354. End of the Sports Festival

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Soon, it's the last day of the Konoha Grand Sports Festival.

After the rewards and medal distribution ceremony, the sports festival came to a close with a motivational speech from the Hokage and the Mizukage.

Rasa left early since he had some matters to attend to in the Sand Village. The rewards for solo and team play events were rewarded separately. The first-place winners were rewarded with a lump sum of 150,000 Ryo each, together with a vacation trip to a resort in the Land of waves. The Second-place winners were rewarded with a sum of 75,000 Ryo and a trip to the resort in the Land of Waves. The third-place winners were rewarded with a sum of 30,000 Ryo and a trip to the resort in the Land of Waves. Additionally, the first place was also allowed to ask for anything within certain limits from their respective Kages.

The reward was sponsored by the Vishkar Corporation in one of their resorts in Land of Waves. As a co-owner of the corporation, Mei unhesitatingly held the event.

"Mei, will it be alright?" Tsunade asks with concern as she hands over the prize to the winners.

Over the span of 7 days, around 200 events were held. The Vishkar corporation sponsored the entire event. The entire cost of the events, including the prizes, amounts to a whopping 3 billion Ryo. The carnival held at the end of each day was also arranged by the Vishkar Corporation. This sum was equivalent to the entire earnings of Konoha in a month.

"It's alright!" Mei shakes her head.

"According to the initial estimates, the company already made a profit of 1 billion Ryo from this event."

"Well…" Tsunade gulps her saliva as she imagines the huge amount of money.

'That's a lot of money I can spend on gambling!' Slight drool leaks from Tsunade's mouth.

Ahem…

'I am respected Hokage. How can I think of such a thing… but still such a vast sum of money? I should have asked some from Izuna.'

Mei notices Tsunade's expression and chuckles slightly.

"Tsunade-san, I forgot to mention this, but you are also a part-owner of the company."

"I… I am…" This revelation flabbergasts Tsunade.

"Yeah! The Diceroll casinos and gambling dens are under your ownership." A smile appears on Mei's face.

"Wait! The Diceroll cassino… isn't that the recent most popular casino? And I am its owner, you say?" Tsunade's eyes widen even further.

"So… so… all this time… I… I was giving money to myself." Tsunade turns around and tears leak from her eyes.

"Could this even be called gambling, if I take money from myself only to give it to myself?" Tsunade clenches her fists as Izuna's face appears in her mind.

Izuna has an evil grin on his face as he points his finger at Tsunade and laughs.

"Izuna, you better be prepared the next time I meet you!" She clenches her fists.

Pfft… Haha…

Mei and Shizune burst out in a peal of laughter.

"That Izuna! He is really evil. To think of such an ingenious plan to make Tsunade-sama quit gambling." Shizune wipes a drop of tear from the corner of her eyes as she barely holds her laughter.

"Damn you… damn you… Izuna!" Tsunade angrily mutters.

"Oh… I forgot to give you something!"

Mei takes out a black card from her storage and hands it over to Tsunade.

"This is for you!"

"This is… a bank card." Tsunade recognizes the symbol of Okane Bank on the card.

She takes out a similar Diamond card from her storage.

"Isn't it the same thing except for the color? What's the difference?"

"There is a lot of difference. The diamond card is a standard VVIP version of the card. Diamond cards are issued to all the Kages, owners of large companies, and people with special privileges. Next is the Platinum card, which is a downgrade from the Diamond Card. Then there is a Gold Card, Silver Card, and Bronze Card. Bronze Card is issued to a shinobi. There is another card below them called 'the civilian card'. Civilian cards are of different colors depending upon the nationality."

"I already know about that." Tsunade nods.

"It was Izuna who introduced this system to his new bank a few years ago. These cards use some sort of Fuinjutsu seal at nearby stores or bank branches to withdraw money from the account. The card is even blood and chakra bound to the owner, so there is no issue of faking one's identity to steal the money.

