[X] Action Plan : Mix and Match
[X] Action Plan : Lore Update
[X] Training Hazou : None
[X] Training Noburi : None
[X] Training Akane : None
[X] Training Keiko : None
So what do you guys think about suggesting to Mari to learn therapy from their psychiatric staff? That's the only way I can see Kagome accepting therapy, and while it would be awkward between her and Keiko, she's certainly competent enough to manage that herself.
If we have her get lessons that would most likely mean we would be splitting the party as well as committing to staying in Konoha for an extended period of time just so she can learn the profession.
I am not entirely against it, but I am hesitant. Do we trust Leaf enough to separate from our jonin for a few hours every day for months?
Also if our cover is that Mari's henge disguise is a minor noble it would be odd if her guards left her alone for so long every day at a psychiatrist's office.
Seventeen, I don't know that you were properly greeted: welcome to the thread! There's been at least some positives to all the drama if we've picked up a new participant. (Or do you intend to go back to just reading?)
Definitely going back to just reading. I don't have the time or mental energy available to get into training plans and action plans and their justifications and the mechanics that underpin them. I just like to read.
I don't think they have movies. Their tech level is like medieval.
Kagome thinks the stars in the heaven aren't flaming balls of light really far away. (Though, we don't actually know what's the actual cosmology of Naruto really is)
Movies wouldn't be so hard to work out as sealcraft (just take a long time to work out the very complicated light and sound projecting seals), but there wouldn't be any real incentive to develop them
Theatre district was mentioned, they probably have acting troupes.
...on the note of how rich Konoha is, we may wish to save sharing Akane ice-making use of EM until we get the chance to talk with Takahashi again. That strikes me as an economic advantage his village could very well use in its beginnings.
e: ...Also, I'm not sure Akane would get along with Ino? Like, at all.
Theatre district was mentioned, they probably have acting troupes.
...on the note of how rich Konoha is, we may wish to save sharing Akane ice-making use of EM until we get the chance to talk with Takahashi again. That strikes me as an economic advantage his village could very well use in its beginnings.
e: ...Also, I'm not sure Akane would get along with Ino? Like, at all.
So what do you guys think about suggesting to Mari to learn therapy from their psychiatric staff? That's the only way I can see Kagome accepting therapy, and while it would be awkward between her and Keiko, she's certainly competent enough to manage that herself.
The main problem we'll need to adress is that we need to stay as a group. We don't want to seperate (because we've already established there are serious threats in Konoha), and our guards aren't likely to let us seperate anyways. That means any social interaction we perform in the city we do with our whole group. Including Kagome, which might be disastrous on the scale of [REDACTED]. So, we may or may not want to do all the things. We definitely want coherent anti-kagome contingencies. Here's a few suggestions for activities (and what I see as likely outcomes)
Clothing Shopping
Likely to make our non-Ino guards antsy
Likely to increase bond between Mari and Ino
Likely to use up a lot of our budget
Continuius exposure to crowds
Get new footware (seriously, how are our shoes alive at all? My HIKING BOOTS only lasted 750 miles, and that's without putting them through chakra stress and with modern technology)
Improved ability to hide as Leaf nobles when we eventually leave
Mildly unpredictable route (harder for a planned assassination)
Seems odd for a noble to only shop for a while day while in Konoha? Mildly bad for cover?
Food
We are hungry
Gives Noburi and Akimichi chance to bond
Allows one or two conversational topics while we eat (find out about Leaf)
Keeps us in one location, easier for planned assassination
Likely to make our (non-Ino) guards more comfortable than if we keep shopping
Allows us to explore how the rich eat, likely good for our cover (assuming we hide the fact we're totally surprised by the food)
Theater district
Find out about the themes Leaf believes in
Likely to be relaxing for our guards and possibly us
Seems like something a noble would do (good for cover)
Unsure how long Inoue's genjutsu will last
Library/research
Unsure if it exists
Mildly ok for cover
Likely to cause questions about our behavior (in Nara's report)
Possibly large dividends from gained knowledge (Leaf logistics, history, knowledge of Mist, training techniques, agriculture, general state of civilian villages, possible ways we could help Konoha, etc.)
