Can't Imagine How Weak Tsunade Would Be with Idle Death Gamble

"An Uchiha kid?"

Tsunade lowered her arms after stretching. Her high-heeled sandals took two steps across the stone pavement, and she bent down, bringing her face a little closer.

The smell of alcohol on her breath mingled with the smoke from the casino. Sasuke frowned.

"How did you know?" Sasuke asked.

Tsunade straightened up and pointed a finger behind Sasuke.

"I'm Tsunade, and I'm from Konoha. People recognize the Uchiha Clan wherever they go in the Shinobi World. What's so strange about that?"

Sasuke fell silent for a moment.

The woman before him had an enormous amount of chakra. The energy flowing through her body's pathways was probably 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 yawned and rubbed the corner of her eye.

"Forget it. I'm not with Konoha anymore."

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

The woman before him had an enormous amount of chakra, and as a medical ninja, she was clearly far more proficient than Jiraiya at controlling the flow of energy.

If she could help him study how Round Deer's Reverse Cursed Technique interacted with the Cursed Seal on Black Dog's neck, they might find a more stable and efficient way to convert Cursed Energy.

"I'd like to ask you for a favor," Sasuke said bluntly.

"No." Tsunade answered even faster, then turned and started to leave.

Sasuke took a step forward.

"It's research related to Medical Ninjutsu. I'm studying how a certain positive energy neutralizes an invasive energy. If I could get your help—"

Tsunade paused and glanced over her shoulder. Her golden eyes flashed with a complicated emotion in the red glow of the casino lanterns.

"Medical Ninjutsu?" Tsunade let out a short laugh. "Ha. You want to improve Medical Ninjutsu?"

She turned around and leaned against a pillar by the casino entrance, arms crossed over her chest, a smile on her lips that didn't quite look like a smile.

"But you want me to go back to Konoha and help out, don't you? Let me tell you, no matter how much you improve that technique, it has nothing to do with me."

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Why?" Tsunade repeated his question. She raised one hand, opened her palm, then abruptly clenched it.

"Because what good does it do, no matter how many people I save or what new tricks I come up with for Medical Ninjutsu?"

"I heal them, and then what?"

"One by one, they still throw their lives away on those meaningless missions. You want me to put more effort into researching new ways to treat people, only to watch a kid like you go off and get yourself killed too?"

Sakura clenched her fists. She had been standing quietly beside them, listening to Tsunade, but now she suddenly stepped forward.

"Lady Tsunade, my name is Sakura!" Her voice was a little high, and she struggled to make it sound calmer.

"Sasuke-kun isn't the kind of person who goes and gets himself killed carelessly. The research he needs to do is important to him, so please—"

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

Sakura froze. "I... I'm not an official one yet."

"Not official?" Tsunade frowned. "But the way your chakra flows already resembles Medical Ninjutsu. Who taught you?"

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

"Sasuke-kun is helping me improve my Taijutsu, so I learned the basics of Medical Ninjutsu to keep up with him. He's serious about getting stronger, so please help him."

Tsunade fell silent for a moment, her eyes moving between Sakura and Sasuke twice.

Then she fixed her gaze on Sasuke.

"Fine. I'll help, but we'll do things my way."

Tsunade pulled the empty, limp coin purse from her clothes and swung it by its drawstring.

"Gamble with me. All I have to do is win once."

Shizune rushed over from behind, Piggy in her arms, and grabbed Tsunade's sleeve.

"Lady Tsunade! What are you talking about? You're trying to trick another kid into gambling with you again—"

"Shizune, shut up. What do you mean, tricking a kid into gambling with me? If I had any money, I wouldn't need someone to gamble with me!"

Tsunade stuffed the purse back into her clothes with complete confidence, then looked at Sasuke. "Well, Uchiha kid? Do you dare?"

Sasuke looked at Tsunade's confident face and nodded.

"Sure. What are we betting on?"

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

Shizune covered her face and let out a groan through her fingers.

"Uchiha... you should give up. Lady Tsunade can't win, no matter what. Whatever you bet on or however you play, she absolutely, positively won't win."

Sasuke didn't understand the depth of despair behind Shizune's words. He only watched Tsunade stride off toward the inn and followed her.

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

Naruto had been sent to the next room to share a bedroll with Jiraiya. As he left, he kept muttering nonsense about how everyone else got to do something fun while he had to go to bed.

Shizune sat by the table with Tonton on her lap. Tonton's nose twitched as she sniffed at the wick of the oil lamp.

Sakura sat beside Sasuke with her fingers pressed against her knees. Her knuckles had gone white with tension.

Tsunade sat cross-legged across the low table, her blond hair falling over her shoulders. Most of the alcohol had worn off her face.

She reached for the dice cup on the table and weighed it in her hand.

"Same old rules: three dice, and whoever rolls the higher total wins. Do you want to roll, or should I?"

"Up to you," Sasuke said.

"Then you roll."

Sasuke took the dice cup, dropped the three dice inside, and shook it with a flick of his wrist.

The dice rattled rapidly against one another inside the cup.

He didn't really know how to gamble, but shaking dice didn't take any special skill. He only had to keep a steady rhythm for a while.

He set the cup on the table and lifted it.

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

"Eight," Sasuke said, pushing the cup toward Tsunade.

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

She shook the cup harder than Sasuke had, and the dice clattered inside for a long time.

Thump. She set the cup down on the table.

Tsunade reached out and lifted it.

Three dice: two, two, and three.

Seven.

Tsunade froze for a moment.

Sasuke froze too.

Eight was just one point higher than seven?

Just one point higher?

It was probably because of what she'd said when they first met—that he was unlucky. He'd never believed in good or bad luck.

But now it seemed that some people really did have luck that defied reason.

"Only one point? Let's go again! I feel like I'm lucky today!" Tsunade pushed the cup back toward him, wearing a smug smile.

Sasuke took the cup, shook it for a few seconds, and set it on the table.

The three dice showed five, three, and four, for a total of twelve.

Tsunade took the cup. This time she raised it above her head, shook it hard several times, then slammed it down on the table. She lifted it.

Two ones and a two. Four points.

The smile on Tsunade's face went out like a candle in the wind.

Shizune closed her eyes and moved her lips, as though silently reciting a prayer.

Tonton buried her face in Shizune's arm.

They played twenty rounds after that, and Tsunade didn't win a single one.

Sasuke watched Tsunade's expression slowly shift from smugness to dejection. There was only one thought in his mind.

She was ridiculously unlucky.

He couldn't imagine how weak Tsunade would be if she had Idle Death Gamble.