"I haven't revealed my hole card yet."
"Young man." The uncle immediately laughed.
"For you to beat me, your hole card would have to be the Ace of Spades or the 9 of Spades."
"The 9 of Spades is already out. What's the probability your hole card is the Ace of Spades?"
"Besides, you haven't looked at your hole card the entire time."
Takumi smiled and said, "Without revealing the hole card, who knows the result?"
His words made the uncle's eyelid twitch.
But he quickly refuted it inwardly.
'Impossible!'
'He didn't even look at his hole card. How could it possibly be the Ace of Spades by such a coincidence!'
Hearing Takumi's words, the others also fixed their eyes intently on Takumi's hole card.
If Takumi's hole card really was the Ace of Spades, he would create a miracle.
But if it wasn't, he would become a new laughingstock, at least within this gambling den for a long time.
Would Takumi become that laughingstock?
Of course not.
Takumi directly picked up his hole card, without even looking!
Smack!
He slammed it heavily on the table.
Everyone stared intently at his hand covering the card.
Under the crowd's extremely expectant gaze, he slowly lifted his hand.
Gasp!
The onlookers immediately stared dumbfounded at the card under Takumi's hand!
The uncle stared with dead-fish eyes, his face vacant!
"Great! Great!" Sakura and Ino happily hugged each other and jumped for joy.
The old man was also in disbelief for a moment.
But soon he let out a hearty laugh.
He hadn't won money, but at least, the superficially fake uncle didn't win either.
It was like... you winning money makes me feel worse than me losing money! So you'd better not win!
Takumi's hole card was, naturally, the Ace of Spades!
This was a carefully orchestrated game.
The outcome was already predetermined.
"Thanks for the chips, buddies." Takumi said with a smile, scooping all the chips back.
Then he immediately had the boss cash him out.
After deducting Tsunade's debt, he still had 30 million left.
The profit was simply awesome!
It was almost equivalent to Asuma's head!
Feeling refreshed, he walked out of the gambling den.
"Let's go! While my luck is good today, let's continue!" Takumi said with great vigor. He wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to make a fortune!
After all, the gambling dens in Konoha wouldn't let a kid like him in. It was rare to come to a gambling den without restrictions.
If he didn't make a killing, Takumi would feel he had wronged the Observation Haki he obtained!
However, the next second.
Bang!
A dull sound nearby caught his attention.
He turned to look and found the gambling den he just left had closed its doors!
"What's going on?" Takumi was still confused when...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of doors closing came like firecrackers, continuously from the street!
Tsunade quickly ran out to check.
Good grief, all the gambling dens had closed!
Well, that was that.
All gambling dens were closed, scared off by Takumi's winning streak! So there's nowhere to gamble!
Takumi looked back helplessly.
Tsunade also looked completely bewildered.
Clearly, she hadn't expected this outcome either.
'This is bad...'
'The debts are really paid off.'
What should I do now?
Tsunade's mind was in chaos.
'Could it be... I really have to... with this kid...'
'I have to drive the big truck for him?!'
Regarding this, Takumi gave an evil smile.
He stepped forward and said, "Let's go, Tsunade-sama. Back to the village."
...
Konoha.
Konoha Hospital.
Sasuke sat in his wheelchair, his face gloomy.
He watched the children on the lawn outside.
Even though they had bandages on their heads and bodies, they could run freely.
In contrast, he...
He was supposed to be the pride of the Uchiha Clan, always hailed as a genius.
He was unmatched among his peers, looking down on ordinary people.
But now...
"Dammit!" Sasuke cursed under his breath, his face contorting.
"Why am I so useless! I can't even overcome this mere poison!"
"I might even be a cripple for life!"
"How can I get revenge on Itachi like this!"
"Right now, I can't even become a Shinobi!"
"Dammit! Why! Why is this happening to me!"
"Why is fate so cruel to me! Why is heaven so harsh on me!"
By the end, Sasuke had lost his senses. He shouted madly, painfully like a madman.
Fortunately, his room was private, as the hospital had specifically arranged a single room for him.
After all, he had these episodes every now and then.
Bang! Crash!
He randomly smashed the fruit plate on the table, threw the delivered flowers into the corner.
Although Sakura and Ino weren't around, Sasuke still had a few admirers.
One weighed 100 kg, another 150 kg.
They sent quite a few gifts.
But these gifts were of no help to Sasuke now.
All he wanted was to recover his health… to regain his original body.
"Huff... huff..." He panted heavily.
The violent fluctuations of his mood made it impossible to calm his heartbeat.
The nurse standing outside the door, and the family dog she brought along, seeing Sasuke like this, couldn't help but shake their heads.
"Forget it, just let him be." The nurse sighed silently and left.
As for Sasuke, after despairingly throwing a fit for a while, he fell into a deep sleep.
He didn't know how long he slept.
Suddenly, a noise woke Sasuke.
He sharply pricked up his ears, hearing many people walking in the corridor.
He turned to look at the door.
Bang!
"Sasuke, we came to see you!" Naruto said cheerfully and loudly.
Behind him, Takumi and the others filed in.
The last to enter was Tsunade.
"You... what are you doing here?" Sasuke said with a gloomy expression.
"I don't want to see you."
Naruto didn't mind his cold attitude and said with a grin, "Don't say that! Look who we brought!"
"Who?" Sasuke scanned the crowd, and found he did see someone he hadn't met before.
A blonde woman, who is quite pretty.
"Listen, Takumi, to help you find Tsunade-sama, ran all the way to the border of the Land of Fire!"
Hearing the name 'Tsunade-sama', Sasuke's eyes lit up.
He certainly knew who Tsunade was.
One of the Legendary Sannin, and the most skilled Medical-nin in the world!
'If it was her, she could definitely cure the poison in my body!'
"And do you know what Takumi-kun did to convince Lady Tsunade to treat you?"
"He paid off 200 million ryo of Tsunade-sama's debt in a single day!"
"200 million!"
Naruto exaggeratedly gestured with his fingers, incessantly recounting Takumi's amazing experience.
He completely failed to notice the bulging veins on Tsunade's forehead.
Although she didn't particularly care about the debt, having this inglorious matter constantly brought up would annoy even her.
It felt like she had lost so much money outside that Takumi had to spend money to redeem her.
"Ah, Tsunade-sama, calm down." Takumi clearly sensed the killing intent from Tsunade.
Akamaru even ran into Kiba's arms, trembling.
They all made way.
Simultaneously, they looked at Naruto with pitying eyes.