War broke out again.
Unlike the Third Great Ninja War, this time it only involved Konoha Village and Kumogakure.
Moreover, it was mainly a series of tentative attacks.
Kumogakure's last invasion failed because Minato Namikaze single - handedly stopped the AB combination, namely A, the Fourth Raikage and B, the Eight - Tailed Jinchuriki.
But now Minato Namikaze had passed away unexpectedly.
Kumogakure couldn't hold back and launched an attack immediately.
If Konoha Village failed to defend without Minato Namikaze, they would surely make a huge profit.
Even if worst comes to worst, if they failed to get a piece of the "fat", it didn't matter. They could just hold peace talks.
Anyway, Konoha Village couldn't be so tough as to fight Kumogakure to the death.
According to the original plot, this war would last for two to three years.
Natsume remembered it clearly because Kumogakure, which came for peace talks, caused a big event.
Their leader intended to steal Hinata Hyuga, the eldest daughter of the Hyuga family, but was counter - killed by Hiashi Hyuga.
Using this as an excuse, Kumogakure demanded that Konoha hand over the murderer, or they would launch another war.
In the end, Hizashi Hyuga of the Hyuga branch family sacrificed himself for his elder brother to calm the situation.
Booklet Street.
A red - light district not far from Konoha Village.
In a nutshell, it had everything from eating, drinking, whoring to gambling.
It was a place that would never disappoint.
Natsume was now on the street, looking around.
Compared with Konoha Village under reconstruction, Booklet Street was quite prosperous.
There were all kinds of vendors, izakayas, casinos, and women in revealing clothes standing at the door.
In such cold weather, many people wanted to keep them warm with their own bodies.
Tsunade didn't care about anything. She carried a red box in one hand and led Natsume with the other.
She knew the place well and finally stopped in front of a casino.
"Natsume, use the [Transformation Jutsu] to change your face," Tsunade said, stopping and letting go of his hand. "They won't let you gamble in your child's appearance."
Natsume nodded and used the [Transformation Jutsu]. Suddenly, he became a man in his thirties.
"This face isn't bad," Tsunade looked him over and asked. "Who is he?"
"Don't know," Natsume said casually. "He's a stranger I saw on the street just now."
Actually, it wasn't true.
He transformed into Chow Yun - fat.
The classic BGM of the Gambler God should be playing at this moment.
"Let's go," Tsunade pulled open the door, and immediately everyone's eyes fell on her.
The leading casino owner noticed her necklace and his face changed slightly. "Could it be that person?"
"Who?" A croupier in a cheongsam was a bit confused. "Is she very famous?"
"Stupid!" The casino owner glared at her. "How can you be in the casino business without knowing her name? She's the legendary easy mark!"
By the end, he couldn't hold back his joy and burst out laughing.
Tsunade didn't care at all. She opened the box, showing the money inside, and said enthusiastically, "Exchange all of this for chips!"
"Sure thing!" The casino owner replied warmly.
Who in the Jianghu (martial - arts circle) doesn't know this easy mark always loses at gambling?
Here comes the money - giver!
Soon, the chips were exchanged. In total, it was 150,000 ryo.
It wasn't much, but it wasn't too little either.
In terms of a ninja's mission, it was basically equivalent to the reward for a B-rank mission.
Of course, mission rewards were shared among the ninja village and teammates, so one couldn't get the whole amount.
To earn 150,000 ryo, one would have to take on at least three or four B-rank missions.
However, Tsunade was one of the Legendary Sannin, and doing missions was an easy and enjoyable thing for her.
If she didn't gamble so often, she could actually live quite comfortably.
Just look at Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
The former was wandering in the ninja world, out of contact.
The latter was spending a fortune on scientific research.
"Give half to my disciple and let him have a go too," Tsunade waved her hand and said.
The casino owner glanced at Natsume and smiled.
The apprentice of an Easy Mark is surely another Easy Mark. What a stroke of luck for me!
Natsume got 75,000 ryo worth of chips and casually found a seat to sit down.
There were many games in the casino.
But at Natsume's suggestion, Tsunade only played a game similar to betting on big or small this time.
The rules were simple.
If you won, you'd double your bet.
If you lost, you'd hand over your bet to the dealer.
Theoretically, the probability was 50%.
But this probability only holds true when there is a large amount of data.
Over dozens or even hundreds of rounds, it was hard to maintain the probability at 50%.
In addition, the casino would take a 5% cut from the winners.
It was hard to lose.
The dealer shook the dice cup. After a moment, it landed on the gambling table, and he said, "Place your bets, please."
Tsunade hesitated for two seconds and threw down three chips, which was 3,000 ryo. She bet on small.
Natsume placed eight chips and bet on big.
He didn't bet all his chips because he wanted to see if Tsunade was really that unlucky.
The dice cup was opened. It was six, five, five.
"Congratulations to the guest who bet on big," the dealer said politely.
Tsunade was not sad but happy.
Although she lost 3,000 ryo, Natsume won much more.
She was addicted to gambling.
One reason was that it was her hobby.
The other was to forget the sad things in the past.
Actually, she didn't care about losing money.
But Natsume was different.
Tsunade now regarded him as her younger brother, so she cooperated with him in gambling.
In fact, she was quite happy.
But when she was happy, someone was unhappy.
Love Konoha: Konoha: Starting from Being Adopted by Tsunade. Please collect: (m.
The casino owner.
You two are exploiting a loophole in my casino!
Natsume's actions weren't discreet.
After a few rounds, other gamblers followed suit.
The casino owner's face became even more gloomy.
In fact, he didn't lose money, but he earned less than usual.
Watching others make money was more painful than killing him.
"Yeah!"
Tsunade counted the money. In just a few hours, she had won 100,000 ryo.
It was an unprecedented thing.
Although she didn't care about money, seeing the extra money still made her extremely excited.
"Come on, let's go on," Tsunade pulled Natsume and rushed excitedly to the next casino.
Dusk.
Natsume looked at his bankbook and was very satisfied.
After a day's work, they earned one million ryo.
It was equivalent to finishing an extremely dangerous and time - consuming S - rank mission.
"Natsume, you're still young. How about I keep this for you?"
Tsunade's lips curved slightly as her eyes swept over the bankbook.
Wait a minute. Why did this sound so familiar?
Natsume remembered that when he was a kid, his mom used to say something similar, but she was eyeing his lucky money.
He quickly shook his head and said, "I'll keep it myself."
Although he was just accompanying Tsunade, he couldn't miss out on the money he could earn.
Moreover, his organization needed money too.
Seeing his nervous look, Tsunade couldn't help but pat his head and smiled, "Okay, then you keep it."
Normally, she wouldn't feel at ease with other kids.
But Natsume was smart and sensible.
And it was truly his credit that they'd earned so much money.
"Let's do this again tomorrow."
Tsunade clearly didn't realize there was a problem.
But it wasn't a big deal.
They could use the Transformation Jutsu.
They didn't use it today because Tsunade always gambled as herself.
Otherwise, the title of the legendary "Easy Mark" wouldn't have spread so widely.
Back in Konoha, after dinner, Natsume practiced Wood Release for three hours. Finally, he got some alone time.
He began to think about his next move.
Now that he had one million ryo, he could rent a room to serve as a temporary base.
The only problem was that he had no one to help.
Kabuto Yakushi was still rather weak. It would take at least another two or three years before he became useful.
Natsume stroked his chin and suddenly thought of Karin and her mother.
It's worth giving it a shot.
After all, they were two Ninja from the Uzumaki Clan. It would be a pity to miss them.