"Hm..." Tao crossed his arms as he looked to his sensei and listened carefully to her words. "I actually know them, but..." The boy breathed out, shaking his head slightly. "I don't agree with all of them. Sure, I believe they are very logical and reasonable within their own sense, but anything taking to an extreme extent is taking it too far." Nodding softly, Tao continued with raising his index finger as he spoke. "Many of the greatest ninja we've come to respect whole heartedly forsake some of the Shinobi Rules and we see them as heroes, simply because they did something our inner moral strives for." He lowered his hand again and thought it over for a second, but manage to recite the rules within his mind before continuing. "The first rule is to always put the mission first. This finds it's roots in pure professionalism and sometimes the mission is so important that personal emotions pale in comparison...however! This rule indicates that surroundings factors are completely irrelevant. I will tell you all right now, and in all due respect sensei, you may discard me from your team if you disagree..." The boy took a deep breath before he spoke his mind. "My comrades lives come first to me, then the mission. If you need to hear a 'purely professional' reason for this, it's because without my comrades help, the success of the mission diminishes greatly. That and the saying 'Ninja who leave their friends to die are worse than trash', I agree." He nodded.

"The second rule, we're never to show our tears. That's a nice thought, really. Acting cold and never showing your emotions will seriously put your opponent off, especially if they depend on reading your body language. However, no matter how much we try to deny it, we're still human. Ive noticed how ninja constantly struggle against that principle, but in the end, our biology always wins." Tao crossed his arms and sighed softly. "My clan always teaches that you should harness your emotions and use them to strengthen your resolve. Sadness is the most powerful emotion there is, accompanied by love and hatred which both go hand in hand with it. There is no flame as devastating as a furious one and no flame as fluid as a harmonic one. All in all, I believe that this shinobi rule is good purely on a physical level, don't show your opponents any body language they can use against you but on a deeper level, I can't entirely agree with it."

Smiling softly now, Tao rubbed his chin and continued onward towards the third rule. "The hidden meanings within the hidden meanings, this is the one rule I fully agree with. You should always analyse everything to the best of your extent. This doesn't mean that you need to figure out the whole problem, but only part of it. We're a team, right? We're four minds working together. One mind won't be able to figure everything out on its own, however like clockwork, all minds put together will get things done! Yup, the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings is the exact way you should look at the shinobi rules and judge them thusly." 

Finally, onto the fourth. "So, a ninja must always follow their commander's instructions. This is wrong on so many levels. I'm not a puppet, if that's what's being sought after, there is an entire combat technique that utilises them. I'm a person, and I will [i]never[/i] follow orders blindly. No offence to you sensei, but if my commander makes incompetent decisions, I will not let other people suffer because I am obligated to follow a fool's sense of justice. I will however always do what's right and that's putting my life on the line for my friends, and the success of our mission." 

Taking a deep breath, Tao prepared for the next rule, almost done with the rant. "So, a ninja must always be prepared before it's too late. Yup, makes sense. Nothing to complain over here, apart from the fact that you'll often need to improvise but that's a given. Good rule, good rule." The boy nodded twice. 

"Phew, finally the last one! Alright, a ninja must never show any weakness. I guess this would go hand in hand with never showing any tears. Stifling your emotions and shielding your weaknesses are however kinda' different. We will always try our best not to show any weakness, something our team is essential for. However, some weaknesses are quite obvious. I mean, I control fire so water is obviously my weakness." The boy would laugh slightly. "But I get it, don't let the enemy get the jump on you is essentially what this rule says and that makes sense." Finally done with all of them, Tao took a deep, relaxed breath and looked back to his sensei. "Alright! So, that's my take on everything. Hehe...the academy instructors hated me, I hope you won't as well, sensei!" The wide smile on his lips as he spoke indicated his pride, but also a large sense of confidence. Tao had obviously thought his views through in one way or the other and immediately came out defiant on the other end. He had no clue how his sensei would react to this, but he halfway expected her to drop him off the team. However, Tao was ready for that. He wanted her to know what she was getting, [i]all[/i] that she was getting. If these people would fight to protect each others' lives, that meant that they needed to know each other through and through.