Meeting the village chief was better this time since he recognised Tachibana too and trusted him because he'd helped them last time.
Naruto was his usual enthusiastic self while Sasuke and Sakura remained silent, and soon after they finished talking to the village head, they gathered information from him about the rest of the kids.
"Thank you for helping us out again Tachibana-kun!"
"Please don't bow your head, and don't worry, my team's the best!"
The village chief nodded and then split off from them at the village entrance, leaving the group to discuss how they were going to target finding a solution to the mission.
"What do you think? Where should we go?" Yamato asked softly as the genin had all huddled around him to look at the documents about the dealing of the Samurai when they were in the land of fire.
Sakura was the first to speak, "We can try finding out where their dealer is in the black market. We know his moniker and the town in which the Samurai did their dealings, so it shouldn't be hard for us to find out where he lives."
Yamato nodded and Tachibana added on after that.
"We could also contact him by posing as rouge ninja ourselves. Trying to 'sell' goods to him that we've acquired for money. This would make him trust us more."
"Hmmm…" Yamato looked at Tachibana with a little amusement but nodded eventually. "Alright. Let's go with that. As for gaining further information that will be left to Sasuke-kun, you'll infiltrate his business after we figure out where it is located."
Sasuke nodded with firm eyes and Yamato looked at Naruto who was looking around with confusion.
'Whose children will we capture to sell?' Naruto wondered. 'I guess we can return them once we finish the mission…but will anyone really come along? Ah! I know how I can make them follow us! I will tell them that the mission is being led by me! Of course, they'll want to join a mission led by a future Hokage!!!'
Snapping Naruto out of his 'genius' thoughts was Yamato who placed his hand on him and spoke 'kindly'.
"Naruto-kun you will be the child we sell."
Naruto was confused for a second before his eyes widened in shock. He quickly looked around at Tachibana, Sakura and Sasuke but found all of them looking at him with 'kind' smiles.
'I was betrayed!!!'
"Don't worry Naruto just think of it as a mission to infiltrate the place where the handler takes all the kids to. There'll be several children to save for you! Think about how happy they'll feel that the future Hokage is saving them!" Tachibana consoled and it was super effective.
Naruto's eyes turned into stars as he started dreaming while everyone else was dumbfounded.
Yamato *coughed* awkwardly before informing the team of their next destination.
"We'll be leaving to go to Tanzaku Quarters. It's a town prevalent in the three sins, gambling, alcohol and women. So I need the four of you to keep close to me all the time."
'Wasn't that the same place Tsunade was in after the Chunin exam arc?'
"Seriously sensei? Do you think any place will serve us alcohol?" Tachibana asked as a joke.
Yamato simply smiled and shook his head before they all left for the nearby town of Tanzaku Quarters.
Meanwhile, back in Konoha, an unassuming young girl appeared on the roof of one of its many orphanages.
Several ANBU spotted the girl since they were on the lookout for her but quickly noticed the difference in her appearance.
Her eye whites had vanished and had turned black and as deep as the abyss, looking into them gave one the feeling that they were going to fall deep into them and their souls would never be allowed to escape.
The little girl stood still for a while before looking around at the ANBU members one by one. Her motions were slow and deliberate, as her neck snapped from one ANBU personnel to the next.
The ANBU all felt a shiver run down their spine but the girl calmly smiled. Except the smile didn't stop at the edge of her lips. The girl's cheek tore open and slowly her smile spread from ear to ear as her jaw hung a little loose to show all her teeth.
The ANBU that were simply terrified before were now frozen stiff.
But before they could do anything or retaliate in any manner, there was a soft wind that *rustled* the leaves of the trees they were hiding in and caused them to lose sight of the little girl wearing the simple dress.
The ANBU broke out of their reverie and quickly rushed towards the Hokage office to report exactly what they had seen to the Hokage.
They all felt like something terrible was going to happen, but they couldn't understand what. The little girl's powers were beyond their comprehension and they all turned towards the Hokage, hoping he could calm their apprehension.
"Hmmm…?" Hiruzen's hair stood on the back of his neck as he heard the news.
He was internally frowning but externally he remained calm and looked on at the ANBU kneeling in front of him with a calm smile.
'Is the little girl like the spirit attached to the Kurama clan's girl?'
'A malevolent spirit that harbours negative intentions towards the village?'
'Hmm…how difficult.'
'We need to ascertain its abilities quickly and find out what it aims to do.'
'From its conversation with Tachibana, it can be assured that it is going to do something that will leave it to die since it said it could no longer meet him.'
'Hmm…how troublesome.'
Meanwhile, in Tanzaku quarters, Tsunade was intently looking at the spinning dials of the machine in front of her.
"Tsunade-sama! Please don't gamble any more!!! We've spent nearly all the money I gathered from doing missions in the Black Market and healing nobles for a month in just a day!!"
"You don't get it Shizune!! It's go big or go home!!! And I have a good feeling!!! I'm sure we will win!!!"
Tsunade's eyes were glued to the dials while Shizune tried pulling the woman away irrespective of the fact that the coin machine was still spinning. She knew that if she allowed her Sensei to stay there they would only leave when all their money was finished.
But suddenly they both heard a *CLICK* from the machine.
The first slot had stopped spinning and landed on the number '7'.
"Shizune!!! It's a seven!!! We're going to win this one for sure!!!"
Shizune's grip loosened a little, 'Maybe Sensei's luck has finally really turned around?'
Tsunade leaned in closer to the machine and those who heard her shout also all gathered to stand behind her.
Soon they heard a second *CLICK*.
This time the click felt much louder and bolder because everyone had turned silent as they waited for the last slot with bated breath.
"See that Shizune!!!????" Tsunade spoke in barely above a whisper. "We're going to be rich!!!"
Everyone else was suddenly more invested in the lottery too. Some people prayed to be able to see the legendary jackpot! While others prayed for Tsunade to fail because if they couldn't have the money, no one could!
And finally, there was a third *CLICK*. This one was the loudest of them all as there was a deafening silence for a few seconds before everyone shouted.
*WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!*
"Tsunade-sama you won the jackpot!!!!!!!!!" Shizune shouted while Tsunade who was drunk. Even the pig standing at Shizune's feet cheered, *Oink!* *Oink!*
But Tsunade was looking at the jackpot with wide eyes. She was sobering up quickly as several tickets flooded out of the machine, tickets that could be used to gain money from the casino.
'I won!!!!!!' Tsunade screamed in her mind. A sudden unscratchable itch had formed on her neck and she suddenly felt like she was sitting on a bed of thorns.
'How did I win!!!!!!???????'