Naruto: Marrying Tsunade

Chapter 9 - Take Care of Your Girlfriend

The moment Aokiji stepped out of the bathroom, a voice called out to him from outside.

He ran a towel through his damp hair and, still dressed in casual indoor wear, walked over to open the door.

Standing in front of him was a familiar figure—a young girl with golden blonde hair, clad in a beige dress that complemented her fair complexion. A faint, fresh scent of soap lingered around her, carried on the cool evening breeze.

Aokiji blinked in mild surprise before asking, "What are you doing at my house?"

Tsunade crossed her arms and shot him a pointed look. "Didn't you say you'd treat me to a meal to thank me for helping you catch that fish?"

Oh. Right.

Aokiji had almost forgotten. After the two of them had worked together to catch the fish earlier, he had mentioned wanting to cook something special as a reward for Tsunade. That promise had led to this moment.

He studied her curiously and asked, "How did you even know where I live?"

Tsunade shrugged as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Just ask around, and you'll find out."

Aokiji sighed, realizing he should have expected that. The village wasn't that big, and word traveled fast, especially when it came to someone as well-known as him.

Tsunade shifted her weight slightly and looked at him expectantly. "I've been standing here long enough. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

It was the first time she had ever entered a boy's house, and she was oddly curious about what it would look like. However, the moment she stepped inside, her interest quickly turned into disappointment.

She wrinkled her nose at the sight before her. Clothes were scattered haphazardly across the floor, books and scrolls were stacked in uneven piles, and an assortment of tools and objects were strewn about. The entire place looked like a battlefield where tidiness had long been defeated.

Tsunade frowned slightly. "Your room is an absolute mess."

Aokiji scratched his cheek sheepishly. "That's just how boys' rooms are. Besides, no matter how luxurious a golden or silver nest is, nothing beats your own doghouse."

Tsunade gave him a flat look. "What kind of weird metaphor is that?"

Then, something else occurred to her. "Won't your family scold you for keeping your place like this?"

Aokiji was silent for a moment before replying, "It's fine. I live alone."

Though his words were simple, there was an unspoken weight behind them.

Tsunade's gaze unconsciously drifted to a small wooden frame on his bedside table. In the photograph, a relatively old woman stood beside a young boy, smiling warmly. The resemblance between the child and Aokiji was undeniable.

She didn't ask, but the meaning of his words became clear to her. She hesitated for a moment before saying softly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

Aokiji cut her off before she could finish. "Hey, don't make that face. It makes me uncomfortable." His lips curled into a teasing grin. "I much prefer your usual bossy attitude, you know."

The smirk on his face was so infuriating that Tsunade immediately swung her fist at him.

"You deserve a beating."

However, despite her annoyance, there wasn't much force behind the punch.

Aokiji easily sidestepped and chuckled. "If you keep hitting people like this, you'll never get married."

Tsunade scoffed. "Not like I'm marrying you anyway."

Aokiji raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fair enough. Anyway, let's drop the topic. I need to start cooking."

He made his way toward the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves as he went. "You're in for a treat. I'll let you experience my incredible cooking skills firsthand."

As he began preparing the ingredients, he thought to himself: If you want to capture someone's heart, you first have to capture their taste buds.

Not that he had any immediate plans of winning Tsunade over, but there was no harm in making a good impression.

He poured rice into a container, rinsed it thoroughly, and added water before covering it and setting it to steam. Then, he turned his attention to the fish. With precise movements, he sliced the fish meat into thin pieces, rinsed them several times to remove any residual blood, and placed them into a large bowl.

He added starch, egg white, salt, chicken essence, cooking wine, and a generous pinch of pepper powder, mixing everything carefully to marinate the fish.

Tsunade, who had been watching the entire process, rested her chin on her hand and said in mild surprise, "I didn't expect you to be this good at cooking. What exactly are you making?"

"Sour fish," Aokiji replied with confidence. "It's a special dish I came up with myself. Once you taste it, you'll be begging for more."

Tsunade gave him a doubtful look. "That sounds like a load of nonsense."

"You'll see."

The fish needed to marinate for at least ten minutes, so Aokiji decided to go to the market to buy a few extra seasonings. Tsunade, having nothing better to do, tagged along.

The two walked side by side through the village, chatting idly.

"Huh? Isn't this Aokiji and Tsunade?"

A familiar voice called out from behind them.

Aokiji and Tsunade turned around to see two figures approaching—one with wild white hair and a mischievous grin, the other with sleek black hair and a calm, composed demeanor.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "I never thought I'd see the two of you hanging out together."

Jiraiya smirked and folded his arms. "I should be the one saying that. Aokiji, Tsunade, you two walking around together like this..."

Jiraiya's sharp eyes darted between the two, his expression shifting as if he had stumbled upon some great revelation. A mischievous smirk crept onto his lips before he casually remarked, "Wait a minute... don't tell me—you two are dating?"

The words had barely left his mouth before a fist rocketed toward him with terrifying speed.

Jiraiya barely had time to react before the impact landed squarely in his stomach. His cocky grin vanished in an instant as the air was forced from his lungs. Doubled over, he fell to his knees, clutching his abdomen in agony.

"No one would think you're stupid if you just kept your mouth shut," Tsunade said coldly, shaking out her fist.

