"Roll! Roll! Roll!"
The gambling hall was packed with people. All kinds of gamblers crowded around the tables, shouting loudly with feverish excitement, packed shoulder to shoulder.
The dealer lifted the dice cup, revealing the dice beneath, and the crowd erupted.
A blonde woman wearing a green coat with a large "Gamble" character printed on the back flushed red with anger and embarrassment. "How could it be small again?!"
"How could that possibly be small?!"
"Lady Tsunade, you can't keep gambling!" Shizune stepped forward and reminded her, "We've already blown through the money we just borrowed at high interest!"
"So soon?!"
Tsunade turned around in surprise. She scratched her head in frustration, then could only get up reluctantly.
"Big Fat Sheep! Not playing anymore?"
The dealer called out with a grin.
"Shut up!"
Tsunade glared back and made her declaration as a blonde loser:
"One of these days, I'll win your entire gambling hall!"
The two walked out of the gambling hall, and Shizune spoke up:
"Lady Tsunade, word came from the village. They want you to come back."
"I'm not going!"
Tsunade refused without a second thought.
She didn't need to think about it. The old man surely wanted her to come back and take over again. He'd already brought it up several times. Once she took over, she wouldn't be able to gamble, and Tsunade had no interest in that.
"This time is different. Lord Hokage isn't asking you to come back and take over his duties! A child from the Akimichi Clan awakened a Kekkei Genkai, but it seems their constitution is abnormal as a result, so the family put out a medical mission and offered a good reward."
"A medical mission..." Tsunade murmured, pondering.
She'd spent all her money on this trip and had piled up a huge debt.
But Tsunade wasn't worried about those debts. With her status as the Senju princess and her superb Medical Ninjutsu, plenty of ninja clans and prominent families would be willing to pay them off for her.
Once her money ran out, she'd make it all back. Sooner or later, she'd win it back.
It was just that letting those people pay off her debts meant owing them a favor, which was a real hassle.
So most of the time, Tsunade took medical missions to earn money.
Although she had Hemophobia, Shizune could handle most illnesses herself.
"This one shouldn't involve blood. The Akimichi Clan is offering quite a lot, enough to pay off our debts with a little left over."
Shizune walked beside her and spoke softly.
"There'll be some left over?" Tsunade's eyes lit up, and she seemed to have already decided what to do with the extra money. "Heh heh! Here's our chance to get back on our feet! If we finish this mission, we'll break even!"
"In that case, let's go take a look."
Tsunade made up her mind.
Akimichi Denji had no idea that his essay had set off a chain reaction. He'd simply realized that the Will of Fire essay assignment was a great opportunity to suck up, so he'd followed the standard formula and praised the Third as the sun.
At that moment, he was standing on the training ground, practicing Ninja Tool Throwing. There were two reasons he hadn't spent Wish Points to improve it.
For one, Ninja Tool Throwing was unlike ninjutsu; it wasn't difficult to train.
Usually, all it took was diligent practice to master.
He wanted to see how far he could get with his own talent.
For another, after seeing what Wish Points could do at the Master level and Transcendent Mastery level, saving them for higher levels was clearly more worthwhile.
After all, the higher the level of a jutsu or skill, the harder it was to train, and the more powerful its effects.
He was practicing beside Naruto. Now, when he took careful aim, he could hit the target eight times out of ten.
Sasuke Uchiha was beside them, occasionally correcting Denji's throwing technique.
Yamanaka Ino was practicing nearby, but she couldn't help glancing at the trio as they trained, feeling depressed.
If only I weren't so accurate with my shuriken. Then I'd have an excuse to practice with Denji-kun.
She casually threw two shuriken, both landing squarely in the bull's-eye.
Unfortunately, my skill won't let me.
She sighed.
Though she'd only started studying the Yamanaka Secret Technique after entering the Ninja Academy, she came from a ninja clan and had already mastered basic skills like Ninja Tool Throwing within the clan.
That was one advantage of coming from a ninja clan—their education systems were well established, giving them a head start.
"What's wrong? You're throwing pretty well, aren't you?"
Her best friend Sakura came over. Ever since Ino had shifted her sights to someone else, she and Ino had competed less, and the two got along quite harmoniously.
They still occasionally argued about whether Sasuke or Denji was more handsome, though.
"I want Denji-kun to teach me too! But I've practiced shuriken throwing countless times already."
Ino said dejectedly.
Haruno Sakura's eyes lit up. Yamanaka Ino had practiced plenty, but she hadn't.
Sakura had always been a civilian ninja. She'd only started learning to use shuriken after entering the Academy. Although she had talent for a civilian ninja and would eventually become one of the Konoha Twelve, it was still only the first half of her first year, and she'd practiced for less than two and a half years. Her shuriken skills were nowhere near good enough.
You can't, but I can. I'm a total rookie.
She looked at Sasuke, who was teaching the others attentively.
Sasuke-kun seemed a little gentler lately. He'd even started speaking first.
Normally, he wouldn't talk to anyone at all.
And today, he'd also taken the initiative to teach Denji and Naruto.
If Sasuke's like this, maybe he really will teach me.
The more Sakura thought about it, the more possible it seemed. She took a deep breath, walked over, and asked nervously, "Sasuke-kun..."
"What is it?"
Sasuke had been focused on teaching the two boys. He turned at the sound of her voice, his expression going blank again.
Seeing that cold expression, Sakura's heart leaped into her throat. She stammered, "I... I'm not very good at throwing shuriken either... Could you..."
"No time!" Sasuke interrupted impatiently before Sakura could finish.
Sakura looked crestfallen.
"Sasuke, Itachi-kun told you to make friends, remember?"
"Do you want to go against your brother's wishes?"
Denji said with a beaming smile.
Sasuke puffed out his cheeks, looking a little unconvinced.
"Brother never said..."
"If you agreed to make more friends, you can't be so cold to your classmates."
Sasuke mumbled, "Then she can listen from the side... Teaching two is teaching, and teaching three is teaching..."
Sakura's eyes lit up.
"Thank you, Denji-kun."
A notification appeared on the system panel.
"Ding! Fulfilled Haruno Sakura's wish [Sasuke's Personal Tutoring]. Wish Point +1."
"Can I join too?" Yamanaka Ino promptly popped up and asked cautiously.
"Sure! Sasuke can't teach that many people by himself. Ino's shuriken throwing is pretty good too. You can teach me."
Akimichi Denji said with a cheerful smile.
"One-on-one tutoring!"
An astonishing light burst from Yamanaka Ino's eyes. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought her Martial Soul had awakened.
"That's exactly what I want!"
"Ding! Fulfilled Yamanaka Ino's wish [One-on-One Private Tutoring]. Wish Point +1."
Akimichi Denji looked at the system notification and nodded with satisfaction.
He planned to save the Wish Points to learn the Multi-Size Technique. The Taotie Technique had hit a bottleneck at the Master level, and he had a feeling he'd need to combine it with the Multi-Size Technique to break through.
After all, the Taotie Technique was itself a secret technique derived from the Multi-Size Technique.
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