They had carried Kakashi outside and away from the main scene of his battle. According to Neji, Madara was gone, yet there was a moment of hesitation before they decided to let Rin look after Kakashi's wounds.
“Would it be inappropriate”, Sai wondered, while he watched Rin cut through bloodstained cloth in search for any injuries, “to ask, where his other ninken have gone?”

He was met with unison silence, that wasn't broken until Tenten, in the most optimistic voice, stated that they probably just went back to where they had come from.
“You know summons. They never stick around when things get too sticky.”
“Except for-”
But at this very moment Kakashi opened his eye.

“It didn't work”, he said after one (slightly disorientated) look around.
“Did it?”
Rin shook her head. She resisted the urge to take his hand. Instead she tugged her own hair.
“But you stopped him. For now”, she added with a smile.
Kakashi gave a faint nod and for a moment it seemed as if he would willingly comply to the suggestion to just go home now. But then he sniffed, once, twice, and before anyone could stop him, he was back on his feet and on his way inside the cave.

“Kakashi – don't!”, Rin called after him, but it was too late. She exchanged anxious looks with the others. It probably wasn't the best idea to let Kakashi back to the cave on his own; then again, they all agreed that he deserved to see what had happened without someone watching over his shoulder.

“Shouldn't we-”, Tenten began to speak, when some minutes had passed, but Rin shook her head.
“I mean, what if Madara comes back?”
“He won't”, Kakashi replied. He looked at the others from the the mouth of the cave, his arms crossed, his face (or what would have been visible of it anyway), obscured by shadows.
“How do you know?”, Neji replied, at the same time that Rin scrambled to her feet and – the question, if he was alright, burning on her lips – hurried over to Kakashi.

“Because I'm crossing back”, Kakashi answered matter-of-factly.
“But you said-”
“I don't care!”
It were not so much his words as it was his voice that made Rin stop cold.
“I kill him, or I'll die trying – either way, he won't have a host to return to”, Kakashi returned to his usual calm tone.
He waited for the others to protest, but either they were too baffled or they actually understood.

“Is there anything, we can do to help?”, Neji finally asked.
Kakashi nodded, slowly.
“Secure me”, he said and then, after a moment of thought, added:< br> “If you have the tiniest suspicion that Madara takes hold of me – kill me.”

That said, they set to work. They tied Kakashi to a nearby tree (he wouldn't let them finish, until he was rendered completely unable to move), and then stood around him in a half circle.
“I'm supposed to say something deep and meaningful now, am I?”, Kakashi broke the solemn silence.
“I think, melodramatic will do as well”, Sai answered truthfully after he had given it some thought.
“Right”, Kakashi smiled.
And then, without much of a warning, he opened his left eye – the Mangekyo Sharingan began to swirl, fast enough to make the pin-wheel shape blur – and the next moment he sank into the ropes that held him, unconscious.