Psychological help
Might give Inoue better tools to help Kagome
Might help Kagome
Might trigger an incident from Kagome
Will spill all of Kagome's secrets (no way does this not involve a mind scan)
Easier for a planned assassination
Not great for cover (why would a noble do this?)
Given this, I suggest we propose a meal, followed by an abreviated shoe purchase (focus on durability), and end the day by watching a play. To get the most out of this, we'll likely want to have 2 conversation topics for the meal, and a mild suggestion for the play. Honestly, while libraries and psychology are high reward, they are also much higher risk. I'd suggest we wait until we know more about Leaf to pursue them. We are likely to get ankther day.
Edit: given there's a budget, what do you think the chances are we can eventually use the remainder of the budget for supplies? Think of the sealing paper.
@Radvic I'm not saying yank Mari aside this instant and get her to go do psychotherapy training RIGHT NOW. If Nobby goes for medtraining at Konoha General Hospital, he'll be split up as it is. It's entirely possible for us to change to a different cover at some point during our stay in Konoha.
I like the idea, but I think watching a play is a waste of time (as in, real hours in-story).
It might be good to ask about the status of our shoes, especially in comparison to our guards'? @eaglejarl@Velorien
Following the shoe shopping part, I would suggest trying to visit the Training Grounds. Just observing what other Konohan ninja seem to be capable of could prove pretty useful, although we can't directly spar or anything in broad daylight due to potentially breaking our henges.
"Don't kill anyone," Sarutobi told us. "And maintain cover. Inoue, you're the leader of a minor village here to open trade arrangements with Konoha. These are some of your ninja, here as your bodyguards."
And it wouldn't really make sense to say minor village (lowercase v), because any village (lowercase v) would be minor and not really capable or worthy of having dignitaries in Konoha, protected by a team of top-tier genin.
[X] Action Plan: Seek a Tree-ty of Friendship
The update should end before tomorrow morning.
Methods marked with (O) can (in my best estimation) easily occur offscreen. If a higher-level point is marked, all sub-points should be treated as marked.
Bold underline bits are activities or information Hazou considers most important to complete or obtain in a timely manner.
Goals
Survive.
Stay on Jiraiya / Leaf's good side, including our minders.
Maintain cover / don't cause any incidents.
Stay sane and stable.
Check up on Akane.
Get to know more about Leaf / our minders.
Methods
(O) Dispel
Be nice to Team Asuma. Approach the situation from a perspective of genuinely trying to make friends. Throughout the day, as we build up rapport:
If Hazou gets flak for being nice, maintain that with his apprentice indisposed it falls to him to maintain the group's levels of Youth.
Share life trivialities, ask about Leaf
What are Team Asuma's favorite foods?
Share favorite books, especially those others are unlikely to have read.
I thought there would be more trees? (Meant as a joke)
What do ninjas do here to relax -- Sarutobi mentioned a theater district?
(To Yamanaka) Stop if me if this gets too close to clan stuff, but how does mental health counseling tend to work in leaf? I assume your clan tends to be involved?
Team Asuma's thoughts on the Will of Fire thing Akane has mentioned in the past?
Nara seems like the planning kind of guy. Does he have a favorite organizational tool? Hazou is partial to lists, himself, but there are so many! Lists, flowcharts, high-dimension decision forests...
(O) If the rest of Team Uplift is open to it (definitely some point after we've gotten Kagome his chocolate), see if Team Asuma would be open to a game night (Strategic Domination? Shogi? Go? Hallways and Humans, if Pandaa is allowed to show up and isn't too big an infosec risk?)
Continue Leaf tour / sightseeing / leisure time
(O) Try to interrupt the current spat - is Jiraiya paying for lunch? Hazou is craving ramen.
At lunch, discuss
(O) Places we should take our visiting dignitary VIP (War memorial, Hokage monument, public parks?)
When we will be able to see our injured teammate, and does anyone know where we could get an appropriate 'get well soon' flower arrangement?
(O)
Buy sweets for everyone (ideally including chocolate) in a way that passes Kagome's paranoia sniffer (random die rolls to pick shops / samples, minders eating random ones?), in the hope that appeasing his sweet tooth will help Kagome relax and reduce the likelihood of any kind of incident. Get some for Akane too, to give to her if we can see her or to be sent on if we can't.
