@The Mad HatterYeah, I'll give a more complete response to anyone of these things later if you require it, but at the moment I'll address a few things. In regards to the skills, this was a state of me thinking more than I was writing. His blacksmithing is best in the village because I made the assumption that the blacksmiting in town would be below average, and I was incorporating some anime logic with the blacksmithing thing, so I'm fine with that changing so that he just has more of a knack for it than most.

While the level of metalwork in the village might be below average it still takes many years to master such a skill, even with talent. Yeah, bump it down to a knack and you're fine.

I think I saw that explained in the show somewhere that those who come from ninja families are more likely to have larger chakra reserves than those who come from a civilian background. Could be wrong, but it makes sense to me that, if your family have been using chakra for generations, it would gain a certain affinity towards it.

I think I know what you're talking about here, and I'm also pretty sure that they weren't talking about chakra reserves, but chakra manipulation (because without it you can't be a ninja unless you have plot). The Uzumaki clan is the only family that we know about that has chakra reserves as a clan trait. Of course, if you are born in a ninja family, you're bound to start your ninja training at home and as you practice I believe your reserves will quite quickly outgrow that of normal people.

Ken juts just means he knows how to use a sword, no real techniques to it, though to offset it, I'm fine with making his taijutsu bad and ninjutsu average( only thing that made it about be is that he just had more chakra to burn though, rather than being above average in his skill with it.)

This really doesn't make any sense, and I've met similar arguments in many games before. The thing is that your skill in a certain field is measured by the amount and ranks of techniques in that field. Almost any ninja is able to perform generic fighting with pretty much any weapon, it is the techniques that sets them apart, that lifts them above the rabble that hasn't trained enough to acquire sets, techniques, jutsus, katas... Call it what you want. There have been instances of people who are pretty much shit in a field to still overcome an opponent using those skills, but that is mostly more about serving the plot, or the fact that they are both worthless in the field.

As for the body thing, I've always been bad at describing body shapes. What I'm thinking of is that he's got an ectomorphic frame, but his work has made it so that he's gained some muscle.

Yeah. I looked up a diagram for BMI to get mine right (protip).

Being born outside the village is just for story reasons, as their would be know reason for his mother to be in Gobi at the time she was to give birth to him. Gobi was chosen because it was isolated from the rest of the world.

I still don't get it. Who wouldn't it make sense for her to be in Gobi before the birth, but practically immediately after is ok? Is there some event or circumstance you haven't told us about?

Kekkei Genkai possibility is partially because I wanted to talk to you guys about it first, and also because I wanted to have him discover it later in his life, similar to what was discussed earlier for the secondary natures. His life in the village has been mostly stress free and, since he was never told of the possibility of him having a Kekkei Genkai( his family heritages were kept secret from him with his mother changing her last name to Kajiya, which is more well- known in Kiri than other nations/villages).

We haven't yet arrived at an agreement about the KG. Basically we set out with the mindset of having none, but maybe allowing one because that is what people wants to play.

I actually was wondering something about the natures: should he have learn to use both fire and earth in order to use Lava, or could I start him off with earth and have fire come to him when he discovers Lava, if he hasn't discovered fire already by that point.

Lava is the combination of both fire and earth inside a single individual (with the talent of moulding them together). You would need both elements first, and then unlock the third.

Fuinjutsu is extremely basic, mostly a set-up for when he learns his family's style of engraving seals into their smithing, something I planned to happen later on when he meets his father, who would continue on where his master left off, hopefully.

I actually like that you have a plan with this. What kind of engravings are we talking about? Will your and MMGiru's character fight for supremacy?

@Halvtand

I think I know what you're talking about here, and I'm also pretty sure that they weren't talking about chakra reserves, but chakra manipulation (because without it you can't be a ninja unless you have plot). The Uzumaki clan is the only family that we know about that has chakra reserves as a clan trait. Of course, if you are born in a ninja family, you're bound to start your ninja training at home and as you practice I believe your reserves will quite quickly outgrow that of normal people.

Okay, makes sense. I'll change that bit up, might change my ideas on him a bit now in regards to how he fights.

This really doesn't make any sense, and I've met similar arguments in many games before. The thing is that your skill in a certain field is measured by the amount and ranks of techniques in that field. Almost any ninja is able to perform generic fighting with pretty much any weapon, it is the techniques that sets them apart, that lifts them above the rabble that hasn't trained enough to acquire sets, techniques, jutsus, katas... Call it what you want. There have been instances of people who are pretty much shit in a field to still overcome an opponent using those skills, but that is mostly more about serving the plot, or the fact that they are both worthless in the field.

