The Bet

The wind died down, and silence settled over the forest.

Tsunade stared at Li Tong with wide eyes, looking at him as if he were an alien. Shock, confusion, and bewilderment filled her expression.

"Am I dreaming?" Tsunade pinched herself. She immediately sucked in a breath. It hurt! She wasn't dreaming!

But if she wasn't dreaming, why would this Gui say something like that?

Was he dreaming?

"Hey! Wake up!" Tsunade grabbed Li Tong's cheek and tugged at it.

"Ow!" Li Tong bared his teeth at Tsunade.

"So you can feel pain? What did you just say? Say it again!"

"I said, as long as you teach me, I can learn the Mystical Palm Technique in a day."

"Say it again!"

"I said! As long as you teach me, I can learn..."

"Ha ha ha, hahahahaha..." Tsunade burst out laughing, doubling over. She clutched her waist as if she couldn't breathe, then covered her stomach and dropped to her knees, pounding the ground with her hand.

"Hey! Do you have to overdo it?" Li Tong tilted his head at Tsunade, who looked ready to roll around on the ground.

"I'm mocking you. Can't you tell?" Tsunade sprang up and poked Li Tong in the forehead with her slender finger. "You little Gui! You can't make such a ridiculous claim! Even if you want to brag, at least make it believable, right? Tsk, tsk. You're still too young, Gui. You don't know..."

Li Tong abruptly swatted away the finger that kept poking his forehead. Then he clasped his hands behind his back and struck a haughty pose. "Don't you like gambling? Let's make a bet."

"A bet? What are we betting on?" Tsunade still couldn't quite stop laughing.

"Let's bet on whether I can learn the Mystical Palm Technique in a day." Li Tong raised his chin.

"Oh?" Tsunade suddenly grew interested. She blinked and muttered, "Doesn't that mean I'm guaranteed to win?" Then she raised her voice. "What if you can't?"

"If I can't, I'll teach you the Hypnosis Technique and the Gambling Technique. You won't have to take me on as your student."

"Fine, deal. It's settled. I'll come find you tomorrow morning..."

"Hey, hey, hey! Aren't you forgetting something?" Li Tong hurriedly cut her off.

"What?" Tsunade blinked. "What is it?"

"Come on!" Li Tong nearly lost it and gestured with his hands. "What if I do it? If I succeed, what do I get from you? You haven't said what you'll wager."

"How could you possibly do it?" Tsunade replied as if it were obvious.

"Hey! Whether I can do it is my business. If we're making a bet, you have to wager something, don't you?" Li Tong rolled his eyes.

"Oh... In that case..." Tsunade rested her chin in her hand for a moment, then curled her lip. "Whatever! If you can do it, I'll do whatever you ask. I'll agree to anything." Tsunade acted as if she couldn't care less.

Because learning the Mystical Palm Technique in a day was absolutely impossible!

"Deal!" Li Tong snapped his fingers.

"Of course!" Tsunade shrugged, then waved. "I'm heading back. I'll come find you tomorrow."

******

Li Tong returned to the lakeside cabin alone and let out a long breath. That had been close. He had stripped Tsunade's clothes off, washed and dried them, then put them back on her without her noticing at all.

"I never thought I'd sink to washing a woman's underwear."

Li Tong carefully recalled what had happened during the day, muttering as he walked toward the cabin.

He felt like Tsunade was about to cure him of his cleanliness obsession.

He turned off the light and went to sleep.

The night grew deeper.

Before dawn, Li Tong woke once and opened the Reputation Exchange Interface. He checked the items that had just refreshed. He had 4,800 reputation points, enough to buy several B-Rank Ninjutsu Cards, but there didn't seem to be anything worth exchanging for.

He closed the Reputation Exchange Interface, rolled over, and fell asleep again.

The night was pitch-black.

Outside the cabin, across the lake.

A faint rustling suddenly broke the silence. More than ten Hyuga Clan ninjas crept closer, stopping at the lakeside and hiding carefully in the grass.

There were fifteen Hyuga Clan ninjas in all: two Elite Jonin, six Jonin, and six Elite Chunin, all serving as guards. The fifteenth ninja was only a boy of around thirteen or fourteen, but he was the one they had come to protect.

