Lewascan2

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

@Lewascan2OK, haha! You're really passionate about it. We can do whatever, I don't mind!

@anothered

I'm just of the school of thought that though Kakashi is a good person, he's a really not a very good teacher unless he's forced to be. He's an unideal instructor to use as an example for the masses, evidenced in no small part by the fact that all three of his students ended up having to abandon him as a teacher to actually get anywhere notable.

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

Gotcha. All right, one more question. Just for the sake of uniformity, are we using the localized terminology (technique instead of jutsu, master instead of sensei, Mr. instead of -san and so on or...?

@Randomguy

I'm planning to just use whatever I feel like tbh. When I feel like actually making an effort, I'll sprinkle in Japanese for funzies.

No, I watched this video: hyyyyaaaah!

@anothered

Ehh, if I look at it from a more objective perspective, I already rather dislike the original bell test. It's inherently unfair as a concept, since the testees are lied to and basically have to luck into passing. To actually standardize that nonsense? Bleh. Clearly some nepotism in play to have a final test based entirely on ideology, rather than actual practical skill. Kakashi basically says this outright; they passed the moment they worked together, regardless of skill or actual success. This is an incredibly unwise passing standard that would (in any real scenario) just get these students killed in the field. Having competent individual skill, a proper foundation, is far more important than teamwork, no matter what Kakashi would like to claim. Teamwork can easily come later, but it doesn't matter if you can't carry your own weight. Overreliance on teamwork just turns you into canon fodder to be mowed down by the newest badass on the block (which Naruto inhabitants should be well aware are a thing; literally the Bingo Book). That test just feels irresponsible, tbh.

Although, the bell test being used on Boruto's class is noted to be because his class was filled with "troublemakers" and students that otherwise don't take being a ninja seriously, something Kakashi blames Boruto for. The Bell Test (and derivatives) only seems to be broken out if the students actually look like they need it (or if Kakashi is given more influence than he should be :V).

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

I get you! We can talk about it. The practical in Boruto was to ring a bell attached to Kakashi.

@anothered

Oh, you meant the "Jonin test"?
I was talking about the actual standardized Academy graduation test stuff.
How a Jonin tests their potential team is another thing entirely and totally up to them, so I could easily see it being more "nonstandard" or whatever else they feel like.

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

<Snipped quote by Lewascan2>

Maybe it should be something fun like a twisted game of tag or capture the flag.

@anothered

I was picturing something less silly or competitive to be honest. This is supposed to be a final test, after all, and one where the students are largely graded individually on their own merits, rather than pit against and compared to each-other, makes more sense. Aside from maybe the sparring (which, again, could simply be against an instructor for fairness), everything they're graded on should basically be almost like a standard test, where everyone is graded alone on personal performance with a score that doesn't rely on others.

I could still picture what you propose as something the Academy might do, but it doesn't sound like final test material... Unless you want to really stretch out the testing to a full arc for the AU? Honestly, in canon, the test likely took a single day at best, but I could see a practical exam including a test on survival skills. Having students competing in the wilds in a "camping trip" type deal for a day or several isn't entirely out of the question. I wouldn't call it the "final" final exam, but it could be a part of the overall final exam.

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

I’d assume a practical exam would at least cover all the physical bases.
Perhaps a sparring match against either other students are simply preset instructors that grade the performance of each student in turn.
Weapon handling tests on accuracy and damage with thrown weapons.
Physicality testing on stamina and agility with an obstacle course?
Testing ability to recognize and break out of basic Genjutsu.
Testing all three E-Rank jutsu, as the inability to cast even one of them competently was grounds for total failure in canon.

Just as some starter options.

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

Posted.
In which Kasumi attempts to help(?) Mu in her cast-iron bitch sort of way.
She also notices Hikari's artillery, because despite cloaking her own signature, she still imbued her attacks with chakra. :V

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

Kasumi Haruno

---

"Ramen first, then," Kasumi confirmed, her chin inclining slightly in assent to Ren's choice. Shortly thereafter, her lips made a slight downturn, and she scoffed, flapping one hand dismissively. "Obviously, I'll pay for myself... at least for the ramen." It was within her splurge budget. "I was the first to suggest it anyway." And therefore bore some level of personal culpability for the cost of this venture. Though, paying for herself was about as far as her generosity went. Mu was the one to suggest this outing in the first place, after all; she wasn't about to start giving people ideas about her paying for her "host" in these sorts of matters. That was just liable to set an annoying precedent. Still...

The pinkette's expression of mild displeasure developed into a full frown, as Mu's chakra song continued to grow more and more discordant and negative, directly in contrast to her expectations and the slightly improving song of Ren. Kasumi's brows pinched in confusion, as her gaze turned away from Ren towards the gradually hunching form of Mu. She almost missed it through the rain, but-

Is he actually seriously crying? Oh come on, man, we're in public! Why?!

