"She will be saved now, and you plan on taking over, hahhh! If someone outside heard the word, they would speak of you as a lunatic."
"Hah, who cares about them? At least with me taking over, the normal citizens will live a better life." Akane said with a shrug. Unlike the Daimyo, who were primarily interested in their own lives and hoarding money, Akane didn't care about money.
Since he needed common people to get chakra for the husk of the ten-tails, he would have to spend money and make them healthy so that they would produce more chakra, and he would absorb more.
Tsunade agreed with Akane's words. She had seen the condition of slums around, and not just slums; in most parts, people were suppressed and exploited against their wishes.
Before, she couldn't do anything since she already had many things in her hands. Ninjas don't mix and take part in common people's lives, but now, Akane was trying to subvert the whole system, and Tsunade knew he would be successful because of the resources and assets he had.
Not just dream manipulation that lets him know almost all the secrets in the world; with the help of Zetsu, he can send and receive information from one place to another.
Just these two were enough to take control of a place without moving, and no one would know about it.
"As for the Third Hokage, you can just tell that it is a family struggle for power, nothing else."
"Hmm, Orochimaru has planned to scam funding from the daimyo, so Teacher wouldn't ask more."
"Ohh? So that's what he planned to do." Akane spoke as he heard Tsunade's words, and he understood what she meant when the Third Hokage wouldn't ask more about the mission.
"Anything else you want to tell?" Tsunade asked as she thought of the situation outside. Akane started to think, but nothing came to mind. He shook his head, and Tsunade nodded at him.
"Then, I will meet you outside." She said with a wink and then looked at Kaguya, who was beside them. Kaguya gave a hollow laugh as she understood what Tsunade meant, and looking at them, Akane didn't say anything.
He knew that if he spoke anything, instead of little banter between them, they would probably join together and start bantering with him.
Kaguya stared at Tsunade and Akane with no change in her expression, but the slight twitch in her eyes showed that she was annoyed, meaning Tsunade's words were effective.
When Tsunade noticed Akane keeping his smile like before instead of doing anything, she rolled his eyes and said, "Send me away. I will wake up outside."
Akane did as she asked, and Tsunade disappeared from the place. Only then did he sigh in relief, but the gaze on him made him understand it wasn't over.
"Do you remember the bet?"
Thinking of something to divert Kaguya's attention and loosen the atmosphere, Akane thought of the bet they had before.
"Yeah, what about it?" Kaguya asked without any change in her expression, but her tone was flat, showing her annoyance.
Akane didn't say anything and just stared at Kaguya. At first, Kaguya didn't understand what he meant, but when the bet condition came to her mind, her eyes widened, and her ears turned red.
Seeing her like this, Akane couldn't help but pinch her cheeks.
"How cute." Those words escaped his lips as Akane pinched her cheeks, and a blush appeared on Kaguya's face, with her ears turning redder.
"So?" Akane spoke while holding her cheeks, and Kaguya nodded with her eyes closed. A grin appeared on his face, and Akane changed the ratio of time from inside to outside to the fullest.
Kaguya's cheeks were still tinted pink when she felt the dreamspace changing, warm wind brushing past her hair, carrying the faint scent of Hinoki wood and sakura petals.
She opened her eyes slowly and looked at the changed scenery.
Mountains.
Steam.
Water.
They were no longer in the endless garden. Instead, they were standing beside a natural open-air onsen, carved into black stone and surrounded by blooming cherry trees. The sky above was a deep indigo, sprinkled with stars. A full moon reflected on the still water, rippling gently in the breeze.
It looked far too perfect to be a naturally occurring place.
Kaguya glanced at Akane, who was already untying his cloak, a satisfied grin on his face.
"You said whoever wins the bet gets to choose the next dream," he reminded her. "I choose this."
Kaguya folded her arms. "Even though I knew already, I am still going exactly.... what are you planning?"
"Relaxation," Akane answered innocently, and then tilted his head.
"Unless you want me to turn it into something else instead?"
Kaguya turned her head and walked past him, stepping onto the smooth stone edge of the bath. Then her clothes changed, and a white silk kimono materialised around her body, flowing like moonlight. Seeing the sight, Akane almost choked.
"Kaguya-hime," he said softly, "that's not fair. You are playing a dangerous game."
"Why not?" She replied at the same volume. "This is your dream, is it not?"
She slid into the steaming water calmly, white hair floating gently behind her.
The light sheen of moisture on her collarbones made it very clear she wasn't wearing anything under the kimono.
Akane stared for a full three seconds, and then immediately dropped his clothes, leaving a towel wrapped around his lower body. He slipped into the opposite end of the onsen, suppressing the grin clawing across his face.
The water was hot and comforting. Silence lingered between them… but not the awkward kind. Just soft, peaceful, quiet.
The steam from the water drifted up into the night, lending it scenic beauty.
No one spoke for some time, and then Kaguya broke the silence.
"…Does this world make you happy?"
Akane leaned back against a smooth rock, arms stretching along the edge. He closed his eyes for the moment and replied in a confident voice,
"It does. Because you are in it."
Even though he wanted to say that not just Kaguya, but others too, like his mother, Tsunade, Kushina, and others at the Land of Waves, Akane knew what to speak in the moment and what not to.
Kaguya's fingers tightened on the edge of the pool.
"Even if the entire world becomes chaotic? Even if people will hate you for what you are going to do when it comes out?"
Akane opened his eyes and met her gaze across the water.
"If I can make a few of the right people happy… then the world can burn."
Akane spoke the words softly. His tone was quiet, honest, and unapologetic, and that's what Akane meant by heart. He didn't care about what others thought. The only thing that mattered to him was the feelings of the people around him.
Kaguya stared at him for several heartbeats and then slowly moved closer.
She didn't close the distance completely and stopped a meter away.
Akane, who had noticed that Kaguya's emotions were chaotic right now, didn't move.
"You know," she muttered, looking away, "in the past… I hated humans. I still hate them… most of them. But…"
Kaguya looked back at him.
"…If it's you that guides them, I can at least tolerate it."
For a moment, Akane didn't say anything.
And just when the silence began to stretch, he smiled.
"Then stay close to me."
Kaguya blinked at the unexpected words.
Akane reached out, his fingers brushing against hers under the water. She didn't pull away. A soft, almost embarrassed breath left her lips.
Kaguya took another step forward.
Another.
And finally sank against his chest inside the hot spring, arms resting gently over his shoulders as cherry petals drifted down around them, and the moon floated overhead.
"Akane…" she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Keep me like this for a little longer."
"…As long as you want."
Her eyes closed. The corners of her mouth lifted in a natural, charming smile. Within the steam and starlight of the dream-forged onsen, the 'Goddess' and her 'apostle' shared a peace that didn't exist anywhere else in the world.
(I felt happiest when I wrote this chapter, but I had to watch a rom-com series to have a romantic mood and write it. I was actually planning to skip romance moments since my mind had been developed for action and storytelling, and with no romantic life of my own, I didn't have the mood to write someone's love story. But after watching my fav rom-com, which is Horimiya, I wrote this piece, and it wouldn't be wrong to say that I feel as if I am destined just to watch rom-coms and write stories for love. Haha~!)