Land of Fire · The daimyo's capital
"Leave no one alive! Kill!"
At the black-clad man's command, countless ninja hidden in the night slipped into the lavish estate. Beneath the cold moonlight, blades flashed, and every glint of chilly steel claimed another life.
The thick smell of blood spread in all directions. Even the bright silver moon overhead seemed veiled in blood, an eerie blood moon foretelling tonight's tragedy.
"Who are you?!"
A middle-aged man in a luxurious haori dodged a vicious blade in his sleep. After his instinctive shout, he caught the heavy scent of blood in the air, and his eyes widened in fury at the sight of the still-dripping katana.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."
The somewhat unpracticed yet powerful Water Release Ninjutsu hurled the masked, black-clad ninja holding the katana high into the sky, his fate unknown.
"Ninjutsu? Kill!"
The black-clad men throughout the estate kept converging, while several others concealed in the shadows quietly formed hand seals...
Land of Waves, a roadside gambling house.
"Fat sheep... ahem, honored guest, odd or even this round?"
The numbers on two dice were added together: an even total was cho, and an odd total was han. It was the most common and simplest form of gambling.
The gambling house owner, whose face alone marked him as shrewd, deftly shook the dice cup up and down before setting it upside down on the tatami. His gaze kept straying toward that thick stack of banknotes. Goodness, judging by the thickness, that must be at least a hundred thousand ryo. She really does live up to her reputation as the famous Legendary Sucker. I'm sure to make a fortune today.
The gambler sitting opposite him showed no discouragement over her losses. She slammed down a thick stack of banknotes, her clear voice lilting pleasantly:
"Odd!"
"Lady Tsunade!" The black-haired girl beside her could not help interrupting. "That's the last of our lodging money! If you lose again, we really won't have anywhere to stay tonight!"
"Don't worry, Shizune. I'm confident this time. It's definitely odd. Winning this round won't just get back everything I lost yesterday, it'll earn us even more for lodging and food. Don't you trust me?"
It's precisely because you're Lady Tsunade that I don't dare trust you!
The black-haired girl wanted to cry but had no tears. This was Lady Tsunade's thirty-fourth promise, but when had she ever left a gambling house with a penny to her name?
"All right, then I win if it's even."
The gambling house owner grew a little anxious. How could he let the fat sheep slip away right before his eyes?
The dice cup slowly lifted. Shizune stared anxiously at the narrow gap beneath it, hoping for a miracle.
Two and four made six. Even!
The miracle the girl hoped for did not happen. She cast a resentful glance at Tsunade. There would definitely be no lodging or hot bath tonight.
"Haha, your luck isn't very good, honored guest. But our gambling house offers loans. We can keep playing if you'd like."
How was lending money to a Legendary Sucker any different from picking up free money? It was rare to encounter this Legendary Sucker. How could he not fleece her properly?
Tsunade gently stroked her chin, a little hesitant. It was not the loan that gave her pause; she was considering which country to flee to this time. The Land of Rice Fields or the Land of Frost? She had heard the hot springs in the Land of Hot Water were quite nice, too.
"Lady Tsunade, we should go." Shizune tugged hard on Tsunade's arm. If they did not leave now, another sum would be added to their crushing debts. Unfortunately, how could her strength compare to Tsunade's? Even straining with all her might until her little face flushed red, she could not budge Tsunade an inch.
Just as the gambling house owner was about to fetch money from the storeroom and fleece the fat sheep again, the wind chime at the entrance rang.
With her keen senses, Tsunade frowned and turned to look, only to find two sword-carrying ronin and a boy. Although it was a little strange for such a young boy to visit a gambling house, what did that have to do with her? She straightened up indifferently and urged the owner:
"Didn't you say you offered loans? Where are the banknotes?"
But the owner ignored the fat sheep. Instead, he bent at the waist and approached them obsequiously:
"Honored samurai, have the three of you come to my humble gambling house to play a few rounds? Please accept this small token."