Buy shoes if ours are not in super great condition - get at least one high quality durable set for everyone.
(O) See if we can't find a pack of some kind on our shopping trip to disguise Noburi's barrel without compromising function, which preferrably doesn't sacrifice aesthetics.
Reasoning: the visible barrel marks him as a Wakahisa and a Kiri nin. It makes us easy to recognize and thus, potentially, to track. If the Iron Nerve had easily visible markers, Hazou would be looking for ways to hide those too.
((O) maybe possibly?) Go do the sightseeing part of the trip to the places that were brought up at lunch (War memorial, Hokage monument, parks, theater district....) Generally follow itinerary from Team Asuma
Check on Akane
(O) Can we get her some reading material to help pass the time? Focus on light reading.
Include any of Team Asuma's favorite books from earlier discussion if we think Akane would enjoy them.
(O) Send flowers/chocolate/reading material along if we cannot see her in person.
If we get to visit her, make sure she knows about her reinstatement, and tell her Jiraiya is at least not opposed to our long-term goals.
Don't push for a decision about sticking with us, but be willing to discuss it if she brings it up.
It is a big question, and she has plenty of time to make it what with her recuperation. We won't leave her.
Discuss rewards with her - any ideas what she wants?
(O) If she asks for something productive to do, ask about getting her some engineering texts. If there are issues with us having insufficient authorization to access such material, see if there is there someone else who could do so and pass it on.
(O) When not in public, get further confirmation on what we will be allowed to do in Leaf in the coming days
Do they have any idea how long we are expected to be in Leaf? Even "we'll get back to you later but at least a week" is better than what we know right now.
Do we need to have any paperwork or identification on us?
Is Keiko clear to interact with summons and/or go to the Summon Realm to conduct business there?
To their knowledge, are there going to be any opportunities for training/sparring, particularly once Akane has recovered somewhat?
"What do you say Akimichi? Loser buys lunch with Jiraiya's money?" (In a joking way, laughing along if anyone implies we're asking him out.)
Is there a library we're authorized to read at / borrow from? (Assuming Hazou has heard of such a thing)
Ask minders if we have access to some version of a panic button, whether seal-based or a colored firework or what, in the event of trouble
Go through Mari: (iff to the best of Hazou's knowledge this, like, actually works as an application of genjutsu) would minders consider secure conferencing via genjutsu a violation of the terms of our stay in Leaf? If so, can they pass on a request for authorization to have such discussions / for a physical location to have sensitive discussions to J?
Is there space in the budget for spare barrel material (contingent on Noburi wanting to make more of them e.g. to store with the Pangolins / one without seals in a storage seal)?
Once we are alone in quarters for the night (after game night, if that happens)
(O) Dispel
Say a quiet thank you to Inoue-sensei for taking care of everyone even though we know it's stressful. Accept any resulting hair-ruffles stoically.
(O) Make clear to Keiko that Hazou is not especially sure about Wind-weapon techniques being the best thing for her to ask for even just among other Wind techniques (e.g. there may be defensive, mobility, or direct-offense options that have higher marginal utility), and that she should of course put the heaviest weight on her own assessment.
(O)Hazou should dedicate time to actively de-stressing - meditation, stretching, relaxing in the hot bath - and should encourage others to do so.
Ask Kagome how can we make his stay here in Leaf easier
We know this is a very unpleasant environment for him, and it makes us sad to see him stressed out and unhappy.
Remind him that we can handle ourselves, and that we're all here to watch each others' backs in case anything does go wrong.
Is there any non-ninjacraft related activity or project he would like to pursue while in Leaf? Woodcarving, painting, cooking, other innocuous projects?
(O) Sound out the team's views on handing our tower-lifting prototype to J, since we have all the pieces sealed in a bag already.
It sounded like he would be willing to give a substantial payment (another favor, when combined with the paralytic?) for it, and it's not like he can't work it out himself given a little bit of time since he's already been given the idea.
