Somewhere deep in his mind, Uchiha Mai felt a strong intuition.
There was something very wrong with that table.
Taking advantage of his "benefit" of being short, Mai slipped into the crowd like an eel, twisting and squeezing his way forward until he reached the innermost circle, right in front of the gambling table.
Looking up, he saw seven or eight players seated around it. All of them were generic, forgettable faces - pure background characters.
Except for one blonde woman who immediately caught his attention.
Her long golden hair was tied into two low twin ponytails, draped messily over her shoulders, far from the silky image one might expect.
The gray inner shirt was stretched tight by her towering chest, fully highlighting her dangerously voluptuous figure. If someone tall enough stood behind her, they might glimpse a cleavage so deep it seemed bottomless.
Over it, she wore a light-blue jacket - and interestingly, there was no large "Gamble" character on the back, unlike how she appeared in Shippuden.
Mai leaned closer and looked at her profile. Her facial features were delicate, almost unreal, like a woman who had stepped straight out of an anime.
If one ignored the eye gunk at the corner of her eyes, the chive bun hanging from her mouth, and the half-empty bottle of sake by her side, she would easily qualify as a flawless beauty.
Without a doubt, this woman was Tsunade.
A group of hormone-charged gamblers crowded behind her, shoving one another while still not daring to step any closer. No one could tell whether they were watching the cards… or the woman.
When they saw Uchiha Mai casually approach Tsunade, a silent sense of admiration arose among them.
Amazing.
This little pervert did what they all wanted to do - but didn't dare.
Tsunade slightly turned her head and glanced at Mai. Seeing a handsome, jade-like boy with refined features, she didn't feel particularly repelled.
She lifted her bottle, took a big gulp, let out a drunken burp, and practically blew the smell of alcohol into Mai's face as she asked, cheeks faintly flushed:
"Kid… what do you want?"
"Nothing much," Mai replied with a smile. "I just wanted to watch big sister play cards."
"Hmph! You've got good taste, brat!"
Tsunade snorted proudly, rubbed Mai's hair, and began boasting shamelessly:
"I've been gambling since I was four years old.
For thirty years, I've played every gambling game in the ninja world and visited every casino there is. There's no form of gambling I don't understand."
"At the table, even the so-called God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, and the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, were defeated by me.
If you watch me play, you'll learn a lot."
This woman really lied without blinking.
Mai held back his urge to comment and smiled instead.
"Big sister must be joking. You look about eighteen at most - only a little older than me. There's no way you're in your thirties."
No woman was indifferent about her age - and Tsunade least of all. If she didn't care about her looks, she never would've learned the Strength of a Hundred Seal.
"Hic… caught me lying, huh?"
She let out another drunken burp and puffed out her chest.
"My age is eighteen.
But even so, I've devoted myself to gambling for over ten years. If you learn even a tiny bit from me, it'll be enough to dominate every casino for life."
"Hmph!"
Some spectators behind her rolled their eyes in contempt.
This fat sheep really had no shame.
Anyone who frequented Tanzaku Town knew she'd been famous as a walking ATM for over a decade. She was eighteen back then - and she was still eighteen now? What a joke.
At this moment, Minato arrived with Guy and Kakashi at the outer edge of the crowd.
Seeing Mai chatting smoothly with their mission target, and recalling how decisively he handled the innkeeper earlier, Minato chose not to step in.
"Big sister is absolutely right," Mai said with an innocent smile.
"Watch closely."
Tsunade muttered something as the dealer handed her two cards. She took a deep breath, nervously lifted the corner of her hand, and peeked.
When she saw the Two of Diamonds and Two of Spades, her face instantly lit up. She quickly put the cards back down, trying to act calm.
The ninja world was strange. It had English, advanced mathematics - so naturally, poker existing in casinos made perfect sense.
Because of his height, Mai also saw Tsunade's cards. Watching her get so excited, he felt confused.
"Big sister… what game is this?"
"Texas Hold'em," Tsunade replied.
Mai: "..."
Texas Hold'em… and she was happy with pocket twos?
In Hold'em, each player gets two hole cards and shares five community cards. The best five-card hand wins.
Pocket twos could improve into a set, full house, quads, or a flush - but combined, those outcomes didn't even reach a 20% probability.
Most of the time, players ended with a high card, one pair, or two pairs. Among those, high card was the worst.
In other words, calling with this hand was already risky.
And there were seven players at the table. Each additional player in the pot reduced the win rate even further.
The betting began.
Small blind: 200 yen.
Big blind: 400 yen.
Tsunade was seated right after the big blind - an early position, extremely unfavorable.
According to even the most basic optimal strategy, this hand should've been folded.
The player before her raised to 2,000 yen.
Tsunade didn't fold.
She casually called.
The entire table was stunned.
"Big sister… is your hand really that good?" Mai asked.
"You saw my cards too, didn't you?" Tsunade replied, puzzled. "Aren't they big?"
The pressure rose.
Not in fists - blood pressure.
Now Mai finally understood why Tsunade had lost so much money.
It wasn't just bad luck.
Her poker skills were simply awful.
Calling a raise with pocket twos was bad enough. Doing it without re-raising was literally burning money.
The optimal play was folding.
The stupid play would be making a huge re-raise, pretending to have pocket aces or kings and trying to steal the pot.
Even that idiotic move was better than Tsunade's pure donation strategy.
-
A transition chapter.
You can't write Tsunade without gambling.
(End of Chapter)