"The fuck is eating you?" Kasumi asked Mu bluntly, before clicking her tongue. "Come to think of it, you haven't said a word since we left the Academy; silent as the grave, you are. Oi, this 'grabbing a bite' thing was your idea, after all, so show a little more initiative." Her eyes narrowed, as she stepped closer into the brunette's personal space, making no illusions that she could likely see the woodcutter's tears. "Yare yare, the hell are you crying for? Pull yourself together, and let's fucking eat already. You're not you when you're hungry." Leaning yet closer, her frown deepened. "Since you haven't been talking, I'd guess that means you've been doing a lot of thinking instead, and since that clearly isn't doing you any good, maybe you should sto-"

A sharp brief distortion in the local chakra suddenly flickered overhead, quickly followed up by several similar distortions, and Kasumi stiffened, her gaze snapping to the sky. The pinkette straightened up, eyes narrowed upwards at a phenomenon only she seemed to have detected, judging by the way the citizenry were still going about their business undisturbed. Hell, even the few shinobi she could see wandering the streets didn't seem to take notice. Kasumi's gut curdled, her earlier premonition of unease rising back to the forefront. Curiosity mingled with caution.

Was this an attack on Konoha? A careless instance of training? Kasumi's brow scrunched in consideration, her lips pursing. The smart thing to do would be to stay hands off and leave things to more experienced ninja, to pretend like she hadn't noticed anything and stay far away from ground zero of... whatever this was. That would be the easiest and safest thing to do, right? But then again... judging by the reactions of the shinobi on the street, the 'more experienced' ninja were largely entirely ignorant. What if the pinkette was the only one that had noticed? Or rather, she and what few other sensors Konoha might have. Should she tell someone? But if she did, wouldn't she need to explain what had tipped her off? Kasumi quickly lapsed into a silence of her own, paralyzed by indecision.

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

Mu: Referring to Kasumi as a friend.
Ren: Also implying Kasumi is a friend.

lol
lmao even.

There's also the funny instance where (inversely) Hikari assumes Kasumi was preparing to defend herself when Lin pulled out a knife. When really, she was actually planning to swap herself with Lin using Replacement to get him away from his "target". Averts the attack and simultaneously creates distance if things got ugly. It's probably the one outwardly altruistic thing she's almost done so far. XD

An Alternate Universe Naruto Story

Question of the Day: Can you describe an AU member of the Akastuki? (Keep it short, haha.)

@anothered

A former Branch House Hyuga who secretly invested heavily into seal knowledge in order to break the Caged Bird Seal and then immediately went missing nin out of necessity. Obviously carries a deep personal grudge for the Main House. Though whether he (or she?) simply wants to get revenge on them or has more "well intentioned" motives is up in the air. Perhaps, this member of the Akatsuki even goes as far as to later engineer a "Hyuga Massacre" event to wipe out the majority of the Main Family and thereby free the Branch House by removing anyone that could hold their reins.

As far as threat potential, this member obviously has access to the Hyuga bloodline and fighting style, but they are rather notably infamous at least in part for their Fuinjutsu prowess. They might be partially or primarily in charge of the Akatsuki's security, being a very good guard and being able to easily set up hidden or otherwise warded bases, protected by nasty sealing arrays.

<Snipped quote by anothered>

Even though he's my friend, I say no; he has a habit of just delaying posting for days without warning.

@Letter Bee

@anothered
Can unfortunately second this. Verjil might just drop out without warning. If you need any particular evidence of his post rate, look at the ratio of his account posts to the days his account has existed. Kinda tells the story all on its own; though, I'd love to be proven wrong.

Interest Check - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure RP (Name Pending)

Alright, as far as workshopping an actual plot premise, bit of a long one, but...:

Where We Came From

In the twilight hours of a forgotten time and place, a mad priest waged the final stage of a generational grudge match, seeking [Heaven] and to put an end to the family of heroes that had opposed his tyrannical self-styled god that he called his friend. Yet... if would be in the reliance on that bond with his friend that foiled him. The last "Son of God", drawn by the call of their blood as surely as any of his brothers, finally arrived upon the cusp of victory. And as the priest reached [Heaven], the son chose to deem him unworthy. In the end, the son could not truly undo what [Heaven] had done, what the priest had started, but he still foiled the priest's attempts to dispose of the heroic rivals of his friend. The disturbed course of [Heaven] resolved, and the world was irrevocably altered.

In essence, Giorno was implied to have been in Florida during Stone Ocean but didn't arrive in time. In this AU, he arrived near to the final battle, shortly after Pucci attains [C-Moon], and though I'm using Eyes of Heaven to say Requiem wasn't enough to nullify or revert the Time Acceleration/power of Heaven with Return to Zero, [Gold Experience Requiem] still had the raw physical stats to oppose even [Made in Heaven's] insane speed, and its healing prowess kept nothing from truly sticking. The result is that no-one from the gang died except Foo Fighters and Weather. Similarly, just as when Emporio defeated Pucci canonically, killing him doesn't stop Time Acceleration from operating; it just stops it from reaching Pucci's desired result and resets the universe one last time... except things come out "wrong" and different.

