Never Forget

Planning

'Oh, shut up. You know the situation. What would you do?'

Itachi didn't even hesitate. 'I would lie. You can't let them focus too much on me.'

I understood what he meant. If I told them the truth, they would surely want to save Itachi from Sasuke – which was exactly what Itachi didn't want. I would have to choose my words carefully.

'Okay, folks,' I said to the other chat, 'I'm back. Sorry that took so long – my confidant and I had a very... elaborate discussion.'

'That doesn't sound good,' said Gaara.

'It really wasn't. So, should I hit you with the backstory or the news first?'

'The news,' said Tsunade and the Tsuchikage in unison.

'Well, Tobi – the masked man – is actually Madara Uchiha.'

There was a split second of silence. I watched Kakashi's eyes grow wide.

It burst into chaos inside my head as everyone started yelling at once. Kakashi turned to stare at me. I met his eyes grimly. He reached for my hand.

'It's very noisy in here,' said Itachi, pointing out the obvious as usual. 'Shouldn't you stop them?'

'They're in shock, just like I was. Just let them be for a moment longer.'

They were yelling things like "Madara's supposed to be dead!" and "he died long ago!" and "how do you know this anyway?" My mind worked itself into a frenzy, trying to think up the best possible way to get out of this situation.

'Okay, everyone – I know that was a shock. It was a shock to me too, a few minutes ago, but let's regroup and discuss this as calmly as possible.'

'Y-Yes, I agree,' said Tsunade, her mind link wavering a little from her intense emotions.

'Agreed.'

'Thirded.'

'So I know you're all wondering how I know this – or, rather, how my confidant knows. As you all probably know by now, my confidant is someone posing as our enemy, which is how he gets the inside scoop on everything that's happening. It's the same in this situation; he's met Tobi – Madara – several times.'

'He's part of the Akatsuki, correct?' asked the Tsuchikage.

'Madara? Or my confidant?'

'Your confidant. We know Madara is Tobi.'

I hesitated. Itachi said to me, 'Tell them I'm an independent.'

'No. He's an independent rogue who's had many run-ins with the Akatsuki and Orochimaru, who used to be a part of the group.'

'I see.'

'What should we do about this issue, though? We've been slowly preparing for war for many years, but even so...'

'Remember the big meeting of the five lords? We need to make sure that alliance goes through.'

'Should we contact the Raikage right now?' asked the Tsuchikage. 'We are on adequate terms with them, I believe.'

'It might be better to wait for the disciplined meeting,' I said. 'That way, they can't accuse us of trying to pull anything on them. We'll all be in the same place at the same time, staring each other in the eyes.'