How About Throwing Him Out for Half an Hour First?

This brat must've been very close to that old man, the Third Hokage.

With her years of medical experience, Tsunade Senju gradually understood what had happened to Uchiha Sen. It seemed the little guy's mental state was abnormal.

Tsunade had seen many patients like this in places where Leaf Village detained prisoners and spies. This condition was irreversible brain damage caused during interrogations.

"Could Leaf Village have done something to that brat?"

Looking at Jiraiya and Naruto, Tsunade spoke. After two days of interaction, this Uchiha Clan brat had piqued her interest.

"Probably not. I remember Brother Sen's behavior had been different from ordinary people since he was very young..."

"How should I put it? Everyone thought he was crazy, but the two of us had a lot of fun together. Hehehe~"

Naruto laughed carelessly, and everyone present looked at him speechlessly...

How could you have so much fun playing with a mental patient... and sound so proud of it...

But Tsunade heard something else in Naruto's words.

Even an unstable factor like this had been used without hesitation by that old man, the Third Hokage. It seemed the village's situation was even worse than she'd imagined.

But none of this had anything to do with her.

"Let's get back to the previous topic. Tsunade, the village hopes you can return and take the position of Hokage..."

Zabuza and the others looked at Tsunade Senju again, their hearts filled with worry for Leaf Village's future...

Could someone like this really lead a village...

"Cards. Cards."

Tsunade didn't want to dwell on the matter any longer. After all these years away from the village, she knew very well what she had been running from.

"Cards! Count me in, count me in!"

Sen was passionate about every form of gambling.

The three naturally dealt their hands. Jiraiya merely treated this as a reunion between old friends and said nothing more. After all, she knew Tsunade's temper—she responded to gentleness, not force.

Uchiha Sen gripped the cards in his hand, smiling with utter abandon.

Zabuza and Haku leaned in behind him to take a look. Good lord!

A pair of jokers and three twos right from the start. That was just absurd. (They'd switched to a version everyone knew.)

The somewhat awkward atmosphere was instantly broken.

"Wait! You just said the snake-meat-selling uncle killed the Third Hokage. You know about that too?"

Uchiha Sen's face was full of impatience. If they were playing cards, then they should just play cards. But when he saw it was his little bro asking, he patiently replied:

"Yeah. I even ran into him today. That subordinate of his was really annoying, so I gave him a beating."

Naruto probably still hadn't figured out what was going on. He'd asked many times along the way, but Jiraiya had never told him. He turned to look at Jiraiya.

"The snake-meat-selling uncle is Orochimaru, the one Pervy Sage just mentioned, right? Who is he?"

Jiraiya stared at the playing cards on the table, his face expressionless as he said in a low voice:

"He's another one of the Sannin, just like us."

Naruto clearly couldn't accept that answer. Why would someone who was obviously a Leaf Village ninja do something like that...

"Why?! The Sannin are all Leaf Village ninjas, right? Then why?!"

Sen and Tsunade were both somewhat impatient with Naruto's interruption.

Tsunade glanced at Naruto again. They were both brats, so why was the difference in how they carried themselves so huge?

"Who is this brat?"

Her tone clearly implied that if he didn't have any background, they should throw him out.

"Big sister, I get it without you saying anything."

Uchiha Sen held out a hand to stop Tsunade, then looked toward Zabuza.

"Throw him out for half an hour first. He's too noisy."

Even if he was his little bro, he couldn't spoil him. Couldn't he see Brother Sen was about to slaughter the table? If they stopped playing, how was he supposed to make money!

"Ah!"