Uchiha Chi held out both hands to her without reservation.
For a moment, Tsunade did not know what to say.
She naturally knew of the Uchiha Clan, but she had barely interacted with them over the years and had no Uchiha friends. After all, she belonged to the Senju Clan, which had once been their enemy for a thousand years.
Still, by stereotype, this ninja clan really was just as Uchiha Chi had described.
They treated family and friends exceptionally well, yet were extraordinarily cold toward those they did not know well.
Therefore, by that stereotype, Uchiha Chi's distant attitude toward Kakashi and Yūhi Kurenai, the two teammates he had only just met, was perfectly reasonable.
Yet Tsunade could clearly sense a different emotion beneath his smile.
It was disappointment.
Tsunade pressed her lips together. Perhaps her attempt to drive a wedge between them had shattered his expectations of his teammates.
But the youth had denied it just now and stubbornly insisted that he had never expected anything...
If he hid away his softness and covered himself in thorns, no one would come close enough to touch him. Was that not a kind of gentleness too?
But that only made Tsunade feel that she could not simply ignore him.
Because she did not want Uchiha Chi's gentleness to be worn away by the passage of time.
That would be far too cruel...
Just then.
Uchiha Chi turned toward the tree stump, his eyes lighting up as he pointed at the playing cards. "Lady Tsunade, you know how to play cards?"
"What do you mean by that?"
The softness in Tsunade's gaze instantly turned sharp.
It was as if all her thoughts from before had vanished into thin air.
"Do you think I'm bad at cards?"
"I never said that..." The