[OP: "Passerine"--The Oh Hellos]

The tea house was very nice inside. As expected, more oriental in decor than modern.

[Image by gvioart on deviant art.]

The only thing that was unusual was that it was empty save for Onoki, his guards, his granddaughter, her father, and them.

A kage could rent out an entire house apparently, or maybe it was reserved for him.

The tea was brought in by some people who left immediately afterwards, and Kurotsuchi took over.

Tsunade was late, but surprisingly only by a few minutes, during which Gaara attempted to lighten the mood by asking how everyone was and about their health.

Onoki answered politely, but he was clearly not in the mood for pleasantries.

Momo nervously fiddled with her teacup, unusual for someone with such proper etiquette drilled into her.

Finally, Tsunade arrived, and Suzushi was with her, but he just stood by the wall.

"Sorry I'm late." Tsunade sat down. 

Temari glanced at Gaara, and then she said, "All right, enough beating around the bush. What was it you wanted to talk to us about?"

Kankuro gave her a warning look about being rude, but she didn't seem to care.

"Right to the point as usual." Onoki nodded. "I'm surprised you brought your entire entourage, Lord Gaara. I expected fewer people."

"I thought you might like to meet them," Gaara said.

"Actually not all of them are here," Kitsuchi murmured to Onoki. "I count at least 4 missing."

Since Onoki had not specified, he couldn't really do anything about this. But they didn't think he liked it.

"Anyway--" He cleared his throat. "You've been busy helping the former Hokage. I understand it's going well."

"No complaints," Tsunade said, with a questioning look at Gaara like "what is this really about?"

"Yes, no complaints. The work is rewarding," Gaara said.

Dabi frowned at his tea. The tension in the air was bothering him. He'd seen fights start from points like this.

"I suppose I might as well get to the point." Onoki seemed to realize it was pointless to pretend. "I've given what we discussed several days ago some thought, Lord Gaara. If it's all right, I'd like to hear about it from your mentors."

That he called them mentors instead of teachers was not something that Shine or Wally would have recognized as a slight, but Temari suspected it might be implying they were not actually wise enough to be teachers.

Gaara looked at Shine and Wally as if asking permission.

Shine figured this was inevitable--might as well just face it--so she nodded.

Wally gave him a thumbs up.

"Go ahead." Gaara sat back a little. "What do you want to know?"

Onoki turned his attention to Shine and Wally.

"Gaara-san has told me about your creed," he said. "If I understand it correctly, you worship one god and believe in a doctrine of love for all men."

"That would be correct," Shine said.

That didn't sound so bad to the students. Was Onoki really bothered by that?

"I understand also that you believe this god communicates with you directly," Onoki said. "By spoken word, is that right?"

Shine shrugged. "I can't claim I've ever heard it in that particular way. We believe that God speaks to our hearts mostly. Some people have said they heard it audibly, but I think that's a rare thing. Perhaps you've heard of people claiming the same."

Onoki seemed to turn that over in his mind, as if trying to find something wrong with it.

"How does something speak to your heart?" Kurotsuchi asked, but notably, she sounded more curious than judgmental. Maybe she genuinely just didn't get it.

"It's hard to explain," Shine said. "When you hear it, you know. There's a quality to it. It's like your inner voice but stronger and calmer. At least I think so. It's like how you can read someone's facial expression and know what they're thinking, in a sense."

"Instinct?" Onoki said.

"Kinda like that," Wally said, "but clearly. I mean, it's not how you would think to yourself. That's my take on it."

Tsunade frowned, but she thought so far this wasn't completely crazy sounding. It might be problematic if they said they could speak to God directly through some ritual, but this at worst just sounded like they were imagining things.

"And this God demands fealty from everyone," Onoki said.

Gaara had never told him this, so he knew it was either an accusation or a test. 

"Demands?" Shine said. "No...love cannot be demanded, only requested. God has the right to demand obedience but often does not enact it."

"'Often'. So there are times He does?" Onoki pressed.

Kankuro tensed. This was the territory that they would be most likely to fall into a trap in. Cults enacted horrendous acts on people and claimed their deity was punishing them for not obeying... Most of the cults in the ninja world weren't big enough to pose a threat to a village itself but could to individual citizens, and no one would want that either.

Wally had no idea how to answer that without saying what Onoki probably wanted to hear, and looked at Shine.

Shine had to think for a second, then she gestured widely.

