[OP: "Where is Your Rider?"--The Oh Hellos]

The music had faded because it was time for the speeches.

Momo had hooked up a microphone system so that no one would have to yell, and in that flat, hard space, the sound resonated like a shower stall.

Mirai began it by formally welcoming all the guests to the party, and then she said that she would turn it over to the Kazekage and his party to give their addresses.

Even the people who'd been at the edge of the party, not really engaging, came closer to hear, and the ones who'd been trying to spike punch and cause other problems stopped out of curiosity.

Gaara was supposed to go first, but now that it came to the point, he was feeling the closest thing to stage fight he'd ever felt.

His mouth felt like it had sand in it--and not his usual sand, which got in his mouth often enough, but like it went all down his throat so his voice wouldn't come.

Shine was standing with him, and she nodded at him encouragingly.

Gaara swallowed and took the mic and went onto the small platform that was made out of planks and empty boxes just for this part of the evening.

"Hello..." he said, looking a little awkward. "I...uh, hope you've all been enjoying the party."

While his guttural voice didn't show a lot of nervousness to people who didn't know him well, his siblings could tell he was freaking out.

"Oh no," Kankuro muttered. "I hope the situation didn't get to him finally."

Temari gripped her fan, but she hoped Gaara would be okay once he got going. Usually he was.

Gaara cleared his throat.

He wasn't really afraid of them so much as he was afraid he was going to say the wrong thing.

He caught Matsuri's eye, and she smiled and nodded encouragingly and mouthed "just talk to me."

That seemed like a good idea.

"I suppose you all want to keep celebrating," he said a bit more easily. "I don't want to bore you with a long speech, but, we want to say something about why we're doing this...I think we've met most of you by now."

Many people nodded at that.

"A few weeks back we came here on invitation, to help your village and join you to our alliance," he said. "I wanted to talk a little bit about why we're doing that. It was not just about preventing another war, though that would be beneficial."

Someone else laughed.

Gaara wondered why they were laughing, usually people just stared at him stoically when he said that.

But then he looked at them and the people weren't sneering at him, they just seemed to be agreeing...Perhaps that was just Rain's sense of humor.

He went on. "I..." then he stopped.

He had planned to tell them about all the successes they'd had, trying to make this sound good for them all.

But all of a sudden it didn't feel right. He couldn't have said why, but different words started coming out, and they felt more like his real thoughts:

"I have to admit to all of you, I didn't want to come here."

This shocked only his team--that he said it at all--but it shocked no one in Rain Village.

Camie and Bakugo heard someone say. "I bet not."

"I believe I started off about as prejudiced against this Village as everyone else was," Gaara heard himself saying, and he started to look at Temari, who was gaping at him in concern, and Kankuro, who was eyeing the crowd nervously now. "Everyone is afraid of Rain Village...and on top of this, we had just had a humiliating defeat in Stone Village."

"Well, so much for keeping that secret," Sakura muttered.

"What is he doing?" Sasuke said, behind her.

Sakura hadn't seen he'd come over to hear all this and she jumped,  but Sasuke wasn't even looking at her.

Rain stared at them, like this if this was some kind of joke.

Mirai was also surprised, she knew this, but she didn't know why he'd tell everyone that.

Gaara glanced at Shine, she nodded and smiled like she approved.

Well at least someone understood. He went on. "I didn't think it would work, to come here. But, my...very wise sensei told us plainly that we had an opportunity, and they thought that it was a God-sent one, to keep our mission going here, and that his was Divine Providence. I suppose, that to you, that sounds mad. I'm sure no one has ever called Rain Village a diving providence before."

No one got offended, they probably were thinking the same thing. [Can any good come out of Nazareth?]

Gaara noticed Guren was gaping at him, and that gave him an idea.

"But, coming here, it turned out that wasn't true," he went on. "Rain Village does hide a lot of people who have nowhere else to go. Who suffered defeat. In one way, it was the perfect place for us to come when we had nothing else, rather than go home in humiliation...this village gave us another chance to succeed. And we've seen more success here than I ever could have imagined seeing in any village, let alone this one...we have a lot to be thankful for."

