Time passed quietly.
Only half a month had gone by since Pakura was gravely injured, yet with Lan's help, she had almost completely recovered. This was all thanks to the extraordinary power of the Tenseigan.
Although the Tenseigan couldn't resurrect the dead like the Rinnegan, it was highly effective at healing injuries.
In the original timeline, the Hamura Statue summoned by Toneri through the Giant Tenseigan was powerful enough to suppress the Nine-Tails and could regenerate endlessly. Clearly, Tenseigan chakra had restorative properties, which was why Lan was confident he could heal Pakura.
Lan had left a few days earlier, after giving Pakura some basic treatment. He had left behind several puppets imbued with life by the Tenseigan to continue looking after her.
The existence of those puppets had only deepened Pakura's impression of Lan's bizarre abilities.
As someone from Sunagakure, she naturally knew a great deal about the Puppet Technique. But according to everything she knew, no matter how powerful a puppeteer was, they still had to control their puppets with Chakra Threads to make them work.
Making puppets act on their own by imbuing them with life, as they did now, would have sounded like a fantastical tale if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.
Just who was The Fool?
Would someone with such power really need her?
Having greatly overestimated Lan's true strength, Pakura couldn't help questioning her own usefulness.
She touched the spot over her heart. There was a special chakra there that didn't belong to her: a glowing green orb of chakra.
The orb didn't contain much chakra, but its quality far surpassed her own Scorch Release chakra. The two were simply incomparable.
What kind of Kekkei Genkai was this? Why did it carry such a rich, powerful Yin Release aura? Could it be some kind of Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai?
Pakura pondered it for a long time but couldn't find an answer. Even the most renowned Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai in the Ninja World, the Byakugan and Sharingan, probably couldn't reach this level, could they?
As for where the chakra orb came from, Lan had left it behind the day he saved Pakura. It was the price she had to pay.
Lan's Tenseigan had almost the same abilities as the Giant Tenseigan, the Otsutsuki Branch Family's treasured artifact on the moon. So, naturally, Lan also possessed the Giant Tenseigan's ability to control another person's will with a Spirit Orb, making them obey like a puppet.
In the original timeline, Otsutsuki Toneri had used a Spirit Orb to control Hinata and make her fight Naruto.
If Naruto hadn't stepped in and pulled out the Spirit Orb, Hinata might have remained under Toneri's control indefinitely.
The Spirit Orb inside Pakura was even more troublesome than the one Toneri had used on Hinata. That wasn't because Lan's Tenseigan was stronger. Rather, the two women had reacted differently when the Spirit Orbs were planted. Hinata had been in a state of absolute resistance toward Toneri, while Pakura had willingly accepted Lan's Spirit Orb.
If someone used the Tenseigan to examine Pakura's body closely, they would see countless chakra threads radiating from the Spirit Orb, connecting to all her organs and joints.
More than that, a considerable number of threads rich in Yin Release energy were wrapped around her spiritual body.
If Pakura hadn't willingly given up resisting and accepted it, then even as an expression of the Tenseigan's power, the Spirit Orb could never have become so deeply entwined with her body.
Now that the Spirit Orb was bound to Pakura down to her very soul, there was no way she could remove it safely by herself.
If she tried to remove it, Lan would sense it from afar and stop her.
Even if Lan didn't intervene, forcing it out would severely damage her body and injure her spiritual body as well. By then, she would be ruined and might wish she were dead.
As long as the Spirit Orb remained, whenever the two of them were close enough, Lan could activate it with a single thought and easily imprison Pakura's will, controlling her like a puppet on strings.
Nor could she escape by keeping her distance from Lan and hiding somewhere he couldn't find her. The Spirit Orb had been created from the power of the Tenseigan; at its core, it was the manifestation of Tenseigan chakra.
As long as Lan activated his Tenseigan, he could sense Pakura across space and time. In a sense, Pakura was now no different from the puppets animated by Tenseigan chakra.
But unlike those puppets, Pakura was far stronger in her own right, thanks to her Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai. If she were cautious enough, there weren't many people in the Ninja World who could defeat her.
Rasa's wariness of her strength made that clear. As the only person in Sunagakure who might threaten his position as Kazekage, Pakura had long been a thorn in Rasa's side, one he wanted to eliminate.
Perhaps that was why he had agreed to Kirigakure's harsh terms for peace: he intended to use the Mist Village to get rid of Pakura, his rival.
For that very reason, rather than controlling her like a puppet and limiting how much of her strength she could use, it was better to let her act freely with her wits about her. If he handled her properly, someone as capable as Pakura could surely do many things for him.
It seemed Lan knew Pakura had nearly recovered, so he decided to send her on her first mission.
"You want me to work for you already? Let me see the scroll."
Pakura took the scroll from the puppet assigned to escort her and unrolled it to read.
"Capture members of the Kaguya Clan?"
Pakura frowned. What did The Fool want with members of the Kaguya Clan?
Was The Fool interested in the Kaguya Clan's Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai?
The Kaguya Clan were all fanatical warriors who never backed down in battle. They might be a handful for others, but Pakura certainly wasn't one of them.
After all, the Third Shinobi World War had ended only recently. During the war between Sunagakure and Kirigakure, Pakura—the hero of Sunagakure—had fought members of the Kaguya Clan many times. She had killed quite a few of them, too. As a Kekkei Genkai user herself, she didn't think Shikotsumyaku was particularly powerful.
If Pakura herself looked down on the Kaguya Clan, then by her own reasoning, Lan—who was far stronger than her—should have had even less reason to want the clan's Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai. So what did he want with its members?
Unable to figure out Lan's motives, she decided to stop wondering. He had given her a mission, and as his prisoner, all she could do was carry it out.
Hmph, it seems The Fool still doesn't understand how strong I am. This mission is hardly difficult. Could it be some kind of test?
It was no wonder Pakura thought so. Lan's mission had only specified members of the Kaguya Clan, without giving any details about their talent, strength, or age.
The Kaguya Clan was a major clan in Kirigakure with many members, including plenty of weak ones. Capturing those would be easy for her, as long as she took care not to be discovered by Kirigakure.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before Pakura returned and tossed four unconscious members of the Kaguya Clan in front of the puppets.
"Here, I've completed the mission. Take these guys to The Fool."
Several puppets stepped forward, hoisted the four clan members onto their shoulders, and quickly left. But the puppet that had delivered the mission remained where it was. Seeing this, Pakura asked,
"What, does The Fool have another mission for you to give me?"
The puppet shook its head. "You haven't completed this mission yet."
"What? Four aren't enough? How many does he want?"
Pakura suddenly realized that the mission scroll hadn't specified how many to capture. She had assumed four would be enough, but now it seemed she'd celebrated too soon. The puppet's next words confirmed her growing unease.
"Master said the more, the better."