A/N: I have updated the last chapter, and by 'updated' I mean 'finished.' The entire burst of inspiration that sourced that chapter has been captured. Woohoo! Last chapter's action is unrelated to the content of this chapter, so feel free to go back and read it before reading this one, afterward, whatever you want to do. It might actually be more fun if you read it after reading this chapter, heeheehee.

Everything is all good now. Enjoy.

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Itachi

Several hours later, Ruta and most of the Akatsuki reconvened in the sunroom. Itachi raised a hand. Deidara was about to speak, but he saw Itachi's raised hand and shut up. Everybody gave him their full attention. Itachi cleared his throat. "I have been asking myself one question throughout our break. That question is this: what do we need to know? So far, we have been discussing anything and everything, regardless of its relevance. What do we actually need to know? We are putting together this document for the benefit of the dolls, are we not? What, then, will help us care for them more effectively?'

Clone Yahiko raised a hand. "What about morality?"

Ruta frowned. "Morality? I don't think I have a section for that. I mean, we're talking about a natural phenomenon."

"Yeah, but different kinds of magic lend themself to different uses. Like you said earlier, about darkness magic being especially suited to a parasitic lifestyle and fire and earth magic being good for use in battle."

"How is that relevant to the dolls?" Sasori asked.

"They need strong senses of morality," Clone Yahiko explained. "So it might help to train them using forms of magic that are good in peacetime."

"Ooh, I can make a section for that," Ruta said, typing. "Categories of use: battle, daily life, commercial…"

Kisame raised a hand. "I was most interested in learning if there were any limits to their abilities and if so what are they. So far, there doesn't seem to be a limit on their powers. Is there anything we haven't covered that might possibly qualify?"

"What about impacts on sanity? Behavior?" Clone Yahiko asked.

Sasori tilted his head. "Why are you so interested in behavioral issues? Did something happen in the past few hours to make you think they're at risk?"

Everyone looked at Yahiko. Itachi activated his Sharingan. What he saw reassured him. He looks more reflective than scared. There is no immediate risk. But what is he reflecting on? How grateful he is that they have not developed behavioral problems? What we have done or not done to bring about that fortunate circumstance? How to turn our accidental success into something that can be taught to others and/or copied in the future? I would like to know that myself.

"Actually, I've always been interested in their behavior," Yahiko said. "I just didn't realize that I was."

"Why?" Clone Nagato asked. "And what made you realize it?"

"Obito helped me figure it out. He helped me see that I've always been afraid that people would find out that the dolls were super powerful and try to manipulate them. Turn them into living weapons, or worse. I've been subconsciously encouraging them to run wild because as long as they're uncontrollable, nobody would dare try to use them. But they can't stay that way forever. Now that they're being trained, how else can I protect them?"

Itachi deactivated his Sharingan. He had more than enough to think about. "Hmm…"

Sasori caught Ruta's attention and told him, "Make another category or fold it into the one you're building right now. How easy is it for someone else to make you use any given type of magic?" Ruta nodded.

Clone Nagato raised his hand. "It seems like we have enough to work on for the moment. Let's get started."

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Categories of Use

Battle: Fire, Earth, Ice, Energy and Darkness magic are well-suited to active battle. Light is well-suited to healing and battling undead. Fire, Darkness and Light users are vulnerable to manipulation via their anger, desire for personal comfort and savior complexes, respectively. If they are not careful, they can easily be turned into soldiers.

Practical: Ice, Water, Energy, and generalist magic are well-suited for minor practical uses: cleaning, powering appliances, weeding, levitating books off a shelf, etc. Energy mages are vulnerable to being drafted as living batteries.

Commercial: Earth, Water, and Energy magic are well-suited for commercial uses: mining, powering machines, fishing, etc. Earth mages are vulnerable to the temptation to make a fortune via buried treasure.

Esoteric: The Bacon element is useful for summoning food. Material-molding mages can create and control puppets, robots and other artificial creations. Summoners can summon animals and elementals to do their bidding. These parties have no special vulnerabilities, as far as we can tell.

.

"Looks like Yahiko was right," Kisame said. "Their number one risk is being turned into soldiers."

Itachi looked over Ruta's shoulder. "They do not use either Darkness or Light and do not possess either of the associated weaknesses, so their only vulnerability is through the Fire element and its associated anger. They have no desire for wealth, so we do not need to fear their use of Earth magic. They primarily use Energy magic in the form of lightning bolts, so they are unlikely to be kidnapped for use as living batteries, unless the kidnapper can make use of unfiltered lightning."

Yahiko let out a great big sigh of relief. "Thank you, Ruta and Sasori. This breakdown takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. I see now that they're not any more vulnerable to manipulation than any other toddler, because we've raised them to be generalists."

"Hold on," Nagato murmured. He persuaded Itachi to move aside so that he could take a turn looking over Ruta's shoulder. "Which of these categories does making portals fall under?"

Ruta squinted. "Permanent portals like portal gates, or personal-use portals like in that video game where the protagonist lady uses a portal gun?"

"Personal use."

"I would classify that as practical because all it does is make travel more convenient for the user. Installing portal gates that anyone could use would be esoteric."

