In the days that followed, Yanbai stayed home with the children.
Orochimaru brought Tsunade back to visit Yanbai once.
On the surface, Orochimaru's explanation was that Tsunade had buried herself in hospital work ever since graduating. She was not close to the other members of the Senju Clan, and he was too busy with work to keep her company, so he had made a special trip to bring her back to see Yanbai.
Tsunade was extremely tense. She could not understand why facing Yanbai made her feel so unnerved.
To give Tsunade and Yanbai some time alone, Orochimaru used visiting his two younger brothers as an excuse. He took the opportunity to secretly hand the "Strongman's Cells" he had stolen from right under Tobirama Senju's nose to Cherry Ink, who was looking after the two children.
During this exchange, Orochimaru also strongly hinted that Tobirama Senju had hidden clones or spies inside the Princess Mausoleum.
After years of working together, Orochimaru did not need to tell Cherry Ink directly. All he had to do was pretend not to understand the "Thai" Cherry Ink rattled off. He even asked outright, "What are you saying? What language is that?"
Sensing that Orochimaru understood but was pretending otherwise, Cherry Ink immediately caught on.
After confirming this important information, Cherry Ink found an excuse to have Orochimaru help watch Muye and Silver Moon, then hurried back to the underground kingdom and slipped into the secret laboratory to finish the gene synthesis experiment as quickly as possible.
While Orochimaru and Cherry Ink were in contact...
In the living room, Yanbai brewed fragrant black tea for Tsunade.
Tsunade had wanted to dress casually as usual that day, but Orochimaru had insisted on digging out the clothes he had bought her before and making her wear them.