Conquest (Part 2)

As they neared Konoha's gates, Beichen Haotian had Pakura remove the Sunagakure forehead protector from her head and instructed her, "Live well in Konoha. Don't go looking for trouble. If anyone dares bully you, tell me. I'll stand up for you."

"Let's go." Beichen Haotian took Pakura's hand and headed toward Konoha's entrance. She struggled at first, but when she truly could not break free, she simply let him hold her hand, her cheeks faintly flushed.

At the village gates, they underwent the routine inspection. Beichen Haotian produced a pass second only to those held by Konoha's leadership, then entered Konoha beneath the respectful gazes of the guards.

Pakura had never visited the Ninja World's foremost village, so she looked around with great curiosity after entering Konoha. She compared it to the Sand Village in her mind and found a substantial gap between them. Whether in population density, commercial prosperity, or the happiness on ordinary people's faces, the difference was obvious.

Still, as the saying went, there was no place like home. Konoha was indeed better than the Sand Village, but it was far too unfamiliar to her. She did not know anyone here.

As if sensing her thoughts, Beichen Haotian squeezed her hand. "Does it feel unfamiliar? Like you don't belong here? It's fine. Stay with me for now. I'll take you around and help you get familiar with the place. I won't leave you alone."

Hearing Beichen Haotian's words, the unease in Pakura's heart warmed and settled. Her grip around his hand tightened.

"Come with me to see the Third Hokage. We need to report back now that the mission's complete. Later, I'll take you to try Konoha's specialty snacks. The variety of snacks here is the best in the Ninja World." Holding Pakura's hand, Beichen Haotian smiled as he headed toward the Hokage Building.

As they neared the Hokage Building, Beichen Haotian clearly sensed several spying gazes. They were making no effort to hide themselves. That had not happened before, but he was not angry; after all, he had brought a stranger back this time.

Pakura also sensed the watchful eyes. Her palms began to sweat, and panic rose in her heart. She was about to meet the Third Hokage, the Ninja World's foremost scholar. Her fate was completely beyond her own control now.

"Enough, don't be nervous. Lord Hokage won't do anything to you. I'm here. No one can threaten you." After reassuring her, Beichen Haotian led Pakura into the Hokage Building. Once inside, there were even more prying gazes, making even him uncomfortable.

Damn, is this really necessary? Is the Third Hokage, the so-called Shinobi Hero, really that fragile?

After grumbling inwardly, Beichen Haotian shouted, "Hey, brothers, could you be any more obvious? You're scaring my future girlfriend. Keep this up, and I won't be so polite."

Upon hearing Beichen Haotian's words, the spying gazes withdrew somewhat and no longer felt like needles against their backs. Only then did he lead Pakura toward the Third Hokage's office.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Urgent knocking rang out.

"Come in." A gentle voice came from inside. Beichen Haotian pushed open the door and walked in, finding the Third Hokage still seated behind his desk, dealing with mountains of documents.

"Lord Hokage, the mission is complete. I brought Pakura back. From now on, she'll be with me." Beichen Haotian placed the mission scroll on the desk and spoke loudly.

The Third Hokage froze. He had not expected Beichen Haotian to truly do what he said—to say he would snatch her back and actually snatch her back. He wanted to go back on his word, but he had agreed when the mission began. Reneging now would be difficult and might disappoint one of Konoha's future pillars.

He had no choice but to swallow the bitter pill and accept it. Only a genius of Beichen Haotian's caliber, a genius with such strength, could receive such treatment.

"Ahem. Fine, we'll do as you say. But she cannot do anything that harms Konoha. If anything happens, you'll be responsible."

"No problem."

"Also, Sunagakure will definitely come to demand her return. How do you plan to handle that?"

"Ah... how would I handle it? With the wise and mighty Lord Hokage here, would they dare make a fuss?"

"Stop flattering me. You forcibly took someone else's person. This is a personal matter and cannot be elevated into an issue between villages. Otherwise, even more people will be dissatisfied," Hiruzen Sarutobi said sternly.

"Fine, you're sure you want me to handle it?" Beichen Haotian smacked his lips.

"Sure!"

"Fine, then my way of handling it is simple. Kill one if one comes, kill two if two come. Whoever from Sunagakure dares spout nonsense in front of me, I'll chop him down."

Beichen Haotian's face turned cold as murderous intent surged around him.

"If Sunagakure refuses to accept that, they can send as many ninja as they want to assassinate me. I've been bored lately anyway, so I'll treat it as entertainment." A bloodthirsty excitement appeared on Beichen Haotian's face.

The Third Hokage...

"Forget it. I'll handle it myself. With that attitude of yours, you'll only make things worse. If I'd known, I wouldn't have asked you to help me. One little favor, and you caused another disaster." The Third Hokage wore a gloomy expression, clearly regretting it.

"Get out. If you stay any longer, I'm afraid I won't be able to stop myself from beating you up!"

"Uh... alright. Oh, Lord Hokage, it's best if you don't send Anbu to monitor her. Monitoring her is the same as monitoring me."

