Konoha, a Root base.
In the dark, damp room, only a pallid light bulb flickered, its feeble light utterly unable to illuminate the darkness farther inside. In the darkest corner, the scratching of a pen across paper continued without pause.
The thick stack of papers shifted slightly. The moving pen tip abruptly stopped, and the scratching ceased with it.
"Come out."
In the shadows by the doorway, a Root ninja wearing a red demon mask appeared, kneeling on one knee.
"Lord Danzo, the mission in the Land of Fire's daimyo's capital failed."
"Useless!"
Danzo flew into a rage at the news. The pen shot from his hand and instantly punched a bloody hole through the Root ninja's shoulder. Blood poured out, but the Root ninja did not so much as sway, let alone cry out in pain.
After venting his anger, Danzo glanced at his right arm, which still throbbed with pain. His gloomy expression grew even more vicious as he said in a low voice:
"What exactly happened on the mission? Did the daimyo and the Twelve Guardian Ninja intervene, or did ninja from another nation get involved?"
The Root ninja kept his head lowered, paying no attention to his profusely bleeding shoulder as he replied:
"The Senju Clan's head could use powerful Water Release Ninjutsu. Considering the repercussions within the daimyo's capital, we could only prioritize restricting his movements. Afterward, the Senju Clan's ninth son, Naoki Senju, escaped through the clan's secret passage, which was destroyed in the subsequent fighting."
Leaning on his cane, Danzo walked out of the darkest corner and into the light.
"Water Release Ninjutsu... Teacher, you certainly left plenty of contingencies. But what a pity. If you had chosen me instead of Sarutobi back then, how could any of this have happened!"
Danzo's gloomy eyes brimmed with resentment, and the Root ninja lowered his head even farther.
Glancing at the Root ninja, whose head was nearly touching the floor, Danzo asked with displeasure:
"What about the Senju Clan's bodies, and that child who escaped?"
"Of the Senju Clan's seventy-four members, seventy-three bodies have already been delivered to Root's research base. As for Naoki Senju..."
"Speak."
"Yes, sir. Naoki Senju is currently accompanying Tsunade of the Sannin. Hyo, Terai, and Shin are following them and keeping watch from the shadows."
"Useless! A whole pack of useless fools!"
This time, Danzo was truly furious. Letting a child escape Root's encirclement was bad enough, but they had even dragged Tsunade, one of the Sannin, into this. What use was a Root like this?!!!
Yet the pain in his right arm constantly reminded Danzo that he could not fully control this tremendous power. For now, he still needed Root's strength.
He exhaled at length, suppressing the anger within him. His gloomy face once again retreated into the depths of the darkness, and his cold voice emerged:
"Take every Root member still in Konoha with you. Make certain the Senju Clan is utterly annihilated. Also, if an opportunity presents itself... Tsunade of the Sannin need not return either."
"Yes, sir."
The Root ninja's figure slowly vanished, and Danzo's low snarl echoed through the underground base:
"Damn that Orochimaru. He must have deliberately caused the backlash from the Hashirama Cells. Damn him!!!"
Tanzaku Town, Yamanashi Prefecture, Land of Rice Fields.
Inside Tanzaku Town's largest casino, Tsunade, along with Naoki and Shizune, had become the center of everyone's attention, simply because these three guests were far too free with their money!
In a private room on the third floor, the casino owner, grinning so widely he could barely close his mouth, swore that in the dozen or so years since he had taken over the casino, he had never been as happy as he was today.
The casino's profits for this day alone were probably already over ten million ryo!
After all, even Asuma Sarutobi-the Third Hokage's son, an elite Jonin of Konoha, and one of the Land of Fire's Twelve Guardian Ninja-had a black-market bounty of only thirty-five million ryo. That showed just how enormous a fortune this was.
At the gambling table in the very center of the casino floor, the other gamblers had all voluntarily made room for the three Legendary Suckers who had appeared from who knew where.
"Naoki, are we still going to keep gambling...?"
Even Tsunade, who loved gambling as much as life itself, was beginning to want to head back for grilled chicken skewers, sake, and a soak in the hot springs.
That was ten million ryo. Had they really lost it all in just a few hours? She had certainly lost plenty of money gambling, but this was her first time gambling like this.
After offering Shizune a few reassuring words, Naoki witnessed Tsunade wanting to leave a casino of her own accord for the first time. Usually, she would lose every last coin and then run up a huge debt to the casino before reluctantly leaving, still wanting more.
"Big Sister Tsunade, don't feel like gambling anymore?" Naoki Senju looked at Tsunade teasingly.
"No."
Tsunade gazed ruefully at the mountain of chips. She had lost three million ryo in the last round alone. Normally, that would have been enough for her to gamble to her heart's content for a month.
Watching Tsunade's expression, Naoki understood. Tsunade did not actually care about winning or losing-or rather, she did not care about money. Otherwise, she only needed to cheat with chakra, and she would never lose. She simply enjoyed the thrill between the extremes of winning and losing. In plain terms, she had a gambling addiction.
Most gamblers entered casinos hoping to make money with money, and those were precisely the people casinos chiefly fleeced. Pure gamblers like Tsunade generally would not lose, and might even win a little, but Tsunade's luck... was simply unbelievably bad.
Even when the casino did not cheat, Tsunade could not win a single round. Unless something bad was going to happen soon, she was simply a sucker handing over money.
Naoki Senju pushed all the chips Tsunade had left onto eighteen. Gasps instantly rose around them. This table used three dice, with different payouts for different totals. Eighteen offered the highest payout, at nine to one.
Moreover, Naoki Senju had bet everything on eighteen without placing bets on any other total. Under the rules, if Naoki Senju won, the casino would have to pay out at eighteen to one.
Conversely, if he lost, Naoki Senju would have to compensate the casino with nine times the value of his chips.
And Naoki Senju's chips were worth a full million ryo.
As more and more people in the casino turned their attention toward them, the gasps grew louder. Cold sweat streamed down the male dealer's face. Because the Legendary Sucker Tsunade had been the one gambling all along, he had gotten careless just now and had not rigged the dice.
In other words, the dice beneath the cup really did total eighteen...
Once he lifted it, not only would the casino fail to earn a single coin, it would even lose nine million ryo. His life would be hard to save, too.
"Lift it! Lift it!"
"Lift it! Lift it!"
The onlooking gamblers, who lost money year after year, seemed to realize that the casino was about to suffer a setback. Every one of them seized this once-in-a-lifetime chance for revenge.
"Hehe, our casino is temporarily suspending business today. Please do us this favor."
As the rotund casino owner appeared, ronin carrying samurai swords filed out and began forcibly driving the gamblers from the casino. Behind the owner, an unusual presence appeared.
Finally realizing something, Tsunade turned toward Naoki, only to meet his eyes. Naoki gave a slight nod, and Tsunade tacitly refrained from looking upward again, lest she scare off this ninja of unknown origins.