision on your own?” Akiji-kun demands, unconvinced.“He did it because he knew I might disagree,” you observe. “But why only mention it now?”Hiroshi-kun has an answer for that as well. “Because we have an odd number of candidates with Kabuto-san gone. I can’t see either of you two losing your first match, but in order for everyone to have a fight one candidate out of an odd number would have to fight twice. And if you assume two of us are going to win our first fights…”“There’s a higher chance that one of us would have to fight twice,” you summarize. “That was your reasoning.”“So it’d be unfair,” Hiroshi-kun declares, “including to the two of you, and would risk not getting our stronger two fighters into the public phase. Even if it’s one in five, that’s too high a risk given our mission.”>1/2
>>6401257You can’t really argue with his reasoning. Fighting here serves no purpose beyond getting yourselves into the public phase of the exams, so there’s no reason to risk making that process harder than it has to be. As for the question of fairness… there’s no such thing for a shinobi, at least not in battle. But right now Hiroshi-kun’s idea of fairness is what’s fair to his teammates, as opposed to other shinobi. On the one hand it could be seen as naive, but that way of thinking – of devaluing honor, loyalty, and camaraderie – is the sort of thinking that eventually gets you people like Hidan. And given the choice, you’d rather have more people like your teammates in the world than more bastards like Hidan.“You sound certain of this,” the Hokage muses, the look on his old face almost something like approval. “Very well. I would ask that you also step out. You will be escorted out along with Yakushi-kun.”As Hiroshi-kun turns to leave, he flashes you a thumbs-up. You answer with a little nod.“If anyone else would like to leave, now would be the time to say so,” the Hokage declares calmly.No one else speaks up.“Then I will pass this on to the proctor.”The Hokage steps away, allowing for the man who looks like he never sleeps to step up. He also coughs into his fist the same way the Hokage did, although instead of just being an old man this proctor seems to be chronically ill.“I am Gekkō Hayate, proctor for the third stage,” the man introduces himself, gesturing to a black screen high on the wall behind him. “This screen will display two of your names randomly. Those candidates whose names are displayed will fight either until one candidate gives up or I decide that one can no longer continue. This will happen eleven times.”“While full force is authorized, any attacks obviously intended to kill an opponent who cannot defend themselves are prohibited, and will be dealt with harshly.”>1d11 please>taking the first two
Rolled 5 (1d11)>>6401269Smart thinking Hiroshi-kun.
Rolled 3 (1d11)>>6401269
>>6401269The display flickers to life, then begins to flash through the characters of twenty-two names in blinding succession. Eventually it snaps to a stop on two:“The first match,” Hayate-san declares, “will be Uzumaki Naruto against Akimichi Chōji. All other candidates and their senseis will withdraw to the observation level.”Naruto-kun seems to be fired up for his fight, while Chōji-kun – the large one out of the three from the yakiniku place – pulls out a small bag of what you think are potato chips for a snack while everyone else is getting out of the way. Interesting priorities. Maybe there’s a reason behind it, maybe that reason is just gluttony. No way for you to know just yet.“Hey, so we don’t have anyone from our village here,” Akiji-kun observes. “What do you wanna do?”>We’ll find a spot and observe by ourselves.>May as well say hi to Sasuke-kun, Sakura-kun, and Kakashi-san.>Whatever we do, let’s leave the Sand team alone for now.>Other?
>>6401318>Whatever we do, let’s leave the Sand team alone for now.
>>6401318>>Whatever we do, let’s leave the Sand team alone for now.they give us the creeps
>>6401318>Let's go talk to the Sand team. Gaara's actually a pretty chill dude.
>>6401318>May as well say hi to Sasuke-kun, Sakura-kun, and Kakashi-san.
>>6401318>We’ll find a spot and observe by ourselves.
Just caught up on the last thread, but I gotta say, good stuff, QM! You've got excellent prose, and I'm always a sucker for a good Naruto quest. The first thread will be on the board for a (long) while, but don't forget to archive it before then!>>6401318>We’ll find a spot and observe by ourselves.If someone wants to come talk to us, that's fine too. I mostly want to see how Akiji's feeling.
