Konoha's Maelstrom

22

"Ya know, Shortstacks," Jiraiaya began, "you look nothing like your dad but you act like him a lot. Always calculating and quick. It's unnerving."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Meiko responded, pulling her hair up into a high ponytail. "I always thought I reminded you of my mom, though?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Jiraiya agreed. "Terrifying, blood red hair and sharp purple eyes? Though I guess the natural blonde tips were an interesting genetic thing," he mused.

Jiraiya looked at his goddaughter again, watching her pack her things up. He had to admit that she took after both her parents so much it was hard to say which she was most like. In terms of looks, it was definitely Kushina. But with personality, there was such an interesting mix of both Jiraiya couldn't tell.

They'd be proud of you, very proud, he thought with a soft smile at the thought of them. He'd failed her before, failed to be there, and he would do anything to fix that this time. Because Meiko deserved someone, and maybe he wasn't the best person to be there, but he promised and he was going to do it.

He watched a little longer as Meiko picked up another balloon, glaring at it, as she tried to form a rasengan in the balloon. In all fairness, she'd actually gotten the hang of popping rubber balls much faster than Jiraiya, so he had no doubt that she could do it, it was just that she seemed to be failing to rotate her chakra inside the balloon perfectly.

His thoughts turned to the mission at hand. Getting Tsunade back into the village. And he wondered how he was going to do that.

They were walking towards a bar and entered.

Meiko sat down in the corner while Jiraiya walked over to some men at the bar. He showed the picture of Tsunade, asked if they knew where she was, and the person behind him said yes.

Turned out that to get the information, he had to gamble.

Meiko walked over then, proudly holding up an intact rubber ball, her purple eyes shining with excitement. She immediately picked up on the attitude and Jiraiya noted, with badly concealed delight, how she immediately stopped her chakra suppression and subtly moved herself to show the knives clapped at her hip.

Meiko was quick like that.

The men, either idiots or men who had a death wish, jeered at her.

Meiko bristled, her eyes finding Jiraiya in a silent question. Gamble or beat the answer out of them and as much as Jiraiya wanted to see a thirteen year old girl destroy six grown men, he always wanted to see a thirteen year old girl break their spirits in gambling. And this was an entire gamble in itself, but if Uzumaki Kushina's genes were strong enough to give Meiko purple eyes and mainly red hair, then maybe they were strong enough to give Meiko betting abilities.

So, instead, he agreed to gambling for Tsunade's whereabouts and volunteered Meiko to do it.

("Ero-sennin, you dumbass! I've never even gambled before! And no I don't care if my Kaa-san was good, I'm 13!"

"Relax, Meiko. You'll do fine. Just win."

"If I lose, the money is coming out of your pockets," she threatened. And turned to the men with a sharp smile, eyes glinting darkly. Oh, maybe Jiraiya had made a mistake. Maybe Meiko wasn't just going to beat them, she was going to destroy them.

It was too late. "Oh no," he whispered when she sat down.)

Turned out he was right in exactly everything. Meiko didn't just win. She mentally destroyed them by winning over and over, taking more than just information.

And she walked out of the bar ten times richer than before, her foxy grin very sharp and dangerous. "That was refreshing. And now we know we're going to Tanzaku Town, which is only a two day walk."