"You ever read a detective novel? Full denial is never a good cover if there are already a couple of holes in your story. Think about the ex-con who gets picked up by the police right next to a big jewelry heist. One of the bank tellers sees one of his buddies in the getaway van, right? But when he's questioned he goes, 'Honest, copper, I never even seen the place!" No one's going to believe that.

"But what if he says 'Yeah, I heard about the job. But I wasn't there to do the smash and grab; I was tryin' to convince my buddy not to go through with it and ruin his life. I know what it's like in the slammer.' If you've got a rep, your best bet is to cop to some things instead of denying everything. Know what I'm saying?"

Was... Heiji offering Sasuke tips to conceal his ninjuries...

"Of course, in your case, it might just be better to come clean."