"-but, yeah, I guess that could be a part of it," Gai was the one talking. He was rarely able to attract people's attention to the things he was saying, but, in this particular case, having the wildest imagination was the most required quality and served as a great strength. "What do you think, Kakashi?" Gai raised his thick eyebrows in the quiet jounin's direction.

"Aliens," Kakashi replied, bored and tired; and that was really the only theory not explored yet, he thought. Of course, with Rin getting away to the medical tents and Minato being out of question for inquiries, he was the only one left of those who 'knew something about it' and the discussions were always somehow directed to him. He evaded being involved in any speculations and logical ties making each time, either by giving a neutral answer, or by repeating, every once and again that, despite being aware of Obito being alive, he pretty much knew nothing else about the whole business, just as he officially stated in front of the Kages themselves, yet they wouldn't let him get away with just that, would they?

"I get it you don't know anything, but I'm sure your mind's not that restless about it all," Asuma pointed out.

Kakashi shrugged and planned on saying nothing else, but, on second thought, that wouldn't convince them to let him alone. So he just added, "Well, I just got used to not asking. What's the use in speculating? The truth and truth alone is known only by Obito. I guess we may find it out from him when this mess gets to an end." He regretted following Gai in this particular tent, where all the other men found it nice to gather, soon after. But he felt drained and sleepy and just wanted them to let him close an eye for an hour or so.

"But I don't get it, really. Why get things so far and letting Madara's plans bloom, and not destroy the Akatsuki from the inside from the very beginning?"

"He was not officially the leader. There was that Pein whom we heard strange stories about, with his Rinnegan and Sage powers, right? Not so easily to get past, I guess."

"But he did manage to make him change his mind just recenly, didn't he? What did he do now, that earlier was not possible?"

"But getting back to the Obito 'getting past' anyone, do you realize, we know nothing about his current level, actually? Like, all of this super undercover spy gives him an aura of power, but really... And it's been like... 8 years or so?"

"Kakashi, don't you know that much, at least?"

Kakashi, who was actually curious himself in this particular matter, did give this question some thought. He tried to recall every single time he witnessed Obito showing his current skills. And there was not much. When he was with him or Rin, or both, he was peaceful, calm, controlled, even secretive, of all he could remember.

But then he remembered: a different scene and a different Obito. Those two particular times. The horrifying mass of scattered bodies and pools of blood he had seen as soon as getting back to his senses, that day, when they were thirteen, and hearing that to be the work of 'the man in the orange mask'. And then there was the day Rin got stabbed. And he witnessed it himself, the fast moves, the merciless cuts and rips, the coldness and determination. Sure, Kakashi had been in ANBU. None of the last were strangers to him. He had killed mercilessly himself. He'd pushed Chidori through chests and stomachs without a second thought or further regret. But seeing it in someone else was different. Seeing it in a close friend was completely different. Seeing it in a person whom he'd seen to be the cheery, compassionate goof was just too different. And while Kakashi could be taken aback at times, he was certain that almost nothing would stop the current Obito once it got into him. And it was scary. And, without meaning to, he recalled the moment Obito had killed him. Sure, it had been 'for Kakashi's good' in Obito's mind. He did realize Obito had meant to bring him to life since that very moment. But, still, he could not unsee it, as it made now sense in his mind, replaying it: this moment, he decides to kill him, the next, the weapon is piercing Kakashi's heart. No twitch. Not a blink, that very moment. Not a single sign in his moves that anything in the world would have stopped it, once his mind had been settled.

"From what I've seen," Kakashi spoke up and everyone in the tent, not having expected for him to answer anything concrete this time either, suddenly fell silent, "he is at least the Yondaime's level."

Whatever the discussion may have led to, from his secure, bold statement, Kakashi had no idea. In the interval of seconds of silence that followed, as he lied there, his eyelids heavy over his orbs, he fell into a deep sleep. He had a weird, silly dream of chasing something like a shadow, that also reminded him of gelatine, somehow. He had no idea why he was running after the gelatine shadow, but knew that, the moment he caught up with it, the realization would come.

However, he didn't.

