66 Mingcha Street.
Rinjin sat cross-legged by his small pond with his pants rolled up, leisurely holding a fishing rod.
On the cushion beside him, Itachi knelt politely.
"Grandpa Rinjin, Sasuke..."
"What about Sasuke?" Rinjin asked.
"Sasuke... Sasuke... he doesn't want to remove the curse mark."
Hearing this, Rinjin's eyes narrowed slightly. He glanced casually at Itachi beside him and said with a smile:
"If he doesn't want to, then don't~ It's not a big deal. Worst case, you just keep a closer eye on him."
At these words, Itachi's face immediately filled with distress.
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about, Grandpa Rinjin. The Third Hokage has passed away, and my agreement with him is complete. Um... you know, my father and mother are pushing pretty hard, and Izumi is also..."
Itachi was indeed a brother complex, but his little brother wasn't so little anymore. He was safe in Konoha, had life-or-death companions, and lately Itachi had been getting on his rebellious brother's nerves with his nagging.
Though the brothers still had a good relationship, Itachi felt it was time to let his brother venture out on his own.
Most importantly, their whole family was in the Hidden Rain Village, and it was only a three-day bus ride back to Konoha to check on Sasuke.
Meanwhile, Rinjin looked at the hesitant Itachi, his mouth habitually curling up.
"Don't worry too much about Sasuke's curse mark... How about this—I'll have the village assign Izumi to Konoha for long-term missions. Your brother, you watch him! If it really doesn't work out, I'll just take out Orochimaru. I don't have any relationship with that guy anyway!"
With that, Rinjin tossed aside his fishing rod, casually pulled a water plant from the pond's edge and threw it into his fish basket, then got up and walked into the house.
A month later, at the Golden Casino in Yugakure.
After wandering around in circles, Jiraiya and Naruto finally found Tsunade at a mahjong table, her face resting on the back of her hand with a bored expression.
"Mahjong!"
Tsunade listlessly pushed the tiles in front of her forward.
"Self-drawn pure suit."
As soon as she spoke, the other three professional actors began their performances.
The player to her right frowned deeply, his face full of regret as he heavily pushed his tiles forward:
"Damn it, I was just one four-character tile away from winning. Ugh~"
The player to her left had a different acting style—wearing a fake smile, saying "awesome play" while his eyes showed just the right amount of jealous light.
As for Tsunade's opposite player, the silent type who'd been losing kept shuffling tiles with his head down, his face flushed red, perfectly embodying what it meant to be tilted.
At one mahjong table, three people were acting.
Meanwhile, Tsunade looked completely indifferent, as if she wasn't the one who had won.
So boring~
She'd been winning for twenty years.
Whenever she arrived at a new place, she'd lose for the first two days. But after two days, her gambling luck would completely flip, and she'd win until her hands were sore.
At first she was thrilled—that feeling of early suppression followed by late-game domination was even better than power fantasy novels!
But playing the same routine for twenty years... she was sick of it~
With pure luck games like dice rolling, she could win from the casino's opening until it went bankrupt.
Now she couldn't feel any pleasure from gambling tables at all!
She'd once suspected someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. But as she won more and more, until the money in her warehouse was piled so high it couldn't fit anymore, her suspicions were dispelled.
No other reason—Rinjin simply didn't have that much money to manipulate things, and neither did the Hidden Rain Village!
What she didn't know was that Rinjin had set up a printing press with the Fire Country Daimyo twenty years ago. However much money Tsunade won, he'd print that much currency and inject it into the market.
The result was that the amount of Fire-Rain joint currency in the market remained the same, keeping prices stable, while the two countries could acquire more social resources and wealth through continuous joint printing.
Materials flowed into the two countries, currency flowed to merchants. Merchants made purchases and spent money, currency flowed to civilians and ninja. A large portion of the currency collected by casinos ultimately flowed into Tsunade's hands.
When Tsunade bought things, Rinjin, who controlled vast material resources, sold things to Tsunade. This money ultimately returned to Rinjin's hands, becoming liquidity that continued flowing in all directions.
Simply put, to help his wife quit gambling, Rinjin had turned the casino into an entire industry chain that supported countless people. He was the starting point, Tsunade was the endpoint.
No matter how much money Tsunade won or spent, he could recycle all that useless paper.
This operation would probably make even Uchiha Madara shout "666!"
Back to the main story—Jiraiya's arrival made Tsunade quite pleasantly surprised. She carelessly tossed the chips from her drawer onto the table and slammed it hard:
"These chips are yours! I've got friends visiting today, so I'm done playing~"
With that, she led the rosy-cheeked Shizune and the master-student duo out of the casino.
On the street, the beaming Tsunade boldly patted her magnificent chest and waved her hand grandly:
"Brother, what do you want to eat? Today I'm treating!"
Seeing this, Jiraiya, who was already somewhat suspicious, was stunned.
What the hell? Tsunade treating? She has money to treat people? Did the sun rise in the west?
Looking around, he saw people coming and going on the street, but surprisingly no creditors chasing Tsunade for debts. Only then did Jiraiya accept the premise that Tsunade had money.
"Uh... whatever. I'm here on a village mission this time."
"Then put the mission aside for now and find a place to have a few drinks! We haven't seen each other in so many years—let's catch up properly."
As she spoke, Shizune, who was holding Tonton nearby, smiled and interjected:
"Sensei, Jiraiya-sama, the street isn't a place to talk. We should find somewhere to sit down first~"
"Right!" Tsunade nodded.
Soon, the four entered a luxuriously decorated tavern, found a corner table, and sat down. Jiraiya's expression became somewhat serious as he spoke:
"Tsunade, Sarutobi-sensei... died in battle."
Across the table, Tsunade, who was pouring herself tea, paused slightly, her smile slowly fading.
"Died in battle? Who killed him?"
Hearing this, Jiraiya sighed deeply, his eyes carrying a hint of self-blame.
"It was... it was Orochimaru."
At these words, Tsunade's beautiful eyebrows immediately furrowed.
She wasn't happy with her old teacher, true, but she'd never considered something as outrageous as killing one's master.
Orochimaru had gone too far with this!
After a long silence, Tsunade slowly raised her head to look at Jiraiya.
"So what's this... mission you mentioned?"
Hearing this, Jiraiya immediately straightened up and said seriously:
"The village leadership has decided to have you return and assume the position of Fifth Hokage!"
His resounding words fell, and Tsunade fell silent once again.
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