A/N: So school is out now and beside the constant cosplay planning and building (I've got a lot of cosplays on my plate) and my overpacked work schedule I have a fair amount of free time so hopefully these updates will speed up.. but knowing me they may not ;D I'll try. Song is gambler by kenny rogers, take from it what you will.

Edit: Talk about not, sorry guys but working 35-45 hours a week plus 25 hours a week of volunteer work is running me dry. I swear I try.


Epicweaver: While this is a response specifically to this user (despite the fact I know they probably won't read it) I feel the need to address these concerns so everyone knows what's going on. First of all, everything in the beginning is COMPLETELY thought out. I know some of you non-ninja folk haven't learned this underneath the underneath stuff but believe me the story will pull together in the end. I appreciate reviews but comments about this are unneeded as I've already considered most if not all things that may 'appear' wrong with this scenario thus far. The other thing I felt the need to address are those who are complaining because the story is based around an OC. My summary clearly states that this is about Sasuke's twin sister and her effect on the story line. I in no way have implied that this story centres on any of the canon characters although they are obviously a big part of the story. If you dislike my story fully for something I have clearly stated please don't flame. I have matches to light fires for my marshmallows and am in no need of flames for that reason (all other flames are welcome as they tend to actually help me.)


"AII! Im-impossible! That money..!" A woman screeched with wide eyes.

"We're borrowing it!" I bear the word "kake" on my back. I.. am princess Tsunade. "Yeah! With this we can overturn every defeat!"


"Jiraiya-sama.. please find Tsunade-sama.." Gai spoke solemnly, Sasuke hanging limp from his shoulders while Shinobu was in his arms bridal style.

"Don'tcha worry, we'll find her! Take care of Sasuke and Shinobu, Mr. Thick-Brows!" Naruto grinned.

"Well Gai.. we'll be leaving them in your care."

"Naruto..! You've got guts; I like kids like that! Here, I'm giving this to you!" Gai grinned, managing to give Naruto a thumbs up. "This is the reason why Lee is so strong!"

"Eh? What? What!" Naruto grinned, watching Gai excitedly.

"This!" Gai grinned, holding out what appeared to be a giant, floppy, green spaghetti noodle. It took about two seconds for Jiraiya to realize that it was Gai's infamous outfit.

"It's the ultimate, stream-lined, form-fitting, easily-accessible, perfectly-made bodysuit! Wear it while training and you'll know the difference! You'll never look back!" Gai grinned all the while shaking the noodle like jumpsuit.

"Our Lee wears it 24/7 and of course, it is my most beloved piece of ninja must-have!" Gai grinned, handing it over.

"Coool!" Naruto grinned, jumping up and down.

"If you can walk around carrying that, why not carry a mirror instead... sheesh." Jiraiya grumbled under his breath.

"You.. you're not gonna walk around in that that thing, are you..?" Jiraiya asked as Gai walked away, waving over his shoulder.

"It fits me, doesn't it?"

"Don't.. Naruto, look at that *thing* you're holding, it's a fashion faux pas."


"Eeeek! This.. This is the most expensive gambling den around!"

"Pipe down will you? Let's go." A woman with two blond pigtails spoke before entering the den, her fear struck apprentice quickly following behind her.

"Hm..? T-that's!" A man thought, sitting among a circle of more gamblers.


"Okaay! Let's hurry up and find this Tsunade person! She'll fix Sasuke, and we can finally start training!"

"Heh.." Now that's Naruto for ya.

"Is this 'Super babe' you were talking about before.. Tsunade?" Naruto asked after a moment's pause.

"Oh, you've gotten sharper already! Yup, it's her alright. What about it?"

"Is she one of the ones, along with you, that people call the 'three legendary sannin'?" Naruto asked after another pause.

"Yeah, so?" Jiraiya asked, confusion apparent in his expression.

"How old is she?" Naruto frowned.

"My age.." Jiraiya sighed.