He walked in and had a look around. He knew they had a damn lot to speak. And he didn't care and didn't want to hear. The only way to prevent useless speech was for him to speak first, and to speak on point. But all he could think of were Rin's words. Why would she say all that to him, all of a sudden? Why now? Why at all? Finally tired of all the drama he put her through? ... and still she made it worse by reminding and reassuring him, at both end and beginning, she loved him. Just when he was talking to her stupid things like-

And right then, it dawned on him: the reason why she said all that. About love. About how it really worked. It can't end once it's started. You may get hurt. You may feel anger. You may feel betrayed. Abandoned. Spiteful. You may have all the reasons to leave it behind. You may want to stop carrying. But you don't. You never do. You can't simply give up on what you love, even if you try to.

He realized he'd been carrying the tea mug with him all along. The contents were still warm, as the still rising whitish steam advertised for it, in the colder air of the tent. Feeling his throat dry and rough, he took a big gulp of the warm, sweet liquid. It was as much of use as oil on rusty steel, smoothing and warming up his insides, down to his stomach, where it landed caressingly, like a calm sea wave. And, right that moment, he knew exactly what to say. And what to do.

"Whatever we do, it won't take Madara by surprise. He's may not be wise. His intelligence is fixed on - and limited to - the same, constant thoughts he's dwelt on all of his life. But his ability and skill do mirror the many years he used to develop them - and that's all he did throughout his life."

He place down the mug, feeling the heating spreading inside of him, so that he no longer felt dependent on the one of the tea, courtesy of the fantastic work of the heart, probably, boiling blood and boiling all of him.

"The juubi are going to be ready for use in just less than three more days - that's how much of an insurance I could take when I left that place in a hurry. So, the only way we can deal with this, for all I know..."

He talked continously, not giving them a single chance to interupt. When the Raikage or the Tsuchikage made a move that seemed like a want for intervention, he only talked louder and clearer, clearly enraging some people. But he didn't care. And, as he went on, the moments of intervention became rarer and rarer.

Kushina was rather subtle, something that was not quite her type, but this was not any kind of situation, either. Still, Gaara knew better than to let it pass unnoticed. He knew that the red-headed woman had been watching him closely for quite a while now. There was something of concern in her periodically thrown glances. And Gaara was grateful she was that kind. Hidden concern was the most trusting reaction a living parent could ever react with when he was seen anywhere near their children. And, to be truthful, he never had that nice kind of reaction directed to him.

"Naruto, not all children have as much energy as you," she came after them.

"But, Kaasan...," Naruto wailed.

"Don't but me, young man. It's past six and none of you had dinner yet," she replied, annoyed, her hair, once again, giving the impression that it was one big flame. And then she turned to Gaara, with a very much kinder expression, "Aren't you hungry, Gaara?" Gaara had been a bit startled before, but relieved and also confused when Kushina didn't shout at him, too. The sand rose a bit around his feet and then fell flat on the ground - and that was the furthest the cursed sand had gotten that entire day.

"S-sure, Kushina-sama," he said in a low voice and averted her gaze, red blush spreading fast across his very pale skin. But Kushina acted as if the little sand incident passed unnoticed, which was very unlikely, thinking they were all sitting down on the ground, legs crossed. They'd been manufacturing two very nice kites for the last couple of hours and even though Gaara was just as disappointed as Naruto that they wouldn't get to use them that day, he didn't dare be disrespectful in any way to the nice lady. He wondered if his mother would have been just as lovely. As loving. If he hadn't been a monster. If hadn't killed her.

"Go wash your hands, you two," she said afterwards, and they left obediently. She remained there for a couple more minutes, distracted.

She didn't receive any news in a long while. That Minato! He sent her on that damn island, to 'be safe' and couldn't at least let her know, once in a while, if he were alive, at least. And, aside from that, she grew more annoyed every hour with the Fourth Kazekage. Because there was something in that poor little boy's attitude and reactions that she totally disliked, and not for his fault, no. The boy was very polite. Too polite, really. Too restrained. What kind of restrictive regime was the little child being kept in? Ah, but she will insist on having a little chat with the man and she'll tell him some, tebane!

Well, she breathed in, a little bit calmer. She'd send someone the other guy, too. For some reason, he was spending a lot of time around a waterfall of some sorts - there was a limit to the nice baths one can take. Not that she was upset about his absense. She was already annoyed by too many things to also have to deal with his bad quality rap. At least, whatever he was doing there, he was doing it quietly.

A/N: Wow, I finally come around to post something. Summer work. Summer work would be my top excuse.