(O) Confirm with Noburi that he isn't worried about clan secrets being discernible from him doing repair work, since we assume there are cheating bullshit Hyuuga everywhere
Contingencies
Don't piss off Leaf
Be polite to everyone we meet
Listen to our handlers and follow their (reasonable) instructions to the letter
Try to minimize Kagome's stress level by not making him talk too much / interact with non-teammates if he doesn't feel like it, keeping close-by, encouraging him to eat any of the nice food we get that have already been checked for poison
Safety and Security Rules
Don't split up if at all possible
Keep a watch in our room even at night
Make sure we all have whatever the local equivalent of white flags are
When in public, try to stick to areas with a reasonable number of civilians and other ninja
Combat contingencies
White tactics by default
Use any panic buttons Jiraiya has given us (none yet, sounds like)
Try to leave the city or converge on Jiraiya's office to turn ourselves in. Make sure we're doing the equivalent of waving white flags.
If we aren't able to immediately disengage, end the update for combat planning.
Assume we are being spied on at pretty much all times by multiple parties
If the topic of why Fire isn't a model for what Hazou wants to acheive comes up again, consider drawing from
When you asked why Fire wasn't a utopia, I was confused because you had practically just said the answer yourself: none of the major players can trust each other, because each of them consider only their own people to have any moral weight. And that is what you said, that you would sleep well after killing a foreign citizen to save a Leaf one. Not that you would consider it a necessary tragedy to protect the people you care about, and not that you would devote so much as a second of thought toward avoiding having to make that choice again in the future, and you said all your counterparts in other villages feel the same way.
When the whole world does that, then everyone looks like monsters to everyone else. At that point, it's even easier to say all foreigners are morally irrelevant, trapping the entire world in a spiral of indifference and hatred, so we get the current state of the world even from initial conditions where everyone cares about people outside their clan or their village just slightly too little. And at that point, it becomes impossible to trust one another to do things like build utopias, since all that power looks like a threat.
Which gives us the answer to your original question: the reason Fire isn't a utopia is that even though it's strong, it's not as strong as everyone else all at once, and if you withdraw resources from maintaining your current military dominance to focus on things like civilian wellbeing, other nations will see that apparent weakness as an opportunity to help their people by hurting yours, who as we've established they don't care about. Boom, the next shinobi war. And if you did anything with your vast resources that would put you on a clear trajectory to become strong enough to fight them all off at once, like letting civilians live well enough to lead to significant population growth, the entire world will throw everything they had at you, even though they'd be eviscerated afterwards and have an even harder time stalling civilization's collapse.
They'd do it even if you weren't being hostile, like the world did to Whirlpool. It's probably pretty easy to see from the reversed perspective - if Mist suddenly became insanely good at sealcrafting, and started using it to protect their civilians and grow more food and help all their citizens live comfortably, would you be glad your neighbors were growing happy and prosperous? Or would you see the impending population boom as a threat to be sabotaged and undermined? And if you find a low-risk method that sabotages your enemies' future strength without going to war, well, how could you not take it, even if it's morally horrific and accelerating the gradual downfall of the human race.
You can't build up because you would get smacked down. You can't truly work with other nations to break out of the downward spiral because you won't be trusted and won't trust them, since you both know that trust would be exploited. So Leaf ends up having to contribute to the status quo, even if you guys are better about humanizing the enemy than others, according to Akane. But it isn't working, and something has to change, or everything is going to crumble into dust, and everyone is going to die - including Leaf. So, again, will you help us?
What to do about it? Part of that is why we need him on board - preventing wars from breaking out while the fixing is happening, and then figuring out a way to change the incentives that result in things like distrust and scorch squads. Make it so that "cooperate" becomes the winning option even in the non-iterated case of this prisoners' dilemma. (Massively improve agriculture per area to allow consolidation of civilian population? Set up a neurtral third party to arbitrate disputes and hand out the uplift tech on the basis of good behavior?) That, or make Leaf so strong so fast that everyone's best option is to give up, but even then people won't actually be reasonable since they're scared and angry and distrustful. Even if there were a jutsu to magically restore everyone's view of each other as people deserving moral consideration, it wouldn't be anything like a permanent solution, because the cycle would start all over again.
Also, compared to slowly dying villages in the wilderness, and to some extend compared even to Kirigakure, Leaf is fairly utopian already.