As he spoke, he handed the banknotes Tsunade had just lost to one of the samurai. Though his face was filled with pain at the expense, he dared not hold anything back.
The two samurai stepped forward instead, seizing the owner from either side and forcing him to his knees. The banknotes in his hands were passed to the boy.
"Honored samurai, Lord Ishida of the Land of Waves is..."
A resounding slap echoed through the little gambling house. With half his face instantly swelling, the owner obediently knelt on the floor, not daring another word.
It was because these people wore bright, luxurious clothes, and their bearing and physiques were entirely unlike those of the impoverished ronin who lorded it over the Land of Waves. Even the samurai beside the Land of Waves' daimyo could not compare to these two.
In the chaotic Land of Waves, even if these two samurai beat him to death, no one would avenge him. They would only swarm in to divide up his gambling house, wife, and daughters.
Holding the banknotes, the boy sat in the owner's former seat. Even though he had only stolen a quick glance, not daring to look a second longer, his heartbeat still quickened.
Those dice are so big. Pfft, those dice are so white...
Tsunade looked him up and down with an unfriendly gaze. About fifteen years old, a hundred and seventy centimeters tall, with decent looks and a good build. He probably exercised regularly. A deep-purple haori. A noble from some country...
As Tsunade scrutinized him with her sharp gaze, the boy offered up the banknotes and knelt in a deep bow:
"Naoki Senju pays his respects to Lady Tsunade."
Senju!!!
That surname exploded in Tsunade's heart like an explosive tag. How long had it been since she had heard that surname, ever since her little brother Senju Nawaki died...?
The next instant, terrifying killing intent ravaged the tiny gambling house, a faint frost drifting through the air. The two samurai at the entrance toppled stiffly to the ground as though struck by lightning. The owner fared even worse: his eyes rolled back and he passed out, his face flushed an unnatural red, looking as though he had little time left.
Shizune, beside Tsunade, was spared the killing intent, but this was presumably her first time seeing Lady Tsunade like this. She could not help clutching the pink piglet, which had been startled awake, tighter in her arms.
Yet Naoki Senju, prostrate on the floor, bore almost all of that killing intent. Even Sasuke Uchiha with his Two-Tomoe Sharingan activated had been unable to move under Orochimaru's killing intent. How much weaker could Princess Tsunade, another of the Sannin, possibly be?
Naoki Senju felt as though the blood throughout his body had stopped flowing. A trapped breath clogged his chest; he could neither exhale nor draw in fresh air. But everything he had endured before this would not let him submit. Naoki Senju bit hard into the tip of his tongue and, under Princess Tsunade's shocked gaze, slowly stood.
"The Senju Clan will never let itself be slaughtered!"
Then blood slowly trickled from the corners of his mouth and his nostrils, and his body pitched straight forward. Tsunade instinctively caught Naoki Senju. Looking at his handsome face, still resolute and unyielding even in unconsciousness, she momentarily overlooked the glaring blood.
Shizune came to her senses then, too. She looked at Tsunade's unfocused gaze, then at Naoki Senju's bleeding mouth and nose. With no time to worry about why Lady Tsunade's fear of blood had not flared up, she carefully took Naoki Senju from Tsunade's arms. Emerald-green light glowed in her palm: Tsunade's signature ninjutsu, Mystical Palm Technique: Resuscitation.
"Naoki Senju... Are you from the Senju Clan, just like Lady Tsunade? I hope you can keep Lady Tsunade from staying so dispirited."
The emerald-green light swept over Naoki Senju's chest, dispersing the trapped breath. His tightly furrowed brow instantly relaxed, and his breathing became smooth again. When she treated Naoki Senju's tongue, even Shizune, who had lived through the Third Shinobi World War, was somewhat moved.
An ordinary person who had neither molded chakra nor undergone ninjutsu or taijutsu training had actually managed to go this far. It truly was remarkable.