Fifteen minutes later.
Inside the ice cream shop beside that dark alley.
The sweet scent of fresh fruit lingered in the air.
Uchiha Sumi sat across from Yanbai and Orochimaru, with a table between them.
Three bowls of ice cream mixed with fresh fruit sat on the table.
"So you're Orochimaru's adoptive mother? It's a pleasure to meet you." Uchiha Sumi dropped his aloof expression, revealing a rather goofy look. With a conflicted face, he asked, "So... should I call you Auntie...?"
As he said this, Uchiha Sumi couldn't help looking at Yanbai.
Looking at Yanbai's collagen-plump face and watching him eat his ice cream, Uchiha Sumi felt the corner of his eye twitch uncontrollably.
No, that felt far too awkward. I couldn't possibly say it.
No matter how I looked at this young girl, he seemed to be our age!
No, it wasn't just that he seemed to be our age.
Sitting beside Orochimaru, this woman didn't look like his mother at all. They looked like brother and sister.
Just as that thought surfaced in Uchiha Sumi's mind.
Yanbai finished the ice cream in his bowl.
After years of looking after Tsunade, Orochimaru had grown accustomed to it. He merely glanced at Yanbai before instinctively pushing his own untouched bowl of ice cream over to him.
Orochimaru had been explaining things to Uchiha Sumi earlier, and the ice cream had only been served afterward.
This happened often in the Dōjutsu World, too. Yanbai didn't mind, so when Orochimaru pushed the bowl over, he simply started eating.
Still a little concerned, Orochimaru murmured, "Eat slowly. Don't choke."
Watching this, Uchiha Sumi couldn't help making a face as though he couldn't bear to look.
Just as I thought...
*Orochimaru and his mother didn't merely fail to look like mother and son,