[Kakashi's Mission Log]
[March 13, Clear.]
[After two more days of tracking with Sensei Nasuhiko, we finally found Lady Tsunade in the next town.]
[However, Sensei didn't try to persuade Lady Tsunade to return to the village immediately. Instead, he had me monitor her to avoid losing track of her again, while he holed up in that capsule house, doing who knows what.]
[Although I don't fully understand Sensei's actions, I trust he has a significant reason, so I decided to focus on my part of the job.]
[It seems this mission will be a long-term one, so I've begun writing mission logs in advance to avoid forgetting any details…]
[March 14, Clear.]
[On the first official day of surveillance, Lady Tsunade, as Sensei predicted, went gambling early in the morning and gambled all day, making my monitoring fairly easy.]
[Today, Lady Tsunade didn't seem to have much luck; she didn't win at all.]
[Even a legendary figure like Lady Tsunade, one of the Sannin, is addicted to gambling, which gave me a deeper understanding of how dangerous the "Three Ninja Taboos" really are.]
[March 15, Clear.]
[Lady Tsunade spent another day gambling. The most notable thing was that she lost all day again.]
[Also, even though I've been in disguise, based on the glances Lady Tsunade occasionally throws my way, it seems she's already noticed me.]
[Fortunately, Sensei said from the start not to worry about being discovered, and Lady Tsunade doesn't seem to plan on exposing me, so for now, things remain peaceful.]
[March 16, Cloudy.]
[Another day of gambling, and once again, Lady Tsunade hasn't won. It's starting to make me wonder if the gambling den is rigging the game.]
[March 17, Overcast.]
[Same as before. Does Lady Tsunade really find gambling fun when she keeps losing like this?]
[March 18, Clear.]
[Same as before.]
[At noon today, the girl accompanying Lady Tsunade gave me some rice balls, saying she made them herself.]
[After chatting with her for a bit, I realized she seems to be one of my former classmates... though I still can't recall her name.]
[I never expected someone so inconspicuous would be by Lady Tsunade's side. What's their relationship, exactly?]
[Also, as a ninja, I can't just eat food from someone else while on a mission, so I politely declined her offer.]
[However, she seemed insistent, so I had no choice but to pull out the lunchbox scroll Sensei gave me, revealing the expensive eel meal inside…]
[And after that, she didn't come over to talk to me for several days...]
...
March 23, on the rooftop across from a gambling den in Nagatome Street.
Kakashi was swinging his short blade, training with full concentration on the rooftop.
A map scroll that Sensei Nasuhiko had given him was spread open beside him.
It used the principles of the Small Map Technique to monitor Lady Tsunade's movements in the gambling den around the clock. If she left a certain range, it would trigger an alarm to notify Kakashi.
This allowed him to focus on his training with peace of mind.
Once again, Kakashi experienced firsthand how technological advancements were changing the life of a ninja.
Secret Sword: Twin-Headed Dragon Slash!!
Swish, swish!
Kakashi lunged forward swiftly, as if he had grown a second right arm, slashing forward twice in rapid succession.
The two slashes were almost simultaneous, making it hard to tell which one was the real attack. It seemed to have significant combat value.
However, Kakashi still wasn't fully satisfied.
Whether it was the projection, the sound, or the real attack, none of them were perfectly in sync, which meant that an experienced enemy wouldn't be fooled by this move.
Just as Sensei had said.
Simply swinging a blade at high speed wasn't too difficult. Creating a projection of the swing wasn't too challenging either.
But perfectly combining the two required both considerable talent and painstaking, detailed practice.
After reflecting on his progress, Kakashi threw himself back into his rigorous training.
Secret Sword: Twin-Headed Dragon Slash!!
Swish!
After most of the day had passed, Kakashi finally executed a clean, seamless strike that perfectly blended illusion and reality.
Just as he was about to celebrate and was committing the sensation of the strike to memory, a soft clapping sound came from behind him.