If for some reason J insists on giving us our rewards today
Most of these rewards are centered around making us stronger and better assets, so it's against Jiraya's interests to be stingy here
Check if he is okay with us discussing fairly frankly some admitted longshots first; if not, skip this section.
Kurosawa Hana
Getting her out of Kiri
Jounin taijutsu expert with huge reasons to defect to work for him specifically, and would cause Team Uplift to be stronger, safer, saner, enormously grateful, and probably more stable due to her greater experience and mediating influence.
If this is gonna start the Fourth Jashin-damned Shinobi War, obviously not worth it, and is obviously a huge ask in terms of difficulty and risk, but is this a thing we that is even on the table as far as favors, or even accumulated favors?
If not getting her out, how feasible is an attempt to get a message to her, even just "your son is alive and loves you"? In addition to or barring that, could we get information on what she is up to and what her position is in Mist?
Does any kind of pass to cross Fire borders come packaged with Akane's reinstatement and our continued loyalty?
We recognize that this is unlikely due to the need to maintain deniability, but Akane is much less of a carrot if we can't come to see her (if she does not stick with us) / will need to be able to access Leaf resources and her friends and family if she does stick with us.
If J gets smug / team gives us shit for saying we're loyal to Leaf/J, maintain that since we are loyal to Akane who is presumably loyal to Leaf, we are at least second-order loyal to them, and in any case they appear to represent the best chance at fixing things.
If J asks why we're now uncertain whether she'll stick with us, maintain that we are simply planning for all possibilities and that the choice remains hers.
Check if he is okay with us discussing some generalities of less-longshot options before asking for a specific thing
Seal designs: are these even on the table? Would he be willing to give us either an array of low-to-medium level utility seals that he thinks would contribute most to our effectiveness, or to do a deeper dive into e.g. storage seals and the extremes of what they can be used for?
Examples of utility seals
Communication range, especially surreptitiously
Night vision or other sensory enhancements
Advanced alarm seals
SCBA / environmental protection
Eye/ear protection
Sound muffling seals / other stealth enhancements
Jutsu: he said he would get us a teacher at the end of our interactions with him in Yuni - if that no longer holds, how much is he willing to teach us now (e.g. # of techniques at particular ranks - describe the jutsu plan if prompted)
Can we safely assume we will be given / at least have the chance to buy new ninja gear and essentials, what with our old stuff being potentially biosealer-contaminated?
An up-to-date bingo book or comparable intel would also be really nice but we're not about to spend a favor on it.
Are there missions he has planned for us that he can tell us about before we make our decision?
The update should end at this point for a vote on the reward.
Our desire to arrange our mom's extraction from Mist, and our concerns about how that could impact the rest of the group.
Does Inoue-sensei think this is even a feasible thing to ask with a favor, or stacked favors, given Hana's large motivation to defect to work for J specifically and the additional utility she provides to our team in the form of jounin combat strength and decades of experience?
Ask if there is anyone else we would need to extract at the same, and whether we should avoid doing so at all to avoid putting Inoue-senei's family at risk.
Any Wakahisa or Mori clan members would be more difficult to extract but also less likely for Mist antagonize
Mom would be a valuable resource, but also an addition to the team - are others okay with that idea?
Following the shoe shopping part, I would suggest trying to visit the Training Grounds. Just observing what other Konohan ninja seem to be capable of could prove pretty useful, although we can't directly spar or anything in broad daylight due to potentially breaking our henges.
What purpose did lying to us about not knowing the identity of the summon clan serve?
(Think of less insulting ways to phrase this) Why didn't he ever reply via summons, to assign us somewhere / at least give us new recognition codes / at LEAST tell us our codes were out of date / AT LEAST acknowledge that he got our message?? Why didn't we get told how long they would be valid for?
Things to do while in Leaf
Look out for a gift for Keiko
Discussions with/notes from pangolin sealmaster(s)?
Team discussion and reward requests
Help for mom? Likelihood of getting her our? Likelihood of getting a message to her?
Intel on our families more generally?
Advice on uplift plans? ("For my favor, I want your advice as someone who has spent multiple times my lifespan preserving peace and gathering knowledge about the world: in what way can I maximally contribute to improving the state of the world, by which I mean to reduce the exploitation of civilians by ninja, to improve the quality of life for both civilians and ninja, and to reduce and eventually reverse the erosion of civilization by the forces of nature and war?")
