An Unwelcome Visitor to Tanzaku Street

At seven in the morning, Chiba was awakened by a knock at the door.

"Mr. Chiba! Mr. Chiba!" The young receptionist's voice came from the hallway, clearly panicked. "Outside... there's a whole group of people..."

Chiba rolled over and sat up. His body felt much lighter, as though an invisible set of shackles had been removed. Last night's purification had reorganized his muscles and meridians, and every joint now moved with a smooth, lubricated ease.

He threw on his outer robe and pulled open the door. The receptionist stood in the hallway, his face covered in sweat.

"Who are they?"

"People from the casino! That bald guy from last night brought several dozen men and surrounded the inn's front entrance! They're saying there's something wrong with the banknotes and they want to see Lady Tsunade..."

Chiba narrowed his eyes.

The banknotes he had given them last night had been exchanged at an official Land of Fire bank using the deed to the Senju ancestral estate. The denominations and issuing bank were perfectly clear. How could there possibly be a problem?

This was not about the banknotes. The casino had swallowed twenty million ryo and still was not satisfied; they wanted to use an excuse to pick a fight and tear off another piece of meat.

In a place like Tanzaku Street, a gang boss capable of running the biggest casino could not possibly be without backing. Chiba had publicly cleared Tsunade's debt last night, which was equivalent to slapping the house across the face in front of the entire casino. A loser who had been down thirteen million had walked away a winner. Once word got out, who would dare gamble at this casino again?

That was why these people were not here to demand money today. They were here to restore their reputation.

"Where's Shizune?"

"She's already up. She's downstairs in the lobby..."

Chiba hurried downstairs. As he passed the master bedroom, he paused. There was no movement inside. Tsunade was still asleep.

One of the Legendary Sannin, she loved her alcohol. After drinking too much, she could sleep until noon the next morning.

At the turn of the stairs, Shizune was huddled behind a pillar with Tonton in her arms, her face as pale as paper.

"Chiba! Those people outside say the banknotes you gave them are old notes that have been voided! They want Lady Tsunade to come out and confront them face-to-face!"

"Old notes that have been voided?" Chiba gave a derisive laugh. "They were exchanged at a Land of Fire bank three days ago. They have all the new anti-counterfeiting watermarks. Those people could not even be bothered to come up with a convincing excuse."

"What do we do? There are several dozen of them. I saw some wearing forehead protectors... They're ninja!"

Chiba walked to the window in the inn's first-floor lobby, pulled aside the curtain, and glanced outside.

Around forty people stood in the open space before the inn's entrance. At the front were more than a dozen burly thugs. Behind them stood over twenty hired ninja in gray combat uniforms. Several had short blades at their waists and forehead protectors tied around their arms, their symbols slashed through with a horizontal line.

Rogue ninja.

In an ungoverned place like Tanzaku Street, hiring rogue ninja as muscle was standard practice. These people ranged roughly from genin to chunin level. They were nothing special in a proper ninja village, but more than enough to deal with ordinary people.

The bald man from the casino last night was still leading them. Today, he wore a black short jacket, and the toothpick in his mouth had been replaced by a cigar. Beside him stood a middle-aged man in a long robe, fat and round, with three thick gold chains around his neck. One look was enough to tell he was the true owner behind the casino.

The fat man with the gold chains fanned himself with a folding fan, smoke pouring from his mouth. "Bring out that gambling addict Tsunade! Five million of those twenty million ryo in banknotes are old notes that were voided three years ago! Do you take me for someone who cannot recognize good money?"

The bald man chimed in, "The boss is right! Trying to fool us with worthless paper? What do you think Tanzaku Street is?"

Chiba let the curtain fall and turned to head upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Shizune stamped her foot anxiously.

"To wake Lady Tsunade."

"She drank so much..."

"Then don't wake her." Chiba paused halfway up the stairs and looked back at Shizune. "Miss Shizune, take the pig and hide in the back kitchen. Make sure you know the way out through the back door."