Still hunched over, Jiraiya groaned before grumbling under his breath, "Bitch..."

The temperature dropped.

"What did you just say?"

Tsunade's voice was dangerously low, her eyes narrowing into a glare that could make even the bravest warriors break into a cold sweat. Without hesitation, she grabbed Jiraiya by the collar and hoisted him off the ground with a single hand, her grip tightening with visible irritation.

Jiraiya's pupils shrank in terror.

"Aokiji, take care of your girlfriend!" he pleaded, his voice cracking slightly.

Aokiji, however, ignored his desperate appeal. Instead, he turned his attention to the dark-haired boy standing beside Jiraiya and asked, "Why are you two together?"

Orochimaru, who had been silently watching the spectacle unfold, sighed and shook his head. "We just happened to run into each other on the way. Then this idiot started pestering me for a shuriken-throwing contest."

Aokiji nodded in understanding. That sounded exactly like something Jiraiya would do.

"What about you?" Orochimaru asked, glancing between Aokiji and Tsunade.

"Oh, Tsunade helped me catch a big fish earlier. As a thank-you, I invited her over for a home-cooked meal. We were on our way to buy some ingredients for it."

Orochimaru hummed thoughtfully, his sharp eyes flicking toward Tsunade, who was still holding Jiraiya up by his collar.

Though he made no comment, a question lingered in his mind. Since when had these two gotten so close?

Jiraiya's joke might not have been entirely baseless.

Although Orochimaru was mildly curious, he quickly dismissed the thought. Unlike Jiraiya, he had no interest in such trivial matters.

Instead, something else came to mind. "Aokiji, are you free tomorrow? I've been contemplating some things recently and would like to discuss them with you."

The two had first met in the library. Initially, Orochimaru had little interest in interacting with Aokiji, dismissing him as just another unremarkable classmate.

But after a few brief conversations, he had been forced to reevaluate that assumption. Aokiji possessed an unconventional way of thinking that was both refreshing and thought-provoking. What started as casual exchanges quickly evolved into regular discussions, and before long, the two had developed a strange but mutual understanding.

"Sure, I'm free," Aokiji agreed without hesitation.

Tsunade, having finally released Jiraiya, gave Aokiji a puzzled look. "Wait... you're actually close with Orochimaru?"

"It's nothing special," Aokiji replied casually. "We just discuss interesting topics from time to time."

"Like what?"

Aokiji smirked and intertwined his fingers, forming a rough circle with his hands. "For example, the world we live in might actually be shaped like this."

Tsunade blinked. "...Huh?"

Her mind struggled to process what he was saying. She understood each word individually, but when strung together like that, they made absolutely no sense to her.

Orochimaru, observing her reaction, let out a quiet chuckle. He remembered his own initial skepticism when Aokiji first proposed this idea. But as their discussion progressed, Aokiji had laid out a surprisingly logical argument, forcing him to reconsider.

"It's an interesting theory," Orochimaru admitted.

"You two seriously spend time talking about things like that?" Tsunade looked at them like they had grown an extra head.

"Not just that," Aokiji continued with a grin. "We also discuss things like... where humans originally came from."

Tsunade frowned. "What kind of question is that? Humans came from humans. What's there to discuss?"

"Not quite," Aokiji corrected her. "I mean before that. Before humans evolved into what they are now."

Hearing this, Orochimaru's interest visibly sharpened. "It's a fascinating subject. Evolution is a gradual process influenced by environment and time. If we apply that logic, it suggests that humans may have descended from an ancient species of ape."

Tsunade's expression went blank.

She had absolutely no idea why anyone would bother thinking about something like that.

Sensing her lack of enthusiasm, Orochimaru smirked faintly before falling silent. If their ideals did not align, there was no point in continuing the conversation.

As expected, the only person who could match his intellectual curiosity was Aokiji.

Aokiji, on the other hand, suddenly had a thought. "Hey, Orochimaru, have you eaten yet?"

"No," Orochimaru answered simply.

"Then why don't you join us? The fish is way too big for just Tsunade and me to finish. If we leave it out too long, it'll go bad."

Orochimaru didn't hesitate to accept the invitation. He had grown curious about Aokiji's cooking skills and saw no reason to refuse.

Since losing his parents, he had spent much of his life in self-imposed isolation, reluctant to form emotional connections for fear of experiencing loss again. For a time, he had closed himself off completely.

But then, Aokiji had appeared.

At first, Orochimaru had only found their conversations intellectually stimulating. But as time passed, he realized that Aokiji had somehow managed to crack open the walls he had built around himself. The shadows that had once consumed him now seemed a little less suffocating.

Without even realizing it, he smiled—a rare expression for him.

Aokiji noticed.

It seemed that, little by little, Orochimaru was stepping out of the darkness.

In the original timeline, Orochimaru had eventually become cold and indifferent to human life. Much of that had been influenced by external factors, but Aokiji couldn't help but wonder—if he could plant even a small seed of change now, could he prevent that future from unfolding?

As the three of them turned to leave, a desperate voice called after them.

"Hey! Hey! Did you all just forget about me?!"

Jiraiya, still groaning from his earlier beating, struggled to his feet and stumbled after them.

But none of them spared him a glance.

Tsunade, walking at Aokiji's side, scoffed. "Serves him right."

Jiraiya could only wail in despair.