Though they doubted Yorin's scruples, free cat food and silvervine are free cat food and silvervine. In the end, Foreman Ban only asked Yorin, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya to swear never to reveal who made the machines—then got to work.
The engineer-cat squad was fast: in two hours they built Yorin's first pachinko machine. Half a day later, a whole row of brand-new pachinko units were ringing with "ding-ding-dong" steel balls and chirping with electronic sound effects, drawing eyes from every corner.
"Are you sure this is okay?" This time it was Orochimaru asking.
He's a highbrow techie—not exactly up on street life.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, had seen things. Sex and gambling go together; what club girl doesn't have a father with a gambling habit?
After studying the machines for a while, Jiraiya slowly nodded. "Can't say I fully get it—but I have a good feeling."
Orochimaru: "Since you say so, I'll go along. But three days, max. If we don't find Tsunade in three days, we stop."
Yorin: "Deal!"
Uchiha Yorin was supremely confident in his little steel-ball machines. In Earth's 21st century, calling them soul-hookers wasn't an exaggeration.
With sound effects, the clatter of balls, and the casino's décor, they create strong suggestion—almost hypnotic—making countless dopes pay willingly, even lose everything.
From Silver Fox to Cream-Filled, no one escapes the steel-ball magic—no one!
If people can't escape, Tsunade certainly can't—hee hee, hee hee, hee hee hee hee!!
Orochimaru: "…"
Jiraiya: "Uh, about that…"
Seeing Yorin on the verge of going manic, Orochimaru averted his eyes and pretended not to know him; Jiraiya braced himself to remind Yorin to take his meds on time.
But a second later, Yorin was calm again:
"Relax," he told them. "The doctors say I'm perfectly normal. Next we place the machines and wait for Lady Tsunade to show."
Konoha's name carries weight in the Fire Country. While it wasn't yet the super mercenary-state/Italian city-state relationship Yorin wanted, getting a noble with a casino to host the pachinko machines was easy.
Especially since Yorin promised that, for now, all pachinko proceeds would go to the casino—they wouldn't take a cut, and they'd even run newspaper ads. The casino boss grinned from ear to ear:
"There's a deal like that?" He agreed at once. The New Konoha Times started laying out articles—"Devil Machine," "A Swamp You Can't Escape," "Gamblers Feel Unwell if They Go a Day Without Pachinko"—that sort of thing.
Yorin looked like he took a loss—but not really. Using the chance, he pushed the New Konoha Times into the Fire Country capital and, from there, across the Fire Country.
No matter how prosperous Konoha is, the capital is still the capital—more people and more goods than Konoha by far.
Especially that sprawl of first–industrial revolution factories—smokestacks needle the sky, belching toxic fumes—made Yorin's eyes burn with greed. He almost blurted, "That should be mine."
…
Everything was set. Now—wait for Tsunade to bite.
Lay in wait to catch the tiger; bait the hook to land the golden turtle!
Tsunade: "What's with that racket? Go have a look."
…
Yorin's read was right. Tsunade knew the three had been looking for her.
And as they suspected, she was deliberately avoiding them.
Because she was tired.
Of Konoha, of missions, of fighting—of everything.
Thinking of death, failure, sorrow.
To force herself not to think of it, she could only drown herself in gambling—numbing herself with brief flashes of joy.
She knew it was pointless—worse than pointless. But so what?
To her, even life had no meaning… Yeah, no.
If that were true, in the original she wouldn't have gone after Naruto the way she did.
Yorin even considered dyeing his hair, styling it, and shouting, "I'm the man who'll be Hokage!" to boost initial favor.
But on second thought—nah. Each person needs their own playbook. Naruto's route might not work for him.
…
"Give it a bit—Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and that Uchiha brat will leave. Then we can relax." Tsunade toyed with her cup at an izakaya, muttering to the girl across from her.
"Tsunade-sama…"
Shizune, the black-haired beauty cuddling a piglet, sighed helplessly. "If possible, it wouldn't hurt to talk with Jiraiya-sama…"
"I'm not doing something that troublesome!" Tsunade shot it down without hesitation.
"I don't want ties to any of them!"
She downed her drink in big gulps, wiped her mouth heartily, and sighed "Ah~" before grinning: "Let's go cut loose! I have a feeling—today's my lucky day. We're gonna make a killing!"
Shizune: "…Ah…"
Anyone would find this kind of person a huge headache—Shizune was no exception.
If she could, she'd dump Tsunade and walk, but responsibility wouldn't let her.
…
"Which casino shall we hit today… Huh? What's that noise? 'Pachinko'? What the heck is that? Fine—decision made. We're playing pachinko! Hee hee—come on, Shizune—hee hee hee…"
…
A few hours later, in front of the machines—Tsunade stared at the falling steel balls, eyes glazed, as if her soul were being sucked in.
Click. Click. Click.
She yanked the lever again and again, but no new balls fell.
A pile of balls lay behind the glass, flashing in rainbow light and jazzy music—but they might as well have been on the moon. Just a hair more and the ball would drop into Destiny's Pocket—then all those balls would be hers!!
"Shizune! Go exchange for more balls!!"
She yelled to her pupil. But Shizune didn't move. That irked Tsunade even more. "What's wrong? Save the lecture for later!"
"But, Tsunade-sama." Shizune's voice was calm. "We're out of money."
Tsunade: "What?"
Shizune: "All told—ten million ryō. You lost it all."
~~~
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