Even the ruffians who were trying to stir up trouble before were hanging on his every word now.

Gaara went on. "In a way this was an answered prayer. I'm glad I was persuaded to come here after all, and grateful to all of you for your willingness to work with us. But there was this feeling as if it was all planned, as if God really did set it up this way, for His own reasons...perhaps some of you have heard of God, but, I believe he has guided us through the war and through the peace mission, to this point. And things have changed for us. And, for you...I have wondered if I should hide that from the world, since the world does not seem ready to hear it, but, there is no real hiding it. so I'll be honest with you all, we're trying to do things outside the way shinobi have done them for 100 years. That is why we came here, and, none of the ideas we've used were our own, but coming from a Divine text that sounds strange to us...but it still works... And all this was to honor that, and to honor our friends and family who have put their lives on the line to bring changes..."

He nodded. "I want to thank you all for coming this far, even into Rain Village. And I want to thank Rain Village for allowing us to work here as we saw fit, and proving the world is not right about you...I hope that you will accept our friendship now, and it may last much longer than our enmity did."

Rain Village stared at him.

Gaara had no more to say, he thought.

Then suddenly, Kyuu started to clap.

The heroes and ninjas didn't expect to see him doing it, and they also saw he was with his family. His wife (who was quite pretty) and his two children who were a little older than Hanabi was. They started to clap also.

And Kosame did... and even Jakku and Mirai and Ayashi and Seiji.

And that all of the people were clapping or cheering, though quietly.

This was not always the ninja way, but when something really good happened, they might show it like this, Naruto had seen it a few times himself.

But he didn't think it would happen here, in Rain Village.

"Whoa," he said.

Hinata was beaming. "Lord Gaara knows how to unite people."

But Gaara didn't feel that the words came just from him....they had seemed to rise up from somewhere else...

But he'd felt that way before a few times, and he nodded at Shine.

Shine smiled and came up. "Ready?"

"They're all yours," Gaara said, then to the crowd. "And this is my sensei, Shine, she's like family to me, please listen to her with respect."

The sound died down so abruptly that Shine was impressed.

Better than Stone for sure.

She took the mic.

Though she was a little nervous, only Wally could have told, the others didn't see any sign of it. She tossed her hair confidently enough.

She opened her holy book and put it on a small table that...they thought she'd just made appear behind her, but no one saw it.

"I think Gaara said it well," she said. "But if it's okay with you all, I'd like to read to you from our book of God's words to the people of the world. All people everywhere. Perhaps you'd like to hear it."

It was silent, people were watching, curiously.

Shine began to read:

"The Lord is high above all nations,
His glory above the heavens.
 Who is like the Lord our God,
Who dwells on high,
 Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

 He raises the poor out of the dust,
and lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
That He may seat him with princes—
With the princes of His people.
 He grants the barren woman a home,
Like a joyful mother of children." [Psalm 113: 4-9]

Then she looked up. "This passage just came to my mind while thinking about your Village...doesn't it kind of make sense, though? Here we have so many poor and needy, and yet we're all together, with rulers and leaders and were in the same place, at the same time...and there's really no difference between any of us. As Gaara said, really, we've been in the same position as you. Honestly, without help from our friends, we'd all be poor and homeless and needy and hungry also...so with that, I and my team felt it was the honorable thing to do to extend that kindness to other people. I'm not asking for your thanks, because it is not necessary, I just want you to know that all we do, we do because it's been done for us first. That we love, as our word says, because God first loved us."

She leaned a little on the table, looking pensive, but not sad. "I wasn't sure I had anything to say to you, because I'm not one of your trained ninjas, I'm just someone who's committed to my faith and to helping people. But then I realized that's exactly what makes us able to talk to each other... if I was someone great and well known, what would we have in common? And I see also that we have this in common: that people fear me and my team because we're different, and they fear all of you because you are different also. So, we under each other."

