Getting Something for Nothing

In the original story, Tsunade had always kept a youthful appearance, even though she was actually a woman in her fifties. But in this world, in the thirty-second year of Konoha, Tsunade was only twenty-two—truly young!

"You bunch of bastards, just wait until I win it all back today! You really think I'm a big fat sheep..." Wearing an extremely displeased expression, Tsunade took off her shoes, stepped onto the tatami, and sat cross-legged near the door.

Ito and the others hurriedly put on ingratiating smiles. Although they all regarded Tsunade as a big fat sheep, they wouldn't ignore her status in Konoha. Tsunade was simply a good sport: when she lost, she didn't take it out on anyone, and she paid back any money she borrowed. Otherwise, they really wouldn't dare gamble with her.

"Lady Tsunade, now, there's no need to say that." Ito grinned obsequiously. "But honestly, winning and losing comes down to luck. Please don't think we're cheating you."

"That's right, Lady Tsunade. We're all old friends. Don't take what we just said to heart."

"Lady Tsunade has already lost several games this month. Surely she'll win one this time..."

"All right, all right." Tsunade impatiently cut them off and waved a hand with a rather commanding air. "Let's get started. Don't waste time. I have things to do tonight."

"Sure thing! Lady Tsunade, what would you like to play? Bridge?" Ito asked with a smile.

"Fine!" Tsunade agreed briskly. Then she reached into her robes and pulled out a big wad of bills. After roughly counting them, she set them on the white cloth in front of her.

Ito picked up the bridge cards and began to shuffle.

The others also started taking out their money. Li Tong's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Just how high were these stakes? Even the person with the least money had taken out several thousand ryo. Tsunade had the most—at least tens of thousands—and she had three bills worth ten thousand ryo apiece.

"Hmm? Kid, I don't think I've seen you before." Tsunade finally noticed Li Tong. He was eleven or twelve, skinny and small, still a boy, though he could just about be called a young ninja. In the Shinobi World, sixteen already counted as an adult.

"Uh... My name is Li Tong... I just became a Genin..." Li Tong said with forced composure, his heart uneasy.

"Lady Tsunade, this is a new guy. He hasn't been here before. Is it all right if he joins us?" Ito explained with a smile.

"Mm." Tsunade nodded and looked away, speaking casually. "As long as he has money."

She didn't know Li Tong!

Li Tong felt a wave of relief. Word had spread through Konoha that morning about a Rain Ninja renegade defecting to Konoha. A little over half an hour ago, Li Tong had even killed someone in the busy commercial district. But Tsunade didn't know about it... which wasn't surprising.

"Lady Tsunade, did you just get back from a mission?" Li Tong asked cautiously.

"I got back at noon," Tsunade replied casually.

No wonder, Li Tong thought. Tsunade had only returned at noon, and it was just afternoon now. She had probably barely seen anyone before coming to gamble.

"Lady Tsunade, you must've earned a pretty good commission for this mission, right?" Ito asked with a smile after shuffling the cards.

"Fifteen thousand ryo for one mission." Tsunade looked annoyed as she spoke. "But I paid back some of my debts, so now I've got less than fifty thousand left!"

Ito's smile grew even brighter. He exchanged glances with the others, and they shared a few knowing looks.

What a prime big fat sheep!

"Great! Lady Tsunade, let's have some fun today!" Ito slapped down the bridge cards, then reached into his robes and pulled out a big wad of bills. There were several ten-thousand-ryo bills in it—at least tens of thousands altogether.

Li Tong's cheek twitched. He felt like he'd come to the wrong place. Everyone here was putting down thousands or tens of thousands, while he had less than nine ryo in his money pouch.

Would they beat him up?

"Hey, kid, what about your money?" Ito asked, noticing that Li Tong hadn't taken anything out of his pouch.

"Uh... Could I watch first? I don't know the rules you're playing by..." Li Tong said, feigning calm.

"No problem." Ito shrugged indifferently. He'd only asked in passing. The purpose of today's game was to fleece the big fat sheep. This ninja had come along to play, so he was just there to make up the numbers.

Besides, Ito liked clueless newcomers. They were the easiest to win money from!

"I'll be the dealer first!" Tsunade picked up the stack of bridge cards. No one objected, and they immediately started placing their bets.

Shuffle, deal, arrange the cards, compare hands!

The process was very simple. After watching a few rounds, Li Tong had pretty much figured out the rules. Each player got four cards, arranged their hand, then compared points.

Everyone compared hands only with the dealer. If two hands had the same number of points, the dealer won by half a point.

In the first six rounds, Tsunade lost two thousand ryo.

In the seventh round, Li Tong carefully took one bill out of his pouch. It was the largest denomination he had—five ryo!

"Could I... try a round first?" Li Tong asked a little sheepishly. No one knew how much money he had in his pouch, but five ryo was truly a tiny amount. Everyone else had bet several times already, and the smallest wager had been one hundred ryo.

