Ninja in a Non-Ninja Party (CNH)

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Of course, the advice previously given is from the perspective of a ninja clan lord, who naturally places clan obligations above all other considerations, as will most people from the ninja's culture of origin. The ninja himself may not feel quite so sure about some of those dictates, particularly the ones about spying on his friends.
The ninja character traveling with a party of people who do not share his secret can do many things to maintain his good relationship with them.
==Greed Is Out of Place==
Ninja accompanying non-ninja groups will often travel in the guise of thieves. This allows them to utilize most of their ninja abilities without causing consternation among their friends. But it's a bad idea to carry the thief identity too far. A ninja should not steal from his friends (except under clan orders). To do so is to demonstrate greed (a very uncharacteristic fault) and to sow dissension among the party. One important ninja role is to sow dissension among the enemy, and to do so among his allies is the same as considering them the enemy.
==Courage is Not Out of Place==
The culture from which the ninja originate places a high premium on fearlessness. Ninja are not supposed to fear death any more than samurai do. Consequently, when a ninja is pretending to be a samurai warrior, he should demonstrate the same kind of courage the samurai does. Even when a ninja is pretending to be a common thief, if he demonstrates courage rather than self-preservation, he will gain respect in the eyes of his comrades. They will trust him more, and he will be able to trust them more.
==Strong Alliances Help Everyone==
Although ninja clan lords caution young ninja against putting non-clan considerations over the goals of the clan, they do not discourage ninja from forging friendships with people who are not of the clan. There are two reasons for this, both of which are very practical.
First, if a ninja becomes friends with non-ninja, the clan has ties to those people, some of whom may become powerful adventurers, merchants, and even rulers. Ninja clans benefit from such alliances, even when the non-ninja are not aware of their friend's ninja background and when there is no profit motive involved. The clan might be able to obtain favors such as economic concessions, trade secrets, or military and economic help in times of crisis. And should the ninja clan be attacked and scattered by armies of the shogun or emperor, the clan leader might be able to send several members of the family to the ninja PC so that they can seek sanctuary with an allied non-ninja ruler.
Second, if the ninja forges real friendships with other members of the party, it helps him keep from turning into a paranoid wreck. If he has no real affection for any member of the party, he will be a more suspicious and less trustworthy member; others in the party may sense this.
==When Friends Find Out==
Sometimes a ninja character's true identity and nature will be discovered by another member of the party. This could come about by happenstance (catching the ninja just as he's climbing out his window in his night-suit) or by design (spying on the ninja in much the same way as he's spied on them). Either way, it puts the ninja character in the delicate position of deciding what to do about his friends.
===He Could Confess To Them===
The ninja could confess at least part of the truth to his allies, admitting that he is a ninja and he has other allegiances in addition to his friendship with them. He would have to convince them that he is no danger to them and has genuinely been their friend in spite of his divided loyalties.
Under no circumstances should the ninja divulge the name of his clan. People who know something about ninja would realize that he would not do this, but might ask him anyway as a sort of test; if he provides an answer, he is probably lying.
A ninja character who takes this course will ask his friends to keep his secret. His life is in their hands; all they need to do is betray his secret to his enemies and he will probably be captured or killed. If they are true friends, they will keep faith with him.
===He Could Convert Them ===
A final and dramatic measure when dealing with a friend who has found out a ninja's secret is to try to bring the outsider into the ninja clan. This can come about only when several conditions are in place.
First, the character under consideration for adoption must not be part of any existing clan. If the character is an orphan, survivor of a destroyed clan, or an exile with no hope of return to his original family, he is eligible. (To adopt someone who is part of an existing clan is to invite him to betray his other clan. If he is willing to betray that clan, he will someday be willing to betray the new one.) It is possible to adopt someone who is from another culture if that character expresses the desire to foresake his former life and devote himself to the ninja clan.
Second, the friend must be eager to join the ninja clan. It's not enough just to be willing; a ninja character will be interested in adopting only someone who will bring enthusiasm and loyalty to the clan.
Third, the ninja character must be able to convince the ninja clan leader that his friend is worthy. This will inevitably result in the friend being put through rigorous and potentially deadly tests of skill and loyalty.
Ninja clan lords become far more suspicious when a ninja brings forward an entire party of people requesting admission into the clan. It's best to try to convert only one character who has learned the secret.
===He Could Lie To Them===
The ninja could lie to his allies, telling them that he's an imperial spy infiltrating a ninja clan, or some other fabrication.
There are disadvantages to this approach. The characters will already be suspicious of the character. He's lied to them in the past, so they will subject everything he has to say to much scrutiny. The ninja may find that his friends want him to prove his new assertion to them, and he will probably be unable to do so.
===He Could Abandon Them===
Having been found out, the ninja character could just leave the characters at his earliest opportunity, return home, and ask for a different mission.
This offers a simple advantage: It makes it difficult for his former allies to exact revenge on him. But it has a couple of serious disadvantages as well.
First, the ninja clan lord will want to know why the ninja abandoned his identity and mission. If the ninja answers honestly—which he should—the ninja clan lord must now decide what to do about the ninja's former allies. He may decide he has to eliminate them, and he'll certainly want to use the ninja who knows the most about them (the PC) to do so. This is also a good opportunity for the clan lord to impose a test of loyalty on the PC ninja. No ninja wants to see his allies exterminated for such a reason, and there is always the chance that the heroes who found out the secret will be skilled and tough enough to kill ninja sent against them.
Second, such abandonment doesn't settle in the ninja's mind what action his former allies will want to take. If he just leaves them, he cannot influence their actions or persuade them not to immediately turn him in to the authorities.
===He Could Become Their Enemy===
The ninja could decide to eliminate the people who have found out his secret. This is a drastic measure, taken only when a ninja thinks his clan is immediately and seriously endangered by the discovery of his secret. For that to be the case, the allies must already know the name of the ninja character's clan and have declared an intent to destroy the clan. Such allies could be no more than mere companions, not true friends. A lesser set of circumstances doesn't warrant the ninja character becoming the enemy of his former allies.
If he is convinced that his former allies intend the destruction of his clan, the ninja should get away, then attempt to destroy these enemies as soon as possible. But make no mistake; circumstances such as these are rare.