Rain Ninja were nodding to that.

Mirai was smiling, like this was going better than she'd thought at first.

"They're just one difference between us right now," Shine went on. "And that is that we have had hope...even when we were hated, and attacked, and ostracized, we had hope that we still had a friend, in God, who, as the word says, looks down on us and sees our plight..."

She paused again and then went on. "I'm sure it seems like God has been very far away from Rain Village...I don't have every explanation for why it's hard to see Him, but I know that your oppressors have kept Him out, frankly by trying to do this on their own. I know that Pain wanted to be God, essentially, and chose what was right and wrong for the world...well, I won't talk about him, because he's dead now...in his absence there is no God of this village, and there's no truth for it to live by. Some of you may wish to keep on the way things used to be, because at least it's familiar, even if it's awful to live under."

That was a bold statement, but oddly no one was stopping to yell at her over it like before.

"It's up to you," Shine said. "But Gaara and I would present you with another option. The same one we took years ago, when we had a crossroads. For me, it was being this and going my own way, knowing that way would never give me peace in my soul...for Gaara, really, it was much the same, and the he never would have true freedom from himself, and from the world's burden upon him, if he stayed the same as he was."

Gaara nodded, he was still on stage, just behind her.

Shine took courage in the fact that no one was angry yet and went on. "I think that you, Rain village, are like the barren woman in the passage. You've had nothing to show for your years of pain, and effort, even not having children to keep your line going...but I think that's changing...or that it could. I think that God wants to give you joy instead of sorrow. And life instead of death. I think that's no reason for your name to always be a byword and warning to people. There is another passage in our book that goes like this:

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn...
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
And the sons of the foreigner
Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers." [Isaiah 61: 1-5]

"And in another place it says:

"Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
So that no one went through you,
I will make you an eternal excellence,
A joy of many generations." [Isaiah 60:15]

It was shocking to Team Zoe, even those who had read some part of the book, just how well that fit Rain Village.

Though it almost sounded too good to be true...and yet...how much of what had already happened here was too good to be true?

Looking at the crowd, Tenten could see the very people who'd been injured and sick before they came and now were healthy.

How in all this time had she learned to take this for granted? It was normal that they did these things that no one else could do--or could not do the same way? She didn't see it as wondrous, but to Rain Village...

No one had ever taken any notice of them before, no one thought they were worth anything, that was how this village formed to begin with, and how it would have continued if they hadn't convinced the Team to come here at all.

Seeing it through their eyes, even Tenten, who lacked imagination, saw how it was...

"You may feel skeptical," Shine went on, looking steady. "And I don't blame you, I was skeptical once too. I once wondered if this would ever apply to me, I was so trapped in my own misery...and that is because I felt my circumstances would never change...but you know those days are long gone. I've seen more miracles than I can count now, and none if it ever felt Ike it was me, but I got ot be a witness to  it...and I think all of you, here, you don't need to do things that are so very usual yourselves, like those other villages, that where they have confused things...you just need to be the kind of people who are unusual in how you view life...to dare to believe that your lives are not hopeless, and that there is something out there for you. That's what we came to tell you."

The village was attentive.

Shine, from there, went on to tell them the Gospel story, about how Jesus died for people's sins and rose again to overcome death for them.

While the story was rather wild to people who hadn't heard anything like it before, Gaara could collaborate it with his own experience, and Neji could too...he even stepped up to do it, and told them how his curse mark was removed.

Then other people in the village who had been healed began to say that it was true.

So while the story was hard to believe, those who doubted it dwindled away to hardly anything.

All this took less than an hour to talk about, to the surprise of the heroes, who were keeping an eye on the crowd and the time both to make sure no one got restless.

"I guess if you know what to say it doesn't take long," Momo mused. 

"This reminds me more of Mist Village," Shoto said. "Was Stone just a fluke? I don't understand it."

