I'll Build You a Gambling City

"Haha, three fives! Triples! You're definitely going to lose this round. Open it already." Tsunade laughed smugly, skillfully tossing the dice cup up and down in her hand. She looked exactly like a professional gambler who had spent years in casinos.

"Do you really like gambling that much?" Jing Hang casually shook his own dice cup. He truly had little interest in gambling.

"It runs in my family. Ever since I was old enough to understand things, Grandpa used to carry me onto the card table."

"Oh? My apologies, then. So, how good was Lord Hashirama at gambling?" Jing Hang asked.

"Uh, naturally, he was... Hey, you've practically shaken those dice to pieces already. Hurry up and open it." A flicker of embarrassment passed through Tsunade's eyes, and Jing Hang could not help smiling to himself. It seemed that the man hailed as the God of Shinobi, Lord Hashirama, was also the type who was terrible at gambling yet hopelessly addicted to it.

"Open. Three sixes! Pay up!" Jing Hang lifted the dice cup and triumphantly waggled his eyebrows at Tsunade. This famously fat lamb of the gambling world truly lived up to her reputation.

"No way, that actually worked? Did you cheat with Iron Sand?" Tsunade's eyes widened as she unwillingly tossed the coins in her hand to Jing Hang.

"What kind of person do you take me for? Would I cheat while playing with my own girlfriend?" Jing Hang laughed in exasperation, but then an idea flashed through his mind like lightning. He suddenly grabbed Tsunade's hand tightly.

"Is gambling popular in Hidden Leaf Village?"

"Very popular. My grandpa started it, after all. My second grandfather, Teacher Hiruzen, and several of the village's elder advisors are practically all old gambling addicts. Every Hidden Leaf ninja I know likes to play a few rounds when they don't have missions."

"What do they play? Where do they play?" Jing Hang looked somewhat excited.

"What do they play? Everything. Slot machines, pinball machines, cards, dice, pai gow, baccarat, mahjong. There's an entire street in Hidden Leaf Village filled with little gambling dens like that. Why, do you want to go?" Tsunade asked suspiciously.

Jing Hang carefully worked through the calculations in his mind, gradually refining his idea. No matter which parallel world it was, gambling was undoubtedly one of the most profitable industries in existence. Just look at Macau: its land area was only 32.9 square kilometers, and its total population only 683,200. Yet gambling generated more than 240 billion Australian dollars in output every year. Add real estate, tourism, dining, entertainment, and other related industries, and it became a business worth nearly a trillion. If Americans could build a Las Vegas in the western desert, why could Hidden Sand Village not build its own gambling city in the Land of Wind?

Jing Hang had read The Biography of Stanley Ho before his transmigration. There were three key elements to operating a casino: first, enormous cash flow; second, powerful security; third, extensive personal connections. Counting them off on his fingers, he seemed to have all three!

In terms of financial strength, Hidden Sand Village was no longer as destitute as it had been two years ago. Hourglass Group had completely opened up the market, making a fortune by reselling supplies during the war. Ninja blades, canned food, tactical boots, and tactical vests sold as fast as they were produced, bringing in at least 80 million ryo in profit every month!

Moon Lake New District's agricultural development had also begun taking shape. Grain, pork, mutton, chicken, vegetables, fruit, and medicinal herbs could not only meet local needs, but had even begun gradually supporting Hidden Sand Village. Once the Sand-Moon Expressway was completed, Jing Hang believed that Hidden Sand Village's food shortage would become history. It might even become a food exporter. As things stood, Hidden Sand Village had 500 million ryo in usable treasury funds, and that figure would reach at least one billion ryo by the end of the year. Money was not a problem!

Then there was security. Hidden Sand Village was one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, after all. Although the Second Shinobi War had cost it some manpower, Maki's tireless recruitment efforts in Moon Lake New District had significantly restored the village's overall strength. The number of bloodline-limit clans and secret-technique clans had clearly increased, while many famous wandering ninja and rogue ninja had openly or secretly joined Sunagakure's forces. Hidden Sand Village was now even stronger than before the war, and it could easily field ten thousand ninja. Security and military force were even less of a problem.

As for connections, those were even less of a concern. Jing Hang himself was the Kazekage, and his relationship with Hidden Leaf Village's upper ranks was excellent. Hidden Cloud and Hidden Stone Village had never gone to war with them. Establish diplomatic ties? After the war, he could make the rounds through diplomatic visits, then invite them over for a few games. Wouldn't those connections naturally be established? As for Hidden Mist Village, that could wait...

As this chain of thought gradually closed into a loop, Jing Hang slowly smiled.

"Hey! Hey! Wake up! What are you thinking about? Since when did you develop this habit of grinning foolishly?" Tsunade waved a hand in front of Jing Hang's face, utterly puzzled.

"Haha, darling, how about I build you a gambling city?" Jing Hang held Tsunade by the shoulders and gave her an excited shake.

"A gambling city?" Tsunade looked completely bewildered.

"That's right, a gambling city! Just imagine it: a city centered around gambling and entertainment! The entire city would be filled with high-end casinos, hotels, and all kinds of entertainment venues. Here, you could drink the finest wine, eat the most delicious food, and play every kind of game you could imagine in magnificent top-tier casinos..."

As Jing Hang continued describing it, a grand blueprint for a gambling industry slowly unfolded. Tsunade's eyes grew brighter and brighter as she listened, until she finally hugged Jing Hang and asked with stars in her eyes.

"Really? Does a place like that really exist?"

"Not yet, but it definitely will in the near future! I'm going to lay the first brick for that city right now!" Jing Hang put away the gambling tools and loose change, then turned to leave.

"The first brick? What's that?"

"You silly girl, of course it's the report to the Hearing Committee. I can't do this alone, but a group of people can." Jing Hang smiled and tapped Tsunade on the forehead.

"I'll help too!" Tsunade excitedly raised her right hand.

Perhaps even Jing Hang himself had not expected that his report would cause such an enormous reaction within Hidden Sand Village's Hearing Committee. No one objected. Instead, everyone demanded that this venture could not be nationalized like Hourglass Group. Everyone had to be allowed to enjoy the benefits of reform, and ideally, families should raise their own funds to buy shares!

Several old men nearly came to blows right at the hearing over how the shares should be divided. By the afternoon, someone had somehow leaked the news, and clans outside the Hearing Committee actively demanded to attend as well. Why should you old geezers keep it all to yourselves? We want shares too! A simple hearing eventually had no choice but to become an expanded conference. How expanded did it become?

Put it this way: by the next afternoon, Maki and Garukei from Moon Lake New District had arrived with representatives from the district. In the end, even Rasa and Yura, far away in the Land of Rain, sent word that they would dispatch representatives to attend. After all, everyone could clearly sense that Jing Hang's initiative might become one of the most profitable businesses after the war. To prevent information leaks, Jing Hang simply made the decision to convene the first Hidden Sand Village Representative Congress and settle a whole series of issues in one stroke.

This move immediately alarmed every force around the Land of Wind. They thought Jing Hang was reorganizing his army and preparing to launch a new round of war. Even the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, wrote to ask about the situation—hoping that Brother Jing Hang would temporarily quell his anger, cherish the hard-won peace of the current Wind-Fire-Rain-River Region, and refrain from wielding the weapons of unjust war, lest countless living beings suffer undeserved calamity... His words were exceedingly earnest, carrying all the bearing of a benevolent elder. Jing Hang did not know whether to laugh or cry. I'm just doing some construction. Is that really necessary?