"Everyone, we've won quite enough for today."
"Why don't we call it a night?"
The dealer suppressed his irritation and politely addressed the mission targets.
"Are you guys scared of losing?"
"Just how far do you think we've come?"
One burly man showed no concern at all, arrogant and invincible.
"If we stop now, we all walk away happy."
"Leave a little room for others—you never know when paths might cross again."
This gambling house still showed some decorum—the dealer hadn't lost his temper yet.
In a less reputable gambling house, they'd probably be fighting by now.
Nonou and Nagato stayed quiet, quietly watching how things played out.
"Sorry about that, my buddy's had too much to drink."
At least one of them had sense—a somewhat delicate-looking guy pulled his companion back and apologized to the dealer.
Starting a conflict here wouldn't benefit them in the least.
It might even expose their identities. They thought they'd been flying under the radar so far.
"What bad luck—just how much did he drink..."
The big guy wasn't letting up, thinking what was there to fear from just some small-time gambling den?
This wasn't Konoha Village after all.
"Don't cause trouble. We're leaving tomorrow anyway."
"Don't forget Big Bro's warning."
"Once we're out of the Land of Fire, you can go wild however you like."
The refined-looking man interrupted his companion's ranting, whispering into his ear.
Nonou and Nagato caught every word.
This was turning out easier than expected.
"Alright, got it."
"What rotten luck. Can't even enjoy myself properly."
Possibly wary of his big bro, the large man impatiently shrugged off his companion and gathered up the chips on the table.
"We're outta here."
The refined-looking man let out a sigh of relief, smiling as he spoke to the dealer and motioning for the others to leave.
Nonou and Nagato didn't follow them out.
They waited until the group left before acting like they were playing for a bit longer.
"Wanna place one final bet?"
Nonou wasn't lucky at all—it seemed her pile of chips was nearly gone.
"Nah, you go ahead."
Nagato found it quite boring. Even without trying, the dice results were completely transparent to him. It was hard to find any excitement at all.
"C'mon, help your sister catch a lucky break."
Nonou acted cute, playing up her "sister" role while giving him puppy eyes.
"Well… okay then."
Nagato couldn't resist that kind of attitude, reluctantly nodding in agreement.
Girls were such unpredictable creatures.
"Here."
Nonou placed all her remaining chips into Nagato's hands.
If this round lost everything, she planned to quit.
Nagato glanced at the dice cup and without hesitation, placed all the chips on triples.
The dealer's face darkened instantly—he'd barely gotten rid of one set of troublemakers, and here came another.
Luckily, Nagato didn't have many chips, or else his expression would've been even darker.
"Whoa! How did you guess right?"
Nonou lit up with excitement as the cup lifted to reveal Triple Sixes.
In one go, she'd not only recovered all her losses but scored extra profit too.
It felt great to win it all back since she'd used her own money.
For a girl like her, earning even a little money wasn't easy.
"Just a random guess."
Nagato didn't boast about his abilities, brushing it off casually.
"One more round, just one more round."
Nonou gathered the gambling chips back in front of her, still hoping to win a little more.
People are greedy by nature. Nagato understood this but refused to accept it.
"Nope, let's go."
"Everyone's waiting."
Nagato wasn't particularly interested in money; usually he stored it randomly in a piggy bank in his room.
And that was only because Konan had given it to him—he personally thought keeping it in a drawer would've sufficed.
After all, there's no way a thief could get into the Hatake household.
Even if, hypothetically, a thief somehow did make it into the Hatake estate, they wouldn't even look twice at his small stash.
"Fine."
Nonou didn't have a gambling addiction and was easily convinced by Nagato.
If it were Tsunade instead, you couldn't drag her away until she was completely broke.
After collecting their chips, the two left the table, exchanged their chips for cash, then exited the gambling house.
"Are we heading back now?"
"Why don't we grab something to eat for everyone?"
Since she had just won some money, Nonou didn't mind treating everyone to a good meal.
"Okay."
Nagato didn't object. Most members of the team were family to him anyway.
"What do you like to eat?"
Nonou planned to buy some of Nagato's favorites first since he was the one who won the money.
He refused any share when she offered to split it—he really was an odd one.
Calling himself "Pain" and acting like some kind of god?
Not caring about money, not even caring about himself.
"I'm fine with anything. You pick whatever you like first."
Nagato had picked up at least a bit of gentlemanly manners.
"You're actually pretty nice."
Covering her mouth, Nonou smiled slightly before heading toward the street food district.
Scratching his head, Nagato couldn't figure out what was so special about it.
A woman's heart is as mysterious as the Seabed Needle—Nagato was too lazy to even try guessing.
After finishing their walk through the street food area, both of them had their hands full of bags.
The trip turned out to be worthwhile—they gathered useful intel and came back loaded with food.
When they returned to the group, everyone assumed they'd gone shopping.
"Why did you buy so much? That must've cost quite a bit."
Seeing all the packages, Nawaki knew immediately it hadn't come cheap.
That was the Iron Rooster instinct at work.
"It's fine, all from Pain's winnings."
After Nonou explained the situation, Nawaki felt even less guilt about eating.
With Nagato around, they bought everyone their favorite foods—one might say very considerate indeed.
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Nonou's understanding of Nagato deepened slightly—such a gentle and thoughtful guy.
Remembering so many people's preferences.
After everyone finished eating, Nawaki began planning tomorrow's schedule.
Actually, there wasn't much need for special arrangements.
This town had only one entrance and exit. Tomorrow they just needed to find a good place to set up an ambush.
As for whether or not they could handle the enemy—that question never crossed Nawaki's mind.
Since joining Anbu, his and Minato's teams had maintained a 100% mission success rate.
That wasn't just bravado—it was real skill.
"For this mission, I won't say much."
"Once they're far enough outside the town, eliminate them all outright."
"There's no need to take prisoners on this mission."
"Any problems?"
With just a few simple words, Nawaki set a ruthless tone for the mission.
However, these bandits had it coming—they had committed countless atrocities across the Land of Fire.
If the Daimyō hadn't issued this mission, Konoha wouldn't have gotten involved at all.
"No problem."
No one questioned Nawaki's decision—the mission wasn't especially difficult.
The only real challenge was their large numbers—it was crucial to prevent anyone from escaping.
But their squad was also large enough, and at this point, the mission was nearly complete.
"Hmm, then rest well."
"We can return to the village tomorrow after finishing the task."
After Nawaki spoke, everyone settled down to rest and waited quietly for the next day.
After what had just happened, Nonou felt she now knew Nagato a bit better and decided to start a casual conversation with him.
Indeed, both had valuable insights to share about Medical Ninjutsu.
Under Nonou's guidance, the two slowly relaxed and began to chat more comfortably.
Everyone was considerate enough not to interrupt, and occasionally, Nonou's laughter could be heard.
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