"She's OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD then." Naruto whined.

"Gee thanks.." Jiraiya rolled his eyes.

"So what's Tsunade like?" Naruto asked, ignoring his comment.

"Hm, you interested? Well, she's kind of annoying. She's a compulsive gambler, and well known in a lot of countries..."

"Well she'll be pretty easy to find if she's so famous!"

"Oh yeah, she's famous alright. She's known as the legendary.."


"I want to turn all of this money into chips." The blond haired woman grinned.

"This, this person.."

"What? Who is this person?"

"You.. don'tcha know? This person has a nickname."

"Nickname?"

"The legendary.."

"The legendary?"

"The legendary sucker!"


"She had the name 'sucker' since a long time ago. Back then, she would always borrow money and then run away afterwards. Aaah, those were the days." Jiraiya grinned.

"You miss those days?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. "Well how are we gonna find her then?"

"Since we're going by foot, there's all ways of doing it."

"Eeeeeeeeeeh? That means we don't know how long it's gonna take..!"

"We don't have much time to spare." Jiraiya continued on as if Naruto hadn't said anything. "We'll be spending most of our time on our journey on you!"

"On me?"

"We're gonna power you up! It's training time!" Jiraiya grinned. Naruto grinned before quickly pulling off his backpack and rummaging through it.

"I'm ready!" He shouted, while Jiraiya deadpanned at the noodle in his hands.

"No no... You are not wearing that.. I ain't gonna be seen dead in the company of someone wearing that.." Jiraiya muttered.


"Itach-!" Shinobu shot up in her hospital bed, violently looking around only to spot her brother in an unconscious realm in the bed beside her. "..w-what...?"

"So you're finally awake." Shinobu turned to the source of the voice, her jaw going slack as she looked at the figure sitting lazily in the chair near her.

"Shikamaru?" She asked, looking at him in confusion.

"You know.. we used to be really good friends. Why weren't you just honest with us? With me? We could have helped you, you know." Shikamaru sighed.

"I did tell Naruto.." Shinobu mumbled half heartedly.

"Yes.. but we were there too." Shikamaru replied, leaning forward. "We're your friends too and is troublesome as this may be we're here for you.. whenever you need us." Shinobu stayed silently, looking at her hands in her lap as she thought.

"Did Ino ever tell you?" Shinobu asked, looking up after some mental debate and a bit of hesitation. Shikamaru shook his head.

"Your match was before mine.. so you went to the medic area before.. you didn't see me." Shinobu explained. "Shika.. I'm a girl." She said, letting the genjutsu that clung to her like a second skin peel away.

"I knew.. but.. why can't you just prove that girls are strong and act as a girl?" Shikamaru asked.

"I originally only did it so I wouldn't be doing flower arrangements in the academy.. but I never dropped it after that." Shinobu explained, rolling her shoulders and wincing as they cracked. "How long have I been out for?" She asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Three or four days?" Shikamaru guessed, while he wasn't sure when she had been brought here he had been visiting for a short time ever since Ino had mentioned Sasuke and the whole incident.

"So they continued the mission without me.. great." Shinobu scowled.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Well I was supposed to be training with Naruto and Jiraiya but they left and that pretty much destroyed my chance of learning from Tsunade. I can't even keep up with Sasuke anymore." She frowned.

"Why don't you come and train with Ino, Choji and I? I'm sure Asuma won't mind and chances are you'll end up getting barbecue out of the whole deal." Shikamaru smiled.

"Deal, but I need to check that I'm allowed to leave first." Shinobu explained, letting the genjutsu take over her features as she grabbed her clothes from the stand near her bed and changed from the hospital garb the nurses had put her in.

"Let's go." She grinned before letting her facial features slip into that all too natural smirk.

"That still weirds me out.." Shikamaru sighed.

"What, the fact that my genjutsu is amazing or the fact that I have more muscle than you?" Shinobu grinned the challenge as she bit back a laugh.