"Lord Onoki, you're a man in authority, right?" she said.

"I am." Onoki wondered where she was going with this.

"When you need one of your ninja to do something, do you say 'go' and they go?"

"Yes," Onoki nodded.

"And if they don't do as you say, what do you do?" Shine asked.

"If it's serious enough, they might be excommunicated from the Village," Onoki said. "Or killed."

Shoto tensed now and glanced at Momo and Dabi.

Dabi had a stoic expression, but Momo looked nervous.

"What would you say of a kage who would not give consequences for disobedience?" Shine asked.

"I would say they were a coward," Onoki said. "And a weakling. Also a fool."

"I would agree with you," Shine said. "And I think that answers your question about the Lord."

Tsunade weighed this in her mind... So far it made sense, but she was still on dangerous ground.

"How does He punish?" Onoki asked. "Do you, his servants, visit punishments on people?"

Now he'd come to the real point, they supposed.

"No," Shine answered readily and far more calmly than anyone else could have. 

"Yeah, no," Wally said.

"I see what you're asking." Shine decided to lay aside pretenses. "But that's not our way. We're told to love our enemies. Do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us. Don't render evil for evil, or insult for insult, but overcome evil by doing good." [See Mathew 5 and 1 Peter 3 for what she's referencing.]

Kitsuchi and his daughter exchanged a look at this.

Gaara thought this was a good answer and hoped Onoki was softening. It was hard to read his expression.

Naruto looked at Sakura, who made a motion at him to keep quiet. She was on edge right now and not sure how this was going.

"Well, it's not much of a god then." Onoki sat back. "Doing all that will only get you killed."

"There are things worse than death," Shine replied.

That was a good answer, the others thought. Even Tsunade had to admit it took guts to say that.

Onoki actually didn't seem to know how to respond. He couldn't find anything wrong with that statement, but it didn't help him.

Finally, he said, "Let me explain something to you, young woman. Here in The Hidden Stone Village we have a philosophy called the 'Way of Stone'."

"I'm familiar," Shine said before he could continue.

Onoki did not like being interrupted, but he was surprised. "Oh? Then you know what it means. We protect our people. All of us have the same will. And if one of us falls, another will take their place. This is the way we keep the village safe. I do not know if you mean well or not with your new fangled ideas about God, but to us, God is more of a guiding force of nature, not involved in the lives of men. And that's how it should be. People go to war over gods and kill in the name of gods. Even one Akatsuki member was such a person. I think we should live simply. To protect your people and your family is all anyone can ask for--and to live at peace."

Gaara felt they were losing the ground they'd gained--and as a ninja, he could see why: Most people would think what Onoki was describing was the ideal life.

Shikamaru was struck by how much it sounds like what he used to say about being a ninja. It would just get him a comfortable, respected life. No hard struggle. And what Asuma had asked him to do, protect the next generation, was also part of that.

And till lately, he'd never even thought it sounded narrow. It was not the Ninja Way to care about the fate of the world at large--they had enough to worry about on their own.

Wally shook his head. 

"You disagree?" Onoki said.

Shine seemed to be wavering between saying what she really thought and trying to say the diplomatic thing.

Half the team wanted her to just tell Onoki he was right.

But some, mainly Dabi and Shoto and Hanabi, really wanted her to say what she truly thought.

Finally, Shine gave Gaara almost an apologetic look, before speaking in a much more firm tone: "I'm sorry to have to point this out, Lord Onoki, but, despite how good what you just said seems to sound, it's not feasible."

"Feasible?" Onoki said warily. "What do you mean? Would you stand in the way of peace? That's rich when you're on a mission to promote peace."

"I certainly wish for there to be peace if at all possible," Shine said. "Which is why I think you think too small."

Now she'd said something truly brash and possibly flat out insolent.

Kurotsuchi gaped at her, and Kitsuchi frowned.

The guards also gave her hard looks.

"Excuse me?" Onoki said in a way that meant "how dare you?"

Tsunade leaned forward, chin on her hands, as she did when she was the most pensive.

"You may not like this, but I have to speak sincerely," Shine said, sitting up straighter, which put her well above Onoki's height. "Frankly, if defending your village and living quietly was the answer, then there would not have been 4 Great Ninja wars in the last 100 years. You say that you defend your own people? But to us, the entire world is our people. Everyone is our neighbor. We wish the good for all men, not just the ones who we know will be loyal to us without fail. But what we want is not even the point. You say that people go to war over gods? And how many great ninja wars were fought over religion?"

