Chapter Two.
"So Naruto, would you like to be a medical ninja like the two of us?", Tsunade asked her ward as they stood in a clearing that served as training ground near the leaf village.
"Sure," he replied, not wanting to upset his guardian, and seeing the value in having medical knowlegde.
"Medical Ninjutsu requires excellent chakra control Lady Tsunade. Naruto has the nine-tails which will affect his negatively," Shizune whispered in her mistress's ear.
"Don't worry Shizune, I've got a solution," the Slug Sanin whispered back. Turning back to Uzumaki, she said, "I imagine that you have trouble making Clones kid."
He nodded in response, and she continued.
"It's not your fault, there is a reason for it. Unfortunately, the old fool won't let me or anyone else tell. It's the same reason why most of the villagers despise you."
Naruto was stunned; he always knew that the Leaf hated him for a reason but had no idea that the Third had a law prohibiting it from being told to him. His repressed anger towards Sarutobi grew.
"When we're teaching you how to heal, I'll put a seal on your stomach. It will help tremendously. For now I'm going to show you a jutsu that I think would suit you well," Tsunade said with a smile.
"What is it called?"
"The Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) Justu. Unlike the regular Bunshin, this jutsu creates physical clones, not illusions." Naruto's eyes lit up and he said, "That sounds Awesome!"
Both women smiled at his enthusiasm. Then Tsunade told him to focus and slowly but steadily performed handsigns. Two puffs of smoke appeared on both sides of the Legendary sucker. The boy ran up to the clones and felt them, gasping as they felt like the real thing.
"Now you give it a try."
Naruto focused his chakra, performed the same hand-signs carefully, and shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Immediately afterwards, hundreds of solid clones poofed into existence.
"WOW!" both shinobi shouted; they figured he'd easily complete the Jutsu, but they didn't expect him to create so many Kage Bunshin at once.
"Very good my boy!", Tsunade congratulated.
"Now for the next excercise. Shizune will spar with you. I want you to avoid or redirect her attacks. She's bigger and stronger than you, so blocking won't work."
Naruto nodded, as did Shizune who stepped forward. She pulled back the sleeve of her arm to reveal a senbon launcher. They weren't poisoned as usual, but would hurt like hell if they hit him.
"Get ready Naruto," Tsunade's assistant warned. Then she shot the needles. Naruto focused both on the whistling air and the reflected sunlight from the senbon. He turned left, then right, then bent his body backwards, then twisted to the right again, then left again, then went prone. Then Uzumaki rolled out of the way as Shizune's feet crashed onto the spot where his legs had been.
'She'd have broken my legs had I not moved,' Naruto thought as the black-haired women charged at him. He pushed aside her hands, flattened and straightened like knives, with his fists and pushed down her incoming knees with his palm. When she tried to kick him, he pushed he deflected her ankles with his forearms. When his hands and arms started to tire, he started using his feet and legs. When they began to buckle under the pressure to, the blonde Jinchurikki started dodging. Shizune did a feint with her elbow at Naruto's face, the when he tried to avoid it, she swept his legs. Grabbing his orange jacket by the shoulders, she tried to headbutt him, but he brought up his knees to block her hard skull.
"Alright that's enough!" Tsunade announced. Her assistant and new student separated.
"Heal the bruises on his hand, and on your forehead, then we've got some business to take care of."
"Business," Shizune said dryly. She knew they were going gambling.
/
When the trio entered the Casino, all eyes turned toward them. Some were curious, others indifferent, but the majority were hostile. One couple, a man and a woman, were bold enough to whisper to each other, " Great, those three just ruined our afternoon."
"I know right. Why'd Lady Tsunade have to bring that Ky- ?"
Focusing chakra to her ears, Shizune heard their words clearly. She zoomed behind the two, disappearing and reappearing, and held scalpels to their throats.
"Finish that sentence and your both dead. You know the law and the penalty for breaking it."
The two froze and sweat bullets. Shizune moved away from the two and then turned to the crowd saying, "Same goes for all the all the rest of you!"
"I'm usually the one who loses my temper," the Senju woman said in surprise at her apprentice's actions.
"Shizune, Naruto Uzumaki, Lady Tsunade, please come to my office on the fifth floor?" a voice sounded on the loudspeaker. The casino was five stories with different sections on each floor. They were currently in the bar section.