"You know I'm too lazy to ever take you up on that." He chuckled.

"I know but it never hurts to try." Shinobu shrugged before approaching the nurse scribbling something at the counter in the nurse's station. "Ahem." She coughed, trying to get the girl's attention.

"Oh, Shinobu-san, right?" The girl asked, a little startled as she looked up.

"Yes."

"How may I help you..?" She sighed slightly, putting the pen in her hand behind her ear.

"I was just wondering if I'm good to go. I feel fine and I would kind of like to spend some time with my friends." Shinobu worded carefully, eyeing the girl's reactions.

"As long as you're not doing anything too strenuous.. you should be good." The girl smiled softly.

"Nope, I think we're just going to go eat barbecue." Shinobu smirked only to feel her cheeks split into a grin as the girl blushed. Did she not get the memo I'm a girl or is she embarrassed? Shinobu laughed to herself in her head.

"Alright, sign here and you're free to go. Come back and check with us if you notice anything strange." The girl smiled, sliding a paper across the counter which Shinobu quickly signed before nodding and dragging Shikamaru out of the building.

"You lied?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow lazily.

"You didn't stop me." Shinobu pointed out with an equally lazy shrug.

"Point taken." Shikamaru shook his head with a light chuckle, lifting his arms and leaning his head back as he walked towards a small decorated flower shop.


Short but there's more to come :D Hope you all enjoyed and feel free to give feedback, likes, dislikes and suggestions. If you want to see something, let me know because it could very well make it into the story. :D (For example the extra Itachi was to appease a few Itachi fans here :P)


emokid9618: Heh, thank you so much. I try my best and hopefully the bit that we're running through won't disappoint despite not having much outline yet. Thanks for the review :D


riddelable: You're not the first to make this comment but I hope unlike the other person you'll see through this until later on and realize why I wrote it as it did because I did do it for a reason and with everything in your review in mind from the beginning. Thank you for the review :D


ILOVEANIME123: There isn't a sequel as of yet because this part isn't over but when this section of the story is done (I'll make it clear in the A/N when it is) I will definitely be posting a sequel or 'second arch'. Thanks for the review :P


nyanonomous: 1. I love your name 2. Thank you so much I'm glad you enjoyed it so far :D


Luzbel de la Guerra: Well you're definitely a new name to me.. that or I have the memory of a goldfish, no guarantees either way :P thank you for the review and I'm glad you think it's believable xD *fist pumps at self-success* :P I am actually the largest Tayuya fan and had originally planned on making her my first cosplay. She will most definitely make one (if not several) appearances through out this story in the later chapters. I have to say your reaction to the Shinobu/Sasuke pairing made me smile a bit. I'm not all that fond of the pairing myself but have made a promise to all readers that I will consider all pairings. Honestly, since the pairing isn't especially important to the plot line as of yet, I think I'm just going to start bringing it up sooner to the chapters where it will come into play and follow the readers. So far there's only one reader who is for Shinobu/Sasuke as a pairing so I don't think you have much to worry about. It'll most likely be majority rules type of deal :P Thank you for the cookies and peace offering XD I will eat them now as I work on more chapters XDDDDD


Shadow Realm Triforce: Agreed on that one. I am definitely trying to bring out some of the flaws in Shinobu which will most likely result in angst :P Voting seems to work well with my stories :P Thanks for the review :DD


OrionRedde: I take it the inner fan has been appeased? :P


Alpenwolf: That she does, I hope it wasn't overplayed but I thought that with loosing her family for what she sees as not being good enough and then losing to her brother all of the time without him realizing they're related, that one thing would probably cause a bit of a break down :P I think Itachi snapped her out of it but the raw anger was channelled to jump start an accidental genjutsu resulting in Itachi's short term capture :P Thank you for the reviews :D


GaarasMyBoyzz: Yay :D Not quite soon.. but it's an update? :P