Sealing lessons? Access to examples of seals? Don't want to offend Kagome, but this would be an excellent opportunity to pick up new ideas.
How to acquire power inside the current system
How to get Mist to stop hunting us
Any organizations/groups/polities Jiraya and Leaf would not mind us getting rid of?
You know, just in case we need to acquire limited resources (land, vassals, political legitimacy etc.)
Get more of Pangolin Cultural Exchange Program done (seriously, what's up with bloodlines??)
Get more info on what went down during the chuunin exams by asking civilians, if we're allowed to wander around
If we meet Lee, challenge him to a friendly spar (of the no-chakra-boost-yes-Roki kind)
How to make provision of family and friends less "look, here are reminders of home, you should totally leave Team Uplift" and more "Team Uplift sure does have some kind and considerate people on it"
I'd want to make sure we approach it from the angle that she's been saddled with an especially ornery bunch of misfits, to make sure we don't wind up implying that the team's sorry mental state is her fault.
"I did not feel your responses to my suggestions after Inoue-sensei talked Arikada down were merited. Ensuring that teammates are on the same page sometimes requires stating the obvious - I did not mean to imply that you hadn't thought to thank Panchipaama. While I appreciate genuine corrections, I feel hurt by the jabs you make when I am trying to use a mode of communication that, almost by definition, requires transparency which makes one particularly vulnerable to social attacks, and I would ask that in the future you postpone sarcastic comments until we are in a relatively secure situation."
@Radvic I'm not saying yank Mari aside this instant and get her to go do psychotherapy training RIGHT NOW. If Nobby goes for medtraining at Konoha General Hospital, he'll be split up as it is. It's entirely possible for us to change to a different cover at some point during our stay in Konoha.
Sure. But at the moment, things are volitile enough in Leaf and we don't have enough information, so I'm hesitant to vote for plans which extend past the first day. If we get to the point where we are safe and trusted enough to wander Konoha without guards, then yes. We should pursue those things, but that's not likely to happen for quite a while (e.g. they get proof we aren't going to do something dumb, we get proof there aren't elements trying to kill/capture us). I expect that level of trust will only come after we've done something rather major for Konoha, or more for Jiraiya.
I'm unsure on how much it might help or not. Mostly, it seems like a low risk way to find a little information. My main concern is not quickly gathering information on Leaf and Konoha, but gaining their trust (that we're civil), potentially making them like us, and generally reducing the liklihood their report will lead to us getting murdered ("oh, their first thing they tried to do in town was learn all our village secrets? Sounds suspicious. Why don't we mind scan them and find out what's up?") There's likely good options, but this seems better than just returning to our quarters.
Following the shoe shopping part, I would suggest trying to visit the Training Grounds. Just observing what other Konohan ninja seem to be capable of could prove pretty useful, although we can't directly spar or anything in broad daylight due to potentially breaking our henges.
We might learn useful information, but it's not great for our cover story (why is a minor village noble watching spars?), and will likely be suspicious in Nara's report (it definitely seems like the sort of information you'd gather if you were planning on betraying Konoha). For these reasons, I'd prefer to defer going to training grounds until tomorrow, or at least until we've gotten to know our handlers better.
So, I haven't weighed in on this discussion (nor read our thoughts), but, honestly, I really don't see a solid solution people can easily get to. Like, the world is the way it is largely because people are serving their own first (I think), and not others. If Jiraiya asks why Leaf isn't a utopia, we can honestly say Leaf is a utopia after what we've seen (at least compared to Mist). We think if we can solve some of the big problems, we can make everyone live at an even higher standard of living.
I am content with the way reward discussion is played out for Hazou. I'll note we should probably ask him first, so the rest of the team knows what we know when we make our decisions (and we should discuss these things with everyone).
I cannot think of what this would look like that wouldn't cause problems with Keiko. Noburi is already doing this (at least, he was in this update). The closest I can come up with is discussing things with Nara, but there's no topic I can think of which wouldn't cause problems.