Point. I still want him to main Kenjutsu, so I'll lower his Taijutsu and Ninjutsu accordingly.

I still don't get it. Who wouldn't it make sense for her to be in Gobi before the birth, but practically immediately after is ok? Is there some event or circumstance you haven't told us about?

Well there was some traveling across the nations(while she was carrying) due to her exile from the clan. Reason for exile is that she was promised to the head of another clan in a political marriage, but she fell for a member of the Kajiya clan who then left her the moment it became clear that she was pregnant, leaving her to face the wrath of her family alone. Needless to say, it didn't go over very well, and for her dishonorable actions, she was banished form the clan, and effectively from Mizu no Kuni. I guess this is the another instance of me assuming things come across without saying them or thinking more than I actually write.

I actually like that you have a plan with this. What kind of engravings are we talking about? Will your and MMGiru's character fight for supremacy?

The way I see it, probably not since they'll be going in very different directions, I think, in regards to how they'll apply their work. Kajiya sealing technique involves working in the seals during the forging process, using a mixture of chakra and specialized seals to get the best results. Since Tatsuya doesn't have that skill yet, he'll be trying to apply the seals after gee's made the weapon, which'll lead to them having to be redone after continuous use if painted on, and only being useful for a certain amount of time if engraved on the blade itself(since once the seal has been deformed, it'll be useless forever).

Well there was some traveling across the nations(while she was carrying) due to her exile from the clan. Reason for exile is that she was promised to the head of another clan in a political marriage, but she fell for a member of the Kajiya clan who then left her the moment it became clear that she was pregnant, leaving her to face the wrath of her family alone. Needless to say, it didn't go over very well, and for her dishonorable actions, she was banished form the clan, and effectively from Mizu no Kuni. I guess this is the another instance of me assuming things come across without saying them or thinking more than I actually write.

So, while she was still pregnant she was banished from the clan (and the country). Wouldn't it be more logical for her to have given birth in Gobi instead of Kiri, which she had been banished from?

The way I see it, probably not since they'll be going in very different directions, I think, in regards to how they'll apply their work. Kajiya sealing technique involves working in the seals during the forging process, using a mixture of chakra and specialized seals to get the best results. Since Tatsuya doesn't have that skill yet, he'll be trying to apply the seals after gee's made the weapon, which'll lead to them having to be redone after continuous use if painted on, and only being useful for a certain amount of time if engraved on the blade itself(since once the seal has been deformed, it'll be useless forever).

So, how has the character gained any knowledge about the Kajiya-clan's sealing techniques?

@HalvtandGobi wasn't her first choice on a place to stay, and it wasn't like she went straight to Gobi upon getting banished. It was more a process of elimination thing, and thus, it took awhile.

As for the techniques, he doesn't know the Kajiya techniques. The painting/engraving the seal on the weapon is what he knows. The techniques will come when he meets his father, or at least that's the plan.

Been casually lurking, due to a poor mood for the last... decade or so.

Seems like @Raijinslayer and my characters will go in different directions, yeah. I think Masakazu will only care about the materials he's creating seals on insofar as they're media. It is amusing that both fuuinjutsu users have absent fathers.

Been casually lurking, due to a poor mood for the last... decade or so.

Seems like @Raijinslayer and my characters will go in different directions, yeah. I think Masakazu will only care about the materials he's creating seals on insofar as they're media. It is amusing that both fuuinjutsu users have absent fathers.

Daddy issues = Sealing techniques.

I wonder what Minato's dad was like?

So, I just wanted to let you guys know that I've been exceptionally busy this past week. So much, in fact, that I haven't actually had time to dicuss shit stuff with our glorious leader (aka Halvtand). It seems that things will look up a bit next week, but I can't make any promises. So, for the next long period, it's probably best to assume that I only have time to do anything on the weekends and that any attempt to communicate with my during the week will likely be noticed, but not responded to unless it is really, really important and/or urgent.

*whew*

So, with that little tidbit of information out of the way, I'll move on to the next point on my list.

@Raijinslayer
I'd like to remind you that Kenjutsu (Sword Arts) are technically a type of Taijutsu (Close-Quarter Combat), so lowering your Taijutsu level too much would make your Kenjutsu skill being high rather unrealistic, since such skills as dexterity, agility, strength (using gamer terms) and so on would be under Taijutsu proficiency, as well. Just a reminder and all that.

