The following article contains spoilers for Chainsaw Man episode 1 - 3. To catch up on the latest episode, it's available for streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
Come the end of episode 1 of Chainsaw Man, and we meet Makima, a professional Devil Hunter, who offers Denji a chance at a better life. While she comes off as sarcastic and strict, most newcomers and even Denji himself may assume the best. After all, she does have a dangerous job and while she offered our main character a better life in exchange for his help, it's still an important responsibility.
Additionally, you can argue that being blunt is just part of her personality; after all, she is still respected by her subordinates, and her humoring Denji as petty motivation. It's not bad to give the benefit of the doubt, but there lies a possibility that Makima is a lot more than she lets on.
Mannerisms
As mentioned previously, Makima is rather blunt, but she has some questionable tendencies. During the beginning of episode two, she explains to Denji what his responsibilities will be - but doesn't hesitate to compare him to a dog. While providing the details of his position, Makima instructs Denji to reply with either, "yes" or "woof".
Moreover, after Denji asks Makima would her type of guy was, she responded with, "The 'Denji' type". This could be her simply humoring him, but we already know that Denji is starved of affection and is attracted to her - and Makima is aware of this as well. It's not uncommon for manipulators to exploit their victim's insecurities to get them to do what they want. Given Denji's mental immaturity and naivety, this is an easy task for her.
Ambition
It's a given that Chainsaw Man is powerful and is indeed useful to have on a team, but does she see Denji as an individual, or just a weapon? In episode 2, she makes it abundantly clear that if Denji can work together with his peers, he'll be able to spend more one-on-one time with Makima. Later on in episode 3, she meets with some government officials to discuss her plans for her team.
There, she refers to Denji as her new "pup". But the elephant in the room is rather striking in this episode: her treatment and control of Power is significant in the way that a simple command over her manages to instill fear. Power has already proved herself to be headstrong and independent as it is, but yet it's something about Makima that makes her obedient. Almost like she has her trained, like a dog. It's not too far off to assume she may have a similar plan in mind for Denji.
Is It That Simple Though?
As discussed prior, these could simply just be the tropes of an Anti-Hero and Makima fitting a more grey area, in terms of ethics. She's an opportunist at heart, and has to be - after all, she is tasked with a governmental job that can go south very quickly. Her subordinates are her "hounds", because they are hunters, and getting too attached will weaken their resolve if one of them dies. Plus she could be humoring Denji as a means to motivate him, given his unique situation. It's also safe to assume that each member has a personal reason for joining - and she matches her training in accordance with them.
There is a brief scene in the opening that mirrors a famous artwork of two people standing in front of an image. One of them is facing a sunny field, but the true image above it is a destroyed city - which the other one sees. In this case Power and Denji lie at the bottom of the image, Aki oversees the destroyed city, but Makima, standing even taller sees something much worse. Her experiences could have shaped her jaded and sarcastic personality. It's a dog-eat-dog world.