Naruto: IY Ch. 46

Yoake Tower, first-floor private room.

The three of them were drunk again, and once again it was Konan and Kana who came to pick them up. And once again, Minato was hugging a bottle, crying his eyes out.

The next day, the press conference was already halfway through.

Yahiko, still with a pounding hangover as if someone had smacked his head with an iron mallet, walked into the cinema. By chance, he ran into Nagato and Minato, and the three of them went in together.

In the screening hall, the audience was watching with rapt attention.

Up front, Jiraiya looked like he was actually acting.

Tsunade was practically laughing herself to tears.

Not until the protagonist faced off against the underground poker boss in the final high-stakes game, using his hard-earned skills and discipline to overcome both his gambling addiction and his opponent...

Tsunade, sitting in the middle, her eyes fixed on the protagonist in the movie, reading tells and calculating odds with incredible precision.

"This... this is Jiraiya?"

Her lips parted slightly in surprise, and she blurted it out.

The film crew members were sitting in the last row, waiting for the curtain call so they could go on stage to interact with the audience.

Hidden away in the very back row, wrapped up tightly in cloth, Jiraiya noticed Tsunade's reaction. He secretly rejoiced, covering his mouth to stifle a laugh.

But then he spotted Pakura sitting some distance away from Tsunade, and his expression stiffened slightly.

Why on earth would she have a big round mark on her back?

It was... kind of unsettling to look at.

Yesterday, Pakura had cupping therapy done. It had felt great, and she had no idea it would leave marks. And no one had warned her.

The subordinates who came with her were all friends of Rasa, just itching to see her make a fool of herself.

After the cupping and a good night's sleep, she'd felt so relaxed.

"Jiraiya-sensei, we're not late, right?" The three of them came over and sat down next to him.

"Not late, not late. My highlight scene is coming up in a minute." Jiraiya was in a great mood, patting the seat beside him, signaling for them to sit quickly.

"Why are you wrapped up like a mummy?" Yahiko asked, staring at the Jiraiya who only had his head showing and nothing else visible.

"I've been checking this movie all day yesterday, over and over, afraid something would be wrong. Wasn't it all for this moment?" Jiraiya said, tears welling up. It had been a hard road, Kakuzu had given him a 200,000 budget to make this film.

On the big screen, the BGM kicked in, and a slick-haired Jiraiya in a suit appeared in slow motion.

Jiraiya was thrilled, his suffering had not been in vain. From his pocket, he pulled out some hair wax and smoothed it onto his hair.

"Holy crap!"

"Ahhhh~!"

The premiere hall immediately filled with screams.

Tsunade felt something stir inside her, an itch.

"Player's instinct, look at how he reads those tells, oh!" B blinked repeatedly, staring at the big screen.

Beside him, A was getting itchy too, not sure if he wanted to punch B or play a few rounds himself.

Damn it, he'd never touched gambling, drugs, or women, he liked bodybuilding. Was he about to break his discipline?

Kakashi listened to the howling around him, already imagining what Obito would be like later.

"Hehehe."

"Milk candy... I wonder if father want to eat then." Akatsuchi stuffed five or six pieces into his mouth at once, chewing while watching, his mouth full of milky sweetness.

In the movie, the protagonist ate Oreos and milk candy, his tells when he had a good hand.

Yep... another product placement.

The movie ended.

"Bravo!"

The crowd burst into enthusiastic applause.

Even A joined in, clapping along, it was actually well shot. He was just wondering if the Land of Lightning could make one of their own.

"Does everyone want to meet the main creators of our film?"

At that moment, the host, planted by the crew, took the stage.

"Yes!" Some were actual ticket buyers who'd gotten lucky.

Others were plants Jiraiya had arranged just in case.

As for Tobi, the reporter, no words. At this moment, no one knew where he was hiding, camera ready to click at any moment.

At this moment, Tsunade truly wanted to see Jiraiya, so he could teach her some gambling skills.

"Please welcome, the star of Rounders!"

Dun-dun-dun-dun...

The BGM kicked in instantly.

Jiraiya ripped off the cloth covering himself, borrowed some water from Yahiko to wash his hands, and went up on stage with the film crew.

Minato followed as well, tasked with looking handsome and drawing in curious female fans who liked gambling.

"Do you have anything you'd like to say to the audience?"

Jiraiya turned toward Tsunade. "If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker."

"That's a line from the movie!" an audience member exclaimed in surprise.

"Challenging me?" Tsunade sneered.

Yahiko covered his face. Sigh...

"And? Is there anything else our star would like to tell everyone?"

The atmosphere went a little cold, this was Jiraiya's first time doing this sort of thing, and he had no idea how to hype up the crowd.

He cast a pleading glance at Yahiko.

"Pick an audience member to play some game," Yahiko mouthed.

Jiraiya nodded.

"Next, I'm going to pick one lucky audience member for a poker hand with me," Jiraiya said with a smile.

Thankfully, he wasn't stupid, he let his hand linger on several people as he "scanned" the crowd.

Even A, Akatsuchi, and several Ame folks felt their hearts pounding.

Pick me.

Pick me!

"You there, the lady with the golden hair."

Everyone turned to look. Those who didn't know the inside story marveled at Tsunade's luck. Those who did know were aware these two were both Sannin.

"Very well," Tsunade said. When it came to gambling, she got fired up.

She wanted to see how deep this so-called poker expert's skills ran. She stepped onto the stage.

The host dealt five cards to each player.

"Texas Hold'em, one hand," the host announced.

Jiraiya glanced at his cards briefly, then looked directly at Tsunade, studying her face.

Tsunade kept her expression neutral, but Jiraiya noticed the slight tightening around her eyes, a tell he'd learned to spot.

"I'll raise," Jiraiya said confidently.

Tsunade: "Call."

The flop came down: Ace of Hearts, King of Spades, Queen of Hearts.

Jiraiya watched Tsunade's breathing pattern change ever so slightly.

"All in," he declared.

The crowd gasped. Tsunade looked at her cards again, pocket Aces, giving her three of a kind.

"Call," she said with a smirk.

Jiraiya revealed his hand: Jack of Hearts, Ten of Hearts, a straight.

"Straight beats three of a kind! Jiraiya wins."

The host showed the cards around to the audience, then shuffled for another hand.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Again."

"No problem." There wasn't a trace of panic on Jiraiya's face.

Hand after hand, Tsunade didn't win a single one.

The audience stood up, stunned, and then broke into applause, unable to help themselves. Was he... really reading her tells that well?

Are you for real?

Jiraiya hadn't used any ninja techniques, that much A and the others could tell. He was purely reading body language and calculating odds.

So... was the movie based on his real poker skills?

"This acting is way too fake," Pakura muttered in doubt.

"Good, good! Who said Jiraiya's acting wasn't good? His acting is amazing!"

A man wearing sunglasses suddenly burst into sobs.

"?"

Those unfamiliar with the idea of planted audience members turned to look at the man.

What happened?

Was he crying just because someone said Jiraiya's acting wasn't good?

Tsunade, who had been sulking over her losing streak, suddenly found it funny again.

"Mhm, the movie wasn't bad," she praised.

"Now that I've seen it, I should be on my way."

In truth, she wanted to go gamble.

"Wait, there's a post-credits scene."

"Hurry up and show the post-credits!"

"Tsunade..." Jiraiya suddenly looked at her with deep, affectionate eyes.