The Legendary Big Fat Sheep

The Legendary Big Fat Sheep [Please Vote]

"Stuffed—" Shoren walked out of a small restaurant on Konoha's busiest street, rubbing his stomach.

Behind him, Kushina and Minato watched Shoren warily.

They exchanged a glance and saw the shock in each other's eyes. The only difference was that Kushina looked purely shocked, while Minato's expression also held a hint of heartbreak.

At that moment, Minato just wanted to ask...

Are you from the Akimichi Clan or something?!

Shoren's appetite had made Kushina and Minato redefine the word "glutton," and it had also given Minato a new understanding of the amount of money in his wallet.

If anyone ever asked him to treat Shoren to a meal again, he'd fight them!

Shoren strutted along with an utterly carefree swagger, surveying the shops along the street as he searched for Ichiraku Ramen.

He'd originally wanted to have dinner at Ichiraku Ramen, but after searching for ages without finding it, Kushina and Minato had gotten worried they'd end up wandering in circles with him, so they'd just picked a small restaurant that looked decent.

The food had been good, but was that why Shoren had been looking for Ichiraku Ramen?

No, it was so he could... see if little Ayame might be born early.

With their stomachs full, Kushina and Minato stopped insisting that he lead the way. They were out for a walk, after all.

When it came to a walk, it wasn't what you saw that mattered, but who you were with!

But as Shoren searched for Ichiraku Ramen, he spotted someone he never expected to see.

A golden ponytail, a loose green jacket, the character for "gamble" on the back, and that unmistakable chest...

Gulp—

The famed Princess of Konoha, one of the Three Sannin, and the woman who shared the same reputation as his own cheap teacher—Tsunade!

The legendary Big Fat Sheep!

Tsunade held a black briefcase in one hand. Her gaze was fixed on the storefront before her, full of confidence and determination. Two conspicuous characters were written on the sign.

Gambling Den!

The legendary Big Fat Sheep was about to enter a casino!

Shoren suddenly felt as if an opportunity had just landed in his lap.

Noticing Shoren had stopped, Kushina and Minato stopped behind him too and followed his gaze. It was a woman.

A very, very stunning woman.

Then they watched as she entered the gambling den. The guards waiting at the entrance recognized her and immediately bowed and scraped, grinning as they ushered her inside.

Shoren immediately turned around and stared intently at Minato.

Gulp—

"Sh-Shoren, what are you planning?" Minato couldn't say why, but he had a feeling one of the numbers in his life was about to go up again.

Shoren hooked an arm around Minato's neck and gave him a look that said, Trust me. "Minato, how much money do you have on you?"

"N-Not much..." Minato hadn't quite caught on.

He took his wallet from his pocket and examined the colorful bills inside, counting roughly thirty thousand Ryo.

For an ordinary person, that was a considerable sum—perhaps enough to cover a family's living expenses for a month.

But for a shinobi, it wasn't much.

Prices in the world of Naruto were very different from those in Shoren's previous life.

A regular pork cutlet rice bowl cost about eight hundred Ryo. Add extra toppings, and it could come to nearly a thousand. That gave some idea of just how worthless the two Money Tickets worth a thousand Ryo each had been when Shoren found them on the previous Two-Tails Jinchuriki.

Of course, prices in Konoha were much higher. The village was home to a large number of shinobi, and shinobi were high earners. The border towns in the Land of Lightning couldn't compare.

But the price difference was also what let merchants profit from the middleman's cut.

Shoren had just eaten twenty pork cutlet rice bowls at that little restaurant, so even Minato couldn't help wincing at the cost.

Twenty bowls of pork cutlet rice—round that up, and that was one Asuma!

As a Genin, especially one without a regular team, Minato usually took D-rank missions. Most involved finding things or helping with household chores, and the rewards ranged from about five hundred to ten thousand Ryo depending on the difficulty.

Only occasionally would he join a small team for a C-rank mission, usually escorting someone or transporting confidential documents. These missions didn't involve battles against shinobi, and paid between ten thousand and fifty thousand Ryo. Even then, he had to split the reward with the rest of the team.

And the ones qualified to form teams were usually Chunin or stronger, who were paid according to their contribution. The Chunin usually took the largest share.

So even though Minato was a shinobi, without a Jonin leader or a team, his income wasn't very high.

There were B-, A-, and S-rank missions above C-rank, but Minato wasn't qualified to take them yet.

The thirty thousand Ryo in his wallet was everything he had. Once it was gone, he'd have to take more missions to make ends meet.

Though he had no idea what Shoren was planning, Minato trusted him and handed over all the money he had.

Seeing the slight disappointment still on Shoren's face, Minato suddenly regretted not hitting him harder when Kushina had beaten him earlier.

"Here, I've got some too. I don't know what you need all this money for, but it sounds like it'll be fun." The playful Kushina had a vague sense of what might happen.

Shoren opened the wallet Kushina handed him, and his eyes lit up.

So she was the hidden rich one!

Kushina's wallet contained a total of one hundred and seventy thousand Ryo. Add the "pocket change" Minato had handed over, and that made a whopping two hundred thousand Ryo!

The truth was, Kushina didn't really lack money. As the last surviving orphan of the Uzumaki Clan, the wealth she should have inherited was beyond anyone's imagination.

But if a young girl carried around a fortune, she'd become a target. So Konoha had kindly offered to "look after" her money, giving her a set allowance every month.

Given her connection to Mito Uzumaki, Konoha hadn't treated her too badly, and made sure she received her full allowance.

Besides, Kushina didn't have many friends or much to spend money on, so she'd saved it all.

The money she had with her today was only part of her savings.

That made her the genuine little rich girl among the three of them, and the wealthiest by far.

Of course, no matter how much Shoren looked at Minato with disdain, it couldn't hide the fact that he was the real pauper.

He stuffed the two hundred thousand Ryo into his pocket and once again strutted off with an utterly carefree swagger toward the gambling den.

As he walked, he muttered, "Not even one three-thousandth of an Asuma..."

Fortunately, Minato was too busy worrying about the money to hear what Shoren had said.

But even if he had heard, he wouldn't have known what an Asuma was.

"Kids, this is a gambling den, not a place for you to play. Go home and find your moms."

As soon as the three of them approached, the guards at the entrance stopped them.

Konoha kept a close eye on gambling dens. Anyone who wasn't an adult was banned from entering, just like with the drinking ban.

So whenever the gambling dens saw kids approaching, they stopped them from getting any closer.

The guards were trained professionals. They stopped all kinds of children, no matter what—unless... they couldn't.

Like Tsunade, who'd once had Hashirama Senju backing her.

But telling them to go home and find their moms really rubbed salt in the wound. If Shoren and the others still had moms, they'd have pinned the guard to the ground and beaten him up!

That's all for now—don't forget to send hearts and vote, everyone!

Here's a book recommendation...

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The Three Realms Reformatory is another new book by Yi Meng Huangliang, author of The Old Monk Wants to Return to Secular Life and The Rabbit Must Die. It still focuses on comedy. It goes on sale on May 1, with a hundred chapters at launch and a 400,000-word burst, followed by steady daily updates of over ten thousand words. If you're interested, jump in soon!

Thanks to Hehe, Xuyi, Handsome Guy Passing By, Book Friend 20200405095258644, The Elementary School Student Who Can Drive, Elegant Ancient Temple, Long Username That Can Pick Up Girls, Great God Wuxie, The Sky Is Lightly Drizzling, EMEI, Srta丶, Mosa, Lingfeng Xuming, and all the other generous readers for your tips!