Ah, it didn't sound like 'Gaara-kun' meant his words any more deeply than skin-deep. Or, if Minato remembered correctly, sand-shell-deep, which sand shell was on Kushina rather than its rightful owner. It made sense, of course, that the boy would be tense.

Knowing that Kushina's ... soul? mind? was in Gaara's body made it easier to read the expressions on a face that had always been rather flat. There was a smile that was familiar, even with the pale dark-rimmed eyes. And there was genuine surprise in her tone when she retrieved the small piece of pottery, and though it was far from an ironclad evidence, they wouldn't get anywhere with continued suspicion out in the open like this. Minato dropped his arm from his wife's body and stepped away, smiling at Gaara-in-Kushina now.

"I understand, Gaara-kun," he said, in what he hoped was a placating tone. "You'll forgive me if I wanted some certainty. Now, shall we talk about how this happened?"