When Onoki broke out of Temari's tornado and revealed his unscathed form, it looked a bit like a magic trick.
After all, both Temari and Pakura fully knew there was no way for him to tank it with his own body without being turned into a meaty paste. Even if he used the variety of Earth Jutsu that hardened its user's skin, there still would have been deep gashes all over him.
Only when Pakura noticed the very small pebbles occasionally sprawled all around him did she understand how he did it.
'So he simply created a very dense Earth Dome, let it tank the attack while he was charging his own counter-attack. But then, why didn't he aim his counter-attack at Temari and shot it into the air?' Pakura inwardly mused, 'Wait.' She tilted her head as an idea struck her. 'He realized the weak point of the tornado? Tsk. He must be quite experienced with fighting against Wind users.'
When Pakura was finally done with her theory, she noticed Onoki charging his Dust release again, aiming at Temari. Pakura could feel the amount of chakra and...
Ten white rays split from Onoki's hands, razing their way through the air straight at Temari who was prepared to deflect them with her battle fan...
'Haa~, youth.' Pakura could only sigh.
Onoki's Dust Release rays met Temari's fan, but unlike the last time, they were not immediately deflected upwards. The Dust Release impacted the extremely durable high-quality chakra metal of the fan, the special chakra paper made by Konan and enhanced by Rei's fuinjutsu to match the durability of the chakra metal and be able to amplify the user's wind chakra, and on top of all that, was Temari's own special chakra coating technique where she mixed her Wind and Earth Natures in a similar yet different way than what her Sand Jutsus used and made her battle fan the best at deflecting and pushing attacks away from itself thanks to the 'magnetic' properties it gained. The usually fragile weapon such as a battle fan, could thanks to that be used as a Jutsu repulsive shield without the worry of it being damaged.
It was one of the creative ways of how to use her bloodline Rei taught her. After all, her bloodline was not Sand manipulation but Magnet Release.
But it seemed that Temari's chakra-enhanced battle fan had just met its match as Onoki's concentrated Dust Release was trying to drill through Temari's chakra coating on the fan, refusing to be deflected and disintegrating the coating bit by bit.
Temari's eyes slightly widened as she felt herself being pushed back despite already putting her full strength into her battle fan. She pushed more of her chakra into the coating, desperately trying to resist Onoki's technique while trying to push her fan upwards to make deflection easier but the pressure and momentum of Onoki's Dust Release were not letting her, instead, transforming the exchange into a straightforward clash between Temari's and Onoki's chakras.
When Temari was about to lose, her coating almost penetrated, and Onoki's technique was about to impact her now-unprotected battle fan...
Emerald-colored chakra suddenly bubbled from Temari's wrist, the same spot where Pakura marked her when she took her as her kunoichi. The emerald-colored chakra quickly spread all over the fan, easily pushing the Dust Release back, eroding it as if it was an effortless task.
Temari was about to sigh in relief that her precious battle fan was saved from destruction but her eyes widened once again when she noticed another white ray heading toward her.
Onoki definitely did not just wait until Temari's struggle with his attack ended. He was preparing for his next attack.
The white ray was too fast and already too close... Panic filled Temari as she knew she didn't have time to defend. Not only was this ray much more powerful than the previous ones but there was no time to concentrate the chakra-coating of her weapon enough to at least buy her time.
It was too late...
That's when Pakura suddenly appeared in between Temari and the white ray, her palm outstretched towards it. Not even a split of a second passed and the ray impacted Pakura's palm, the white chakra of the Dust Release smashing into emerald flame-like chakra in which Pakura's palm was engulfed.
And just like that, without any fanfare, when the full Dust Release ray gathered on Pakura's palm, she abruptly closed her hand into a fist, and the Dust Release was effortlessly squashed like a bug by the emerald chakra.
Onoki could only gape at... he had no idea what that even was! His bloodline is the most destructive out there and the woman in front of him just... caught it? His mind couldn't even start comprehending what he had just witnessed.
Onoki's astonished eyes met Pakura's gaze full of calm apathy, and for the first time in decades, he froze, his body locking up in irrational fear.
The last time he felt like this...!
His mind flashed back to his meeting with Uchiha Madara in his youth, to the time he locked eyes with the man's Sharingan and felt the sheer disinterested malice in those eyes...
While Onoki was having the shock of his life, Pakura slowly half-turned towards Temari, causing the girl's breath to hitch when she saw how Pakura's usually brown eyes were now shining in a striking emerald color surrounding cat-like slitted pupils.
The sheer intensity and feeling of danger those eyes held was something that mesmerized Temari.
Only Pakura's voice pulled Temari back to reality, "I called you here to fight a Kage. Stop underestimating him. He is far too experienced and his Jutsus are far too destructive for you to take it easy. You already experienced prosperity and became a monster. Now it's your time to experience proper adversity and finally grow up. I hope you won't disappoint me... again."
With that, Pakura disappeared into thin air, neither Onoki nor Temari capable of following her with their eyes as she reappeared on her chair, leisurely sitting and supporting her cheek with her palm while waiting for them to continue their fight.
Temari shook at Pakura's words, a feeling of shame dwelling in her. She was too cocky and self-assured. She thought fighting a Kage would be easy for her.
Her rise so far was in no way easy. The training Pakura and occasionally Rei gave her was in no way easy. But it made her stand above her peers, above other ninjas from her village. It made her better but she had never thought herself to be arrogant.
But... apparently, she grew complacent when she had no right to be.
When Temari finally realized where she went wrong, she raised her eyes back towards Onoki, but now they gleamed with an iron-clad resolve. The resolve to win.
Onoki's eyes followed Pakura with deep unease. He felt fear. It had been so long since he felt like this...
But he was a Kage. He was not one of those weak-willed wet behind their ears guys that couldn't face their fears. He understood long ago that facing their fears was something every person eventually had to do if they wanted to improve.
Even if Madara stood in front of him right now, he would fight. No matter how the man still scared him, even long after his death... Onoki would fight.
For he was a ninja, a Kage. The protector of his village and his people. Therefore he would fight even if it would cost him his life.
Despite his resolve, facing monsters like Madara was never easy. Hence, his uneasiness.
'Another one appeared in the world.' Onoki thought as he watched Pakura with apprehension, his stomach sinking. 'Why can't one pop up in my village?' He inwardly grumbled.
As an answer to his gaze, Pakura just kindly smiled and waved her free hand at them, "Don't mind me. My apprentice needs all the training she can get. Feel free to continue."