Author's Notes

Hello, it's me, I'm back. This is the longest I've gone without posting a chapter. Sorry to anybody who wanted a chapter sooner but this one got me a bit stuck. I guess I should talk about some stuff as well.

So first I want to address some stuff about the story. I have seen that some people have some issues with Batman having round the amount of Kakashi's chakra, I was under the impression chakra amount was purely genetic when I said that. I still believe that is mostly true although when I though about it I have realized that most people with higher Chakra reserves get their high reserves from either bloodline or an outside source. Jinchuriki have higher reserves due to the tailed beast chakra assimilating with their own, Kisame's sword absorbs and shares chakra, and Naruto and Sasuke had massive improvements to their personal reserves when Hagoromo gave them chakra. Since the story shows Batman getting his chakra from Hagoromo himself I figure average reserves would make sense.

Second I want to mention that I am considering writing another fanfiction. I'm debating between writing another Naruto fanfic or an Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic. I have a couple ideas for both but I wanted to see if you guys care which one I do.

Well as usual feedback is always welcome.

I do not own Batman or Naruto.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 8

Bruce had been at the casino for a while now and he had managed to notice a few things. First thing was that it was an unspoken rule that if you're caught cheating you automatically lose, which wasn't all that unusual. Another unspoken rule was that you always have to be holding your cards.

The last thing Bruce noticed was that his escort, Tsunade, was not good at gambling. For one, she didn't cheat like the other players, which put her at a severe disadvantage. Second was that you could easily tell what cards she had, even without cheating, by her facial expressions. Although the craziest thing had to be her luck. Every single game she played she somehow managed to get the worst hand possible, and despite that she still tried to bluff her way to victory, which failed every time, and that was before she started drinking.

Bruce had been watching for a while now and, other than questioning Tsunade's ability to lead a village, he had been enjoying watching from a distance. The variety of ways the shinobi would cheat was fascinating to him, as well as the ways they'd try countering the cheating. While they had been playing he had been analyzing their ways of cheating and their reactions.

Currently Tsunade was at a poker table with three other people, a blond man who he believed was from the Yamanaka clan (he found out about them during his research), a man in sunglasses, presumably from the Aburame clan, and a shinobi with a senbon in his mouth who he heard Tsunade call Genma, who was also the one with the most winnings.

Bruce had figured the blond man was using a similar technique as the lie detector before to get a better read on his opponents reactions, although it would seem it isn't foolproof considering how Genma was still managing to bluff him out. The man with sunglasses was harder to figure out, until he noticed a breed of dragonfly camouflaged on the walls of the building, Bruce wouldn't have even noticed them had the man with sunglasses not glanced at them whenever they moved, which the sunglasses also made difficult to notice. Genma was definitely the most skilled at the table. His methods were the easiest to spot and fairly simplistic, simply using substitution jutsu to switch his cards for better ones he had hid on his person while using a genjutsu to hide what his cards actually are, but he kept his emotions in check making it almost impossible to tell what he was thinking. Bruce also assumed Genma was avoiding the blond man's mind jutsu in a similar manner to how Bruce avoids Martian Man Hunter's mind reading.

The current game was about to end, the only remaining players being a now drunk Tsunade who had gotten her best hand of the night, a three of a kind, and Genma, the other two had folded which only seemed to boost Tsunade's alcohol filled confidence more. She still lost of course. Genma had barely beaten her again. Bruce had noticed Genma doing it for a while now. Whenever it was just him and Tsunade left he would purposefully win by the smallest margin to goad her into another game. Not that she needed goading but Genma seemed to do it more for his own enjoyment.

"Damn it!" Tsunade slurred, slamming her hands on the table and taking another drink of her sake. She looked down at her remaining chips only to find she had none left, "Bruce! Let me… borrow some… money."

"No," Bruce said.

"Come on… just a little?"

"No."

"Fine then," Tsunade turned back to the table with a sake filled determination. Bruce could think of a few methods she could use to keep playing off the top of his head, most of them involving the few poker chips she had dropped on the floor without realizing. Not that he'd tell her. While he does go to casinos fairly often, he still doesn't approve of gambling. Gambling means taking risks and Batman can't afford to take risks.

Bruce decided to stop watching the game to do some planning. One of the most important things Bruce needed right now was money. Money to support his daily needs and money to support his efforts to get back home. His best chance would be to make use of his advanced technology. With the materials the village has and his current funds he could sell herbs, medicines, or poisons, he knows enough about those from dealing with Poison Ivy he was able to create an entire branch of Wayne Enterprises for herbal medicines. Given the fact that these are ninjas, poisons and medicines will always be in high demand. He'll keep it non-lethal of course, medicines and paralyzing agents. Does he really need to worry about killing though? These ninja are soldiers, not heroes. No. Soldiers or no, he won't sell something for killing of any kind.

Bruce had started making plans to investigate his competition when he was brought out of his thoughts by a thunk. He looked over to find Tsunade had collapsed over the table. Genma was laughing and the other two looked like they were between being uncomfortable and amused that their village leader just collapsed on their table.

Sighing internally, Bruce moved to pick Tsunade up off the table. He was used to it, this was how a lot of nights ended for Bruce Wayne. Genma also got up to help. Bruce wasn't surprised, he noticed early on that Genma had been more comfortable around the Hokage, he probably interacts with her fairly often, whether or not that's from friendship or business was unknown but Bruce guessed the latter. Genma often referred to her by her title as if by habit which suggested a more formal relationship, an advisor or bodyguard probably.

They walked with Bruce on Tsunade's left and Genma on the right in silence, with the exception of Tsunade's occasional drunken sleep talking. Genma eventually spoke up.

"You're that foreigner I've been hearing about right? The Bat?"

Bruce kept looking straight ahead, "You've heard of me?" It was phrased like a question but it wasn't, Bruce already figured as much from the way Genma looked at him.

"Yeah. Most people who work closely with the Hokage have." So his identity isn't common knowledge, that's good, he's sure there are more than a few people who'd find him fascinating.

"You work closely with the Hokage then," once again it wasn't a question.

"Yup. You're looking at one of the Hokage's elite bodyguards!" Genma proudly stated while pointing his thumb at himself.

Bruce didn't respond and they kept walking in silence. Genma seemed almost disappointed that Bruce wasn't more impressed.

Genma spoke up again. What he said caused Bruce to finally turn his head and narrow his eyes.

"I heard you're looking into Space-Time Ninjutsu." Genma said

Genma was baiting him, Bruce knew it because he had done it before in much the same manner. But what he said, his bait, was too good to pass up. So he took it.

"Yes." Bruce responded, and he watched Genma's face get that same look it had when he was gambling with Tsunade, smug, mischievous, and way too similar to Dick's for Bruce's liking.