Xuanhui found his tent and was about to undress, his hands already at his collar.
Then he suddenly remembered that Pakura still had no bed.
He thought about it for a moment.
Pakura saw the whole thing.
She stepped forward, gently took hold of his collar, and helped him out of his coat.
"Just put it on the stool."
"What are you thinking about? Is there anything I can do?"
"You don't have a bed yet. How about sleeping in mine tonight?"
"Sure!"
"And I'll sleep on the floor."
"No..."
"Do you listen to me, or do I listen to you?"
"Can't we sleep in the bed together?"
"Men and women shouldn't be so intimate."
"I'm your assistant. Don't worry about little things like that."
"Even your reputation?"
"I don't care."
"I do. I can't make light of your reputation."
Xuanhui stepped forward and knocked Pakura unconscious with a knife-hand strike.
He scooped her up in his arms and tossed her onto his bed.
"This woman... has she decided to latch on to me?"
Looking at her cool, aloof sleeping face, he felt as though he'd taken in a pet.
"I'll just think of her as company... I've saved so many people, after all. It's normal to be close to one or two of them."
Among the Hidden Mist Village's higher-ups, Karatachi Yagura's heart stopped for half a beat when he heard that every ninja sent to assassinate Pakura of the Scorch Release had died.
"Is Pakura really that powerful? Even with us ambushing her, she managed to kill all hundred or so of my men!"
His subordinate shook his head.
"We examined the bodies. Only one had been reduced to a dried-out corpse.
"So Pakura only killed one of them.
"The others were spread far apart and died