"Stay firm, make your choice—odd or even! Final two minutes... Here she comes! Big Sis is placing her bet again, all by herself! What should the rest of you do? Pay attention, pay attention! This might be your chance to turn the tides completely!"
The casino buzzed with noise, yet a croupier's hoarse voice rose above the chaos.
No matter how frantically he shouted to hype the crowd, once Tsunade started placing bets, everyone at the gambling table—including those packed three layers deep around it—bet against her. This had been repeating nonstop ever since she entered the casino fifteen minutes ago.
Despite Tsunade switching tables multiple times and trying out various games, one thing remained unchanged—she kept losing every single round without exception. In that sense, she'd become a 100% reliable "contrarian's guide" on the casino floor.
As a result, more and more people clustered around her, just like lowly gangsters fawning over their yakuza boss. They smiled with exaggerated warmth and humility around her… Well, naturally—all they wanted was to win money from her.
Not calling her "Big Sis"? As long as Tsunade still had cash, these lowlifes inside the casino would treat her like their own dear mother.
Nuts, juice, snacks—it didn't even take an order for those guys to enthusiastically deliver everything right beside her.
However, happiness was all hers—and those lucky enough to win. But happiness was definitely not meant for Haseo.
To keep losing nonstop throughout an entire afternoon was, in itself, miraculous. From Haseo's perspective as a complete amateur, Tsunade wasn't actually playing that badly. Her skills were just average—nothing obviously wrong with them.
The problem lay in her mindset. Basically, she kept trying to predict what the croupier or other players were thinking. For example, during card games, when visible cards already allowed logical guesses about probabilities of upcoming cards, she always deliberately chose the option with the lowest probability.
"If you win," she would say, "you'll make tenfold profits, right?"
That actually made some sense, except she never actually won.
She doesn't even realize how bad she is, yet still insists on showing off—this kind of self-delusional Bronze-tier player who thinks they're a King-level pro truly is terrifying.
Besides, Tsunade had decent sportsmanship. Since there was a sign posted at the casino entrance stating "Ninjutsu strictly prohibited," she absolutely refrained from using any Ninjutsu while gambling. With such conduct, if she didn't lose money, where would justice go?
Haseo used to think Tsunade's endless losing streak was a natural disaster. But after witnessing this session, he now understood her losses were largely man-made—a case of reaping what you sow. After all, you could sometimes escape a natural disaster, but flawed thinking was a curse for life.
Winning money? Not happening.
Haseo definitely counted among the high-income individuals in this world. Due to numerous reasons, most of the missions he undertook ranked as high-level assignments, which came with generous rewards. As a ninja, he also lacked places to spend his earnings, so practically all his mission rewards transformed into savings.
However, by midnight, Haseo had lost more than seventy percent of his entire life's savings.
Even if he wanted to cut his losses, continuing to bet against Tsunade was completely pointless. For every million she lost, Haseo only gained ten thousand. Was there really any difference between winning and not winning?
It was only now that Haseo finally understood. No wonder someone like Tsunade stayed single her whole life — with that kind of "clod of earth" level luck, how could she not?
...
"I don't sense any Ninja inside. The guards here are all regular soldiers."
While Tsunade was immersed in the joy of gambling, Sannai and Sakumo Hatake had already approached their mission target under the cover of night.
According to Sannai's reconnaissance report, all the guards stationed here were ordinary humans. If it was merely about facing soldiers, then this mission posed no real difficulty. Compared to Ninjas, regular humans were barely worth mentioning in terms of combat effectiveness. The probability of an average person killing a Ninja wasn't much higher than killing a Saiyan.
Although Haseo seemingly had completed such missions before, strictly speaking, at that time, he could no longer be considered purely human, as he had been undergoing mutation.
Sakumo Hatake nodded slightly before saying to Sannai, "Stay here and continue watching the surroundings. I'll go and come right back."
Fortunately for them, although the Daimyo had learned that his envoy sent to Konoha had been killed, because events unfolded too suddenly, after receiving the news, the Daimyo had been occupied first with sending off Konoha's protective ninja, then immediately started recruiting new ninjas for personal protection, so he currently had no time to spare for relatively minor matters like hostages.
Otherwise, maybe even the location information left behind by that lady servant wouldn't necessarily prove useful.
As the famous "Northwest Cleave King," infiltrating into a manor guarded purely by regular humans was extremely simple for Sakumo Hatake. If he wanted, he could perform a classic Ubisoft-style infiltration — silent, surgical, and efficient — eliminating all the guards within three to five minutes before walking in freely.
But that sort of action wasn't necessary. There was absolutely no need for Sakumo to eliminate innocent civilians.
Once he entered the estate, his target became very easy to identify. Simply put, he needed to find a girl, and in that courtyard, except for one girl, everyone else was male.
Sakumo swiftly slipped into a bedroom and crept silently toward the bed. He first reached out and covered the mouth of the small child fast asleep in bed.
The girl had been living under surveillance, her days full of fear and uncertainty — so it was no surprise she woke up instantly… Frankly speaking, Sakumo probably wasn't well suited for rescue missions — his movement easily could be mistaken for an attempt to suffocate someone.
"Don't make a sound. Let me ask you, is your name 'Tsumiki Nono'? I've been sent here by your older sister to rescue you... Blink if that's correct." Fortunately, Sakumo understood he should explain who he was.
If Haseo had been here, perhaps there would be no need to ask such questions, since this girl's face bore about eighty percent resemblance to that of the deceased lady servant. Unfortunately, Sakumo had never met the lady servant in person.
After hearing his words, the little sister indeed became much quieter. She didn't try to struggle but instead stared at Hatake's silhouette in the darkness, blinking repeatedly.
"Good. I'm letting go now—remember, not a sound."
Ninjas like him are marked for a life of solitude. If she made a sound now, Sakumo Hatake wouldn't hesitate to act.
Luckily, she remained quiet. To confirm his identity, Hatake handed her the bloodstained charm.
The girl looked eleven or twelve years old. Yet when she saw the charm, everything suddenly made sense… tears silently slid down her cheeks.
"Any more questions?"
"My older sister told me… before leaving, she said if someone came to rescue me, I should go with them."
The girl softly replied, clearly suppressing her emotions; Sakumo had told her not to speak, so despite her grief, she stayed silent.
Her words left Sakumo Hatake in silence, briefly lost in thought—the servant girl must have left without knowing for certain she would die, yet still prepared for the worst-case scenario.
"Then let's go. I'm the one your sister mentioned."
Hatake said as he wrapped her quickly in a bedsheet without even giving her time to change clothes. Then, he lifted the frail child onto his back and slipped away from the scene with effortless grace.
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