About her giving birth somewhere that's not Gobi... How far into her pregnancy was she, when she was banished? Because "the moment it became clear she was pregnant" can mean various things; by pregnancy test (I have no idea if they have those in the Narutoverse), by some sort of ninja ultrasound-scanning-type-thing (again, I don't know if they have those), when she began showing, when she couldn't hide her baby-belly anymore, when the baby began kicking and so on - all of those things would be at different stages of her pregnancy, after all, and would mean she had more or less time to travel around.
If we go with the "when she began showing" option, that would be when she was around 3-4 months pregnant, which would leave her 4-5 months to travel around the world and find the place she wanted to stay.
How many places did she go before she settled on Gobi? How long did she stay in each place? Where did she actually give birth? Who assisted her with the birth (doctors, midwife, medicine man/witch doctor, traveling medical ninjas)? How long did they stay there after the birth? Why did they not just settle there, rather than travel with an infant? How did she travel with the baby (on foot and carrying him, on a wagon or the like, ect.)? Basically, tell me/us about the travels and the birth.

Even though I like the idea of using engravings on weapons as seals and all that (reminds me of rune magic, which is awesome), I'd like to place attention on the fact that it's not something we've ever seen used in the series and is not in any way described as the way the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist's blades were made (since you mention that his father's clan were rumored to make those). You would need to go in depth about how this works.
I don't see this sort of engraving as Fuuinjutsu, since the only types of Fuuinjutsu that we've seen (as far as I can remember) are meant to either capture, restrict, protect or absorb things; they're all "defensive". They are, after all, sealing techniques; techniques used to seal things inside something.
If I have misunderstood how it is you plan to use these seals, please let me know and elaborate.

I'm double posting because you guys are slow as hell and the privilege comes with Co-GMship.

@Bishop@MMGiru@Hillan@Raijinslayer@Ciphra@alexfangtalon
So... Since everyone (including me) is slow as hell at making Character Sheets, Halvtand and I have decided to make a deadline for character creation. You have until next Sunday to finish typing your sheets and post the finished results. Any alterations that Halvtand or myself may request does not need to be done before Sunday, unless you have already gotten your review and the corrections are already being made.

The deadline is:


Good luck

I've already finished mine and posted it in the character bin, like, a week ago. :^ )

@The Mad Hatter

About her giving birth somewhere that's not Gobi... How far into her pregnancy was she, when she was banished? Because "the moment it became clear she was pregnant" can mean various things; by pregnancy test (I have no idea if they have those in the Narutoverse), by some sort of ninja ultrasound-scanning-type-thing (again, I don't know if they have those), when she began showing, when she couldn't hide her baby-belly anymore, when the baby began kicking and so on - all of those things would be at different stages of her pregnancy, after all, and would mean she had more or less time to travel around.
If we go with the "when she began showing" option, that would be when she was around 3-4 months pregnant, which would leave her 4-5 months to travel around the world and find the place she wanted to stay.
How many places did she go before she settled on Gobi? How long did she stay in each place? Where did she actually give birth? Who assisted her with the birth (doctors, midwife, medicine man/witch doctor, traveling medical ninjas)? How long did they stay there after the birth? Why did they not just settle there, rather than travel with an infant? How did she travel with the baby (on foot and carrying him, on a wagon or the like, ect.)? Basically, tell me/us about the travels and the birth.

In this instance I have to say I can't really answer this in-depth because I'm not sure yet how her travels went in this period. It's not something I wouldn't expand upon later, but this is something I'd like to take time to think on. I like to keep certain aspects of my characters background vague so I have the ability to add or remove things(with the consent of the GM, of course) when I feel it's needed. What I can say is that she probably didn't go to too many places before Gobi, maybe one or two, and didn't stay very long. The where and why will not be finished by the deadline, however, as I want to think about this section in-depth and at my own pace.

Even though I like the idea of using engravings on weapons as seals and all that (reminds me of rune magic, which is awesome), I'd like to place attention on the fact that it's not something we've ever seen used in the series and is not in any way described as the way the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist's blades were made (since you mention that his father's clan were rumored to make those). You would need to go in depth about how this works.
I don't see this sort of engraving as Fuuinjutsu, since the only types of Fuuinjutsu that we've seen (as far as I can remember) are meant to either capture, restrict, protect or absorb things; they're all "defensive". They are, after all, sealing techniques; techniques used to seal things inside something.
If I have misunderstood how it is you plan to use these seals, please let me know and elaborate.

