Night spread through Konoha's back forest like ink, staining it bit by bit.
The darkness among the trees grew deeper. A chilly evening breeze swept past, and rustling instantly rose all around—the sound of leaves falling and scraping against one another.
Then came the strange cries and whimpers of all kinds of wild beasts, sometimes near, sometimes far, as if countless animals were grinding their teeth in the dark, staring at the clearing with eerie eyes...
"Did I tell you to stop? Keep going!"
In an instant, all the whimpering fell silent. Even the wind stopped, and everything returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
With a hiss, a flicker of fire suddenly sprang up.
A few seconds later, the kerosene lamp atop the wooden stump gave off a gentle glow, illuminating several meters around it—and the youth's soft, delicate face.
"Alright, alright..."
Uchiha Chi replied with a wry smile as he gently blew on his flaming index finger.
The flame went out with a puff.
"Cut the crap. I'm definitely winning this time, so draw already!" Tsunade urged from across the table.
Her face was slightly flushed from drink, her fair skin tinged with a lovely peachy red. She did not look much different from half an hour ago.
However, perhaps because the alcohol was finally catching up to her, the green robe printed with the character for "gamble" that she had been wearing had already been tossed aside. All she had left on was a sleeveless white vest, missing one button.
There were too many empty bottles on the wooden stump to fit them all, so they had been placed in the grass around their seats, forming three layers inside and out.
No one knew how many times she had lost over the past half hour. Even