Someone might want to go through the recent update and put one or two things Hazou and/or Keiko discovered in place of this general statement. (E.g. fashion pace, prices)
Make clear to Keiko that Hazou is not especially sure about Wind-weapon techniques being the best thing for her to ask for even just among other Wind techniques (e.g. there may be defensive, mobility, or direct-offense options that have higher marginal utility), and that she should of course put the heaviest weight on her own assessment.
It's probably easiest to just mention the reason behind our suggestion. I believe it was mentioned upthread, and I believe her response to us provided a counter-point. We could just suggest she ask Jiraiya if wind-weapon techniques which don't require chakra blades exist, and if not, ask for something else.
Ehhh, hot bath seems like a security threat? Though we could ask the team if we could go to a hot spring while in town (it would fit our cover, and might be destressing?).
I wouldn't add this. It sounds like we're bitter, and expressing it is only likely to cause emnity. If we want to argue with Jiraiya about this, we can, but I'd prefer we didn't make cutting sarcastic remarks. Those are only likely to bring us down in his estimation of us.
We definitely want to discuss this with the rest of the team before talking to Jiraiya about it. I'd suggest asking our team if they know people who might ve willing and able to defect from Mist if given the chance, and use our mom as an example. Basically, I don't want Hazou privleging his mom over other relatives we might have in Mist. Using a favor for Mom should be so we have another ninja with us, not because Hazou wants to see mommy.
If not getting her out, how feasible is an attempt to get a message to her, even just "your son is alive and loves you"? In addition to or barring that, could we get information on what she is up to and what her position is in Mist?
[Don't actually discuss unless this is moved outside of brackets: Maybe something about agreeing to not immediately slaughter us if something goes awry in the future? We don't expect it will, and we will make every effort to ensure it doesn't, but we didn't expect Hot Springs either and look how that turned out.]
This might not be explicit, but given Jiraiya didn't outright kill us after Hot Springs, I doubt he would if we mess up now. Bringing this up explicitly might make him suspicious of us, so I wouldn't bother.
I'm reasonably confident this won't be an issue? Arikada wasn't exactly the subtle type, and if she employed those techniques, we're likely already screwed anyways.
We don't want to seperate (because we've already established there are serious threats in Konoha), and our guards aren't likely to let us seperate anyways. That means any social interaction we perform in the city we do with our whole group.
I don't think this is a good idea. Sticking to a group is safer, but it will also limit the social, training, and information gathering options we have access to. Being in Konoha is a huge opportunity and we should strive to make most of it, even if it introduces some additional risks.
On a meta level, I'm thinking back on VHitM where we chose to go nowhere except as a group and the whole arc turned into a mess. I don't want to see that happening again.
Best way to deal with Kagome is to give him a project to work on that keeps him busy while rest of the team does social stuff around town. Asking for sealcraft stuff as a reward seems like a really good way to do that, but I'm sure there are other activities he could use to de-stress.
As for actual critique, this plan is very passive and doesn't really do anything. We should set at least one main activity, person, or thing Hazou will pursue in the next update and write up an approach for it. As is the plan is just to waffle around in Leaf and see what happens.
It's not bad, but we really need to be more active.
You could make a comparison between an individual ninja and the village as a whole.
The villages act like your average mook ninja on a mission that is only interested in his own immediate survival. They are not looking at things critically, considering the bigger picture, or planning for long term success. They are just reacting to things that seem beyond their control in the only way they know has worked in the past. If they stop doing that, they will get stabbed by the ninjas on the opposing side.
I think most high order things we want to talk about could be coaxed into a few paragraph narrative like that, even if Hazou doesn't have access to modern theories or concepts. How to write it out is beyond me though, I just had a (worthless) idea.
I think we really should stop postponing the reward thing and just ask for it. We will never have all the information we need to make optimal choices, but we do need make a choice at some point or we'll never get anywhere.
Your reward outline is good enough for me and I say we go to Jiraya with it and get it done.
Hazou only has mom in Kiri. Or do you mean other people's relatives? They can use their own favors to get them out, though admittedly it's probably best to coordinate people leaving all at once else Yagura will tighten security on all our families at best and torturemurder the shit out of them at worst
If Nobby goes for medtraining at Konoha General Hospital, he'll be split up as it is. It's entirely possible for us to change to a different cover at some point during our stay in Konoha.