"Enough, I understand. You brat, are you done yet? Didn't I say I'd come to you if anything happened? I can't be bothered to do something so unnecessary," the Third Hokage said angrily.

Seeing signs that the Third Hokage was about to lose his temper, Beichen Haotian hurriedly dragged Pakura away. At this point, he was not the Third Hokage's match. Even if he were, there was no need—and he could not afford—to fight.

After leaving the Hokage Building, they headed for Konoha's snack street. Beichen Haotian used Observation Haki to sense the area and confirmed there were no Anbu monitoring them. Only then was he relieved.

"Come on, let's eat something good and drink something good." Beichen Haotian waved his hand before Pakura's face, snapping her out of her dazed state, her mind completely blank.

"Haotian, can I ask you a question?" Pakura asked uneasily.

"You can, but you have to kiss me first. No kiss, no question." Beichen Haotian spoke with a sly look on his face.

"You..." Pakura hesitated. After thinking it over, she decided that since he had already kissed her, one more kiss was not much of a difference.

"Alright, but there are too many people here. I'll kiss you when there are fewer people around, okay?" Pakura asked, blushing.

"Mm, alright. Ask away."

"Why do I feel that Lord Hokage treats you so differently? Even the geniuses in other villages wouldn't dare speak to their village's Kage that way. Why is that?" Pakura asked with confusion written across her face.

"There's no harm in telling you. You can't escape my grasp anyway. First of all, I'm a genius—not an ordinary genius, but the kind who can hold up the sky for an entire generation of Konoha. I'm not afraid to tell you that my strength has already reached the Kage-level. A Kage-level powerhouse so young is naturally treasured by the village." Beichen Haotian bragged without the slightest blush.

"Besides, I'm not under Lord Hokage's command. He has no authority to command me. I answer to Konoha's Hokage advisor, Shimura Danzo, but even that old man has no right to force me to do anything I don't want to do."

"I'm Konoha's hidden genius. Minato and I are one in the shadows and one in the light, representing the strongest combat power of Konoha's younger generation. If another Shinobi World War breaks out, that will be when the two of us fully reveal our brilliance! Taking all those factors together, the Hokage naturally treats Minato and me differently from everyone else."

"So that's how it is. After hearing all that, it seems I really can't leave Konoha anymore. I can't get away from you completely," Pakura sighed.

"Do you want to get away from me? And even if you did, what then? Could you still return to the Sand Village? If you returned, would the village leaders and people still trust you as they did before? Without their trust, you would be assigned the most dangerous missions. Could you guarantee that you'd survive? And if you survived, would they truly trust you again?"

The string of questions left Pakura unable to refute him. She was not an ordinary girl, but a Jonin with extensive combat and life experience. She understood the ugliness of human nature: few offered help in a snowstorm, while most kicked people when they were down. Young and beautiful, she had rejected many pursuers in the Sand Village—some her age, some powerful and influential, some highly capable.

"Wouldn't they kick me while I was down?" Pakura had no confidence at all. How could she entrust her fate to people she did not even trust herself? Prisoners sent back were usually not trusted; it was a common failing among those in power. They were accustomed to minimizing risks, and someone who posed a risk could never be fully trusted. Besides, all of that was beside the point. The odds of the Sand Village becoming completely hostile to Konoha for her were minuscule—practically nonexistent. She was not worth that much.

"Fine. It looks like it'll be hard to return to everything I had before. I can only stay with you. At least you're treating me well now. I hope you won't betray me in the future." Pakura looked somewhat desolate and sighed again.

"I won't. Don't worry. I can't promise to forsake the world for you, but you're important to me too. This isn't some passing whim, or I wouldn't have gone to such lengths." Beichen Haotian tightened his grip on Pakura's hand, wanting to give her some confidence.

"Alright, I'll believe you for now," Pakura said with a faint smile after hearing Beichen Haotian's words.

"Mm, let's go. I'll take you out to have some fun."

"Mm."

On Konoha's snack street, Beichen Haotian took Pakura through every kind of snack: pastries, grilled meat, grilled dumplings, grilled vegetables, flatbread, ramen, sushi, sashimi, raw fish, and more. After they finished, Beichen Haotian was fine—his digestive abilities were absurdly strong—but Pakura was miserable. She was stuffed and could not eat another bite.

Beichen Haotian then took her shopping all over the place until ten at night, buying all kinds of things: clothes, pants, toiletries, fun items, novelties, and more. Finally, he took the exhausted Pakura to eat Ichiraku Ramen. Only then did they walk hand in hand toward the former residence of the First Hokage, which was now Beichen Haotian's home.

After spending the afternoon and evening together, their relationship had drawn much closer, and a smile had appeared on Pakura's face. Beneath the bright moonlight, their long shadows stretched across the ground as Pakura unconsciously linked her arm through Beichen Haotian's.

Thanks to Jinmu, Zhuhán Wàndāndàn, and Ruo Qian for their recommendation votes!