Engraving's aren't the Kajiya sealing technique, that would be apply seals during the process of the forging, which is a rather involved and taxing process, especially if there is only a single smith working on a work. The seals are embedded into the metal by use of chakra and chakra alone(as one can't write or engrave a seal onto a piece of molten slag) hence why there are no real outward signs of sealing on the blades. As for the Fuinjutsu aspect, I kind of see it as the ability to control chakra and command it, though this view has been shaped by other uses of sigil-based systems. When I think of a seal, I think of it as a series of commands to the chakra inside of it, telling it what to do and what not. Thus, while the most obvious way of using it would be the ways mentioned, I don't think that too far-fetched to do thinks like, say, have the chakra inside of the blade convert the iron in blood into metal or give advance control over lightning chakra or other such things. Also, I can think of one way that fuinjutsu is used offensively that I would believe supports this theory: Explosive tags. Those are definitely fuinjutsu, but hey don't protect, restrict, capture, or absorb anything. What they do is explode, and that means the seal on the tag is telling the charka within it to surge outward in an explosive fashion. I know it's only one, but I think it's enough to go on at least.

Now, for the engraving, it's basically the same as regular sealing, but short-hand(due to the lack of space) meaning the weapon would only be able to do one thing, and the thing would have to be simple. Plus, there were the problems mentioned above about this method and the method of painting the seal directly onto the weapon.

I'd like to remind you that Kenjutsu (Sword Arts) are technically a type of Taijutsu (Close-Quarter Combat), so lowering your Taijutsu level too much would make your Kenjutsu skill being high rather unrealistic, since such skills as dexterity, agility, strength (using gamer terms) and so on would be under Taijutsu proficiency, as well. Just a reminder and all that.

Before I give a response to this, do you have any suggestions for how I should handle the skill thing?

Well I'm going back and forth getting tiny details to type up the history, which will effect everything else to a point. Also I need to finish up the jutsu sheet...And write about the puppets...Ugh...And I woke up at four today...This day sucks so far -_-

Hey do you mind if I make an OC and join when you start?

@Raijinslayer As I'm on my phone right now I can't really elaborate on good answers, but if the hat hasn't replied to you before I can get to a proper internet-machine I'll try to give you an idea about what the hat talked about.

@Ciphra No worries. You still have lots of time left. You may post a WIP to get opinions from both gms and other players if you want.

@godlyinfluence We don't mind, but please read the opening post thoroughly and the approved characters in the char-tab to get a feel for the level of play we're after.
Also, since we've been open for a month already we've set a deadline on Sunday to get an acceptable character to us. We kind of want to get this started soon.

On a less serious note. Yesterday was Monday!
I was playing Demon's souls allnight and completely lost track of time so this is one day late.
Discussion for the week: Was Neji right all along? Think about what he told Naruto at the Chuunin exam.

Daddy issues = Sealing techniques.

I wonder what Minato's dad was like?

So might he. Ba-dum-tiss.

Discussion for the week: Was Neji right all along? Think about what he told Naruto at the Chuunin exam.

I am ever a failure, but the Neji's view v. Naruto's strikes me as the argument of 'fixed and growth mindsets', and people pretty regularly prove themselves capable of growth.

I don't even remember what he told Naruto from the start. Something about us being different from birth and that there's no way someone can break out of their bonds, right?
He was sort of doing the whole Vegeta-Schick, but in reverse. Right? I always wished he would've fought Lee and told him that, and not Naruto. That would've been more fitting.

Regardless, in the Naruto world, he is mostly right, in the real world, not so much. Someone who's born special will always stay special. Naruto and Sasuke had their destiny laid out for them from the start. Neji was right about Naruto, he couldn't change his destiny.

@Raijinslayer Alright. I can't talk about the sealing techniques and the birth. The hat will have to do that. But the basic thinking behind tai/kenjutsu is that instead of lowering the skill in taijutsu you should focus on developing some techiques in kenjutsu.
The hat is trying to apply real life logic to anime, which means that the relationship between hand-to-hand fighting and swordfighting relies on the same basic skills... I would argue that they are are executed very differently, to the point where your skill in one can have no impact on your skill in the other, but as we are two GMs we have to agree on one thing and in this case it is that your skill depends on the amount and rank of jutsus.

@MMGiru@Hillan You're both on the right track.
Neji Basically told Naruto that a loser born of a loser is always a loser and awesome people that are born from awesome people like Neji will always be awesome. At that point in time this was a big blow against Neji as a "friendly" character as he was going against the main character of the series (Let's be honest, the main character will always be the best, no matter how lame they are). For some reason this conflict stuck with me and once Naruto's parents were revealed I almost couldn't believe that they would prove Neji right, only for the wrong reasons.

It's interesting that you mentioned Lee in this @Hillan, how do you see that playing out as a story?

Also, anyone who has had their character approved can get to work on their character's "special place".

