Title: Falling like a house of cards

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto; House of Cards concept originated with drakensis and Rift120. One of them is a well known typo demon, known for contaminating the most disciplined of typists.

Author's Notes: Meh, blame a bad continuation/pick up of the idea. Also, put Anko's age where it actually is.

-o-o-o-

"Nai-chan!"

"Whatever it is, Anko, the answer is no," Kurenai Yuuhi stated simply, her almost glowing red eyes refusing to even glance towards the curvy teen who'd spoken her name. "I had to replace my entire outfit the last time you used that tone of voice."

Anko Mitarashi pouted softly as she blinked innocently up at the chuunin, "Now, Nai-chan, that's not nice. How was I to know that those old bastards wouldn't be able to handle the awesomeness that is me?"

"Anko, I swear to the gods, I have no idea how you out rank me," Kurenai groaned as she looked at perky teenager and struggled to suppress the surge of jealousy she felt at the way Anko's breasts were straining against her vest.

"Because I'm just so damned awesome, and I can kill a man with a lollipop stick?" Anko chirruped easily and nodded her head, "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about!"

"... I don't want to know. I really don't. Find someone else to pull into one of your schemes, Anko," Kurenai said flatly as she turned her attention back to the genjutsu treatise she was reading.

"Mmm but no one else I know will look like this in a little black dress!" Anko countered with another, cheerful grin as she pulled out a picture of a rather disheveled looking Kurenai pulling down the front of her dress as she licked at her lips.

"Look like...? Wait, where did you get that!?" Kurenai demanded, lunging for the photograph in Anko's hand only to have the girl easily twist, sway and roll out of the way with a serpentine grace. "Give me that!"

"Aw, come on, Nai-chan! This is a great picture! Why I bet we could even get it on your ninja ID! That wild, 'get your ass over here and fuck me' look in your eye, Think of the impact it'd have!" Anko grinned as she licked her lips and winked at Kurenai and then danced out of reach and made the photo vanish up her sleeves.

"What. Do. You. Want. Anko?!" Kurenai hissed out as she glared back down at the girl.

"To make us a lot of money?" Anko asked back, smiling innocently as she waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"I swear if this is another one of your get rich quick schemes..." Kurenai lead off, growling darkly at her.

"I need you to help me out with a tweensy little bit of capital, and to be some damned nice eye candy," Anko countered back and beamed at Anko.

"No," Kurenai said flatly. "Just because you want to blow all your money doesn't mean I want to do the same with mine."

"I just need 300,000 ryo," Anko said quickly, before grinning at her, "Well, and for you to dress to the nines and and look absolutely delicious."

"Just 300,000 ryo," Kurenai said flatly as she looked at Anko. "You mean, just the majority of my savings from the last five years."

"The stake is 1,000,000! I just need you to cover that much of it, and I split what we make off of it, 50-50!" Anko said eagerly her eyes shining, "I got some really sweet A-ranks lately, but I'm still a bit short."

"... Yes, remind me again that you out rank me," Kurenai grumbled softly as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "And the pictures?"

"If you agree to be part of this historical financial endeavor with me, they go bye-bye!" Anko agreed quickly.

"All of them. And the negatives," Kurenai stated with narrowed eyes.

"Every one of them on my property," she agreed with an eager nod.

"Every last one of them in the Village," Kurenai countered as she crossed her arms about her chest.

"Well, I'm sure that could be done, I mean, I'm sure I could take the time, make sure that they're all..." Anko said hedgingly as she shifted uncomfortably. "But think about how much work that would be!"

"All of them, Anko, or no deal, I don't care who you show them to." Kurenai countered back.

"Oooh? Not even a certain someone I've seen you making moon eyes at? I've got a really nice pic of you giving that lap dance, remind me to get some pointers from you on that, and..."

"Get rid of them all, Anko!" Kurenai hissed, blushing furiously, "And it's a deal."

"Fine, I'll do what you asked," Anko huffed softly, before she offered her hand, "Deal?"

Reluctantly, Kurenai offered her hand, "Deal. And it's 50-50, right?"

Anko shook it vigorously. "Definitely! You and me, Nai-chan! We're in this together, all the way!"

-o-o-o-

Most people considered catching 6 year old boys to be a less than trying experience. They had short legs, short attention spans and usually little stamina. Sadly, most people failed to consider just how difficult it could be to catch a small, energetic little troublemaker who had no qualms using every part of himself to get away.

Naruto Uzumaki might have the short legs and attention span, but this blond, blue eyed boy was born to move. Which was why he was darting around corners, running through legs, squeezing into crevices and scrambling over obstacles. He wasn't about to give his pursuers the satisfaction of an easy capture.

"Get back here, you little brat!"

The three men looked in a decidedly less than ideal mood. One could even reach a cruder summary. They were pissed.

They also reeked of garlic, ginger and wasabi, with red, sweat slick skin and watery eyes.

How they'd managed to end up as the targets of this particular child's prank was a rather long story that has no real impact on the telling of the tale. Nor was it an act of righteous vengeance wrought upon them by our young troublemaker. No, the simple truth was Naruto had been bored, and they happened to be available.