"In that case, the dolls exclusively use elemental and generalist magic. They have never used this 'Bacon' element, generated illusions, or summoned animals. The only form of esoteric magic that they have ever used is summoning elementals."

"I think that Infernals are exclusively shown using magic in battle," Yahiko said. "They have no need for practicality, money, or performing special services to society. They just do whatever they want."

Ruta pointed at the ceiling. "Are these 'Infernals' especially vulnerable to manipulation, would you say?"

"Well, if you hypothetically had the power to stay alive long enough to make them listen to you, or the charm to win them over, then they might be. They like power and domination. They're probably vulnerable the same way Fire users are."

"With a name like 'Infernal,' yeah, duh," Deidara said.

Ruta pointed at the ceiling again. "But the dolls do not have that vulnerability, and coincidentally they have been trained to distribute their magic across a wide variety of uses. They might be based off of an Infernal character, but because of the way they've been taught they do not have the weaknesses of such characters. It seems to me that they are, mentally and behaviorally speaking, much stronger than is normal for characters that use this system of magic."

Yahiko's eyes lit up. "Really?!"

"Excellent," Sasori said. "Different kinds of powers come with different inherent vulnerabilities, but those vulnerabilities can be neutralized all or most of the way through training. Now we know what we accidentally did right, and we can do it again if we ever need to." Itachi nodded in agreement.

"Wait a sec, though," Kisame interrupted. "We still haven't established what's going on. Yahiko says that these Infernals can use magic outside of battle, but don't want to. The dolls have demonstrated that their magic can be used for practical and commercial applications. But what about the esoteric category? Are they capable of using magic in those ways at all, or have we finally found something they can't do?"

Ruta turned his laptop so that Yahiko could read from it. Yahiko muttered aloud, "Bacon - no, the character they're based off of has never used that element. Puppets and robots - nope, he's never done that either. But he is good at summoning both animals and elementals: elementals at will, animals with some preparation and special ingredients required." Yahiko looked up. "But the only elementals he has ever summoned are elementals of the 8 traditional types. Now that I think of it, there's no indication whatsoever that he can use Fear, Bacon, Nature, or any of those elements."

"Ah, so they do have limitations!" Itachi exclaimed. "Increased powers, but reduced variety. A form of specialization, in other words - they specialize in the core, fundamental types of magic, but cannot perform rare and unusual magics."

"They can use rare and unusual tactics, though," Sasori interjected.

"Yes. Again, that is a case of training being utilized to shore up their inherent weaknesses."

Yahiko giggled. "In other words, we accidentally did everything right when raising these guys?"

Deidara said, "Sounds like it, yeah!" Nobody could disagree. Considering what they were and what they could do, the dolls had surpassed the most optimistic of expectations. They were born as ideal soldiers, but had avoided all the pitfalls and become good little boys instead.

"I'm not sure if Soye would agree with our definition of 'right…'" Nagato murmured.

Yahiko shrugged. "Obito will tell us what she thinks when he gets back."

The celebratory mood in the room instantly deflated. Itachi activated his Sharingan again and looked around. Most of the faces in the room were frozen in expressions of horror. Kisame's was the most obvious. "Hold up. Did you just say that he's meeting with vampires as we speak?"

"Uh, yeah…"

Nagato nudged Ruta's elbow. "Thanks for your help, Ruta. Share that new document with us. Um, it seems like right now we have more important business to attend to."

"Like what?" Ruta asked while closing his laptop.

"Like arranging a rescue expedition," Kisame muttered.

Yahiko held his hands up. "Wait a second! He just took the dolls to their daily lesson. The demon boy is always present at those. The demon boy agreed to vouch for him."

Sasori sighed dramatically. "I suspected that something troublesome was happening with the vampires. Someone had to take the dolls to their lesson, and there are only four people whose whereabouts we don't know: Obito, Clone Hidan, Original Hidan and Zetsu. Unless Zetsu took them, which I didn't think was likely, someone had to be violating the vampire's territorial preferences."

"Why the fuck didn't you point that out?" Kisame asked.

Sasori turned to Itachi. "Because Itachi is the most connected person of those present. I've been watching him since we gathered. He doesn't seem worried, so I'm not."

Now all eyes turned to Itachi. He blushed and asked, "Why is it assumed that I would know if anything dangerous was occurring in vampire territory?"

"You're consulted on all politically significant decisions, aren't you?" Sasori asked.

"Um…" Yahiko rubbed the back of his head. "No, he wasn't. Obito and I sorta acted on impulse. We didn't, um, tell anyone."

"Meeting adjourned," Nagato announced. "We need to tell Kakuzu and Clone Hidan about this and figure out what to do, stat."

Everyone started getting to their feet. "The dolls wouldn't allow him to be harmed, would they?" Sasori asked.

Yahiko winced. "They're not trained to be fighters or guards. They're just little kids."

Kisame sighed. "You can do everything right, and still not achieve perfection. Oh well. We'll have to handle it ourselves. Dei, how's your owl?"

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A/N: Whew! I managed to fulfill the promise I made 2 chapters ago: that all that infodumping would prove to be good for something. Huzzah for inspiration!

My new technique for reducing writing-related strain is working well, btw. I might explain what it is next week or the week after. ^_^