I think some of the confusion here is timescale.
Ah yes, if you were just thinking about todays outing, then I'm fine with finishing it as a group.
But hinestly, I'll be reasonably happy if se leave Leaf with just our team + Akane and no gear or equipment, and nobody trying to kill us. Anything extra is extra, and I'm not willing to risj too much to get it.
Unfortunately, that is not how we will change the world. I didn't want to come to Leaf, but since we are here, the biggest risk has already been taken and we should start making lemonade out of the lemons.
We didn't go nowhere except as a group? We often left Kagome behind, Keiko went out on her own, and Noburi went on dates.
We only went out when we absolutely had to, usually because someone from the outside forced us to. That led to us being passive and made the latter half of the arc extremely frustrating and boring.
What I'm saying is that we need to be active about things and pursue goals while in Leaf. If we don't this whole arc will turn into another VHitM and I don't think anyone wants that.
We could suggest something at dinner perhaps?
I think we need to go through J for our sealing needs. Sealing stuff is a well kept secret, and at best I could see Kagome getting access to a sealing lab to make his own stuff, but obviously we are not going to do that.
I will note I like our first day being passive. I could go for more active in the next couple days, but I want to be very cautious.
The ex-update was dramatic, but we don't want to overcompensate and stop trying things because of it.
When I said that we should be more active, I didn't necessarily mean super risky things. It was more about making decisions and choosing approaches. Take these two points from Oli's plan:
Build bridges and genuinely try to make friends; get Keiko involved where possible, and Noburi if he is not doing so on his own.
This is kinda vague. How exactly are trying to build those bridges? What topics should Hazou bring up and to whom.
Maybe chat with Chouji about Taijutsu or nutrition regiment for optimal strength growth? Or ask Ino about how those mental health professionals work? Maybe ask Shikamaru what he thinks about lists in decision making?
It will give us information about them, but it will also give them information about us by showing what we know about stuff and what we are interested in talking about. We can't build rapport if we don't share.
Yes, we are skirting some of their clan secrets, but everyone knows what their specialties are, and we can preface these topics with something like "Okay, stop me if I'm getting too close to anything I'm not suppose to know...".
Or maybe pick some other topics that will be safer, I mostly used those examples because they were the first commonalities between Hazou and Team Asuma that came to my mind.
Are there any places we should visit as if we were just average visiting dignitaries? (War memorial, Hokage monument, public parks?)
Same here, I would like to be a bit more active and pick a place Hazou would like to see. We can use it so show what Hazou is interested about and what he thinks about Konoha.
Ultimately what I want us to do is answer the question of "How to build bridges" and not leave it up to the QMs. It's less about risk/reward and more about choosing what Hazou does.
