These words from Tenten made Ren, as her older brother, momentarily stunned. This was because Tenten had always performed well in terms of strength. In the Ninja Academy, though her grades weren't as good as Neji Hyuga's, she consistently held her own against Rock Lee in every spar. Over time, she even became Rock Lee's "big sister"! Such an achievement had always made Tenten very proud.
However, just recently, Ren had been busy with Anbu missions and hadn't paid much attention to Tenten. Some changes had taken place in his younger sister's body, and her taijutsu performance had become inferior to Rock Lee's? How was this happening?
Suddenly, he thought of something, and the expression on his face became a little strange. He awkwardly asked, "During that fight... were you on your period?"
Tenten was stunned. She hadn't expected her brother to guess even this? Her face quickly flushed, and she bowed her head shyly, murmuring a mosquito-thin "Um."
'It is as I expected!' Ren secretly sighed in his heart. It had been a few months since Ren and the others graduated. The New Year was coming soon, ushering in the 60th year of the original work's timeline, and Ren and Tenten would soon be thirteen years old. Thirteen years old, for a girl, was the most beautiful age of blossoming, and of course, it was also the age where their bodies developed fastest and their physical characteristics changed the most.
Although Tenten had always had their mother, Keiko, to guide her in this regard, Keiko wasn't a ninja, and she didn't know what to do when encountering such a situation in the context of combat. Every day during her menstrual period, Tenten couldn't engage in overly violent physical exercises. To a large extent, this limited Tenten's strength. This was an important reason why the proportion of female ninjas was not high in the overall number of ninjas.
Ren now knew why she had been so surprised when he gave her the Puppet Threads. Because this kind of item could not only make up for some of her shortcomings in taijutsu at certain times but also perfectly counter the Wind Style ninjutsu that restricted her the most. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.
But was that all there was to it... was that really enough?
After thinking for a moment, Ren said to Tenten, "Little sister, come out with me tomorrow, and I'll take you to a place."
Tenten nodded obediently, without asking too much. Of course, she had 100% faith in her brother.
---
That night, his father, Tatsuo, and mother, Keiko, who had returned from their business, also arrived home. They were, of course, very happy with the gifts Ren had bought them. When Ren asked about rebuilding the house, his father, Tatsuo, laughed and said it was all thanks to Ren. If he hadn't secured the order for those weapons from Hokage-sama before, their previous savings wouldn't have been enough to renovate the house. The profit from that order was much larger than they had estimated! During this time, his father Tatsuo had made a lot of money and became the biggest weapons dealer in the entire Konoha Village! And the wealth of Ren's family now had reached a rather astonishing level. Even compared to the great clans, in terms of financial resources, they were quite well off!
---
On the evening of the second day, Ren took Tenten, and the two went out. They went to a slightly farther block, one very different from where Ren and the others usually shopped. It could be said that the lights were feasting and neon was flashing. Even though it wasn't completely dark yet, the street was already brightly lit, and various neon signs flashed in the air.
Izakaya, custom shops, casinos... Laughter and chatter echoed everywhere. And some drunks, with jugs in their hands, shakily walked out of the taverns, shouting loudly. There were also some very revealing beauties, with long hair flowing and tight skirts covering the important parts of their bodies, standing on the street to attract customers, causing many drunkards to be distracted.
Standing at the entrance of this block, Tenten stared at Ren with a strange expression, as if she was seeing her brother for the first time, a cautious look on her face.
"Say, when did you go bad?!" Tenten asked, a gritted expression on her face.
"Bad? How could I go bad?" Ren spread his hands innocently.
"You had to come to this kind of place! You brought me along, and you still say you didn't go bad! Humph! Is this a place where serious people should come?! When I get home, I'm telling Mother!" Tenten pouted angrily. With an expression that she was going to go back and complain, she turned around and left.
"Wait a minute." Ren took Tenten's arm and said helplessly, "It's the first time I've come to this kind of place too, and this time I brought you here not to let you play with these things, but to see someone." He silently thought to himself, 'If Tenten could see that scene... I'm afraid the idol image she's always had of me would soon collapse, right?'
Ren led Tenten, and the two walked through the alley, then down the street. Of course, to get the reluctant Tenten to follow him into this brightly lit area, Ren bought her a portion of her favorite fish cakes from the stall at the entrance of the alley, and then she reluctantly agreed to come in with him.
And just after the two of them had walked a few hundred meters, at the corner of an alley fork, there was a small door with a curtain hanging on it. On the door was a large character: "Gambling." Some noises could be heard faintly inside.
"Hahaha, I'm going to fleece her today!"
"Get rich! Get rich! Lady Tsunade has finally returned to Konoha after so many years, so she can't make a fortune on her? And Lady Tsunade's recent betting has been quite generous!"
"Are you all ready?"
"Don't worry, it's already ready, just waiting for the big fat sheep to take the bait!"
Ren stood outside the casino's curtain, a speechless expression on his face. After a sigh, he walked towards the casino.
In fact, Ren didn't like gambling. In other words, through his research on ninja tools, he had long ago thoroughly understood all the small tricks of the casino. In any game of chess, cards, or dice, his skills could beat the entire world, with no possibility of losing. Therefore, he found gambling very boring. What's more, he wasn't short on money now; he only performed missions because he wanted to improve his strength through actual combat and enjoy the thrill of living life on the edge.
If he hadn't been looking for Tsunade, he wouldn't have come to such a place. The once-great Senju Clan had now vanished. If there was another place in Konoha where Tsunade could be found, it was only the largest casino in Konoha.
Opening the curtain, Ren pulled Tenten and walked in. Tenten was visiting this kind of place for the first time, so she looked very nervous. She was a little afraid and hid most of her body behind Ren, appearing very well-behaved.
Inside the casino, there were large rooms with tatami mats. A lot of people were already sitting in each room, and the tables were crowded. Different cluttered noises came from different rooms.
"Hahaha! This time I won again!"
"Damn it! I made a wrong bet again! No! I must get this money back today!"
"My luck today is really terrible! Alas!"
---
"What do you want?"
As Ren and Tenten walked into the casino, a middle-aged man who looked a little fierce walked towards them, appearing to be the owner of this casino. "We don't accept spectators here. Buy a ticket if you want to watch, or get out." This was a relatively high-end casino. Even if one didn't gamble, there were still basic tickets to consume, which could screen out many people who lacked financial resources to a certain extent.
"Two tickets." Ren took out his purse from his arms and shook it in front of him. "Don't worry, we're here to gamble."