"Rei, what about my request?" Tsunade suddenly asked, causing every conversation in the room to stop and look at Rei... making him feel quite uncomfortable.
Now, how was he supposed to tell her he had forgotten about it?
An awkward silence spread throughout the room and several people raised their eyebrows after a moment, but Rei was too preoccupied trying to figure out a way out...
Suddenly, Rei visibly brightened up, opening his mouth and many people in the room, even the losers who lost their villages, were extremely curious about what he would say, only to deadpan when he self-righteously and cheerfully exclaimed, "I had forgotten!"
Tobirama instantly looked at Hashirama who sheepishly chuckled, knowing that when dealing with an Uzumaki woman you should never be so cheerful about these things! They both were expecting the poor guy to get the beatdown of the century but...
Rei approached Tsunade who had a sullen look and gently caressed her cheek while gently asking as he put his forehead on hers, "Will you forgive me?"
Tsunade meekly nodded, smiling shyly at Rei. "That's a dirty trick and you know it." She whispered, embarrassedly pouting a bit as she felt the pulse of soothing chakra enter her system through Rei's hand on her cheek.
Rei cheekily grinned, "But you love every second of it." He pecked her lips, making her quietly hum in appreciation as their hands joined and they stared into each other's eyes with a lovey-dovey atmosphere spreading around them.
Needless to say, both Tobirama and Hashirama's jaws dropped to the floor in disbelief.
"Tobirama... are you seeing the same thing as me?" Hashirama asked, rubbing his eyes.
Maybe something in the Edo Tensei technique made him hallucinate?
"Possibly." Tobirama shortly nodded but didn't confirm anything.
Who knew if Orochimaru didn't mess something up and made them hallucinate?
"Should we ask for tutelage?" Hashirama unsurely glanced at Tobirama.
"Definitely." Tobirama once again nodded.
Umu... in hindsight, who cared if this was a hallucination? He wanted to learn that!
"But we are already dead." Hashirama sheepishly reminded Tobirama.
Would they even need such a skill in the afterlife? He wouldn't know. He couldn't remember anything after his death, after all.
Tobirama turned towards Hashirama with a serious expression adorning his face, "If there is even a minuscule chance of meeting Mito in the afterlife, I'd rather know this technique when explaining how our clan perished." He glanced at Sarutobi.
Hiruzen noticed it, and worse yet, he heard the last bits of their talk and he drastically paled, going from angry purple-black to Orochimaru-approved skin complexion in seconds.
Suddenly, even he started to rapidly gain interest in this technique.
It took a few moments of poking and weakly shoving each other as they exchanged meaningful looks but Hashirama eventually lost in their brotherly exchange and stepped forward, sheepishly walking towards the lovey-dovey couple.
"Uhm." He weakly tried but instantly stopped as he saw Tsunade glaring at him from the corner of her eyes.
"One more word grandfather and I will make sure you will need a second funeral." She slightly turned her head towards him and half-growled.
'But I didn't say anything yet?' Hashirama sweatdropped but... "Yes, dear." He answered on instinct, trained from decades of marriage with Mito.
Turning back, Hashirama walked back to Tobirama and mournfully said, "Apparently, there is no trick. Just pure love." He apologetically smiled.
"..." Tobirama silently deadpanned at him before flatly saying. "I heard her."
"Mhm." Hashirama firmly nodded, no shame visible on his face as if he wasn't just caught in a white lie. "Your turn, then."
"She is your granddaughter!" Tobirama urged, trying to wordlessly persuade Hashirama that she will listen to him the most.
"She is your grandniece!" Hashirama disagreed and stubbornly stared back at his brother.
"And she can hear you!" Tsunade exclaimed, making them stiffly straighten their backs at her tone while inwardly cursing that she inherited Mito's trademark annoyed voice.
Rei was extremely amused by the shenanigans of his in-laws and Tsunade but as a man, he decided to earn himself a few brownie points from his already deceased extended family and cupped Tsunade's cheek, gently turning her face back towards him.
Her seething look slowly and reluctantly turned into a slightly embarrassed pout as Rei in silence admired her beautiful eyes for a moment.
Only when he saw she was in a good enough mood to listen, he spoke again, "Since I forgot about the promise, how about I make it right?" He coaxingly asked.
To be honest, the promise was nothing hard. He could have fulfilled it on the spot right now. Hell, he could have volunteered himself and it would have been just a slight inconvenience.
But it was a matter of principle. He forgot a promise and that would usually make every woman angry.
"What do you have in mind?" Tsunade mumbled.
Pakura, Ringo, Mei, and Konan almost rolled their eyes at their byplay. This was an old scene for them. Only Rei could instantly tame Tsunade's erupting temper. The blonde woman loved him too much to stay angry and he definitely took advantage of that at times to calm her down.
Still... They loved him because of how fair and caring he tried to be to all of them.
For the other people in the room, this was totally new.
Temari had a hard time believing how jealous she was feeling, trying not to glare at Tsunade's back. She stopped only when Pakura put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head in exasperation, knowing the girl will eventually get used to this the more of these sweet moments she will have with Rei.
Onoki and A averted their gazes, disturbed by the sight of the old woman flirting with someone as 'young' as Rei.
Sarutobi, however, gaped. He taught Tsunade throughout her entire youth and he had always tried to help her find a respectable young man from Konoha that would understand the Will of Fire. Tsunade had never reacted. Not once did she show interest in anyone so seeing her so lovey-dovey with this foreigner... Sarutobi almost had a heart attack.
Unlike his brother A, Killer Bee was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the happenings from behind his notebook that was covering half of his face while he was scribbling into it alongside mumbling and occasionally giggling to himself. He was on the verge of making a new hit. He could feel it!
Kurotsuchi, Mabui, and Samui all blushed but couldn't help throwing glances at the couple. While Mabui was open about her interest, Kurotsuchi and Samui kept their cool and stubbornly refused to show open interest, unlike Mabui who was quietly ah'ing and oh'ing to herself.
It was then that Rei gestured with his head towards Samui, "Why not try out the prowess of Ringo's new apprentice and do your little experiment at the same time?" He nonchalantly said.
Samui's mind froze when she heard him, making her eyes snap completely towards them as unease filled them.
Experiment?
Nope, nope, nope. Not cool! Not interested!
Not when it is something for these bat-shit crazy people!
Alas...
"If she does good, we might even give Kumogakure to her to govern." Rei said to Tsunade as if Samui was not there, and grinned in satisfaction when from the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Samui suddenly seemed much less reluctant after his last admission.
Oh, she still seemed unwilling but her cold eyes gained a pondering gleam.
Rei turned towards the second busty blonde in the room and asked, "What do you say?"
Samui was at loss about what to say. Her usually cool expression wavered as she glanced at A, before looking down at her own hands and tightly clutching them.
What did she really desire? She had never asked this herself. She mostly wanted to survive but now that she was offered more... Did she dare to go for it?
She raised her eyes back towards Rei, "I..."