When it was released, it became so popular that almost every merchant immediately applied for one. Now merchants don't have to worry about carrying a vast sum of money and gold. The cases of robbery have dwindled a lot. It was so effective that even that stubborn old geezer Onoki has to let go of his old ways and embrace the influence of this card." Tsunade recalls Izuna's meeting with Onoki when the old fool has to eat his words and plead with Izuna for removing him from his blacklist.

"Of course! That old bastard has to bleed before he comes to terms with Izuna. After all, not only he but multiple nations attempted to replicate the card system and the banking system found by Izuna. Some even went as far as to kidnap several Fuinjutsu seal experts from several nations to decipher the Fuinjutsu seal on the card. In the end, they ended up blowing themselves up."

Tsunade burst out in laughter as several accusations of terrorism were thrown at Izuna.

"Try to infuse your chakra in this card." Mei reminds her.

Tsunade infuses her chakra on the card.

A Fuinjutsu seal appears on the card and envelope Tsunade's body.

"User confirmed: Tsunade Senju!"

"Activating advance Black Card Serial Number #7"

"Please drip a drop of blood onto the card!"

"Woah…"

Tsunade almost drops the card in surprise.

"What's with this voice in my head and also what is even this thing? How is it even speaking?" She gives the card a thorough inspection.

"It's an advanced Fuinjutsu formation developed by Izuna. I don't understand the underlying principle behind it. But Izuna called it an ATM card. When I asked him what ATM means, he shortened it to Any Time Money." Mei explains the function of the Card to Tsunade.

"Take a look at mine!" Mei holds a similar card to Tsunade.

She bites her thumb and drips a blood drop on the card.

"I need three hundred thousand, Ryo." She mutters slightly.

Poof…

A small summoning circle appears on the card and a stack of cash appears in it.

WOAH….

Tsunade's eyes widen to the extreme. She immediately bites her thumb and drips a drop of blood on her card.

"User confirmed: Tsunade Senju,"

"Authority Level: Tier three Administrator,"

"Administration Privileges are access to all funds of Okane bank, a protective Fuinjutsu barrier, a…"

"I don't want to hear all of that, just give me a hundred thousand… no, five hundred thousand Ryo." Tsunade shakes her card in excitement.

"…"

Mei and Shizune speechlessly stare at her.

"Then I will let you figure out the rest of the functions of this card on your own."

After the closing ceremony, the Jounins of Kirigakure and Sunagakure leave for their respective village.

"Now it's time for the cleanup." Kakashi, Might Guy, and the rest of the Jounins helplessly stare at each other.

"Who will take the responsibility?"

All of them stare at each other. Each of their genin and chunnin teams have won one award or another and thus are exempted from the cleaning duty.

"Let's draw lots," Kurenai suggests.

"The same as usual!"

Kakashi and one of the Hyuga and Uchiha clan members nod their heads.

"Using your Dojutsu or genjutsu is forbidden!" The rest of the jounins stare daggers at them.

During the previous few cleaning duties, the Uchiha and Hyuga clan members cheated with their eyes. Even the Nara clan members manipulated their lots by using their shadows, leaving the cleaning task to other shinobis.

All of them draw lots and wait for the result. After tallying the result, Kakashi stares at his lot.

"In the end, I still won."

The rest of the group stare daggers at him.

"How can we believe that you didn't cheat?"

"Well, will you guys believe me if I said I didn't cheat?"

"NO!" A collective response almost deafens his ears.

"All right! I will help you guys with the cleaning." Kakashi shakes his head.

'I really didn't cheat. I was just lucky, as usual.'

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A few kilometers from Konoha,

The members of the Akatsuki gather on top of a hill.

"Most of the shinobis at the border retreated to Konoha, so it wasn't an issue to infiltrate the Land of Fire." Kisame looks around.

"It's about time for some explosions." Deidra pats an explosive sparrow.

"This is the moment when the defenses of Konoha are at their lowest. They just concluded their annual festival and the rest of the villages have already departed from Konoha. We will strike them down when their guard is lower and capture the Nine-tails and One-tails." Pain calmly stares in the direction of Konoha.