Tsunade finished her breakfast with a dark expression on her face. At that moment, she deeply regretted choosing to eat hot sukiyaki for breakfast—because it took forever to eat! Wanting to leave as soon as possible, she tried to eat quickly, only to be scalded by the heat, making it impossible to properly express her anger toward Natsuhiko.
After breakfast, Tsunade stormed out, intending to soothe her wounded spirit with some gaming.
"Damn it, Natsuhiko is so annoying!"
"Just because he's young, he thinks he's so great!"
"I'm just in my early thirties. What's wrong with calling myself 'big sister'? Should I call myself 'auntie' instead?"
Once again, Tsunade resolved to master the Yin Seal as soon as possible. Then, years later, when Natsuhiko would become an old geezer, she would flaunt her youthful appearance before him just to piss him off.
Tsunade soon became engrossed in this long-term prank, until Kakashi and Shizune, who were in the middle of morning training, greeted her and brought her back to reality.
In fact, Tsunade had already noticed the two sparring while she was having breakfast.
To be honest, though they were of similar age, their abilities were worlds apart. Compared to Kakashi, who had already graduated as a Genin, Shizune's skills were obviously lacking.
This made Tsunade feel a little guilty.
After all, as Shizune's mentor, she hadn't actually taught her much.
She had originally planned to bring Shizune out during this break to help her catch up on her training, but due to various unexpected events, there had been little progress.
It was all Natsuhiko's fault for making such fun games!
Tsunade effortlessly blamed Natsuhiko for everything, without considering that even before the arcade existed, she hadn't taught Shizune much…
After casually advising the two to train hard, Tsunade eagerly rubbed her hands together and headed towards the arcade.
Kakashi and Shizune, still standing there, could only exchange helpless looks.
Tsunade-sama's words and actions were completely contradictory, hardly setting a good example for them.
As Tsunade continued on her way, she saw the arcade in the distance, surrounded by many makeshift tents and a bustling crowd of merchants hawking various goods, making the place as lively as a marketplace.
It turned out that as Natsuhiko's traveling arcade continued its tour, it had attracted many customers who followed it along the way, growing into such a large scale.
It was no longer just a mobile arcade but had become a moving marketplace centered around it.
Although this scene had become familiar, Tsunade still felt a bit emotional.
Natsuhiko might be clueless when it came to romance, but he sure had a knack for business.
Not only could he create such interesting and innovative arcade machines, but he also thought of using the traveling arcade to advertise his machines.
Compared to running a stationary shop, this kind of unpredictable traveling arcade might even better spark people's curiosity.
Tsunade was well aware that in the past few days, aside from local residents, many people who weren't on the tour route had also come to see this legendary arcade.
Clearly, the mysterious arcade had already started to spread across the Land of Fire through word of mouth.
When Natsuhiko eventually decided to expand the arcade across the country, it should be much easier to do.
Imagining a future where everyone in the Land of Fire would be fans of the arcade made Tsunade excited.
Wouldn't that mean the whole country would become her gambling buddies?
The only thing that frustrated Tsunade was that as the tour continued, they were getting closer and closer to Konoha…
Unfortunately, Natsuhiko still remained completely indifferent…
This left Tsunade torn, wondering if she should just follow Natsuhiko back to Konoha…
But she had spoken too boldly before, and now it was embarrassing to backtrack.
Not to mention that Natsuhiko seemed to have given up entirely.
Come on, put in some effort!
If she just went back with him like this, wouldn't it seem like she was giving in too easily? That would be too undignified.
Tsunade organized her thoughts and gradually made a decision.
She couldn't go back just like that—not with Natsuhiko.
That's right, Tsunade planned to wait until Natsuhiko returned, then find an excuse to return to Konoha a little later, perfectly getting the best of both worlds.
Ideally, she would quietly sneak away when they were almost back at Konoha, as a "surprise" for that jerk Natsuhiko.
Imagining Natsuhiko's reaction at that time, Tsunade couldn't help but reveal a wicked smile, feeling as if the frustration in her chest was finally dissipating.
Since that was settled, Tsunade decided she had to enjoy herself as much as possible over the next few days, because soon, she wouldn't have the chance.
After these days of gaming, Tsunade had actually tried out most of the games.
Even the most in-depth one, Ninja Emperor 97, only had eight playable characters, so Tsunade figured she had reached the point where she was either bullying newbies or getting bullied herself, making it a good time to take a break until everyone else got stronger.
With that thought in mind, Tsunade quickly made her way into the arcade, heading towards the Ninja Emperor 97 area.