@MMGiru@Hillan You're both on the right track.
Neji Basically told Naruto that a loser born of a loser is always a loser and awesome people that are born from awesome people like Neji will always be awesome. At that point in time this was a big blow against Neji as a "friendly" character as he was going against the main character of the series (Let's be honest, the main character will always be the best, no matter how lame they are). For some reason this conflict stuck with me and once Naruto's parents were revealed I almost couldn't believe that they would prove Neji right, only for the wrong reasons.

It's interesting that you mentioned Lee in this @Hillan, how do you see that playing out as a story?

I always saw Lee and Neji as natural opposites, even more so than Naruto and Sasuke. Sure, we don't know that much about Lee's life before becoming a ninja, but we know that he sucked at it starting out. That he had no talent for Ninjutsu, and in all honesty had nothing compared to Neji, whom despite being of the Branch part of the Hyuuga was arguably the most powerful genin of his year.

Lee worked harder than anyone to become where he was. To become a master of the Strong Fist and a ninja without Ninjutsu. All of the techniques he employed against Gaara were developed to fight Neji and his gentle fist.

Yet, we never really did get to see their showdown, but, I want to imagine it happened during the timeskip, and that's why Neji is so different.

In this instance I have to say I can't really answer this in-depth because I'm not sure yet how her travels went in this period. It's not something I wouldn't expand upon later, but this is something I'd like to take time to think on. I like to keep certain aspects of my characters background vague so I have the ability to add or remove things(with the consent of the GM, of course) when I feel it's needed. What I can say is that she probably didn't go to too many places before Gobi, maybe one or two, and didn't stay very long. The where and why will not be finished by the deadline, however, as I want to think about this section in-depth and at my own pace.

After discussing this for quite a while we've come to the conclusion that it would be better if the character was either born in Gobi a few month after the mother arrived there, or outside it and then moved to Gobi after a while.
The reason is simply that a pregnancy is a big deal for a woman, and even "easier" pregnancies will come with a lot of problems that will make many types of travelling hard. Even after birth the mother isn't really free to move around too much as she now has a baby to care for that needs food several times a day and lots of irregular sleep, meaning that the mother will be a zombie for a while and depending on food (not sleep) to keep her strength. An adult (pregnant) woman would surely know about this, and would probably look for a safe place to hunker down in for a few months as soon as she was banished from the clan.

Engraving's aren't the Kajiya sealing technique, that would be apply seals during the process of the forging, which is a rather involved and taxing process, especially if there is only a single smith working on a work. The seals are embedded into the metal by use of chakra and chakra alone(as one can't write or engrave a seal onto a piece of molten slag) hence why there are no real outward signs of sealing on the blades. As for the Fuinjutsu aspect, I kind of see it as the ability to control chakra and command it, though this view has been shaped by other uses of sigil-based systems. When I think of a seal, I think of it as a series of commands to the chakra inside of it, telling it what to do and what not. Thus, while the most obvious way of using it would be the ways mentioned, I don't think that too far-fetched to do thinks like, say, have the chakra inside of the blade convert the iron in blood into metal or give advance control over lightning chakra or other such things. Also, I can think of one way that fuinjutsu is used offensively that I would believe supports this theory: Explosive tags. Those are definitely fuinjutsu, but hey don't protect, restrict, capture, or absorb anything. What they do is explode, and that means the seal on the tag is telling the charka within it to surge outward in an explosive fashion. I know it's only one, but I think it's enough to go on at least.

Now, for the engraving, it's basically the same as regular sealing, but short-hand(due to the lack of space) meaning the weapon would only be able to do one thing, and the thing would have to be simple. Plus, there were the problems mentioned above about this method and the method of painting the seal directly onto the weapon.

After a fierce battle, won by reason, we have decided that the most reasonable way of looking at the whole sealing-business is to view fuuinjutsu as a very generic term that encompass almost all use of "chakra writing". From summoning scrolls to Yondaime's special kunai to explosive tags and beyond.
We also talked about two standardized ways of using fuuinjutsu on weapons.
One is demonstrated by the fourth Hokage and his special kunai which allows him to use his teleport with the kunai as a target. The seal is written (or engraved or whatever) on the weapon, visible but unreadable to someone who doesn't know chakra writing.
The other is demonstrated by summoning scrolls. The writing is done on a surface which the weapon is then placed on. As the seals are "activated" they do their stuff on the weapon, whatever effect this may be. This should not leave a mark on the weapon, but the effect will be there.

@HalvtandOkay, also I'm fine with him not being a baby right around the time he arrives at the town. That is what I was thinking when I put 'all of his childhood', though I guess I should've put 'practically' in there to make it more clear.