"I think it makes sense," Dabi said. "You have to ask what Rain and Mist had in common. They're known for being the worst of the worst. Bloodthirsty and dark. And the people who know they're fricked up are the first to repent, always, aren't they? It's not everyone like Stone that can lie to themselves about being put together. Watch and see if it doesn't work out that way."

"I believe you," Momo said. 

"What do you think our peeps are thinking of this?" Camie asked. "It's crazy to think that some of them are still holding out against this when Rain Village is accepting it."

They cast a look at Sakura, one of said hold outs, and Sasuke.

Sasuke was listening to this without his usual insolent expression, but he looked more like he was trying to assess what was happening, to understand it.

Sakura looked perturbed and she caught them glancing at her and frowned at them.

"I'd say she's still not interested," Dabi said. "Sasuke, I can't tell. He keeps going back and forth between it, doesn't he?"

"Sasuke must know he's a sinner," Shoto said. "So why doesn't he want forgiveness? Is it beneath him?"

"Perhaps he doesn't think he can have it," Momo said. "Or he thinks it's...not enough for him."

"It's like if he thinks if he says he was wrong, it's like letting all that pain go for nothing," Dabi said. "That was half what held me back when it was pride, and the other half of what held me back was fear that I was beyond hope. If I could feel that way, I think he could too. Plus he's got the damned curse."

"It's hard to believe he could be redeemed," Shoto said. "But enough has happened thus far for me to not rule it out. I never thought I'd say that again."

"Shut up, I'm trying to hear what's going on," Bakugo hissed at them.

They stopped.

When Shine, Gaara, Neji, and the others were finally done sharing stories, Shine called everyone to attention again.

"I think we need a moment for you all to let this sink in," she said. "Think about it, and then, if you decide you want a part of this, you can talk to us. Any of our main people can explain it more, and if you don't feel this is for you at this time, please stay quiet and respectful till we've moved back to the celebratory part of this evening. I want to have some time to be pensive and mindful now. I thank all of you for listening to us and giving us a proper hearing."

She nodded at Wally, who prepared for this, switched the sound track back on, now it was on a different playlist.

A different kind of song began to play, quieter than before, but the message was clear.

https://youtu.be/8kFPzu7FFUk

[Love is Here-- Tenth Avenue North]

"Come to the water, you who thirst, and you'll thirst no more.

Come to the Father, you who work, and you'll work no more.

And all you who labor in vain, and to the broken and shamed.

(Love is here, Love is now. Love is pouring from His hands, from His brow, love is near, it satisfies.

Streams of mercy flowing from His side. 'Cause Love is here.)

Come to the Treasure you who search, and you'll search no more.

Come to the lover, you who want, and you'll want no more....

And to the bruised and fallen, captives bound and broken hearted, He is the Lord.

By His stripes He's been our ransom, from His wounds, we drink salvation.

He is the Lord..."

Camie, on inspiration, blew a cloud of smoke upward that depicted the scenes of the gospel that they'd described over everyone's heads.

Perhaps seeing it actually helped some people understand. They didn't know what a crucifixion was, or many of the other terms... Of course, it would have been a little graphic if it was realistic, but Camie toned it down a bit for the kids.

[Trust me, the way most movies portray the crucifixion is mild compared to how it was actually like. The Passion of The Christ is the more realistic one.]

More songs played while there was a space for everyone to think.

https://youtu.be/L-JBbdJ5eZ8

["Lead me to the Cross"--Hillsong]

"Savior, I come. I quiet my soul, remember. Redemption's hill where your blood was spilt for my ransom.

"And everything I once held dear, I count it all as loss.

"(Lead me to the Cross, where your love poured out. Bring me to my knees. Lord, I lay me down. Rid me of myself. I belong to you. Oh, Lead me...lead me to the cross.)

"You were as I, tempted and tried, human..."

https://youtu.be/Q7EPZV56PuA

["Above All"--Michael W. Smith--What has happened to playing this man's songs? He used to be so huge in the worship music world, and now I barely hear this song or his other ones played.]

"Above all powers, above all kings, above all nature and all created things.

"Above all wisdom and all the ways of man. You were here before the world began.