Who was it?
Kakashi turned warily, only to see that it was none other than his target, Lady Tsunade.
"Kakashi, that move is pretty interesting…"
Lady Tsunade commented casually while eating a rice ball.
"Although it doesn't look like much, I bet it's pretty effective in combat."
"Did Nasuhiko teach you that?"
Kakashi sheathed his sword and nodded.
"Yes, Sensei Nasuhiko did teach me, but this is only the simplified version."
"That guy comes up with all sorts of strange techniques."
Lady Tsunade glanced at the map scroll on the ground and remarked with some exasperation.
Then she asked, "By the way, where did that guy go? Is this really how you two are handling this mission?"
"One of you is training all day, and the other one isn't even showing up."
It wasn't surprising that Lady Tsunade had come to ask.
After all, seeing Kakashi wandering near her for the past few days, she had expected Nasuhiko to start his second attempt at persuading her soon.
Usually, the people sent to bring her back would leave after being rejected a few times.
So she was also waiting for Natsuhiko's next attempt to persuade her, and she was ready to give him a proper lesson, showing her authority as a senior.
Unexpectedly, these two seemed so relaxed, as if they didn't take this mission seriously at all.
This made Tsunade feel like she had punched cotton, leaving her with a sense of frustration and nowhere to vent.
Although she wouldn't be swayed by them, they couldn't just give up like that either!
That's why Tsunade purposely came over to ask Natsuhiko what exactly he was up to.
However, Kakashi naturally wouldn't reveal the Sensei's plan.
—More importantly, even he didn't know what the Sensei was doing.
So he had to follow what the Sensei had instructed and tell Lady Tsunade: "Sensei said, Lady Tsunade, you seem so determined that the mission is probably unachievable."
"And once school starts, he probably won't be able to come out freely, so he plans to take advantage of this time to earn some extra money outside..."
In the next moment, Kakashi saw the rice ball in Tsunade's hand being squeezed flat.
"So he ran off to earn some extra cash..."
Tsunade was so angry she almost laughed, "It seems Granny's new disciple is even more decisive than I imagined."
"That's just perfect! I won't have to worry about you guys bothering me!"
After saying that, she stomped back a few steps and jumped off the rooftop.
It seems Lady Tsunade is really upset…
Seeing this, Kakashi wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Is it really okay for the Sensei to do this? Why does it feel like the difficulty of completing the mission has just increased...
...
And then, several days passed.
Just as Kakashi had conveyed, Natsuhiko was nowhere to be found, so Tsunade gradually stopped paying attention to it.
Today, as usual, she went to a nearby gambling house, feeling strangely confident that her luck would finally change today.
However, the moment she walked in, she sensed something was off.
The gambling house was unusually quiet.
Tsunade looked around and found that apart from the dejected-looking dealers, there were no customers at all!
"Where has everyone gone?"
She casually grabbed a dealer and asked about the situation.
"Uh… no offense, blonde lady, but don't you know?"
The dealer smiled bitterly and explained, "Yesterday, a new gambling house suddenly popped up just outside town, and it seems to have a lot of interesting new games, so everyone has gone over there."
A new gambling house?
Now that he mentioned it, there were indeed fewer people here yesterday.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued.
Recently, she had been betting on the same few things over and over, and she was getting a bit bored.
Now that there was a new gambling house, it was the perfect opportunity to check it out.
Without delay, Tsunade made up her mind and, dragging along Shizune, left the gambling house, heading in the direction the dealer had mentioned.
It wasn't long before they walked out of the street and, following the crowd, arrived near the entrance.
There, Tsunade was surprised to find that where there had previously been an empty lot, a building had actually appeared.
A steady stream of gamblers was entering the place.
Tsunade took a few steps forward and looked up, then noticed a rather long name written on the shop's sign: "Natsuhiko's Game Arcade."
(End of Chapter)