Bullfrog dress up in soldier's clothes
Went to the river to shoot some crows
Bullfrog fire and they all fly away, Lord
Bullfrog get vex and he cry all day.
Killing Time
Chapter Twelve: Return to Tanzaku-Gai
By Kaori
"What took you so long?" Sakura blurted out as Kotorra and Sasuke came out of the house with their luggage. Kotorra jerked her thumb in Sasuke's direction.
"Sorry, somebody doesn't listen to instructions very well." Sasuke crossed his arms in annoyance and looked away peevishly.
"What do you mean?"
Twenty minutes ago...
"Sasuke if you don't hold still I'm going to strap you to the coffee table. How do you expect me to get an accurate reading if you keep squirming?" Kotorra chastised, waving the pronged instrument she had been using on him in agitation.
"Well when you prod people with sharp objects they're going to flinch." Sasuke said. "OW! You did that on purpose!"
"Oh quit whining. Aren't you a ninja?"
"Yes, a ninja not a pincushion. What are you doing this for anyway?" he scowled.
"I wouldn't have bothered if this mission hadn't come up. We could've waited until the copper Gina's buying gets here to take your measurements but unfortunately the copper will be here before we get back and I'd like to get most of the data I need before it does to save time." she leered at him. "I'm going to have to do it no matter what. That is, unless you want this thing to fry you from the inside out. If you do I can recommend a far less painful method of committing suicide." Sasuke grimaced at that.
"That won't be necessary."
"Then you need to hold still." she held up the pronged probe and absently waved it from side to side as she spoke. "I need to get an accurate idea of your normal level of bioelectricity and this is the fastest way to do it. I already have a very good map of your chakra signature but without this additional data you'll still end up a crispy critter." explained the Wild Card.
"You can tell the difference between people's chakra?" Sasuke asked, intrigued. Kotorra paused before answering him.
"I can't but I have a machine that can. Chakra is almost like a fingerprint or a DNA sample; when I compared Neji and Hinata's chakra signatures it was plain to see they were related. I'm still trying to see if you can determine a person's ..." she suddenly realized she was rambling. "Enough, we're wasting time. Sakura and Kakashi will be here any minute and I want to collect all this data now so I can have it ready to use when we get back." Sasuke seemed disappointed for some reason.
"Tch. Fine..."
Present time...
"Don't worry about it." Kotorra replied flippantly. Sakura levelled a glare at her but she ignored it."Can we go now?"
Unlike her last trip to Tanzaku-Gai, Kotorra and the others would be arriving by carriage. Most of the trip was spent in idle conversation and at one point they'd stopped to pray at a shrine. Well, the ninja prayed at the shrine, Kotorra took a moment to admire the scenery. They had made one more stop to eat lunch before they continued on their way to the town.
"Hey! I thought there was supposed to be a castle overlooking the town?" Sakura pointed out as they drew nearer. Kakashi looked out the carriage window.
"You're right." he said. "The castle's completely gone. I wonder what happened to it."
"Orochimaru and Tsunade happened." Kotorra said blandly. Team Kakashi looked at her askance, she jerked her head in the general direction of the missing structure. "We got there no more than an hour after it had happened, but Bradley smelled big-ass snakes so Jiraiya and Naruto went up there to check it out. Apparently Tsunade and Orochimaru got into an argument, Orochimaru brought out the snakes, and that was it for the castle."
"Wow..." Sakura said. "So is that why Tsunade-sama is always caving to your demand? Because you know she is partially responsible for wrecking the castle?"
"Partly." Kotorra's expression was wicked. "It's mostly because she feels guilty about using my friends and I as bait for Orochimaru."
"She WHAT?" Sakura's shocked expression was expected, but Sasuke's was priceless.
They were now entering the town proper and it was as busy as ever. Sakura openly gaped at all the people milling around, quite a number of them were dressed in expensive clothing. Sasuke seemed disinterested and settled for just staring out the window in general. Kakashi looked nonchalant but his visible eye was roving the crowded streets and examining every building they passed. Kotorra was reminiscing about her last trip here and looking for potential places to expand her business; the festival had brought in a ton of people and the sheer amount of potential clientele caused her to subconsciously rub her hands together.
The carriage pulled up to a modest estate far outside the main part of the town, much to Kotorra's relief. She had been worried that they'd be lodging near the red-light district as Jiraiya was wont to do. They were met at the front gate by the porter and a footman and escorted to meet the master of the estate.
When Tsunade had said they were helping an "a good friend" of hers they expected someone much older. The rather short, thirty-something they were currently in the presence of didn't even look like the type of person to run a lottery let alone a casino. Still, looks can be very deceiving. Morimoto Yusuke, while young, controls a small business empire and a sizeable fortune; keeping control of such assets isn't a job for someone weak-minded or careless.
"Welcome to my home." he greeted. "I hope your journey was a pleasant one."
"Morimoto-san." Kakashi nodded from where he knelt on the floor. "Hokage-sama sends her regards."
"Thank you for your assistance." he glanced over to the teenagers behind Kakashi. "Those are your genin I take it?"
"Two of my genin and a mercenary filling in for my third who is out on a training journey. She may not be a ninja but underestimating her would be a grave mistake." Yusuke nodded before launching into an explanation of why he had called for assistance.
In the most basic of terms, Morimoto Masamichi had been in poor health and his competitors were more than happy when he died thinking that he had left no successor. Imagine their surprise when Yusuke was brought forward.
Up until his father's death, Masamichi had never told anyone that he had married let alone fathered four children. Yusuke and his three siblings had all lived with their mother somewhere in Cha no Kuni up until their father's death. As soon as word was sent to his mother, Yusuke was immediately packed off and sent to Tanzaku-Gai to take over his father's estate. Naturally, there were people who were not happy about this and attempts had been made to pressure Yusuke to sell the business. Naturally, he refused. The death threats, attempts on his life, and various acts of vandalism and sabotage on his casinos soon followed.
Yusuke, unable to think of any other solution, called in the debt Tsunade owed his father.
"My father worked very hard to create this small empire of his." Yusuke said firmly. "My mother never had to work a day of her life with the money he sent us. He made sure we were all well taken care of and I will do whatever I can to make sure that continues. The card tournament had already been arranged prior to my father's death and I didn't dare cancel it. My competitors already use the attacks on my casinos as leverage to lure customers away, if I were to postpone or cancel the tournament it would just give them more ammunition."
"It's still quite the risk." Kotorra interjected. "You are literally gambling your own life for the sake of preserving your business' reputation. Such a risk seems a bit high... Protecting your life isn't the only thing you're asking of us is it?"
"Very astute." acknowledged the casino tycoon. "Stopping them just this time won't be enough. They've been using increasingly more drastic methods to try and get me to sell the business. Just two days ago we thwarted an arson attempt but I have no proof as to who is responsible. No, in order to put a stop to this once and for all I need you to find the responsible parties and help me bring them to justice."
