The five of them sat in the office and chatted for a while.
Their conversation ranged from amusing childhood stories to their current circumstances.
Xuanhui, Yahiko, and Konan even teamed up to give Nagato a hard time. He was the only single one among the five of them.
Nagato said none of that mattered. He intended to follow Master Jiraiya's example; women would only slow down his progress toward getting stronger.
After everyone rolled their eyes at him, their chat came to a temporary end.
The three of them still had official business to attend to, after all, so Xuanhui and Pakura headed downstairs first.
As long as they stayed in Amegakure, there was no need to worry that the other three wouldn't be able to find them.
Once they returned to the hotel, Pakura immediately drew the curtains.
Xuanhui watched her warily.
"You...?"
"Yes."
Xuanhui turned to leave, only for Pakura to wrap her whip around his waist.
"What suddenly made you want to do this?"
"I got carried away looking at you earlier. If you don't want to touch, we could just kiss for a while..."
"You..."
The two lay in bed until dusk, when a tiny blue paper butterfly flew in through the window.
It settled quietly on the tip of Pakura's slender finger.
Pakura lifted her sweat-drenched forehead and looked at the butterfly on her fingertip.
"Come on, let's shower. We've got somewhere to be!"
"Already? It feels like we've gone several rounds."
"Slow down... you're lying on my hair..."
They were the last to arrive at the tavern. By then, Jiraiya already had an arm around Nagato's shoulders and was recounting his glorious exploits.
At the sight of them, Konan's pretty face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head, fixing her gaze on