Master of Genjutsu

CH-31 The Return

"Why did we have to leave again?" Tsunade groaned as the two sannins and their apprentices approached Konoha's massive gates. "I was on such a winning streak!" she said miserably.

"Don't you mean I was on a winning streak?" Naruto retorted from where he was walking, grinning slightly as he saw Shizune hide a giggle from the, now usual picture, of him putting her master down. His good mood had nothing to do with the massive roll of bank notes sealed on his person that he had managed to accumulate during his almost month long mission with Jiraiya, nothing at all.

"Me, you, what's the difference Gaki!" Tsunade bemoaned to him as she counted the winnings Naruto had brought her.

During their trip back, Naruto had found that the easiest way to keep Tsunade from contemplating trying to leave or complaining was to offer her obscene amounts of cash to gamble with. Of course, this led to the obvious question of what he was doing with such an amount of cash as readily available as he was only a recently promoted chuunin who hadn't even had his first promoted mission just yet.

Once Tsunade had learned of his amazing luck, she had quickly set into motion a form of gambling that Jiraiya had commented should be illegal as Tsunade would start the betting, losing spectacularly until she was down to her last bet then trick the others into betting something that was infinitely more valuable than she should be able to because of her luck. Then, once having their promised items present, have Naruto sit in her place, thus winning those items and all of her losses back almost always at least threefold.

This process continued in every village they came across on their leisurely return to Konoha. By the time they were at Konoha, Tsunade had enough money to pay back most of her debts and enough left over to easily live a life of comfort for the rest of her days. Naruto was easily set for the rest of his life if he decided to retire as soon as they returned to Konoha. Whoever mentioned that gambling was an addiction with bad consequences obviously had never met Naruto.

"Papers?" the gate guards, Izumo and Kotetsu asked. Upon noticing that Jiraiya was smirking, Naruto and Shizune were reaching for their ninja papers, and Tsunade was scowling, they did a double take at being faced with the two loyal sannin of Konoha. "Uh, that's okay Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, Shizune-san. We don't need your papers. Welcome back." Izumo said as Naruto produced his papers.

Kotetsu smirked, "Please Naruto, you think you need papers either?" he asked as Naruto smiled softly, "Nobody could match your chakra signature." He admitted to Shizune's raised eyebrow. Naruto shrugged, admitting that his signature was unique before replacing his papers and signing the sheet for incoming shinobi after Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune had.

"Alright, Sarutobi-sensei wants to meet us as soon as we get in so we're off to the Hokage tower." Jiraiya said as he started to walk down the main street towards the Hokage tower. The group fell into their usual haphazard formation as they continued through the bustling streets of Konoha as it was near noon; the traffic was almost at its peak.

It didn't take long for the pointing and whispering to begin once the older population pointed out who was walking down the streets of Konoha, especially since this particular kunoichi seemed to have forever vowed that she would never set foot back in Konoha again. As if to draw even more eyes, Jiraiya was also with her, causing this to be the first time that the two loyal sannin had ever been seen together within Konoha since before the Kyuubi attack almost fourteen years ago. To top it off, she was seen with Konoha's perhaps most infamous and questioned chuunin, Naruto Uzumaki. The chuunin whom had, reportedly, saved many civilians during the invasion a month and a half ago; the chuunin who was now counted as one of the most dangerous foes any inexperienced ninja could ever run across, and even a threat to those whom had the experience needed to fight him by their enemies.