After packing their luggage, Naruto and Jiraiya walked past Konoha Gate together.
Looking at the continuous green color in the distance, Naruto took a long breath and rubbed his sore eyes. The nerves that were usually tense due to work relaxed a little. He also had to admit that the human body still instinctively closes to nature.
After leaving the gate of Konoha, the scenery on both sides of the official road opened up. Jiraiya put his hands behind his head and held a grass stem in his mouth. He was lazily looking around, but his eyes were looking around dishonestly.
"Hey, Naruto, look at that town over there, the smoke is curling up from the cooking pots, and there's a good story right there." Jiraiya nudged Naruto with his elbow, who was walking next to him like a javelin, "I'm telling you, in a tavern in a place like this, the proprietress is the most charming. Let's go and have a rest, and I'll be able to learn about it."
Naruto is looking steadily, and the pace under his feet has not changed at all. "Our current traveling speed is five kilometers per hour. According to the map, 27 kilometers ahead is 'Shukawa Station', which is larger, more well-supplied, and safer. Unplanned detours will disrupt the itinerary and increase the risk of traveling at night."
"You kid, you really don't have any fun at all." Jiraiya curled his lips, "In life, you have to do whatever you want and always follow the plan. What's the difference between that and wood?"
Naruto did not answer the call. In his opinion, doing whatever you want is the source of chaos and a breeding ground for avoidable casualties. He just silently calculated the physical consumption and supply inventory, and his brain automatically planned the optimal route.
Although he also knew that these calculations were unnecessary, he was already used to it.
In the end, Jiraiya still couldn't defeat Naruto. But when the two arrived at Shukawa Station and it was getting late, Jiraiya pointed to the busiest pub on the corner of the street and showed a firm attitude.
"After a long day's journey, why don't you have a drink at the head office? This is a necessary rest, in order to restore physical strength and spirit, and it is also part of the plan!" He gave himself a high-sounding reason.
Naruto looked at the sky, then glanced at the lights and figures in the tavern, and nodded. Proper relaxation can indeed maintain the mental health of operators.
Of course, this was only a secondary reason. The more important reason was that he felt that if he didn't agree to Jiraiya, Jiraiya could spend the rest of the night nagging.
The tavern was bustling with people, mixed with the smell of alcohol, sweat and cheap powder. As soon as Jiraiya stepped in, it was like a fish returning to water, and several women dressed in gorgeous clothes immediately gathered around.
"Oh, this uncle looks so bold!"
"Are you alone? Do you want us sisters to have a few drinks with you?"
Jiraiya laughed loudly and sat down unceremoniously in the booth. He was surrounded by women on both sides. A few dirty words made them giggle. They soon became brothers and drank large glasses of ale one after another.
Naruto didn't join in the fun. He chose an inconspicuous spot in the corner and ordered a glass of milk. His eyes calmly swept across the audience, taking in all the positions, expressions, and frequency of eye contact of everyone.
The woman who poured wine for Jiraiya wiped her finger on the rim of the cup without leaving a trace. The bartender behind the bar always glanced at Jiraiya's money bag intentionally or unintentionally. The men surrounding Jiraiya seemed to be drinking separately, but their positions were vaguely surrounded by a circle, blocking the route to the door and the back window.
A criminal gang that uses women as bait, combined with anesthetics or drugs, to extort or steal. The conclusion is automatically generated in Naruto's mind. The techniques are rough, the coordination is unfamiliar, and there are many loopholes.
He saw Jiraiya already lying on the table, looking very drunk, and muttering something about "one more drink." The leader, the man with a scar on his chin, winked at his accomplice, and quietly touched Jiraiya's lower back with one hand.
Just when the scarred man's hand was about to touch the target, a ghostly palm rested on the back of his neck.
The scarred man's whole body froze, and he didn't even see clearly how the person behind him came.
"Don't move."
The cold voice sounded close to his ears, without any emotion, but it made the blood all over his body almost freeze. A stream of cold air rushed from the tailbone to the sky. He felt that the hand on his neck could crush his neck bones at any time.
"There are seven of your accomplices in total. Two are at the door, one is at the bar, and four are around you. Which of them do you want to die first?"
The scarred man's back instantly soaked with cold sweat. What kind of monster is this? He just blinked and saw all the arrangements clearly.
He wanted to resist, but his body refused to obey him at all. The next second, there was a sharp soreness and numbness in the back of his neck, and his vision went dark. He couldn't even hum, and then he collapsed softly and lost consciousness.
The whole process was so fast that almost no sound was made.
It wasn't until the scarred man fell to the ground that his accomplices reacted.
"Boss!"
"Who are you!"
The nearest strong man roared, picked up the wine bottle, and threw it at Naruto.
Naruto dodged sideways, rushed forward, and hit the strong man's elbow joint with a knife accurately. The crisp sound of the bones being dislocated was perfectly covered by the noise of the tavern. As soon as the strong man's scream reached his mouth, Naruto grabbed his throat with his other hand and suppressed it, his face turned the color of pig liver.
Less than fifteen seconds.
When other people in the tavern noticed the movement here, the battle was over. The seven liars, together with the Scarface leader, were all lying on the ground in various twisted postures, either unconscious or twitching in pain, but unable to make a sound. Either their joints or their nerves, their mobility was completely destroyed using the most precise and efficient methods.
