Outside the Uchiha Casino, Jiraiya, who had studied diligently for a week, was finally ready to put his knowledge into practice.
"Welcome, sir. How much would you like to exchange for chips?" The receptionist greeted him warmly the moment he stepped in.
Jiraiya really wanted—no, desperately wanted—to sneak a peek at her legs under the desk.
"No no no! A devoted suitor must only worship one goddess at a time!" Recalling the first rule from his book, he shook his head and forced himself to look serious.
"I'll start with ten million ryo." As he placed the money in her palm, he couldn't resist giving her hand a quick little squeeze.
The receptionist shot him a practiced but clearly forced smile, counted out the chips, and handed them over stiffly.
"Thank you, beautiful lady," Jiraiya said smoothly before turning away with flair, completely missing the look of disgust on her face.
"Just this creepy guy trying to hit on me? Dream on!" She inwardly cursed while once again forcing a polite, mechanical smile onto her face.
Poor Jiraiya, despite studying diligently for a week, still hadn't realized that his real issue was his creepy behavior.
In a lavishly decorated private room inside the casino, someone slammed two stacks of chips onto the table.
Only two gamblers and a dealer occupied the room.
"Wait," Tsunade looked at her hole cards and decided to go all-in. "I'm betting everything. You don't seriously think you've got four aces!"
On the table lay two hands—one consisting of three aces plus a hidden card, the other made up of spades J, Q, K, along with a face-down card.
The player holding three aces wore a black trench coat. His messy mid-length hair hung loosely behind his back, and a long sword rested at his waist.
"Tsunade-nee, are you really going all-in on a straight flush?" This mysterious gambler was none other than Shen Uchiha, who had been winning nonstop against fellow gamblers for a whole week.
"You actually bet I wouldn't pull off four aces? Too bad—the spade ace you needed is right in my hand!" Tsunade proudly flipped over her final card, its shining spade symbol glaring under the bright lights.
Shen trembled slightly as he recalled the legend of that legendary man—Chen Daozai—who once turned twenty bucks into three-point-seven million. Today, he, Shen Uchiha, would easily turn five hundred thousand into two million!
"I call. Let's see the next card!" He shoved all his chips into the center and folded his arms confidently, ready for whatever came next.
An ordinary spade deuce landed on top of the pile of aces.
"Puhahaha! Tsunade-nee, half your chance just flew out the window!" Shen laughed so hard tears almost came out of his eyes.
"Dealer, deal another card!" Tsunade's face darkened, but she still felt she had a shot.
"Hold on." Shen raised his hand to stop the dealer.
He wasn't here to win money—he was just there for the thrill.
"Sorry about this, Tsunade-nee. Your last hope is right here with me!" With that, he picked up his final card and slammed it heavily onto the table.
With a sharp slap, the spade ten hit the table—and landed right on Tsunade's now furious face.
Silently, the dealer placed a heart deuce among the spades and announced the outcome of the game: "Four aces beat the straight flush. The house wins."
Jiraiya pushed open the golden private room door and silently placed the chips in his hand neatly in front of Tsunade upon hearing her words.
He even made what he thought was a suave gesture, smoothing down his lifeless white long hair.
"Thump!" Tsunade elbowed him directly in the stomach.
Just now when he shook his hair like that, several dandruff flakes had landed on her shoulders.
"Tsunade, how could you do this?" Crouching on the ground with his waist bent, Jiraiya looked just like an overcooked shrimp.
"Shrimp? That's not it. Big hero, so what?" Seeing the male lead finally arrive, Shen's mood immediately improved.
Feeling mentally oppressed all day thinking about how to resolve the Kumogakure issue, he said he was really tired and needed some fun or else he'd completely break down.
Instantly turning into a groveling mess, Jiraiya pathetically begged for comfort: "Tsunade, though you hit me physically, it hurts my heart more. You have to take responsibility for that."
"???" Shen blinked in confusion—he remembered clearly that the script wasn't written this way.
In Konoha's famous director's script, at this moment he should stand up to show he's fine, then give the other party a confident and composed expression, right?
Improvising lines like this—it's no surprise he never managed to win over his beloved goddess before his death.
She wasn't supposed to act this way—but well, it was Tsunade herself.
Seeing Jiraiya's disgusting look, Tsunade raised her hand and punched him straight in the face.
"Tsunade! Now my handsome face is ruined because of you—you must take even more responsibility!" Jiraiya fully demonstrated his 'puppy style' flattery.
But this kind of sycophantic behavior was simply nauseating.
"Responsibility? Of course I'll be happy to take responsibility." Tsunade, already in a bad mood from losing bets, clenched both fists tightly with a cracking sound.
"Don't hit the face—I'm a pretty face!" After leaving behind that line, the entire private room only transmitted various hitting sounds and bone-breaking noises.
At that time, both Shen and the dealer each took a silent moment to mourn Jiraiya before simultaneously turning around to cheer and encourage Tsunade.
On the Hot Water Country border, over ten Kumo ninja handed their passage documents to the guards.
"Envoys? But why are you dressed as ninjas? Isn't it too hot today?" The straightforward guard assumed they had taken off their envoy uniforms to feel cooler.
"Yeah, it's truly too hot during midsummer." The smiling leader of the Cloud envoys quickly made a secret signal behind his back.
The guard didn't suspect anything from these individuals and allowed them into the territory of the Hot Water Country.
"Remember, our mission this time is to disguise ourselves as envoys—we cannot reveal any ninja habits whatsoever."
"Yes, Captain!"
A group of seventeen people walked along the road heading toward the Land of Fire.
It appeared Kumogakure's plan was about to begin.
At 9 PM, inside Ichiraku Ramen restaurant on Commercial Street,
Shen, in an especially good mood, sat eating noodles and having heart-to-heart conversation with Jiraiya, whose face was swollen and bruised everywhere, wrapped entirely in bandages.
"Hey kid Shen, did you come here just because you can't run wild freely within the village?"
"How could that be possible? It's just that Uncle Jiraiya, your puppy style flattery is too revolting. Can't you speak normally just once?"
"It's normal for people to feel upset after hearing your ambiguous words."
"Yeah, you're right," Jiraiya nodded, admitting he had been too impatient today, trying to win Tsunade over in one move.
Shen, seeing himself safely off the hook, began pondering where exactly Jiraiya went wrong.
First of all, his lecherous expression throughout the day definitely wouldn't earn any favor from Tsunade, who typically acted carefree and unrestrained.
What's more, having known each other since childhood and knowing everything about each other, he couldn't possibly fake seriousness.
Then there was his casual personality combined with flirtatious tone—flaws that would take quite some time to correct.
"Don't be a doormat. Become a domineering CEO instead. Things won't change unless he outshines her."
Shen glanced at Jiraiya, who, despite being covered in injuries, still turned his eyes toward the window, scanning for attractive women passing by.
At that moment, Shen felt like reforming this guy was an even taller order than taming his own ancient ancestor on the moon.
He was tempted to tell Jiraiya to look for someone more capable, but thinking about the regret shown in the original storyline, he abandoned the idea.
"At worst, I'll just meddle with that certain Katou older brother."
Shen made up his mind firmly, determined to wear this hat whether it fits or not.
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