Tsunade's Weakness in the Gambler's Association is Unimaginable

"A brat from the Uchiha Clan?"

Tsunade lowered her arms after stretching, her high-heeled sandals clicking twice against the stone floor as she stepped forward, leaning down to bring her face closer.

The scent of alcohol drifted over, mingled with the smell of smoke from the casino, causing Sasuke to frown slightly.

"How did you know?" Sasuke asked.

Tsunade straightened up and extended an index finger, tapping the spot on Sasuke's back.

"I am Tsunade, a person from Konoha. The Uchiha Clan is recognized everywhere in the ninja world; what is so strange about that?"

Sasuke fell silent for a moment.

The amount of chakra in this woman before him was immense; the energy flowing through her meridians was likely dozens of times greater than his own.

Sasuke's gaze settled on the diamond-shaped mark on her forehead.

"Tsunade, the Third Hokage sent us to find you," Sasuke said.

Tsunade let out a yawn and raised a hand to rub the corner of her eye.

"Forget it, I'm not a person of Konoha anymore."

Sasuke's fingers tapped unconsciously against the seam of his trousers.

This woman possessed a vast amount of chakra, and as a medical ninja, she was clearly more proficient in energy circulation than Jiraiya.

If he could get her to help research the interaction between the Round Deer's reverse technique and the Cursed Seal on the Black Dog's neck, he might be able to find a more stable and efficient method of cursed power conversion.

"I would like to ask you for a favor," Sasuke said directly.

"No," Tsunade replied even faster, turning around as if to leave.

Sasuke took a step forward.

"It is research regarding medical ninjutsu. I am studying the neutralization mechanism of a certain positive energy against erosive energy. If I could enlist your—"

Tsunade's footsteps faltered. She tilted her head, a flash of complex emotion crossing her golden pupils under the red light of the casino lanterns.

"Medical ninjutsu?" Tsunade let out a short, sharp laugh. "Ha, are you looking to refine your medical ninjutsu?"

She turned back and leaned against a pillar at the casino entrance, arms crossed, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes playing on her lips.

"But you want me to return to Konoha to help, don't you? Let me tell you, no matter how much you refine this technique, it has nothing to do with me."

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Why?" Tsunade repeated his question, then raised a hand, opening her palm before clenching it into a tight fist.

"Because no matter how many people you heal, no matter what new tricks you play with medical ninjutsu, what is the point in the end?"

"I heal them, and then what?"

"Don't they all just end up throwing their lives away on those meaningless missions? You want me to spend my energy researching new treatments, only to watch brats like you go off to die anyway?"

Sakura clenched her fists. Having stood quietly to the side listening to Tsunade, she suddenly took a step forward.

"Lady Tsunade, my name is Sakura!" Sakura's voice was a bit high, though she tried to keep it steady.

"Sasuke-kun is not the type of person who would throw his life away carelessly. The thing he needs to research is very important to him, so please—"

"Sakura." Tsunade's gaze flickered over Sakura's face. "Are you a medical ninja?"

Sakura was taken aback. "I... I am not an official one yet."

"Not official?" Tsunade frowned. "But your chakra flow already has the makings of medical ninjutsu. Who taught you?"

"I figured it out on my own," Sakura answered truthfully.

"Sasuke-kun is helping me improve my taijutsu, and I learned the basics of medical ninjutsu to keep up with him. He is very serious about becoming stronger, so please, help him."

Tsunade was silent for a moment, her eyes sweeping back and forth between Sakura and Sasuke twice.

Then, she fixed her gaze on Sasuke.

"Fine. I can help, but it has to be by my rules."

Tsunade pulled her empty, shriveled coin purse from her robes and swung it in the air by its string twice.

"Gamble with me. As long as I win one round, that's all I need."

Shizune rushed up from behind, clutching the Piggy, and grabbed Tsunade's sleeve.

"Lady Tsunade! What are you saying! You're tricking children into gambling with you again—"

"Shizune, shut up. What do you mean 'tricking children'? If I weren't out of money, I wouldn't need to find someone to gamble with me."

Tsunade stuffed the purse back into her robes with an air of righteous indignation, then looked at Sasuke. "Well, brat from the Uchiha Clan, do you dare?"

Sasuke looked at Tsunade's confident face and nodded.

"Fine. What are we betting on?"

"The simplest one: high or low," Tsunade said.

Shizune covered her face with her hands, a groan of despair escaping through her fingers.

"This... Uchiha, you should just give up. Lady Tsunade cannot win, no matter what. No matter what you bet on or how you bet, she will absolutely, positively never win."

Sasuke did not grasp the depth of despair behind Shizune's words; he simply watched Tsunade stride toward the inn and followed after her.

In a room on the second floor of the inn, four people sat around a low table.

Naruto had been shooed off to sleep on a futon in the next room with Jiraiya, grumbling nonsense about why everyone else got to have fun while he had to go to bed.

Shizune sat by the table with Tonton on her lap, the pig's snout twitching as it sniffed the wick of the oil lamp on the table.

Sakura sat beside Sasuke, her fingers pressed against her knees, her knuckles white with tension.

Tsunade sat cross-legged opposite them, her blonde hair draped over her shoulders, the scent of alcohol on her face having mostly faded.

She reached out, grabbed the dice cup from the table, and weighed it in her hand twice.

"Same old rules: three dice, highest total wins. You want to shake, or should I?"

"As you wish," Sasuke said.

"Then you shake."

Sasuke took the cup, dropped the three dice inside, and gave his wrist a flick to start shaking.

The dice collided rapidly inside the cup, producing a dense, rhythmic clattering.

He didn't actually know how to gamble, but shaking the cup required no real skill; one simply needed to maintain a steady rhythm for a while.

He slammed the cup onto the table and lifted it.

The three dice showed four, two, and two—a total of eight.

"Eight points." Sasuke pushed the cup toward Tsunade.

Tsunade took the cup, a wide grin spreading across her face, her blonde hair swaying over her shoulders with the movement of her wrist.

She shook the cup more vigorously than Sasuke had, the dice rattling loudly inside for a long time.

"Bang." The cup hit the table.

Tsunade reached out and lifted the cup.

Three dice: two twos and a three.

Seven points.

Tsunade froze.

Sasuke froze as well.

Eight points was exactly one point higher than seven?

Just barely higher?

It was likely due to that remark she made when they first met—"bad luck." He had never believed in such omens.

But now, it seemed that some people's luck was truly an incomprehensible existence.

"Just by one point? Again! I feel like my luck is pretty good today!" Tsunade pushed the cup back to him with a smug smile on her face.

Sasuke took the cup, shook it for a few seconds, and slammed it down.

Three dice: five, three, and four—twelve points.

Tsunade took the cup. This time, she raised it above her head, swung it hard several times, and then slammed it down onto the table with force. She lifted it.

Two ones and a two. Four points.

The smile on Tsunade's face vanished like a candle flame blown out by the wind.

Shizune closed her eyes, her lips moving as if she were reciting a silent prayer.

Tonton buried its face in the crook of her arm.

Over the next twenty rounds, Tsunade didn't win a single one.

Watching Tsunade's expression shift slowly from smugness to dejection, Sasuke had only one thought in his mind.

This is just too unlucky.

He couldn't imagine how weak Tsunade would be if she possessed a killing-intent gambling technique.