Naruto dragged the half-dead scarred man like a dead dog into the back alley. A basin of cold water woke him up.
"I ask, you answer." Naruto squatted down, his voice so calm that it made people panic, "This town, and all the surrounding towns. The locations of casinos, underground banks, and black market trading points. Who is the person in charge and what is his background. Draw them all."
The scarred man looked at Naruto's unruffled blue eyes and felt strongly that he was not dealing with a normal person. He tried to speak harshly, but what he got in return was the severe pain of his finger joints being broken in the opposite direction one by one.
In the end, under that kind of high-pressure scrutiny, his psychological defense completely collapsed, and he cried and poured out everything he knew.
When Naruto returned to the tavern with a simple map filled with various marks, Jiraiya had already sat up straight, still half drunk. He smiled and looked at the liar tied up with a rope on the ground, and then looked at the map in Naruto's hand.
"Oh my, I wanted to see how your kid ended up." Jiraiya stretched out and chuckled, "But that's okay. With you here, I can feel free to be deceived in the future. Anyway, someone will always tell the truth in the end."
Naruto ignored his teasing and spread out the map on the table. His fingers passed over the locations marked with scrawled handwriting, and finally stopped at a circled red dot.
"The three loan sharks at Shukawa Station, the two from 'Deadwood Town' in the north, and the four from 'Tanzaku Town' in the east... all of them jointly hold a huge debt that cannot be recovered. The creditor is the same person."
Naruto paused for a moment, and he suddenly realized that among the three apprentices of the dignified Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, one was lustful, the other was a gambler, and Orochimaru had too many shortcomings to count.
Is there also a huge loophole in Konoha's education system?
"A blond woman who always loses every bet but is addicted to gambling. Based on the analysis of the flow and time of these debts, there is a 93% probability that the target 'Tsunade' is currently located at Tanzaku Town."
The smile on Jiraiya's face faded. He leaned over and looked at the map, his eyes becoming serious. He thought he would search all over the world, but he didn't expect that Naruto just entered a tavern and directly locked on the final target. This kind of efficiency made even a veteran like him feel astonished.
The two set out overnight, and at noon the next day, they arrived at Tanzaku Town, which is famous for its casinos and entertainment.
People were coming and going on the street, and there were luxurious shops and noisy casinos everywhere. Jiraiya was gearing up. "Okay, we're here. This woman must be in a certain casino. Let's split up and look for her one by one. We can always run into her."
"An inefficient exhaustive method." Naruto rejected it outright, "Tanzaku Town has thirty-seven large and small casinos, not including those private underground gambling games. Even if the two of us find it in the dark, there may not be any results."
"Then what do you think we should do?" Jiraiya spread his hands.
Naruto did not answer immediately. He took Jiraiya into a secluded alley, and on an inconspicuous wall, he used stones to draw an extremely complex mark composed of several geometric figures.
After doing all this, he leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and waited patiently.
Jiraiya looked confused and was about to ask a question when a black shadow appeared in front of the two of them without any warning and knelt down on one knee.
"Sir Commissar." The voice of the visitor was hoarse. He was the ninja of Root.
Jiraiya's eyelids jumped. He knew that Naruto had taken over the root, but seeing these shadows who once only obeyed Danzo's orders, calling Naruto so respectfully, still made him feel strange.
Naruto opened his eyes and gave the order.
"Contact all the moneylenders in the city, big or small. Give them an announcement."
"Konoha, is willing to buy all the claims about a 'legendary fat sheep'... a blond female gambler at a premium of one point and one time the market price. Cash transaction, settled on the spot. Of course, some transactions are not actual payment, but giving a reason that they cannot refuse."
Root Ninja was stunned for a moment, but he immediately accepted the order without raising any questions.
"Yes!" The black shadow flashed and disappeared without a trace.
After Jiraiya listened, his mouth opened wide and he didn't close it for a long time. He finally understood what Naruto wanted to do.
"You kid... are you really a genius or a devil?"
Tsunade The name "Legendary Big Fat Sheep" is well-known in the entire underground circle. Her gambling debts are basically equal to bad debts. Now, suddenly there is a big financier willing to buy these bad debts at a premium. What does this mean?
The news was like a piece of the Rock smashed into a calm lake, causing huge waves in the underground world of Tanzaku Town.
Those creditors who usually avoided Tsunade and could only treat her IOUs as toilet paper went crazy. Holding the bad debts in their hands like gold ingots, they rushed to the meeting place designated by the Root ninja.
In order to realize their bad debts, they not only provided IOUs, but also sold all the information on Tsunade.
What kind of gambling does she like to play, what kind of cheating habits does she have, which tavern will she go to for credit when she loses all her money, which casino she was last seen in, which hotel she is most likely to be hiding in now...
Less than half a day.
The Root ninja appeared in front of Naruto again, holding a stack of documents and information thick enough to kill someone.
"Master Commissar," there was a hint of shock in his voice, "We have found her. Here are all her original IOUs, and... the address of the hotel where she is currently hiding."
He paused and added.
"In addition, from now on, you are Princess Tsunade's biggest creditor in Tanzaku Town..."