Tsunade's Omen of Misfortune

Kaguya Yama slowly rose to his feet, his gaze beneath the black cloth sweeping over the street.

The sun was setting, and the lights of the gambling houses lit up one by one. Tanzaku Town's nightlife was about to begin, with more money and desire flowing through its streets.

For now, he needed more information—about Tsunade, about Konoha, and about this seemingly peaceful era that was actually rife with undercurrents.

As he turned to head downstairs, the shopkeeper had just seen off a customer. Hearing the movement, he looked up at him. "Young Master Sōji, are you heading out?"

"Yes, I'm going to take a look at Auspicious House." Kaguya Yama's voice was calm.

Auspicious House was the largest of the three gambling houses they operated in Tanzaku Town, and it was also the best place to gather information.

"Would you like us to send someone with you?"

"No need."

After waving goodbye, Kaguya Yama strode out of the shop, and the clamor of the crowd washed over him.

Leaning on an ordinary bamboo cane, he moved through the crowd. In the vision of his Six Eyes, every person's chakra flowed like flames of different colors.

Suddenly, he stopped.

At the entrance of a tavern three hundred meters away, an abnormally massive mass of chakra appeared.

Its quality and density far surpassed that of an ordinary Jonin. It was even more formidable than most Elite Jōnin he had seen over the past six years.

More unusually, that chakra carried a vitality so vigorous it was nearly violent, along with a faint, concealed chill.

Kaguya Yama's heartbeat suddenly quickened slightly.

That feeling, those characteristics...

He hurriedly adjusted the perception of his Six Eyes, piercing through the walls to see the woman inside the tavern clearly.

Long blonde hair, a blue diamond on her forehead, a bold sitting posture, more than a dozen empty sake jars piled beside her. She was laughing and chatting with the black-haired woman beside her, while the heavy white rabbits on her chest bounced wildly with her laughter.

Tsunade and Shizune. He had finally found them.

"Hiss... ha..."

Kaguya Yama took a deep breath like a whale drawing in water, forcing himself to look away.

He couldn't look too long. A powerhouse of this caliber would be extremely sensitive to being watched. He immediately turned around and casually entered a teahouse, taking a seat in the corner.

After waiting three years, his target had finally appeared. But how could he approach her? How could he make her willing to treat a Kaguya orphan of unknown origins who possessed the Shikotsumyaku?

If he directly sought treatment, she would surely refuse. Displaying his strength might draw her wariness, or even an attack. And money? Tsunade loved gambling, but she could not be bought with money.

He still needed a natural opportunity to establish a connection without exposing too many of his cards.

Kaguya Yama was not anxious. He had waited three years already; there was no need to rush now.

He then ordered a pot of clear tea, his finger absentmindedly tracing circles across the tabletop.

His Six Eyes devoted a sliver of attention to keeping Tsunade in the tavern locked in from afar, while his mind raced.

Suddenly, his fingertip stopped.

Gamble!

Tsunade was addicted to gambling, but her luck was atrocious. She lost every bet she made, which was why she had earned the nickname "Legendary Big Spender."

If he could cross paths with her at the gambling table and establish an initial connection as a fellow gambler, that might be a good choice.

But the risks were also considerable.

When Tsunade lost too much, she would smash up the place. And Shizune, the calm adviser at her side, was there as well. Still, this was the most natural and least suspicious method.

With that thought, he touched the money pouch at his waist.

The dividends from the merchant caravan over the years, plus his own savings—losing some of it in exchange for a chance to make contact was worth it!

But he couldn't lose too deliberately either. Tsunade was a seasoned gambler. If he threw the game too obviously, she would see through it.

Kaguya Yama finished his tea, set down the money, and rose to head for Auspicious House.

In the vision of his Six Eyes, Tsunade and Shizune had already paid their bill and left the tavern. They were wandering aimlessly through the streets, heading straight toward the district packed with gambling houses.

He quickened his pace.

The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and Tanzaku Town's lights had just begun to shine, illuminating the streets.

The clamor of Auspicious House reached its peak at midnight.

The smell of sweat, smoke, and the sweet, cloying scent of sake mixed with the fevered breaths of gamblers, steaming beneath the hanging lanterns into a hazy fog.

At that moment, the largest dice table in the house was packed so tightly that not even water could pass through. Sweat poured from the dealer's forehead, and his hands were trembling slightly.

This was already the fifth triple in a row that had wiped out the table tonight.

An eerie silence fell around the gambling table, broken only by the clatter of chips being swept away.

The mountain of chips before Tsunade was so high it could block her face, yet her eyes were not on the money. She merely stared at the hand she had just pulled back, her brows twisted into a dead knot.

Shizune stood behind her, pale as paper, while the little pig Tonton in her arms squirmed uneasily as well.

"Lady Tsunade..." Shizune's voice trembled.

"Let's go."

Tsunade rose decisively, the legs of her chair scraping the floor with a piercing screech.

She did not take the chips. Instead, she pushed straight through the crowd and headed outside. The gamblers automatically parted to make a path for her, and no one dared stop her.

The aura she displayed at that moment was enough to send chills down the spine of even the greediest person.

Kaguya Yama stood in the shadow behind the second-floor curtain, his Six Eyes beneath the black cloth silently watching Tsunade's departing back.

He had never seen anything in the original anime about Tsunade's so-called omen of misfortune, but in the vision of his Six Eyes—

He could clearly see some indescribable disturbance emerging at the edges of that vast Yang Release chakra within Tsunade's body.

However, he did not investigate it further.

After waiting three breaths, Kaguya Yama tapped the ground with his bamboo cane and quietly followed from the side entrance.

On the western side of Tanzaku Town lay an abandoned alley.

Moonlight was sliced into pale strips by the high walls, sewage slowly seeped between cracks in the stone, and Tsunade stopped in the middle of the alley, her blonde hair gently swaying in the breeze.

"Come out!"

Her voice was not loud, but it rang exceptionally clearly through the empty alley. "From the first throw of the dice, that gaze behind the second-floor curtain never moved. Don't tell me you fell in love with me at first sight."

From the shadows came the tap-tap of a bamboo cane.

Kaguya Yama stepped from the mouth of the alley into the moonlight, stopping ten meters away. He dipped his head slightly. "Lady Tsunade."

"A blind man?"

Tsunade raised a brow, her gaze sweeping over the black cloth covering his eyes before flicking to the hand holding his bamboo cane.

"You put on quite an act, but your stance, the distribution of your weight, and your breathing rhythm don't resemble those of a real blind man in any way."

"My eyes truly make it inconvenient to see, so I use other means to perceive the world."

Kaguya Yama replied calmly, "I am Yamada Soji, a mere merchant."

"A merchant?"

Tsunade let out a disdainful laugh and folded her arms, causing the waves before her chest to surge violently at once.

"A merchant only reeks of copper, but you carry a corpse's stench far stronger than that."

"And what's with that mess of energy inside you? Your chakra is decent enough, but what is that cold thing mixed in with it?"

"The resentment of the dead?"

At her words, Kaguya Yama's heart stirred.

Worthy of one of the Legendary Sannin. Even without specializing in sensory abilities, she could detect the existence of Cursed Energy through her experience and a medical ninja's acute sensitivity to the human body's energy.

"You may call it Cursed Energy."

But he had not intended to hide it either. "It is born from slaughter and grows through slaughter. As for the strange smell..."

As he spoke, he raised his left hand. His sleeve slipped down, and beneath the moonlight, the skin of his forearm revealed the faint outline of the bones within. "I believe it comes from this."

Before his words had even faded, an ash-white bone burst through his skin, carrying a trace of unnatural gray decay.