This altered course leads to the universe resetting as something that could theoretically be called an "alternate Part 7", except very much not. The characters of Part 7 do not exist; there's no Johnny or Valentine, for example. In exchange, somewhere out there, the Joestar family has survived and -in a sense- finally truly ended to eternal grudge match with DIO once and for all with the act of his last son making peace with them. Though, while the Joestar and Brando no longer bear any destined fate to clash, those that bear the star-shaped birthmark upon the back of their shoulder still find themselves generationally drawn into bizarre troubles time and time again.

Where We Are

The year is now 2020, over a hundred years since the universe was reset to the late 1800's. While the people have changed, the course of history and the nations and events that formed from it have largely gone unchanged simply due to being fated to occur, regardless of the reset. Entire generations have come and gone, and those that remember the madness caused by the bizarre event that altered the very course of history are long gone. The Universe Reset and the immediate aftermath looms in the distant past as a mysterious source of terror for the supernatural community; for it was not merely those directly involved with contesting it that remember it. Of course, the universe reset ending early largely erased the existence of many people, because they were simply not allowed to be reborn to begin with, but those like Stand Users remembered and survived, thrust into an unfamiliar time and place and forced to rebuild their lives, even with history retroactively altered to support their continued existence. Those born after them in the century leading up to the present sometimes have some vague subconscious recollection of the Universe Reset, but the existence of that event has largely been consigned to myth and legend, given the lack of tangible proof remaining to support it.

Beyond that, elements of both eras have merged into coexistence. The Stand Arrows were still created from the remains of an uncovered asteroid, but they were created in even greater numbers. And furthermore, the material of the asteroid was used to create even more artifacts than them, other weapons and devices that all possess some capacity to "test" people and judge their Worthiness. Hamon and the Spin have both developed independently and are -in some ways- considered rival sects of the supernatural; between them, the Spin is considered the "younger" and more "modern" art with its reliance on Steel Balls that can rarely be made practically without special equipment, along with a greater understanding of physics. The Stone Masks and the Pillar Men are no longer a thing of the past, as the twisted history has led to the resurgence of their existence; they have naturally held a long-running rivalry with Hamon users, and both have made attempts to exterminate the other whenever the opportunity arises. And all the while, somewhere out there... the Holy Corpse Parts lurk, just waiting to be assembled to grant unlimited power.

Stands are far more prevalent than they once were; as nearly all Stand Users survived the Universe Reset, there has been an entire century for their genetics containing the potential to be a Stand User to further spread out in the world. Despite this, due to their lack of physicality, Stands have managed (if only barely) to remain unknown to the wider public consciousness. The utter inability to detect or study them scientifically has sharply limited any attempts to prove their existence, even by those that do notice. This has, however, led to the growing existence of secret mundane organization (both legal or otherwise), dedicated to uncovering the supernatural and bringing it to task; some of these organizations have even lucked out and acquired the backing (willingly or otherwise) of Stand Users or other supernatural inhabitants. In the modern digital age of cameras and various high-quality records, it is growing increasingly difficult for Stand Users to conceal their bizarre nature and get away with their "shenanigans"-benign or otherwise- without consequences.

Where We’re Going

With all that said, to reiterate: it is the year 2020. The modern digital age is in full swing, and all the countries we know and love (or otherwise) have finished redeveloping according to Fate's design, regardless of the Universe Reset. While the exact location is still somewhat undecided, the lean is towards a seaside locale in an original city named Stoneridge, located in the north-eastern USA. On the surface, this city is fairly unremarkable, but to those that live there, it is known to be a hub of gangs and social unrest teeming under the surface. The criminal elements have greatly corrupted much of the city's legal infrastructure, even to the point of influencing elections. Gangs and criminal empires constantly jocky for influence, whether it be martial, material, legal... or even supernatural, and several are known by those more in touch with the supernatural to have multiple Stand Users or other wielders of the occult in their pockets.

Recently, the wealthy owner of a large property passed away under mysterious circumstances, and with the lack of any proper inheritor for his possessions, they were "repossessed" by the city. Among those possessions, the owner was discovered to be an avid collector of what seemed to be many exotic and expensively old art pieces... amongst which was found a certain golden arrow. An appraiser identified the value of the object as having significance worth historically preserving, and the item was donated to a local museum as part of several new exhibits. And during the advertisement campaign for those exhibits... several interested parties recognized the Arrow for what it was.

It's into this brewing mess that your characters arrive, largely unaware of what is to come. For one reason or another, they are on a trip to the museum. Perhaps they're out for a day with a relative. Maybe they're on a school trip. Or maybe they're a Stand User with designs on one of the exhibits. Whatever their reasoning, they're about to be drawn into a much larger conflict over an asset that could either liberate the city from the darkness choking it... or plunge it irrevocably further into its grasp.