"We really found her..."
Yugao stared down the street in a complete daze, clearly in disbelief at how effortlessly they had located the legendary Sannin. She had assumed this tracking mission would take weeks, maybe even months. Yet here they were, barely a week into the journey, and the target was right in front of them.
Hm...
Why did she suddenly feel a sharp pang of disappointment?
"Should we go in now?" Suzuki asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Ah, um, I..." Yugao stammered, her cheeks flushing slightly as she looked away.
"Don't worry," Suzuki chuckled, his voice dropping to a smooth, reassuring whisper. "It's not like she's going to accept me as her student right away. We'll probably need to stick around and travel with her for a long time."
Yugao blinked, looking up at his face. Was he... teasing her? Wasn't she supposed to be the older, experienced adult here?!
Seeing her slight pout, Suzuki offered a devastatingly handsome smile. "Cute."
A shiver ran down Yugao's spine. She leaned in close, pressing her soft curves against his arm so only he could hear. "...Make sure you prepare for tonight."
"I can't wait~!"
Watching his innocent-looking smile, Yugao let out a helpless, breathless sigh. She wondered how things had escalated to this point, but she knew it was impossible to go back to how they used to be. She would be lying to herself if she didn't admit she was completely addicted to him.
They had spent two nights together, and her body... it felt as if it had been entirely reshaped by his touch. He might be younger than her, but whenever she was caught in his arms, she melted into a weak, pliant woman. She just wanted to dote on this surprisingly dominant, stoic boy who pretended he wasn't exhausted while carrying the weight of his ambitions.
"Have you ever been inside a gambling den before?" Yugao asked, pulling herself back to reality.
"Hmmm... not that I can remember."
Suzuki had never bothered with gambling. He was too focused on legitimate, high-yield businesses. Entering a casino where you could lose your money to pure chance felt foolish to him. However, owning the casino? That was a different story.
In an era severely lacking in mass entertainment, a gambling syndicate would print money. As Sarutobi's disciple, he could easily gather a few trusted associates, open a high-end gambling den, and expand into predatory loans and banking. If people couldn't pay their debts, well... Konoha ninjas made for excellent debt collectors. It was a flawless business model.
"You have that look in your eye again," Yugao noted, amused.
"No, I was just thinking of a new business opportunity."
"...You really aren't like a normal ninja at all," Yugao sighed. Yet, she found herself deeply attracted to that part of him. His ruthless ingenuity meant he would never end up as a broken, penniless veteran; he would be sitting comfortably on a mountain of gold when he was a grandpa.
They stepped into the den, and Suzuki immediately grimaced. It wasn't the glamorous casino he had pictured. It was dilapidated, reeked of cheap booze and stale sweat, and featured only a few simple games. A small crowd of desperate-looking men was gathered around a single dealer rolling dice.
"Come on! Come on! Place your bets! Put it all on the line!"
"Big! I'm betting it's big!"
"No, it's definitely small this time!"
"...No, yours are definitely big."
"TSUNADE-SAMA, FOCUS!"
They were playing Chō-han, a traditional Japanese dice game. The gamblers were fiercely betting on whether the sum of three dice hidden under a bamboo cup would be 'Big' (above 9) or 'Small' (9 and below).
At the center of the table was a woman who should, chronologically, be a grandmother. Yet, she possessed the impossibly youthful, flawless skin of a woman in her mid-twenties. Her golden blonde hair was tied in loose pigtails, but it was her chest that demanded absolute attention.
Two impossibly massive, incredibly heavy breasts threatened to spill entirely out of her loose green haori every time she slammed her hands on the table. The sheer volume of her cleavage was blinding, a bountiful display of raw, womanly appeal. Yet, not a single degenerate in the room dared to stare too long—because those breasts belonged to Tsunade, the Slug Princess of Konoha, and she could crush their skulls with a single finger.
"It's small! I bet on small!" Tsunade roared, slamming her fist down and causing her immense assets to bounce violently.
The dealer lifted the cup. "It's big!"
"Yahoo! I won!"
"GODDAMMIT! ONE MORE! ONE MORE! THIS TIME I WILL WIN!" Tsunade screamed, grabbing her hair in frustration.
"TSUNADE-SAMA, PLEASE STOP! WE DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY LEFT!" cried Shizune, the cute, short-haired attendant clutching a small pig.
"Just one more time, Shizune! Come on! Just once! I can feel it! My luck is turning! I definitely won't lose this time! Please, Shizune! Come on~!"
Suzuki narrowed his eyes. How could a legendary kunoichi, a woman worshipped by female ninjas across the elemental nations, degrade into such a hopeless, begging mess?
Even Yugao stood frozen by his side, utterly stunned as she watched her childhood idol throw a tantrum over pocket change.
Suzuki decided it was time to make his move.
BAAAM!
"...."
The entire gambling den went dead silent. The yelling stopped. The dice stopped rolling. Every eye in the room locked onto the table.
Why?
Because of the money.
Suzuki had just slammed a massive, brick-thick stack of bills onto the table right in front of Tsunade. It was easily a million ryo. The sheer density of the cash made the surrounding gamblers drool, their eyes flashing with unrestrained greed. But Suzuki ignored them all, his sharp gaze locked entirely on the busty blonde.
"I will bet all of this money," Suzuki declared smoothly. "If you win, you can use it to pay off your debts, gamble it away, or buy whatever you want—"
"I accept!"
Tsunade didn't even let him finish his sentence, her eyes practically turning into ryo symbols.
"Tsunade-sama, wait!" Shizune panicked.
"Calm down, Shizune! Look at him. He's just a kid! He's probably just throwing his rich daddy's allowance away! Let me teach this baby how cruel the real world is!" Tsunade licked her lips, her eyes glued to the cash. "Besides, how could I ever refuse such a plump, juicy little sucker?"
"..." Suzuki stared at her blankly.
On what basis did she think he was the sucker here? With her legendary terrible luck, the outcome was already written in stone.
As Yugao stepped up beside Suzuki, Shizune finally noticed her. "Huh? Yugao-san?"
"Shizune-san," Yugao nodded politely. She knew Shizune well, as the girl was her boyfriend's former classmate.
Hearing the exchange, Tsunade tore her eyes away from the money and finally looked closely at Suzuki. She frowned, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You're from Konoha, brat?"
"Does it matter?" Suzuki raised a mocking eyebrow. "If you're afraid of a real challenge, then just walk away, Grandma."
Tick!
A thick, throbbing vein violently popped on Tsunade's forehead. She glared at Suzuki like a demoness crawling out of hell, her massive chest heaving with fury. "When I win this, I'm going to strip you down and spank your bare bottom until you cry for your mother, you little brat!"
"You can consider that a bonus, Grandma," Suzuki replied, crossing his arms and looking down his nose at her. "Because the victor here is going to be me."
Like a dragon clashing with a tiger, the suffocating intensity of their auras flooded the room. The surrounding gamblers felt their hearts palpitate, their backs instantly drenched in cold sweat as the pressure threatened to crush them.
"I won't bully you," Suzuki continued coolly. "We'll play whatever game you want."
"I WILL TEACH YOU SOME HUMILITY, YOU BRAT!" Tsunade roared, ready to tear this arrogant kid apart, take all his money, and absolutely dominate him!
Yet, barely three minutes after the game officially started...
"I... I lose...."
Tsunade slumped over the table in total despair, having lost every single round in humiliating fashion.
"It wasn't much of a challenge," Suzuki muttered, looking away coolly, acting as if his flawless victory was the most obvious thing in the world.