The Hyuga Clan's Main Family's young master, Hizashi Hyuga!

In the strictly ranked Hyuga Clan, Hizashi Hyuga held the fourth-highest status, behind only the Main Family's clan head and young master, as well as the Branch Family's clan head. Those three were his father, his twin elder brother, and his uncle.

Despite his status, he had come in person!

He had been forced into it by pressure from within the clan.

They had attempted to assassinate Li Tong several times, but every attempt had failed. The Hyuga Clan had been thoroughly disgraced. And the one who had initially ordered the assassination was Hizashi Hyuga himself. He had sent the Elite Chunin Hyuga Anan to kill Li Tong. As someone who could directly command Elite Jonin, Hizashi hadn't thought much of Hyuga Anan. If he had sent an Elite Jonin to kill Li Tong from the start, none of these complications would have happened.

This was his responsibility!

So he had decided to come see for himself what made this Li Tong so unusual.

If possible, he would witness Li Tong's death with his own eyes that night.

"Byakugan, activate!"

Hizashi Hyuga and the two Elite Jonin beside him activated their Byakugan while hidden in the grass. The veins around their eyes bulged, and the world turned gray and white before them. They could see through things, and distance seemed to vanish!

Hizashi Hyuga's gaze pierced the cabin across the lake, settling on Li Tong, fast asleep inside.

"Young master, there's someone!" the Elite Jonin on Hizashi Hyuga's left suddenly whispered.

"It's the Anbu! Damn it, weren't they supposed to have withdrawn and stopped protecting this Gui?" another Elite Jonin added.

Hizashi Hyuga's expression changed. He quickly shifted his gaze and scanned the woods on the opposite shore.

There they were!

Two masked Anbu ninjas were hiding in the woods behind the cabin. They seemed to have suddenly noticed something. Both formed Hand Seals, then vanished into thin air one after the other.

Their masks were specially made, so even the Byakugan couldn't see through them. The Hyuga Clan therefore had no way of knowing their true identities.

"It seems Lord Hokage deliberately spread false information. The Anbu are still protecting him in secret." Hizashi Hyuga narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, then waved a hand. "Retreat!"

The Hyuga Clan ninjas quickly withdrew.

Hizashi Hyuga's status was extraordinary. This was nothing like the time Hyuga Anan had come alone. With him here and the Anbu also present, they absolutely couldn't make a move. If they were discovered, the consequences could be disastrous.

In the woods behind the cabin.

The dry leaves on the ground quivered slightly. Two figures shot up from underground, one after the other, as if they had appeared from nowhere. They flipped through the air and landed in a crouch on the same thick branch. Both watched the Hyuga Clan members disappear into the distance, their eyes cold.

"It's the Hyuga Clan!"

"They're going to kill Li Tong."

"We can't let them act recklessly. Following the leader's orders, we still need to find out whether anyone else is secretly protecting Li Tong before we can kill him."

"Before we can kill him by mistake!"

The two spoke rapidly, their voices icy and emotionless throughout, just like their eyes.

They weren't Anbu ninjas!

More precisely, although they were assigned to the Anbu, they belonged to another organization within it: Root! They had come for the same reason as the Hyuga Clan—to kill Li Tong.

"We need to plan this carefully. It'd be best to strike outside the village," Gui Qi said.

"If he takes a mission outside the village within half a month, we'll make our move there. Otherwise, we'll have to do it inside the village," Shanjia said.

"We need to plan it properly."

"Right. Let's head back first!"

The two Root ninjas disappeared in a flash.

Inside the cabin, Li Tong remained fast asleep, completely unaware of what had happened that night.

A new day!

The morning breeze was gentle, and the sun shone bright.

Li Tong woke early as usual, walked out of the cabin, and sat cross-legged on the grass by the lake to begin his morning training.

After who knew how long—

Bang!

Someone suddenly kicked Li Tong hard in the back. He tumbled into the lake.

"Ha ha ha! You lying little Gui, you have no sense of caution at all!" Tsunade stood by the lakeshore, hands on her hips, laughing uproariously.