The casino was noisy and chaotic, with Hatake Satoru and Tsunade heading upstairs.
The first floor was full of people gambling small amounts, mainly civilian ninjas looking for a way to pass the time.
The more of these people there were, the noisier it got, with everyone shouting when they won or lost.
The air was thick with smoke and the smell of alcohol, and the lights flickered dimly all around.
As they climbed higher, the stakes got bigger, and so did the amounts of money being wagered.
Hatake Satoru was chatting and laughing with Tsunade as they made their way upstairs, with Shizune and Kimimaro following behind.
When they reached the top floor, Tsunade finally stopped walking.
"One chip is 100 ryo."
Hatake Satoru looked thoughtfully at a piece of paper posted on the wall. The room next to them was covered with a curtain.
Up here, you could barely hear the noisy crowd from downstairs. Honestly, it was hard to tell if there was even anyone else on this floor.
"One chip costs 100 ryo!?"
"That's way too much!"
Shizune shouted without thinking once she saw the numbers on the paper.
Tsunade had been to places with sky-high bets before, but even those usually capped at 50 ryo per chip.
With her kind of luck, this box of money wouldn't even last a few hours.
She didn't know how lucky the other guy was…
But Shizune had a bad feeling—if the two of them really got into it, the little kid beside her might actually get used as collateral.
"Don't make such a fuss. Let's go in."
Tsunade glanced back at Shizune and confidently walked inside with her case of money.
Kimimaro still looked pale, but not as bad as when he first got off the boat—at least he didn't seem like he'd faint at any second anymore.
Now that he had some energy back, he happily stuck close to Hatake Satoru.
"Why are we here? Aren't we supposed to get on a boat?"
Kimimaro sat next to Satoru, curiously checking out the decorations around them.
He had never been to a place like this before. Honestly, he didn't even know what a casino was.
"We'll wait a bit before heading out. Wanna try this in the meantime?"
Hatake Satoru handed over two bills and got two chips in return.
That small amount looked really pathetic in a place like this—the guy handling the exchange even gave him a second glance.
"Okay!"
Kimimaro sat down beside Satoru, excitedly looking at the gambling table.
Even though he had no idea what was going on, if Hatake Satoru asked him to join in, of course he'd be interested.
Tsunade, on the other hand, exchanged her whole box of money for a small basket of chips, and the Otogakure ninja standing nearby sighed deeply.
Judging by how things were going, she was probably going to blow through them all and leave.
As Tsunade walked to another table with her basket of chips, she glanced over at Satoru's table with mild curiosity.
Only two chips?
Is he starting from scratch or what?
Tsunade found it strange, but when it came to gambling, everyone had their own habits. How much someone wanted to bet wasn't really her business.
Besides, if Hatake Satoru didn't lose too badly, maybe she could borrow some from him later.
"Only exchanged for two chips—is he looking down on someone?"
"That guy came in with a big spender. He probably isn't short on cash. Look, there's a money box right over there."
"Heh heh… so we've got two suckers to clean out tonight, huh?"
A few people sitting around the table were clearly regulars, whispering to each other with their heads tilted in.
As long as you have money, you can do anything.
If this were the first floor, Kimimaro definitely wouldn't be allowed to sit at the table—he might not even be allowed inside.
But on the top floor? As long as you had cash, even a dog could sit down and gamble.
"The rules are simple. There's one die in the cup, and everyone picks odd or even."
"The lowest number of chips on the table becomes the base bet for everyone."
"Right now, the person with the fewest chips has two, so everyone puts in two chips for the first round."
The dealer sat across from Hatake Satoru and gave a quick explanation of the rules to everyone at the table.
All eyes turned to Hatake Satoru, watching him with curious, half-smiling expressions.
Each of the others had at least a few dozen chips in front of them.
Originally, the game started with ten chips, but since Hatake Satoru only had two, they lowered the chip count just for him.
He didn't pay much attention to the stares. Instead, he casually pulled Kimimaro, who was sitting next to him, in front of him.
"You got the rules just now, right?"
"Just pick odd or even, whichever you like~"
Hatake Satoru leaned on his hand and smiled like he didn't care at all.
"But… if we lose, then we'll have nothing left, right?"
Kimimaro, suddenly given such a big task, looked at Hatake Satoru in confusion.
"No way we're losing~ Just pick whatever."
That one sentence made the whole room burst into noise.
Anyone who said something like that was either super rich and didn't care about losing… or was planning to cheat.
Everyone's eyes locked onto their hands, afraid the two would pull some trick together.
"Even?"
Kimimaro nervously pushed out two chips, then looked around at everyone's faces in a daze.
This kid was clearly a newbie—no experience at all. The others couldn't figure out what Hatake Satoru was thinking.
After everyone placed their chips, the dealer picked up the cup and started spinning it wildly on the table.
When the cup was lifted, the dice inside were still spinning like crazy.
A few people leaned in close, but the dealer kept a straight face, watching everyone's hands.
The spinning started to slow down, and a red dot on the dice became visible.
Hatake Satoru glanced down slightly, and tapped his finger gently on the table.
*Thud.*
Right before the dice came to a stop, they suddenly flipped to show four red dots.
A few people around the table let out disappointed sighs.
Hatake Satoru looked up just a little, meeting the dealer's shocked gaze with a smug grin.
"We won~"
Something was definitely off with this guy!
The dealer realized it immediately.
He was the one shaking the dice, and he was sure the result should've been odd. But for some reason, right at the end, it turned into a four.
But Hatake Satoru and Kimimaro hadn't made any moves—everything they did was in plain sight. No one saw anything suspicious.
Hatake Satoru's finger tap had been a little strange, sure, but the only real way to control dice was by using chakra.
And he hadn't seen even the tiniest sign of chakra.
It looked just like someone tapping the table out of boredom while waiting.
Cheating wasn't impossible—if no one caught you, it counted as success.
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