As usual, it was packed with customers, but Tsunade, having access to a machine reserved for her thanks to Natsuhiko's backdoor arrangement, didn't have to compete with others.
However, everyone's attention seemed to be drawn to the large screen above the arena.
Instead of the usual battle replays, it was showing an advertisement.
These ads typically played during breaks between matches, so Tsunade was no stranger to them.
But this time, the footage seemed new to her, and she curiously approached to watch.
Then, to her surprise, she saw four characters she had never seen before being introduced in a series of flashy scenes.
"Ninja Emperor 97 New Character DLC Coming Soon, Stay Tuned!"
As the advertisement ended with that message, Tsunade and the other customers around her were left in stunned silence.
So, the game could keep adding new characters?
If she left in a few days, wouldn't that mean she wouldn't get to try out the new characters right away?
The resolution she had just made started wavering once again.
Here we go again…
Tsunade gave a wry smile.
Even though Natsuhiko kept saying he had given up and only cared about making money, his every move always managed to hit her weak spot.
It was as if he understood her nature better than she did.
A tall figure walked past Tsunade's field of view, finally distracting her from the issue for a moment.
"Ryoma-san, you're finally here today. I didn't see you yesterday."
She waved excitedly at the tall man in black.
"Just in time, we can spar again in Ninja Emperor 97, like we did the other day."
No wonder Tsunade was so excited.
A game like Ninja Emperor 97 is truly enjoyable only when facing an evenly matched opponent. For Tsunade, Natsuhiko was too strong, while ordinary people were too weak. But Uncle Ryoma was quite a skilled ninja, making him the perfect opponent.
However, Ryoma didn't seem to share the same enthusiasm. When he heard Tsunade's invitation, his tall frame stiffened slightly before he forced a smile and said, "No thanks. Lately, I haven't had much luck, and I've lost nearly all the money I had."
This was just a polite way of putting it—he had actually lost all his money to Tsunade a few days ago while playing Ninja Emperor 97.
Unfortunately for him, Tsunade had no intention of letting him off the hook. She pulled out a wad of cash from her pocket, smiling cheerfully, and said, "It's okay. I can return the money I owe you, with interest."
"…"
Even though he got his beloved cash back, Ryoma wasn't the least bit happy. He knew that the money would soon leave him again…
An hour later…
Ryoma walked out of the arcade with a gloomy expression, his pockets empty once more. As expected, he had lost the money back to Tsunade.
He never imagined that one day, Tsunade would use his own money-making tricks against him!
Heaven knows what he had gone through these past few days. After Tsunade had chased off his debt collectors, he thought she would be entirely under his control, a "cash cow" to milk endlessly.
But he had only been away for a few days, and everything had spiraled out of his control.
Why did a "mobile arcade" suddenly pop up out of nowhere?
And even more perplexing, why was Tsunade, who always lost when gambling, suddenly excelling in Ninja Emperor 97? Her former image as an easy target was completely gone.
Now, many gamblers respected her and secretly referred to her as the "Fat Wolf."
Meanwhile, he, who kept losing to Tsunade, occasionally overheard people calling him "Fat Sheep II."
What could he do? He was at his wit's end!
After all, Tsunade used to lose to him repeatedly but persisted regardless. This was the reason he could keep milking her for money.
If he avoided gambling just because of recent losses, the image he had built in Tsunade's mind would be ruined, wouldn't it?
Although Ryoma could choose to lie low temporarily to reduce his losses, he had already realized from his observations that this arcade would become the hottest spot in the gambling world for quite some time.
At the very least, Tsunade was sure to spend most of her time there.
So, if he wanted to continue milking Tsunade, he would need to play better than her at these games.
But achieving that was no easy feat; it would require a lot of time to practice. The problem was that there was only one arcade at the moment. If he practiced there, Tsunade would definitely catch him.
However, if he didn't practice, he would never beat Tsunade, and his previous strategies would be useless.
It was clear that the emergence of this peculiar arcade had completely disrupted Ryoma's plans.
Fortunately, after these past few days, he had come up with a solution.
Since everything started with this arcade, all he had to do was make it disappear, and things would return to normal.
As Ryoma left the arcade, he walked toward the dense forest nearby. Before long, he arrived at a hidden cave, where several fierce-looking individuals were gathered, some warming up, others meditating.
If Tsunade were here, she would recognize many familiar faces—most of them were the debt collectors she had chased away, now gathered as an alliance with their subordinates.
"It looks like you're all ready," Ryoma said in a deep voice. "Then let the 'Operation Arcade Takeover' begin…"
(End of Chapter)