Onoki began to look more perturbed at this. Especially since he couldn't give her one.

Shine went on, unabated. "None, as we all know. People do kill in the name of God, unfortunately. I can't do anything about that, but people kill in the name of money, title, and power also, or for revenge, and all of those must clearly be less worthy goals. But the villages have allowed and even encouraged them for decades and have nearly been crushed to ruin by Obito and Madara, who wanted revenge and power. So you ask if we're a threat to you? How can we be a bigger threat to you than you yourselves are?"

Onoki now was really angry. "How dare you?" he said aloud this time. "You young whipper snapper! Know your place."

"I know my place," Shine said. "It's the place of everyone to tell the truth, whether it's pleasant or not. And the truth is that it's this very Will of Stone that is the problem. Everyone supports the village, which sounds good in theory--and it's not bad, not to a point...but it is when you will do anything: employ the Akatsuki, betray treaties, and murder children, all just so the village will survive. One might ask, is such a village even worth preserving? Because if people are not living rightly, why should they be living in peace?"

"That is a bold statement," Kurotsuchi said, when Onoki was too livid to speak for a second.

"Not any bolder than your own grandfather's, who said a kage who would not punish transgressors was a fool," Shine said. "It's the same thing. Only I apply it to the entire world, not just a handful of people."

Temari knew Shine was digging the hole deeper now but felt powerless to stop her.

In one way she didn't even want to. Her saying all this was making her realize what she really thought. Onoki had confused them for a moment with the talk that all ninjas would have agreed with. They were trained to agree with it...but it hadn't worked. They knew it hadn't.

"Peace should be for those who deserve it," Shine added to make her point clear. "Don't you think?"

Onoki finally found his voice. "Foolish girl," he said, losing all pretense of acting respectful. "This kind of talk is treason."

"Why? I'm not threatening you," Shine said evenly. "I'm not saying you should be removed from power. I'm asking you why you're the high judge of us, is all. You say that we do not need God in our lives to guide us, and I'm asking you what the avoidance of that faith has done for you. You fear what a doctrine like ours might do to the people. I fear what the people will do to themselves."

She glanced around, almost laughing ironically. "I mean, look at what you do already. You trap demons in children, babies, ones who couldn't defend themselves. You let murderers and terrorists do your dirty work. You lie and kill and betray and steal, and for what? The blood of thousands of people is on your hands, and you say that you're doing fine without God? Do you know how many people I've killed? None. But you can sit there and accuse me of being the threat to your safety."

She stood up suddenly, leaning on the table.

Onoki and his people stood also, as if threatened.

"I don't say all this to condemn you," Shine went on, softer now. "We're all just as bad, on our own. But if you think that you do not need something to believe in, that you can pass judgment on us, then what harm do you know of us? What have we done that warrants this kind of suspicion?"

She looked at Tsunade. "Tell him."

Everyone looked at Tsunade then, even Onoki.

Tsunade was reeling from everything Shine was saying--more so because some of it had been making an odd kind of sense to her--and now she didn't want to be asked what she thought. Not till she knew for sure.

But since she had to answer, she cleared her throat. "If you mean have you ever committed any crimes, I would have to say not to my knowledge. But you are very radical from the sound of it."

"Oh, radical again," Shine scoffed. She'd clearly gotten past caring what they said.

"Oh boy," Wally muttered.

"This is a disaster," Shikamaru muttered. "We were doing all right, and now she's ruined it by losing her cool."

"It was about d--n time. Who needs to suck up to these fools?" Dabi commented in a low voice.

"I'll tell you what a radical is," Shine went on. "They think that anything is justified if you have a worthy cause. I don't think that. None of us do. There are things that are heinous to do no matter who you are and what the reason is. And though you say we're dangerous, we're not looking for bloodshed or destruction. We want life. I guess the question I have now is if that is what you want. Because you're awfully quick to pick up your weapons for people who were supposed to desire peace."

Kurotsuchi almost dropped the kunai she'd pulled out at some point behind her back.

It wasn't clear if Shine had even seen it or if she'd been speaking of metaphorical weapons, but either way she'd spooked the woman.

"The way you're speaking," Onoki said, "it is clear that you are a radical. No one speaks with such fire who is not obsessed."

