The chips were already on the table; I stared at Tsunade, and she stared back at me. It would be stupid of me not to know who I was; after all, I was in my adult form, not someone else's transformation.
"10 chips on number 20," Tsunade announced.
I glanced at the roulette wheel; the number 20 was black, so I figured she'd lose, and she went for something wider and more contrary.
(Note: I don't know what kind of betting options exist in the world, but considering there are screens for ads and such, I'm guessing regular casino games exist.)
"30 chips on red," I said confidently.
I watched as the roulette wheel spun quickly, landing on the black 1.
I stared in disbelief at how I'd lost, just watching Tsunade chuckle quietly as she looked at me, which made me a little angry.
...
I looked at my cards. I had three cards of the same rank, which gave me confidence, and to top it off...
"I bet 70 chips." I bet half of my remaining chips.
"Ha, I call," said Tsunade, who was two seats away from me.
"Equal," announced the old man, who was between us.
I looked at Tsunade, who was glaring at me, and I glared back. The game continued until all five cards appeared on the table.
"Show your cards," said the table.
"I have a three-of-a-kind," I said.
"Hahaha," Tsunade started laughing, which annoyed me.
"Fufufu, I have a full house," she announced, showing that she had formed a three-of-a-kind and a two-of-a-kind with her cards.
I stared in disbelief.
"I think I won," Tsunade said proudly, reaching for the chips only to be stopped by the 90-year-old man.
"I have a four-of-a-kind," he said, showing his cards.
We both stood in silence, watching as the old man took all our chips.
...
I stood outside the casino, staring into space, my transformation gone. A little ways away, Tsunade was doing the same.
We'd lost all our money; we hadn't won a single game. I had 500,000 ryō when I arrived and came back with zero.
"What a disgrace. Since you were there, I should have won every game, but instead, I was up against you the whole time," I complained.
Tsunade was there, so, being the legendary loser, playing against her was practically a guaranteed victory. But for some reason, I lost, just like her.
"It's nothing to do with me; it's just your bad luck," I told myself without looking at myself.
"The bad luck you passed on to me," I retorted.
We remained silent, unsure what else to say to each other.
I just wondered how she managed to get all the money she bet.
"There she is," a voice called from afar.
A group of armed men surrounded us; I glanced around at them all before looking at Tsunade, who seemed a little nervous.
"It's time you paid the debt you owe us," the man in the middle said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Tsunade replied.
"Fifteen days ago, we borrowed money from our group, about five million ryo, and yesterday was the day you were supposed to pay it back, but you didn't show up," the man stated.
I just stared in disbelief at Tsunade, who seemed even more nervous, especially since she was now pointing a gun at me.
"She has the money; I don't," Tsunade said confidently.
I was speechless; she had betrayed me.
"This little girl has the money; I don't believe her," one of the thugs said.
"But she's very pretty; maybe we can sell her. We'll get more than we gave that busty woman," said the man in the middle.
I was just holding back my fury and rage; I glanced to my side only to see that Tusande had disappeared, without anyone noticing. Something inside me ignited.
"Come on, little girl, unless you want us to hurt you," laughed another of the thugs.
I didn't reply; I just stood up and followed them where they were leading me.
...
"STOP IT! I'M SORRY! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN, I PROMISE!" screamed the son of the gang leader, the one Tsunade had borrowed money from and gone into debt with.
"Obviously he won't do it again, since you'll be dead," I said, crushing the guy's head completely with my foot.
His head exploded, blood and brain matter, along with other organs, splattering onto the floor, partially covering my clothes with blood.
I watched as the wooden clones I had created gathered all the valuables from the place, storing them in scrolls I had nearby.
The entire place was covered in blood and bodies strewn across the floor; all the subordinates had been brutally murdered by me. There were a few who were still alive, but with the limbs and organs they were missing, they wouldn't last long.
I fixed my gaze on the only person in the gang I hadn't yet killed, their leader.
He was squatting, his eyes closed, his posture serene; the only thing that betrayed his nervousness was the sweat covering his face and body.
"What are you going to do with me? I already told you all the valuable things we own; despite that, you killed my confidants and my children," he said in a serious tone, with much hidden hatred in his words.
"You should know, the dead don't talk," I explained the situation calmly.
...
After walking through the streets, I arrived at the place where the person I was looking for was located.
She entered the bar with a loud thud that stopped everything in its tracks. Everyone stopped what they were doing, but my gaze fell on a single woman.
Without wasting any time, I went to her table; with a single blow, I knocked over the table where she was getting drunk.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked incredulously, with a hint of annoyance.
"That's what I should be asking. Why did you sell me out to those guys?" I asked her angrily.