>>6401318“Let’s just avoid the Sand team for now, whatever we do,” you decide.“Agreed,” Akiji-kun nods. “That Gaara guy gives me the creeps.”You laugh a little to yourself. “Gaara-kun’s not that bad, but Kankuro’s a jerk.”“I… think your warped standards are showing themselves again.”…Your team eventually takes up a position between two of the Konoha teams – Kakashi-san’s team, and the team Chōji-kun is on with the burly jōnin-sensei. Eventually, only the two candidates and the proctor remain on the floor.“Alright,” the proctor declares. “The first match – Uzumaki Naruto versus Akimichi Chōji.”He raises his hand, then lowers it and takes a leap backwards. “Begin!”Neither opponent starts off instantly. Instead, there’s a little verbal back-and-forth between the former classmates.“I got lucky,” Chōji-kun muses, tossing aside his now-empty bag of chips and clapping his hands together. “Thank you for the meal!”“Keep thinking that,” Naruto-kun shoots back. “Underestimating me’ll just make this go quicker, ya know!”Naruto-kun produces his weapon – a long-chained kusarigama – and sets the weighted chain end spinning while Chōji-kun forms his hand seals. “Konoha-ryū taijutsu: Nikudan Sensha!”Chōji-kun suddenly expands vastly in size, forming a massive ball of humanity before pulling his head and legs inside his clothes – making his own sound effects as he does so. Then he starts to spin… faster and faster until the tiles below him start to crack.Naruto-kun’s chain slowly stops spinning. “Oh crap, that’s not gonna work!”Instead of attacking with the kusarigama Naruto-kun dodges as Chōji-kun rolls at him aggressively – but slowly. The energy on Naruto-kun’s end is actually comedic, but effective in keeping him away from several successive attempts by the now boulder-sized genin to run him down.“Um… what am I watching?” Akiji-kun wonders aloud.“To be fair that’d probably hurt if it hit,” you admit. “He’s just so… slow. And loud. It hurts to watch.”It takes a while for Naruto-kun to come up with something like a plan, but eventually he does start to fight back by forming an unusual hand seal. “Kagebunshin-no-jutsu!”>1/2
>>6401577He creates a small number of clones, who try to slow Chōji-kun’s roll without success – despite the fact that they’re physically real and don’t require any nature transformation, they’re also apparently pretty fragile. The amount of weight behind Chōji-kun’s attacks means that even despite his slow speed there’s a lot of force involved, and the shadow clones just can’t withstand it for long enough to really matter.“So he’s not going to get it done in one strong attack,” you muse. “What now?”The answer Naruto-kun comes up with is actually pretty good – he probably has no makibishi in his pouches, and at that size the little iron spikes wouldn’t do Chōji-kun much harm anyway. But hira-shuriken thrown at the ground hard enough can stick with their points facing outward, and so Naruto-kun leaves some behind as he dodges another rolling charge.“Still didn’t do much,” Akiji-kun muses. That having been admitted, Chōji-kun dodges the next time Naruto-kun tries the same trick. Then as his opponent makes a wide turn, Naruto-kun makes a… decision.“Come on!” he shouts. “Bring it on, fatso!”… you can actually SEE the moment Chōji-kun realizes that he’s been insulted. In fact, you can saw with confidence that he starts spinning even faster, ripping up floor as he goes.“I’m not fat!” he shouts back. “I’m strong, and the strong EAT!”Eat the wall, maybe.Naruto-kun barely dodges that last attack, and it’s clear on his face that he knows it. But he also quickly realizes that his plan worked, and Chōji-kun has trapped himself by slamming too hard into the wall. So Naruto-kun takes immediate and merciless advantage, sprinting past his opponent and up the wall. He creates a shadow clone when he nears the ceiling, and in one smooth movement turns as he uses the transformation technique to become some kind of weapon.Then his clone pushes off the ceiling into a dead sprint, before hurling the giant folding shuriken with all his might.“Don’t you ever…” the clone begins even as the shuriken transforms back.“… underestimate me!”This time the blow strikes Chōji-kun dead on, unable to deflect it using his rotational speed. And on the contrary, Naruto-kun’s body retains the speed of a thrown shuriken to add to the force of his punch.There’s a burst of smoke from that side of the sparring floor.>2/3
>>6401588When the smoke clears, it’s obvious who has won. But the proctor still makes it official.“Akimichi-kun is unable to continue,” Hayate-san declares after examining Chōji-kun, who’s lying on the floor exhausted at the center of a ring of cracks. “The winner is Uzumaki Naruto-kun.”Naruto-kun also seems to have lost his wind, and his right fist is bleeding enough to be visible from here. While his teammates seem enthusiastic but not surprised, the same can’t be said for the other Konoha genin who are all floored – you overhear words like ‘loser’ and ‘screwball’ being used.>1d10, taking first two
Rolled 2 (1d10)>>6401596
Rolled 1 (1d10)>>6401596
>>6401603>>6401606Seriously, a joint 1% probability and you get THIS result. Cursed. You'll see in a few minutes.
>>6401596Naruto-kun stops as he walks past Chōji-kun on the way to the stairs back up to the observation level, and kneels for a moment. He says something inaudible, and pats Chōji-kun on the shoulder. Then he continues towards the stairs.By the time he’s rejoined his team, the names are already flashing across the screen again in rapid succession. You notice something, a disturbance on the sparring floor. Just as the names on the board stop, one of the two candidates named appears below in a swirl of sand.“The second match,” Hayate-san announces, “Will be Gaara versus Rock Lee.”The bowl-cut guy you noticed with his team a few days ago, one of the early finishers, is immediately fired up to the point of cheering out loud – the exact same as his similarly dressed and coiffed sensei.>Continue watching together with Akiji-kun?>Go and ask what Naruto-kun said to Chōji-kun?>Maybe go talk to the Sand team about Gaara-kun?>Other?
Welp so much for our best match up for best gainz against Lee. Damn shame. There is no one else we can fight that will benefit us like that.>Maybe go talk to the Sand team about Gaara-kun?
>>6401855It seems Rock Lee vs Gaara is a universal constant which you can match your heartbeat to and know you are on the canonical path. So says the Kwisatz Haderach, praise be his hallowed name!>Maybe go talk to the Sand team about Gaara-kun?Gaara's a good guy, right Ryōko? Surely nothing will go wrong.
>>6401855>>Maybe go talk to the Sand team about Gaara-kun?
>>6401855>Maybe go talk to the Sand team about Gaara-kun?
>>6401855>Maybe go talk to the Sand team about Gaara-kun?Too late :(