"A find excuse to write someone off," Shine shot back, disdainfully. "Please, you know I'm right. That's what's got you so angry. All this is nothing but the truth, but you don't want to hear it from me because I'm a stranger, or from Gaara, since he's young, or from the other villages because they're not you. Who would you accept it from?"

"Shine-sensai, scolding him is not appropriate," Gaara spoke finally. "He is an elder."

Shine gave Gaara a dubious look.

Then she seemed to swallow down whatever thing she had been thinking of saying next.

"Well, maybe," she said in a strained voice. "Still, no one can be above scrutiny if we wish to avoid tyranny."

"That is an insult," Onoki said.

"Sir, you calling us in here was an insult to begin with," Shine replied in a much lower but still fiery tone. "You began this, not us. You're the one who was afraid of what Gaara told you because it was different. But different is all that I have left now. We've tried to take this slowly, and this is the thanks you've given us from attempting to be sensitive to your customs. I'm done with it. I don't like to be fettered by people who wish to shout down the truth."

"Are you declaring you will not submit yourself to our authority?!" Onoki said.

"Oh, no," Shine said, much more lightly. Her tone changes were giving them whiplash. "In every area possible we will. But you're trying to silence us, and that's not something we can just accept. We answer to a Higher Authority than yours on this matter. If you can't understand that, I'm sorry, but I can't change it."

"There it is," Onoki said, almost triumphantly. "That is the problem with fanatics. When it comes down to it, they will do as they think their God is saying, not what us, the leaders, say."

Temari knew he'd trapped them now. 

Gaara realized it also and lowered his head.

"You see?" Onoki turned to his people. "In the end they're all the same."

Kurotsuchi stared at him silently, and Kitsuchi nodded.

Shine pursed her lips. "You know, someone else has used the words 'they all the same' to condemn every single ninja village. Who was that again?"

Silence.

"It was Madara," Dabi super helpfully said when no one else did. "And most of the Uchihas, actually."

Onoki frowned at Shine.

"Do you deny it?" he said. 

"No," Shine said slowly. "I can't deny that. We must obey God first...but that will not bring any harm to you. I don't see how loving our enemies and doing good can harm people. You seem to ignore the things we actually practice. If we were forcing people, I would see why you're concerned--only likely it would because I would truly be a radical and be too mad to see it. If I can agree with you that that would be too far, then how can we be a threat?"

Onoki frowned again.

"Unless," Shine said, still slowly, "you don't really think that's what we're doing. Is it just the difference itself that bothers you? Not what we intended to do with it?"

Her eyes flickered yellow for a moment. This had not happened in a while, so it took the team a little off guard.

Shine's eyes glowed sometimes when she was saying something she really thought was true or was getting an insight she might not otherwise have had. Probably it was that one here.

But the Stone didn't like it.

"She does have sorcery," Kitsuchi said.

"Careful," Shine said, looking at him warningly. "I don't have sorcery. And what you say against God, calling his power the power of the devil, is a serious offense."

"She is mad," Kitsuchi said, uncomfortably. "Who talks this way?"

"We're so dead," Shikamaru muttered.

"Oh, shut u.," Temari grabbed him by his  collar. "It's done now. Stand by her if you have any guts at all. Don't be such a jellyfish."

She let go.

Shikamaru was surprised, but at least he straightened and didn't whine anymore.

"Perhaps some of you do not agree with this." Onoki looked at them all. "Was this news to all of you also?"

Everyone looked at each other.

They could have said they didn't agree...

But even Sakura felt it would be beastly cowardice to do so at this moment. And Tsunade was watching her closely as if wondering what she would do.

Sakura thought she just should anyway...but no one else was moving to.

Even Team Taka were silent.

"Fine then," Onoki said. "All of you want to stand by this disrespect to our village? Then perhaps your stay here should be terminated."

Gaara blinked at him. "Sir, you really meant that?"

"I didn't hear you start in to restrain this witch," Onoki said. "I think that shows how committed you are to peace."

"But she was not declaring war," Gaara protested, though he had a feeling it was futile. "We disagree about this, but it shouldn't affect our villages' relationship. We're not looking for bloodshed or to compel anyone to obey us. We simply want to share the truths we've found."

"Truth? All I heard was slander against our village," Onoki said.

"He has selective hearing," Dabi muttered.

"Shut up," Temari kicked him. "Don't dig the hole deeper."

Wally shook his head but put a hand on Gaara's shoulder.

"Hey, we have to do as he says," he told him. "It's the rules."

Gaara nodded in a very hollow-looking way.

