A Deadly Gambling Table

The moonlight couldn't penetrate the stone-paved path in the back alley of Tanzaku Town.

Shizune, it stopped in front of the pharmacy counter.

A musty smell emanated from the cracks in the wooden planks.

A servant boy wearing a tattered straw hat brushed past the door with his head down.

Shizune, she didn't turn around; her right hand was already reaching for the poison needle pouch at her waist.

As medical-nin, she is extremely sensitive to Chakra fluctuations that do not belong to this town.

At the bottom of the medicine cabinet, a packet of ephedra was covered with fine, grayish-white powder.

As soon as Shizune reached out, the strand of Naruto's Golden Yang Release Chakra within her wrist suddenly became scalding hot.

When the powder comes into contact with the skin, it emits a hissing white smoke, then dissipates as scorch marks.

At the same time, a piece of snakeskin paper, as thin as a cicada's wing, appeared on the outside of the door frame.

A line of very fine writing was left above. "Not enough necklace fragments, the complete Nawaki and the broken one are waiting for her in the old place."

This isn't for Shizune; it's a psychological poison Orochimaru deliberately left for Tsunade to see.

Shizune, her throat tightened. Without calling out, she grabbed a handful of Kunai and leaped out of the window.

Deep in the narrow alley, Kabuto Yakushi stopped, a faint blue aura condensing in his palm as Chakra Scalpel.

He pushed up his round-framed glasses, his smile chilling, "Lady Tsunade will choose Orochimaru sooner or later. Dead men move her more than Hidden Leaf."

Shizune, she quickly Hand Seals, a puff of white smoke exploded, and her summoned Tonton knocked over several trash cans.

Using the smoke as cover, she pulled back to create some distance.

The next second, a figure blocked the alley entrance.

Naruto stood in the shadows, one hand in his pocket.

The spiritual fluctuations of the Great Evolution Divine Soul Art had already covered an area with a radius of three hundred meters.

"Kabuto, you'd better not disappoint me."

Before he could finish speaking, Naruto kicked off the wall with his right leg.

The bluestone shattered, and he crashed into the pocket like a cannonball.

Without any Hand Seals, relying solely on the terrifying explosive power of the Perfect Sage Body.

Kabuto's pupils contracted, and two Chakra Scalpel crossed and slashed towards Naruto's carotid artery.

Naruto neither dodged nor evaded; his left fist, enveloped in a ring of tangible energy, clashed head-on with the blade.

The scalpel cut into the skin without leaving even a white mark.

Naruto closed in, his right knee slamming into Kabuto's abdomen like a hammer.

Using the momentum, he rolled backward, his back slamming against the brick wall, beads of sweat sliding down his forehead and into his collar.

Even before the weakened state was over, this monster still overwhelmed people with its basic Taijutsu alone.

Kabuto dared not press the matter further, and with a backhand throw of three smoke bombs, his voice piercing through the fog. "Those dozen or so people at the clinic, their Chakra is already flowing backwards. Naruto-kun, are you going to arrest me, or save them?"

Naruto stopped in his tracks, his gaze piercing through the smoke, watching the figure disappear into the darkness like an eel.

He didn't chase after them.

Several streets away, panting, Dou ducked into a dark corner, pulled out his notebook, and quickly wrote down a line: "Weakness confirmed, protecting one's own is a higher priority than killing the enemy."

Temporary clinic on Tanzaku Town.

A dozen or so civilian patients, poisoned by snake venom, lay on stretchers, convulsing in pain, dark purple blood dripping from the cracks in the bed boards.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of blood.

Tsunade stood at the doorway, her feet seemingly rooted to the spot.

Her fingernails dug so hard into the wooden door frame that they almost sank into the wood grain.

She stared at the ever-expanding pools of blood, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably, her breathing becoming extremely shallow, as if she were about to suffocate.

When she saw the list of wounded filled with words like "orphan" and "postoperative infection," the nightmares of the past gripped her like a ton of bricks once more.

A gust of wind passed by.

Naruto appeared at the entrance of the clinic, his arm around Shizune's waist.

He didn't reach out to help the swaying Tsunade, but instead placed the still-shaken Shizune in front of her, his voice icy cold. "If these people inside die, half the blame will fall on Orochimaru, and the other half will be entirely yours."

These words were like a barbed awl, precisely piercing Tsunade's nerve called "responsibility."

She suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with terrifying bloodshot veins.

Naruto stepped forward, his body blocking the doorway completely. "You can continue to hide. But these commoners who once worshipped the Hokage will bleed to their last drop today because of the legendary Legendary Sannin's cowardice."

Tsunade gritted her teeth, a strong metallic taste filling her mouth.

She abruptly Opening Gate, finally reaching out and snatching the medical kit from Shizune's arms.

At the bedside.

Tsunade's hands hovered above the chest of a severely wounded man, her trembling fingertips unable to even hold the light of the most basic healing spell.

