A Ninja's Gambit
Naruto and all related characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. X-Men and all related characters belong to Marvel Comics
Author's Note: Okay I decided to rewrite this chapter and get rid of the Wolverine stuff. From now on Gambit will be the only Marvel character I use.
Chapter 2: The Five-Card Stud
The four travelers made their way to the Hokage Tower to meet with the recently retired Hiruzen Sarutobi. As they walked everyone took notice of Naruto and correctly assumed he was Tsunade's son, based on his hair and the fact he was constantly shuffling a deck of cards with expert skill. Soon it was like the whole village started repeating the word: son. Tsunade wanted to slap her face with her hand but was forced to satisfy with a sigh. Similar whispers followed them all the way to the Hokage Tower where they were greeted and led to a room where the old Hokage was waiting.
"Greetings, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune." Sarutobi said as the 2 Sannin took seats in front of him. The 3rd then noticed the fourth member of the group leaning on the wall in the back of the room, flinging cards with pinpoint accuracy into a decorative bowl that was on the opposite side of the room.
"I assume this is Naruto?" Sarutobi asked as everyone turned their attention to Naruto, who had just thrown his last card into the bowl.
"Naruto! Stop playing around and get over here!" Tsunade snapped as Naruto collected his playing cards and casually walked over to the adults. Naruto waved his right arm in a circular motion and placed his hand on his chest as he bowed and said,
"Naruto Gambit Senju at your service, Lord Hokage." Sarutobi was about to question the "Gambit" part of that introduction, but Tsunade answered his unspoken question,
"Gambit is a nickname Naruto picked up a couple of years ago." Sarutobi nodded as he took a look at Naruto's strange eyes, but decided not to question it.
"Now I'm assuming you want to know why I've suddenly decided to retire?" The 3rd asked Tsunade.
"Well yes, I was wondering. I thought you'd still be doing this job until your grandchildren had grandchildren." Tsunade said with slight humor in her voice. Sarutobi's face then became somber at the mention of the word grandchildren.
"The reason I'm retiring is because my only grandson, Konohamaru, has lost both his parents. They were on a C-Ranked mission that quickly turned A-Rank, and didn't return." Tsunade then regretted her choice of words at hearing this.
"I'm sorry sensei." Tsunade said as she bowed her head. Sarutobi sighed and replied,
"Thank you. But back to the matter at hand. Konohamaru needs his family right now, and I can't give him the time he deserves when I'm running a village." Tsunade nodded as the former Third Hokage went on to explain all the preparations for her inauguration. Naruto, who stood next to Shizune, was starting to get bored. His interest in the conversation peaked some when he heard Sarutobi's reason's for retiring and he did feel bad for this Konohamaru kid but he was still bored out of his mind. Naruto looked around and saw a pot of flowers on the opposite side of the Hokage's desk. The little gambler got an idea in his blond head. He reached into his coat and pulled out a card, his intent was to see if he could cut the steams with a single card. As Naruto was about to throw the card, a hand clamped down on his wrist. He looked up and saw his big sister Shizune giving him a "Don't even think about it." look. Naruto put the card away and loudly, though unintentionally, sighed. Tsunade looked over at her son and said,
"We'll be here for a while, so why don't you and Shizune go get something to eat?" Naruto was out the door faster than anyone could blink after those words left Tsunade's mouth. Shizune chased after him, as Naruto tried to find the nearest casino. As Naruto ran down the streets he crashed into someone. Naruto got up and dusted himself off as he heard a gruff voice yell,
"HEY, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?" Naruto looked over at the person he ran into and saw a boy his age. The boy wore a grey parka with a black furry hood and black pants. The boy had slitted pupils, large canine teeth, and had an overall feral appearance. Next to the boy was a small white dog that was growling at Naruto. The feral boy looked down and saw a long tear in the sleeve of his parka.
"Look what you did!" The feral boy growled at Naruto. Naruto was not really caring for the dog boy's attitude, and got an idea to shut the feral jerk up.
"Oh I'm sorry. I happen to know a good tailor that can fix that. I think he gave me a business card" Naruto said as he dug out a card from his coat.
"Oh sorry. It's one of mine." Naruto said a he pulled out a playing card that began to glow slightly orange and flicked it at the dog boy. The card exploded and knocked the boy 20 feet away. Naruto smirked and began to walk away. The dog boy staggered to his feet and asked,
"Just who are you?" Naruto stopped walking and said,
"My name is Naruto Senju. To my enemies it's Gambit. You can go on ahead forget the first name if you want." Naruto then continued walking away as the feral boy collapsed. Shizune walked down the streets looking for Naruto. She was starting to get worried as Naruto had a knack for finding trouble. Shizune then got the idea to use Ton-Ton to sniff Naruto out. Shizune happened to have one of Naruto's playing cards and let the small pig sniff it.
"Oink, Oink!" The tiny pig exclaimed as it ran off in Naruto's direction.
At that moment Naruto was walking around one of Konoha's various training grounds. Naruto was beginning to get bored again, that is until he heard someone crying. It was definitely a girl. Naruto followed the sound and saw that it was indeed a girl, sitting on the ground. The girl looked to be his age, and had short dark blue almost black hair. Naruto, being the gentleman that he was, placed his hand on her shoulder and asked,
"Excuse me, but are you okay?" The girl looked up at him with watery eyes. Her eyes were slightly red from crying but Naruto could clearly see that he eyes were almost completely white, save for the slight touch of lavender. She was quiet for a moment before saying,
"O-oh. Yes, I-I'm fine." Naruto didn't buy that for a second and said as he sat down on the ground next to her,
"I don't think so. As a gambler I can tell when someone isn't telling something, and I know that you'll feel better if you get it off your chest." The girl sniffled a little and said,
"M-my mother d-died 8 years ago t-today. I w-was in my room, when m-my cousin came in and heard m-me crying. He s-said that I shouldn't c-cry, it w-was my mother's fate to die t-that day." Naruto felt really bad for her and decided to giver her some comfort and maybe some advice.
"I'm sorry to hear that. But I can tell you right now, that your cousin is full of crap." The girl shot her head up and looked at the boy, finally getting a good look at his face and his strange eyes.
"There is no fate or destiny, just chance and luck. There could be a chance that it'll start pouring down rain right this second." Naruto said as he motioned to the cloudless sky.
"Sure that's not a big chance, but's it's a chance to nonetheless." Naruto said. The blond then reached into his coat and pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling them then took 2 cards.
"Now sometimes you'll be dealt a bad hand." Naruto showed the two cards were a 2 of diamonds and a 7 of clubs. Naruto the put the cards back and shuffled the deck again and pulled out two more cards.
"But for every bad hand there bound to be a good one." Naruto the revealed the cards were an ace of spades and an ace of diamonds. The girl began to smile a little, and said,
"Thank you. What's your name?" Naruto smiled and replied,
"Naruto Senju. And you?" The girl replied,
"Hinata Hyuga." At that moment Shizune showed up.
"Naruto where have you been?" Naruto got up and said,
"Oh, I've just been talking to Hinata here." Shizune looked at the girl and smiled.
"Well Naruto it's time to head to our new house." Shizune said as she motioned for Naruto to follow her.
"See ya around Hinata!" Naruto said as he walked off with his big sister figure. Hinata waved a little and quietly said,
"Goodbye, Naruto."
PLEASE REVIEW!
As you can see I'm tweaking things a little. I just had Sarutobi retire so I could still have Naruto be part of the Konoha 11.