Uchiha Shinichi's head was still buried in Tsunade's faintly fragrant blond hair.
The murderous declaration of "roast snake," squeezed out through clenched teeth, still seemed to echo through the bedroom.
He could feel the body against his shoulder, stiff just moments ago, now shaking in little spasms like a leaf in the autumn wind.
Not from fear.
From laughter.
She laughed without a shred of dignity, shaking all over, until not a trace of her authority as the Fifth Hokage remained.
"You... you idiot..."
Tsunade finally managed to recover from that fit of laughter, fierce enough to give her a stitch,
and find a little of her voice. She patted Shinichi's back, gasping for breath,
"I... I've never... seen Orochimaru... left... left speechless... by something like that..."
Shinichi slowly raised his head. Calling his expression thunderous no longer did it justice.
It was the deep, frozen... void of space, capable of swallowing every last ray of light.
Ignoring his wife, who was still snickering, he turned and walked with steps so heavy he might have been marching off to the Fourth Shinobi World War,
one step at a time, toward the shoji door with the little hole poked through it.
He did not slide it open.
Nor did he speak.
He simply stood there in silence, like a door guardian-a door guardian radiating an ominous aura.
Outside, there was deathly silence.
That sinister presence belonging to Orochimaru had not disappeared. If anything... it had grown more focused.
Like a student overflowing with curiosity, holding his breath as he waited for his teacher to announce the next, even more profound research topic.
"...Based on an analysis of the subtle changes in heart rate and chakra flow,"
that damned whisper, lowered to the faintest murmur, drifted eerily inside once again,
"Shinichi's current