First Meeting with Tsunade

"Didn't you see? That was Tsunade, one of Konoha's Legendary Three," Lin Chuan said after coming back to his senses. He was still thinking about Tsunade just now. She really was big and beautiful—no wonder so many people liked Tsunade in the real world.

"Lady Tsunade? What was she doing here? I didn't even notice until you mentioned it." Terai kept his eyes fixed on the mission target. The target had a scar over his left eye, making him easy to identify. He looked exactly like the photo on the mission scroll.

"Forget it. Tsunade is too far away from us. Let's deal with the target first and go back to turn in the mission." Lin Chuan suddenly stopped caring about Tsunade. He had no connection to her, and she could not help him. His blatant double standard immediately earned him an eye roll from Terai.

"Then why the hell did you bring her up?" Terai said speechlessly, looking at the ten-thousand-ryo note in Lin Chuan's bowl with a smile. "Lady Tsunade gave that to us because she pitied us. What should we be doing now?"

"Buying food, obviously. A beggar who gets money but doesn't buy food doesn't look much like a beggar." Lin Chuan raised his head and scanned the area around the casino. Most of the nearby establishments served alcohol, and the red-light district was not far away either. After all, sex, gambling, and drugs tended to go together, usually on the same street.

"Come on, come on, let's buy some snacks." Terai looked at the street-side food stalls and could not stop himself from drooling. He had not eaten grilled meat in ages.

"Let's go." Lin Chuan picked up the ten-thousand-ryo note and left the entrance of the casino with Terai. The casino thugs watching them immediately noticed and quietly followed.

When Lin Chuan and Terai reached a food stall and handed the ten-thousand-ryo note to the vendor to buy a few skewers, the note was snatched away by a taller casino thug. The man cursed at them as well.

"You filthy little beggars! You stole our money and still dare come here to buy food? I'll beat you to death..."

When Lin Chuan saw their money being taken and the vicious-looking casino thug standing behind them, he quickly squatted down, hugged his head, and curled into a ball. Terai had not even reacted before Lin Chuan pulled him down to curl up on the ground too, not daring to meet the thug's eyes.

Seeing how effective his intimidation was, the casino thug rolled up his sleeves and prepared to hit them. Then he noticed that the people around him had instantly cleared away, leaving him as the center of attention on the snack street. With so many people watching him bully two little beggars, he felt too embarrassed to strike and could only leave behind a threat.

"Don't let me see you again, you filthy little beggars..."

"Did you remember his face?" Lin Chuan asked Terai in a low voice, clutching his head as he kept his eyes fixed on the burly man from the corner of his eye.

"I remembered it. He's going to die horribly." Terai had not expected this either. He had thought they would wait until they had eaten a full meal before robbing them. Instead, the casino thugs were disgusting enough to steal even their lifesaving money.

Hearing that, the corners of Lin Chuan's lips instinctively lifted slightly. Then he noticed the beautiful blonde woman who had given them money among the crowd—Tsunade and Shizune. He quickly wiped away his smile. Their disguise could not be seen through.

"Let's go, Shizune." Seeing the money she had given the little beggars being stolen, Tsunade had no intention of helping. She was long past the hot-blooded age of youthful passion and could not be bothered to care about injustice anymore.

"Lady Tsunade..." Shizune also felt that the two little beggars were pitiful, but she felt that she and Tsunade were even more pitiful. They no longer had money to eat or stay at an inn.

After the burly casino thug left, the food stall owner drove Lin Chuan and Terai away as well. They could only return to the area near the casino, staring at its lively entrance. Their broken bowl remained on the ground, and they picked up a large cardboard box from the snack street to wrap themselves in.

"Eat a Soldier Pill first to fill your stomach." Lin Chuan took out a Soldier Pill and put it into his mouth. They could endure for a long time without eating, but those casino thugs would not live past tonight.

"I watched for a long time. The rogue ninja has a lot of subordinates around him. If we kill him, those people might interfere," Terai said as he watched the bustling casino. The rogue ninja moved through the casino, overseeing cheating and gamblers who caused trouble after losing money.

"Didn't you say they were going drinking? We'll strike after they get drunk." Lin Chuan pulled the cardboard tighter around himself. He had not expected the night to feel a little cold.

They waited like that until one or two in the morning. At last, the casino turned off its lights and closed for the night. The casino thugs chatted and laughed as they shut the lights, locked the doors, and left the casino in a group of more than ten, heading for the red-light district. The casino's nightlife had ended, but the red-light district's nightlife was only beginning. They would keep playing until dawn.

As for the two little beggars curled up in the corner, even if the casino thugs noticed them, they did not care. Who would care about two little beggars who were practically dead?

"They're gone. Should we follow them?" Terai quietly opened his eyes and watched the casino thugs' backs recede into the distance.

"No need. They're going to drink with women. They're such obvious targets that we can find them anytime in the red-light district." Lin Chuan gently shook his head and remained curled inside the cardboard box. He waited another hour before slowly standing up and calling to Terai, "Time to change clothes..."

"We're finally making our move. I've been waiting so long I can barely stand it." Terai climbed out of the cardboard box as well and licked his dry lips. The target had really made them wait.

The two went to the forest outside Tanzaku Town, found the ANBU uniforms and armor hanging in the treetops, and put them on. They then donned ANBU patterned masks and leaped toward Tanzaku Town's red-light district.

Before long, Lin Chuan and Terai reached a rooftop in the red-light district. Below them was the private room where the casino thugs were drinking with women. More than ten of them were inside drinking and fooling around. Hearing the wild laughter from the room, the two on the roof remained silent and patiently waited for their chance.

Lin Chuan even took the time to go to the toilet, leaving Terai to keep watch alone. He found an unoccupied corner, made sure Terai was not following him, took out a pencil, wrote a letter, tied it to a kunai, and only then returned to the rooftop above the private room.

It was not until four or five in the morning that they came to the window and quietly peeked inside. The rogue ninja lay on a large sofa, while casino thugs and lightly dressed women lay scattered all around him.

"Move." Lin Chuan raised his hand and gave the signal. The two quietly entered the private room, thick with the stench of sweat, perfume, and alcohol. They drew the snow-white, gleaming short blades from their backs and pierced the hearts of the casino thugs one by one.

Every casino thug stabbed through the heart woke from the pain in his chest. Seeing two mysterious figures in black clothes and black trousers wearing patterned masks, they showed terrified expressions. Before they could think any further, they died.

The casino thug who had stolen their money received special attention from the two of them. If time had allowed, they would have carved him into a thousand pieces.

After Lin Chuan and Terai finished off the dozen or so thugs, only the final target, the rogue ninja, remained. Lin Chuan indicated that he would make the kill. The casino thugs from before did not even count as samurai; they were a whole level below him, so his Life Points panel had not changed at all.

This rogue ninja was different. First of all, he was a Chunin, one level stronger than Lin Chuan, so Lin Chuan did not need to worry about too great a gap in strength. The only question was whether he had appeared in the anime. Only minor characters who had shown their faces had Life Points.

But just as his short blade was about to pierce the rogue ninja's chest, the rogue ninja suddenly snapped his eyes open and threw a smoke bomb at Lin Chuan. Lin Chuan changed his thrust into a slash, cutting apart the incoming smoke bomb. The private room instantly filled with thick white smoke.