The following contains spoilers for Chapter 4 of Naruto: Sasuke’s Story — The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust by Masashi Kishimoto, Jun Esaka, Shingo Kimura and Snir Aharon, now available in English from Viz Media.
In Naruto: Sasuke’s Story — The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust: The Manga, the Uchiha Ranger is left racking his brain over finding a cure for Naruto’s illness. He’s undercover at a Redaku prison, unlocking clues regarding the same sickness the Sage of the Six Paths had. Luckily, Sakura arrived while disguised as a nurse to help out with extra info from Kakashi.
It’s much needed, as Sasuke is struggling to stay off the radar of the sinister warden, Zansūru. In the process, he internalizes some of his shortcomings with his wife, and how he maybe doesn’t understand love and marriage properly. Well, as they work the case in Chapter 4 of this spinoff manga, Sakura shows Sasuke how adaptable she is in the field, homaging some old Hokage flaws while paying homage to the Ocean’s Eleven movies.
Sakura Cheats at a Gambling Game
Sakura and Sasuke realize they need access to the prison library to get a book called “The Map of Heaven.” They believe it’s got intel from the person who founded the place, Tataru, and the Sage from centuries ago who helped cure the shinobi god. Sakura ends up playing a janitor/prisoner in a card game called “Star Line,” wanting his key to the library if she wins.
She plays the poker-esque game a few times, with all the rounds ending in draws. The frustrated, impatient guy gives in and just lets her have the key. Later, she admits to Sasuke that it’s a cop-out to cheating because, while she did card-count (memorizing and rigging her hand), she didn’t want to select any cards to win. That sort of dealing would be unfair and tip the scales to her lacking nobility and honor, so she just mentally played the guy, knowing he’d give up and hand her the prize.
Chapter 4 of Sasuke’s Story Nods to Lady Tsunade and Hashirama
Sakura essentially hustles the guy, nodding to Danny Ocean and Co. from the Ocean’s Eleven movies. The energy, anxious setting and how she pulled this rabbit out of the hat, getting trump cards to win, is something they’d do. In fact, not winning as a form of misdirection is a tactic Danny often employs — before he pulls the rug right out from under his opponents. In Sakura’s case, she keeps the guise up but is more subtle, operating in secret.
Coincidentally, she learned this from gambling with Lady Tsunade, the wayward Hokage who mentored her as a medical ninja in Naruto. Tsunade would get tired of the draws and concede to Sakura, so she uses the same tactic here in Sasuke’s Story. As for where Tsunade got her bad habit from, it trails back to the First Hokage of Konoha: Senju Hashirama.
The very first Hokage was also addicted to drinking and gambling, but thankfully it didn’t endanger the Hidden Leaf. Hashirama did lose a lot, though, with Tsunade picking up his annoyance at not winning. As this vice was handed down, it educated Sakura; her counter-measure ultimately comes up flush as she takes the house and gets access to the library, where they learn the key to Naruto’s cure may well lie back home in Konoha.
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