Pakura had no intention of wasting words on Qian Ye.
Four bright white fireballs suddenly expanded in midair, carrying heat so intense it warped the air as they hurtled straight at Qian Ye's face.
Qian Ye's scalp went numb as he poured Chakra into his legs.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
He stomped ten times in rapid succession, turning into an afterimage as he forcibly shifted five meters to the left.
Boom!
A massive crater exploded where he had just been standing. The rocks in the ground melted into scorching magma, and flying shards grazed Qian Ye's cheek, searing a bloody cut into it.
"Dodging?" Pakura floated in midair, her hands rapidly forming seals. "In this box, let's see where you can run!"
The canyon's space had been small to begin with, and the Four Violet Flame Formation had sealed off every direction.
With a flick of Pakura's finger, more than a dozen smaller fireballs closed in from all sides, cutting off every possible route for Qian Ye.
With nowhere to dodge, Qian Ye could only draw his revolver and fire two shots in succession at the two fireballs in front.
The bullets pierced through the fireballs, barely dispersing some of the heat, but they could not stop the fireballs from continuing their advance.
A wave of heat rushed at him, curling and singeing Qian Ye's hair.
Three minutes.
Orochimaru had said he only needed to hold her off for three minutes.
But less than thirty seconds had passed, and Qian Ye already felt like he was about to be roasted alive.
"I'll fight you to the death!" Qian Ye gritted his teeth and pulled out three Explosive Tags, ready to tie them to Kunai and meet her head-on.
Just then, Pakura suddenly let out a muffled groan in midair.
The dozen or so fireballs that were about to hit Qian Ye suddenly froze in the air.
Qian Ye paused, then looked up.
Pakura's face had gone terrifyingly pale. Her body swayed violently in midair, and the Chakra barrier she had been maintaining around herself collapsed on the spot.
She suddenly clutched her chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Before the blood could hit the ground, the heat radiating from her body evaporated it into a cloud of red mist.
The fireballs floating throughout the canyon lost control and slammed into the Violet Flame Formation on both sides one after another, setting off a chain of violent explosions.
Pakura fell straight out of the air.
With a dull thud.
She crashed onto the scorching sand, curling into a ball as her body convulsed in pain.
Qian Ye stood where he was, holding the Explosive Tags and not daring to move.
What the hell was this woman doing?
Feigning surrender?
A ploy to gain sympathy?
Qian Ye cautiously moved two steps forward, his revolver steadily aimed at Pakura's head.
As the distance closed, Qian Ye finally saw Pakura's current condition clearly.
Her backless combat uniform was soaked through with sweat, while large patches of exposed skin had turned a strange dark red.
That redness had not come from being burned by flames. It was seeping out from beneath her skin.
The moisture on her body was evaporating at a visible rate. She had shriveled up noticeably, and her ragged breathing sounded like a broken bellows.
"Cough, cough..." Pakura coughed up another mouthful of blood-streaked saliva. When it landed on the ground, it let out a sizzle and was quickly baked dry.
Qian Ye recalled the black booklet Orochimaru had given him the previous night.
It contained a passage about conflicts between Chakra natures.
A Kekkei Genkai that combined wind and fire was immensely powerful, but it was also highly prone to backlash.
If the user forcibly overextended their Chakra, the fire nature would overwhelm the wind nature, scorching the meridians with extreme heat and causing the water within the cells to evaporate from within.
This was Scorch Release's hidden ailment!
Qian Ye suddenly understood.
No wonder Sunagakure's higher-ups had so readily sold Pakura to Kirigakure as a political bargaining chip in the original story.
Those old foxes, Rasa and Ebizo, had definitely known about this hidden ailment long ago.
A ticking bomb that could suffer backlash at any moment and burn herself to ashes, in exchange for a ceasefire agreement with Hidden Mist—politicians would consider that an incredibly profitable deal.
Qian Ye looked at Pakura rolling about in agony on the ground, his finger resting on the revolver's trigger.
If he pulled the trigger now, this she-devil who had caused the collapse of the Hidden Leaf's right-wing defense line would die on the spot.
Twenty-three Sunagakure ninja, plus a rampaging Shadow Level powerhouse.
That achievement would be enough for him to swagger through Hidden Leaf.
But the next second, Qian Ye's gaze fell upon the constantly trembling Violet Flame Formation around them.
The Scorch Release Chakra inside Pakura was still running wild.
If she died here, that uncontrolled heat might not dissipate immediately.
If she had one final burst of Scorch Release before dying, then in this sealed box, Qian Ye would become a dried corpse right alongside her.
Besides, a dead Pakura was merely a military achievement.
A living Pakura, however, was a Sunagakure hero—a bargaining chip neither Chiyo nor Rasa could easily abandon.
Intelligence, a hostage, cracks within Sunagakure.
Every one of those was worth more than a corpse.
Qian Ye took a deep breath, lowered his gun slightly, and finally put it back into his Ninja Tool Pouch.
"You bitch!"
Qian Ye stuffed the Explosive Tags back into the pouch and strode over to Pakura.
Pakura sensed someone approaching and forced herself to raise her head.
Her usually haughty eyes were now bloodshot.
"Hidden Leaf dog..." Pakura gritted her teeth, her voice hoarse beyond recognition. "Get lost... or I'll burn you to death too..."
Qian Ye rolled his eyes.
"Lady, you're about to roast yourself into jerky, and you're still trying to act tough?"
Qian Ye crouched down and reached for Pakura's shoulder.
The instant he touched her skin, Qian Ye sucked in a sharp breath.
Hot!
It was like touching a red-hot branding iron.
Pakura struggled desperately, trying to shake off Qian Ye's hand.
"Don't touch me!"
The remaining Chakra in her body instinctively tried to strike back, and a weak flame flickered in her palm.
Qian Ye did not indulge her. He grabbed her wrist with his other hand and forcefully pinned it to the ground.
"Stay still!"
Qian Ye barked as he mobilized the water-nature Chakra he had only recently tested.
His Chakra reserves were limited, but under the guidance of Orochimaru's notes, his control had become far more precise.
Water-nature Chakra flowed from Qian Ye's palm and was forcibly poured into the meridians in Pakura's wrist.
Sizzle!
A plume of white smoke rose from Pakura's wrist.
The moment the water-nature Chakra entered her meridians, it was immediately met by a counterattack from fire-nature Chakra.
Cold sweat broke out across Qian Ye's forehead.
This woman's Chakra was far too overbearing.
Qian Ye immediately changed tactics.
Rather than confronting it head-on, he dispersed his water-nature Chakra into countless tiny threads and slowly guided them along the inner walls of Pakura's damaged meridians.
Water nourished, wind dispersed heat.
Qian Ye simultaneously mobilized wind-nature Chakra, coordinating it with the water nature to barely form a miniature cooling cycle within Pakura's body.
Pakura's violently struggling body froze.
The searing agony that felt as though it would burn through her internal organs actually eased slightly.
A cool sensation spread from her wrist through her entire body, and her parched meridians received long-overdue nourishment.
She stared at Qian Ye, who was right in front of her, her face filled with shock.
"You... what are you doing?"
Qian Ye held down Pakura's wrist, pouring water-nature Chakra into her as though it cost nothing.
Pakura sucked in breaths of pain, instinctively trying to pull her hand back.
"Let go!" Pakura gritted her teeth, weakness evident in her voice.
"Like hell I will!" Qian Ye increased the force of his grip, pinned down her flailing legs with his knee, and pressed her to the ground.
"If you keep moving, your meridians will burn through, and you'll spend the rest of your life as a cripple!"
Before you continue