"Above all kingdoms, above all thrones, above all wonders the world has ever known.

"Above all wealth and treasures of the earth. There's no way to measure what you're worth.

"(Crucified, laid behind a stone. You lived to die, rejected and alone, like a rose, trampled on the ground. You took the fall, and thought of me, above all.)"

* * *

Gradually, while the music was playing, the team saw a shift come over the people of Rain.

At first they seemed uncertain, but as they listened, or watched, they seemed to start to understand, and then--at first with only few of them, but then it was more--they started to cry or even to shake, as if with suppressed emotion. And who knew how long it had been suppressed?

The ninjas of the team were astonished at this more than the heroes were, and it was all they could do not to stare at everyone who was affected.

Sakura only realized she was staring when she saw Naruto doing it and shook herself and then kicked him.

Naruto blinked and looked at Hinata.

Hinata wasn't surprised so much. She was watching intently.

Gaara, who was on the floor now, wondered what would happen.

He could see that people weren't angry at least... He wondered why they were crying... Then he thought of how he had felt at first, when the idea of hope had touched him, and he'd felt that he couldn't stand being a slave any longer... Yes, it was then that he'd cried.

"What's come over everyone?" Rock Lee asked Tenten. "They were happy a few minutes ago, and now they're all upset."

Tenten had no words.

Strangely, she felt more that Rock Lee was just too outside of what had been going on to understand--then she wondered if she'd ever been inside it. She'd done her best not to think about this aspect of the mission at all; it had always been strange to her and uncanny.

Yet, in a way, she'd started to understand at least part of what they put their stock in, and now she knew only a little more than he knew, but she could still feel the difference in how she and Lee were seeing this.

And why was everyone so upset?

Or...were they just moved?

To believe that something cared about them...them, the least of the Villages in the ninja world, in many ways...to hear that the same thing that had helped the Kazekage and his followers would help them...

Well, if you believed it, it was something grand and mysterious....beyond human kindness, that was for sure.

Gaara saw Mirai come up to him.

"That was a profound message," she said, looking a bit surprised at it. "Before it didn't fully... But I see now...that it is beyond our understanding, what your story is, but if it was true...if it is all true, and I think it is because of what you've done here, for us...then I want to be part of it too. Our lives don't matter at all to the world, but they matter to you Christians, and that's good enough for me."

Gaara nodded. "I understand, Mirai..."

Other people seemed to gain courage from Mirai moving forward to talk, and began to walk up to the team to ask them about it.

Not all of them knew how to answer and directed them to the people who did.

Shikamaru told them to ask Temari.

Temari was not used to this kind of thing, but she rose to the occasion and told them about The Way.

But that wasn't really the part they had the most questions about. They just kept asking things like:

"And does this God of yours really care about all of us? Even us rubbish?"

"Is it true that someone would die for people they haven't even met yet?"

One person who caught Bakugo slightly off guard, said to him, "Look here, I killed a bunch of people for Pain... They might have been innocent enough, but they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or they were trying to escape. No one was allowed to escape... I'm not proud of it now, and it keeps me up at night... What are you talking about that? Is that all able to be cleaned away?"

Bakugo nodded. "Yeah, of course...anything can."

"Really?" said the man next to that one. "Because I did a bunch of things I think I should probably die for, only, no one is here is anyone to take notice of it, so I haven't."

This kind of question was not something Bakugo was really ready for in this particular circumstance.

"Hey, all of you--" Dabi stepped in. "And you heard what they said, anything is forgivable. I was a murderer and worse when I got into this and look at me now. I betrayed my own family, and that didn't make any difference."

"I let my own family die when they tried to leave," said another person, sounding upset. "I wasn't strong enough to try to help them."

"All of you are messed up," Dabi said roundly. "But that's just what we're saying. You don't want that on your soul when you go to the afterlife, trust me."

Apparently they did, because they all said they wanted to be forgiven.

Conversations like this kept the team busy for the next hour and half at least, and the night got colder, but people lit fires in those stand-up braziers that look like little lampposts, and that warmed up the area nicely.

