Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

Lullaby

"I'll do it," one of them was saying, "I'm the one who wins."

"But what if you get in trouble for cheating?" another asked.

"I won't," the first one told them, "Why would I get in trouble?"

"Well, for one thing, you're underage," the third said with a bright smile and bit into some unknown substance that might have been food in a past life, "and for another thing, they will get really mad when you win, and then you'll get arrested and maybe killed."

"Thanks, Sai," the first one sighed, "by the way…what is that?"

The child looked down at the thing he had just taken a bite of.

"You know…I don't know…" he said thoughtfully.

"You don't know…and you're eating it?" the second one asked, looking disgusted.

"Haku said that once you got past the gag reflex it opened a broad new range of food…"

"Ew,"

Tsunade had to admit that she felt kind of sorry for the things. They were so desperate that they were going to try their luck at the slots. She was also morbidly curious, so when the three broke the huddle, and the first one walked in, Tsunade followed him. The manager was glaring at her, but since she seemed to only be watching, not gambling, he seemed content to let her be.

Tsunade was slightly disgusted that he allowed some street urchin who was obviously under age, to just walk in, but hid it well.

The first one walked straight to the table where poker was being played and sat down. The three others who were playing looked amused at the kid put down all the money that he had (three ryou) and grinned.

"I want to play!" he told them.

"Kid, you don't have the money," one of the players said bluntly.

"Oh, let the kid stick his money in the pot. If he wins, he plays normally, it not…well we have three more ryou in the pot don't we?" another said with a grin.

Tsunade wanted to punch him. Taking advantage of some kid like that! She had half a mind to grab the kid and buy him something to eat just to spite these people. She made a move, but stopped when she saw the boy's grin. She would wait. He was going to have to learn the hard way. It was the first thing she had learned as a genin. No matter how many times someone bailed you out of something, you would never really learn until the thing you were doing blew up in your face.

Tsunade watched and waited.

"I'll bet that my cards are cooler then all of yours," the kid said with a grin.

One of the players, guessing that he had never actually played poker in his life, looked like his birthday had just come early. The other two didn't seem to care all that much, since they didn't even look up. One of them looked a little guilty.

The betting went few times around until it was seen at fifty ryou. The first play set down a full house, queen high, the second one, the one who had been grinning at the idea of taking the money from the kid, put down four twos with a large grin, and the third, who had folded, was watching the kid with interest.