Tanzaku Town, the largest casino.
Beside a gambling table surrounded by onlookers, a suffocating silence hung in the air.
Tap, tap, tap.
Slender fingers tapped rhythmically on the table; each sound felt like a heavy hammer striking the dealer's heart.
Gulp.
The dealer swallowed hard, his eyes bloodshot.
Although the air conditioning was on, cold sweat dripped from his forehead one drop at a time.
His hands were shaking violently, and he could barely hold the dice cup.
Lost.
Lost again.
This was already the ninth round in a row.
The blonde youth sitting opposite him wore a tailored silk shirt and a pair of dark sunglasses.
He leaned lazily against the back of his chair, idly playing with a red chip in his hand, appearing completely disinterested in his surroundings.
In front of the youth, the chips had already piled up into a small mountain.
"What's wrong?"
Naruto tilted his head slightly, looking into the eyes of the troubled dealer, and quietly used Mind Reading and Spiritual Intrusion.
"Your hands are shaking... are you afraid?"
"Or is it... that this casino has no more money to pay out?"
Naruto's voice was calm and gentle, but to the dealer, it sounded like a demon's whisper.
"N-no such thing! This round... no more bets!"
The dealer gritted his teeth, a flash of ruthlessness appearing in his eyes.
As a veteran of over a decade, he decided to go all in.
His finger had already quietly hooked onto a miniature mechanism at the bottom; with just a press, he could forcibly change the dice count.
Go to hell, kid! I'm sweeping the board this round!
However, at the very moment his finger was about to touch the mechanism...
It felt as if an invisible energy pierced into his brain.
The dealer felt dizzy, and his fingers twitched violently; he couldn't press the mechanism no matter what.
"Open! Open!"
The gamblers began to shout.
He could only despairingly lift the dice cup.
"Three sixes, a triple."
Naruto didn't even spare it a glance, his tone flat.
"I won it all."
Whoosh!
The surrounding gambling addicts let out a chorus of gasps and wails.
The house lost miserably, and the small-time bettors who followed the house were also wiped clean.
Inside the surveillance room on the second floor of the casino.
A wrinkled old man stared intently at the screen, the cigar in his hand crushed to pieces.
"This kid... is too eerie."
A murderous light gleamed in the old man's eyes.
"Go investigate and see which family's young master he is. If he has no background..."
He made a throat-slitting gesture to his bodyguard.
Just as the atmosphere by the gambling table reached a breaking point...
Bang!
The heavy doors of the casino were kicked open with a loud bang.
"Hahaha! The weather is great today! This lady feels like her luck is coming!"
A bold and energetic female voice instantly shattered the silence in the room.
Everyone's gaze was drawn toward it.
There stood a woman with blonde twin-tails and a curvaceous figure, striding forward aggressively.
Behind her followed a distressed-looking female assistant carrying a pink piglet and a large suitcase.
The moment they saw this woman, the dealer, the boss, and even the gamblers with bloodshot eyes who had lost everything, all lit up as if they had seen a savior.
"That's—"
"The Legendary Sucker!"
"Great! We're saved! With her here, we can definitely win our money back!"
The previously oppressive atmosphere vanished, and the casino instantly erupted with excitement.
Tsunade didn't care about the looks people gave her as if she were an "ATM"; her mind was currently filled with thoughts of winning big.
She pushed through the crowd with an air of authority and plopped down in the most prominent seat, right across from Naruto.
"Hey, kid."
Tsunade looked at the mountain of chips in front of Naruto, a glint in her eyes.
"Quite the luck! It seems you're the biggest winner tonight?"
"Dare to make a big bet with me?"
Naruto adjusted his sunglasses and looked at the vibrant woman before him, a playful smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
He could clearly sense that the murderous intent lurking in the shadows of the casino had receded slightly the moment Tsunade entered.
It seemed the boss wanted to fleece the "Legendary Sucker" first before dealing with him.
"Why not?"
Naruto signaled Kabuto behind him to push the chips to the center.
"Since you are a famous senior, I shall accompany you to the end."
"Good! Splendid!"
Tsunade grandly slammed all the chips she had just exchanged onto the table.
"Shizune! Don't look so glum! When we win this round, we're going for a feast!"
Shizune said, on the verge of tears, "Lady Tsunade... this really is the last of our money..."
The game began.
This gambling match would be spoken of in Tanzaku Town for a long time.
Because it ended too quickly, and too tragically.
Thirty minutes—only thirty minutes.
The previously noisy casino fell into a deathly silence once more.
Even more so than before.
Tsunade sat slumped in her chair, staring blankly at the bare tabletop in front of her.
Forget winning back her losses; she had even lost her dinner money.
And the gamblers who tried to follow Naruto's lead weren't spared either.
Because every time Naruto made a large bet, he also controlled the odds, leaving both the house and the small bettors empty-handed; he was the only one winning.
"This... this is impossible..."
Tsunade pointed a trembling finger at Naruto.
"You... you definitely cheated! How could anyone win thirty rounds in a row?!"
Naruto stood up and had Kabuto cash in the chips.
"Luck is nothing more than an excuse for the weak."
[Ding!]
[Task: Get Rich Through Gambling, Completed]
[Obtained C-rank treasure chest x1]
Hearing the notification in his mind, Naruto straightened his clothes and turned to leave.
"Um... young master..."
The casino manager, covered in cold sweat, approached with a sycophantic smile, trying to stall for time.
"No need to see me out."
Naruto didn't even look back.
With that, he and Kabuto disappeared into the twilight outside the door.
A moment later.
In a dark alley outside the casino.
Tsunade walked out cursing, punching a large hole into the wall.
"How unlucky! That kid definitely has some issues!"
"Shizune, let's go after—huh?"
Tsunade and Shizune stopped abruptly.
For they saw the youth who had won all their money standing quietly at the end of the dead-end alley.
And at his feet, seven or eight burly men lay scattered about, groaning in pain.
These people were the casino's thugs.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part.
What was most terrifying was several ninjas wearing Otogakure forehead protectors emerging silently from the shadows.
They expertly stuffed the burly men into specialized bags, their movements so practiced it made one's skin crawl.
"Lord Naruto, these materials..."
An Otogakure ninja asked respectfully.
Naruto waved his hand expressionlessly.
"Although their aptitude is a bit poor, they are physically strong."
"Take them back to the base."
"I just released the old test subjects, so let them be the new ones. It's just recycling waste."
"Remember, from now on, only enemies can be used as test subjects. Don't go kidnapping people randomly."
"Yes!"
"Oh, and go pack up their boss as well."
The Otogakure ninjas quickly carried off the "materials," leaving not even a drop of blood on the ground.
Tsunade, having witnessed the entire scene, frowned deeply.
Such cold-blooded behavior instinctively reminded her of her loathsome old classmate—Orochimaru.
Beside her, Shizune stared intently at Naruto's profile.
Suddenly, in her mind, Naruto's face overlapped with a portrait from a newspaper.
Shizune's pupils instantly constricted to pinpoints, and the blood in her body seemed to freeze.