Walking to the management office, Tsunade opened the door and saw two security guards wearing Shaolin monk outfits and the manager wearing a jungle camoflague shirt and shorts. He had tan skin and lemon-yellow hair, which made him look like a lion.
"Hello, my name is Batta Ken (grasshopper sword). I can assure you lady Tsunade, that i neither harbor nor will tolerate any hatred towards Mr. Uzumaki. But I can't allow those underage to gamble," the casino owner explained.
"He's not here for that sir," Tsunade countered.
" When we were outside of the village, and he was near me when i used a slot machine . I won every time! This kid's my good luck charm."
"Really?" Batta asked with raised eyebrows
"How much did you win?"
"Ten grande."
"WHUUHH?" was the response of the guards while Ken just said, "Impressive. Very well, gamble to your heart's content. And let me know
if any of my patrons give you any problems. I also hope you improve this child's life Tsunade."
The trio nodded and bowed to their host. Then they walked out.
They went to back the fifth floor gaming area which had Spin and Roulette wheel games. The dealer of the first spot they went to was genuinely kind to the blond Jinchurikki. The other dealers varied. None of them openly hateful, but a lot of the smiles were forced. So as not to clean the place out, and to give other people a chance to win, Tsunade decided to play only five times per game. As happened previously, she won every time she played either wheel. On the fourth floor which had pool and billiards, the Senju woman knocked all pool balls into the pockets on the first try. She also hit her both the red and black balls with the white ball each time in Billiards. On the third floor, there was Baccarat, Texas Hold' Em, Solitaire, Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Blackjack, Dominoes, and Dice. As Tsunade played, Shizune explained how each game worked to him. She also sent KI to those patrons who dared to glare at her diminutive companion. As Tsunade continued to successfully press her luck, it attracted the attention of others and a crowd gathered around them. They all gaped in amazement that the Legendary sucker was not only succeeding but not losing even once! They stared at the village pariah with interest , knowing he was the cause of it. The blonde sanin won five royal flushes in a row playing baccarat, five blackbeat jackpots in Texas Hold em, got all dice to land on six each round in roll-the dice, all of her edges were divisible by five in All Fives dominoes, and so and so forth. When they left the Casino three hours later, the first Hokage's granddaughter had 15 times as much more money as she originally won. Her cash was all sealed in a scroll strapped to her back.
"You are my sunshine, Naruto Uzumaki," she complimented. Her hand were on his shoulders and she bent down and kissed his cheek. Again, the long-neglected child gained a profound blush on his visage.
"Let's go to Ichiraku Ramen. I have two great friends there; Tecuhi and Ayame. They treat me like family," Naruto said.
"Really? I'd Love to meet them, " Shizune replied happily.
"We can go right now if you want," Tsunade suggested. The boy nodded and they set off. The two older leaf residents sensed that a young girl was following them but said nothing. After a while they reached their destination, and Ayame jumped over the counter and glomped her favorite customer.
"I heard you ran away, I was so worried!" she said
"Me too," Teuchi added in a much calmer tone of voice.
"Sorry for worrying you," Naruto said apologetically.
"I just wanted…"
"No need to explain my boy. The Hokage gave us your letters. There's not a thing in it I disagree with."
"Thank you so much for bringing him back, Lady Tsunade. Now that you're here and taking care of him, maybe his skills will improve."
"You're welcome and I'll do my best," the blonde sanin replied, holding out her hand for the girl to shake. Ayame reciprocated the gesture, and Tsunade went to shake Teuchi's hand as well. Shizune introduced herself to the two ramen chef's and shook their hands too.
"Have a bowl of ramen lady Tsuande. You too Shizune. It's on the house," Teuchi offered. The two medical kunoichi graciously accepted and sat down to eat. In contrast to his previous visits, the Uzumaki boy had only one bowl this time. That was because he'd eaten his fill of seafood at the casino and drank his fill of fruit juice. Shizune made sure the food preppers didn't slip anything into his food. When they were still outside of Konoha, both of them made sure Naruto ate a balanced breakfast of eggs, ham, cereal, apples, and French toast.
Once was every was done, and the blond jinchurikki said goodbye to his friends, he led his two female caretakers to his familar lonely swing.
"I never had someone push me on it before. Would you mind…?"
"No I wouldn't."
"Neither would I."
Tsunade and Shizune took turns pushing the boy on the swing, switching places every sixty seconds. One of them warded off glares from villagers while the other played with Uzumaki. Not everyone was hateful, some were pleased at the sight.