"You have 24 hours," Onoki said. "By this time tomorrow, if you're not gone, you will be arrested as disturbers of the peace."

"Grandfather--" Kurotsuchi began to think this was extreme. He was letting his anger get the better of his judgement.

"Quiet," he told her, not willing to hear it.

Shine, who knew it was no use to argue, figured she might as well end in style and quoted:

"'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'a stone of stumbling. And a rock of offense.'" [1 Peter 2:7-8]

It took a second for the Stone ninja to realize what she meant, and then they glowered at her.

Shine still walked out of the room with dignity, and the others were right behind her. Gaara just cast one rueful look back at Onoki.

"Well?" Onoki said, looking at Tsunade. "This was the result I expected. No one can say I didn't give them a chance to show they were not wholly given over to this new thing. This will affect the Kazekage's reputation, I'm afraid."

Tsunade felt she'd been used here. She stood up slowly. "It may," she said in a distant voice. "But my report to Leaf will be that they said they wanted peace and not bloodshed, and that they told you that the betrayals and lying and stealing were the problem between villages, and that their faith was not compulsory. And that you told them to get out after hearing that."

"Pardon me?" Onoki said. "Do you mean to imply that you will leave out all the parts that were blatantly disrespectful?"

"I heard nothing I don't think I would have heard myself, when I was Kage," Tsunade said. "And I didn't--" But she stopped short, realizing that she had kicked them out over it...not as brutally, but still.

Onoki raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a threat?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Why, no," Tsunade said, her own temper coming to play. "I didn't want to do this, but I did it because of Leaf Village. Leaf Village is not going to care about these people, based on what I've observed. They're fools, but harmless fools from all I can see. If you're going to start rumors about Gaara's leadership, then I know what I'll tell them. Mist will side with him too. Cloud Village isn't likely to take sides if there's already a 2-1 split. I would just be careful what you do."

She got up and left.

A pause.

"What do we do now?" Kurotsuchi asked.

Onoki looked displeased. "There's not much we can do. If we alert the other villages now, we'll only make ourselves look bad... No, the only thing is for them to leave quietly. No one has to know this meeting even happened."

"Sir," Kitsuchi said, "with all due respect, how will they leave quietly if you just kicked them out?"

Onoki put a hand to his chin. "Hmm..."

After a very long pause he said, "I have it! Kurotsuchi, catch up to them and tell them I've reconsidered my hastiness and will give them more time to change my mind."

"Okay," Kurotsuchi said. "And then what?"

"That's all you need to do," Onoki said. "If they ask, say that Tsunade pointed out some things. I don't care. Kitsuchi, you and I need to talk. Guards, leave us."

Kurotsuchi was a bit puzzled by this turn. Though she thought it was probably wiser to take things more slowly, but she'd never known her grandfather to admit to acting too hastily before...

But, of course, it was her job to obey, not ask questions, so she left directly.

"What are you thinking, Lord kage?" Kitsuchi said. 

"There's a more diplomatic way to handle this," Onoki said as the guards left. "Just do exactly as I tell you..."

* * *

Outside, in the street--once they'd gotten farther from the teahouse--the teens couldn't hold back their passion anymore.

"What were you thinking?" Kankuro pointed at Shine accusingly. "We were this close to turning that around finally. We just had to say it right, and you threw the whole thing. Did you do that on purpose?"

"Oh, come off it," Dabi said. "She was right. We all know it."

"But you were so bold," Ino said. "I know that's what you do, but not everyone is like Lord Gaara--and you speak to him more respectfully."

"Gaara has earned her respect," Shoto said. "Onoki was being horribly condescending. He was trying to get us to knuckle under. You can't just ignore that."

"That didn't mean flipping all the way around," Shikamaru said. "I mean, talking like that, people will think you're mad."

"Ahem." Suigetsu got their attention loudly. Everyone looked at him.

"I'm all for arguing about this," he said, "but even I wouldn't do it in the middle of the street where anyone in the village can hear you."

Everyone looked around.

Though they didn't see any shinobi who were acting like they were listening, they knew he had a point.

"We'll finish this when we get to the compound," Temari said.

Shine never said a word. That was the worst part. She was silent and somber the whole time they were walking.

Sasuke, Bakugo, and Camie also demanded explanations from the others and were told they would only get it when there was no chance of being overheard.

Sai didn't ask any questions, he just looked perturbed.