It still wasn't raining, at least not enough for anyone to notice it.

Sakura was sitting outside of this, feeling very uncomfortably out of place again.

Gradually, she began hearing those of Rain who'd talked to the team go up to their people and tell them things, though naturally she didn't catch most of it, but someone said this:

"For the first time in my whole life, I don't feel like a piece of trash for even being part of this Village and part of the bloodshed. I feel like it's all been lifted off my shoulders. It would do you good."

"It really feels that different?" the other person said. "It's not just words?"

"No one ever said words to me that made me feel any better about my life," the other person replied reverently. "At least not for long, but this is deeper. I can tell. I never felt anything like this before in my life."

"I'm going to talk to them," said the other person. And they both walked away again.

Sakura could only stare.

Then she heard someone else say this: "That tall, pretty girl said that my old woman had to be replaced because I was born here... I was thinking of just jumping into the lake with my feet tied together before this...but I feel different now... I feel...at peace."

Momo, she must mean, Sakura thought to herself.

Naruto joined her again. "Isn't this something?" he said. "I think they really liked it. This is better than Mist was."

Sakura just gave him a strange look.

"What?" Naruto said. "Aren't you happy for them?"

"Naruto, don't you ever wonder about this?" Sakura asked. "I mean...for you?"

"For me...well...I guess I just don't think I need any more than what I have," Naruto said. "I have friends and a place in the Village...but for them, it's never gonna get better without something else, and I think if their God wants to help them, that's great."

Sakura wasn't sure what was wrong with that, but she thought something was.

"Hey, Sasuke, what's up?" Naruto noticed that Sasuke had walked closer to them, mostly to get around the hubbub.

Sakura just looked at him flatly.

"Isn't this cool?" Naruto said. "People are interested in it now."

"I see both of you are still holding out," Sasuke said.

"Aren't you also?" Sakura replied. "Though I don't know why..." She folded her arms. "It's probably inevitable at this point."

Sasuke laughed the most bitter laugh one could imagine. "Please...does all this sound like something I'd be interested in? Maybe if you're foolish enough to think that anything will matter just because you change your outlook on life... Whatever someone did years ago, it's never made my life any better."

"Well, you're not dead," Sakura said, mainly to annoy him, since she didn't care herself.

But Sasuke gave a start like that had hit home.

"Hey, she's got a point," Naruto said. "Maybe that's why you survived this long, Sasuke. You never know what could be out there. I have never totally ruled it out, you know. Maybe all this was meant to happen after all. And they have given you a lot of attention."

"And what about you, Naruto? Would you ever submit yourself to a God you don't know?" Sasuke asked.

"I...well...but I don't really need to. I haven't done anything wrong," Naruto said.

Sasuke just glared at him like he was stupid. "You really don't understand anything about it, do you?"

"Seconds ago you said it was foolish," Sakura said. "Or something like that, and now we don't understand it? Make up your mind."

"Yeah, Sasuke, why do you keep acting like we said something wrong?" Naruto said. "I don't get it."

Since they had a good point, Sasuke got sulky and walked away from them.

Sakura leaned on her hand. "Everything is so different now, and I don't like it."

"I've got a feeling that nothing will ever be the same ,even once we go back at Leaf." Naruto for once hit on something pretty insightful. "Just don't see how it could be."

It was true... Even if you didn't acknowledge all this as truth...seeing that anyone would, anyone would even try, had to make shinobi think...

Clearly these ideas had power... They inspired people. Was there something in that?

Sakura wondered why, if that was true, it didn't inspire her? Was there something wrong with her? Why did she only find it frightening?

[That's something that bothers many people. God doesn't just seem far away from them, but He scares them. I used to be the same way. All I can say is that at some point your desire for life overcomes your fear of what that will mean. I don't know how else to explain it. I think it's a mystery for a reason.]

https://youtu.be/eto3B7IT-Ok

["All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises"--Travis Cottrell]