"Do as you like," Tsunade replied. As the dealer, she had the final say.

The cards were dealt again.

After four rounds of dealing, Li Tong had four cards in front of him. He picked them up and saw that they didn't seem to make a particularly high-scoring hand. But he wasn't worried at all. He didn't need to cheat... because Tsunade was a big fat sheep! In the original story, she was fated to lose every bet.

Five ryo became ten, ten became twenty, twenty became forty, forty became eighty, then one hundred and sixty, three hundred and twenty, six hundred and forty...

In just half an hour, Li Tong had turned his five ryo into more than two thousand!

His luck was incredible!

Ito had told Li Tong "You're really lucky, kid" more than once!

Was it really luck?

Of course not!

In fact, Li Tong had started cheating from the very first hand. He took four cards, but returned only three. As for the other one... no one saw where he hid it.

The others won and lost against Tsunade, but they won more than they lost, so overall they were ahead.

Li Tong was the only one who hadn't lost a single time!

Tsunade had started paying attention to Li Tong. His winning streak was one reason. Another was that he'd only put down five ryo and hadn't wagered any of his own money since, basically getting something for nothing. That would piss off any gambler!

However, Li Tong felt no guilt about cheating, because he wasn't the only one doing it. Of the five others besides Tsunade, two had cheated at one point or another. In fact, whenever they placed a large bet, they were sure to cheat. Besides the owner, Ito, the other cheater was named Jiangchuan, a man nearing sixty.

Gambling technique!

There was no such thing as truly fair gambling technique. Gambling technique was just a fancy name for cheating. A showdown between expert gamblers was really a contest of cheating. From that perspective, since both sides were cheating, it was relatively fair.

After losing ten thousand ryo, Tsunade's turn as dealer ended.

They took turns dealing. After Tsunade's turn ended, Jiangchuan, seated to her left, became the dealer. The game continued!

Li Tong grew more cautious because Jiangchuan knew how to cheat. Though Li Tong could see through his tricks, they were extremely sophisticated. Jiangchuan was also the one shuffling the cards, which gave him an advantage. At most, Li Tong could switch one or two cards. Even if his cheating skills far surpassed Jiangchuan's, he still couldn't negate the effect of that advantage.

Time passed.

Before they knew it, two hours had gone by!

Li Tong had won more than five thousand ryo. Ito had just finished his turn as dealer and had won the most, nearly twelve thousand ryo. Tsunade had lost the most, close to fifteen thousand. The others had all seen their share of wins and losses.

At last, it was Li Tong's turn to deal!

"Kid, you don't have enough money, do you? A little over five thousand ryo isn't even enough to cover one of our bets. It's time to put up your own money too, isn't it?" Ito said, patting Li Tong on the shoulder, his tone oddly suggestive.

Everyone was looking at Li Tong differently now. He'd been winning the whole time!

"Not enough?" Li Tong shook his head as he shuffled the cards. "Jiangchuan only had a few thousand ryo when he dealt just now, didn't he? Go ahead and bet. If I don't have enough to pay you, I'll put up the rest."

"Suit yourself." Ito grinned, then subtly tipped Jiangchuan a look.

In the first round with Li Tong as dealer, Tsunade bet only five hundred ryo, while Jiangchuan and Ito each wagered two thousand. Including the bets from the other three, the total came to five thousand five hundred ryo. If Li Tong got a particularly bad hand, he could lose it all in one go!

The cards were shuffled and dealt!

The room fell briefly silent as everyone picked up their cards and arranged their hands.

"Ah!" A sudden cry of surprise came from Tsunade.

Everyone looked at her. Tsunade was already extremely excited, her cheeks flushed. This was the first time she'd smiled since entering the gambling hall, and her smile was very sweet!

After arranging her hand, Tsunade glanced around at everyone, then slapped her cards onto the white cloth with a triumphant snort and burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! Nine points! The highest hand! Hey, kid, what was your name again? You really are my lucky charm... Hahahaha!"

Tsunade was thrilled. For a gambler, especially one like her who was fated to lose every bet, getting the highest hand was absolutely worth celebrating.

"Congratulations, Lady Tsunade. Looks like your luck's finally turning around," Ito said with a smile. Then he cast another subtle glance at Jiangchuan.

They didn't care in the slightest how high Tsunade's hand was this round, because Tsunade wasn't the dealer! Everyone was comparing their hands with the dealer's. Even if Tsunade won, she'd be winning from the dealer.

"Kid! Hahahaha, pay up, pay up! I got nine points!" Tsunade was so excited she could barely contain herself.

"Ahem! Well..." Li Tong cleared his throat and slowly fanned open the cards in his hand, showing them on the white cloth. "Sorry, I got nine points too. The dealer wins ties by half a point, so... I take the pot!"