"You knew?"
"More or less. I knew something was going on between you two," Orochomaru said with a shrug. He noticed how Tsunade listened to Akane, how much attention she paid to him and his actions, and above all, she didn't hesitate to pull him into the mission, even after knowing that Teacher and Danzo would be displeased by it.
'After all, this mission itself was absurd from the start, but to make sure that Akane wouldn't have to suffer in future, she decided to accept the mission and complete two missions back-to-back.'
"But I was not expecting you to admit it so easily. Or, I should say that this was the best time to admit it and tell me." Orochimaru spoke with a laugh.
"At least something good happened, Tsunade. You decided to use your brain instead of brawls."
Orochimaru didn't forget to snide a remark in the happy moment, and Tsunade, who was smiling, froze. Her eyes twitched at his remark.
Looking at their interaction, Akane, who had been silent from the start, couldn't hold his laughter.
"Haha! Hahaha! This never gets old," he said in the middle of his laughter. Orochimaru, who was smiling and Tsunade, who was glaring, both looked at him.
They also started to laugh, and the heavy atmosphere in the cave had disappeared. Instead, the cave was filled with the sound of laughter.
While laughing, Orochimaru thought of the last time he laughed this freely, and a certain white-haired man appeared in his mind.
"What about Jiraiya? I am sure he doesn't know this, right?"
Tsunade, who was laughing freely, calmed herself, and a moment later, she responded, "Him? He will know when it is time. Till then,"
"Till then?"
When Orochimaru heard Tsunade's next words. His body froze. His eyes widened, and shock would be an understatement of what Orochimaru felt when Tsunade said, "He will be Kushina's fiancé."
Akane looked at Orochimaru's reaction, and he knew how lucky he was to have a polygamous relationship with Tsunade.
"Tsunade, you."
Tsunade nodded as she looked at Orochimaru's shocked face, and from the corner of her eye, she saw a proud look appear on Akane's face. She pinched his cheek to remove the proud face and murmured, "I wish I were alone, but that isn't possible. Besides,"
"Besides?" Orochimaru, who thought that Tsunade was going to tell an even crazier thing, repeated her word, but Tsunade shook her head and said, "It's nothing. You will know later."
Hearing her and looking at her expression, Orochimaru understood that something even crazier than Tsunade Senju being in a polygamous relationship was there, but he would only know it later.
"Akane-kun, just who are you? You aren't some sort of secret child or anything, right?" Orochimaru asked Akane as he thought of the guy, who did the craziest thing in Konoha no one would ever have expected to do, and now he was even more curious about Akane's identity.
"Haha, no. I am just a normal guy, who first impressed them, then impressed grandma, who accepted this." Akane said with a laugh, and Orochimaru gave him a side-eye at his words.
"Yeah, right. A normal guy," He murmured while shaking his head, and Akane just smiled in response and didn't say anything.
"Orochimaru, you do know that all this is secret, right?" Tsunade spoke as she remembered something, and Orochimaru nodded in response. He knew what to say and what not to when he would meet their teacher in Konoha, and he had already decided what he would say and what he would hide.
Seeing Orochimaru nodding, Tsunade sighed in relief, and she leaned on the cave wall. Seeing this, Akane pulled Tsunade and had her lie on his lap, and Tsunade grinned as she put his head on her lap.
"Hehe~!" She chuckled as she closed her eyes. Looking at the two people, who now didn't care about his opinion, Orochimaru stared at them for a moment before closing his eyes.
'Does being in a relationship benefit?' He thought in his mind, but after thinking for a while, no benefit came in his mind, nor any chance of finding someone who would benefit him.
"Though the fight is only postponed. I still want to know Akane-kun's limits and what all things he can do."
Tsunade, who had her eyes closed, opened her mouth and said, "Yeah, yeah, you can fight him later. But since when did you have an interest in men, Orochimaru? Why do you want to see what all things he can do?"
As Tsunade ended her words, pin-drop silence appeared in the cave. Akane opened his eyes to look at Tsunade, who had a chill look on her face with her eyes closed, and he tried his best to hold his laughter.
As for Orochimaru, he opened his eyes, glanced at Tsunade for a second and then closed his eyes again. A moment later, he responded, "Maybe because I have been surrounded by men for most of the time in my life. I don't know what women do and provide, so I started to gain interest in men."
Even with all of Tsunade's thoughts, she wasn't expecting this kind of reply from Orochimaru. Or maybe it was an Orochimaru-style reply, and she had no choice but to open her eyes and look at Orochimaru, who seemed to be resting comfortably.
Akane, who had been trying to hold back his laughter from Tsunade's words, couldn't hold back anymore after Orochimaru's reply.
"Hahaha! Hahahaha!"
With Akane laughing wildly, without any care, Orochimaru had no choice but to open his eyes, and his gaze met with Tsunade's, who stared back at him.
Both of them stared at each other for a moment, and Orochimaru commented, "He is interesting, isn't he?"
"Back off, he is mine," Tsunade responded with a snort, and Orochimaru chuckled at her words. With a sly smile on his face, he said, "3 is better than 2, isn't it?"
"Fuck off," Tsunade spoke with a look of disgust in her eyes, though there were already three people and maybe even more, depending on how the future would go and if required.
"Fuck No!" Akane, who heard the words, responded instantly. Orochimaru wasn't wrong to say that three is better than two, but that is only when women are considered. He had no interest in men, and with such sweet darlings around him, he didn't think he would develop an interest in men, ever.
Looking at the little couple who got uncomfortable by his little joke, Orochimaru chuckled and, closing his eyes, he said, "I win, haha~!"
Akane and Tsunade rolled their eyes at Orochimaru's words. Shaking their head, they also closed their eyes and decided to rest. The atmosphere in the cave had already warmed, and now it was time for them to rest because they still had quite a long distance left to travel and finish another mission. After which, they would be finally free.