"I didn't sell you out. They asked for the money, and I didn't have any. But since you're the leader of the Senju clan, you must be surrounded by enough money to go gambling at the casino," she explained her reasoning. "Besides, from what I heard, you have the wood element of Grandpa Hashirama; a few thugs won't do anything to you. And tell me, did you pay my debt?"
I looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"You must be pretty pathetic if you let your daughter, who isn't even 12, fix the problems caused by your stupid depression," I said, annoyed.
"I'd rather be depressed and useless than be unsympathetic, have no real emotions, and not care about the people around me," she retorted.
"Did you call me unsympathetic?" I said, raising my voice as I lifted one foot and placed it on the overturned table.
"And did you call me pathetic?" she said, rolling up her sleeves and standing in front of me.
Our chakras surged to incredible levels, and our intensity caused everyone in the bar to flee.
Before we knew it, we were already throwing punches at each other.
...
"I can't believe I have to break the Senju clan leader and the Slug Sannin out of jail at the same time and in the same cage," Hitori said, standing next to a samurai of the daimyo.
Shortly after we started fighting, the daimyo's guard arrived only to arrest us, threatening to classify us as criminals of the Land of Fire if we didn't cooperate.
In the end, we were imprisoned for disturbing the peace and destroying the private property of a gang of gamblers—the same thugs I killed and robbed.
I had set the whole place on fire; I don't know how they figured it out. Furthermore, Tsunde was labeled an accomplice.
"Sorry," we both said to Hitori at the same time.
After hitting each other and hurling insults until the very end, we were finally able to free ourselves from whatever was holding us together. We're no longer on bad terms, but we're still far from where we were before.
In other words, we could talk to each other without wanting to beat each other to a pulp; it's worth mentioning that this is an exaggeration. Or maybe not.
"How much do we have to pay for the damages?" I asked Hitori.
"About 10 million ryo"; that hurt my heart.
After paying a small initial fine of what we owed, we went to meet with the Daimyo's minister.
After threatening him with hatred and my potential enmity and showing him that I now owned the place I had destroyed thanks to stealing the property deeds, the fine was reduced from 10 million to 6 million ryo.
After paying about 2 million ryo from what I got from the merchants, the three of us returned to where we were staying.
Once I got to my room, I started rubbing my temples because of the headache this whole thing was giving me.
"And we still have to continue negotiations with the daimyo; at least we have some land we can use for business in the future in the Fire Capital," I remarked.
"I never thought you'd massacre them all; I have to remember not to do something like that again, but something good came out of it," Tsunade said, sitting down in a nearby chair to drink sake.
"Speaking of nonsense, you owe me 3 million ryo. " Tsunade stopped mid-sip of her first sip of sake and was about to complain, but I interrupted her. "That 6 million ryo is from the destruction of the clans in our battle, something we both did, so you owe half. But since you don't have a penny, I have to do it myself. So you'll have to work for me and the clan for a while to pay me back what you owe, or you can pay your share of the fine."
Tsunade immediately shut her mouth upon hearing all that.
"Okay, you're right, I have to pay for what I owe somehow." Before, she could afford the things she did thanks to the passive income from the Senju clan, as she was the sole member, making her the sole heir to everything. But since I'm here, she only has the money from her jobs and a little more.
"I transformed the clan into a merchant organization, since the decline in power among the Senju in general is very noticeable. It was better to stop being a ninja clan and become more of a civilian one, so I won't make you do anything dangerous or anything that has to do with your status," I informed her.
"I imagine Jiraiya told you," Tsunade said, to which I nodded. She just sighed and took a sip of her sake. "Well, regarding the clan, perhaps this is better than extinction; a clan with only one or two members isn't worth much, no matter how strong it is."
After that, I continued talking with Hitori about how to pay the fine and how to proceed with negotiations with the daimyo. Tsunade listened attentively but didn't intervene.
The next day, the three of us, including Tsunade, went to the negotiations. I thought her presence would put pressure on the daimyo, and it did, but in a different way.
Tsunade has a good relationship with the daimyo's wife, so she knows some of his dirty secrets, something she didn't hesitate to use on him.
Not to mention that the guy tried to take advantage of Tsunade; after all, she's the most beautiful woman in the ninja world right now, something he threatened to tell his wife about if the negotiations didn't continue.
In the end, we were able to obtain the land in exchange for paying a relatively small amount of taxes and giving 10% of our profits.
We shouldn't be giving up any profit, but these guys weren't going to budge for anything in the world.
Under those conditions, we signed the papers, obtaining the first legitimate and real territory in Tierra del Fuego. Something the daimyo couldn't take from us for anything in the world.
This is because the Senju clan headquarters belongs to the village, which by default belongs to the daimyo, and the land I obtained from the capital is essentially the same.
With everything settled, we returned to the ninja village with the first part of the plan complete and with Tsunade following us to make us work to pay the aforementioned fine.