At the gambling table, Tsunade involuntarily shivered.
She then shouted loudly.
"Continue, continue!"
The dealer uncovered his dice cup, revealing his points.
Four, four, five, five, six… twenty-four points, quite high!
"Your turn."
"Small!"
Tsunade's face lit up, and she directly called out.
However, when she uncovered her own dice cup and saw her points, her face immediately fell.
Six, six, six, six, six… thirty points, the maximum!
"Damn, Tsunade lost again."
"Being able to roll that number, I don't know if Tsunade-sama is skilled or unlucky."
Takumi couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
The probability of rolling the same number on five dice is extremely low.
'This Tsunade, she's really cursed to the core!'
"Continue!"
Tsunade shouted indignantly.
The dealer smiled.
Usually, with other customers, he needed to control the points a bit, keeping them in a middling range.
But with Tsunade…
It's completely unnecessary!
Second game.
The dealer uncovered his dice cup.
Five, five, six, six, six… twenty-eight points, very high!
Theoretically, only two point totals were higher than this.
The onlookers gasped.
In this situation, nine out of ten people would choose Small.
Tsunade was no exception.
"Small!"
She shouted happily, lifting her dice cup.
"Pfft, hahaha!"
The surroundings immediately erupted in joyful laughter.
Tsunade's five dice showed five sixes again.
Thirty points, the maximum!
Tsunade still lost!
"This level, it can already be called mystical, right?"
Takumi couldn't help but complain.
"Yeah, I don't know if Tsunade-sama is skilled or unlucky."
Ino completely agreed with Takumi's earlier assessment of Tsunade.
Sakura and Hinata nodded repeatedly.
"Dammit... how did I lose again..."
Tsunade gritted her teeth.
But there was nothing she could do.
The dealer hadn't cheated.
It was just her bad luck.
But unfortunately…
After all these years…
Tsunade still had no self-awareness about her gambling skills.
Every time she wanted to take a chance, but after all these years of taking chances, aside from a pile of debt, she had gained nothing.
But she never tired of it, fighting on despite repeated defeats.
After playing a few more rounds, Tsunade grew impatient and switched to another game.
This time, it was Pai Gow. (T/N: It's a Chinese gambling game, played with a set of 32 Chinese dominoes.)
Here, Tsunade played the minor Pai Gow type.
Each person gets two tiles, simply comparing for higher value.
Tsunade continued her streak of bad luck.
Every time, the tiles she got were the smallest.
This led to her losing money every time.
They watched as the chips in front of her dwindled bit by bit.
Until there were none left.
"It really is just as Takumi-kun said."
"It didn't take much time at all."
Ino glanced at the clock on the wall and said admiringly.
"Mhm."
Sakura agreed with a nod.
She forgot to argue with Ino.
She was truly stunned by Tsunade's luck.
She swore she had never seen anyone with luck this bad!
"Alright, time for serious business."
Tsunade, having lost all her chips, stood up looking disgusted. Just as she was about to leave, she turned and saw Takumi and the others.
Especially when she saw the Konoha's forehead protector on Takumi, she narrowed her eyes.
Her already bad mood became even worse.
"What's going on? Why are there Konoha's people here?"
Tsunade let out a drunken burp.
"Tsunade-sama."
Takumi stepped forward respectfully.
"Hmm..."
Tsunade squinted, leaning close to Takumi's face.
"Quite a handsome young man. You'll definitely be a heartbreaker when you grow up."
After looking Takumi up and down, Tsunade glanced at Ino and Sakura beside him.
In front of Tsunade, one of the Sannin, Ino and Sakura also became somewhat reserved.
At least they weren't hugging Takumi's arms.
But from the way they stood pressed close to Takumi, Tsunade saw right through it.
"What do you want with me? I'm not in a good mood right now."
After all, they were Konoha's Shinobi, so Tsunade resisted the urge to just leave.
But her attitude couldn't be called good.
"Actually, I have a classmate who suffered a very serious injury. The village couldn't heal him."
"I wanted to ask you, Tsunade-sama, the best Medical-nin in the Shinobi World, to return and treat him. Please."
Takumi directly stated their purpose.
Ino, Hinata, and Sakura also bowed deeply and said, "Please, Tsunade-sama!"
Seeing the three of them bowing devoutly, Tsunade's body bent slightly, frozen in place.
But after a few seconds…
She let out an awkward laugh.
"Hmph, I'm not going back. Nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh."
Tsunade, taking advantage of her drunkenness, directly acted cute!
Saying this, she walked right past Takumi and the others.
"Ah, this..."
Seeing Tsunade's sudden move, the others immediately grew anxious.
After all, Tsunade was the only one who could cure Sasuke.
If Tsunade really refused to go back, Sasuke would have to remain in his wheelchair indefinitely, with no telling when he might recover.
Takumi, however, knew why Tsunade was refusing.
Back then, Tsunade had a falling out with Sandaime precisely because she wanted to vigorously promote Medical-nin.
But Sandaime, worried this would affect his position as Hokage, flatly refused.
That was the reason for the teacher-student fallout.
It was also the reason Tsunade didn't want to return.
"I'm very sorry, Tsunade-sama just lost money gambling today and is in a bad mood. She's not usually like this."
Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, holding a pig in her arms, came forward and said apologetically.
Then, she prepared to follow Tsunade and leave.
"Tsunade-sama."
Takumi called out to stop Tsunade.
"What?"
Tsunade asked, looking drunk.
"I heard Tsunade-sama is famously known throughout the Shinobi World as the Cash C... cough, a gambling expert. I was wondering if you'd like to play a game with me?"
"Hmm?" Tsunade's brows furrowed slightly, "What game?"
"Gamble with me."
"If I win, please come back to the village with me."
Faced with Takumi's challenge, Tsunade looked disdainful.
"Although my luck isn't good, beating a kid like you is more than enough."
Hearing this, Shizune on the side couldn't help but roll her eyes intensely.
Not just her, everyone in the gambling den who knew Tsunade couldn't help but roll their eyes.
'Damn, with your skills, how dare you say that?!'
'Gambling skill has nothing to do with age, lady!'
Clearly, everyone present saw Tsunade as a cash cow to be milked.
"But, why should I gamble with you?" Tsunade asked after thinking for a moment.
"If you win, all the money I have on me is yours. How about that?"
Takumi took out all the money he had, a full 800,000 ryo.
Seeing so much money, Tsunade's eyes lit up, and she immediately agreed.
"Deal!"
"What are we playing?"
Before the others could react, Tsunade had already sat down at the fastest speed possible, gripping the dice cup.
"Then let's play high-low."
"It's quicker that way."
Takumi also sat down and said with a smile.
"Good!"
Tsunade immediately started shaking the dice cup in her hand with flashy moves.
"Huh? It's starting already?"
Seeing Tsunade's attitude change so quickly, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were a bit slow to react.
But since both sides had already started, all they could do was watch silently.
"Takumi-kun, do your best..."
"Yeah, if we lose, we'll be sleeping on the streets."
Clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter~~~
The dice kept hitting the cup, making crisp sounds.
However.
This was meaningless to Takumi.
Because the moment the contest started, he activated his heaven-defying skill, Incredible Luck.
For the next hour, he would have absolute luck.