"What are you going to do?"

Chiba pulled three kunai from his waist, weighing them in his hand. The corner of his mouth lifted.

"Work."

He walked to the inn's main entrance and pushed open the doors.

Morning light poured in, carrying Tanzaku Street's distinctive damp, moldy smell. The gazes of more than forty people snapped in unison toward the fifteen-year-old boy at the doorway.

The fat man with the gold chains snapped his fan shut and pointed at Chiba. "You? That brat who pretended to be rich last night?"

"Pretended?" Chiba leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded. "Why did you not say that when twenty million in real money was being slapped into your employee's face?"

The bald man jumped out and shouted, "Enough nonsense! Five million of your notes are worthless paper! Spit out the money, then hand over Tsunade to settle the debt!"

Chiba's gaze moved from the bald man to the hired ninja behind him, sweeping over the group.

More than twenty rogue ninja. Three or four of them were probably chunin-level at most, while the rest were all genin-level. Yesterday, if this group had rushed him together, he would indeed have been in trouble.

But today was different.

The 8.2% Senju bloodline purification from last night had brought more than an increase in chakra. It had also improved his taijutsu base multiplier. A ×1.6 multiplier meant that his physical strength and speed had already reached the upper limits of an ordinary chunin.

Chiba rolled his neck, his joints cracking sharply.

"As for the five million in worthless paper, I can take you to a Land of Fire bank later and have it verified in person." His voice was not loud, but it was enough for those in the front to hear clearly. "But bringing this many people to block my inn's entrance changes the nature of things."

"This isn't about checking the money. It's about picking a fight."

The fat man with the gold chains pulled the cigar from his mouth, spittle flying everywhere. "Brat, you've got quite a hard mouth. Men, break his legs and drag him off to find that gambling addict Tsunade!"

Three rogue ninja from the front row charged out in response, their short blades leaving their sheaths. Dark red rust still clung to their tips.

Chiba noticed that the rust on the short blade of the rogue ninja on the far left was the color of dried human blood. It had been deliberately left uncleaned. Such tactics were common among Tanzaku Street's hired ninja, who used blood-rust to intimidate people.

Three short blades sliced in from three directions.

Chiba's body moved from where it leaned against the doorframe.

His footwork was simple. He stepped half a pace left, avoiding the path of the frontal strike. The man on the left chopped down with his blade, and Chiba raised his right hand. The spine of his kunai slid along the other man's blade, redirecting the force into the ground. The blade from the right swept toward him, and Chiba lowered his waist to evade its edge.

Within three moves, he had already read the three men's speed and strength.

Genin. Mid-level genin. Their swordsmanship was crude and unsystematic, relying solely on brute force and killing intent to scare people.

"Is that all?"

Chiba's right foot slammed into the ground. He shot forward, and before the nearest rogue ninja could react, his kunai was already pressed against the man's throat.

"The people behind you should come together." Chiba looked at the fat man with the gold chains, the curve of his lips relaxed. "Otherwise, this will take too long. I haven't even had breakfast yet."

The window on the inn's second floor was shoved open with a bang.

Tsunade leaned over the windowsill and looked down. Her blonde hair was a mess like a bird's nest, her eyes half-open, and the flush of drink had not yet faded from her face.

"What's all the noise about... this early in the morning..."

Her gaze landed on Chiba, on the kunai pressed to a rogue ninja's throat, then on the dark mass of more than forty people outside the inn.

Most of the alcohol haze vanished at once.

"Senju Chiba!" Tsunade's voice crashed down from the second floor. "You're causing trouble on your first day of work?"

Chiba looked up at her and smiled, twirling the kunai in his hand.

"I'm not causing trouble, Lady Tsunade. Just handling a work-related dispute."

He turned his head toward the fat man with the gold chains, his tone remaining unhurried.

"Please, keep sending people. Three at a time is too few. I'm in a hurry, and my creditor is still upstairs waiting for my work report."