The stench of blood relentlessly overwhelmed her reason.

A warm and large hand suddenly pressed against her back, leaving her no choice but to accept it.

Naruto stood behind her, forcefully pressing an extremely pure Yang Release Chakra down her spine.

The golden warmth swept through her like a whirlwind, instantly calming the restless Chakra within her body. Even her trembling muscles were forced to stabilize under this immense life force.

"Don't touch my spell!"

Tsunade spat out those words through gritted teeth, without turning around.

Naruto's lips curled slightly, and he withdrew his fingers half an inch, no longer forcibly taking control, but still maintaining a firm grip on power. "Fine, it's your territory, you take over."

One hour later.

When the Chakra reversal of the last patient was suppressed, the area outside the clinic was already filled with kneeling civilians she had saved.

Tsunade ignored the expressions of gratitude outside.

She turned around, her chest heaving violently, and without warning, her right fist unleashed a terrifying wave of energy, unleashing the full Strength of a Hundred, and slammed straight towards Naruto's chest!

She's going to take advantage of this kid's distraction and win the bet with one punch!

"Boom--!"

The wooden floor beneath their feet instantly turned to dust, and the shockwave shattered all the surrounding medicine cabinets.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto's feet were embedded half a foot deep into the stone slabs, but he hadn't retreated even a millimeter from the ground.

He lifted his head from the pit, his blond hair disheveled by the blast of air, but the Forehead Protector on his forehead remained shiny.

He glanced down at the faint white mark on his chest, casually dabbed it with his thumb, and gave Tsunade, who was panting heavily, a mocking smile, "First day, almost. Not even an itch, Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade's arm fell to her side, her hand tightly gripping the snakeskin paper.

The words "The complete Nawaki and the broken one waiting for her in the old place" gnawed at her sanity like a venomous snake.

The next morning.

Naruto pushed open the Shizune door, carrying a stack of crisp new banknotes, followed by two hotel waiters carrying his luggage.

He stepped forward and casually draped a light purple kimono jacket over Shizune's shoulders.

Shizune, she instinctively wanted to back away, but then she realized that the size of the garment was so precise that it sent chills down her spine.

How did you know my size?

She blurted it out instinctively.

"How can you be so sure you can judge someone by Byakugan?"

Naruto stood confidently with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the doorframe, his eyes filled with a playful yet aggressive air.

Shizune's cheeks suddenly burned.

She wanted to throw the clothes back, but her fingers gripped the hem tightly and then loosened, and in the end she could only lower her head, blushing.

Last night, the hand that steadily pressed down on her meridians to burn the snake venom made it impossible for her subconscious to refuse this forceful arrangement.

The favorability rating quietly jumped from 45 to 60.

At the other end of the corridor, Jiraiya leaned against the railing, watching Naruto approach with a grave expression. "You know Orochimaru's people are exerting pressure from the shadows. Are you planning to let this go unchecked?"

What's the rush?

Naruto walked to the railing, looking down at the street. "Tsunade needs a reason to refuse Orochimaru. My words won't work; she needs to see firsthand how disgusting that snake's methods are. That lowly pawn who delivered the note and poisoned her will be the catalyst. I'm keeping him around so he can force Tsunade to make a decision for me."

Jiraiya remained silent for a long time.

He found that he couldn't see through the twelve-year-old boy in front of him at all.

This isn't someone looking for someone; it's clearly a scheme orchestrated by Orochimaru, a move to force their own abdication.

"You won last night and made a deal: she would grant you a personal request if she lost."

Jiraiya lowered his voice, his gaze sharp.

Naruto turned his head to the side.

Recalling the bet he made last night, he leaned forward, his lips almost brushing against Tsunade's earlobe, his possessive breath causing Tsunade's neck to turn red visibly.

He had deliberately left things unsaid then, but now, the ambiguity in his eyes had vanished, leaving only an absolute, cold rationality.

"The request is simple—" Naruto sneered, "After she returns to Hidden Leaf, I want her to Teuchi the Nine-Tails Seal within me and find out exactly what the Fourth Hokage left behind."

Jiraiya was suddenly startled.

Fourth Generation, Nine-Tails, Sealing.

It turns out that this kid has tied the succession of the Hokage, the power struggle among the higher-ups, and his own bloodline to a deadly gamble.

At the same time, in the dark cave outside Tanzaku Town.

After listening to Kabuto's report, Orochimaru let out two sinister laughs.

He carelessly tossed the blood-stained fragment of the necklace onto the ground; Naruto had already crushed the one-way resurrection deal plan.

He took out a glass bottle filled with preservative solution from the sealed scroll.

Floating inside the bottle is a perfectly intact Konoha Necklace First Hokage.

"If you suppress it on the first day, what about the second day?"

Orochimaru licked his lips with his long, thin tongue, his vertical pupils filled with a morbid madness. "Give Nawaki her name back. Let's see what she has to bet with me."