Sakura was also angry, but the scary part was she wasn't talking either, which was a whole new level of anger.

But before they all even got halfway to the compound, they were apprehended by Tsunade, with Suzushi in tow, as usual.

He said nothing, but she said, "Well, all of you certainly decided to make an impression back there."

"Lady, we don't really need to hear this," Wally said in a tired voice. "We have to pack our stuff."

"Don't you have a message to send Leaf Village anyway?" Temari said rudely, making her brothers wince.

"Temari," Gaara warned.

She pursed her lips.

Tsunade frowned at her and folded her arms. "That was stupid back there, what you said. When will you ever learn that the leaders of our villages do not like to be spoken to that way?"

Shine raised an eyebrow. "When will you learn that your preferences are not necessarily a factor?"

"There you go again." Tsunade shook her head. "I don't know whether to admire your boldness or to be appalled by it. I've known people like you before... Most of them are dead now. Except for that one." Nodding at Naruto.

"Granny Tsunade--" Naruto took this as a cue to finally get a chance to speak. "--you're not really going to tell Leaf we're bad, right? You know I wouldn't be doing this if it was bad."

"I don't think either you or Sakura would be supporting them if they truly were out to destroy the village," Tsunade said. "And I never did think that, for the record, whatever you've decided amongst yourselves. I just don't like you, but that doesn't mean you're terrorists." [Someone should tell Twitter that.]

"Besides," Tsunade added, "after you spoke to me the other day, it was clear you were trying to settle things diplomatically. All that nonsense about sorcery and deceit doesn't line up. I don't know why the Tsuchikage can't see that. Although, you're quite loud and opinionated, and that's not a good thing."

"Says who?" Shine wasn't easing up on her.

"Baby, I think she's trying to say she's on our side," Wally said.

"I'm missing the part where that matters, since she didn't say a thing back there to help us," Shine said.

"I was trying to sound neutral!" Tsunade began to get angry, and you could tell. "Why don't you shut up?!"

Most people backed down when Tsunade got mad, since she was so powerful, but Shine never got more timid when spoken to this way.

"If this is all you have to say, then it's useless," she shot back. "Don't you yell at me over it. You're not the one getting kicked out. Unless you are now?"

"I don't know," Tsunade said. "I was going to tell you before you so rudely interrupted me that I already told him that I wouldn't be backing up any claims about how dangerous you are."

They stared at her.

"Really?" Wally finally said.

"It's nice how little you think of us all," Tsunade said, perturbed. "You think we're all liars. And we all are paranoid."

Gaara gaped till Kankuro nudged him to look more professional.

"Tsunade-sama..." Sakura was surprised. "You really don't think we're up to no good?"

"I don't know what you're trying to do," Tsunade said, "but it's not forcing people to comply with you. Frankly, I really don't care if it doesn't have to affect me. That's the only thing I would have worried about. People are disturbed by new ideas, but they usually die out on their own like any other fad. I'm too old to care."

"You don't look very old," Shoto said

Tsunade almost seemed slightly flattered by that.

"She uses jutsu to make herself look young, you idiot." Dabi rolled his eyes.

Tsunade glared at him.

"Oh..." Shoto must have missed that part about Tsunade when they studied.

"Well, it's very...uh, magnanimous of you," Momo said. "Is that all you came out here to tell us?"

"That and I wouldn't worry too much about the other villages," Tsunade said. "Well, at least if you go quietly. But if you do end up doing something that's off the wall, I'll retract everything I said. So watch your step. I based my assessment on how you haven't done anything dangerous--even before I was watching you. But that could always change."

Despite her harder sounding words, Shine looked hugely relieved.

"Well," she said, "I suppose I owe you an apology for jumping to conclusions. Maybe I have been too hasty. Unfortunately, we still have our anxieties and biases even if we try not to. Maybe you're right. We did assume the worst--for the record, I always said I didn't think you were as bad as some of the other ninja about this kind of thing. But that's still pretty biased."

It again surprised her students that she admitted this so freely instead of trying to cover for it.

"You're really just going to own up that?" Tsunade shook her head. "Do you not have any self respect, woman?"

"It would be dishonest to deny that what you said might be true," Shine shrugged. "We clash, but that's no reason to be unjust."

Tsunade sighed. "Whatever. You're still in trouble, but I'm hoping we can keep this from getting too out of hand--"

"Kurotsuchi is coming!" Karin suddenly said.

Everyone went silent.