So, Naruto ran, scrambled, dodged, and taunted.

"I've seen fatties run faster than you!"

They weren't necessarily good taunts, but they were still, taunts none-the-less.

"When I get my hands on you...!"

Naruto wasted little time as he shot off as fast as he could, turning the corner and quickly darting around. A bounce, a twist, and a surprisingly fluid gymnastics roll had him vanishing through an open door, before finding himself landing flat on his ass in front of a table full of staring ninja. At the head, was a rather bemused looking Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Naruto-kun, do I want to know what you're doing here?" Sarutobi asked curiously.

"Let us in there! That little bastard has to pay for what he did!"

"Ummmm... Nope!" Naruto agreed with a quick shake of his head.

"Naruto, what am I going to do with you?" Sarutobi sighed as he covered his face with his palm and slowly shook his head.

"I don't care who you're chasing. One, you're not the police. Two, this is a private meeting involving the Hokage. And three, I can barely stand having you 5 feet in front of me, no way I'm letting you any closer smelling like that," the ANBU guard said flatly as he gripped his sword for emphasis. "Now, go home, and for the sweet mercy of the kami, take a couple of baths."

"... Smell, Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi repeated, before sighing softly and shaking his head. "Never mind. I'm afraid you're going to have to head back to the orphanage. We're about to start our game."

"Game?" Naruto immediately perked up. "You're gonna be playing a game, old man?!"

An adult game, brat," Anko, dressed in a low cut, black halter top dress with a black half coat covering her back, said simply as she bought her chips from the unreadable Shibi Aburame sitting stoically with a pair of dark shades and a heavy coat despite being indoors. "Where you have to buy in with money, a whole lotta money."

"A whole lotta money you better pay me back," Kurenai agreed with a quiet grumble, her hand on her hip, dressed in a classic, strapless little black dress, with a slight gleam of jewelry dangling off her body.

"Yes, a whole lot of money," Sarutobi agreed, while casting the slightest of exasperated frowns at Anko. "So, I'm afraid, Naruto..."

"I gots money!" Naruto said quickly, his eyes shining as he pulled out a worn toad shaped wallet, visibly straining to hold in its contents. "See!?"

And indeed he did. While still quite short of the amount required to buy into the game, it was still an unseemly amount for a child like him to be simply carrying around.

"… Naruto, where did you get that money?" Sarutobi asked calmly as he looked back at the boy, making sure to not frown.

"Um… I took it from the meanies." Naruto stated with a nod of his head. "When they kept taking all of mine."

"… The meanies, Naruto?" Sarutobi stated as he frowned a bit as he looked back at Naruto. "Taking your money?"

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed with a nod and a frown. "Like when I wanted to get some ice cream. They took all my money and made me leave! I didn't get any ice cream! So, I came back and got my money back and some ice cream!"

"I see." Sarutobi stated in a slow, cool tone, before slowly turning his attention to where Chouza Akimichi was frowning himself. "Akimichi-san. I expect that I can trust you to… look into this?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Chouza agreed quietly, glancing at his former teammates, Inoichi Yamanaka and Shikaku Nara.

"Good." Sarutobi agreed with a nod of his head, before looking back at Naruto. "However, Naruto, I'm still afraid that I can't let you just join this game."

"Damned straight!" Anko agreed before withering under the Hokage's glare. "Errr… I meant: Darn Tootin?"

Sighing softly, Sarutobi shook his head and looked back at where Naruto was pouting at him, small little arms crossed about his chest. "As I was saying, this is not a game for children, Naruto-kun."

"But no one ever plays with me!" Naruto whined slightly, looking up at the Hokage with glistening eyes. "I just wanna play a game!"

It broke Sarutobi's heart that at the honest desperation in the boy's eyes as he looked up at him and he sighed softly.

"Well, if it's not his money, it's not like he'd really be using his own money…" Chouzo allowed, not really able to bring himself to deny the little scamp.

There were a few voices of debate rippling around the table, before eyes inevitably rested upon one of two figures. The esteemed Hokage, or his contemporary, Danzo Shimura. Danzo seemed to consider a moment, his single eye opening and regarding Naruto for a moment, before flicking to Sarutobi.

"If nothing else, Hiruzen, he will learn a lesson about the transitory nature of wealth."

"Not to mention some disloyal individuals end up out of pocket either way." Shikaku Nara noted dryly.

"Pruning of a tree does not always require the removal of an entire branch. Sometimes, simply a few of its leaves need are all that is required to reshape it to a more desired form." Danzo answered calmly.

Sarutobi looked around the room, noting the general agreement in people's eyes before sighing and nodding as he looked back at the very hopeful looking Naruto. "Very well, Naruto. You can play."

As Naruto gave off a celebratory cheer, Sarutobi looked around, before suddenly smiling impishly. "And I'm sure Anko-chan here will be happy to teach you how to play."

"Yatta!" Naruto exclaimed happily, beaming at Anko happily.

"But…" Anko started to protest, before one look at Sarutobi told her that this wasn't something she was going to win, and she slumped down. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Excellent." Sarutobi stated cheerfully. "Now, Naruto, what we're going to play is a card game called Poker."

And thus, a whispered legend was born.