While Mei was dealing with B and Ringo was in the process of plummeting A while getting a new apprentice, Pakura faced off against the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki.
Though, to be honest, they were not really fighting, but chatting instead. After all, Onoki's back did get a little cracked up when Pakura counter-attacked his sneak attack.
The old midget had problems standing straight, much less fighting, and Pakura was juicing the situation for every possible nugget of humiliation she could get out of it.
She even sat at a nearby chair, giving Onoki a provoking look to which he scowled but whenever he wanted to attack, his back would once again remind him why abruptly moving was a bad thing.
Sure, he was a ninja and he could bear the pain but it was in no way pleasant.
So, since his opponent was giving him the opportunity to recover, Onoki took it and didn't progress the fight, even if it meant soaking up some humiliation in the process.
"Look at that. The proud and mighty shit-flinger of Iwa kneeling in front of me, the Kazekage." Pakura teasingly quipped, leaning her cheek onto her palm as she started to support her head with her arm in a show of boredom. "What would your subordinates think if they saw you now, I wonder?"
Onoki's eyes narrowed in contempt, "They would be proud I stand tall in front of you despite my injury!"
Pakura's eyebrows rose at that before she snorted as she inclined her head down to properly see him, "Stand tall, eh?"
"Shut up!" Onoki's cheeks reddened a bit when he realized he might not have used the best comparison. 'This bitch is totally looking down on me!' He gritted his teeth.
"Would you mind telling me why exactly you went along with the invasion of that brainless retard and pale pedophile freak?" Pakura drawled, "I know you are smarter than that, Onoki. Why join those social rejects? Or is it just you wanting to play with the cool kids?"
Onoki decided to ignore the jab at his appearance but the glare he directed at her only intensified, "As a fellow leader, you should know well I can't just ignore Konoha growing stronger." He grumbled. "What I don't understand is why you allow it to happen! Aren't you afraid of them breaking the shaky alliance between you and invading Suna? You know well that the best alliance between our kind doesn't mean shit in front of power!"
Pakura revealed a small nostalgic smile at his heated reasoning. He wasn't wrong. He was definitely not wrong. Hidden villages did not have lasting alliances. Whenever one signed an alliance with another, the countdown to one of them being eventually betrayed started.
That... was common sense.
Alas, it was also a thing of the past. Now that Rei's wives were holding their respective villages in a firm and unshakable grip...
The betrayal would not occur simply because, unlike the previous leaders, the villages were not the priority for them.
Yes, Pakura loved Suna and was doing her best to make it a better, stronger place. But in the end, the thing dearest to her heart was Rei and if he wanted her to abandon Suna, she would have done so.
Reluctantly and with profound sadness... but she would comply and return back to his side, sulking for a few weeks before she would get over it and be happy with her life.
"Betrayal, huh?" Pakura thoughtfully spoke, "You do know my past, don't you?" She didn't let him answer and continued, "You must know. I am a fellow Kage so investigating my origins and story is something no competent Kage would omit."
"Nukenin becoming a Kage. Yes, it is quite disgusting." Onoki sneered, inwardly happy that his back was starting to hurt less. 'Just a bit more and I will be able to fight without being handicapped.'
Naturally, he was a ninja and since he knew he had back problems, he did learn a bit of medical ninjutsu to help himself with it.
"I was never a nukenin." Pakura grumbled, really annoyed. "I was declared dead. There is a difference, you twat."
Was it so hard to get their facts straight? She was never designated as such! Whoever started that ridiculous rumor... once she got her hands on them, they could look forward to hellish torture.
Onoki smirked. Of course, he knew that. But he also knew the woman in front of him hated being called nukenin. Still...
"Being away from the village for years and serving some unknown nobody as his slut instead of your village." Onoki alluded to the man who appeared in Suna alongside Pakura when she fought the previous Kazekage.
Onoki indeed ordered an extensive information gathering on Pakura when she became the Kazekage out of nowhere and boy did he learn things. Pakura had a husband who was not from Suna. Some kind of unrecognizable nobody who was reported to not even be a ninja and seldom appeared outside of their house. This was the height of shamelessness!
The woman had a unique bloodline and if the previous Kage was not a fearful idiot, he would have never ordered her on a suicide mission. Her children would have been something that could really strengthen the village. If she had them with another strong ninja, their potential would have been incredible. Alas, she married a civilian. As a Kage, she failed in Onoki's eyes.
He wouldn't care if she had a harem of men made from her best ninjas. He wouldn't care if she included her civilian boy-toy into it... but not breeding with powerful shinobi that can give birth to very talented children when she had such an amazing bloodline was basically a betrayal to her own village.
Onoki continued his statement, "Now that pretty much screams nukenin for me. The only reason you were not declared as such when the Kazekage saw you are alive was that you had the support of the Daimyo."
Pakura wanted to rip the rude old man to shreds for what he just said. Not because he insulted her. That was fine. She didn't mind that.
But insulting Rei... even if he had no idea about who he was and what kind of strength he possessed... that was above Pakura's tolerance.
Fortunately for Onoki, Pakura had a plan and she loathed to derail from those. Hence, the only show of how much the insult affected her was a slight pursing of her lips in displeasure. Entirely too small of a reaction to bring Onoki any kind of satisfaction from provoking her.
It inwardly riled him up that his insults did not evoke any sort of angry reaction... but it was expected. Pakura was a Kage, after all. Still, his back was now almost painless and he deemed himself in a good condition to fight.
That's why... "Heh, are you gonna just sit there while I insult the male sex toy you brought from your gallivanting across the Elemental Nations while your village thought you dead and had economically a hard time?"
Well, despite Pakura's small reaction, there was no reason to not re-use the insult, in Onoki's opinion. In the end, it did produce some kind of reaction from her.
Pakura raised an eyebrow at his blatant provocation and smirked. "Me? Fight you?" She chuckled with a lot of condescension in her tone, "I see you must have some kind of misunderstanding. That would have been overkill. Instead of that, your opponent will be-"
Pakura's speech was interrupted as Temari landed nearby and knelt down, "Lady Pakura, you called?"
"Ah, yes, Temari," Pakura smiled while Onoki couldn't help but gape at the audacity of the woman who intended to pit her student, a genin, against him, a Kage. Not affected by the bewilderment of Tsuchikage, Pakura continued, "I found a new dummy for you."
Temari turned towards Onoki and her teal-colored eyes gleamed, "No idea if he will be any good for testing but he does seem kind of dumb."